The Biggest Clash of Styles in The Playoffs Quarterfinals
Will the mind be able to subdue the muscles? That’s the main question for a matchup where both teams bring very different playstyles to the table. In this case, the Flames represent the mind as they are constantly coming up with new strategies that they use to outsmart some of the best teams in the world, while ENCE’s constant aggression and ability to outplay their opponents have secured them a good amount of wins against teams likes FaZe and Heroic.
Whether it’s thanks to Jabbi’s and HooXi’s ability to pull off unexpected plays, or Roej’s and Nicodooz’s consistent aim, the Copenhagen Flames have managed to secure victories against the cs-go odds. Time and time again, the Flames arrive into their matches as the ones supposed to defy the expectations, and time and time again they manage to do it. For the second time in this event, they’ll face ENCE as the underdogs, and once again they might have just what they need to take them down in a best-of-3 series.
On the other hand, ENCE already demonstrated that they are strong contenders for the title when they took down FaZe and Heroic, both in a very dominating manner. But that would mean absolutely nothing if they are not able to defeat the Copenhagen Flames, a team widely-considered worse than ENCE. This time they’ll be playing in front of a huge crowd and we all know how much of an impact it can have on teams that don’t have much experience in this regard, just like CPH and ENCE.
This is ENCE’s Last Chance to Claim Revenge Against The Flames
Over the last 6 times these two teams have played against each other, the Flames came out on top 4 times, and the most recent one was during the Legends Stage of this major. Although now it’s a very different situation because they’ll be playing in front of a massive crowd, it’s still concerning that a team like ENCE isn’t able to consistently take down a team like the Copenhagen Flames, that, at least on paper, look weaker than ENCE.
And this is mostly due to what we mentioned earlier, and while it’s not like CPH’s playstyle is a direct counter to ENCE’s, it’s clear that they need to come very well-prepared if they want to take put out the Flames, and many cs-go gambling experts agree with this.
But it hasn’t been all bad news for the Finnish organization, during the Challengers Stage they had an easy time against most of the teams they faced, including Outsiders, and Bad News Eagles, who they took down in their advancement match in a 2-0 manner. G2 Esports was the only team able to take down ENCE, and they did it in a fairly convincing fashion, but that didn’t affect them at all.
ENCE looked solid throughout the Challenger Stage and it was safe to say that having such a performance would put them in a very comfortable position as they headed into the next stage of the tournament.
ENCE had a great start on the Legends Stage as they stomped one of the favorite teams to win the whole thing, FaZe. One would think that ENCE winning the way they did against FaZe meant that they were going to just roll over the rest of the competition, but it wasn’t anything like that.
They would go on to face their future quarter finals opponents, the Copenhagen Flames, and it didn’t matter that the game was played on Ancient, one of the best maps for ENCE, the Danish squad completely dominated them. This was a shock for a lot of people just considering their performance against FaZe earlier on that day.
But that might have been just a slump, because in their advancement series against Heroic, ENCE pushed the metal to the metal without a second thought. The series did start in favor of Cadian’s squad as they won the first game on Overpass, but that didn’t faze ENCE. They were able to bounce back into the series after an intense second game and ultimately ended up closing the series with a dominating performance on Nuke.
It’s all going to boil down to their ability to show up in their best form, if they pull off the same type of plays they did against Heroic, then they might have a good shot at taking down Copenhagen Flames without much trouble.
The Copenhagen Flames Have Been The Most Interesting Team To Watch
There’s something magical about the way that Copenhagen Flames play out their games. Sometimes they completely rely on outsmarting their opponents, while other times they are capable of using their aim to simply outplay them.
Their first game against FaZe on Inferno was a clear example of this, while HooXi and jabbi did mount up a solid defense on B-site, RoeJ had such a strong presence on A-site that it was impossible for FaZe to penetrate the Flames’ defense. I think that Fredrik “roeJ” Jørgensen is a perfect fit for this lineup as he is the one that brings all the pieces together, he is the balance between HooXi-Jabbis’s smarts and Zyphon-Nicodooz aim, which makes the Copenhagen Flames such a hard team to deal with.
“They’re learning new details about the game, they’re incorporating stuff that other teams are grabbing from them, they’re the innovators of the scene”, that’s what the professional commentator Mohan “launders” Govindasamy thinks about the Copenhagen Flames, and being completely honest, he is right, that’s one of the reasons why the Flames a lot of times are able to defy the cs-go odds.
That’s what makes the Copenhagen Flames such an interesting team to watch in these times where the CSGO meta seems stale. They’re looking for ways to innovate, and they don’t care if the other teams copy them because they know they’ll be able to figure out new stuff time and time again.
After taking down Imperial Esports and securing the last spot for the playoffs, the 21-years-old Nico “nicoodoz” Tamjid said the following regarding his performance in game 2: “I’ve never made so many mistakes… I could definitely feel the nerves coming to me, so I think our coach was good at calming me down personally, and the entire team told me to focus on the game and we made it work in the end”, that just tells us how confident they are in each other and it doesn’t matter if one of them is not performing well, they are able to pick each other up.
“Zyphon is most likely the best aimer in Denmark, and I’m confident in saying that… And Jabbi, you shouldn’t think he is 18-years-old with the amount of things he communicates and the calls he makes, it’s really inspiring for me… We’ve had coaches come in and say that’s the best communication they’ve ever heard…” added Nicodooz during the interview, and that’s what makes the Flames such a magical team, the way they unfold during their games is so fresh to see, and that gives me a lot of confidence in them.
ENCE vs Copenhagen Flames Game Information
- Date: Friday, May 20th
- Time: 10:30am ET
- Live Stream: Twitch.tv
ENCE vs Copenhagen Flames Predictions
We already went over the head-to-head record and saw that the Flames are leading the score, but in reality, none of that matters in this match, where they’ll be playing under so much pressure and in front of a crowd. It’s safe to say that even if ENCE came into the major considered as one of the strongest contenders for the title, as the tournament progressed we could see that in reality that’s not the case.
The Copenhagen Flames have what it takes to defeat ENCE just like they’ve done multiple times in the past, but if ENCE shows up in their best form for this match, it’s going to be very hard for the Flames to just overpower them through mere skill. And to a certain degree, it feels like this is ENCE’s series to lose.
I think that this match will end up being one of the most exciting ones to watch in the quarterfinals because I think that this matchup brings out the best of both teams. In the end, I do think that the Copenhagen Flames will bring out their magic to the stage and be able to pull off the biggest upset so far in the tournament.
Although I have to say that this just shows how confident I feel in the Flames and I strongly believe they are capable of winning this, but going for 3 maps played is the safest option considering how both teams have struggled to close out some of their series.
PICK: Copenhagen Flames to win at +165
PICK: Total maps played Over 2.5 at -105
