ENCE take down Heroic to win Elisa Masters Espoo 2024

The crowd’s favorite, ENCE, took down Heroic in the grand finals of Elisa Masters Espoo to lift the trophy, giving Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander his first title in almost five years.

The in-game leader didn’t shy away from expressing his feelings after the victory which came only a week after the addition of the young duo.

“It's pretty crazy to think about the road I've been through. Getting benched by Astralis was a pretty rough time. Then coming to ENCE, not getting the results that we wanted and that the organization wanted as well… Now standing here, lifting the trophy in Finland, in front of the Finnish crowd, being from ENCE, a Finnish organization, it just feels really good.” – gla1ve

The grand final gave the crowd a spectacular show with both teams fighting tooth and nail on their map picks to the third map reaching triple overtime. But, in case you missed the action, here’s a quick recap.

Heroic powers through ENCE’s defense

ENCE made a bold decision to pick Ancient, a map where Heroic showed their prowess previously against the best including Natus Vincere. However, their T side was incredible as they took the lead despite losing the pistol round.

Heroic only managed to scrape some rounds on the defense, before hammering their opposition with seven consecutive rounds to take the lead at 11-7. By then, it was a tall task for ENCE to bounce back, especially with Guy "NertZ" Iluz bringing his A game, ending the first map at 13-10.

Nuke, a one-sided affair

The second map saw gla1ve and his team go full throttle on the CT side with a 10-2 lead. Despite it being one of their worst maps, the latest additions Ryan "Neityu" Aubry and Kacper "xKacpersky" Gabara flipped the odds to ENCE’s favor with both players netting 75.8 and 125.6 ADR respectively.

With such lead, it was done and dusted regardless of Heroic’s attempt at a comeback after winning five consecutive rounds on the defense.

Terrible map, brilliant outcome

It’s no secret that Vertigo has become one of the least popular maps since its recent changes. However, ENCE decided to take a bold approach by picking it as a surprise, and the strategy worked perfectly in their favor.

Similar to their performance on Nuke, ENCE came out swinging on Vertigo, securing a dominant 10-2 lead in the first half. But this time, Heroic responded fiercely, taking ten rounds on their T side and pushing the match into overtime.

Viktor "sdy" Orudzhev stood out in overtime, delivering an impressive ace while defending the B bombsite, giving his team a crucial lead. Interestingly, both teams struggled on defense during regulation but managed to win all their CT rounds in overtime.

After several back-and-forth exchanges, ENCE finally broke the deadlock by clinching two T side rounds in the third overtime, securing the win on the third map.

Done and Dust2

The four-time Major winner stepped up on Dust 2, delivering a star-level performance with 15 kills in the first half, helping secure a 9-3 lead for ENCE on the CT side. Heroic, on the other hand, managed only to grab the pistol and conversion rounds, which seemed minimal but were enough to spark the start of another potential comeback.

After narrowing the gap to 9-8, Heroic’s Damjan "kyxsan" Stoilkovski led the charge, but ENCE quickly shut down his efforts and ran away with the map, ultimately becoming the champions of Elisa Masters Espoo 2024.

Gla1ve’s revamped roster, featuring the fresh talent of Neityu and xKacpersky, entered Elisa Masters Espoo as the second-lowest seed with just five days of preparation.

In an impressive turnaround, they lifted the trophy after only three days, securing key victories over 9z, The MongolZ, and HEROIC. This win signals the beginning of an exciting new chapter for ENCE, as gla1ve’s leadership meshes perfectly with the hunger and potential of their young stars.

Featured Image source: Elisa Esports

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