ENCORE have announced that they have joined the ranks of a new Finnish organisation called HAVU Gaming.

Founded in April, HAVU Gaming boast a management team featuring former Finnish top players Toni "⁠toNppa⁠" Luhtapuro and Janne "⁠Kuppi⁠" Kuparinen, as well as a group of digital marketing professionals.

toNppa will also act as the team's coach, hoping to put to good use all the experience he accumulated while playing for Hoorai/69°N-28°E, one of the most storied Finnish Counter-Strike teams of all time.



disturbed & co join HAVU Gaming

The move to HAVU Gaming comes as a significant boost to the Finnish team, who finished runners-up to iGame.com at Lantrek, in March. Last month, they competed in the European closed qualifier for DreamHack Tours, placing third-fourth following a 0-2 defeat against Tricked.

"I’m thrilled to start working with this project," team captain Taneli "disturbed" Veikkola said in a statement. "When Kuppi called me in January and told me about their plans I was hooked. "I’ve been thinking about creating something new for a while now, and this is a perfect opportunity to show some quality Finnish work."

HAVU Gaming have the following lineup: