NiP, G2, Vitality and Virtus.pro make it to the semi-finals.
The first half of the IEM Winter 2021 is over and we have our final four teams remaining from the original 16. Ninjas in Pyjamas (NiP), G2, Virtus.pro and Vitality have made it to the semi-finals and will be eyeing to emerge victorious at the second-last premier event of 2021.
Group Stages
Major runners-up G2 were up next against TYLOO, and although the Chinese team showed promise on Mirage, eventually, G2 were just too good for them.
Liquid managed to overcome the OG challenge on Mirage, while Gambit brushed aside fnatic on Ancient with a 16-9 win.
pro had to dig deep against ENCE to get their first win on Ancient, while BIG went to overtime too against FaZe on Mirage.
It was GODSENT, though, who created the first major upset, beating Heroic 16-13 on Mirage.
TYLOO fell once again, this time to OG, but fnatic kept their hopes alive with a 2-0 sweep of ENCE.The troubles continued for the Danes, as FaZe managed to beat Heroic 2-0, while Astralis got beaten 0-2 themselves by a rejuvenated Team Liquid, who beat Astralis 16-1 in the opening map pick of the Danes on Nuke.
Gambit rounded out the third day with a scraped-past victory against FaZe, with the latter throwing multiple match points to let Gambit come back into the series.
pro made easy work of the GODSENT challenge with a clean 2-0 sweep to secure their own final-four spot, while fnatic fell to Gambit 1-2, which ensured the CIS squad a quarter-final spot.
NiP‘s in-game leader, hampus, and device ran havoc in the opening map pick of GODSENT on Nuke, which saw the Swedes take the map 16-10.
Heading into NiP‘s map pick of Overpass, it looked as if the Swedes would wrap up the first quarter-final inside two maps.
But the Brazilians had other plans. GODSENT won the opening seven rounds to kick things off and ended their CT half with a 12-3 lead. Although NiP managed to pull a few rounds back, the Brazilians, with the help of some solid play from felps and b4rtiN made sure the series went to the third map, taking the second map 16-8.
NiP, though, wasted no time on the decider on Ancient, with device leading from the front once again to see his team through to the semi-finals against G2.
The French team, who were on their last couple of tournaments together, faced the ever-consistent Russian side Gambit in the second quarter-final.
Buoyed by misutaaa and shox on the opening map of Dust2, Vitality demolished the CIS team 16-5.
Gambit, though, fought back on Vertigo, and assisted by interz and Ax1Le, the CIS team managed to take the series into a third map, picking up the second map 16-9.
The decider on Mirage saw Vitality seemingly run away with the map after an 11-4 lead in the opening half, but Gambit made an epic comeback with the help of nafany and shiro to take the series decider to overtime.
The Russians, though, fell short, as the French team saw their talisman ZywOo step up and drop an insane 36 kills to help Vitality set up a date with Virtus.pro in the second semi-final.
The semi-finals will be held on December 11 in Stockholm, with the Grand Final scheduled for the following day.
Although the teams will be in the studios for the LAN event, there won’t be any crowds for IEM Winter 2021, unlike the Major.
NiP will be hoping to avenge their quarter-final loss in the Majors against G2 when they face the French once again in the first semi-final, while the other French outfit of Vitality, who have been playing with no pressure, will look to end their tenure as a roster together with a trophy in the bag.
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