NIP Impact finished at the top of their group in the regular season of ESL Impact Season 7 Europe to qualify for the finals in Dallas.
Local hero Mia “aiM” Cooper, made history last season of ESL Impact by being the first UK player to qualify for an ESL Impact final. Now, she has doubled down as she qualified for the Season 7 finals, making it back-to-back qualifications for the LAN finals.
Before Season 6, NIP Impact had failed to qualify for a LAN finals, but this finally changed after the addition of tenured IGL Ksenia “vilga” Kluenkova. From that point onwards, NIP levelled up and topped their group in the European regular season over the likes of NAVI Javelins.
Even though making the Finals was in itself an achievement, NIP were hunting for a playoffs finish. This, unfortunately, alluded them as aiM and co couldn’t make it out of their group, finishing 5th-6th after losing to BIG EQUIPA in the deciding match.
aiM: “I just love shouting. When we have a sick round I just want to hype everyone up”
ESL Impact is notorious for teams making a lot of roster changes. However, NIP Impact was one of two European teams that didn’t. The other is Imperial Valkyries. It turns out that not making roster changes is sometimes for the best, as both teams qualified from the European regular season joint first.
A big reason for NIP Impact qualifying for ESL Impact Finals last season was the breakout performance from Naomi “Nayomy” Janssen. She was the third-highest-rated player in Europe, with an outlandish 1.37 HLTV rating in the regular season. However, in season 7, Nayomy was outshone by her own twin. Kiara “Qiyarah” Janssen tore up the regular season with a similarly astounding 1.30 HLTV rating. This matched Nayomy‘s previous place as the third-highest-rated player in Europe heading into the Finals for Season 7.
Nayomy importantly didn’t drop off either, she was still the second highest rated player on NIP Impact with an impressive 1.17 HLTV rating.
With individuals stepping up in a big way across their first four games, NIP entered the final week 4-0, having not dropped a single map. The fact they hadn’t lost a single map ended up being their saving grace.
On the final week of the regular season, NIP lost to Eco Warriors, and BIG EQUIPA won their map. This meant that three teams (Imperial Valkyries, NIP Impact and BIG EQUIPA) sat on a 4-1 record.
aiM playing at the ESL Impact Seson 6 Finals – Credit: ESL & Helena-Kristiansson
ESL Impat decides tiebreakers by first doing a head-to-head. If teams have the same number of wins, whoever won the matchup wins the tiebreaker.
This specific scenario was more difficult as NIP beat BIG – BIG beat Eco Warriors – Eco Warriors beat NIP. Due to there being no clear winner from head-to-head, it goes to the map difference between tied teams.
Therefore, because Eco Warriors and BIG EQUIPA both dropped a map in one of their victories, NIP Impact came out on top because they have a higher map difference between the tied participants. This ensures their place at the top of the group and a spot at the ESL Impact Season 7 LAN Finals in Dallas.
As previously mentioned, NIP failed to get out of the group stages in the Season 6 Finals. This time around, with both of the Dutch twins firing on all cylinders, NIP will be eagerly seeking out a playoff birth.
The full team list for ESL Impact Season 7 Finals is:
Imperial Valkyries (Europe)
NIP Impact (Europe)
DMS (Europe)
Protoype Blaze (Europe)
Furia fe (South America)
MIBR fe (South America)
Supernova Comets (North America)
FlyQuest RED (North America)
All 8 teams are LOCKED IN for #ESLImpact Dallas Finals 🤠@imperialesports @NIPCS @DMSEsportsgg @Proto_Blaze @FURIA @MIBR @SNComets @FlyQuestRED pic.twitter.com/i4KD8hR8Na
— ESL Impact (@ESLImpact) April 12, 2025
