Danish side Copenhagen Flames secured a berth at IEM Katowice 2022 by defeating Ninjas in Pyjamas in the first upper bracket final of the play-ins. Having won previously versus fnatic, CPF looked good from the start while NiP had a slightly closer matchup with Wisla Krakow. Copenhagen Flames showed their LAN buff once again, starting off with a 12-3 T side on Nuke which had all the pundits look at the Danes in awe. Mirage was much closer than Nuke but at the half, both the maps looked to be complete walkovers.
MAP VETO
- Copenhagen Flames removed Inferno
- NIP removed Vertigo
- Copenhagen Flames picked Nuke
- NIP picked Mirage
- Copenhagen Flames removed Dust2
- NIP removed Ancient
- Overpass was left over
MAP 1 : NUKE (COPENHAGEN FLAMES 16-3 NINJAS IN PYJAMAS)
Starting on the T side on Nuke, IGL HooXi led from the front to show the world what he was capable of. He had 5 opening kills, from a total of 13 on CPF’s side. Thought to be the toughest T side to call, HooXi made it look all too easy as his side posted 12 T rounds to NiP’s 3 CT rounds. AWPer nicoodoz helped his skipper with 13 kills of his own.
On the CT side, CPF didn’t lose a single round and absolutely battered NiP 16-3.
MAP 2: MIRAGE (COPENHAGEN FLAMES 16-12 NINJAS IN PYJAMAS)
The final scoreline may look close but CPF started Mirage the same as Nuke. On the favored CT side, nicoodoz once again made the map his playground as he had 20 kills with a 2.34 CT side rating. NiPs start was even worse as they got just 2 T rounds and ended the half trailing 2-13. It looked unlikely that they would get the round count to double digits over the course of 2 maps.
On the CT side, NiP took control for the first time in the series. They started with a 5 round streak and followed it up with another 3 after losing one in the middle. But having already given up 13 rounds previously, NiP didn’t have any room for mistakes whatsoever and they did their due diligence. NiP got 10 CT rounds but it was too little too late as CPF won the map 16-12.
With the win, Copenhagen Flames will compete at the main event, IEM Katowice 2022. NiP fall down to the lower bracket and will have one last chance to qualify tomorrow. NiP play the winner of MIBR/Movistar Riders’ matchup.
