ENCE topple FaZe for first win at Pro League

The IEM Katowice winners didn't get the start they were hoping for.

ENCE took down FaZe 2-1 in the battle of international squads on the first day of ESL Pro League S15 group B. The victory will be of great use to the Finnish organization as the group is expected to be highly contested, with Vitality, FURIA, Outsiders, and Sprout also vying for the three playoffs spots.

Marco "⁠Snappi⁠" Pfeiffer agreed with the sentiment in the post-match interview, saying that he thinks "this is the toughest group at EPL, we have five teams that could get to the top three." Speaking about ENCE's focus following a 13-16th place finish at IEM Katowice, the captain revealed that their main focus was "getting Maden as comfortable as possible".

The Montenegrin posted just 0.94 rating for the series, a far cry from his carry performances in FunPlus Phoenix, but the likes of Lotan "⁠Spinx⁠" Giladi, Olek "⁠hades⁠" Miskiewicz, and Snappi stepped up to enable the upset victory. On the other side, the loss will put a damper on FaZe's confidence, as they weren't able to live up to the billing of the reigning Katowice champions in their first match with Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard back in the active lineup.

All smiles for ENCE after a big opening win

ENCE found success and two early rounds to start off the Terrorist side of their map pick, Nuke, but rounds were hard to come by after the 4-2 scoreline. FaZe's defences held strong as they pushed to a 9-2 lead before Paweł "⁠dycha⁠" Dycha found crucial kills in back-to-back rounds to bring ENCE back into it. FaZe were on pistols aside from Helvijs "⁠broky⁠" Saukants's AWP for the next one, but the Katowice MVP stepped up to steal away the round and propel his team to a 11-4 lead.

The Latvian wasn't able to clutch out a 1v3 after the switch and ENCE started to pull back in what looked like a mirror of the first half. Things were looking good for a comeback from Snappi's team, but another saved AWP, this time used by both broky and Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool, gave FaZe the 14th from where they were able to close out, 16-13.

rain's return wasn't as smooth as FaZe would've hoped

Sporadic mix-buy wins were what FaZe was limited to for the first 11 rounds of Dust2 (8-3), but their T side found fire after a Mid-B split broke ENCE's economy. Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen's men didn't fail to capitalize on the opportunity and reached a 7-8 score before the switch.

It was all for nothing, though, as FaZe's defense wasn't up to par. ENCE went on the roll on the T side, and even when their opponents had openings or secured multikills, ENCE came out on top. Eight rounds in a row resulted in a 16-7 victory during which Spinx stood out with 22-11 K-D, five opening kills, and a 1v3 clutch.

Read more

Twistzz: "I felt that jks' time on Complexity was an inaccurate representation of what he can do"

Snappi came alive on Overpass, securing multikills and a big 1v3 clutch to push his team to a 7-2 T-side lead. On the other side, broky was once again the man to bring FaZe back into the game, posting 21 kills on the defense to enable a 7-8 recovery. His team carried that momentum into the second half and reached a 13-11 lead, but ENCE were more comfortable in the chaos that ensued in the final rounds of the game, chaining five together to conclude the affair 16-13.

ESL Pro League Season 15Best of 3

FaZe

Matchpage

1

2

16th March 2022

ENCE

16

Nuke

13

7

Dust2

16

13

Overpass

16

FaZe	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Helvijs 'broky' Saukantsbroky	67 - 53	+14	82.5	72.8%	1.23
Robin 'ropz' Koolropz	58 - 48	+10	72.3	79.0%	1.13
Russel 'Twistzz' Van DulkenTwistzz	57 - 53	+4	79.3	75.3%	1.12
Håvard 'rain' Nygaardrain	51 - 60	-9	74.7	69.1%	0.98
Finn 'karrigan' Andersenkarrigan	38 - 60	-22	59.5	60.5%	0.81

ENCE	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Lotan 'Spinx' GiladiSpinx	57 - 51	+6	78.5	72.8%	1.14
Olek 'hades' Miskiewiczhades	61 - 53	+8	77.7	72.8%	1.14
Marco 'Snappi' PfeifferSnappi	56 - 52	+4	75.4	67.9%	1.07
Pavle 'Maden' BoškovićMaden	48 - 60	-12	70.0	67.9%	0.94
Paweł 'dycha' Dychadycha	51 - 55	-4	67.4	54.3%	0.89