How ENCE defied all odds and expectations

The Finnish e-sports organiztion of ENCE took the world by storm in 2019, when they managed to catapult themselves to the top of the global rankings in Counter-Strike. However, they weren't always a big contender. Whilst the Finnish Counter-Strike scene was filled with players trying to compete with their fellow Scandinavians and their impressive results it seemed as if it was never going to happen.

After 5,5 years of hard work and determination ENCE finally managed to secure a top-8 finish in a premier event. Thanks to former ENCE player Joona "natu" Leppänen taking on a managerial role and star player Aleksi "allu" Jalli ENCE finally proved to be a real contender in the professional Counter-Strike scene once they announced the launch of their new roster in 2018.

The predominately unknown roster that would become one Counter-Strikes biggest surprises featured the following players:

Aleksi "allu" Jalli

Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen

Sami "xseveN" Laasanen

Jere "sergej" Salo

Jani "Aerial" Jussila

At last, it seemed as if ENCE had finally managed to put together a roster that could compete at the top of the professional Counter-Strike scene. And they did. At least until the roster that had proven that the Finnish Counter-Strike scene was more than just a meme fell apart. Just as quickly as they had appeared and started to dominate top teams they started hitting slumps and fell down the rankings once again.

In December 2020 the core of the Finnish roster fell apart, leaving behind only captain "allu" of the sinking Finnish ship. ENCE is currently trying to rebuild the roster and is sporting a new European look featuring the likes of Marco "Snappi" Pfeiffer and Lotan "Spinx" Giladi. They are currently ranked as the 24th best team in the world.

To watch more about how ENCE proved to everyone that they were not just a laughing matter, you can watch the entire video down below: