It’s been a wild road for Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) Dallas 2023 competitors. Part of the 2023 program of the ESL Pro Tour for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), the tournament kicked off on May 29, 2023, as 16 top CS:GO teams from around the world commenced an epic battle for a share of the $250,000 prize pool, a win in the race to securing Intel Grand Slam V, and a spot in the IEM Cologne 2023 Group Stage.
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DreamHack Dallas hosted the final three days of the 17th IEM event in North America, with fans gathering at the live stage to cheer on the top six squads from the Tier 1 competition. MOUZ put together a surprising underdog run that started with a Quarterfinal win over Astralis. In a tight 2-1 Semifinal victory, MOUZ then got a bit of revenge against Heroic, which sent MOUZ to the lower bracket during the Group Stage. Meanwhile, ENCE fended off FaZe Clan in a Semifinal matchup that went to Map 3 and five overtimes before ENCE got the edge to reach the Grand Final.
The international squad from ENCE had reached the finals in Dallas during DreamHack Masters Dallas 2019 and IEM Dallas 2022 prior to this matchup. They carried the momentum from the Semifinals into the Grand Final with a 2-0 sweep of MOUZ to claim the IEM Dallas 2023 title and $100,000 in prize money. Furthermore, ENCE’s Alvaro “SunPayus” Garcia earned the DHL MVP Award for his outstanding performance during the competition.
“Thanks to the crowd here in Dallas,” ENCE in-game leader Marco “Snappi” Pfeiffer said. “It has been a long journey for ENCE since turning international and finally it culminated in a big trophy win here in Dallas. Thanks to the entire team, the staff, and the fans.”
The competition also featured the first ever Counter-Strike 2 World Championship – a show match during which Team USA – Vincent “Brehze” Cayonte, Nicholas “nitr0” Cannella, Tyler “Skadoodle” Latham, Michael “Grim” Wince, Josh “jdm64” Marzano, and coach Tres “stunna” Saranthus – faced off against Team Universe – Aran “Sonic” Groesbeek, Keith “NAF” Markovic, Owen “smooya” Butterfield, Adam “friberg” Friberg, Alistair “aliStair” Johnston, and coach Janko “YNk” Paunović. Team USA topped Team Universe, with Grim leading the way with some highlight-reel plays for the U.S. squad.
The stellar conclusion to IEM Dallas 2023 saw more than 323,000 peak concurrent viewers and when you couple that with the fact that across three-days, Dreamhack had over 44,000 attendants, well, it’s astonishing. There is a big love for CS:GO in esports, and in Dallas.
For more information about the ESL Pro Tour for CS:GO, head to the official website.
