The IEM Dallas 2023 Grand Remaining is lastly upon us, after every week of continuous CS:GO. We’ve had upsets galore, and it’s solely proper that ENCE and MOUZ get to face off for his or her first ever S-Tier trophies.
The MOUZ Story
What a story this has been for MOUZ. They weren’t precisely excessive on our IEM Dallas 2023 energy rankings, however now they’re within the Grand Remaining and verging on one thing particular.
After their abysmal efficiency within the BLAST.television Paris Main 2023, you’d be forgiven for pondering this iteration of MOUZ was executed and dusted. A crew going via the motions earlier than inevitable roster modifications. How fallacious we have been. This was a MOUZ lively, led by IGL dexter with a career-best efficiency. In a sea of Danish IGLs, it’s been the Aussie that has stood out thus far. He was merely exceptional, and appears nailed on for match MVP.
They needed to qualify for the IEM Dallas 2023 Playoffs the exhausting method, via the Decrease Bracket, beating FURIA and OG with out dropping a single map.
Then, the Playoffs, the place they confronted a resurgent Astralis with their new-look roster. Certain, MOUZ gave Astralis their possibilities, however finally it was one other 2:0 win the place they by no means regarded below menace of defeat.
A Semi-Remaining conflict in opposition to Heroic awaited. The Danes have been those that condemned MOUZ to the Decrease Bracket in Group A, and have been odds-on favorites to repeat the feat within the Playoffs. Nonetheless, it appears Heroic’s chokes on the large stage have began to take an actual psychological toll on the crew. They by no means actually bought going, as MOUZ took the collection 2:1. IEM Dallas 2023 Grand Remaining secured.
Now, MOUZ stand on the verge of historical past. Even throughout karrigan’s period as IGL, the crew has by no means gained an S-Tier match. Now, they simply must beat ENCE to recover from the road. That gained’t be a simple process, with ENCE happening a Cinderella run of their very own. Each groups have a lot to combat for on the large stage.
Simple Work For ENCE
The runners-up of IEM Dallas 2022, ENCE are again for extra this 12 months. Final 12 months, solely Cloud9 stood of their method. This time, it’s MOUZ who can stop their date with future. However ENCE have been one other crew that confirmed loads of resilience all through the match, and are in with an awesome shot of victory within the IEM Dallas 2023 Grand Remaining.
Their Group Stage run was plain crusing. Complexity provided little or no problem within the opener, with ENCE securing a 16:7 victory. It was a promising signal of excellent issues to come back. Like MOUZ, they’d suffered a horrible BLAST.television Paris Main 2023 run, however this was the start of a superb bounceback. FaZe have been subsequent to fall in a 2:0 clear sweep. Playoffs have been secured.
They then confronted Astralis for a Semi-Remaining berth. At occasions this sport was Astralis’ to lose, however they couldn’t shut it. Take nothing away from ENCE, although. When alternatives come up, they nonetheless must take them. And grasp them they did, confirming a Semi-Finals spot in opposition to FaZe.
And so we come to it. That Semi-Remaining. The primary two maps have been nice enjoyable, however when all’s stated and executed, we’ll doubtless have a look at that third map on Historic as one in all greatest CS:GO matches ever performed. By the point we’d reached the 59th spherical in OT5, each groups have been virtually enjoying deathmatch on the server. It felt like it could by no means finish, with the final match on LAN to go that lengthy Astralis vs NRG at StarLadder Main Berlin all the way in which again in 2019.
Ultimately, the distinction ended up being FaZe’s karrigan dropping simply 22 kills throughout 59 rounds. It’s an unwinnable kill tally. However we have to talk about ENCE’s psychological power right here. In OT4, FaZe took a 3-round lead, but ENCE introduced it again with ease. In NertZ and SunPayus, they’d two gamers comparatively new to the Tier 1 scene. Did they crumble below stress because the rounds piled on? Completely not – they thrived below it, leading to a exceptional 31:28 scoreline on the end.
With such a sport performed out, it’s merely unthinkable that ENCE may not win the IEM Dallas 2023 Grand Remaining. However we mustn’t overlook MOUZ, who’ve supplied moments of high quality all through. To provide a prediction, we expect ENCE will do it. It’s simply powerful to think about some other state of affairs after this.