ENCE move past Windigo into EU Minor playoffs

ENCE have sealed passage to the double-elimination playoffs at the Europe Minor Championship after defeating Windigo 2-0 in Group B's winners' match.

The decider encounter kicked off on Mirage, ENCE's map pick, with the Finnish side taking control of proceedings right from the start. The StarSeries Season 6 champions still made a couple of mistakes - one of them a lost anti-eco that could have given Windigo a footing in the game -, but they were far too hot for the fragile Bulgarian defence to handle for the majority of the half, cruising to an 11-4 lead.

ENCE further added to their lead in the second half after winning a chaotic pistol round. The game was threatening to turn into a lopsided affair, but Windigo proved that they were not out of it and went on an impressive run to bring the deficit to 11-13. Their efforts were in vain, though, as ENCE tightened up their defence to win the last three rounds they needed to run out victorious.

The next game was played on Inferno, ENCE's worst map in the last three months. Many expected to see a struggling Finnish side, but the Nordic side gave a fantastic account of themselves, jumping out to an early lead on the back of some great individual actions by Aleksi "⁠allu⁠" Jalli, who racked up 14 kills in the first six rounds of the game.

Windigo still tried to react, but any round they took was immediately countered with a round by ENCE, who went into the break up 13-2.

ENCE piled more misery on their opponents by winning the pistol round following three entry kills by Jani "⁠Aerial⁠" Jussila on the A site in the pistol round. The Bulgarians would only be able to respond in the 18th round, but at that point the Finnish side were already too far ahead for the CTs to have a real fighting chance.