ENCE have won the $20,000 Operation: Kinguin #2 online tournament, defeating Escape 2-0 (16-8 on Inferno and 16-9 on Cache) and pocketing $10,000 as a result.

Former NiP AWPer and Finn Aleksi "⁠allu⁠" Jalli entered 2016 after having rejected offers to play for brand name teams and instead chose to focus on an all-Finnish lineup known as ENCE with many former teammates from years past in tow.

The team struggled to put up consistent, top 20 style results since then, and offline appearances have been especially lackluster, with a 13-16th place finish at Copenhagen Games 2016, 5-6th place at the Pantamera CS:GO Challenge, and second place at Assembly Winter 2016 (the final event had the Finns considered as the likely favourites).



"EZ for ENCE," as some would say

However, the Finnish team have now secured their first tournament win, clinching the online Operation: Kinguin #2. The $20,000 event saw 32 teams competing via group stages, with eight teams advancing to its single elimination playoffs last week.

allu's team grinded through what may admittedly be called the hardest path to the grand final, as they had to defeat E-frag.net (2-1) in the quarter-finals and SK (2-1) in the semifinals, both of these being teams who regularly appear in our Top 20 Ranking.

The grand final meanwhile saw ENCE square off against André "⁠BARBARR⁠" Möller's Escape, known to many under previous names such as Orgless, PixelFire, and CSGO.one.

The match itself was generally a one-way affair in favour of the Finns as the team won Inferno 16-8 and Cache 16-9, thereby claiming the first place prize of $10,000.

Operation: Kinguin #2 Best of 3 ENCE Matchpage 2 0 Escape 16 Inferno 8 16 Cache 9

Operation: Kinguin #2 final standings:

stich writes for HLTV.org and can be found on Twitter