ENCE, HAVU to face off for Nordic Masters spot

The two teams will go head to head for the first time since 2019 hoping to secure a spot in the BLAST Premier Showdown qualifier.

Finnish esports platform Pelaajatcom has announced that the country's two household names in Counter-Strike, ENCE and HAVU, will meet on March 12 in the Pelaajatcom Series Showoff. The winner of this best-of-three clash will earn a spot in the $25,000 Nordic Masters, one of the regional qualifiers for the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown.

This will be the first official match between the two teams since the grand final of the ASUS ROG Winter event, in February 2019. Aleksi "⁠allu⁠" Jalli is the only player who remains on ENCE from that title-winning team, while Lasse "⁠ZOREE⁠" Uronen and Olli "⁠sLowi⁠" Pitkänen are still plying their trade for HAVU.

ENCE, who moved away from their Finnish roots at the start of the year and built an international team with players from four different countries, finished 5th-8th in their first tournament with the new lineup, Snow Sweet Snow 1. HAVU went through the Snow Sweet Snow 2 Regionals almost unscathed and beat MIBR in their first match in the main tournament with strong performances from Sami "⁠xseveN⁠" Laasanen and Jani "⁠Aerial⁠" Jussila, who were both signed from ENCE last year.

The Pelaajatcom Series Showoff will be streamed live on Pelaajatcom's Twitch channel from 17:00 . The losing side will have another shot at qualification for the Nordic Masters through the Pelaajatcom Spring Series.