- ENCE’s CS:GO team might have looked differently
- The organization considered Snax and launX instead of valde
- The team wants to make valde a more aggressive player
Valde’s place in ENCE did not come easily as he had to compete for the slot with popular names like Laurențiu “lauNX” Țârlea and Polish veteran Janusz “Snax” Pogorzelski.
Valde Was Not ENCE’s First Choice
After ENCE lost their star player Lotan “Spinx” Giladi, who went on to play for Vitality, the team needed to find a new rifler and finally settled on Valdemar “valde” Vangså after tryouts. However, the 27-year-old player was not ENCE’s first choice, even though he had already played with the team’s in-game leader Marco “Snappi” Pfeiffer in Heroic in 2016 and 2017.
Instead of valde, ENCE was at first more interested in acquiring Sprout’s Romanian rifler Laurențiu “lauNX” Țârlea. However, the two organizations did not reach an agreement. In an interview with HLTV, Snappi said that lauNX was the only one who got an offer early. “We bid a lot but Sprout denied it and his agent didn’t put a buyout in his contract,” ENCE’s in-game leader said. “After that, we did tryouts on some players as we weren’t 100 percent sure who to go for.”
Snappi remarked how well valde performed at the team’s tryouts, which is what convinced them to sign the player. ENCE’s in-game leader also said he thinks the Danish player is very motivated and will do well in the team. “He has great comms and with the addition of him it opens up more possibilities to play more ‘open’ rounds without an end goal,” Snappi said.
Who Else Was Considered in Place of Valde?
LauNX was not the only player ENCE considered instead of valde. In the interview, Snappi explained that the organization was also looking at acquiring Polish veteran Janusz “Snax” Pogorzelski ever since he became a free agent in December 2021.
When asked if the Polish player was considered for the team, Snappi confirmed he was. He also said that he’s sorry that he wasn’t able to hold up to his tweet.
“I wrote it both to help him and also because I actually meant it at the time,” Snappi said. “So, sorry to the Polish community, but mostly Janusz for not picking him. I’m sure he will find somewhere soon though, he is not like other older players, he has the motivation, drive, and most important talent. I really hope I see him again soon, he is amazing.”
Does Snappi Expect Big Changes?
In addition to valde, ENCE also recently signed AWPer Alvaro “SunPayus” Garcia, both of whom will debut at ESL Pro League Season 16 in September. When asked if the new additions to the team will require role changes, Snappi said that there will be, but not many.
He said that he wants to see valde play other roles than what he was previously assigned – mainly support. “We want to push him to become more aggressive, he was like this when I played with him 5-6 years ago, he just developed into a support player because of his teams,” Snappi said. “That doesn’t mean it’s all he can do. He can give you numbers if you let him, and we are gonna let him.”
“There will however be certain changes to our playstyle naturally,” Snappi reminded, saying that before, the team had multiple experienced players who were not able to communicate properly, which lead to dissatisfying results. “With that, it is obviously harder to just ‘play the round’. Now both SunPayus and valde are very vocal, so our playstyle will probably shift a bit more in a more “free” direction with mid-round calling, without fully forgetting our explosiveness.”
