00 Nation join paiN in playoffs
In the last match of Group C, 00 Nation have snagged the fourth and final playoffs spot following a hard-fought 2-1 win over NIP. The win over Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen's troops marks 00 Nation's first win over a European squad since taking down Astralis at IEM Cologne 2022 in July 2022.
As the vetoes came in, the analyst desk remarked that it was one of the best possible map pools for 00 Nation against NIP, with 00 Nation choosing Mirage, NIP picking Nuke, and Ancient being the decider.
00 Nation started their home map on the right foot, taking the T-side pistol, but NIP quickly shut down any would-be momentum the Brazilians looked to pick up. A second-round steal paved the way for ten uninterrupted rounds, with 00 Nation only able to post a second round near the end of the half. 00 Nation finally brought the half ever so slightly back, but still ended nine rounds down at 3-12.
Beginning to mount their comeback, 00 Nation took their CT-side pistol, and this time, managed the conversion. After this, 00 Nation had a degree of wind in their sails, winning the next five rounds in a row to close the defictit to three rounds. Unfortunately for the Brazilians, their momentum began to wane in the latter part of the second half as NIP quickly snatched four out of the next five rounds to take 00 Nation's map pick in a confident fashion.
Moving onto Nuke, NIP's map pick, 00 Nation looked more than comfortable on their opponent's map pick as they won the first seven rounds in a row on their CT-side before keeping NIP at arm's length to win the opening half outright 11-4. Moving into the second half, 00 Nation further entrenched their lead by winning their T-side pistol before NIP answered back with the next three rounds. This was unfortunately too little too late as 00 Nation confidently claimed the next four rounds to win Ancient 16-7 and force the series onto Ancient.
With the series tied up, 00 Nation began their CT-side in the lead by winning yet another pistol round before fighting a close battle to narrowly take the half 8-7 against a NIP that looked all too shaky. After switching sides, NIP won their first pistol round in a long time, but it ended up being somewhat moot as 00 Nation found double digits first before climbing up to 13-10. The series came to a close in the following rounds thanks to a mix of excellent A hits, a massive performance from Leonardo "n9xtz" Santos, and a big underperformance from Daniil "headtr1ck" Valitov, with 00 Nation claiming their playoffs spot with a 16-12 win.
Ninjas in Pyjamas00NATION| Ninjas in Pyjamas |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Kristian 'k0nfig' Wienecke |
54 - 51 | +3 | 76.8 | 67.5% | 1.11 |
 Fredrik 'REZ' Sterner |
50 - 53 | -3 | 66.2 | 74.0% | 0.98 |
| Ludvig 'Brollan' Brolin |
44 - 50 | -6 | 68.0 | 70.1% | 0.97 |
 Daniil 'headtr1ck' Valitov |
45 - 44 | +1 | 59.3 | 68.8% | 0.94 |
 Aleksi 'Aleksib' Virolainen |
43 - 49 | -6 | 61.4 | 71.4% | 0.90 |
| 00NATION |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Bruno 'latto' Rebelatto |
56 - 41 | +15 | 71.1 | 70.1% | 1.13 |
| Eduardo 'dumau' Wolkmer |
52 - 52 | +0 | 80.2 | 68.8% | 1.12 |
| Leonardo 'n9xtz' Santos |
50 - 50 | +0 | 69.8 | 72.7% | 1.08 |
| Marcelo 'coldzera' David |
51 - 49 | +2 | 77.3 | 72.7% | 1.07 |
| Lucas 'nqz' Soares |
35 - 46 | -11 | 48.1 | 63.6% | 0.80 |
