Heretics move on to Masters Europe semis with 2-1 win over NiP

In one of the most anticipated matchups of Masters Europe so far, Team Heretics faced off against Ninjas in Pyjamas with a spot in the semifinals on the line. Both teams came into this on different trajectories, with many calling NiP the best team in Europe while Heretics had been good but somewhat unconvincing as of late. Ultimately, though, it was the latter’s flexibility and versatility that won the day, giving them a 2-1 victory. NiP will play Acend tomorrow with elimination or a spot in the semis on the line.

For Split, Heretics put Dustyn "niesoW" Durnas into the roster for the first time all Masters, playing Reyna while Ruben "RUBINO" Villarroel was the odd man out. Throughout this first half, there were only a few rounds in which niesoW WOULDN’T get the first kill, consistently picking off players by playing different angles around mid. NiP only took 3 rounds their entire attack, one of which was a freak eco thanks to Egor "chiwawa" Stepanyuk, as Heretics dominated.

Moving on to their attack, Heretics took the pistol and the follow-up, putting the score at 11-3. Kévin "akukhoS" Droolans had a good round to give them some momentum, but it was never going to be enough, and Heretics closed the map out 13-5.

Despite the good performance, Heretics stuck with their plan and niesoW was replaced with Ruben "RUBINO" Villarroel for Bind. NiP thrived in some of the chaotic early rounds, picking up a 4-0 lead, but Heretics would come back with some aggression of their own. By the end of the half, they had been a bit figured out, and the score was tied 6-6.

While NiP would start the second half out ahead as well, it was some incredible Sheriff play from Žygimantas "nukkye" Chmieliauskas that stole the spotlight.

Rounds would continue to go back and forth, with nukkye finding a nice lurk one round and Christian "lowel" Garcia Antoran 1v4 clutching another one. It was incredibly close, but it ultimately went 13-11 in the favour of NiP.

Ascent was the final map, and Heretics kept RUBINO in to finish out the match. The first half was quite back-and-forth, with more heroics coming out from nukkye’s Reyna. Yaroslav "Jady" Nikolaev on Sage would have a very good half, ultimately clutching a 1v1 to make the half 7-5 for Heretics.

Moving on to their attack though, Heretics would begin to dominate. Late lurks from nukkye were crucial, and they showed multiple different paces and styles to systematically pick apart the NiP defense. NiP would only get a single round as the map went to Heretics 13-8, and the series 2-1.

VCT 2021 - Stage 1 - Europe Masters

Team Heretics

2

X

1

Ninjas in Pyjamas

Group A - Winners Match, Best of 3 - March 18, 2021 - 4:00PM

13

Split

5

11

Bind

13

13

Ascent

6

Team Heretics

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

niesoW

1.42

307

19/13/3

+6

1.46

0.0%

167.4

30%

88%

7

1

nukkye

1.39

313

65/44/9

+21

1.48

0.0%

205.5

22%

63%

15

9

lowel

1.17

205

48/31/21

+17

1.55

0.0%

122.1

26%

50%

2

2

AvovA

1.00

202

41/35/19

+6

1.17

0.0%

120.1

18%

36%

5

9

pAura

0.88

192

42/38/6

+4

1.11

0.0%

113.2

26%

29%

2

5

RUBINO

0.55

112

15/26/9

-11

0.58

0.0%

76.3

40%

25%

1

3

Ninjas in Pyjamas

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

Jady

1.17

235

53/40/12

+13

1.33

0.0%

153.6

34%

43%

3

4

akukhoS

0.97

198

41/47/19

-6

0.87

0.0%

127.4

23%

55%

6

5

rhyme

0.72

174

33/42/13

-9

0.79

0.0%

102.3

26%

50%

8

8

chiwawa

0.71

180

34/50/8

-16

0.68

0.0%

114.1

27%

54%

7

6

CREA

0.61

148

26/51/19

-25

0.51

0.0%

96.9

37%

36%

5

9