ENCE advance to semi-finals at CAC over mousesports

ENCE have defeated MOUZ in a three-map series to lock down a top-four appearance at CS:GO Asia Championships, while Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen's side are set to play in the quarter-finals.

With this triumph, ENCE have secured their first series victory against a top-20 team since adding Miikka "⁠suNny⁠" Kemppi, not only ending that hideous streak at six series in a row but also finishing in the top half for the first time at their fifth tournament with the new lineup.

The jury is still out on MOUZ, meanwhile, who came to the CS:GO Asia Championships fresh off a group stage exit at StarSeries i-League Season 8, and now they have a tough matchup in Evil Geniuses coming up on Saturday in the Chinese event's quarter-finals.

The opening stretches of Mirage made it look like neither side would be able to take control of the match in the first half, as there was just a one-round disparity come the 11th round, with Jere "⁠sergej⁠" Salo clutching two 1v2s for his team while Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool was shining on the other side.

Nonetheless, the end of the half saw ENCE break their opponents and come out with a 10-5 lead on the T side, setting themselves up for what ended up being a comfortable finish on the opening map. After losing the pistol round to David "⁠frozen⁠" Čerňanský's quad-kill, the Finnish squad ruled in the gunrounds with some timely aggression, locking down Mirage at 16-8.

MOUZ quickly got back on their feet on their map choice, Inferno, where a great start saw them run away with the first half thanks to some early openings, while ENCE struggled to defend in disadvantages apart from a 2v5 win from Jani "⁠Aerial⁠" Jussila and suNny. Down seven rounds at halftime, the Finns made a good effort in coming back, keeping the European mixture on a low economy, but karrigan's men were still able to win every other gunround with an eco in between before eventually closing the map with a three-round streak at 16-11, equalizing the series.

Dust2 saw karrigan's team get ahead early as CT, but their advantage quickly disappeared after ENCE turned things around with a pistol round win in the seventh round, going on to force their opponents to save multiple weapons in four consecutive rounds. That set up a close finish to the first half that saw Aleksi "⁠allu⁠" Jalli close it with a 1v1 clutch for a total of seven on his team's board.

After switching sides, MOUZ kept things close but lost a couple of key advantages, as ENCE managed to turn a couple of swing rounds on their heads. With a 3v5 victory and a 1v3 from Aerial, they staved off what could have been a down-to-the-wire affair, winning the deciding map 16-11.