MIBR make it past NiP; Major playoffs bracket set
The final Swiss bracket game at the FACEIT London Major was between MIBR and NiP, in a best-of-three thriller where the winning team would head to the playoffs at the SSE Wembley Arena next week, and the losing team would head home.
The two teams began on Cache, where NiP started off on the T-side, taking the pistol round. MIBR answered back immediately, taking an eco round win and then pushing on for the next six rounds to take the lead. The Swedish opposition weren't out of it, as they picked up six rounds of their own in a close half to retake the lead. The final two rounds were traded, but it was NiP who were narrowly 8-7 ahead at the break.
The second half started off strong for MIBR, as they secured eight rounds in a row to hit map point, but that was all they could secure. In a vein of form from 2015, Christopher "GeT_RiGhT" Alesund was edging up to his final score of 33 kills as NiP secured the final seven rounds of the half to force overtime. But the Brazilian-American squad didn't let it slip as they secured all four rounds of overtime needed for the win, with Jake "Stewie2K" Yip picking up a 3k in that final round.
Mirage was up next, and the two sides engaged in some round-related ping-pong before the real starts were made. NiP made the strongest start, before MIBR started answering back and went 7-5 up. The Swedish team came alive once again at the end of the first half, taking the final three rounds to once again go in at the break 8-7 up.
Marcelo "coldzera" David was on fine form, as was Patrik "f0rest" Lindberg with the players on 1.40 and 1.37 ratings respectively. But it was to be f0rest's team to have the better of the second half, increasing their lead with the pistol round and after a brief collection of rounds from coldzera's team, the Swedish lads secured the final five rounds of the game for a 16-10 win.
This left the game head to the decider, Train. NiP started the game off with the pistol round and the following round, before MIBR answered back with four of their own. Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo and co. were in control for the majority of the first half, only allowing their Swedish opponents occasional rounds, as they went in 10-5 leaders at the break.
The second half saw NiP once again win the pistol round, and this time push on for five rounds as they evened the score up at 10-10. MIBR woke up at this point, looking to keep their control of the game, and comfortably secured the round immediately following, and picked up the next three. But as they were agonizingly close to map, game and match point, NiP answered back to defend their bomb plant. MIBR weren't looking to lose, and won the following round to reset the Swede's economy. From there they pushed on to map point, and then won the required 16th round to take the series.
Ninjas in PyjamasMIBR| Ninjas in Pyjamas |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Patrik 'f0rest' Lindberg |
69 - 52 | +17 | 80.6 | 73.6% | 1.23 |
| Christopher 'GeT_RiGhT' Alesund |
75 - 61 | +14 | 82.6 | 71.3% | 1.20 |
| Fredrik 'REZ' Sterner |
49 - 63 | -14 | 70.9 | 69.0% | 0.93 |
| Jonas 'Lekr0' Olofsson |
49 - 57 | -8 | 62.1 | 63.2% | 0.86 |
| Dennis 'dennis' Edman |
45 - 63 | -18 | 64.3 | 58.6% | 0.81 |
| MIBR |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Marcelo 'coldzera' David |
70 - 52 | +18 | 77.5 | 77.0% | 1.18 |
| Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo |
55 - 49 | +6 | 64.3 | 73.6% | 1.12 |
 Tarik 'tarik' Celik |
58 - 65 | -7 | 79.5 | 67.8% | 1.05 |
| Fernando 'fer' Alvarenga |
54 - 62 | -8 | 76.2 | 72.4% | 1.02 |
| Jake 'Stewie2K' Yip |
59 - 60 | -1 | 73.1 | 64.4% | 0.98 |
Due to the use of the Buccholz seeding system, there was only one playoff draw after MIBR's win. The playoff draw is as follows:
| Playoffs |
 compLexity vs. MIBR |
 BIG vs. Broken inline Natus Vincere |
 Astralis vs.  FaZe |
Liquid vs.  HellRaisers |
With compLexity taking the top seed in the bracket, they are set to face bottom seed MIBR in their opening match. Liquid's second seed placing sees them face HellRaisers. The first two quarterfinal matches will be played on Thursday September 20th, starting at 10:15am EDT at the SSE Wembley Arena in London.
