ENCE qualify for IEM Katowice group stage over TheMongolz

The home-town heroes have secured their spot in the IEM Katowice group stage.

ENCE have progressed through the IEM Katowice Play-In after a 2-1 win against The MongolZ (Mirage 16-13, Nuke 10-13, Anubis 13-5).

The team, featuring the ex-9INE core, started their campaign with a loss against BIG but bounced back by eliminating Astralis and The MongolZ to book their spot in the next stage of their home event.

ENCE become the first majority-Polish lineup to qualify for this year's group stage of IEM Katowice, where they could be joined by Rebels if they can get the better of a Marcus "⁠maNkz⁠" Kjeldsen-less M80 side.

"It's really nice to advance. It was not an easy match because we had a lot of chaos, but we got the win in the end, so it's fine," said Krzysztof "⁠Goofy⁠" Górski, who couldn't hide his happiness after the victory.

Mirage began well for The MongolZ, with Garidmagnai "⁠bLitz⁠" Byambasuren and company winning the pistol round. Their hot start continued for the remainder of their offense, as their T-side crawls and crisp individual shots led to an impressive 9-3 lead at the switch.

ENCE began their T side with a much-needed pistol round that started the comeback before a crucial 1vs2 clutch by Olek "⁠hades⁠" Miskiewicz helped them continue their comeback. The majority-Polish team got into their groove after that round and reached map point first, but bLitz's A-ramp flank secured overtime for his team. Once in overtime, the experience and individual prowess of the ENCE players shone through and helped secure a 16-12 victory.

The MongolZ got another hot start on the Nuke CT side and ran away with an 8-2 lead, as ENCE couldn't handle their aggressive pushes all around the map. A two-round streak at the end of the half gave ENCE some hope, but they weren't able to complete the comeback this time around. While they reduced the deficit to 10-11, The MongolZ stabilized and won the map with a 13-10 scoreline to force out the decider.

Anubis was the final map of the series, and The MongolZ seemed to have run out of steam on the Egypt-inspired map. They went 0-8 down to start the map, and while a solid end to the first half and a pistol-round win in the second got them some hope, it was too little, too late. The ENCE players were fully warmed up and cruised to a 13-5 victory to secure a group-stage spot at their home event.