The end of last year was a tough one for Ninjas in Pyjamas. After a very good start, during which they consistently won all events that came their way, a challenger arose in the form of Titan, which grew stronger and made their lives a lot harder. After a successful Spring Season of EMS One, they lost both the Summer and Fall Seasons to Titan.

It was therefore a huge relief for Ninjas in Pyjamas to beat Titan on the way to reach the Grand Final of DreamHack Winter, even though they ultimately lost the deciding match to Fnatic. This however, was about four months ago and GeT_RiGhT and his team have done a lot of preparation for EMS One Katowice. All official matches but the DreamHack Invitational Final against Titan have been victorious, and they're definitely doing everything it takes to break their unlucky major tournament streak.​
 

Team	Latest accomplishments
Ninjas in Pyjamas	2nd at DH Invitational 2nd at DHW 4th at ESWC
LDLC.com	5th-8th at DHW
Vox Eminor	Invite spot for SEA 4th at Beat it! 2013
3DMAX	Winner Nordic Qualifer 3rd at DHW Groupstage

With some bad blood left behind, LDLC and Clan-Mystik had some transfers right in the middle of the qualification for EMS One Katowice. apEX and KQLY joined forces, with the remains of Recursive leaving KennyS and GMX as well as Clan-Mystik with no other option than to complete the qualification together. After dust settled, Clan-Mystik made it through the qualifiers and LDLC used the time to prepare for Katowice. Their results are pretty promising so far, and it will be interesting to see what the French have got in store for Katowice. If they can keep this level of play up and bring those two games they played against Fnatic over the last couple of weeks, they might be able to challenge NiP for the first spot in their group.

The Australian team of Vox Eminor are the unknown entity in this group. The team has only competed on the European scene twice so far. At Beat it!, they managed to take the fourth spot right behind Titan, Fnatic and SK Gaming. At DreamHack Winter they tried their luck at qualifying via the BYOC tournament but dropped out after facing Xapso in the quarter final. Now they have the invite spot for the SEA region and can compete with the best teams around. Expecting wonders from them would perhaps be a bit much, but maybe they can take this chance to step closer to the level that CS:GO is played on in Europe. However, you never know what such a big chance can mean to a team - maybe they will manage to surprise some of those who questioned their invitation.

Titan's Nathan "NBK" Schmitt on Group B:

"This group is going to be a clash of styles. These four teams have got extremely different play styles, and the games will be explosive. NiP are the almighty ones, relying on amazing individualities. LDLC will try to get their best tactics out of their panel, while 3DMAX will settle their game and gla1ve will scream on their opponents. Last but not least, Vox Eminor will definitely surprise as they are traveling from so far to fight as much as possible to get out of the group. In the end, I probably see NiP first of the group, with LDLC as runner ups, giving NiP a good run for their money."

The final team on Group B, 3DMAX, is still waiting for their big hit. Under the flag of n!faculty they only managed to place third during group stage at DreamHack Winter, what was not as bad as it sounds. With both Titan and compLexity in their group, they had to handle two later semi finalists. Now with their new organization and a new group to play, the Danes might have a chance to go through and surpass the third or fourth spot and challenge LDLC for what most think is 'their' ticket to the playoffs.