Get up to date on the teams, schedule, and format of the penultimate tier-one event before the player break.
IEM Dallas will kick off on Monday, May 29, and will feature a three-day group stage followed by a single-elimination playoff bracket before concluding on June 4 with a best-of-three grand final in the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.
The team list features five top 10 teams, while the most notable absentees are Natus Vincere and reigning-Major champions Vitality. The 16 teams have been seeded into two double-elimination groups, with just six playoff spots up for grabs. The group winners earn a spot in the semi-finals, while those who finish the group stage in second and third place will start the playoffs from a false four-team quarter-finals.
The playoff bracket will be single-elimination and all of the matches best-of-threes. The winners will take home a $100,000 grand prize and will earn a spot at IEM Cologne, which will run from July 25-August 6.
Cloud9 return to tier-one competition after missing out on the Major
HEROIC make the flight over the pond as the event's highest-ranked team, with the likes of FaZe, Cloud9, and G2 also in the pool of favorites. All four squads will be trying to leave their Major performances — or Major qualifying performances, in the case of the Russians — behind and set their sights back on winning a trophy.
Liquid are the fifth top 10 side and the best North American team in attendance. They will play their home event at a delicate time as Nick "nitr0" Cannella, who gave up calling at the Major in favor of Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis, recently announced that he will step down from the North American squad's active roster after IEM Dallas.
Read more nitr0 to step down from Liquid after IEM Dallas, future unclear
Elsewhere on the roster are two teams with stand-ins. fnatic will be playing with Patrik "f0rest" Lindberg in place of Freddy "KRIMZ" Johansson, while OG will be using Iulian "regali" Harjău instead of Abdul "degster" Gasanov ahead of a potentially hectic off-season which will most likely see star rifler Shahar "flameZ" Shushan depart to a bigger team.
Read more flameZ will explore options as contract with OG is set to expire
Down the list are two American teams that don't make it to top flight events regularly: Edgar "MarKE" Maldonado's Nouns, another local North American side, and 9z, who will be representing South America.
Participating teams
Group A HEROIC G2 FURIA fnatic OG MOUZ Nouns 9z Group B FaZe Cloud9 Liquid ENCE Complexity Astralis Grayhound Evil Geniuses
Schedule
Group A
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
FURIA23:45 Nouns
Match
29/05/2023
G223:50 OG
Match
30/05/2023
MOUZ02:30 HEROIC
Match
30/05/2023
fnatic02:30 9z
Match
30/05/2023
FURIA21:40 MOUZ
Match
31/05/2023
OG01:00 9z
Match
31/05/2023
G221:30 HEROIC
Match
31/05/2023
MOUZ21:50 OG
Match
Group B
Date
Matches
IEM Dallas 2023
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
30/05/2023
Evil Geniuses18:00 Complexity
Match
30/05/2023
Liquid18:00 Grayhound
Match
30/05/2023
FaZe21:30 ENCE
Match
31/05/2023
Cloud901:00 Astralis
Match
31/05/2023
Complexity18:00 Cloud9
Match
31/05/2023
FaZe18:00 Liquid
Match
01/06/2023
ENCE01:00 Astralis
Match
01/06/2023
FaZe01:00 Cloud9
Match
Playoffs
Date
Matches
IEM Dallas 2023
02/06/2023
Astralis20:30 MOUZ
Match
03/06/2023
G200:35 FaZe
Match
03/06/2023
HEROIC18:30 MOUZ
Match
03/06/2023
ENCE23:00 FaZe
Match
04/06/2023
MOUZ20:00 ENCE
Match
Prize distribution
IEM Dallas will feature a $250,000 prize pool, of which $100,000 will go to the winner alongside a spot at IEM Cologne.