Cover Image Courtesy: ENCE
IEM has just revealed the first two direct invites for the IEM Chicago 2019 scheduled to take place from 18th-21st July. Representing the NA region is none other than the American top dogs, Team Liquid and challenging them from the EU region is the Finnish represents, ENCE.
Team Liquid
Liquid is the best NA team at the moment and seems to be in phenomenal form, which was witnessed in all its glory at the recently concluded IEM Sydney 2019. The event marked the end of the NA choke, as the community hailed that the team has finally broken free from their curse of not being able to find victory at a premier CS:GO event since its inception back in 2015.
The team has also defeated Astralis earlier in the year in the finals of the iBUYPOWER Masters IV but somehow failed to go through ENCE in the Champions Stage of the Katowice Major 2019. Liquid in their current form are a formidable opponent and will be looking to take down ENCE to avenge their earlier defeat.
ENCE
ENCE who at one point was the EU underdog are now the second best team of the region and the third best globally according to the HLTV rankings. The team has been successful in accomplishing its dream and have only grown to achieve more.
Since reaching the Finals of the Katowice Major 2019, the team has improved steadily finally showcasing a glimpse of their true potential at the recently concluded BLAST Pro Series: Madrid 2019 by taking down the Danish powerhouse, Astralis.
ENCE are now hungry to become the best team in the world but in order to do that they have to take care of the hurdle inbetween, which just so happens to be Liquid.
The $250,000 event which is being hailed as the faceoff between the NA and the EU region is already off to a sweet start with the first two invites having such a massive impact on the entire event.
