ENCE survive 9INE in IEM Cologne group stage opener

The team around Marco "⁠Snappi⁠" Pfeiffer will fight fnatic on Sunday for a chance to guarantee a spot in the IEM Cologne playoffs.

ENCE have picked up their first win of the IEM Cologne group stage after narrowly dispatching 9INE, 2-1, in the opening round, suffering a hounding on Vertigo (4-16) before bouncing back on Nuke (16-11) and closing things out with an overtime win on Mirage (19-15).

"It was an insanely hard-fought match, but I think we're proving event by event that with this core, one of our biggest strengths is the mental side," Snappi said on stream in a post-match interview. "Since the BLAST Paris Major, we have fixed so much stuff in regard to [the mental side], making sure we aren't losing to ourselves. I always tell them that so long as we don't lose to ourselves then I'm proud; that's all that matters. Being down 10-15 and getting eight T rounds in a row, that says it all."

The international roster are now set to duel fnatic — who took down Cloud9 in their own opening fixture — in the Group A upper bracket semi-final on Sunday at 19:30 , and will face the Christopher "⁠dexter⁠" Nong-led roster for a chance to guarantee an appearance in IEM Cologne's playoffs in the Cathedral of Counter-Strike.

9INE's trouncing on Vertigo was particularly impressive even in defeat. It was the Poles' most dominant performance versus a top-30 team on the map all year, with a 16-5 hammering of Apeks in ESL Challenger League Season 45 Europe in May being their next-best showing. It also re-affirms their self-proclaimed status as one of the world's best teams on the skyscraper-based battleground, even in spite of a loss to fnatic on the map earlier in the IEM Cologne Play-in.

Read more

hades: "We still feel that we have the best Vertigo in the world"

9INE, to the surprise of few, elected to kick the series off on Vertigo when given the chance, decimating the international cohort round after round as they raced to a 12-3 lead by the end of their T-side effort. ENCE did win the second pistol to be in prime position to get a comeback going, but the Polish quintet refused to give Snappi and co. a look in, instead winning four on the trot to convert their map pick, 16-4, and lead 1-0 in the series.

Paweł "⁠dycha⁠" Dycha turned it up a gear once Nuke, ENCE's pick, rolled around. The Pole showed little mercy for his compatriots in the server, racking up 31 kills over the 27-round map and being the main reason why the IEM Dallas champions were able to fend off a quick 2-0 defeat and send the series to the Mirage decider.

There, it was 9INE who got off to the better start, an ace from Wiktor "⁠mynio⁠" Kruk and strong AWPing from Olek "⁠hades⁠" Miskiewicz allowing the Poles to surge forward and reach map and series point with five rounds to spare, 15-10. Alas, ENCE put it into sixth gear once their backs were up against the wall; impactful calling from Snappi forced an overtime affair, where his team went on to make it nine rounds on the trot to clinch victory, 19-15, and the series, 2-1, to advance to the upper bracket semi-final in Cologne.