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Merciless Counter Strike : IEM Dallas 2023 Day 1 Recap
IEM Dallas kicked off on the 29th of May. As the Group Stages commenced, we saw many teams perform as expected, while others served nothing but heartbreak. All of the opening matches were BO1s, and all preceding matches were BO3s.
Group A:
Upper Bracket:
Heroic, MOUZ, OG and G2 Esports were the first teams to go to the next round from Group A. Heroic have been continuing their great form as seen in recent tournaments. However, OG and MOUZ have managed to find their bearings, and return to form. G2 have had a lot of ups and downs in the past year, but this time they seem to have their heads on right.
Heroic took on MOUZ in a 3 map saga, and it was the Danes who came out on top. MOUZ were beaten 2-0, as Heroic took Mirage 16-6 and Overpass 16-10. Heroic have placed themselves in the Upper Bracket Finals, while MOUZ have been pushed into the Lower Bracket.
G2 faced OG in the Upper Bracket Semi Finals, where they showed quite the domination in the 3 map series. They beat OG 2-0, as they managed to take both Mirage and Inferno at 16-2 and 16-9 respectively. OG have been relegated to the Lower Bracket.
G2 will face Heroic in the Upper Bracket Finals, although both teams have already qualified for the Playoffs.
Lower Bracket:
9z, Fnatic, Furia and Nouns were pushed into the Lower Bracket from the Upper Bracket Quarterfinals. 9z got the better of Fnatic in their matchup, as the South American squad managed to win the series 2-1. They started off with a win on Nuke at 16-14. Fnatic took back map 2 Overpass at 16-12. But 9z managed to close out the series by winning Ancient 16-9.
Furia beat Nouns in a dominating 2-0 to move on to the next round. They won both Inferno and Anubis with quite the dominant scorelines at 16-4 and 16-3 respectively.
Fnatic and Nouns have been eliminated from the Group Stages of IEM Dallas 2023.
OG will face 9z, and MOUZ will face Furia in the Lower Bracket Semi Finals.
Group B:
Upper Bracket:
Faze Clan, ENCE, Astralis and Cloud9 managed to get the better of their opponents EG, Complexity, Liquid and Grayhound. Of the 4 teams that moved on, Faze Clan is set to face off against ENCE, while Astralis will take on former Dallas Champions Cloud9.
Lower Bracket:
Evil Geniuses will take on Complexity, while Team Liquid will take on Grayhound Gaming in the Lower Bracket Quarterfinals of Group B.
With 3 teams in the Lower Bracket, it does not look good for NA CS. This is the last tournament for nitr0 of Team Liquid. But an early exit from the tournament could mean a lot of broken hearts for fans, and the team alike.
