The Brazilians bested Ninjas in Pyjamas in two maps despite Kaike "⁠KSCERATO⁠" Cerato having a quiet game.

FURIA have qualified for the lower-bracket final at ESL Pro League S18 after their win against Ninjas in Pyjamas. The Brazilian squad did so in a two-map affair, securing Mirage (16-12) and Nuke (16-12) to put themselves one victory away from the playoffs.

Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo and company now move on to the lower-bracket final against Astralis, while Ninjas in Pyjamas are set to face GamerLegion in the Last Change Stage.

Date	Matches
ESL Pro League Season 18
02/09/2023	Astralis16:30 FURIA	Match
02/09/2023	GamerLegion19:30 Ninjas in Pyjamas	Match

FURIA have been improving at the Maltese tournament with every game. They lost 0-2 to Movistar Riders in their opener before meeting expectations against Grayhound in a 2-0 victory. Ninjas in Pyjamas was a tougher test than the Australians, but the Brazilians were comfortable in the series despite KSCERATO's anonymous game. Andrei "⁠arT⁠" Piovezan picked up the slack on Mirage with his 29 kills, while Yuri "⁠yuurih⁠" Santos and FalleN topped the board on Nuke.

FalleN, who joined the broadcast after their victory, was full of praise for arT. "This guy here, always getting the entry frags, gotta give him props," he commended his new teammate. "Everyone is super aware of the things that can happen in the server. You have to be very creative to come up with something that can catch people off-guard and that's something arT has some different ideas than everyone else, which is very helpful."

The series started on Mirage, where the first half was as close as possible, with Ninjas in Pyjamas securing an 8-7 lead. FURIA then shifted into a higher gear and showed their proficiency on the offensive side, racking up nine rounds to secure a 16-12 victory, courtesy of arT's 1.58-rated performance.

The next map was Nuke, where a back-and-forth first half once again ended 8-7 in favor of Ninjas in Pyjamas. FURIA started dominating proceedings as soon as they got to a gun round on their CT half, however, with FalleN hitting crisp shots on the AWP to lead his team's resurgence and put his team one victory away from the playoffs.

Ninjas in Pyjamas	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Kristian 'k0nfig' Wieneckek0nfig	36 - 37	-1	69.9	1.01
Fredrik 'REZ' SternerREZ	35 - 40	-5	73.5	1.01
Daniil 'headtr1ck' Valitovheadtr1ck	31 - 27	+4	53.2	0.95
Ludvig 'Brollan' BrolinBrollan	33 - 40	-7	74.2	0.93
Hampus 'hampus' Poserhampus	27 - 37	-10	56.4	0.83

FURIA	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Yuri 'yuurih' Santosyuurih	44 - 28	+16	78.9	1.26
Andrei 'arT' PiovezanarT	41 - 40	+1	84.2	1.14
Gabriel 'FalleN' ToledoFalleN	38 - 30	+8	66.8	1.10
Kaike 'KSCERATO' CeratoKSCERATO	26 - 28	-2	61.9	0.98
Marcelo 'chelo' Cespedeschelo	32 - 37	-5	65.2	0.97