Written by Austyn W.
Team Vitality vs ENCE will face off against each other in the group stage of the BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 European Showdown. The BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 European Showdown is a ten-team online European tournament. The event has a prize pool of $182,500 and the top three teams will qualify for the BLAST European finals. The first-place team gets $37,500 in the prize pool, but more importantly to some, it also contributes 800 BLAST Premier points.
Each group has five teams and they compete in the best-of-one matches. The teams receive three points for a win and one point for a tie. The top four teams from each group advance to the playoffs. The playoffs take place from June 5 -15th, 2020. The playoffs feature two single-elimination gauntlets. No grand finals match is played, but there will be a third-place match. The top three teams advance to the European finals.
Vitality and ENCE have faced each other multiple times in this month. While Vitality won the first series on May 6 with a 2-0 score, Vitality was able to win their own series during the DreamHack Master's Spring Online 2020 EU tournament. Vitality defeated ENCE 2-0 taking revenge for their loss earlier in the month.
Vitality’s playstyle revolves around the young prodigy ZywOo. The 19-year-old player is one of the standout players in the CS:GO scene. After being awarded the title of the best player in 2019, Zyw0o has been the focus of Vitality’s efforts. The young player requires assistance from the rest of the squad if Vitality is to present a strong showing against the best CS:GO teams.
Vitality won its recent matches, including a 2-0 victory over ENCE. The French players also defeated the Ninjas in Pyjamas 2-0 securing their place as a top-ten team.
For ENCE, this match will be an attempt to get a better map veto and perform better against the French players. The Finnish roster of ENCE could not put up a strong performance against Vitality.