Gla1ve joins ENCE

ENCE’s CS2 team now has a very strong IGL. Gla1ve is one of the most successful players in the history of Counter-Strike and the winner of multiple Majors with Astralis. His decision to join ENCE is not only a great opportunity for him but also a great blessing for the club.

Several days ago, ENCE announced the departure of Snappi and sAw, both of whom were excellent members of the team. But now that they’ve been replaced by kuben (the new coach, who used to coach Apeks) and gla1ve, who is a former Astralis member, we can say with confidence that ENCE’s future looks bright.

He’s back 🐐 pic.twitter.com/eWo9qzcv2i

— ENCE (@ENCE) November 27, 2023

ENCE’s chances

In 2023, this team won IEM Dallas and played in the Grand Final of two other tournaments: IEM Cologne and Gamers8. These results suggest that the former roster was very strong. However, the new roster is probably even stronger. The only thing that’s in question is the ability of the players to forge a solid working relationship and communicate well during games.

Gla1ve is used to working with people of high caliber, such as dev1ce and dupreeh, so he will not have any problems as an IGL. But how well will his new teammates understand his philosophy and implement it remains to be seen.

If communication between the players is good, we should see ENCE performing well as soon as February next year. It’s hard to have high expectations from them at this point because whenever a new IGL and a new coach are brought in, there’s a long process of reconstruction and rethinking of the core strategies.

SunPayus, maden, and dycha have been working with each other for a long time. NertZ joined more than eight months ago, so he’s also fully integrated. Now the challenge is to upgrade the team’s overall strategy on every map and ensure that the players’ potential is properly used. Sometimes, even a small change can lead to a huge difference in results.

For gla1ve, one of the major advantages, apart from his vast experience and the confidence he gained from winning Majors, is that he’s not just a purely tactical IGL. He’s also an excellent player. His technique is almost as good as that of a dedicated rifler, so he regularly ends matches with excellent scores.

Most IGLs are happy to guide their teams strategically and finish the game with modest stats. But gla1ve is likely to carry from time to time or at least do his part really well.

Header: ENCE