ENCE might just be the best team in the world.

We’re writing this piece before the final is over because we don’t think the outcome of the final really has that much impact on the answer. The answer is…

Well, maybe. It depends.

If you value consistent greatness, the ability to go deep in events consistently, and just a generally great level of play, then yes they are. They are the team Heroic were six months ago — grand finals, semi-finals at a minimum, aggressive and domineering in all the right ways, and playing with more information than everyone else.

They don’t, however, have the trophies that a team like G2 or even Vitality have picked up this year. A win at IEM Dallas was nice, but it was after the Major — teams were in limbo and the season was winding down. It just didn’t feel… right.

Even Gamers8 wouldn’t really satisfy those looking for a bona fide number one, but it’s getting there. Ridiculously dominant wins over Liquid, Cloud9, and Heroic, all of which include at least one map where they left the enemy on under eight rounds, make the case for them.

The things that Heroic were doing to good teams last year, ENCE are doing to great teams. The much-hyped Cloud9 omnipotent quintet that was supposed to take over the world got thirteen rounds against ENCE.

Over two maps.

ENCE haven’t lost a BO3 series against a top-five team for a year and didn’t really look like doing it at any point on the way to the final at Gamers8 — or, indeed, Cologne.

Regardless of what happened at Gamers8 (which we’ll get to in a little bit…), ENCE might just be the best team in the world.

Have you ever stayed in a relationship even though it's been over for a while because it's easier? That’s basically Qikert and Virtus.Pro.

Qikert made the decision to take offers from other teams after the Paris Major. We got that official announcement on July the 14th after VP had signed mir, a perfect resolution. Unfortunately, it didn’t play out like that as n0rb3r7 broke his hand and VP needed Qikert to stand in.

Now, we’re no doctors, but apparently, bones take a while to heal. So, Qikert was on duty throughout the start of this season. He ended up playing a total of 4 events after finally deciding to dump VP. They kept pulling him back in.

We’re happy to say, Qikert finally got over his ex! Erm… ex-team. After Gamers8 Qikert officially stated his time on VP has come to an end. This time, we’re pretty sure it’s final as VP has announced n0rb3r7’s return to the roster. The best part is you don’t even have to wait long to watch this VP roster in action. Their next game is in 3 days at the “PARI Dunav Party 2023”. Yeah, we don’t know either.

All we need now is Jame running through the Riyadh airport to stop Qikert from boarding a plane because n0rb3r7’s broken his other hand. Maybe some Deathmatch in the rain to bring the team back together.

In all seriousness, we wish Qikert the best of luck in his next endeavor and are curious to see what VP will do next.

VP is now:

• 🇷🇺 Jame
• 🇷🇺 FL1T
• 🇷🇺 n0rb3r7”
• 🇷🇺 fame
• 🇷🇺 mir

It’s a good job we covered ourselves with that ENCE piece, eh?

After a blistering Anubis map where ENCE looked two steps ahead all over the map, it felt inevitable that they’d add another trophy to their limited pool and really cement their spot at the top, but ZywOo had other plans.

After a quiet map one, the Frenchman kicked into gear to drop two world class showings on map two and three to stake Vitality’s claim on the #1 throne.

After all, they did ruin ENCE’s run of BO3 wins against top opposition, win the Major and also make at least semis in every big tournament.

Mirage looked relatively close, but Vitality always felt largely in control, and Nuke was comfortable thanks to a seven round T side and a near-flawless CT side, with ZywOo dropping double figures on both halves of the map.

Team Vitality are probably the best team in the world, even though we said it doesn’t matter what happens if ENCE win. Sorry about the narrative whiplash. ENCE’s inability to really make the leap to #1 in big finals, in the really, really big moments, just about stops them from toppling Vitality.

Vitality have been there, done that. When the heat was on, map three of the final, they levelled up. They were comfortable, in the zone, but ENCE seemed to crumble, at least a little bit.

We suppose that Heroic comparison in the opening story was more on point than we thought.

Final standings:

1st 🇪🇺 Vitality - $400.000

2nd 🇪🇺 ENCE - $180.000

3-4th 🇪🇺 G2 - $80.000

3-4th 🇩🇰 Heroic - $80.000

5-8th 🇷🇺 Virtus.pro - $35.000

5-8th 🇷🇺 Cloud9 - $35.000

5-8th 🇪🇺 GamerLegion - $35.000

5-8th 🇪🇺 NAVI - $35.000

💰 Oil Money

• The Saudi Football clubs have run out of football players and are now signing CS players. Et tu, Pasha?
• Unsurprisingly FaZe wants in on the Saudi money too. They definitely need it.
• But no amount of money can fix tech issues apparently, at least ENCE had fun.

🏝️ The Desert does things to a man

• GamerLegion threw some shade at EG. Unfortunately, it was very real nealaN.
• At least EG didn't get hacked like Astralis.
• Anders took time off running the matrix to suggest a way for NA to get back. Just don’t read the comments.

🗡️ CS2 keeps delivering

• You can even play Assassins Creed in CS2. If you have enough friends.
• Valve is making Faceit HQ sweat a bit.
• MR12 fans are silver according to the data. Maybe that’s not what the chart said, but we did. Speaking of which incased you missed it, mr12 might return for CS2. Lucky you, we covered it last week.