iNation eliminated by ENCE from Europe RMR B

The Serbian squad were the lowest ranked team in attendance.

Following their 0-2 loss to ENCE, iNation are the first team eliminated from Europe RMR B. ENCE trounced the Serbian squad 16-0 on the opener of Nuke, before being pushed all the way to 16-14 on Mirage.

iNation could not have gotten off to a worse start in this elimination bout, falling to a dismal 0-16 scoreline on their own map pick of Nuke. The Serbs were reasonably competitive early doors, at least bringing a couple of rounds down to clutch situations, but across the entire map the gulf in class between the two sides was evident; no iNation player hit double digits, whereas everyone on ENCE got 14 frags or better.

Mirage was a far more competitive affair, with iNation taking advantage of some lackadaisical play from ENCE early on in the game. The European squad tightened things up as the match wore on but still struggled to take control of the game, in large part due to the tragic performance of Pavle "⁠Maden⁠" Bošković, who was 0-13 with 25 ADR at halftime. The Montenegrin improve massively in the second half however, and this combined with the blistering performance of Guy "⁠NertZ⁠" Iluz was enough to get ENCE over the line, 16-14.

ENCE came into this RMR as one of the favoured teams to qualify, following the excellent top-four showing they had at ESL Pro League immediately after the addition of NertZ.

The European squad struggled in their first two games here in Copenhagen, posting a poor Ancient T side against Monte that cost them the map and losing a hotly-contested Anubis against FORZE. They went some way to quelling any doubts about them in this series against iNation, although the way they labored at times on Mirage does not inspire full confidence. They will likely need to improve if they are to continue their path from 0-2 to redemption.

As for iNation this was the expected result, as they came into this event as the lowest-ranked team in attendance and in dismal form online, having only won three of their previous 11 games. They showed some fight against BIG and in the second map in this series against ENCE, but were trounced in the other two maps they played and ultimately went home empty-handed.