Ninjas in Pyjamas have been ousted from Thunderpick World Championship in last place following a convincing 0-2 loss to Aurora in Group A's elimination match.
Their early exit from the tournament in Malta has ensured that a difficult decision was made for them.
They arrived from Stockholm fresh off their qualification for the Stake Pulse Beat III playoffs, and had exactly two days to play out TWC without risking forfeits in one tournament or the other.
They're now free to return to Sweden in time for the Stake Pulse quarter-finals, which kick off less than 24 hours following the end of the Aurora affair, on Friday at 10:00 .
Two consecutive losses in Malta, including their opener against Falcons, have nonetheless worsened Ninjas in Pyjamas's qualification chances for PGL Major Singapore, as they continue to teeter above the invite line at about a 70% chance.
The elimination match wasn't much to write home about for them. They had their chances on Cache thanks to a couple of 1v2 clutches from Rasmus "sjuush" Beck, but Aurora still reigned supreme once they caught on on the T side.
As one of NIP's two most common bans in a weakened seven-map pool, Dust2 was a foregone conclusion once XANTARES' 1v3 denied them an entry into the first half, which led to a dominant 9-3 at the side switch.
Rasmus 'sjuush' BeckPast 3 months
Aurora
Ismailcan 'XANTARES' Dörtkardeş
Özgür 'woxic' Eker
Jimi 'Jimpphat' Salo
Damjan 'kyxsan' Stoilkovski
Ali 'Wicadia' Haydar Yalçın
Ashley 'ash' Battye
XANTARES
Ninjas in Pyjamas
Martin 'stavn' Lund
Rasmus 'sjuush' Beck
Karim 'Krimbo' Moussa
Adam 'adamb' Ångström
Kacper 'xKacpersky' Gabara
Richard 'Xizt' Landström
Falcons
Finn 'karrigan' Andersen
Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač
René 'TeSeS' Madsen
Ilya 'm0NESY' Osipov
Maksim 'kyousuke' Lukin
Danny 'zonic' Sørensen