ENCE have become the 2023 champions of the IEM Dallas grand finals after beating MOUZ to the title. The team moved into the IEM Dallas grand final after beating Faze Clan at the weekend, needing over 100 rounds across three maps—and nearly 60 on decider Ancient alone.
Both teams (ENCE & FaZe) didn’t want to be the one to drop the ticket to the grand final and gave one of the best Counter-Strike action experienced by fans at any IEM Dallas on Ancient.
The two teams won their maps comfortably, but ENCE fell behind in the deciding map with a 1-7 deficit. They then went on a six-round streak as captain Marco “Snappi” Pfeiffer led them back into the game at halftime.
The second half went the Finnish organization’s way early as they led 13-9 until FaZe rose up to the task, thanks to Helvijs “broky” Saukants and veteran Finn “karrigan” Andersen, who made big calls for FaZe and helped them force overtime.
Unlike many other games where teams abandoned strategy in a bit to finish the game as early as possible, this, over time, was well organized and played by both teams who organized their offenses and defences.
ENCE’s top three fraggers SunPayus, Maden, and Snappi, combined for a staggering 135 kills on Ancient as they sealed the series 31-29.
Israeli star Guy “NertZ” Iluz explained his emotions after just his second win.
“I cannot even believe it. It was an amazing game, we said in the TeamSpeak; we don’t care if we lose [or] win; we just enjoy the game.” Nertz.
ENCE played MOUZ next in the Dallas grand final; MOUZ beat Heroic 2-1 in the second semifinal.
The IEM Dallas grand final happened late Sunday night in what was a keenly contested game.
MOUZ went one map down first as ENCE went on to win the LAN trophy becoming the IEM Dallas champions for 2023.
Daniel Ademiju Idowu
