Popular Finnish esports organization ENCE has signed Elias “Jamppi” Olkkonen to a two-year contract, the team announced today. ENCE is also moving to a six-man CS:GO roster for the foreseeable future.
“Our results have been very disappointing, so changes needed to happen,” said ENCE’s general manager Niklas Ojalainen. “Signing Elias to the team was an opportunity we couldn’t pass on, and he deserves the chance to showcase his talent to the world.”
ENCE has failed to find any recent success at high-tier events. The team suffered early exits from every tournament they’ve competed at this year, from ESL Pro League season 11 to the 2020 ICE Challenge. In fact, the last time ENCE won a big event was in May 2019 at BLAST Pro Series Madrid.
Jamppi is widely considered one of the most promising young talents in the European CS:GO scene and almost signed with OG Esports. But the young star is barred from participating in any Valve-sanctioned events due to his alleged connections with a VAC-banned Steam account.
“ENCE stands behind Elias in his pursuit to overturn the decision, and we believe the consequences he has faced are far too steep,” ENCE said. “We as an organization are urging the CSSPA to take his case seriously—not only for Elias, but for its implications on similar cases in the future.”
In addition to the six-man roster, ENCE will also have Miikka “suNny” Kemppi take over as the team’s in-game leader. Up to this point, Aleksi “allu” Jalli had been shotcalling for the team since Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen was benched after the roster’s poor performance at the StarLadder Major last fall.
You can catch Jamppi in action during DreamHack Masters Spring on Tuesday, May 19.
Published: Apr 21, 2020 11:48 am