ENCE upset fnatic; Astralis beat Complexity in Road to Rio openers

ENCE took out fnatic in a close two-map series while Astralis were able to outlast Complexity in three maps to take their first ESL One: Road to Rio points.

ESL One: Road to Rio’s Europe division kicked off with the Group A round-robin pairings featuring ENCE against fnatic on one side and Astralis facing Complexity on the other. The Finns, currently 24 in the world ranking were able to pull off a big upset against their top-3 rivals, while the favored Astralis managed to edge out Complexity in a three-map affair.

Big news came from the ENCE camp yesterday when they announced the addition of Elias "⁠Jamppi⁠" Olkkonen to the team, creating a six-man roster, and although the 18-year-old couldn’t play in today’s Valve-sanctioned event because of links to a VAC banned account, it did mark the Finnish team’s first victory with Miikka "⁠suNny⁠" Kemppi taking charge as in-game leader.

A fought out Dust2 kicked the series off, ENCE’s pick, a thirty-round map that saw the Finns come out on top. Despite losing the first pistol round on the attacking and going down 0-2, they were the superior team as Terrorists taking an 11-4 lead at the half, and although they needed late-map heroics when down 13-14, the Finns were able to bag three rounds to take the series lead.

ENCE started out Mirage on the defense and were once again able to hit double digits in the first half, this time 10-5, creating a large cushion to work with on the attack. The Finnish side hit match point early on, winning five of six rounds after losing the pistol and eco, but struggled to close it out as fnatic flirted with a comeback before finally faltering 13-16.

Astralis got off to a flying start in their best-of-three, which pitted them against Complexity, as they won the European-American’s map pick, Vertigo, without a hitch. They went up 7-0 on the CT side and only gave up three rounds on their way to a 12-3 half. Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz, Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth and Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander all pitched in with more than 20 kills each as they wrapped up the first map 16-4.

Going into home territory, Nuke, after such a solid performance on Vertigo, Astralis looked poised to bag the series, especially after winning seven rounds on the attack. Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif then denied Kristian "⁠k0nfig⁠" Wienecke a 1vs4 in the second pistol round but a back-and-forth start ended up hurting Astralis who were unable to build a good economy and let the map slip away 13-16 as k0nfig tallied 34 kills by the end of it.

The CT-sides marked the decider map, Train, where Astralis were able to throw their weight around first, ending 11-4 on the defending side, even though Complexity planted the bomb on up to 10 occasions. With six rounds in a row won early in the second half, Benjamin "⁠blameF⁠" Bremer and company started to mount a comeback, making it 10-12 before Astralis could snatch a round off the back of a triple by Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen. The Danes were then finally able to take control of the situation and went on to end the series in their favor, 16-11.