The Challengers Stage performance from ENCE was fantastic, but they limped to a meek exit in their final two games in Paris.

ENCE have exited the BLAST Paris Major at the Legends Stage, doing so after an 0-2 loss at the hands of Ninjas in Pyjamas. The European combine will be disappointed with their showing as they were comfortably beaten on both maps, the score finishing 7-16 on Mirage and 10-16 on Ancient.

Outside of a couple of brief moments in the first half of Mirage and right at the end of Ancient, ENCE were not competitive in this elimination series. It was their offensive halves that seemed to be the Major problem, as they mustered no T rounds on Mirage and only three on Ancient. Their individuals were sluggish and there was no sign of a strong gameplan.

Ninjas in Pyjamas by contrast were in form across the board, not a single player was rated below 1.17 for this series. They bullied ENCE across the two, finding more success in opening kills and in clutches, and they will be thoroughly pleased with the way they have dealt with their first elimination match.

Ludvig "⁠Brollan⁠" Brolin in particular shone brightly in this match, and if he can step up and hit the levels he did when he was winning HLTV top 20 accolades, then Ninjas in Pyjamas will be a dangerous prospect moving forward.

ENCE	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Guy 'NertZ' IluzNertZ	33 - 35	-2	71.6	1.00
Álvaro 'SunPayus' GarcíaSunPayus	27 - 34	-7	62.2	0.87
Marco 'Snappi' PfeifferSnappi	30 - 38	-8	74.6	0.85
Paweł 'dycha' Dychadycha	19 - 38	-19	53.5	0.60
Pavle 'Maden' BoškovićMaden	18 - 36	-18	45.7	0.58

Ninjas in Pyjamas	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Ludvig 'Brollan' BrolinBrollan	42 - 24	+18	89.7	1.45
Aleksi 'Aleksib' VirolainenAleksib	35 - 27	+8	84.7	1.25
Daniil 'headtr1ck' Valitovheadtr1ck	34 - 22	+12	70.9	1.20
Kristian 'k0nfig' Wieneckek0nfig	38 - 31	+7	77.9	1.20
Fredrik 'REZ' SternerREZ	31 - 23	+8	62.1	1.17

ENCE will be left ruing their inexplicably weak showing here against Ninjas in Pyjamas, as it very much seemed like a series they could win.

The European combine’s Challengers Stage run was so impressive, they were fresh from a great showing at ESL Pro League, and newcomer Guy "⁠NertZ⁠" Iluz seemed to have propelled them back to somewhere near their best. Against Into the Breach they crumbled however, and the mental damage that loss caused seemed to spill over and hamper them against Ninjas in Pyjamas.

The Ninjas are hitting the best form they have managed in quite some time just when they needed to. Kristian "⁠k0nfig⁠" Wienecke is finally producing regular impact, Daniil "⁠headtr1ck⁠" Valitov seems to have cut down on the silly mistakes that plagued him, and the dynamic duo of Brollan and Fredrik "⁠REZ⁠" Sterner is blowing people off the server.

It hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing, but Ninjas in Pyjamas have done what has been required of them thus far in Paris, and there is no reason they can’t continue to do so.