Following a reverse sweep of Ninjas in Pyjamas, 00NATION has advanced to the ESL Pro League finals. After losing on Mirage 10-16, they bounced back to take Nuke 16-7 and Ancient 16-12.

Game opener

The series began with 00NATION’s selection of Mirage, and the Brazilians were completely outrun on their T half. They succeeded in obtaining the pistol round, but k0nfig came up with a 3k on the force-buy, allowing his side to gain an advantage. The final score was 12-3 in favor of the Ninjas in Pyjamas after they repeatedly stopped a mainly ineffective 00NATION attack. The Brazilians provided few opening wins.

Eduardo #dumau Wolkmer 3k helped 00NATION win the second pistol, which enabled them to establish a powerful economy and increase their chances of winning the game. The score had fallen to 12-9 after Ninjas in Pyjamas had joined 00NATION in failing to find clear entrances on the T side. However, a smooth split onto the A site overcame 00NATION’s opposition and allowed Ninjas in Pyjamas to finish the map 16-10.

The next level was Nuke, chosen by Ninjas in Pyjamas, and the Ninjas began on the T side. Ninjas in Pyjamas struggled to locate frags after losing the pistol and were easily outmatched in the early rounds of Nuke, never mind winning matches. They developed round by round, ultimately causing enough financial damage to the 00NATION to break them with a single round victory, bringing the overall tally to 1-7. Ninjas in Pyjamas were able to piece together a few more moves as a result, but once they had four, 00NATION locked them down once more, cruising to an easy 11-4 victory.

00NATION’s pistol victory put Ninjas in Pyjamas in danger, but the Ninjas did succeed in their force-buy, allowing them to survive on the stage for a little while longer. As soon as the cannons went off, 00NATION dominated their European opponents and cruised to a 16-7 victory.

Final map

The Brazilians got off to a strong start on the final map of Ancient, running out to a convincing 5-1 lead behind their star pair of Bruno #latto Rebelatto and dumau. The game opened with 00NATION on the CT side. k0nfig finding opening kills was crucial to Ninjas in Pyjamas’ success later in the half, but errors like losing an anti-eco to time and purchasing an additional AWP needlessly constrained them to a 7-8 deficit heading into the second half.

The final half of the series was started by Ninjas in Pyjamas with a pistol win, but after they won a subsequent round, 00NATION started to gain the upper hand, frequently taking mid and having the opportunity to explore the entire map. At 12-9, it appeared that 00NATION would easily win the match, but Ninjas in Pyjamas ended up winning a force-buy, setting off a frantic series of back-and-forth matches. In the end, 00NATION discovered the defense’s weakness, which they attacked by performing three consecutive up-tempo A executes to win the game 16-12 and advance to the semifinals.