IEM Dallas 2023: Group Stage Review & Highlights

The Group Stage of Intel Extreme Masters Dallas 2023 has ended. Despite the modest prize pool of $250,000, this S-Tier tournament offers the opportunity to secure a spot in IEM Cologne 2023 and win the grand prize of $100,000.

Now let’s take a closer look at the Group Stage.

IEM Dallas 2023: Group A

The first matches kicked off on May 29. Sixteen teams were seeded into two groups, Group A and Group B. Let’s examine what unfolded in Group A and which teams made it.

Here are the teams seeded into Group A:

• Heroic
• 9z Team
• Fnatic
• MOUZ
• FURIA Esports
• OG
• G2 Esports
• Nouns Esports

Only three teams from Group A moved on to the Playoff Stage, so let’s look at their path to success.

Heroic

Thanks to their excellent gameplay, Heroic immediately secured a spot in the Semifinals of the Playoffs. In their first match against 9z Team, played as a Best-of-1, they emerged victorious with a 16:9 score on Mirage.

Next, on May 30, Heroic faced off against MOUZ. The match was played as a Best-of-3, and Heroic defeated their opponent on two consecutive maps (Mirage 16:6, Overpass 16:9).

In the Upper Bracket Final, Heroic went up against G2 Esports. G2 picked Inferno but suffered a defeat on the map with a 16:9 score. The following map was Ancient, picked by Heroic, where they comfortably secured a victory with a 16:4 score. This victory secured their spot in the Semifinals of the Intel Extreme Masters Dallas 2023.

G2 Esports

Quarterfinals. On the first day, they faced Nouns Esports and won with a 16:5 score.

Their next opponent was the strong OG, but G2 defeated them twice. They first dominated on Mirage with a 16:2 score and then secured another victory on Inferno with a 16:9 score.

In the third match, G2 faced Heroic. The winner of this match advanced to the Semifinals, while the loser moved on to the Quarterfinals of the Extreme Masters Dallas 2023. Unfortunately, G2 couldn’t secure the victory, so they will compete in the Quarterfinals of the Playoffs on June 2.

MOUZ

MOUZ had a successful start, winning their first match against Fnatic with a 16:9 score on Nuke. However, after that, they faced a defeat in the next match against Heroic, losing 2:0 and being relegated to the Lower Bracket.

In the Lower Bracket Semifinal, MOUZ faced off against FURIA and secured a victory with a 16:10 score on Inferno. They continued their success on Vertigo, dominating with a 16:4 score.

In the Lower Bracket Final, MOUZ went up against OG, competing for a spot in the Quarterfinals of the Playoffs. MOUZ emerged victorious on Mirage, with a 16:10 score, and followed it up with another win on Inferno, closing the match with a 16:7 score.

Let’s move on to Group B and see how it all went.

IEM Dallas 2023: Group B

Group B featured many strong teams based on the seeding, who delivered captivating and impressive gameplay throughout the matches.

Here are the teams seeded into Group B:

• FaZe Clan
• Evil Geniuses
• ENCE
• Complexity Gaming
• Team Liquid
• Astralis
• Cloud9
• Grayhound Gaming

Just like in the previous Group A, only three winners in this group have earned a spot in the Playoff Stage and will continue to compete for the main prize.

ENCE

ENCE became the one team in Group B to secure a spot in the Semifinals of the Playoffs. In the first match, they have a relatively easy victory against Complexity on Nuke with a 16:7 score.

They then faced FaZe Clan in more intense matches but still managed to come out on top with a 2:0 victory, winning on Anubis (16:7) and Overpass (16:13).

The third and most thrilling match in Group B took place against Astralis. The teams competed in a Best-of-3 series, the first and only occurrence in the Group Stage, where teams played three maps. Up until this point, all matches were played with just two maps in both Group A and Group B. Astralis won the first map (16:12), but ENCE fought back by winning the following two maps, Nuke (19:17) and Mirage (16:12).

Astralis

Astralis’ first opponent was Team Liquid, and they played on Overpass. Astralis emerged victorious with a close 19:17 score.

Next, Astralis faced Cloud9 and easily defeated the Russian team with a 2:0 score (Ancient 16:8, Mirage 16:8).

However, they couldn’t secure a win in the Upper Bracket Final against ENCE. Nevertheless, Astralis secured a spot in the Quarterfinals of the Playoffs.

FaZe Clan

FaZe Clan was the third team in Group B to secure their spot in the Playoffs. They successfully won against their first opponent, Evil Geniuses, in a closely contested match with a 19:17 score. However, then, ENCE knocked them down to the lower bracket.

In the lower bracket, FaZe faced Team Liquid as their next challenge. They emerged victorious on Anubis with a 16:11 score and continued their winning streak on the second map, securing victory with a 16:10 score.

Moving on to the Lower Bracket Final, FaZe Clan went head-to-head against Cloud9 and came out on top. They started strong with a win on Mirage with a 16:7 score, then suffered a loss on Inferno with a 7:16 score in favor of Cloud9. However, FaZe won the third decider map, clinching a convincing 16:9 victory.

Important Highlights

Here are some highlights of the Group Stage.

Here are the results of the Group Stage.

Wrapping Up!

The Group Stage of the Intel Extreme Masters Dallas 2023 has concluded. However, the competition continues as the Playoffs will kick off on June 2 and run until June 4. Finally, we will discover the tournament’s champion, who will earn a place at IEM Cologne 2023 and main prize $100,000.

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