Ninjas in Pyjamas have knocked BetBoom out of the Esports World Cup following a commanding 2-0 victory in Paris, powered by an exceptional showing from Kacper "xKacpersky" Gabara.
Despite climbing to twelfth in HLTV's global rankings after their IEM Cologne playoff run, BetBoom have faltered since reinstating Pavel "S1ren" Ogloblin in place of Timur "FL4MUS" Marev this season. Team captain Kirill "Boombl4" Mikhailov didn't mince words after the defeat, admitting on stream that it was "a crazy bad tournament" and highlighting their slow starts, saying they only find their rhythm ten rounds deep.
Facing Marco "Snappi" Pfeiffer's signature aggressive T-side setups on Nuke and Anubis, BetBoom had no response. The match saw three consecutive one-sided halves, leaving them trailing 9-3 on the second map. Though Aleksandr "zorte" Zagodyrenko sparked a brief comeback with a clutch 1v3, xKacpersky refused to let the match slip away, maintaining relentless pressure on B site even as Roman "n0te" Hamze struggled on A.
Questions had emerged about xKacpersky's form following underwhelming performances at CAC and XSE Pro League. After a rough opening match against Legacy, the young star silenced doubters with a monstrous 2.70 rating on map one—his best Big Event map performance—followed by a 2.12 rating on map two. He closed the series with 49 eliminations, 126 average damage per round, and an eleven-point-seven percent swing.
Teammate Rasmus "sjuush" Beck praised the dominant display, noting they "completely stomped them aside from CT Anubis" despite losing three of four pistol rounds. He highlighted xKacpersky's instinctive play, mentioning nobody even noticed his ace round on Anubis.
NIP advance to face Astralis in a crucial playoff qualification match featuring six Danish players, including Martin "stavn" Lund against his former organization.
