Welcome to EGamersWorld.
We continue to keep our eyes on IEM Cologne 2023. The Play-In stage is underway at the titular summer tournament.
Into The Breach and Ninjas in Pyjamas will play in one of the opening matches. Perhaps the match can be called the centrepiece of the first round of the big event.
NiP are one of the top ten teams in the world, having seriously added to their performance after Reshuffles. Into The Breach are a bit short of the top 20, ranking 21st in the world rankings, but they are a threat, especially in the Bo1 match.
Let's see which of the teams will continue their march to the top, taking on the winner of the MOUZ - MongolZ pair in the next round, and who will have to go to play in the loser's bracket, with no margin for error.
Let's go.
Ninjas In Pyjamas uniforms
Let's start the match analysis with Ninjas in Pyjamas uniforms. In this match they are playing as favourites.
Bookmakers are confident in the success of NiP. The odds for the Ninjas are at around 1.4.
NiP's advantage should not be surprising. The team is ranked 8th in the world rankings for a reason.
The Swedish club earned its position on the world stage with a fruitful run in 2023. Although NiP have had a lot of downfalls, just before the IEM Cologne Long Convergence, they accelerated.
If in the first half of the year NiP were remembered only for getting to Paris Major 2023 after 7th place at European RMR B, and then TOP-8-11 at the Paris tournament itself. It got better after coming out of the competition break.
NiP lost to Last Change Qualifiers at Gamers8 at the Long Crest of the second half of the year, but then played solidly at BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2023. They managed to reach the Autumn Finals quite easily, beating grands like Vitality.
- NiP lineup: REZ, hampus, Brollan, headtr1ck, k0nfig.
NiP are approaching IEM Cologne 2023 in full readiness. Before the tournament, the team did not make any substitutions. This is clearly a plus for the Swedish club.
Ninjas in Pyjamas Mappool
Ninjas in Pyjamas' top 1 map for the last 3 months is Mirage. Ninjas in Pyjamas has a mind-blowing winrate of 92% with 13 games played.
They also played Inferno where they won 5 matches out of 7 games. Nuke is also in plus winrate, where the "ninjas" have 3 wins from 5 matches.
The most not favoured card for NiP will be Vertigo. NiP has 6 cards and only 1 win.
Into The Breach Form.
Let's continue the match analysis with Into The Breach's form. In this match they are playing as a number two.
Bookmakers don't have much faith in Into The Breach, but in fairness they leave quite high odds on them to win. The odds on the success of the British club are at around 2.8.
The 21 teams in the world rankings are deservedly in outsider status. All because of fresh results, first of all Ninjas In Pyjamas.
However, it is difficult to call ITB a completely passable opponent and even NiP. In the 2023 season, the team made a lot of noise.
If the half-year started with a very mediocre performance like TOP-16 at CCT South Europe and TOP-24 at CCT North Europe, it continued with landmark results on the international stage. ITB surprised with a top-3 finish at BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 European RMR A, but the main sensation was the Main Event and the only Major of the season - Paris Major.
Into The Breach made it to the championship play-offs, where they lost to future world champions Vitality in the first round. All in all, decent.
However, Into The Breach has yet to establish itself as a competitive team due to its fickleness. After a spectacular appearance in the play-offs of the Major, ITB did not show any results. The only small result was a top-8 finish at the Elisa Invitational Spring 2023 and a win at the local ESL Premiership Spring 2023.
- Ninjas In Pyjamas roster: rallen, CRUC1AL, Thomas, NEOFRAG, Bymas.
Unlike NiP, Into The Breach will approach the tournament with two newcomers. They are Bymas with a rating of 1.13 and previously played for MOUZ and Neofrag with a rating of 0.85 who played for OG.
Overall, it looks good, but we'll have to see in practice.
Into The Breach Mappool
The best map ITB has played in 90 days is Vertigo. It has 66% wins in 9 maps.
Next is Overpass with 66% wins, but already in 6 matches. In principle, Anubis or Ancient would be a normal option. Both have 50% wins, but Anubis has been played 10 times and Ancient 6 times.
What ITB don't want to play is Mirage. Only 3 wins in 10 games there.
Head-to-head history
ITB and NiP played each other at CCT 2023 Online Finals 1. ITB celebrated the victory with a score of 2-1.
Match outcome
Considering the Bo1 match, we can expect almost any outcome here. However, I will still believe in NiP.
"Ninjas" are clearly on the rise after a great performance on Blast, and ITB just changed their roster, which should play to their disadvantage.
Bottom line: NiP win.
