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Remember when ENCE were one of the best teams in the world? We do, we loved them.\

Still, their team fell apart, and the years since haven’t exactly been kind to the Finnish org. There were some positive signs when the Polish/gla1ve mix began their time together with a playoff run at IEM Katowice 2024, but that very quickly petered out, and the international teams since haven’t got anywhere close.

With ENCE now not even inside the top 50 of VRS, they’ve decided to bench their entire roster, saying that the current “eco-system has made it increasingly difficult for organisations like ours to reach the highest level.”

Except that’s not really true, is it?

The reality is more that their team just wasn’t very good, and they weren’t attending enough of the smaller LANs to see themselves grow as other teams have. As Janko pointed out on Twitter, this decision, in an era where it has arguably never been easier for tier two teams, is almost certainly based in economic reasons.

Don’t worry, though, ENCE fans. The organisation isn’t going anywhere; they’ll be looking to come back soon with a brand new all-Finnish lineup.

Which, to be fair, they won’t go anywhere with either.