Monte end ENCE's seven-Major streak in 1-2 round of the EU RMR's closed qualifier

Johnny Speeds were also eliminated in overtime on the decider map of their series with Rebels.

ENCE, a mainstay in top-tier Counter-Strike, have been knocked out of the Perfect World Shanghai Major EU RMR Closed Qualifier by Monte in a three-map series.

The Finnish organization will therefore not field a team at a Major for the first time since they missed FACEIT Major London in 2018, ending an attendance streak of seven in a row.

The series started with Olek "⁠hades⁠" Miskiewicz single-handedly smashing his former team on Ancient. He went 21-2 to earn a 2.27 rating in the 13-1 thrashing.

The Pole was benched from ENCE in May to make way for academy graduate Paavo "⁠podi⁠" Heiskanen, who ended up being his team's highest-rated player in the series, with a 1.19 by the end of it.

It was not enough, however, as despite winning a close Anubis 13-11, the Mirage series decider went to the Polish-majority squad, 13-7.

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ENCE swap dycha and hades for sdy and podi

ENCE, who lost the team lead by Eetu "⁠sAw⁠" Saha and Marco "⁠Snappi⁠" Pfeiffer that won the organization's only trophy in the past five years, counted on magic and heroics to stay relevant early on in the year with a playoffs finish at IEM Katowice and a Major appearance in Copenhagen.

Now, it appears that ENCE's pixie dust has run out as the team's discards, Paweł "⁠dycha⁠" Dycha and hades, have gotten one over them at a crucial juncture.

Elsewhere in the closed qualifier's Group A, BC.Game and Rhyno were eliminated. BC.Game had won their opener against ECLOT, but couldn't cut it against Sangal, GamerLegion, and TSM.

Date	Matches
Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 EU RMR Closed Qualifier A
23/08/2024	BC.Game Finished 0:2 TSM	Match
23/08/2024	Rhyno Finished 0:2 B8	Match

Rhyno had surprised with an OT victory against GamerLegion in the opening round, but also suffered took three Ls in a row against BLEED, UNiTY, and B8.

Over in the B qualifier, one of the year's feel-good stories came crashing as Johnny Speeds were eliminated in a third-map overtime by Rebels.

The Swedish team, who had been on a great run of form leading up to the RMR and even bootcamped at NIP's facilities in Stockholm in preparation for the qualifier, fielded a stand-in for Hugo "⁠chawzyyy⁠" Günther and couldn't make it through.

Date	Matches
Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 EU RMR Closed Qualifier B
23/08/2024	Qiang Finished 0:2 Insilio	Match
23/08/2024	ARCRED Finished 1:2 Sashi	Match
23/08/2024	Johnny Speeds Finished 1:2 Rebels	Match

Qiang, who came into the qualifier after losing support from their organization, PERA, were also eliminated in the 1-2 pool. They were taken out by Insilio in two maps.

Sashi also survived to reach the 2-2 pool and will, therefore, play the deciding round of the qualifier as they took out ARCRED in a three-mapper that went the distance on the Inferno decider, 13-11.