ENCE defeat Heroic 2-0 to advance to Gamers8 grand final

ENCE hammered HEROIC 16-5 on Overpass to make it two wins on the trot versus the Danes and earn a Gamers8 grand final berth.

ENCE are the first team to earn a Gamers8 grand final berth following a confident 2-0 victory over HEROIC, recording a 22-20 win on Nuke after two sets of overtime to get a leg-up in the series before closing things out in style after a 16-5 demolition on Overpass — a win which ended the Danes' eight-map winning streak in the process.

ENCE have subsequently made it back-to-back victories over the Danish side, with Marco "⁠Snappi⁠" Pfeiffer and company previously triumphing in the IEM Cologne Group A upper bracket final (2-1) to earn a berth straight to the semi-finals. The stakes were far higher this time, however, and the IEM Dallas champions not only send the Danes packing from Gamers8 in 3-4th place in convincing fashion, but also advance to their third consecutive Big Event title decider after IEM Dallas and IEM Cologne.

They will play the winner of the series between G2 and Vitality on Sunday at 19:00 for a chance to take home the lion's share of the $1 million prize pot.

"It feels good. I think everyone at this tournament is playing some fantastic individual CS," Snappi stated in a post-match interview, visibly pleased with his team's performance as they continue their strong form against the world's best teams. "They [ENCE] make it easy for me as an IGL at this event; Cologne was a bit tougher but here they're just multi-killing every round so it's nice [smiles]."

Date	Matches
Gamers8 2023
20/08/2023	ENCE 19:00 Vitality	Match

The semi-final bout began on ENCE's pick of Nuke, though it was the Danes who ended the first half in the lead thanks to 1.23 and 1.17-rated performances from Jakob "⁠jabbi⁠" Nygaard and Rasmus "⁠sjuush⁠" Beck. HEROIC continued to sit in the driver's seat once on the T-side, brushing past their foes' defensive lines as they made their way to a 13-10 advantage. It was at this point, however, that ENCE found their footing, with strong site holds from Paweł "⁠dycha⁠" Dycha and Pavle "⁠Maden⁠" Bošković allowing ENCE to hold on and force a trip to overtime.

There, it was ENCE who were able to continue their late-map uptick in form en route to victory, with Álvaro "⁠SunPayus⁠" García notably waking up in the nick of time with a number of impactful AWP kills to lead his team to victory, 22-20, and go 1-0 up in the series.

The back-and-forth nature of the series completely shifted once Overpass got underway, and ENCE had few issues racing to a 10-5 lead by the end of their T-side half despite the fact that HEROIC sported a 100% win rate on the map before play began.

From there, and with Guy "⁠NertZ⁠" Iluz in red-hot form after a lackluster performance on Nuke, ENCE turned it up a notch. The European roster picked up all six rounds available in the second half, a confident and well-drilled T-side leaving the Danes with little to do as ENCE marched to a 16-5 scoreline to seal the series and earn a place in the Gamers8 grand final.