Here at BLAST.tv, we’re celebrating AWPgust, and as part of our celebrations, we are highlighting some of the most exceptional AWPers in history. First, it was the turn of Denmark’s greatest-ever player, device. But now we turn our attention slightly East to the pride of Finland, allu.
One of very few CS:GO players currently playing to have first plied their trade in Counter-Strike before Global Offensive even released, allu is the man who put Finland on the map in CS:GO.
Having risen through the ranks of his home scene with ENCE - more on them later - allu went on to impress at a higher level with a MOUZ team that featured chrisJ and tabseN.
The form he displayed was enough for NIP to come calling, a huge surprise at the time, given that they had only played with Swedes before him.
A cursed, perennially unstable fifth spot on the team, Allu came after Fifflaren and Maikelele had already been chewed up and spat out by the team.
It started well for allu on NIP, the team finished second to their national rivals fnatic at IEM Katowice 2015, the first Major of 2015. A result very few players can match in CS history. It would take allu another four years before he ever found himself back there.
NIP and allu would follow that event up with two more second place finishes, the first at Gfinity Spring Masters 1 and the second at StarLadder StarSeries XII, where at both events, they fell in best of five finals to Envy.
The second place was as good as it ever got for allu with NIP, at least at tier-one tournaments, anyway. The next two Majors would see the team finish at their lowest finishes in Majors in CS:GO, which at 3rd/4th and 5th/8th was still impressive, but not up to the level that they had established for themselves in the first few years of the game's lifespan.
Having survived less than a year in NIP's cursed fifth spot, 2016 would begin with allu returning to his home scene with ENCE.
A lower level of competition, Allu showed his class with ease, and with renewed faith in his ability, it took just nine months for FaZe Clan to come calling.
Not yet featuring NiKo or karrigan, this was a time before FaZe built their superteam, and they looked towards allu to be a key part of their climb to the top of the CS:GO ladder.
karrigan would arrive in the place of jkaem, and at their first opportunity, FaZe would make the playoffs of a Major at ELEAGUE Atlanta 2017. A strong performance wasn't enough for FaZe, and soon, NiKo would also join as the team looked to build one of the greatest rosters ever assembled.
Sadly, that roster wouldn't be with allu.
The PGL Krakow Major 2017 was meant to be a massive event for the new FaZe lineup. One of the favourites to win the whole thing, the arrival of one of the best players in the world had raised their expectations exponentially, so what would transpire in Poland could only be described as unacceptable.
FaZe crashed out of Krakow with an 0-3 record. A dismal showing, it was enough for the organisation to call for immediate changes.
Both allu and kioShiMa would lose their places in the impending shuffle, with CS:GO legends GuardiaN and olofmeister arriving in their places. FaZe now possessed a true superteam, but allu would not be part of it.
After a brief spell in a beyond strange OpTic roster that we won't mention in this edition of our AWPgust profiles, allu returned home to ENCE, although this time it would be very different.
With almost a year going by without ENCE having a team, the Finnish organisation returned to Counter-Strike with a team they intended to take all the way to the top, and they would impress the world in doing so.
A team consisting of Aleksib, sergej, xseven, Aerial, and of course, allu, very few knew what to expect of the roster when it was formed, but their impressive brand of CS would soon see them rise up the rankings.
Winning a Dreamhack Open before the year was out, it was the perfect stepping stone for some impressive feats during 2019.
First, ENCE would finish second at the IEM Katowice 2019 Major, only bested by an unstoppable Astralis, it was a statement of intent as they took down Team Liquid in the quarter-finals.
Later in the year, the team would take down Astralis to win BLAST Madrid, ending the Danes win streak on Nuke in the process.
They would reach their second Major playoffs in their second half of the year, a 5th/8th placed finish at StarLadder Berlin. This time losing out to Renegades was the start of a downward spiral for ENCE in a run that would see Aleksib cut in favour of allu stepping in as the team's IGL.
allu would see out the entirety of the COVID era on a dwindling ENCE roster. A team that failed to capture players that could see them reach the heights of their 2019 roster, the departures of Aleksib and sergej impacted them massively.
Out of form and without the domestic players to see them hold their place in the rankings, allu would depart, and ENCE would transition to an international roster that would eventually see them win a tier one trophy while their legendary AWPer would remain domestic with JANO.
allu might never play tier-one CS again, and he might never have won as many tier-one events as he could have done, but he will always be remembered as a legend and as the player who put Finland on the map.
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