The early months of 2019 were perhaps the best time in the lives of ENCE members as they wrote the most beautiful fairy tale in the history of CS in Finland and the CS scene as a whole. They, five players, found each other amid the bleak landscape of CS in their country, with no gaming house, self-training, and competing online from the most obscure qualifiers, all the way to the finals of the IEM Katowice 2019 major.
However, every story must come to an end. By September 2019, rumors of internal strife within ENCE emerged just before the Major, and indeed, IGL Aleksib was kicked while the team was still competing in the StarLadder Major. They brought in suNny, a player who had been sitting on the bench of Mousesports for quite a while, and Allu along with his teammates gradually fell into crisis as they performed poorly and were consistently eliminated from LAN tournaments early. At one point, the win rate of the Finnish players was only … 16.7% over the last three months, with a streak of 8 matches marked by losses.
Struggling in crisis, ENCE decided to recruit Jamppi – the young prodigy of the Finnish CS scene. However, this player was facing a Valve ban from attending the Major due to involvement with a hacked Steam account. Therefore, ENCE followed in Astralis’s footsteps by using a six-player lineup: xseveN would compete in Valve-sponsored tournaments, while Jamppi would participate in other events.
The first tournament Jamppi played for ENCE was DreamHack Masters Spring 2020, and although he had a dream start with a 2-0 victory against Na`vi, ENCE could not maintain their form and lost two consecutive matches to Vitality and NiP. With a record of 1-2 and losing the head-to-head, ENCE was eliminated from the tournament in 13-16th place. Despite not advancing with his teammates, Jamppi left a notable impression with some quality highlights.
After DreamHack Masters Spring 2020, the ENCE members had just one day of rest before continuing to compete in the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown. Perhaps the BO1 format and Jamppi’s time to acclimate and integrate with his new teammates led ENCE to perform significantly better. Throughout the tournament, they did not lose a single match, including two draws against Vitality and NiP. This unbeaten record becomes even more impressive when we look at their list of opponents: Mousesports (#5 hltv), Astralis (#2 hltv), Vitality (#10 hltv), MAD Lions (a team that has been performing quite well recently),…
This positive result not only stemmed from Jamppi alone but also from internal changes within ENCE. After a period of ineffective IGLing, Allu handed the position over to suNny to focus on his role as the team’s main AWP-er, and it seems this has helped him thrive, bringing in crucial round wins for the team. Under suNny’s leadership, other members like Aerial and star player sergej also played more comfortably and showed signs of regaining their former form.
Of course, an online tournament is unlikely to be enough for us to accurately assess a team’s strength, and ENCE will have much work to do as their upcoming opponents will be top teams in the world such as Na`vi, G2 Esports, Liquid, or Astralis,… However, ENCE fans still have the right to hope for a day when the Finnish flag flies high in the elite CS arena and the sound of Ez4ENCE plays after each match.