[CS2] Spirit come back from 10-3 down to advance in Astana over NIP

[Hatsepsuta]

NIP performed above expectations but still fell to the tournament favorites.

Tournament favorites Spirit continued their flawless run through PGL Astana
by defeating Ninjas in Pyjamas 2-0 in the quarter-final.

After a straightforward 13-8 victory on NIP's pick of Train, 
Marco "⁠Snappi⁠" Pfeiffer's side surprised by storming to a 10-3 lead on Spirit's stronghold of Dust2.
In 2025, only Falcons and Vitality have beaten Sergey "⁠hally⁠" Shavaev's squad on the map but
NIP came two rounds away from adding their name to that list.

A Myroslav "⁠zont1x⁠" Plakhotia Five-SeveN triple, however,
turned the tides and Spirit erected a wall on CT side to maintain their 100% win-rate in Kazakhstan
ahead of a semi-final against FURIA tomorrow.

That's now eight map wins in a row for Spirit, as they attempt to turn the $1.25m tournament
into a procession given their status as the sole top-four team in attendance. So far, so good.

Job done: NIP climb to 25th on VRS with QF run

chopper: "We're not in excellent shape"

It's obvious that Spirit and everyone else in Kazakhstan expect them to lift the trophy on Sunday.
The gulf is so big in the team list that Leonid "⁠chopper⁠" Vishnyakov could honestly tell James "⁠BanKs⁠" Banks the team were
"not in excellent shape" whilst winning all eight of the maps they have played in Astana.

It remains to be seen whether a team can push Spirit like Ninjas in Pyjamas did on Dust2 with the conversion to close.

 

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