ENCE move on to EPL playoffs as Group A concludes

The European side around Marco "⁠Snappi⁠" Pfeiffer advanced to the bracket stage alongside HEROIC and Vitality.

Group A of ESL Pro League Season 14 concluded on Friday, with ENCE clinching the final playoffs spot that was still on the line in the group after HEROIC and Vitality had secured first and second place already in the fourth round of matches on Thursday.

Snappi's team headed into their last duel against Bad News Bears as clear favorites and confirmed that status, dealing the North American side their fifth 0-2 loss with convincing victories on Overpass and Nuke. With the win, ENCE finished the round-robin stage with three wins to their name — an impressive record in their first outing in a tier-one tournament since they made it to the playoffs of ESL Pro League Season 13 in March.

ENCE made it to the playoffs in their first tier-1 tournament since March

Meanwhile, HEROIC took down local rivals Astralis in comfortable fashion and rounded out the group undefeated, effectively helping eliminate the Danish powerhouse in their debut tournament with newest addition Philip "⁠Lucky⁠" Ewald. Although the final two matches left a lot to be desired, the 18-year-old had held his own throughout the group stage in his first taste of top-tier competition, in the end averaging the second-highest rating in the team; 1.00.

The dominant run in the round robin will come as an important boost of confidence to HEROIC, after the Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller-led side finished outside of the playoffs at the last two tournaments of the previous season, IEM Summer and IEM Cologne.

With Vitality winning the last encounter of the group against Spirit, in which the two teams played for nothing other than bragging rights and $5,000 additional prizemoney awarded for every win in the round robin, the final standings of Group A look as follows:

Group A

TEAM

M

P

HEROIC

5

15

Vitality

5

12

ENCE

5

9

Astralis

5

6

Spirit

5

3

Bad News Bears

5

0

Group B is set to follow, kicking off on Saturday with the first round, which will see G2 take on heavy underdogs SINNERS in the opener, before Virtus.pro take on OG and Complexity face FORZE.

The second group of ESL Pro League Season 14 promises to be a close affair, with G2 the only clear favorite among a couple of inconsistent challengers, an incomplete Complexity side, and two teams who are looking to prove themselves among the best. To learn more about each team and what the storylines are going into the group, you can read Arron "king_dempz" Dempsey's preview of Group B.