
The PGL Astana qualifiers are wrapping up and the European event is wrapping with an interesting matchup between Ninjas in Pyjamas and Metizport.
Ninjas in Pyjamas has fallen far from its heyday both in terms of results and its roster. Metizport is the definitive top Swedish team at this point, even if that isn’t saying much these days. But NiP’s roster led by former ENCE captain Marco “Snappi” Pfeiffer still might make up the better overall team. So how should bettors approach this matchup?+
Ninjas in Pyjamas will play against Metizport in a best-of-five match on April 1, 2025 in the PGL Astana European qualifiers. The match is the grand final of the qualifier and will determine which team advances to the actual tournament.
Ninjas in Pyjamas was placed into group D for the PGL Astana qualifiers, arguably the toughest group. The team’s road started successfully with wins over Passion UA and JANO Esports, but the team was then sent to the lower bracket after taking a loss to old rival Fnatic. NiP beat AMKAL Esports to stay alive and managed to beat Fnatic in the rematch.
This earned NiP a spot in the playoffs, where it faced B8. Ninjas in Pyjamas took a hard-fought win over B8 to advance to the finals with this roster:
Throughout 2025, NiP has been at its best on Inferno, Nuke, and Train. The team has its best winrate on Inferno at 5-1, but it has the greater body of work on Nuke, going 13-4. Ninjas in Pyjamas has a roughly even record across all four of the other active duty maps.
Metizport was placed into group C for the PGL Astana qualifiers, defeating Sangal Esports, 9pandas, Next Level, and BetBoom Team to move forward. In the playoffs, Metizport scored an emphatic 2-0 victory over Nemiga Gaming. That’s an impressive feat given how Nemiga was holding its own, and even beating, top-20-ranked teams not long ago.
The full Metizport roster for the PGL Astana qualifiers includes these players:
In 2025, Metizport has been at its best on Nuke, going 5-2 across seven matches. Its most successful map, however, has been Anubis, going 8-5 across 13 matches. On the flipside, the team has a .500 record on Inferno and Ancient while losing the majority of its matches on Mirage and Dust 2.
Ninjas and Pyjamas and Metizport have faced off four times in Counter-Strike 2 history. The record stands at 2-2, but the first three matches don’t really count for bettors on this match. NiP hit the reset button on its roster in January 2025, and its current lineup has played just one match against Metizport. That game ended with a 2-1 victory for the Ninjas.
Ninjas in Pyjamas is regarded as a decided favorite against Metizport by bookies, with the odds standing at 1.54 against 2.38. That said, this is no easy opponent for NiP.
Ninjas in Pyjamas will likely beat Metizport and advance to PGL Astana. All signs point to this being a tough match, but NiP should be able to get it done.
Think you know who will win? Place your bets here!
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