ENCE edge past LeftOut in London

ENCE have moved on to Group A's winners' match at the Europe Minor Championship following a hard-fought 16-14 win over LeftOut.

Starting out on the Terrorist side, LeftOut took the lead in the game with a fast B execute thanks to a quad-kill from Fabien "⁠kioShiMa⁠" Fiey. After losing both eco rounds, ENCE responded in gun play, putting together a small run of rounds to restore parity at 3-3.

The Finnish team would not be able to take the lead, however, as LeftOut stormed through the B site and held it with a trio of headshots by Alexandre "⁠xms⁠" Forté. With a very basic strat book, the Frenchmen relied on precise executions and fast trades to break through the ENCE defence, and went on another great run to bring the scoreline to 9-3.

ENCE brought that streak to an end with a 1v2 clutch from Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen, and followed that up with a shutdown on short. They would not be able to make it a 9-6 half, though, as Adil "⁠ScreaM⁠" Benrlitom opened up the B site with two fast kills to give LeftOut their 10th round on the board.

ENCE got off to a flying start in the second half and won nine rounds without response to hit 14 rounds and get within touching distance of map point. A successful A retake in the nick of time then put LeftOut on the board for the first time in the half.

That round swung the tide back in LeftOut's favour as the Frenchmen set up a very tight defence and equalised the score, 14-14. However, ENCE would not let the game slip away and hit match point with a triple-kill from Jani "⁠Aerial⁠" Jussila, leaving the ex-EnVyUs players with no money in the bank to force overtime.