BLAST Finals is easy for ENCE

Finnish esports team ENCE comes to BLAST Premier: Spring Finals 2022 as part of the final eight. Ninjas in Pyjamas, Astralis, Heroic, Copenhagen Flames and many more lost out as ENCE advanced from the Spring European Showdown to the finals. Let's have a look at what ENCE has to offer at BLAST Finals.

It has been a long time since ENCE won an S-Tier CS:GO tournament. However, ENCE has been able to challenge big names from time to time, and in 2022 they have gone one step further. ENCE finished second in both the EPL and IEM Dallas and made the top four at the PGL Major Antwerp 2022.

ENCE’s journey to BLAST Finals

ENCE has been a part of CS:GO esports for a long time now, starting in 2013, and from then on the team went steadily uphill, peaking in late 2018 and in 2019. They won the StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 6, DreamHack Open Winter 2018, Europe Minor - Katowice 2019. After that they finished second in the IEM Katowice Major and DreamHack Masters Dallas 2019.

Following that, however, ENCE's streak of high finishes in major tournaments ended, and they lost their status as one of the best CS:GO teams in the world. While EZ4ENCE was still playing in our CS:GO games, things were no longer so easy for ENCE.

After a two-year break, ENCE started a good run again in 2022. One success after another, a second place at the Pinnacle Winter Series, a fourth place at the Elisa Invitational and the Fantasyexpo EU Champions Spring 2022 Championship, which earned them a spot at the Spring European Showdown. To everyone's surprise, ENCE finished second in ESL Pro League Season 15, starting a new era for the team.

ENCE qualified for the PGL Major Antwerp 2022 and won the Spring European Showdown by knocking out Astralis. PGL Major went incredibly well for them, reaching the top four before being eliminated by NAVI and taking home $70,000. Shortly after, ENCE finished second at IEM Dallas, where Cloud9 defeated them 3-0 in the final.

ENCE squad for the BLAST Finals

ENCE’s new roster was mainly founded in January 2021, and doesn’t include any Finnish players except for their coach sAw. Danish IGL Snappi stands out as the leader of the team, known as a strong entry fragger. His long career includes spells at Astralis, Heroic and OpTic Gaming.

The 21-year-old Israeli player Spinx, the Pole dycha and the Montenegrin maden hold the remaining rifles for their team. The second Polish player in the team, hades, takes the AWP responsibility. hades had the best K/D for ENCE at the European Showdown, which was crucial for his team's unexpected success.

ENCE will face Vitality, OG, FaZe, G2, NAVI, BIG and paiN at the Blast Finals. In Group B, their first challenge will be to make the playoffs by beating BIG, NAVI and OG. They do not look as strong as their opponents and they definitely have some weaknesses, but considering how they were on the road in 2022 and how they managed to surprise everyone again and again, ENCE really should not be overlooked.