ENCE and Heroic eliminated in Abu Dhabi
Despite delivering a huge comeback in their match against NAVI, ENCE eventually lost out dramatically.
Group A and B at the BLAST World Final in Abu Dhabi delivered exactly what could be expected with FaZe and Vitality being victorious in their separate groups. The two powerhouses defeated G2 and Cloud9 on Day 2 to qualify directly for the Semi-Finals on Saturday in the Etihad Arena.
In the lower bracket of the two groups, Heroic and ENCE ended their stay in the desert with two consecutive defeats. For Heroic it was expected that the Danish mix team would be in trouble against some of the best teams in the world. The Danes were overall only competitive on one map in their opening match against FaZe, where they took karrigan and company to overtime on their map pick of Ancient.
For ENCE the event became disastrous as well. Just before their opening match, three players (SunPayus, NertZ, and Maden) were all rumored to be targeted by Heroic. This a rumor that only gained strength after interviews with the two new pieces on the team, in-game leader Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander, and coach Jakub "kuben" Gurczyński. Both declared that the future of the roster was not set in stone. On the server, ENCE delivered two catastrophic opening maps against Cloud9 and NAVI but then came back in both matches to make a good showing. Against Cloud9 it was not enough to force the match to a decider, but in the elimination match against NAVI, ENCE came close to actually winning the match. But at 11-5 in favor of ENCE on the decider map of Nuke, NAVI mustered an epic comeback to sway the match in favor of the CIS roster. Mihai 'iM' Ivan finally showed some of his magic from the BLAST.tv Major in Paris, and was a key reason why NAVI managed to win the map and match 13-11.
Today the Quarter-Finals will be played, while the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi will host the Semi-Finals on Saturday and the Grand Final on Sunday. You can see the schedule for the event down below.
Friday: (Times in CET)
10.00: Cloud9 – MOUZ
13.00: NAVI – G2
Saturday:
12.30: FaZe – C9/MOUZ
16.00: Vitality – NAVI/G2
Sunday:
15.00: Grand Final
