ENCE qualify for IEM Katowice new challengers stage

Train, ENCE's map pick, was the opener of the Europe Minor upper bracket final, and it kicked off with the Finns taking control of proceedings as Terrorists, 2-0. Despite losing two rounds in the process, one of which due to a quad-kill from Jere "sergej" Salo, North convincingly responded with a strong CT side, eventually going up 7-4 on the board.

ENCE came back to life in the following round, stringing four together to turn the score around in their favour by half-time. That lead would not last long, however, as North opened up the action in the second half with a successful pistol and subsequent anti-eco, 9-8.

With Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen having denied Philip "aizy"Aistrup a 1v2 clutch in the first gun round, ENCE levelled the score, but North were still able to win the next three to hit 12 rounds. That was when ENCE managed to get back on the board thanks to Aleksi "allu" Jalli and sergej turning a 2v4 situation around, which they followed up with another to reduce the deficit to a single round.

Aleksib's men remained focused throughout the whole series

Valdemar "valde" Bjørn Vangså then came up huge, leading the way for his team with two crucial plays - an ace that included a 1v2 with just 2hp, and then a quad-kill in a 2v5 situation. The 23-year-old nearly hit map-point for his team in the next round, but Sami "xseveN" Laasanen denied him from pulling off a 1v2 clutch.

Neither team would be able to close out the map in regulation, and overtime was a back-and-forth affair which saw ENCE come out on top at 22-20, with Aleksib and sergej doing most of the work for the team with 32 and 33 frags, respectively.

Inferno was the polar opposite of the previous map, as ENCEkept winning rounds right off the bat as CTs, only to be stopped by a triple-kill from Nicklas "gade" Gade in the seventh round.

On Train, valde's 1.41 rating was not enough to stop ENCE

North looked uninspired, however, as they could not capitalize on that round win, and continuously failed to find a way through the defense. In fact, ENCE lost just one more round before bagging a dominant 13-2 half-time lead.

In the second pistol, sergej inspired his team to quickly hit match-point after finding an ace that included a great 1v3 clutch. North still tried to mount a comeback by stringing five rounds together, but it was simply too little, too late, for them to deny ENCE a spot in the New Challengers Stage.