Photo by Adela Sznajder via ESL Gaming
Fnatic absolutely dismantled Ninjas in Pyjamas today in the first round of ESL Pro League season 16 Group A play, despite being the underdogs heading into this CS:GO series.
The British organization hit the reset button after the PGL Antwerp Major in May and brought in the former Copenhagen Flames’ stars Fredrik “roeJ” Jørgensen and Nico “nicoodoz” Tamjidi, and later the former ECSTATIC rifler Dion “FASHR” Derksen, to join Freddy “KRIMZ” Johansson and William “mezii” Merriman. Although it’s only the start of this squad, it seems that practice is already bearing fruit.
.@FNATIC close out the first day of #ESLProLeague Season 16 with a DOMINANT 2-0 victory over @NIPCS!16-4 Ancient
16-4 Overpass pic.twitter.com/QR8VDSJsGs— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) August 31, 2022
Fnatic showed no respect for NiP whatsoever, despite the Swedes being one of the best CS:GO teams in the world at the moment. Fnatic put on a masterclass on Ancient, their map pick, and beat NiP 16-4. The humiliation was carried over to Overpass, where Fnatic nearly had a perfect CT side in the first half (14-1) by constantly shutting down NiP and most notably their captain Hampus Poser, a skilled playmaker who only got one kill in the half.
After the beating they took in the first half of Overpass, there was little NiP could do to recover in the second half and Fnatic closed out the map 16-4 once again. RoeJ was arguably the most prolific player on Fnatic’s side, finishing the series against NiP with 42 frags and just 18 deaths, which netted him an impressive 100.7 ADR and 1.64 rating. Hampus, on the other hand, had only nine kills and 37 deaths.
The ESL Pro League season 16 action will resume tomorrow and viewers will find out how much this tough loss has impacted NiP and how much of a confidence boost Fnatic has gained.