IEM Dallas groups, opening matches revealed

Cloud9, the reigning champions, will face Grayhound in their opening best-of-one fixture.

ESL has revealed the groups and opening matchups for IEM Dallas, which is set to play host to 16 teams on May 29-June 4 and feature a $250,000 prize pool.

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The opening fixtures will all be best-of-one affairs, with the remainder of the tournament following a best-of-three format. This includes the grand final on June 4, which was changed from the usual best-of-five setting when ESL announced their decision to host fewer BO5s for their Pro Tour Masters events back in April.

Cloud9 reigned supreme in the 2022 edition of the tournament

HEROIC, currently through to the BLAST.tv Paris Major semi-finals, headline the event in Dallas, Texas, and make the journey stateside as the world's No. 2 team. The Danes will begin their IEM Dallas Group A campaign with an opening bout versus 9z, who are the second-lowest-rated side ahead of Evil Geniuses.

FURIA, meanwhile, will lock horns with OG in their opening fixture of the Texan tournament. The Brazilians will be eager to put up a better showing after their disastrous performance at the BLAST.tv Paris Major, where Andrei "⁠arT⁠" Piovezan and company bowed out in the Legends Stage without a single win to their name.

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The reigning IEM Dallas champions, Cloud9, have been seeded into Group B for the $250,000 competition; the Russians will aim to enjoy a strong start in their quest for back-to-back silverware as they take on Grayhound, a game that should easily go the way of the Vladislav "⁠nafany⁠" Gorshkov-led lineup on paper.

Evil Geniuses, who earned a place at IEM Dallas as the 'Local Hero' invite, have an unenviable start to their tournament run in Group B. The American-majority roster will take on FaZe to kick things off, with Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen's men set to be a favorite to make a deep run after recently making it to the BLAST.tv Paris Major playoffs before being felled in the quarter-finals by HEROIC.

The groups for IEM Dallas are:

Group A
HEROIC
G2
FURIA
OG
MOUZ
fnatic
Nouns
9z Group B
FaZe
Cloud9
Liquid
ENCE
Complexity
Astralis
Grayhound
Evil Geniuses

Whilst the opening matchups are as follows:

Date	Matches
IEM Dallas 2023
29/05/2023	FURIA18:00 OG	Match
29/05/2023	G218:00 Nouns	Match
29/05/2023	fnatic19:20 MOUZ	Match
29/05/2023	HEROIC19:45 9z	Match
29/05/2023	ENCE20:45 Complexity	Match
29/05/2023	FaZe21:00 Evil Geniuses	Match
29/05/2023	Liquid22:05 Astralis	Match
29/05/2023	Cloud922:40 Grayhound	Match

fnatic #15 Freddy 'KRIMZ' JohanssonDion 'FASHR' DerksenNico 'nicoodoz' TamjidiFredrik 'roeJ' JørgensenWilliam 'mezii' Merriman Jamie 'keita' Hall MOUZ #14 Christopher 'dexter' NongDavid 'frozen' ČerňanskýJon 'JDC' de CastroÁdám 'torzsi' TorzsásDorian 'xertioN' Berman Dennis 'sycrone' Nielsen FURIA #9 Andrei 'arT' PiovezanYuri 'yuurih' SantosKaike 'KSCERATO' CeratoRafael 'saffee' CostaAndré 'drop' Abreu Nicholas 'guerri' Nogueira Nouns #40 Christopher 'cJ dA K1nG' JonesEdgar 'MarKE' MaldonadoDavid 'cynic' PolsterBrendan 'Bwills' WilliamsCarson 'nosraC' O'Reilly Kory 'SEMPHIS' Friesen Andrei 'arT' Piovezan Age: 27 Team: FURIA Rating 1.0: 1.00 Maps played: 1083 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.71 FaZe #3 Finn 'karrigan' AndersenHåvard 'rain' NygaardRussel 'Twistzz' Van DulkenRobin 'ropz' KoolHelvijs 'broky' Saukants Robert 'RobbaN' Dahlström Finn 'karrigan' Andersen Age: 33 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 0.91 Maps played: 2149 KPR: 0.62 DPR: 0.69 HEROIC #2 Casper 'cadiaN' MøllerMartin 'stavn' LundRené 'TeSeS' MadsenRasmus 'sjuush' BeckJakob 'jabbi' Nygaard Richard 'Xizt' Landström Evil Geniuses #51 Timothy 'autimatic' TaVincent 'Brehze' CayonteIsmail 'refrezh' AliSanzhar 'neaLaN' IskhakovJerric 'wiz' Jiang Daniel 'Vorborg' Vorborg ENCE #8 Marco 'Snappi' PfeifferGuy 'NertZ' IluzPavle 'Maden' BoškovićPaweł 'dycha' DychaÁlvaro 'SunPayus' García Eetu 'sAw' Saha Liquid #7 Nick 'nitr0' CannellaKeith 'NAF' MarkovicJonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiJosh 'oSee' OhmMareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis Damian 'daps' Steele Astralis #24 Lukas 'gla1ve' RossanderNicolai 'device' ReedtzBenjamin 'blameF' BremerAlexander 'Altekz' GivskovChristian 'Buzz' Andersen Peter 'casle' Ardenskjold OG #11 Nikolaj 'niko' KristensenAdam 'NEOFRAG' ZouharShahar 'flameZ' ShushanAbdul 'degster' GasanovMaciej 'F1KU' Miklas Casper 'ruggah' Due Cloud9 #5 Abay 'HObbit' KhassenovTimur 'buster' TulepovSergey 'Ax1Le' RykhtorovDmitry 'sh1ro' SokolovVladislav 'nafany' Gorshkov Konstantin 'groove' Pikiner Complexity #23 Johnny 'JT' TheodosiouRicky 'floppy' KemeryHåkon 'hallzerk' FjærliMichael 'Grim' WinceJustin 'FaNg' Coakley Tiaan 'T.c' Coertzen Vladislav 'nafany' Gorshkov Age: 21 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 0.95 Maps played: 1015 KPR: 0.65 DPR: 0.69 G2 #6 Nikola 'NiKo' KovačNemanja 'huNter-' KovačJustin 'jks' SavageRasmus 'HooXi' NielsenIlya 'm0NESY' Osipov Jan 'Swani' Müller 9z #41 Maximiliano 'max' GonzalezFranco 'dgt' GarciaDavid 'dav1deuS' Tapia MaldonadoSantino 'try' RigalNicolás 'buda' Kramer Gustavo 'tge' Motta Grayhound #27 Simon 'Sico' WilliamsJay 'Liazz' TregillgasAlistair 'aliStair' JohnstonJoshua 'INS' PotterDeclan 'Vexite' Portelli