ENCE secure an invite to IEM Cologne 2023.
Taking place right after the BLAST Paris Major, IEM Dallas 2023 saw some of the biggest CS:GO names in the competition. Ultimately, after a few surprises and quite a few incredible performances, ENCE emerged as the IEM Dallas 2023 victors.
ENCE won the IEM Dallas Grand finals 2-0 with a 16-9 victory on Mirage and a 16-10 on Nuke. After a stellar performance through the group stage and much of the playoffs, MOUZ fell short at the final hurdle.
The first map of Mirage was MOUZ pick, but it would be easy to get confused if you had come in a few minutes late. ENCE’s formidable defense saw them rack up a seven-round lead right off the bat. The 0-7 start was too much for MOUZ who attempted to bring back some normalcy towards the end of the first half. A 4-11 start was not what MOUZ fans had envisioned, however.
With 24 kills to his name, Alvaro "SunPayus" Garcia was undoubtedly in some amazing form during the first map of the Grand Finals. MOUZ got their desired start in the second half, but as soon as ENCE got weapons, things got tricky for MOUZ. ENCE took Mirage 16-10 dealing a massive blow to MOUZ, defeating dexter and co. on their own map pick.
The second map was ENCE's home turf, one of their more comfortable maps. Despite a 4-0 start, MOUZ started bleeding as soon as ENCE got weapons in their hands. A 9-6 lead on the terrorist side on a CT-heavy map such as Nuke was always going to be a tough task to overcome. It was only a matter of time for ENCE to win. The casters knew it, the players knew it and the fans knew it. One team was simply playing better than the other and it was showing in terms of gameplay as well as scoreboard.
SunPayus named IEM Dallas MVP
Having 45 kills to his name and a few very impactful kills, SunPayus had a 1.27 rating, second only to Device, but he was also on the winning team, so the decision was straightforward.
I don't know what is going to happen in CS2, but I think everyone is really good and that's why you cannot say one team is going to win every single tournament.
ENCE will now play in the ESL Challenger Katowice tournament that kicks off on June 9. With a $100,000 prize pool and the likes of Virtus.Pro, 9INE, forZe esports, paiN Gaming and others as opponents, ENCE has another opportunity to win a tournament.
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