The meaning behind EZ4ENCE, a CSGO meme song gone viral

By Olivia Richman

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Apr 3, 2019

Reading time: 3 min

It’s hard to forget the moment Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team ENCE proudly stepped onto the IEM Katowice stage for the finals with “EZ4ENCE” blaring behind them. The song by The Verkkars even made it onto Finland’s Top 50 music chart in March.

The title of the song is actually inspired by a popular CS:GO meme. EZ4ENCE is what fans like to say on Twitch during matches, basically meaning that it’s always another easy game for the Finnish team.

But many fans outside of Finland are left in the dark as to what the rest of the lyrics mean. According to the fans who do understand the lyrics, The Verkkars have come up with some pretty clever references and word play.

“Minorist majorii /

Haastaa legendaarisii /

Nyt isos ligas, niin ku rosbrgi”

This simply means “minor to major, to challenge legends, now in the big leagues like Rosberg,” which is pretty straightforward. The last line refers to Keijo “Keke” Rosberg, the legendary Finnish F1 driver and the first Finnish racer to win the Formula 1 championship in 1982.

Suomalaist strättii maailmanluokan kaliberil”

This line translates to “Finnish strategies in world class caliber.”

“Ence kylvää ja ence siittää /

Natun palijusta kansi avataan /

Pojat on tulos, torilla tavataan”

This line is a bit more complicated. It’s a wordplay on an old Finnish saying that goes, “Mitä kylvää sitä niittää,” which means “you get what you order.” By changing the last word from “niittää,” which means “reap,” to the very similar sounding “siittää,” the word for “conceive,” the line takes on a totally different meaning.

The second line says, “The lid of Natu’s hot tub is opened.” Natu refers to Joona Leppanen, a retired Finnish Counter-Strike pro player who is now the General Manager for ENCE. Natu’s hot tub is a well-known CS:GO meme, often mentioned in Twitch chat during competitive games.

The following line says, “The boys are coming, let’s meet at the marketplace.” This is a phrase that is often used to refer to Finland’s success, reaching back to 1995 when Finland won an ice hockey world championship that was followed by a huge party at the Helsinki marketplace.

“Vihut valmiina hyllyttaan /

Piti menna A, mut mentiinki B /

Nimikkotakiikka aleksib”

These three lines translate to, “Ready to shelve the enemies. We were going A, but instead went on B. Trademark tactic of Aleksib.” This is a reference to how ENCE often makes late rotations on the T side of Nuke. Later in the song, there is the lyric, “Xseven sitel lukottaa,” which means “Xseven is locking sites.” This again refers to ENCE’s in-game tactics, where they often leave  Sami “xseveN” Laasanen alone on the CT side to manage bombsites himself, most frequently at Mirage’s B bombsite.

A little bit after that is the line, “Haastiksis mikin pudottaa,” which means “drops the mic during interviews.” This refers to xseveN again, when he struggled to say anything during an interview. All he could say at the time was “no words,” which CS:GO fans still remember to this day.

“Kynärikansa tietää ketkä on äijii,” is a line near the end of the song that says, “Counter-Strike players know who the bosses are.” Then the song ends with “ENCE pistää ykösellä päihin,” which means “ENCE shoots straight to the head.”