Ence Esports vs G2 Esports – DreamHack Open Winter 2018

2018 is about to come to an end but that doesn’t mean that CS:GO competitive circuit is closing. Sweden is prepared for the year on a high note by hosting the DreamHack Open Winter 2018. Soon we will see some talented sides competing for Supremacy at Jönköping.

A total of 8 teams will be competing to get the best share of the $100, 000 dollars prize pool. The competition will take place at the Elmia Convention Center from 30th November to 2nd December. So let’s have a look at one of the opening games.

The reason we have picked this match for you is that it is the battle between one of the strongest teams, Ence Esports against one of the most experienced sides in professional CS: GO, G2 eSports. So let’s have a look at who will come out on top.

ENCE Esports

This season we have seen so many teams failing to deliver what is expected of them. However, one team that has fairly established a decent reputation in 2018 in none other than the Finnish side of Ence eSports.

This lineup of Ence has displayed some impressive results throughout the years which includes finishing at 8th place in the ESL One Cologne 2018. During their campaign in Germany, they defeated some of the best teams of the West, before getting eliminated by Natus Vincere. After the defeat, some critics rated Ence as a one-hit wonder and predicted them to decline throughout the year and they might be True. Since at the CS:GO Minor competition, EU FACEIT London, the team suffered demolishing defeats to Ninjas In Pyjamas and Optic Gaming. These series of defeats ended their hopes of Qualification to the FACEIT Major. So it is fair to say that they are currently a tier 2 team. But even then, Ence has come out all guns blazing.

Even though the players of the team failed to deliver at EU Minor, they continued to train and strive for success. It seems that after their failures in Cologne and London, the organization had a positive enforcement since the team started to perform well and got their act together. Their improvement can be exhibited by their victory at the at the StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 6 where they got their redemption over Optic Gaming by beating them 209 in the semifinal. While in the Grand Finale they went all the way in the best-of-five series. They won the series 3-2 which show the strength and depth of the team.

Bookmakers’ favorite

Ence Esports is opted by many bookmakers to how the title of DreamHack Open Winter 2018 and the previously mentioned stats clearly support the logic. The side has been quite impressive throughout the year. They cannot be rated on the level of the team like Na’Vi, MiBR, and Astralis. However, they are a decent tier 2 team that apart from StarSeries title has won the ASUS ROG Finnish Championship 2018 and Assembly GameXpo 2018. At DreamHack Open Montreal 2018 the team finished at 2nd place. Now in Sweden, they have the chance to avenge their defeat.

G2 eSports

Unlike Ence eSports, the French organization has repeated made changes to their roster owing to their rollercoaster performances. Before this major, they made a couple of changes to their lineup. Let’s have a look at their roster and evaluate why the team was invited at DreamHack.

Changes in squad

A couple of days ago, G2 eSports made an official announcement of recruiting two players, Audric ‘Jackz’ Jug and Lucas ‘Lucky’ Chastang. These two will be playing alongside the trio, Kenny ‘Kenny’ Schrub, Alexandre ‘bodyy’ Pianaro and Richard ‘Shox’ Papillon. The trio has played under the banner of G2 for quite a while now and their experience will be vital if G2 is looking to win at Dreamhack. G2 Esports is amongst the few teams that have recently secured their place at the upcoming, Katowice Major 2019. So it will be a confidence boost for the team coming to this competition.

To make way for Jackz and Lucky, the G2 side had to drop Edouard ‘SmithZz’ Dubourdeaux and Kevin ‘Ex6tenz’ Droolans to the reserve team. Keeping in mind that as per the rule of the competitions, they might be in reserves at DreamHack but they will still play at ESL Pro League. The verdict of dropping the two stars must have been a hard decision for G2. Since both of them are rated amongst the veteran of the game, but this duo has surely been on the decline for quite a while so it is a wise choice by G2 to get a fresh start.

Lucky and Jackz – The new duo for G2 Esports

The new duo, Lucky and Jackz have been signed up from 3DMAX which is another French team. The duo helped 3DMAX to reach the finals of the ESEA Premier. So according to the rules of ESEA, after DreamHack ends on December 2nd, the duo will represent 3DMAX for the last time at the finals of ESEA Premier, taking place in Dallas from 5th December.

Lastly, G2 has also made changes to the coaching staff. Since the team has parted ways with Jérôme ‘Niak’ Sudries and have acquired the services of Damien ‘Malek’ Marcel, he was the in-term coach for G2 at the ESL One New York. He has coached Team Envy for some time and surely is a good addition to the G2 team.
So looking at the G2 squad, they have the individual talent but it is hard to say that they will win against a well-developed team like Ence.

Final Verdict

Ence is somewhat a smart choice for the upcoming best-of-one meeting since G2 have only made recent changes to the roster and it is highly unlikely the team will be able to formulate a winning strategy in such a short time. The team chemistry will be a huge plus for ENCE while the habit of G2 to make changes in the roster will likely to cost them in this opening match of the group stage. Ence has only improved from their past rough experiences while G2 is still experimenting with their lineup.

ENCE Esports 1-0 G2 Esports

Odds on bookmakers

Bookmakers	Ence Esports Odds		G2 Esports Odds
	European	American	European	American
EGB.com	1.65	-153	2.07	+107.00
Betway	1.70	-142	2.05	+105.00
GG.bet	1.59	-169	2.25	+125.00
Bet365	1.61	-163	2.20	+120.00