Astralis edge out ENCE in three

Despite being contested by ENCE on all three maps, Astralis were able to overcome the Finnish side and secure the 2-1 victory in ESL Pro League Season 11.

Ranked #2 in the world, Astralis were overwhelming favorites to win the series, despite their shocking 2-0 loss to Ninjas in Pyjamas in the opening match of the tournament. On the other hand, ENCE have continued their struggles by opening Pro League with losses to Spirit and Vitality, witha bounce-back not expected in the game against Astralis.

However, the series ended up being a back-and-forth one, with ENCE recovering from slow starts on all three maps. In the end, Astralis secured the narrow victory thanks to a 10-round streak on the final map, Overpass.

dupreeh's impressive performance on Dust2 was crucial to Astralis' win

Dust2 kicked off with a 5-0 lead for Astralis, but ENCE didn't let the Danes run away with the scoreline so easily. Playing on the Terrorist side, ENCE came back into the half by winning eight of the next nine rounds to finish the half with a minimal lead, 8-7. Aleksi "⁠allu⁠" Jalli's men took the lead after the switch thanks to the pistol round win, but it was all about Astralis in the rifle rounds. The Danish side closed out the game, 16-13, as Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen led the way with 33 frags.

Inferno followed a similar pattern to Dust2, Astralis won the early game (6-3 as Terrorists), but ENCE were able to wake up and claim the lead before the switch. In the second half, Astralis ran away with the lead by putting up strong defenses, but they were unable to close out the game from 14-9 up as ENCE mounted a miraculous comeback to force map 3, Overpass.

On the decider, Jere "⁠sergej⁠" Salo continued his strong play to bring ENCE back from another slow start (0-4) to a respectable 9-6 lead after the CT half. sergej's triple secured the second pistol round for the Finns, but Astralis mustered a force-buy win and started to build momentum on the defense. In the end, Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander and co. closed out the map without losing a single round on the CT side (16-10) to secure their second Pro League victory of the season.

ESL Pro League Season 11 EuropeBest of 3 AstralisMatchpage 2 1 20th March 2020 ENCE 16Dust2 13 14Inferno 16 16Overpass 10

Astralis	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethXyp9x	63 - 46	+17	82.8	1.26
Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussendupreeh	70 - 57	+13	91.2	1.26
Emil 'Magisk' ReifMagisk	59 - 49	+10	73.4	1.14
Nicolai 'device' Reedtzdevice	55 - 50	+5	66.6	1.09
Lukas 'gla1ve' Rossandergla1ve	51 - 53	-2	70.8	1.05

ENCE	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Jere 'sergej' Salosergej	65 - 57	+8	79.7	1.13
Miikka 'suNny' KemppisuNny	55 - 62	-7	66.2	0.96
Sami 'xseveN' LaasanenxseveN	49 - 58	-9	66.5	0.89
Jani 'Aerial' JussilaAerial	44 - 67	-23	65.6	0.88
Aleksi 'allu' Jalliallu	41 - 54	-13	55.2	0.81

With the third set of ESL Pro League S11 Group A matches played out, this is how the standings look like:

Group A TEAM M P Ninjas in Pyjamas 3 9 Spirit 3 6 Astralis 3 6 Vitality 3 6 ENCE 3 0 GODSENT 3 0 ENCE #22 Aleksi 'allu' JalliJani 'Aerial' JussilaMiikka 'suNny' KemppiSami 'xseveN' LaasanenJere 'sergej' Salo Spirit #27 Leonid 'chopper' VishnyakovNikolay 'mir' BityukovViktor 'sdy' OrudzhevArtem 'iDISBALANCE' EgorovBoris 'magixx' Vorobiev Nikolay 'Certus' Poluyanov Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussen Age: 26 Team: Astralis Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 1566 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.65 Vitality #10 Richard 'shox' PapillonCédric 'RpK' GuipouyDan 'apEX' MadesclaireMathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautKévin 'misutaaa' Rabier Rémy 'XTQZZZ' Quoniam Astralis #2 Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethPeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenLukas 'gla1ve' RossanderNicolai 'device' ReedtzEmil 'Magisk' Reif Jere 'sergej' Salo Age: 18 Team: ENCE Rating 1.0: 1.11 Maps played: 575 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.63 Spirit #27 Leonid 'chopper' VishnyakovNikolay 'mir' BityukovViktor 'sdy' OrudzhevArtem 'iDISBALANCE' EgorovBoris 'magixx' Vorobiev GODSENT #16 Mikail 'Maikelele' BillJesse 'zehN' LinjalaMartin 'STYKO' StykKevin 'kRYSTAL' AmendPavle 'Maden' Bošković Jonatan 'Devilwalk' Lundberg Ninjas in Pyjamas #12 Simon 'twist' EliassonJonas 'Lekr0' OlofssonFredrik 'REZ' SternerTim 'nawwk' JonassonNicolas 'Plopski' Gonzalez Zamora Vitality #10 Richard 'shox' PapillonCédric 'RpK' GuipouyDan 'apEX' MadesclaireMathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautKévin 'misutaaa' Rabier Lukas 'gla1ve' Rossander Age: 24 Team: Astralis Rating 1.0: 1.01 Maps played: 1289 KPR: 0.68 DPR: 0.65 ENCE #22 Aleksi 'allu' JalliJani 'Aerial' JussilaMiikka 'suNny' KemppiSami 'xseveN' LaasanenJere 'sergej' Salo Slaava 'Twista' Räsänen Astralis #2 Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethPeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenLukas 'gla1ve' RossanderNicolai 'device' ReedtzEmil 'Magisk' Reif Danny 'zonic' Sørensen Aleksi 'allu' Jalli Age: 27 Team: ENCE Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 1434 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.64 Ninjas in Pyjamas #12 Simon 'twist' EliassonJonas 'Lekr0' OlofssonFredrik 'REZ' SternerTim 'nawwk' JonassonNicolas 'Plopski' Gonzalez Zamora Björn 'THREAT' Pers