Astralis beat Cloud9 to make IEM Dallas playoffs; 9z eliminated

Cloud9 drop down to the lower bracket to face off against Complexity on Wednesday at 18:00 .

Astralis defeated Cloud9 in a surprising result in Group B of IEM Dallas and secured themselves a spot in the playoffs, starting on Friday. The Danes will now face off against ENCE in the group final to battle the European combine for a direct passage to the semi-final, while the loser will start in the quarters.

On the B stream, OG 2-0'd 9z in the lower bracket semi, eliminating the South American side in 9-12th place and keeping themselves alive for another day of competition. Their next test will come against MOUZ, with the winner of that match securing a quarter-final spot.

Astralis were dominant in their match against Cloud9 and limited the Russian squad to single-digit round totals on both maps. The series started on Ancient, where Benjamin "⁠blameF⁠" Bremer gave us a taste of what is to come in the pistol round, starting the game with an ace that included a 1vs3 clutch. That gave his team a hot start, and Astralis kept their momentum throughout the entire offensive half by racking up an incredible 12 rounds at the switch. Such a big lead was impossible to fumble for the Danes, who moved the series to Cloud9's map pick with a 16-8 win on Ancient.

Mirage started slightly better for Cloud9 as they put up six rounds on the less-favored T side and went into the second half with a chance of forcing a decider. Their defensive half left much to be desired, however, as Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov and company mustered just two rounds and once again petered out in an 8-16 loss against the Danes. Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz (1.57) and blameF (1.56) were expectedly the driving forces of the Danes' victory, while Cloud9 didn't have a single player achieve a 1+ rating in the series.

OG vs. 9z also began on Ancient, with the game on the B stream showcasing a much closer battle. Stand-in Iulian "⁠regali⁠" Harjău was able to carry his team to victory, however, as the Romanian's 40 kills were enough for OG to secure a 19-17 win on the South Americans' map pick and move the series to Mirage.

A standout individual performance decided the second map of the series too, this time by Shahar "⁠flameZ⁠" Shushan. The Israeli rifler put up 31 kills and a 1.78 rating to give his team a 16-12 victory and a spot in the qualification bout against MOUZ.

The schedule for the final day of group play at IEM Dallas is as follows, with every match being played for either elimination or a playoff spot:

Date	Matches
IEM Dallas 2023
31/05/2023	Complexity 18:00 Cloud9	Match
31/05/2023	FaZe 18:00 Liquid	Match
31/05/2023	G2 21:30 Heroic	Match
31/05/2023	MOUZ 21:50 OG	Match
01/06/2023	ENCE 01:00 Astralis	Match
01/06/2023	FaZe 01:00 Cloud9	Match