Welcome to all esports and Counter-Strike 2 fans! From October 26, 2025, to November 1, 2025, one of the biggest tournaments of this autumn — PGL Masters Bucharest 2025 is taking place. Sixteen teams will compete for the championship title and a prize pool of 625 thousand dollars. Among the matches of the first game day, we highlight HEROIC vs Ninjas in Pyjamas, which promises to be very exciting. While the teams prepare, we’ll share our CS2 betting tips and insights on this match.
How the bookies view it: NiP favorite
Most bookmakers slightly favor NiP in the match against HEROIC at PGL Masters Bucharest 2025. The team has been showing solid progress this season and even took 2nd place at StarLadder StarSeries Fall 2025.
HEROIC form. What result can be expected from HEROIC
Our betting tips and CS2 picks for the HEROIC vs NiP matchup begin with analyzing HEROIC form. In the 2023 season, Heroic looked very solid. They consistently participated in top-tier tournaments and were a serious force on the scene.
HEROIC showed a series of strong performances. Among their best results were 2nd place at IEM Rio 2023, top 4 at BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 and IEM Dallas 2023. The team also won the BLAST Premier: Spring Final 2023 and finished top 3 at the BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2023.
HEROIC roster: nilo, LNZ, yxngstxr, alkarenn, xfl0ud.
At IEM Cologne 2023, HEROIC were among the main contenders for the title. They reached the playoffs but couldn’t get past the first round, losing to Astralis 0-2.
At the Gamers8 tournament, the team debuted against Falcons. Overall, the match ended as expected, although the French team put up a fight, especially on the first map (Mirage — 22:18 in favor of Heroic). The second map was won by Heroic 16:10.
In their previous match, Heroic faced GamerLegion. Despite GL not looking very threatening, they managed to "stress out" the Danes and even took a map, but still lost in the end.
Heroic ended their Gamers8 run with a match against ENCE. The Danish club once again couldn’t beat the Finns and left the major at the top-4 stage.
In the 2024 season, Heroic faced many challenges and didn’t start the year as well as the previous one. They still attended top tournaments, but the results were slightly worse: top 16 at BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2024, top 8 at IEM Chengdu 2024, top 28 at ESL Pro League Season 9, top 6 at IEM Dallas 2024, and top 8 at YaLLa Compass 2024. The series of championship appearances continued: Heroic played at BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2024 (top 12), IEM Cologne 2024 (top 20), and BLAST Premier: Fall Showdown 2024 (top 16). In October 2024, Heroic were close to winning a title, reaching the final of Elisa Masters Espoo 2024, but lost to ENCE in the grand final.
In the Elimination Stage at the Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024, Heroic defeated BIG and FaZe, going 2-0. In the match for playoff qualification, Heroic lost to MongolZ, then to Spirit. However, they managed to reach the main stage of the tournament after defeating the reigning world champions — NaVi. But in their first playoff match, Heroic lost to G2, who knocked them out of the championship race.
The 2025 season began for HEROIC with qualifiers and several S-tier tournament appearances. At BLAST Bounty Spring 2025, they finished in the top 8. Then came IEM Katowice 2025, where the result was even worse — the team finished in the top 20.
HEROIC performed best this year at A-tier tournaments, winning CCT Season 2 Global Finals and MESA Nomadic Masters Spring 2025.
At BLAST Bounty Fall 2025: Closed Qualifier, HEROIC won their first-round match against Complexity Gaming 2-1, but then lost to Aurora Gaming and were eliminated from the tournament, finishing 9-16th.
At the Esports World Cup 2025 in the Round of 16, they unexpectedly defeated Team Spirit 2-1, but later lost to Aurora Gaming again and were eliminated, finishing in the top 8, which can be considered a decent result for them.
At ESL Pro League Season 22, HEROIC unexpectedly finished Stage 1 with a 1-3 record and were eliminated from the tournament, placing 20th–22nd.
NiP form. What result can be expected from NiP
We continue our CS2 tips with analyzing NiP form.
In the first half of the 2023 season, NiP were remembered only for qualifying for the Paris Major 2023 after finishing 7th at European RMR B, as well as finishing in the top 8–11 at the Major itself. The team’s form slightly improved over the course of the season.
Although NiP lost in the Last Chance Qualifiers at Gamers8, they later performed well at BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2023. They confidently advanced to the Fall Final, defeating such giants as Vitality.
NiP approached IEM Cologne 2023 in full combat readiness. There were no roster changes before the tournament, which clearly played in favor of the Swedish club.
In the first round of the Play-In at IEM Cologne 2023, Ninjas in Pyjamas faced Into The Breach. The match ended in an easy NiP win on Ancient with a score of 16-5.
In the match for a spot in the group stage of IEM Cologne 2023, NiP played against MOUZ. The "mice" outplayed the Swedes in class, allowing them to take only 19 rounds in two maps. The tournament ended for NiP in the top 16.
In the 2024 season, NiP drastically changed their roster, essentially carrying out a full rebuild of the team.
NiP roster: r1nkle, ewjerkz, sjuush, xKacpersky, Snappi.
At PGL Major Copenhagen 2024: European RMR A, NiP performed poorly — top 16. Things slightly improved in the second half of the year: top 2 at YaLLa Compass 2024, top 4 at FiReLEAGUE Global Final 2023. Among TIR-S tournaments, the best performance was at BLAST Premier: Fall Groups, where NiP managed to beat C9 and FaZe, but stopped at the top 8 after losing to Astralis.
Later, NiP played at BLAST Premier: Fall Showdown 2024 but failed to repeat the success of the previous BLAST tournament, finishing only top 16. They later placed top 28 at ESL Pro League Season 20 and top 16 at CCT Season 2 European Series #13. They also participated in the Thunderpick World Championship 2024, where they finished top 12 — a result that can hardly be called successful.
In the 2025 season, NiP participated in a large number of various qualifying tournaments. Only one of them ended in victory — PGL Astana 2025: European Qualifiers. However, at PGL Astana 2025 itself, NiP managed to reach the playoffs by winning their group with a 3-2 score — this was the Swedish club’s best result in the past 5 months of the 2025 season.
Ninjas in Pyjamas performed quite well at C and B-tier tournaments. The team won Fragadelphia x LVL UP EXPO 2025, placed 3rd–4th at The Proving Grounds Season 1, and finished 2nd at CCT Season 3 European Series #3.
The team also performed successfully at StarLadder StarSeries Fall 2025. In the upper bracket, NiP claimed victories over OG and parivision but were defeated by NAVI in the Upper Bracket Final. In the Lower Bracket Final, the team beat B8 and advanced to the Grand Final, where they lost to NAVI and finished 2nd in the tournament.
Recent head to head
HEROIC and NiP have faced each other 21 times, with the former winning 11 matches and the latter winning 10. The match at PGL Masters Bucharest 2025 is not a principled one, but both teams are eager to win and start the tournament on a strong note.
Which maps does HEROIC pick and ban most often?
Let’s analyze both teams map statistics to make smart CS2 picks.
Strong maps
- Anubis: high win percentage (63.2%) with 19 matches played.
- Mirage: high win percentage (61.3%) with 31 matches played.
Average results
- Dust2: average winning percentage (51.4%) with 37 matches played.
- Inferno: average win percentage (50.0%) with 4 matches played.
- Train: average win percentage (50.0%) with 12 matches played.
Weak maps
- Ancient: low win percentage (48.5%) with 33 matches played.
- Nuke: low win percentage (48.0%) with 25 matches played.
Which maps does NiP pick and ban most often?
Strong maps
- Nuke: high win percentage (75.0%) with 52 matches played.
- Train: high win percentage (62.1%) with 29 matches played.
- Inferno: high win percentage (58.8%) with 17 matches played.
Average results
- Ancient: average winning percentage (54.1%) with 37 matches played.
- Anubis: average winning percentage (52.6%) with 19 matches played.
Weak maps
- Dust2: low win percentage (45.2%) with 31 matches played.
- Mirage: low win percentage (40.0%) with 15 matches played.
Predicted result of the match between HEROIC and NiP at PGL Masters Bucharest 2025
Most analysts and experts consider NiP the favorites in the match against HEROIC at PGL Masters Bucharest 2025. The team has shown solid progress this season and knows how to defeat strong opponents. However, HEROIC should not be underestimated — the team has played in many top-tier tournaments this season and secured several notable victories. In our opinion, NiP will win this match. Fans can expect a dynamic and exciting game.
Betting prediction: NiP wins.
