Coming into the first day of the Legends Stage at the PGL Antwerp CS:GO Major, several eye-grabbing matchups were scheduled to be played. One of the most anticipated duels was certainly FaZe Clan taking on ENCE, who are the first and third team in HLTV’s world rankings, respectively.
To add to the tone of the match, the best squad in the world were entering the tournament on the back of the championship run, since FaZe won IEM Katowice 2022 and ESL Pro League Season 15 in the last two months. In the final of the latter, karrigan and his crew won against ENCE with a 3:1 score. And today, the Finnish team took their revenge by securing a 16-8 triumph on Mirage.
ENCE began the match on the unfavored terrorist side, though it quickly started to look like it suited them. The game began with an admirable 5-0 start from ENCE, who quickly got the wind in their sails. Then, FaZe started to grab some rounds back in their favor, although only for a short time. After a few successful entries on the B site, where players like dycha or Spinx claimed some pivotal and eye-watering kills, put ENCE in a 10-5 advantage in the first half.
FaZe responded by comfortably winning the pistol round and the anti-eco that followed. Afterward, however, it was a one-team show. ENCE’s map control, especially around the middle, crossed any plan that karrigan and his squad had in mind, not allowing them to enter sites often. It didn’t take long for ENCE to close the map and grab their first win, once again on the back of Spinx’s incredible performance (26/12 K/D ratio). Their other individuals, excluding Snappi, also finished with positive K/D ratios.
Both teams will play one more series today, though their rivals are unknown at the time of writing. ENCE have moved to a 1-0 bracket, while FaZe have fallen to the 0-1 bracket. You can check all the standings and results here.
