Dycha: "I think our mental is on point right now"

The final stretch of CS:GO is one of parity and they helped make it so.

ENCE defeated Paris Major winner Team Vitality and will be playing in the Grand Finals in the Cathedral of Counter-Strike, the LANXESS Arena in Cologne, Germany. 

In a nailbiter of a semi-final, ENCE dug deep and could’ve even finished it in two maps after a close call on a ninja defuse that ever so slightly overdrew the bomb timer.

For the first two maps, it turned into a constant back and forth between two of the best teams in CS:GO before the ENCE took control of Vertigo, shutting Vitality out with a commanding 16-7 despite losing both pistol rounds.

A battle of wits

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“It’s hard against Vitality, because we are both trying to get into each other’s heads,” shared ENCE’s Paweł "dycha" Dycha shortly after the conclusion of the match. 

“Snappi is always thinking what apEX and Spinx will think about the game,” he added, exposing another layer of complexity. After all, a year ago Team Vitality’s Lotan "Spinx" Giladi was still playing for ENCE under IGL Marco "Snappi" Pfeiffer.

Dycha explained that specific preparation against Team Vitality’s strategies and focusing on their own executes became key aspects of their preparation for the match.

ENCE has gained a reputation for hitting sites on their T-side in a hard and fast style. According to Dycha, it’s based on hard-earned confidence in their teammates:

“In our team, I don't think we have any problem with going first or second.

“I think everyone understands that we need to go on site and I don't think anyone is baiting in this team. I didn't see a single problem with that.”

After and during their victory at IEM Dallas, Dycha shared that the team focused on mid-round calling on T-sides to improve their decisions making, lending dividends in this series and ultimately giving them the confidence to commit.

Mentally dialled in

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Given that IEM Cologne is likely to be the last major tournament of this size to be played on Counter-Strike: Global Offensive before the eventual switch to Counter-Strike 2, the pressure is on for the competitors.

With both the first and second map ending in close 16-14 respectively for either side, confidence moves into focus.

With a roaring crowd at the LANXESS, that appeared to be slightly in favour of ENCE not least due to an outstandingly clutch performance by Alvaro "SunPayus" Garcia, the match tested both team’s mental fortitude.

“Our mental is on point right now. We can reset fast and we are also super strong mentally,” Dycha explained.

While he admitted certain mistakes due to stress in a couple of rounds, these come with the territory.

Given that, Dycha gave an unsurprisingly cool answer to the question of who they would rather face in the finals on Sunday:

“We don’t really care,” he claimed with shrugged shoulders. He added:

“I would like to play G2 just because I want to play versus NiKo and huNter-.

“I'm good friends with huNter-. We are always talking in the lunch. They're super nice guys, so I hope I'll play G2”

ENCE will face the winner of the series of Astralis vs. G2 in the Grand Finals of IEM Cologne on Sunday, August 6th at 4 pm CET / 3 pm BST.