ENCE beat GamerLegion to reach CCT North Europe Series 2 grand final

ENCE got the better of GamerLegion in a three-map series to earn a grand final berth in CCT North Europe Series 2. The team around Marco “⁠Snappi⁠” Pfeiffer conceded their map pick of Nuke (12-16), recovered with a hard-fought win on Inferno (16-14), before wrapping the game up with a collected display on Ancient (16-10).

With this result, ENCE advance to the online competition’s grand final, where they will battle it out against HAVU at 20:10 . The Finns secured their own grand final appearance after upsetting HEET, 2-0, in their semi-final matchup. The two teams last faced off in a best-of-one at Elisa Masters Espoo back in November, with ENCE coming out on top after a 16-10 showing on the opening day of play.

CCT North Europe Series 2 offers 150 points to the regional ranking leaderboard as well as a $22,000 first-place prize. Teams who finish within the top three by the end of all four online cups for North Europe will receive a direct invite to the studio finals. CCT Central Europe, for context, will have its LAN finals play out on the island nation of Malta in February 2023 and have $100,000 up for grabs.

Maden topped the scoreboard with 66 kills in the series

CCT North Europe Series 2, which boasts a $50,000 prize pool, has already had a number of notable upsets. Astralis received a direct invite to the playoffs and were one of the favourites to win the event outright. The Danes’ run through the knockout stage of the tournament came to an abrupt end in spite of this, where they succumbed to the Frenchmen of HEET 0-2 in the second round to be eliminated in 5-8th place — a blight on what was Nicolai “⁠device⁠” Reedtz‘s long-awaited return to competitive play.

Similarly, Falcons, who recently added legendary AWPer Kenny “⁠kennyS⁠” Schrub to their ranks, bowed out of the competition in the group stage after putting up a lacklustre 0-3 record following regretful losses to ECLOT, Anonymo, and ECSTATIC. The roster as a whole all failed to perform, with kennyS sporting a modest 1.01 rating whilst the remainder of his teammates sat in the red.

The action between the two European combines got started on Nuke, ENCE‘s map choice. GamerLegion were quick to punish this pick, however, drumming up a comfortable three-round buffer by the end of their CT-side. ENCE got back into the game at the outset of the second half, winning four on the trot to lead for the first time, 10-9. Alas, this upswing in form turned out to be in vain and GamerLegion soon responded in kind by winning seven of the following nine rounds to punch in a 16-12 victory and go up 1-0 in the series.

The two teams moved over to Inferno for the second battleground of the semi-final. A strong T-side by GamerLegion had the European combine on track to close out the series with a dominant display, going up 11-4 by the end of their time on the attack. ENCE refused to drop out without a fight, however, and soon mounted a stellar comeback of their own, with Pavle “⁠Maden⁠” Bošković providing the bulk of the heavy lifting with 28 frags to clinch a 16-14 victory and force a trip to Ancient to settle things.

ENCE made full use of their new-found momentum once Ancient rolled around. The international ensemble posted a commanding 10-5 lead by the end of their CT-side, made possible thanks to the duo of Snappi and Paweł “⁠dycha⁠” Dycha, who joined forces with 28 kills by the swap. ENCE kept up the pressure despite being on the disadvantageous T-side, where they overturned an initial four-round spree from GamerLegion by nabbing six of the next seven rounds to cruise to a 16-10 win.