ENCE through to StarSeries playoffs over FaZe

ENCE made the playoffs at StarSeries i-League Season 7 with a 3-1 record after beating FaZe in three maps, 19-22 on Dust2 and 16-10 on Nuke and Overpass.

The match between ENCE and FaZe kicked off on Dust2, FaZe’s map pick, with a triple by Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač on the defense tipping the scales in his team’s balance on the first round. With double AWPs on the third round, FaZe neutralized the Finns as Ladislav "⁠GuardiaN⁠" Kovács got the entry which NiKo followed up with two of his own. With a couple of saved weapons and a forcebuy, ENCE were able to finally get on the board to make it 1-3 after Aleksi "⁠allu⁠" Jalli and Sami "⁠xseveN⁠" Laasanen got two early frags to make it a 5vs3 afterplant situation.

With 6-4 on the board, Olof "⁠olofmeister⁠" Kajbjer was able to win a 1vs1 afterplant situation against xseveN on A to send ENCE on an eco, but a B rush that olofmeister and GuardiaN weren’t able to stop got the Finns back into it. Following that round, ENCE were able to bring it back and even go on to win the half, 8-7, thanks to a successful A execute on the last round.

Doubles by olofmeister and Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard gave the second pistol to FaZe, as well as a brief lead after winning the second round, but ENCE’s defense when the guns came out put them back in the lead, 11-9, before a slow round by the mixed European team allowed them to exploit the map control and close the gap. ENCE didn’t let up, however, and as the map descended into a chaotic back and forth it was xseveN who got back at olofmeister in a 1vs1 afterplant to get his team on match point. FaZe then won three in a row with their backs against the wall to take it into overtime.

Carrying the momentum, FaZe won three more rounds in a row in the first half of overtime, giving themselves a three round cushion going into the CT side. The lead didn’t prove to be enough, however, as three in a row from ENCE brought it to a second overtime. Finally, it was FaZe who outlasted the Finns on their pick to close the map out, 22-19.

The second map on the ticket was Nuke, which started off with FaZe on the defending side and ENCE attacking. A fast A play put the Finns on the upper site, but a stout defense with doubles by rain and GuardiaN finally had the round going the way of FaZe. After the follow-up, it started to become the ENCE show, as the Finns were able to break through FaZe time and time again all the way to a 7-2 lead. With GuardiaN at the helm, FaZe were able to bring it back, letting ENCE only win one more round until the half.

Finally, ENCE were able to bag a pistol round to keep their lead and further increase it after the first gun round as Jani "⁠Aerial⁠" Jussila and allu both scored doubles. It was finally on the 20th round that FaZe were able to get back on the board as the match started to look like it could slip away. A fast squeaky to B play kept the intensity up as FaZe planted on a 5vs4 prompting ENCE to save. An incredible quad-kill by allu on the upper bomb site then allowed ENCE to inch closer to the finish line, which they were finally able to cross to take it to the decider.

Overpass kicked off with FaZe winning the pistol round and the following as Terrorists, but ENCE went on a winning streak the second they were able to buy with six rounds in a row before trading with FaZe. Forcing ENCE on an eco, FaZe were able to once again get back into it after dominating the economy, bringing to a decent 6-9 before switching sides.

A clean B defense in the pistol round got FaZe right back into it, trailing by only one ahead of ENCE’s first buy. On that first buy, a triple by Jere "⁠sergej⁠" Salo kept ENCE in the driver’s seat as they went on to take a 12-8 lead. ENCE then got on match point and closed it out, 16-10, to book a spot in they playoffs.