NIP vs OG Preview and Predictions: BLAST Premier Spring European Showdown 2023
| Tags: CS2
| Author The Old One
We get one step closer to the BLAST’s Spring Final with the BLAST Premier Spring European Showdown match between NIP and OG
It’s been a terrific year for CSGO — and indeed Counter-Strike as a whole — so far with a slew of highly successful events already having taken place. Now we begin inching towards the BLAST Premier Spring Final with the European Showdown, which will add one more team to the lineup of that event while also dishing out some BLAST Premier points. The knockout-format qualifier will start off with Ninjas in Pyjamas taking on OG, and if you’re looking to earn some extra cash with CSGO betting or just want to know more about the teams, here’s our preview.
Contents
Ninjas in Pyjamas
It’s been a rough few months for NIP. They were a mid-level team that would occasionally punch above their weight, but lately all they’ve been punching is the apparent brick wall they seem to have built around themselves. Try as they might, they can’t seem to catch a break, and even a couple of much-needed roster changes haven’t brought them success. There could be drastic action taken if they fail to get past the Spring Showdown, so expect them to give it all at this event — which might get them a pass against what seems like a weakened OG.
Players
Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke
- HLTV Rating: 1.08
- Impact Rating: 1.19
- Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 69.9%
- Average Damage Round: 80.7
- Kills Per Round: 0.75
Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen
- HLTV Rating: 0.95
- Impact Rating: 1.01
- Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 71.1%
- Average Damage Round: 74.0
- Kills Per Round: 0.64
Fredrik “REZ” Sterner
- HLTV Rating: 1.03
- Impact Rating: 1.10
- Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 70.7%
- Average Damage Round: 77.9
- Kills Per Round: 0.70
Danyyl “headtr1ck” Valitov
- HLTV Rating: 1.15
- Impact Rating: 1.08
- Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 73.6%
- Average Damage Round: 77.7
- Kills Per Round: 0.74
Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin
- HLTV Rating: 1.11
- Impact Rating: 1.18
- Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 70.5%
- Average Damage Round: 79.0
- Kills Per Round: 0.72
Player To Watch
A lot of people might opt for hard-hitting rifler k0nfig, but we’ll pin our hopes on his colleague Brollan instead.
OG
The absence of captain Nemanja “nexa” Isaković seems to really be taking a toll on OG. The team had risen to the point of being able to challenge the very best teams, but things have looked much less optimistic since the aforementioned leader went inactive for personal reasons. The young side will be continuing with ex-teammate and current stand-in niko once more, who was rather unimpressive at the recently-concluded ESL Pro League Season 17 where OG failed to get out of the Group Stage. They’ll have to have worked things out in order to beat NIP.
Players
Shahar “flameZ” Shushan
- HLTV Rating: 1.12
- Impact Rating: 1.15
- Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 71.8%
- Average Damage Round: 79.2
- Kills Per Round: 0.71
Nikolaj “niko” Kristensen
- HLTV Rating: 1.02
- Impact Rating: 1.04
- Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 71.3%
- Average Damage Round: 75.0
- Kills Per Round: 0.69
Adam “NEOFRAG” Zouhar
- HLTV Rating: 1.15
- Impact Rating: 1.22
- Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 71.2%
- Average Damage Round: 84.6
- Kills Per Round: 0.74
Maciej “F1KU” Miklas
- HLTV Rating: 1.06
- Impact Rating: 1.06
- Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 69.5%
- Average Damage Round: 76.8
- Kills Per Round: 0.69
Abdulkhalik “degster” Gasanov
- HLTV Rating: 1.20
- Impact Rating: 1.23
- Kill/Assist/Survived/Traded: 72.7%
- Average Damage Round: 78.5
- Kills Per Round: 0.78
Player to Watch
There’s plenty of talent on OG, but they seem to be far less incisive without nexa’s big brain being around to guide them. As such, we’ll go with degster as our player to watch on the team.
Ninjas in Pyjamas vs OG Preview and Predictions: BLAST Premier Spring European Showdown 2023
It’s a battle between two weak or weakened sides, but we’ll go with a 2-1 win for OG since they’ve hopefully resolved their EPL issues.
Maps
The two teams have many favored maps in common, and we’re predicting games on Ancient, Inferno, and Mirage.
Score
Map 1: NIP to win with OG >11.
Map 2: OG to win with NIP >12.
Map 3: OG to win with NIP <11.
Top Fragger
Once again, we’ll go with degster as the most potent killer of the bunch.
Ninjas in Pyjamas vs OG: BLAST Premier Spring European Showdown 2023 Match Links
Keep an eye on BLAST's Twitch or YouTube channels, with coverage set to begin at 10:30 ET/09:30 CST/07:30 PT.
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When he's not sighing at sub-standard teammates in Dota 2 and CS2, The Old One is writing about those two games (among other things). If you see his name around the site too many times for your liking, well, the guy just never stops writing. Yes, we've tried an intervention.