100 Thieves debut in Beijing with win over ENCE

100 Thieves have won their first official match under their new banner by defeating ENCE 2-0 in Group A at IEM Beijing 2019.

A triple kill from a flanking Aaron "⁠AZR⁠" Ward led to a flawless pistol round win for 100 Thieves to kick off Inferno, with Justin "⁠jks⁠" Savage securing three frags on the first rifle round to help his side to a 4-0 start. ENCE put up their first two rounds off the back of a B site hold from Sami "⁠xseveN⁠" Laasanen, but an immediate response from 100 Thieves kept momentum and control of the economy in favour of the Australians.

Multi-frags from Joakim "⁠jkaem⁠" Myrbostad, jks, and Jay "⁠Liazz⁠" Tregillgas continued to pummel the Finnish defense round after round as 100 Thieves gave the Finns no chance to find an opening, leading to an eight-round spree for AZR and company. ENCE were finally able to notch their third round as the half drew to a close, but were unable to muster a comeback from a 12-3 scoreline as 100 Thieves quickly closed out their own map pick with four final rounds following the side swap.

ENCE finally found their footing on Train, taking four rounds in a row on the offense to secure their first lead of the series. A quad kill on a half-buy from Liazz was what put 100 Thieves on the board, but ENCE were looking to get even for the first half of Inferno as they answered back with a five-round spree to pull ahead 9-1. The situation for AZR's side seemed set to take a turn for the worse as their second round win was responded to by ENCE, giving the Finns a 11-2 lead, but 100 Thieves refused to be completely shut out, clawing back two final rounds to give themselves a chance heading on to the T-side.

A stellar showing from Liazz kept 100 Thieves in the running as a pistol round victory put the team in control of the pace of the map, giving them the opportunity to begin clawing back. Helped in part by an ace from jkaem, 100 Thieves once again demolished ENCE's defensive setups as they won ten straight rounds to steal the lead at 14-11. Aleksi "⁠allu⁠" Jalli and company finally put a halt to the streak as they added two rounds to their tally to narrow the deficit, but Liazz was unrelenting as he pulled his team over the finish line with an ace on round 29 to edge out a 16-13 victory.