It has been three exciting days since the IEM Dallas started the matches, and after this period the Group Stage is finally over. So we thought it would be a good time to recap those games and highlight the teams qualified for the Playoffs of this tournament.
IEM Dallas Format
Before moving to the group stage results, we recommend you review the format of this CS:GO event. Intel Extreme Masters is an offline tournament organized by ESL and sponsored by Intel. Hence, IEM is part of the Intel Grand Slam special reward, which provides $1,000,000 for the first team winning four events sponsored by ESL.
As for qualifications, teams become eligible for the event by special invitations (among the permanent ESL partners) or through regional qualifiers. The tournament is divided into two phases: Group stage and Playoff stage. Let’s consider their structures separately.
Groups Stage
The format is set in two double-elimination (GSL) groups, with 16 participating teams divided into two groups. The opening matches are at the Best of 1, but the other games are at the Best of 3 (until two victories). The top three teams from each group move to the Playoff stage as follows:
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The winners of the group stage advance to the Semifinals.
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The second placed teams of the group move to the Quarterfinals as High Seeds.
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The third placed teams of the group move to the Quarterfinals as Low Seeds.
Playoff Stage
The qualified teams compete in the simple elimination format. All the matches are played in the Best of 3, except for the Grand Final, which is played in the Best of 5 (until three victories).
Teams that managed to obtain 1-8 places in round 2 of the upper playoff bracket will earn points for the ESL Pro Tour and the BLAST Premier.
Group A Results
Before moving directly to the Group Stage analysis, it should be noted that all the results for this and other CS:GO tournaments can be found at https://cover.gg/matches/current. And now, we can start with a complicated IEM Dallas Group A that has left great games and a good level of CS:GO in addition to a few surprises. Below you can see the match highlights played during this stage.
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Group quarterfinals. The opening matches were played in the Best of 1 format. Movistar Riders said goodbye to IEM Dallas on the first day after losing G2 and MOUZ (Round 1). Immediately after, Encore ESC followed the Spaniards and was eliminated from the tournament during the first bracket round.
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Upper-bracket group semifinals. FaZe obtained a 2-0 clean victory against Vitality in the group stage. ENCE had a difficult race with G2 but managed to win on Dust (14-16) and Nuke (14-16). The Finnish team followed FaZe with 2-0 victory as well.
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Lower-bracket group semifinals. G2 got the last place in the playoffs after defeating Astralis and Vitality in the lower bracket. The French team was not yet eligible for titles, but there was a slight improvement.
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Upper-bracket group finals. ENCE, after leaving MOUZ and G2 behind, defeated FaZe 2-1 in the final. The Finnish organization has been at an outstanding level with a luxury stand-in Janusz “Snax” Pogorzelski has gone from less to more and in the group final it was the best of the match.
Group B Results
Group B was much less equal compared to Group A. Below you can see the match highlights played during this stage.
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Group quarterfinals. The opening matches were played in the Best of 1 format. Imperial was immediately eliminated from this group stage after losing FURIA and Liquid (Round 1). Likewise, COL can’t avoid possible elimination as well during the first bracket round.
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Upper-bracket group semifinals. FURIA and BIG obtained their 2-0 clean victories, after leaving C9 and MIBR behind.
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Lower-bracket group semifinals. Cloud9 got the last place in the group from the table below after beating NIP (Round 2) and Liquid. The ninjas, who arrived without hampus, have not had their tournament, while Team Liquid are eliminated after losing their two matches to Cloud9.
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Upper-bracket group finals. BIG, after leaving NiP and MIBR behind, won FURIA 2-1 in the final. The German team continues to show a high level and is improving after a complicated 2022.
The 6 Teams Qualified for the Playoffs
After an intense group stage, the six teams qualified for the IEM Dallas 2022 playoffs are already known. Such teams are:
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BIG
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ENCE
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G2
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FURIA
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FaZe
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Cloud9
BIG and ENCE have managed to lead in their respective groups to wait in the semifinals of the final rounds. All other teams mentioned above will start in the quarterfinals that promise to be exciting. Such teams as Vitality, Astralis, Liquid or NIP have not been able to reach the playoffs after falling into groups.
