ENCE unveil Finnish academy roster

11-7-2022 12:31

The latest organization to join the Counter-Strike academy scene has unveiled its full junior roster.

ENCE Academy have announced the formation of their academy team, which will be making their LAN debut at the start of August in the Assembly Summer CS:GO Pro Tournament, where they will be facing off against the top teams of Finland.

The Finnish organization's academy squad consists of Veeti "⁠S1rva⁠" Sirva, who will be taking the IGL role, Paavo "⁠podi⁠" Heiskanen manning the AWP, and three riflers in the form of Ville "⁠myltsi⁠" Vilkman, Henri "⁠HENU⁠" Ylilehto and Youssef "⁠juissi⁠" Adam.

The academy program has taken six months to set up in partnership with Esportal, which enabled the organization to find upcoming talents. Eemeli "Woomera" Ikonen is appointed Program Lead, while the team will be coached by George "⁠Whitey⁠" White, who was chosen through an application process. The British coach has had a fair bit of coaching experience so far, as he fulfilled the role on domestic teams such as Vexed UK and Endpoint Academy.

ENCE is the latest organization to set up an academy team

myltsi is probably the most known member of the roster, as he enjoyed a four month stint in Enterprise, with the European team enjoying relative success in the lower tier events during 2022, such as a third place at Tipsport Bratislava Cup 2022.

The other members of the team have played only in domestic rosters so far, with HENU previously playing for SJ and S1rva and juissi previously playing together at EXEN. The most unknown quantity in the team is podi, as the AWPer has collected just two maps on HLTV thus far.

"Our academy team is now set, and I couldn’t be happier. We’re proud to start developing this team alongside Whitey and the whole organization. We want to offer our players the best possible growth environment to develop themselves towards the international playing field," Eemeli "Woomera" Ikonen, the Program Lead, commented about their new team.

Team coach Whitey also shared a similar view, saying: "Although the results are important to me, the team, and the organization, the biggest focus point with this team is to improve every single player both in and out of the server and to mold them into being a better player and person for their future careers in Counter-Strike."

The ENCE academy team roster is as follows:

Paavo "⁠podi⁠" Heiskanen
Ville "⁠myltsi⁠" Vilkman
Henri "⁠HENU⁠" Ylilehto
Youssef "⁠juissi⁠" Adam
Veeti "⁠S1rva⁠" Sirva

George "⁠Whitey⁠" White (coach)

Looks amazing! Good on ENCE for bringing up the next gen of Finnish talent after throwing away the potential of the last generation

2022-07-11 12:36

31 replies

ez goat juissi

2022-07-11 12:41

2 replies

Let's go Finnish scene will be back on top soon

2022-07-12 09:48

LOL coach name checks out

2022-07-12 16:33

2022-07-11 12:43

I wonder why they gone for full finnish roster while the main one is international. Are they willing to return to the finnish main roster in the future?

18 replies

They are just looking for money like NaVi with their academy ig

2022-07-11 12:44

9 replies

the only case navi earned money off their academy roster was when they sold m0nesy and they were really lucky with picking him up at the time, it's pretyt much luck.

2022-07-11 12:46

1 reply

They moved b1t to main roster and won a lot of tournaments thanks to him. They indirectly won money on b1t. Na'Vi gained the most out of their academy team (by far). Even MOUZ NXT was not as useful, while being superior.

2022-07-20 22:31

That doesn't make sense. International players would be sold easier than Finnish.

2022-07-11 13:28

6 replies

Every Finn who are faceit level 10 can speak English

2022-07-11 14:37

#483

2022-07-12 13:37

What does that even mean, are there specific countries you need to be from in order to be classified as an international player

2022-07-11 15:41

Nah I didn't mean it as something against Finns, I mean that if they want to do it just because of money, international way is better as there is bigger pool of talents than in 5 milion country. EDIT: And I like that they do Finnish only academy team. There is enough international academies.

2022-07-12 11:36

What is this "International" country you are talking about? I've never heard of it

2022-07-11 18:14

Maybe if the academy is good enough, also they can sell to havu etc and compete in finnish tournaments with the academy (okay money)

they know big orgs may look for spinx or dycha in future

2022-07-11 13:00

To develop the finnish scene I hope

2022-07-11 13:13

Well when they announced the main roster going international, the reasoning behind it was that they felt they couldn't find good and motivated enough Finnish players to recruit for the level of CS they were looking for. The whole reason for this academy team is to try and find that missing Finnish potential and build to possibly be competitive on higher levels, just like the Kato 2019 Ence. The org is still Finnish after all so trying to raise Finnish CS higher is not that odd.

2022-07-11 13:18

ofc lol, ence went international cus there wasnt enough finnish talent, when there are, they will go back to full finnish.

They'll probably sell the main roster to some bigger org at some point and try to assemble a full Finnish one again, is my guess.

2022-07-11 14:29

Why not? LOL The org is Finnish.

2022-07-11 17:04

ENCE has been THE Finnish org. They have always tried to push Finland to the map in esports, no matter the game. With the main roster now being international it kinda ruins the whole premise of the organization, hence why they went full fin.

2022-07-12 20:24

But isn't myltsi an awper?

Yes

no he isnt in this team, podi will awp says on the ence article on their site.

2022-07-11 13:14

yes

2022-07-11 14:53

he was for like 6months, seems like he wants to go back to rifling

2022-07-11 12:49

He started to AWP since no one from his previous roster wanted to, then got signed to Enterprise as an AWPer. As far I know, he wants to be a pure rifler though, or atleast not be a primary AWPer

2022-07-11 12:52

oh, thank you dude

2022-07-11 13:30

2022-07-11 13:08

ayo lets gooo

2022-07-11 12:33

KEKW

Great for Finnish cs!

2022-07-11 12:34

YES

JUISSI GOAT

2022-07-11 19:42

Nice

Niiiice squad

EZ4ENCE

ez for juissi

juissi goated

2022-07-11 12:35

Cool

Ez 4 juissi

Thanks Mr enceladus

2022-07-11 12:37

nice

respect to ence

nice for finnish CS

juissi pog

podi is allu's son?

3 replies

He looks like Karrigan jr.

2022-07-11 17:06

he looks like a mix between karrigan and allu

2022-07-11 17:37

he looks like snappi ngl

Respect all orgs who manage academies

lets go finland!

2022-07-11 12:38

2022-07-11 12:39

Cool, gl

Unlucko, no Jimpphat.

17 replies

Well Jimpphat is already in Mouz NXT so not that unlucko.

2022-07-11 12:48

16 replies

Sure, but you would hope that a Finnish academy team had Jimpphat as their star player. I think they were too slow.

15 replies

I don't know, maybe its bad for the Finnish scene but he has a better opportunity to go international after than instead of just staying in Finnish teams. I think both situations are good for the scene.

2022-07-11 12:51

Huh, I was under the impression that most Finns would think that letting Jimpphat go to an international org instead of a home team like ENCE would be bad for the scene. Maybe not.

2022-07-11 12:53

5 replies

Hes already playing for a tier 2 team so why downgrade

2022-07-11 13:05

How is having a player from your country develop to a good t1 tier worse for your scene than having him develop into some shit Finnish team / org due to the lack of talented players?

2022-07-11 14:04

Well, what I'm trying to say is that losing one of your biggest prospects to a foreign org might be better for him as an individual, but if you're looking to build back a national team, then it's a massive loss. We can only speculate for now, but usually academy teams are formed to see who has talent in a competitive CS environment, and judging from the fact that they went full Finnish, it's probably due to the fact that their seeking their own homegrown talent so they can revitalise the Finnish scene. Having Jimpphat being part of that is crucial because he's probably the best and most well-known young talent in Finland right now. Of course, from an individual standpoint, Jimpphat has more options to take in the future if he stays with Mouz.

2022-07-11 17:26

Fair point, I agree.

2022-07-11 17:34

At the moment we’ll take anything.

2022-07-11 19:31

jimpphat doesn't need to be in a finnish academy. He's better than that, and would probably be on the main mouz team if his vac ban wasn't still active. I don't remember when it'll be resolved, but it's confirmed to be at the start of 2023.

2022-07-11 12:55

Jan 26 2023

2022-07-11 16:09

"would probably be on the main mouz team if his vac ban wasn't still active" I doubt it, he's still 15 and he has little experience in a competitive CS scene, and isn't ready for tier 1 CS at all judging from his recent games. Give him a couple years, and that may be true. But right now, xertioN and siuhy are much more likely to be promoted to the main team.

2022-07-11 17:29

"would probably be on the main Mouz team" And Sunny and Sergej are top 10 riflers and Aleksib is top 2 IGL. Its so weird that Finland dont win every major tbh

2022-07-11 21:08

It was more a dig at how shit mouz has been for the last year or so. In that kind of situation where they exist to lose it hurts no one to rotate players around and see what sticks.

2022-07-11 21:12

Alright get it. Yeah Mouz NXT is about as good as Mouz atm

2022-07-11 21:21

Podi is Jimpphat v2

he would just waste his career there, it is better for Jimpphat to be MOUZ nxt and actually compete tier 2-3 events when with he would have to start from scratch

2022-07-11 18:18

Podi kinda looks like allu

Allu? He looks like karrigan

2022-07-11 17:08

No ykis, unluko

2022-07-11 12:45

POG

Won't say anything because I dont want BAN, but faaking HENU, big HEN1 COPYCAT.

2022-07-11 12:47

faaking nilsson, big harry nilsson COPYCAT.

2022-07-11 13:59

Aleksib would fit in this roster.

good luck!

2022-07-11 12:54

Decent. Ez for myltsi and juissi

FINLAND POWER!!!

juissi is a beast 😤

Good team - myltsi in particular is very talented - rooting for Whitey and the boys to do well

2022-07-11 13:01

Suomi roster but with UK coach? I mean they could've get naSu or natu as a coach of academy

4 replies

or twista

2022-07-11 13:06

Twista is a coach of temp (allu's team)

2022-07-11 13:09

Twista propably goes to Havu

2022-07-11 13:10

Natu big cheater, better go for UK coach

2022-07-11 13:16

Interesting and good for the scene! GL!

2022-07-11 13:03

myltsi machine

2022-07-11 13:07

That's awesome but I'm disappointed they didn't sign yangile

podi = allu's son

no sm1llee or ykis, but decent roster, feel like they picked just friends basically but hope it works out.

ykis wasn't even that good what I remember from the ique times. sm1llee and jemi would have been good pickups

2022-07-11 13:43

jemi :DDDD

2022-07-11 15:06

jemi is a beast, he just wasn't the right fit for HAVU

2022-07-11 16:05

jemi OMEGALUL

2022-07-11 15:57

jemi isnt a academy player lol, hes over aged for that shit, also ykis was by far conquer best player.

2022-07-11 21:36

Nice!

Great move, myltsi + podi + HENU instant tilt material

2022-07-11 13:15

"FINNISH ACADEMY ROSTER"

LETS GOOO myltsi back to rifle is the biggest pog here, podi awping.

Always happy to see a black pro player in cs, lets gooo

2022-07-11 13:17

So wait are you telling me that a coach called George White speaks Finnish? Or is it the alternative, an all Finnish team will be speaking English?

2022-07-11 13:20

I mean, academy players getting used to speak English at pretty young age, will def help them in the future

2022-07-11 13:26

no bro, they will speak finland in game etc, analysing shit they speak english, like timeout for example they can speak english. its weird tho ngl but ofc they talk finnish in game

2022-07-11 13:32

I feel like itll be great hearing the strategies/calls in english but communicating in game in finnish. The team still has cohesion in coms but they also learn and understand the english callouts. That'll be great for their possible career in the future

Also finns have this bad habit of slipping into an overly comfortable bro-mode, even with the coach, so this language barrier will hopefully help thwart that and upkeep a mental state of development, focus and competition.

2022-07-14 09:31

LFG Juissl dont let the hate get to you bro

2022-07-11 13:23

Juissi = future goated player (better than s4mple)

glglgl

2022-07-11 13:24

This roster is actually so talented im hopefull for The future

2022-07-11 13:27

Juissi god

gogo gl hf

Juicy Juissi

2022-07-11 13:34

GL Ence Academy

2022-07-11 13:35

ez for Juissi. Top1 in the future

2022-07-11 13:38

I think mods should lock the comments on this article. There's a russian clown and more other racists malding over juissi for nothing. Sad!

2022-07-11 13:40

Just report, it’s a 100% ban when the mods get to it.

2022-07-11 19:34

where sergey he is in the age to play for an academy team?

2022-07-11 13:55

working in subway atm

2022-07-11 15:08

oh no

2022-07-11 16:01

which subway? :DDDD

2022-07-11 18:24

Real or joking?

2022-07-12 08:41

damn actually pog

2022-07-11 14:05

Nice nice nice! Finally I can support Ence again!

2022-07-11 14:20

2022-07-11 14:21

Aleksib to EnCE academy team.

2022-07-11 14:25

Good luck for the boys! Hope that they'll have success. Also wth is up with some of these comments? Cmon mens you're better than that.

2022-07-11 14:32

Good to see some black pros!

2022-07-11 14:35

Hell yeah! You love to see it

2022-07-11 14:43

juissi looked like he has strong firepower, the last time I watched him. However, I think this team will not work properly. They need to go international academy roster with 1-2 finish player

Professional analyst Bbaris checking in!

2022-07-11 15:09

they specifically made it a finnish one, so we'd get more people on the scene

yes, I got it but it feels like Eternal Fire Academy. I hope I'm wrong and It works well.

2022-07-11 17:47

yes most of these players are good aimers, but they lack brain and experience

2022-07-11 20:28

Thats why they are in the academy

2022-07-12 06:54

We are in 2022, a totally globalized world and I see people wondering why juissi is Finnish... Sometimes I wonder if Hltv users leave their house

2022-07-11 15:21

Lets hope this aint gonna end badly!

2022-07-11 15:22

They made an academy just to find a replacement for Hades.

2022-07-11 15:30

Juissi future superstar.

2022-07-11 15:52

Let’s do GOATsi

2022-07-11 15:59

EZ4JUISSI

2022-07-11 16:00

Nice ez4podi

2022-07-11 16:13

podi really looks like an allu's relative GL to ENCE and the project, i like when teams choose to develop their local scene.

2022-07-11 16:20

2022-07-11 16:27

Best of luck! #EZ4ENCE

2022-07-11 16:34

W team

2022-07-11 16:39

im so happy

2022-07-11 17:03

Great news for Finnish CS! Looking forward to see this team destroy other academies.

2022-07-11 17:02

Really happy to see that there are more and more black CSGO pros :)

2022-07-11 17:18

:)) nice

EZ 4 ence

LETS GOOO JUISSI MY GOAT

2022-07-11 18:22

No arttubob? Sad

2022-07-11 18:38

There's been lots of academy teams as of the last 2 years, I guess the announcements of $150,000 prize money for academy league did wonders.

2022-07-11 18:48

Haha yeah, it definitely helps

2022-07-11 18:49

juissi Pog This can be a great start for their career, gl

Seems nice, good that ENCE are going deeper into the Finnish scene, they really need to find new talents out there, GL boys.

2022-07-11 18:50

2022-07-11 18:52

i know race has nothing to do but it's really nice to see another black CS pro, my favorite 1.6 player was spawn and there hasn't been many black pros besides refrezh

2022-07-11 18:54

I will never forget seeing juissi 1.98 rating past 3 months Gl!!!!

2022-07-11 19:07

Poor Hades he know he gonna replace by these youngers soon Sadge

2022-07-11 19:51

Ence has suprised me

2022-07-11 22:48

lmao

2022-07-12 08:54

Juissi big fan!

2022-07-12 09:22

Juissi gonna be their star player

2022-07-12 09:50

So basically now we have HEN1 and HENU?

2022-07-12 11:41

last all finnish roster was a disaster this will probably be the same

2022-07-12 12:28

its academy roster, not meant to win some cologne or major

2022-07-12 13:54

Every nordic country has the potential to be as dominant as Denmark and Sweden. Finland has third most lvl10 faceit players per 1 mil citizen in the world. Almost 20 times more than France for example. Investing in Finnish CS is basically failsafe in the long run, because no one is properly doing it atm.

2022-07-12 20:44

Problem is finns are like "special needs children". We can perform solo way more than any of these socially cohesive cultures like say french, but for teamwork we need utmost saintly leaders, which our culture doesn't produce. Outward people with generally a positive outlook on life like AleksiB are complete and utter anomalies that happen by chance.

2022-07-14 09:41