Don't cry because it's over; smile because it happened. Well, we're crying anyway. Come along for a walk down memory lane as we remember one of the finest orgs in Counter-Strike.
I’ve always liked ENCE. I always wanted them to do well back when they were a plucky Finnish team led by a promising IGL I knew was destined for greatness, and the fact they did gave me one of my favourite memories in esports. Two of them, actually.
The first was in the moment: the IEM Katowice 2019 final. You know, that final they reached after xseveN - of all people - embarrassed s1mple in the semis.
I wasn’t rooting for ENCE then, I was, and please forgive me for this, a massive Astralis fan, so the subsequent booking out of a lecture room at university, and watching the final alongside a bunch of esports society friends who were all cheering for ENCE was bloody brilliant.
The second moment originates in 2019, but the reason why I love it happened years later.
As you may remember, Finnish ENCE’s crowning moment was then getting revenge on Astralis at BLAST Pro Series Madrid, a trophy that almost certainly did not matter.
But to Finnish fans, it of course did, so when drunk me and aizyesque realised we could wind up the more drunk ENCE videographer about this pointless trophy at the Paris Major, the debate that followed was priceless.
Sadly for ENCE, they did then make a string of questionable decisions that pushed them into irrelevancy, but they would later reemerge as a team led by Snappi, and everyone loved that team.
They’d win another trophy, IEM Dallas 2023, a consequence of another incredible semi-final showdown that featured the greatest map of Ancient ever played. But the crowning moment of that ENCE wasn’t winning gold, it was the talent that was developed there: NertZ, Spinx, SunPayus - all players who became exceptional under the iconic logo.
It’s a history that allows me to look past the existence of that god awful song, as well as all the terrible people who use it as their music kit, and actually just be grateful I got to experience it.
Of course, that’s all in the past now, though. And it looks like there won’t be a future for ENCE at all, as years of irrelevancy and missing out on Majors has pushed for them to file for bankruptcy. That makes them the third org to fold in what feels like as many weeks, and honestly, it doesn’t feel like that’s a trend that’s going to stop anytime soon.
The finances of esports are brutal, and the changes that Valve made to stickers is likely crippling for many. This is a wave that is likely going to flood CS, and more orgs we have fond memories of will likely join ENCE in shutting up shop.
So, while we’re grateful that it’s taken teams like EG, we’re also sad that it means teams like ENCE have to fall, and we hope something will happen soon that might stop the rot.
But God knows what that will be.
