The group stage of IEM Dallas is over and the results are very surprising. Despite featuring most of the world’s best teams, group A was won by 9z, a team that’s currently ranked 40th globally.
In group B, Natus Vincere had the unfortunate fate of most teams who encounter Team Spirit, and then they lost a second time against HEROIC. This means we won’t see the Copenhagen Major winners in the playoffs.
Group A Results
In group A of IEM Dallas, 9z, Team Vitality, and G2 Esports qualified for the next stage. Of these three competitors, G2 had the most difficult mission.
To advance to the quarterfinals, they had to beat Team Falcons, MOUZ, and Team Liquid. All three of these teams are exceptional and G2 played with a stand-in.
Jacky “Stewie2K” Yip was obviously eager to qualify for the playoffs and have the opportunity to play once more in front of his fans. The tournament takes place in the US, where Stewie2K won the ELEAGUE Boston Major back in 2018, while he was competing for Cloud9.
In the last lower-bracket match, played against Liquid, Stewie2K had a few crucial rounds in which his brilliant decisions led to victory.
9z are a mystery at the moment. They’re not entirely unknown but they were certainly not on anyone’s radar at the start of the tournament.
This is an international roster, with two players from Uruguay, one from Argentina, one from Brazil, one from Spain, and one from Chile. Together, they are playing very well right now.
Group B Results
In group B of IEM Dallas, Team Spirit won without losing a single map. They first defeated FlyQuest 13 – 1. After that, they made quick work of Natus Vincere. In the upper-bracket Final, FaZe Clan came close to beating them but failed. The scores were 11 – 13 on Anubis and 10 – 13 on Nuke.
In the lower bracket, HEROIC were the unlikely winners. Everyone expected Na’Vi, Virtus.pro, or BIG to finish third. But HEROIC played well and won without losing a map in three best-of-three matches.
