Match Prediction: ENCE - Falcons | CS2 (CS:GO)
IEM Katowice 2024Welcome to EGamersWorld.
The biggest Counter-Strike 2 tournament in February, IEM Katowice 2024, is gaining momentum. At the legendary IEM Katowice 2024, the play-offs stage begins, where 6 teams at the Spodek Arena will determine the strongest.
Falcons and ENCE will try to take the IEM Katowice 2024 crown. For both teams it's a crucial tournament: ENCE recently changed their roster, bringing in 4 Poles and a super experienced glaive, while Falcons have only recently entered the professional CS2 scene at this level.
We are trying to see if ENCE will be able to please the home crowd at Spodek Arena, or if Falcons will continue to surprise. The winner of the pairing takes on Team Spirit.
Let's go.
Falcons uniforms
Let's start the match with an analysis of the Falcons' form. In this match against ENCE they will play as favourites, with odds to win at around 1.8.
The 11th team of the HLTV world ranking shows rather "blurred" results. The 2023 season can be called a failure.
All 2023 Falcons were, as they call it, in search of themselves. They started the professional season by playing at B-Tier tournaments: Thunderpick Bitcoin Series #2, OMEN WRG Challenge 2023 and CCT West Europe Series #1. At the first two, they celebrated a top-2 finish, and at the more prestigious CCT, a top-8 finish.
Later tried to make it to the Paris Major . Had two attempts, at BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023: European RMR A and BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023: European RMR B. Both were unsuccessful: top-11 and top-6.
In the middle of the year, Falcons continued to bang their heads against the wall. Top-13 at ESL Challenge League Season 45: Europe, Top-10 at ESL Championnat National Spring 2023 and Top-24 at Thunderpick World Championship 2023: European Series #1.
Tried to qualify for IEM Sydney 2023, but fell off at the top-64 stage in the open qualifiers. As a Saudi Arabian club they got a slot at Gamers8 2023, where they played to the best of their ability, which is Top 16.
- Falcons line-up: BOROS, Snappi, Magisk, maden, SunPayus,
At the end of the year Falcons tried to put together a DreamTeam. So far it's not working out so well, because they failed in the first tournament with the new squad. That was BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2024, where the team finished top-12.
At IEM Katowice 2024 they got to the IEM Katowice 2024 by ESL Ranking points. There they were ranked in the top 10 before the tournament's Long Shogpeg, but for what merits - a big mystery.
IEM Katowice 2024 Falcons started with a defeat against the best team of Turkey - Eternal Fire. After losing to the Turks, Falcons were close to crashing out of the tournament in a lower bracket match against Rebels, but managed to stay afloat thanks to a 2-1 win. In fact, a similar situation occurred in the match against CoL, where the Falcons gave up the first card, but cameback on the second and closed out the series with a third.
In the IEM Katowice 2024 IEM Katowice 2024 play-offs, Falcons unexpectedly beat NaVi to close the series 2-0.
Falcons Mappool
The best Falcons map is Nuke (1 game, 1 win). Next is Ancient (1 win, 1 loss).
Among the unfavourable maps for Falcons are Vertigo and Anubis. They have 3 matches and 1 win on the former, while Anubis has 1 loss.
ENCE Form
Let's move on to analysing the playing conditions of the hosts of the ENCE stage. In this match "Poles" will play in the status of outsiders, with a minimum margin of victory at odds of 2.
Last season the team finished top-3 at CCT Central Europe Malta Vibes, top-4 at ESL Pro League Season 17, and also reached top-8 European RMR B - qualifying event for BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023. ENCE also played at the Major, but it was TOP-14, which is hardly a worthy result.
IEM Dallas 2023 turned out to be much more pleasant. ENCE looked quite cheerful throughout the event, which allowed them to defeat MOUZ in the grand finals with a score of 2-0. Just before IEM Cologne 2023 ESL Challenger Katowice was played, where in the grand final they had to defeat Vp with 1-2 score.
- ENCE roster: dycha, gla1ve, Goofy, Kylar, hades.
ENCE have been playing in a stable roster for almost half a year. SunPayus and NertZ, who have a KDA of 1.12, are the headliners of the roster.
Thanks to their victory at IEM Dallas 2023 ENCE started Cologne from the group stage. The first opponent was the Poles from 9INE, who gave the Finns serious problems, but lost with a score of 1-2 and a series of dops on the decisive map.
The next match was a match against Fnatic. ENCE won both maps, leaving Fnatic no special chances.
In the match for the Grand Final ENCE played against Heroic. Being an outsider, the Finns took a very good approach to the match and shut down the top 1 team in the world with a score of 2-1 in a tough Bo3.
Next up was a match against Vitality and as a result a passage to the Grand Final of IEM Cologne 2023. ENCE was not enough for the title, G2 Esports were stronger.
After an offensive Cologne 2023 ENCE started Gamers8 on a high note. They defeated Liquid 2-0 in the first match of the tournament.
In the semi-final match they played against Cloud9. Again, the Finns closed the series with a score of 2-0, leaving little chance for the Americans.
Later ENCE beat Heroic again, and dry, and in the grand final Gamers8 faced Vitality. Again, ENCE failed to take the title, Ledgeiv with a 1-2 score.
At the ESL Pro League Season 18 Long Round of the ESL Pro League, ENCE faced off against Evil Geniuses. The North American club even gave a fight, but only on the second map (14-16 Nuke), but still lost.
ENCE faced MIBR in the match to reach the final of the top grid of Group B at ESL Pro League Season 18. The new generation of the legendary Brazilian tag showed beautiful CSGO, and it was enough for one map.
Before the play-offs ENCE defeated BIG in a match to advance to the quarter-finals. The game ended 2-1, and ENCE were the winner of their group.
In the quarter-finals ENCE played against Movistar Riders. As expected, the Spaniards couldn't offer any proper resistance and were swept on two maps (16-2 Overpass and 16-5 Anubis).
ENCE's journey to ESL Pro League Season 18 ended at the semi-final stage. The Finns Ledge and future tournament champions MOUZ lost 1-2.
They played at the BLAST Premier: Fall Showdown, which they frankly failed. At the tournament ENCE took TOP-4, which is hardly a serious result, considering the level of the championship and the teams that played there.
ENCE also played at IEM Sydney 2023 - the first major tournament in CS2. There they managed to reach the play-offs of the championship, but in the first match of the main stage Ledge and FaZe Clan, who later became the champions of the tournament.
Later was CS Asia Championship 2023, where ENCE made it to the top 4. ENCE's record also includes Top 4 at Elisa Masters Espoo 2023 and Top 8 at BLAST Premier: World Final 2023. In 2024 they unsuccessfully tried to qualify for IEM Chengdu 2024, but failed in the qualifiers, falling out at the TOP-33/64 stage.
IEM Katowice 2024 ENCE started with an upset loss to BIG, but had a series of error-free matches: they defeated Astralis, MongolZ, Vitality (!) and G2 Esports (!), thus qualifying for the play-offs. They fell one game short of the quarter-finals of IEM Katowice 2024 against MOUZ.
ENCE Mapple
ENCE has two 100 per cent maps. They are Nuke with 9 wins in 9 matches and Anubis with 5 matches and 0 losses.
Still playing Ancient (66% wins in 3 matches). Still playing Mirage (9 matches, 4 wins). Vertigo - 2 wins and 3 losses and Overpass (2 wins in 7 matches).
History of head-to-head meetings between ENCE and Falcons
Previously, the teams have not played each other in official matches. This will be the first experience of a face-to-face meeting.
Predicted result of Falcons - ENCE at IEM Katowice 2024
In this match I expect a bright CS2. Both teams have shown that they are ready to put their best foot forward and getting through to the play-offs is a direct confirmation of that. If we talk about the winner, I see ENCE, who on their way through IEM Katowice 2024 beat teams much stronger than Falcons. And the home stage will also help.
Bottom line: ENCE wins.
ENCE (#25) vs. Falcons (#13)
Meeting info
On Friday 09.02.2024 at 21:30 in the format BO3 in CS2 (CS:GO) will be held between the teams ENCE (Finland) and Falcons Esports (France). The event takes place in the format of the IEM Katowice 2024 Playoffs stage.
Odds
According to the list of odds for ENCE vs Falcons Esports, there is no clear favourite in the match, with bookmakers giving ENCE a 48% chance of winning and Falcons Esports a 52% chance of winning.
Individual performance
The Falcons are slightly stronger in terms of individual performance.
Team performance
Teams are stronger than ENCE.
Tournament scores
3DMAX has a 1.06 rating in the tournament, compared to 1.04 for Falcons.
Head-to-head matches
In head-to-head meetings, Falcons lead 1-2 on the cards.
Against common opponents.
ENCE beat Vitality and Astralis, Falcons beat Na'Vi.
Conclusion
The Poles are loaded in their home arena and should qualify for the semi-finals, they are stronger in some aspects and I believe in the Poles' victory.
Bet: ENCE ~koef 2.05
More predictions in my telegram channel:
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Bookmakers & Statistics
All bookmakers have agreed that Falcons is the favorite. This can be noticed because odds on them are 1.724. This number in the favor of ENCE amounts 2.218. Respectively, the last ones are the underdogs of the upcoming match.
Team statistics in recent matches
Last Matches | ENCE | Falcons |
5 matches (wins) | 4 | 3 |
10 matches (wins) | 5 | 5 |
It will also be necessary to mention the history of face-to-face meetings between the opponents. The teams played 1 matches with each other before. And ENCE won 1 times while Falcons correspondingly became the winner 0 times.