Ninjas in Pyjamas and magic meet in the upper-bracket final of 1win Private Club Season 1. Both teams have won their first two matches in Belgrade, but magic enter the series with a strong recent record against NiP.

NiP recovered after a difficult opening map

NiP started the tournament with a 2–0 victory against 3DMAX. Nuke was close and required overtime, but NiP eventually won 16–14 before producing a much more convincing 13–4 victory on Cache.

xKacpersky was the standout player in the series with 36 kills and a 1.56 rating. Krimbo and sjuush also finished with positive ratings as NiP secured their place in the upper-bracket semi-final.

Their next match against SINNERS was more difficult. NiP lost Ancient 10–13 and were under pressure after their opponents’ map pick. They responded by winning Cache 13–7 before completely dominating Inferno 13–0.

The final map showed the level NiP can reach when they take control early. However, losing Ancient and allowing SINNERS to push the series to a deciding map also showed that they remain vulnerable against teams with a strong map pick.

magic survived a close series against GamerLegion

magic reached the upper-bracket final by beating GamerLegion 2–1. They opened the series with a comfortable 13–6 victory on Dust2 but struggled on Cache, losing the map 8–13.

Ancient became a long and tense deciding map. magic eventually closed it 19–17 after overtime to secure the series.

sFade8 led the team with 62 kills, 98.9 average damage and a 1.29 rating. mo0N and MaSvAl also made important contributions, giving magic several players capable of deciding rounds.

The victory continued magic’s strong form against established European teams. They are currently 16th in the VRS ranking, while NiP enter the match at number 31.

magic have controlled the recent meetings

The teams have already played two best-of-three series against each other this year, and magic won both without dropping a map.

The first meeting came at Stake Ranked Episode 2 in May. magic won Ancient 13–9 before crushing NiP 13–2 on Mirage. tenzy and mo0N were the two best players in the server as magic secured a comfortable 2–0 victory.

They met again in the StarLadder StarSeries Fall closed qualifier in July. magic once again won 2–0, taking Ancient 13–9 and Anubis 13–11. AW finished that series with 48 kills and a 1.68 rating.

Those results mean magic have won four consecutive maps against NiP. The teams may choose different maps this time, but magic have already shown that they can handle NiP both online and on LAN.

Verdict

NiP have looked better during this tournament and their 13–0 victory against SINNERS cannot be ignored. They have enough individual quality to make this a close series, especially if xKacpersky and Krimbo continue their strong form.

magic still have the stronger case. They are ranked higher, arrive after beating GamerLegion and have won both previous best-of-three meetings with NiP this year. Rather than relying on another 2–0 result, the match winner market gives magic room to win the series across three maps.

Tip

magic to win