CS:GO legend Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz made his debut today for Ninjas in Pyjamas at Flashpoint Three, the first Regional Major Ranking (RMR) event for Europe in 2021. But his first match against Anonymo didn’t go according to plan.
It seemed like everything was in NiP’s control after they beat Anonymo in the first map of the series, Overpass. Dev1ce, the Swedish team’s biggest signing ever, was dominant as always, but it all went wrong for NiP on Nuke and Mirage. They were reverse swept by the Polish team, who’s ranked No. 44 in HLTV’s world rankings, not exactly close to their No. 13 adversaries.
Dev1ce did his part and tried to carry NiP (70-53 K/D ratio after three maps). But at the end of the day, Anonymo were simply the better team today. The project is headlined by two veterans, Janusz “Snax” Pogorzelski, who’s most well known for his years on Virtus Pro, and Paweł “innocent” Mocek, who’s represented several local and international teams over the years.
NiP won their map pick, Overpass, 16-3. But Anonymo showed some signs of promise on Nuke (16-13) and gained momentum to take down the Ninjas in the last map of the series, Mirage. It was a nail-biting game, with NiP pushing it to overtime even though they were in a three-vs-four situation in the 30th round. Anonymo didn’t give up, however, and beat the Swedish giants 19-17.
Wiktor “mynio” Kruk was Anonymo’s savior, topping the scoreboard with 71 frags (one more than dev1ce) and 58 deaths. He was the only player on his team who finished with a positive K/D and even hit an ace on Mirage.
Even though the game delivered plenty of action, it had problems from the beginning. NiP’s CEO Hicham Chahine said his team played with massive packet loss (30-40 percent) during the two first maps. “We are connecting to other servers with no loss,” Chahine said. “This game should have been stopped on map 1. Esports in 2021.”
Chahine wasn’t the only one who displayed his disappointment with the FACEIT servers. Dev1ce also used his Twitter to comment on the issues. “We lose to Anonymo, very shitty conditions and I must state my absolute fucking disappointment with FACEIT’s amateur handling of the situation,” the Danish AWPer said.
Although this wasn’t the debut that many of NiP’s fans dreamed of, they can’t possibly be angry with dev1ce. The star player delivered everything he could and even produced a beautiful highlight on Overpass where he killed four players with the USP in the second pistol round. He’ll most likely continue to prove his value. The rest of the team, though, will have to assist him in their next match.
NiP and dev1ce will play at Flashpoint Three again on Sunday, May 16 against the loser of FunPlus Phoenix vs. HYENAS.
