ENCE knock AVANGAR out; to New Champions Stage

ENCE are through to the playoffs in Katowice after eliminating AVANGAR, winning Mirage, 16-12, and Train, 16-7.

AVANGAR started out with an A push on Mirage, which Aleksei "⁠Qikert⁠" Golubev was able to clutch out in a 1vs2 afterplant situation to get the Kazakh side ahead. A triple by Jani "⁠Aerial⁠" Jussila with the CZ75 helped ENCE tie it up in the second round. Doubles by Jere "⁠sergej⁠" Salo and Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen in the first round made it 3-1 for the Finns, who made it to 4-1 after Sami "⁠xseveN⁠" Laasanen got a double and stuck a defuse before killing the last terrorist.

The match then evened out as AVANGAR started to rack up rounds, making it 5-5, but the Finns then went on a tear, winning four rounds in a row to take a lead into the second half before AVANGAR could get one last one in to make it 6-9.

ENCE went back to winning ways winning the second pistol round of the map, and racked up rounds as Aleksib had a four-kill round in the first gun round, including a 1vs2 afterplant clutch on B. ENCE were quick to make it to 15, with six match points in their belt, and although AVANGAR managed to win a few more rounds on the defense, it was the Finns who closed it out, 16-12, to take the lead going into their map pick.

AVANGAR kicked Train off with a pistol round win on the CT side, but it was ENCE who took the lead as soon as the gun rounds came around, taking two in a row before forcing the CIS side on an eco. With 3-3 on the board, it was Aleksib who kept his team in the lead by winning a 1vs1 against Qikert. ENCE then started to run away with the match, taking a 7-3 lead after ten rounds. The half then closed out 10-5 following a 1vs2 afterplant clutch by xseveN in the last round.

AVANGAR’s Bektiyar "⁠fitch⁠" Bahytov and Aidyn "⁠KrizzeN⁠" Turlybekov were able to beat sergej and xseveN to take the second pistol round of the map. Once guns were made available to ENCE the Finns started to close in on the win, winning round after round as AVANGAR kept hitting a wall. With the wind in their sails, ENCE went on to seal the deal after linking six rounds in a row, 16-7.