ENCE crush Vitality to advance in the StarLadder Berlin Major

ENCE have finished 3-0 in the New Legends Stage and will move on in the StarLadder Berlin CS:GO Major after defeating Vitality 2-0 today.

Vitality struggled against the Finnish side mainly because the typical winning factor for the French team, Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut, was nullified on both maps and upstaged by ENCE’s AWPer Aleksi “allu” Jalli. 

The first map began with ENCE winning the pistol round on the notoriously-difficult Terrorist side of Nuke after an opening two kills from Jere “sergej” Salo. ENCE then won the subsequent two rounds and the second gun round after losing the first. 

ENCE looked good on their T side, but British in-game leader Alex “ALEX” McMeekin denied their momentum by winning a one-vs-three, putting Vitality back in the match. The first half ended 8-7 in ENCE’s favor. 

Vitality’s woes continued in pistol rounds, though, and the French side lost the second half pistol to ENCE. Unlike the first half, ENCE couldn’t run away with the pistol round and lost the proceeding rounds following a force buy from Vitality. But the Finns changed their tactics to a more aggressive CT-side, which caught Vitality off guard. 

For the first time in the game, ENCE were able to snowball rounds on the Counter-Terrorist side to win the first map 16-10. 

The second map, Dust II, began in Vitality’s favor after the French side took the Terrorist pistol round. Similar to the first map, the start of Dust II was back and forth between the two teams. But ENCE shut Vitality down on the Counter-Terrorist side after winning multiple gun rounds with the help of AWPer allu. ENCE won the half 11-4. 

Although ENCE won the next pistol round, Vitality answered back with a few rounds of their own. But an ace clutch from allu left Vitality to crumble. ENCE won the second map 16-7 to secure the 2-0 series victory. 

ENCE will now have a few days to rest since they’re the first team to qualify for the StarLadder Berlin Major playoffs.