ENCE ease past Vitality to secure Legend status

ENCE are the first team through to the StarLadder Major playoffs following a convincing 2-0 victory over Vitality.

The first progression match of this stage of the Major kicked off on Nuke, one of ENCE's best maps and Vitality's worst. It was thus not a surprise to see the Finnish side get off to a very strong start on the Terrorist side as they raced to a 5-1 lead. Vitality then found some much-needed stability and put together a string of rounds on the back of a 1v3 clutch by Alex "⁠ALEX⁠" McMeekin, with the half coming to an end with just one round separating the two sides.

ENCE further added to their lead by winning the second half pistol following a trio of Aleksi "⁠allu⁠" Jalli kills, but there was no follow-up as Vitality rallied back on a force-buy. The French side rode that momentum to get the lead for the first time in the game, but it would not last. A flawless first gun round set ENCE up for a dream run that only ended with the team hitting 16 rounds, with Jani "⁠Aerial⁠" Jussila setting a new record in Majors for the highest involvement in opening kills.

Vitality battled back by taking the opening two rounds on Dust2, but once ENCE had money in the bank, the entire dynamic of the game changed. After being limited to a 0.46 impact on Nuke, Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut continued to be frustrated on this second map as he struggled to find space to operate, resulting in an 11-4 scoreline in favor of the Nordic side.

ENCE piled even more pressure on their opponents by taking the second-half pistol, but just like on Nuke, Vitality responded immediately on a force-buy. The Frenchmen's comeback attempt would be cut short by an ace from allu that included a 1v2 clutch, leaving ALEX's troops in disarray and without the financial resources to prevent defeat, their first in this stage of the tournament.