Ence (esports)
Divisions | |
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Founded | 2013 |
Based in | Helsinki, Finland |
Website | ence |
Ence (stylized as ENCE) is a Finnish esports organization with teams and players competing in Counter-Strike 2, PUBG: Battlegrounds, StarCraft II, and NHL 22.[1][2] ENCE was founded in 2013[3] and the organization takes inspiration for its name from the Enceladus of Greek mythology.[4] It is currently based in Helsinki[5] and is the most popular esports organization in Finland.[6] The organization also competed in Hearthstone and Overwatch until 2018,[7][8] and in League of Legends for the 2020 season.[9] ENCE is best known for its success in Starcraft II and CS:GO. Serral was the first non-Korean to win a StarCraft II World Championship and the CS:GO team finished second at IEM Katowice Major 2019.[10][11][12]
Counter-Strike
[edit]Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
[edit]ENCE was founded in 2013 and picked up a Finnish CS:GO team which competed in local tournaments.[13] In July 2014, the team disbanded after a series of disappointing results and did not return to CS:GO until 2016.[14][15] The organization fielded multiple Finnish lineups for the next two years[16][17] but did not have a stable roster until April 2018, when the organization signed Aleksi "allu" Jalli, Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen, Jani "Aerial" Jussila, Jere "sergej" Salo, and Sami "xseveN" Laasanen.[18][19] The roster of young talent went on an unexpected Cinderella run at IEM Katowice Major 2019 before finally losing in the finals to Astralis.[18][20] During the Major the team's unlikely success made them a fan favorite among neutrals and in Finland.[21][22][23] The Verkkars, a Finnish musical duo, released a song called "EZ4ENCE", titled after the team's chant; it references players, coaches, and team memes.[21] "EZ4ENCE" went viral in Finland during the tournament, eventually becoming the fourth-most-popular song in a Finnish top 50 published by Spotify.[24] The song would later be added into the game by Valve.[25] ENCE remained one of the top CS:GO teams in 2019, winning BLAST Pro Series Madrid and finishing second at DreamHack Masters Dallas and IEM Chicago.[26][10]
IEM Katowice 2019 remains ENCE's best performance at a CS:GO Major, although they reached the playoff round of StarLadder Major: Berlin 2019[27] and the semifinals of PGL Major Antwerp 2022.[28][29]
The team's results worsened at the start of 2020[30] and ENCE gradually replaced all of the players from the IEM Katowice run with an international roster.[31][32][33] In February 2022, with the release of Joonas "doto" Forss, ENCE's roster was completely non-Finnish for the first time in the organization's history.[34][35] The team instead set up a Finnish academy team.[36][37] Shortly after, ENCE partnered with ESL, receiving a guaranteed spot in the ESL Pro League.[38] The new roster has reached the top-5 of HLTV's world rankings.[39]
ENCE won their first trophy in over four years after beating MOUZ in the grand finals of IEM Dallas 2023, where Alvaro "SunPayus" Garcia would claim his first MVP title.[40] The team would continue their strong form with grand final appearances in their following two tournaments, IEM Cologne 2023 and Gamers8 2023.[41][42]
ENCE also attended ESL Pro League Season 18, where they placed 3-4th after being eliminated in the semi-finals by MOUZ.[43]
Counter-Strike 2
[edit]On 26 November 2023, ENCE announced the departures of coach Eetu "sAw" Saha and in-game leader Marco "Snappi" Pfeiffer, who were replaced by Jakub "kuben" Gurczynski and Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander respectively.[44][45] Later, on 16 December 2023, the team announced the departures of Alvaro "SunPayus" Garcia and Pavle "Maden" Bošković, who were signed by Saudi Arabian organization Team Falcons, along with Snappi the day prior.[46][47] Heroic announced the signing of Guy "NertZ" Iluz on 17 December 2023, reducing ENCE's roster to only gla1ve and Paweł "dycha" Dycha.[48]
The same day, ENCE announced the signing of the Polish roster 9INE's core, consisting of Krzysztof "Goofy" Górski, Kacper "Kylar" Walukiewicz, and previous ENCE player Olek "hades" Miskiewicz.[49]
Roster
[edit]ENCE Counter-Strike 2 roster | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Players | Coaches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Niclas "enkay J" Krumhorn | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Legend:
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Roster updated 18 October 2024. |
Starcraft II
[edit]Serral, a Finnish Zerg player, joined ENCE in October 2016[50] and is one of the best players in the world.[51][52] In 2018, Serral became the first non-Korean player to win a StarCraft II World Championship.[53]
NHL esports
[edit]Finnish player Erik "EKI" Tammenpää represents ENCE in NHL esports.[54] EKI is the most successful Finnish player in the game and one of the top players globally.[55] He was chosen by the Finnish Association of Sports Journalists as the 2021 Finnish esport athlete of the year.[56]
Overwatch
[edit]Ence rostered an Overwatch division from 2017 to 2018. In March 2024, the organization announced their return to Overwatch esports, competing in the Overwatch Champions Series.[57]
Roster
[edit]ENCE Overwatch 2 roster | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Players | Coaches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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William "Crimzo" Hernandez | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Legend:
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Roster updated 5 May 2024. |
References
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- ^ Heath, Jerome (15 January 2019). "Red Bull partners with Finnish team ENCE". Dot Esports. Archived from the original on 9 June 2022. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
- ^ Hayward, Andrew (17 July 2019). "ENCE CEO on Effects of CS:GO Success, Sustaining Without External Funding – ARCHIVE – The Esports Observer". Esports Observer. Archived from the original on 9 June 2022. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
- ^ @ence (22 July 2018). "For clarification! ENCE stands for Enceladus, one of the giants in Greek Mythology and it is a variation of that #tentacles" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ Hartikainen, Nico (22 December 2021). "IS selvitti: Esportsilla ei tehdä rahaa Suomessa – melkein kaikki firmat tekevät rumaa tappiota". Ilta-Sanomat (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 4 April 2022. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
- ^ Hartikainen, Nico (7 April 2019). "Jääkiekko menetti asemansa nuorten miesten suosikkilajina – vedonlyöntiennätykset rikottiin toisaalla". Ilta-Sanomat (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 30 May 2022. Retrieved 17 June 2022.
- ^ Hartikainen, Nico (14 May 2018). "Menestystä ei tullut – koko joukkue sai potkut". Ilta-Sanomat (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 9 June 2022. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
- ^ Hayward, Andrew (21 August 2019). "ENCE and Red Bull Expanded Sponsorship with Jersey Branding – ARCHIVE – The Esports Observer". Esports Observer. Archived from the original on 17 June 2022. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
- ^ Stubbs, Mike. "ENCE has a remarkable new LoL team". Red Bull. Archived from the original on 9 June 2022. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
- ^ a b Ashton, Graham (31 December 2019). "Top 10 Esports Team Organizations of 2019 by Competition Results – ARCHIVE – The Esports Observer". Esports Observer. Archived from the original on 9 June 2022. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
- ^ Murray, Trent (16 January 2019). "Red Bull Partners With ENCE – ARCHIVE – The Esports Observer". Esports Observer. Archived from the original on 17 June 2022. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
- ^ "Review of IEM Katowice Major 2019". egamersworld. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
- ^ Kovanen, Tomi. "TMVG now Ence eSports". HLTV.org. Archived from the original on 25 September 2020. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
- ^ Kovanen, Tomi. "ENCE disbands – allu to mouz?". HLTV.org. Archived from the original on 13 June 2022. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
- ^ Miles, Lucas. "ENCE returns with a new lineup". HLTV.org. Archived from the original on 13 June 2022. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
- ^ "ENCE CS:GO's year concludes". ENCE. Archived from the original on 26 December 2017. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
- ^ "ENCE & CSGO TEAM PART WAYS". ENCE. Archived from the original on 10 September 2017. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
- ^ a b Stubbs, Mike. "Here's how ENCE went on one of the best runs in CS:GO Major history". Red Bull. Archived from the original on 9 June 2022. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
- ^ "A new challenger appears – ENCE is back in CS:GO". ENCE. Archived from the original on 9 November 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
- ^ Erzberger, Tyler (4 March 2019). "Astralis build on Counter-Strike legacy with IEM Katowice title". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on 9 June 2022. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
- ^ a b Hartikainen, Nico (5 August 2020). "Suomalaisen pelijoukkueen fanilaulusta tuli jättihitti – Kauppatorillakin kuvattua musavideota katsottu yli 9 miljoonaa kertaa". Ilta-Sanomat (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 9 June 2022. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
- ^ Erzberger, Tyler (2 March 2019). "ENCE the most unlikely of IEM Katowice finalists". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on 9 June 2022. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
- ^ Hartikainen, Nico (7 March 2019). "ENCEn menestys synnytti ennätyksiä Veikkauksella ja DNA:lla – myös IS:ssä ja Ylellä kovia lukuja". Ilta-Sanomat (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 9 June 2022. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
- ^ Villanueva, Jamie (4 March 2019). "EZ4ENCE is the fourth-most played song on Spotify in Finland after IEM Katowice". Dot Esports. Archived from the original on 9 June 2022. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
- ^ Rosinski, Naim. "CS:GO patch removes Cache, pushes Vertigo, adds 'EZ4ENCE' music kit". Upcomer. Archived from the original on 9 June 2022. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
- ^ Biazzi, Leonardo (26 December 2019). "The most dominant CS:GO teams of 2019". Dot Esports. Archived from the original on 13 June 2022. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
- ^ Biazzi, Leonardo (5 September 2019). "Renegades upset ENCE to advance to the StarLadder Berlin Major semifinals". Dot Esports. Archived from the original on 13 June 2022. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
- ^ Biazzi, Leonardo (20 May 2022). "EZ4ENCE: Spinx leads the charge, ENCE knock Copenhagen Flames out of PGL Antwerp Major". Dot Esports. Archived from the original on 9 June 2022. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
- ^ Miter, Mateusz (21 May 2022). "Dycha on ENCE roster's first Major playoffs: 'We're fueled by the crowd, it's an advantage for us'". Dot Esports. Archived from the original on 9 June 2022. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
- ^ Biazzi, Leonardo (19 March 2020). "ENCE have lost 13 of their last 15 matches". Dot Esports. Archived from the original on 13 June 2022. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
- ^ Biazzi, Leonardo (17 November 2020). "ENCE benches sergej". Dot Esports. Archived from the original on 13 June 2022. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
- ^ Geddes, George (5 November 2020). "ENCE signs HAVU members doto and sAw". Dot Esports. Archived from the original on 13 June 2022. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
- ^ Biazzi, Leonardo (17 June 2021). "ENCE officially replace allu with hades". Dot Esports. Archived from the original on 13 June 2022. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
- ^ Hartikainen, Nico (10 January 2022). "Aikakausi päättyy – ENCEn CS-joukkueessa ei pelaa yhtään suomalaista". Ilta-Sanomat (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 9 June 2022. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
- ^ Biazzi, Leonardo (2 February 2022). "ENCE releases doto". Dot Esports. Archived from the original on 9 June 2022. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
- ^ Hartikainen, Nico (20 January 2022). "ENCE perustaa CS-akatemian: Hakee suomalaisia ja maksaa palkkaa". Ilta-Sanomat (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 9 June 2022. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
- ^ Biazzi, Leonardo (11 July 2022). "ENCE assembles an all-Finnish academy team for CS:GO". Dot Esports. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
- ^ Ashton, Graham (18 February 2020). "Thirteen Teams Join as Stakeholders of Counter-Strike ESL Pro League – ARCHIVE – The Esports Observer". Esports Observer. Archived from the original on 9 June 2022. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
- ^ Miter, Mateusz (5 May 2022). "ENCE's hades on the CS:GO team's climb to the top: 'We can rival the best teams in the world'". Dot Esports. Archived from the original on 9 June 2022. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
- ^ "SunPayus shines bright as ENCE romp to IEM Dallas title over MOUZ". HLTV. 4 June 2023. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
- ^ "G2 Esports crowned IEM Cologne 2023 winners, become back-to-back IEM champs as tournament breaks several records". Esports News UK. 6 August 2023. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
- ^ "Vitality outlast ENCE to claim Gamers8 title". HLTV. 20 August 2023. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
- ^ "MOUZ continue upset rampage at EPL with ENCE scalp". HLTV. 30 September 2023. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
- ^ "Snappi and sAw depart ENCE". HLTV. 26 November 2023. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
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- ^ "SunPayus, Maden, Magisk complete Falcons roster". HLTV. 16 December 2023. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
- ^ "Falcons sign Snappi". HLTV. 15 December 2023. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
- ^ "Official: Heroic announce NertZ". HLTV. 17 December 2023. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
- ^ "ENCE acquire 9INE core". HLTV. 17 December 2023. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
- ^ "ENCE renews contract with Serral". ENCE. 28 May 2020. Archived from the original on 13 August 2020. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
- ^ Erzberger, Tyler (14 December 2018). "ESPN Esports Awards 2018: Serral's WCS win is our moment of the year". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on 3 June 2022. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
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