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esports
How ENCE's underdog journey turned them into IEM Dallas champions
After a challenging season, ENCE pulled off an unlikely run of victories at IEM Dallas, lifting the trophy against all odds. This is how they did it.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is an unpredictable esport, where skill is the only factor that truly matters. This weekend we saw this proven once again, as Finnish squad ENCE pulled off an incredible Cinderella story, rising up through their group at Intel Extreme Masters Dallas 2023 to secure win after win and blow expectations out of the water.
Hosted as part of the Dreamhack gaming festival, IEM Dallas is a $250,000 tournament where ESL partnered teams, world ranked teams and local talent meet for a chance to prove themselves on the big stage. ENCE had some tough competition right from the off, facing U.S. team Complexity Gaming in the opening round. They soundly defeated their North American opposition with a 16–7 result.
NertZ leaps out of his seat to celebrate
© Viola Schuldner/ESL
It felt amazing to lift the trophy. I've lifted smaller trophies before, but finally lifting a bigger one was the highlight of my career so far
Next, it was the turn of the legendary FaZe Clan to take on the boys in black. ENCE's victory saw the third ranked FaZe fall to the lower bracket, as ENCE advanced to the upper bracket final with a 2-0 victory. Astralis would be there to meet them and while both teams would head through to the playoffs, only one would advance straight to the semi-finals.
Astralis took the first map on Overpass, but ENCE turned the tables on Nuke with an overtime finish, before pushing Astralis to the quarter-finals by securing Mirage.
Now it was time to face FaZe once again in the semi-final. Despite losing the first map, ENCE turned things around in the best-of-three, with Guy 'NertZ' Iluz winning a clutch 1v2 for ENCE to secure the round. Alvaro 'SunPayus' Garcia also got his own shot at a 1v2, sniping two opponents in an intense post-plant situation – and even secured the MVP award of the whole tournament.
The FaZe fight is one that won’t be forgotten, with the final map on Ancient going to nearly 60 rounds in total. Marco 'Snappi' Pfeiffer summed it up as: “a battle where no team wanted to give up.”
“I think to the end of the world, I'll remember our comeback in overtime,” says Paweł 'dycha' Dycha, reflecting on the intense semi-final vs FaZe. “Going from 24:27 to 27:27, and then winning the whole series, it’s an amazing and unreal feeling for me.”
“Multiple overtimes, multiple clutch moments in such an intense match,” added coach Eetu ‘sAw’ Saha. “The strength we had during that map to not give up at any point was super important. In a way it was the goal of the tournament as well, to never give up and to fight until the end as a team.”
With another unexpected victory under their belts, ENCE moved to the Grand Final, where they faced Mouz to decide who would take home the trophy. SunPayus shone in the first match on Mirage, hitting some impossibly accurate shots, before the Isreali wonderkind NertZ saved ENCE in a thrilling 1v3.
Paweł 'dycha' Dycha wipes away a tear of joy
© Helena Kristiansson/ESL
Mouz appeared to gain the upper hand when the action moved to Nuke, as they racked up a four-round lead over the Finnish squad. It didn't take long for ENCE to swing the odds back in their favour however, racking up nine rounds to Mouz's six. The cold-blooded David 'frozen' Čerňanský tried his best to keep the powers of ENCE at bay, scoring some frosty multi-kills in the early rounds, but it wasn't long before his team-mates were thawed out by a fiery assault.
The final round was a beautiful team effort that saw Paweł 'dycha' Dycha and Marco 'Snappi' Pfeiffer nab some clean kills to set the team up for the win. And just like that, ENCE had secured the trophy, silencing the doubters with a convincing performance throughout the tournament.
“It feels amazing to finally lift the trophy,” dycha said. “I was waiting almost two-and-a-half-years for that.”
“It feels really good,” SunPayas added. “Mostly because the work we're doing day-by-day is starting to pay off.”
After a difficult season, it seems that the team has finally found its synergy, swept away its demons and taken home $100,000 prize money in the process. But it's not all about prizes and silverware – what we've witnessed here is surely the beginning of a new era for ENCE, one that we hope continues for as long as possible.
