- ENCE continues forward to the CS:GO event’s finals
- Spirit took the first map and kept the pressure on ENCE through the whole match
- ENCE had to force overtime on Anubis and Mirage
Following a grueling five-hour marathon against Spirit that ended in the early hours of the morning, ENCE have advanced to the CCT Central Europe Malta Finals.
ENCE Emerges Victorious
ENCE earn their spot in the Malta playoffs after playing 101 rounds over almost five hours, displaying impressive resilience. The squad managed to recover two separate 4-12 deficits and push through overtime on Anubis. This was followed by a 30-round affair on Nuke, and another overtime on Mirage.
Spirit, starting on the T-side on Anubis, had complete control over the match throughout the first half. Using their dynamic offense, the Russian team often caught ENCE players off-guard and gained entry into sites over and over. This allowed Spirit to end the first half with a significant 11-4 advantage.
However, the Russian team could not keep up the momentum when the sides switched. Although Spirit won the pistol round, ENCE managed to slowly chip away at their oponents’ lead in the next rounds. This was largely thanks to Pavle “Maden” Bošković and Paweł “dycha” Dycha who pushed the map to overtime after a few key multikills. However, the two players’ efforts were in vain as Boris “magixx” Vorobiev's secondary AWPing gave the point to Spirit at the last moment.
ENCE was not about to let Spirit win and so the team was determined to win the next map, Nuke. The European team was attacking and took an early lead on the back of Maden's 1v3 clutch in the second round and later a 2v4 turn on the lower bombsite. Spirit was down 3-8 but managed to claw back with three of the last four rounds thanks to a win with just pistols in hand, shortening the deficit.
Spirit continued their roll in the second half, this time with a real chance at winning the map. But after repeated A hits Spirit lost two crucial rounds to low buys on the side of ENCE, who ran out victors 16-14 to force the decider.
With all to play for the two teams entered Mirage as the clock read 3 AM local time. Spirit once again took the initiative thanks to Robert “Patsi” Isyanov’s energetic plays. When he cooled down, it was time for Leonid “chopper” Vishnyakov to step in. Thanks to both players’ efforts, Spirit took the first half.
Spirit followed it up with a pistol round victory, just like the first map, but were once again unable to keep the momentum. ENCE took the initiative thanks to individual plays by SunPayus, dycha, and Maden. The European team pushed the match to another overtime.
The final blow was dealt by HENU with a 1v1 clutch, closing out the map 19-17 for ENCE for a final score against Spirit of 2-1.
