CS: GO Intel Extreme Masters Roundup

Another highly entertaining event in the CS: GO Intel Extreme Masters series came to a conclusion on June 4th. Finnish eSports organization  ENCE, led by the Spanish veteran SunPayus, came out as the victors. With the win, ENCE not only won a $100k cash prize but also secured qualification for the Extreme Masters Cologne 2023 EPT Championship.

A total of 16 teams competed in the CS: GO Extreme Masters Dallas 2023, with the German team Mouz, led by dexter, frozen, losing out in the Grand Finals. The likes of Heroic and usual suspects G2  made their way to the semifinals but ended up falling short.

The event kicked off on May 29th, and the first few stages of the tournament occurred remotely. from June 2nd to June 4th with the late knockout stages held at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas, Texas. 

Here, we look at the detailed roundup of the event, including all the major results from the exhilarating 7-day tournament.

Day 1

The first two days of the event occurred remotely. The teams were divided into two quarterfinal groups, with the top 8 seeds participating in the Upper Bracker Quarterfinals. The bottom 2 teams from each group during the qualifiers had to contend with the Lower Bracket Quarterfinals, which were effectively knockouts for the losing teams.

From Group A, the likes of Heroic, G2, OG, and Mouz directly qualified for the Upper Bracket. From Group B, it was FaZe, Ence, Astralis, and Cloud9 that qualified after winning their matches in the following manner:

Upper Bracket Quarters (Best of 1)

Group A

• Heroic 16:9 9z
• fnatic 9:16 Mouz
• FURIA 14:16 OG
• G2 16:5 NOUNS

Group B

• FaZe Clan 19: 17 Evil Geniuses
• Complexity 7:16 ENCE
• Team Liquid 17:19 Astralis
• GRAYHOUND.Rivalry 2-16 Cloud9

This resulted in the losers fighting it out for the Lower Bracket Semifinal positions. FURIA eSports and 9z beat the likes of NOUN eSports and Fnatic, respectively. In Group B, Complexity and Team Liquid came out victors to book their places in the lower bracket semifinals:

Lower Bracket Quarters (Best of 3)

Group A

• 9z 2:1 fnatic 
• FURIA 2:0 NOUNS

Group B

• Evil Geniuses 0:2 Complexity
• Team Liquid 2:0 GRAYHOUND.Rivalry

With semifinalists from both groups decided the losers from the Upper Bracket Quarters would be pitted against the winners from the Lower Bracket Quarters. Day 1 of the tournament came to an end with a number of contenders looking nicely poised. FaZe, MOUZ, Furia, and even G2 eSports, with an experienced lineup featuring huNter-, NiKo, and m0NESY, were still in contention.

Day 2

Day 2 started with the Upper Bracket Semifinals, with Complexity and Team Liquid waiting to face the losers. ENCE delivered a strong performance against FaZe Clan, pushing them down to the lower bracket while securing their own spot. 

FaZe Clan now faced a crucial match against Team Liquid to keep their tournament hopes alive. Team Liquid, previously defeated by Astralis in the upper bracket, was also fighting for survival in the lower bracket semis.

The reigning champions of Dallas 2022, Cloud9, were defeated by Astralis with a 16-8 scoreline on both maps. Cloud9 would go on to face Complexity in the lower bracket. The Australian team, GRAYHOUND.Rivalry, impressed fans despite being knocked out by the much more experienced team, in Team Liquid. 

Results

Group A

Upper Bracket Semis

• Heroic 2:0 MOUZ
• OG 0:2 G2 Esports

Lower Bracket Semis

• OG 2:0 9z Team
• MOUZ 2:0 FURIA Esports

Group B

Upper Bracket Semis

• Cloud9 0-2 Astralis
• FaZe Clan 0-2 ENCE

Lower Bracket Semis

• Cloud9 2:1 Complexity
• FaZe Clan 2:0 Team Liquid

With that, we had the 8 finalists who would fight out to make their way to the Grand Finals on the final day of the EIM Masters Dallas 2023 title. 

Day 3

On the final day of IEM Dallas 2023, six teams will fiercely compete for the remaining two Final spots at the renowned Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center. The Group A Upper Bracket Final was the first match of the day. Heroic came out trumps against G2 eSports to make their way to the Finals. 

Mouz and OG fought it out in the Group A Lower Bracket Finals. Mouz were the firm favorites and made easy work of their opponents, winning 2-0. In the other group, the Lower Bracket Finals saw FaZe clan struggle past defending champions Cloud9. 

The Upper Bracket Finals saw ENCE come out trumps against Australis, winning 2-1 to set up a date against FaZe to decide the second finalist. With the four semifinalists decided, the final two games of the day saw two closely contested ties. Heroic bowed out against MOUZ, losing 2-1 with MOUZ’s Frozen and Torzsi coming up clutch in the final round.

The other semi-final saw ENCE make easy work of FaZe clan. FaZe had been utterly inconsistent through the tournament and was finally knocked out, after taking the longest possible route to the semis.

Results

Group A

Upper Bracket Final

• Heroic 2:0 G2 Esports

Lower Bracket Final

• OG 0:2 MOUZ

Group B

Upper Bracket Final

• ENCE 2:1 Astralis

Lower Bracket Final

• Cloud9 1:2 FaZe Clan

Semifinals

• Heroic 1:2 MOUZ
• FaZe Clan 1:2 ENCE

The Grand Final: MOUZ vs ENCE

An exhilarating group and knockout stages of the tournament saw MOUZ and ENCE emerge as the two finalists. MOUZ had taken the difficult route. They had suffered a 2-0 loss at the hands of Heroic in the Upper Bracket semis but fought their way to the Finals.

ENCE had been the most consistent team in the tournament and was the obvious favorite to win. The Final proved to be anti-climactic resulting in a 2-0 victory for ENCE. ENCE were dominant on the Mirage and Nuke maps, where they won 16-9 and 16-10 respectively. 

Alvaro “SunPayus” Garcia from Spain led the charge for ENCE with an impressive 45 kills and a plus-16 kills-to-deaths differential. Pavle “maden” Boskovic from Montenegro contributed with 41 kills and a plus-6 K-D, while Israel’s Guy “NertZ” Iluz added 40 kills on a plus-12 differential. 

Along with 2400 points, and prize money of $100k, ENCE also booked their place in the $1 million Intel Extreme Masters Cologne event.