Ninjas In Pyjamas vs SK Gaming

IEM Oakland 2017 Semi Finals,

Welcome to Saturday and the Semi Finals of IEM Oakland. In today's match we have to no surprise, SK Gaming; versus an unlikely Ninja's In Pajamas, or NiP for short. I say unlikely because of their recent performances on both LAN and Online, doing very poorly in both. Sk on the other hand has had great success in both areas of play and seeing them in another semi-final is nothing short of an expectation by now.

Ninja's In Pajamas:

It is very refreshing to watch star players Patrik "f0rest" Lindberg and Christopher "GeT_RiGhT" Alesund, having a revamped team around them and showing a progressive progression, in spite of their lack luster form in recent times. NiP haven't been up to my expectations recently and this year alone they lost one of their long time team mates and commonly known "King of Banana" Adam "friberg" Friberg, due to the team as a whole, underperforming. Friberg is now playing for "Optic Gaming".

Map play so far this even for NiP have been a mixture of four maps in a total of five games. "Overpass" was played twice where they won both times. "Nuke" was played once and won. "Train" was also played once and won. Finally "Cobblestone" is the only map NiP have played this event that have not won, where they played the team they are facing today SK Gaming. Something to keep in mind.

SK Gaming:

SK Gaming are the world number one, and I didn't expect any less of them to make this semi-final. This semi-final is a little different than others in their most recent form, mainly because I feel that they don't actually play NiP that often, and I would think that would throw SK a little off. But being number one, you need to learn to adapt to your surroundings and situations and I believe SK will do just that.

A quick recap to the group stages of SK the many Best of Ones led to SK, playing "Cobblestone" twice, and "Mirage", "Train", and "Overpass" all one time. In their Best of Three battle with Optic however, SK was forced into playing "Inferno" which was Optic's pick. SK won 16-12 showing how diverse they can really be when put up to the challenge. The remaining map played against Optic was "Overpass" where they won 16-2, showing that SK on "Overpass" is not a comfortable opponent for anyone to be facing.

Map Pick/Ban:

NiP have a very big dilemma on their hands in this matchup. In recent form, NiP have only been positive on two maps; "Train" and "Overpass". Which is you recall in my team recap, SK Gaming are very comfortable on both of these maps and have no issue with NiP picking one of these maps to be played against them. If not banned by NiP "Cobblestone" will be an easy pick up for SK. Though with all this information I expect a ban of "Nuke" from SK, followed by a ban "Cobblestone" from NiP, "Overpass" will be picked by "NiP and "Mirage" will be SK's pick. With "Cache and "Inferno" being the likely remaining bans, the remaining decider should be "Train".

Final Thoughts:

SK Gaming show a clear dominance in this matchup. With no maps in NiP's map pool being a weakness for SK I fear that NiP will be done with 2-0, picking into SK's preferred areas of play. I hope the games are close and entertaining, but I see a clear winner in this matchup and that winner is SK Gaming.