While Cloud9’s Counter Strike Global Offensive team are still celebrating after their campaign at IEM Dallas, ENCE can feel proud of what they have accomplished. Even though the Russian squad swept ENCE easily 3-0 in the grand finals of the $250000 event and demonstrated they are not “onliners” anymore, ENCE was able to proof that there is still some fight in the organization after the roster moves.
As huge as Cloud 9’s victory was for North America, it’s undeniable that Janusz “Snax” Pogorzelski showed up as one of the biggest winners of IEM Dallas. The former Virtus Pro fan favorite and legend was called last minute to fill in for ENCE’s star rifler Lotan “Spinx” Giladi, who unfortunately was not able to participate in the tournament due to visa issues. The 2014 Katowice Major winner showed the world that he can still carry his own weight against the best CS GO teams out there.
Snax felt right at home despite playing in his first Tier 1 event since ESL Pro League Europe season eight all the way back in November 2018, when he was playing under the MOUZ organization. On top of being away from Tier 1 events for a significant amount of time, Snax also hadn’t played many competitive or LAN matches this year after Polish team Anonymo parted ways with him back in December 2021.
The Polish hybrid rifler had an immense impact throughout ENCE’s campaign in IEM Dallas right after the first day of the event, where he only had average numbers against G2 and MOUZ. Nevertheless, Snax came out swinging on the second day of the event, where he was absolutely crucial in ENCE overcoming the PGL Antwerp Major winners FaZe Clan in a shocking fashion, averaging a 1.20 and 1.71 kill to death ratio, respectively, on the last two maps of an amazing best of five series.
Snax looked like a CSGO demigod after carrying on that form against FURIA in the semifinals on Saturday, June 5th, helping ENCE beat the Brazilian side rather quickly 2-0. He had the most kills in the series with a total of 43 and averaged a 1.62 kill to death ratio on Nuke, the second and last map of that semifinal.
Even though ENCE lost to C9 3-0 in rather unexpected fashion, Snax was once again clutched to be their best performer in the final. He finished the series 49-56, it might not seem as much but regarding the circumstances it is quite good, doing far better than his teammates Olek “hades” Miskiewicz, Paweł Dycha, and the captain Marco “Snappi” Pfeiffer who fans definitely expected more from.
If Snax’s performance at IEM Dallas is not enough to convince Tier 1 teams to give him a shot, maybe the words of ENCE’s in-game leader Snappi will make a case for him. The Danish IGL gave some words of encouragement for Snax after they beat FaZe. “If any team out there in tier one is looking for a player, Snax is putting in the job application,” Snappi said. As a fan myself I would love to see Snax back in Tier 1 competitions, however it seems more like a dream than reality.
