A new cycle begins – IEM Dallas CS2 preview

With shock roster moves, both temporary and permanent, heading into the biggest events of the season, anything is possible, and all games are worth following.

Your humble author really wants to shoehorn in an awkward reference to Jockey Ewing, but realistically, an average esports fan has no idea what the hell the Dallas TV show was all about at this point, so I will refrain from doing so here. But suffice it to say that we’ve got heroes like Bobby and villains like Jockey running all around the place, and unlike Season 9 of the original series, this would not at all turn out to be a dream in the end. No, the Counter-Strike action that is about to commence is most definitely real, and it is going to be awesome.

Here is everything you can expect from IEM Dallas: the betting odds, the storylines, all teams and players participating, and what you should be watching closely as the tournament unfolds.

What is the IEM Dallas schedule and format?

Counter-Strike esports events under the auspices of ESL have pretty much established their own ironclad formula by now, with the EPT Championship events (IEM Katowice and Cologne, plus any Major) having more teams and a deeper group stage bracket, and the rest of the tournament organizer’s circuit feature their tried-and-tested event format that aims to maximize the excitement and the action involving the sixteenparticipants.

The schedule of IEM Dallas 2025 breaks down along the following lines:

The group stage will be a three-day affair between May 19 and May 22, with two double-elimination groups featuring eight teams each. The top three make it into the playoffs, with the upper bracket winner skipping a playoff round and getting a direct seed into the semis; the rest of the six-team playoff bracket is made up from the upper bracket runner-up and the lower bracket winner. Group A’s runner-up will face the Group B lower bracket winner, and vice versa, in the quarterfinals. All group stage matches are best-of-three and the now-customary MR12 (twelve rounds per half, first to thirteen wins, with overtime to follow if needed).

The playoffs follow directly after the group stage, with no rest day for the teams and players involved – though the group stage winners will get a day off on account of their direct seed to the semifinals. The rest of the tournament plays out between May 23 and May 25, with the two quarterfinals scheduled for the 23rd, the semis penciled in for the 24th, and the grand final for the 25th. The playoff games are also best-of-three, with the exception of the grand final itself, which is a best-of-five series. First to three map wins takes the title!

As an added bit of bonus intrigue, the ESL Impact League Season 7 finals – the organizers’ top female competition – will also have its offline conclusion take place in the same venue, with the grand final slotted in for the 25th as the warmup act for the open IEM Dallas event itself. Much more interesting than a random showmatch, wouldn’t you agree?

The entire tournament will take place at the award-winning Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center – no separate group stage and playoff venue this time.

With Team Vitality having wrapped up the fifth season of the Intel Grand Slam and claiming the $1 million prize after winning IEM Melbourne, a new season has begun, with all team progression reset – but it is worth mentioning that the event has now dropped its title sponsor, with no explanation provided, and it will therefore be known as the ESL Grand Slam going forward, at least for Season 6 at least.

Once more, the invitations were sent out based on the February VRS standings, which were determined on the third day of the month. This is the last big event on the calendar that relied on the February statistics to determine which teams were deserving of an invitation first – going forward, the March positions will apply. As we have already seen, this is a lagging indicator, and it is always worth contrasting recent trends with VRS positions when deciding which team you want to bet on or support.

As has been the case before in IEM Melbourne, the total prize pool of IEM Dallas is $300,000, divided among the teams and players in the following way:

• 1st place: $125,000
• 2nd place: $50,000
• 3rd-4th place: $25,000
• 5th-6th place: $12,500 each
• 7-8th place: $7,000 each
• 9-12th place: $5,000 each
• 13th-16th place: $4,000 each

Who won IEM Dallas in 2024?

IEM Dallas 2024 offered an incredible storyline for competitive Counter-Strike fans as a hobbling G2 side with a local hero stand-in in the form of Stewie2K made it all the way with wins over Team Falcons, MOUZ, Team Liquid, FaZe Clan, the successful underdogs of Team Vitality, and, ultimately, a close-fought rematch against Team Vitality to avenge their group stage loss.

Looking back at the rosters from that time, it is clear that a lot has changed in the competitive Counter-Strike landscape since then. G2 fielded a lineup of huNter-, NiKo, m0NESY, nexa, Stewie2K, with the American serving as a stand-in for HooXi, who was still the team’s IGL at the time. Behind them in the coaching role was TaZ, who is still around to this day, but the rest of the roster is essentially unrecognizable: NiKo and m0NESY decamped to Falcons, while nexa was long ago cut from the side. HooXi’s services were replaced by Snax’s in the IGL department, which has remained controversial ever since. G2’s current roster reads huNter-, malbsMd, Snax, HeavyGod, and hades – and it would be an even bigger shock if they managed to defend their title than their original victory was.

The runners-up, Team Vitality, have also undergone a change of their own, and have established themselves as the dominant Counter-Strike esports team in the process – sticking with the core of their 2024 lineup (apEX, ZywOo, flameZ, mezii, Spinx) but swapping Spinx with ropz in an incredible upgrade. XQTZZZ, brought back into the coaching fold after zonic’s departure, is still behind the squad today.

IEM Dallas 2025 groups and opening matchups

With an element of seeding at play for the opening matchups, it is critically important to get off to a good start and to stay away from that dreaded lower bracket as long as possible. Here are the matchups that will kick off the 2025 edition of IEM Dallas:

Group A:

Team Vitality vs. Legacy

3DMAX vs. GamerLegion

The MongolZ vs. FURIA

Lynn Vision Gaming vs. G2 Esports

Group B:

MOUZ vs. BC.Game Esports

Team Liquid vs. FaZe Clan

Aurora Gaming vs. HEROIC

NRG vs. Team Falcons

The big teams and players missing from IEM Dallas

With PGL Astana and IEM Dallas almost overlapping on the calendar – something you should get used to going forward for the years to come as the last vestiges of the partnered league system fade away in CS2 esports – making it from Kazakhstan to the US of A on short notice wasn’t exactly on the cards. Though certain teams will make the old college try, risking delays and forfeiture, some of the biggest names in the space opted to skip this one.

Team Spirit

(chopper, sh1ro, magixx, zont1x, donk)
#1 in the February 25 Valve global rankings

The Shanghai Major champions are clearly all set on Austin, and while their #1 spot is not an up-to-date metric at all, having a player like donk around means they can always do damage in any series.

Natus Vincere

(Aleksib, iM, b1t, jL, w0nderful)
#6 in the February 25 Valve global rankings

NAVI have not been able to keep their pristine 2024 form going heading into 2025, with interviews suggesting that PGL Astana and the upcoming Major are their last two chances to keep the current squad together before the org pulls the trigger on roster changes. It makes sense not to make the massive trip from Kazakhstan under the circumstances.

Astralis

(device, stavn, jabbi, Staehr, HooXi)
#15 in the February 25 Valve global standings

Is it even accurate to call Astralis a big team anymore? This might be up for debate, but the recent avalanche of news swirling around the squad definitely warrants a mention. Having missed Major qualification for the fifth time in a row, reports suggest the org is looking for a fire sale – and they already got rid of cadiaN, bringing HooXi in as a temporary replacement. Whether it’s going to be a wholesale deal or a piecemeal affair remains to be seen – but the potential availability of one or more of these players on the market will be a key part of any post-Major rostermania storyline.

IEM Dallas teams and players, showcased – who has the best chance to win and why?

Team Vitality

(apEX, ropz, ZywOo, flameZ, mezii)
#4 in the February Valve global rankings (directly invited to the event)
#1 in the May 12 HLTV world rankings

With every passing tournament, Vitality keep strengthening their bid for legendary status. They are now on the cusp of truly era-defining accomplishments in Counter-Strike esports, having clinched the Intel Grand Slam with their win in Melbourne and boasting one of the longest streaks of match victories in the history of the professional game. What else can be said about this side that hasn’t been mentioned yet? ZywOo and ropz are among the very best players in their respective roles, and apEX is making the case for becoming a karrigan-like leader in the space. The only – and really the only – argument is that the Major looming on the horizon, as there’s no way they’d use their tippy-toppy strats in Dallas in the chase of records. Nevertheless, they are the clear favorites.

The MongolZ

(bLitz, Techno, Senzu, mzinho, 910)
#3 in the February Valve global rankings (directly invited to the event)
#7 in the May 12 HLTV world rankings

The discrepancy between the old VRS position and The MongolZ’s HLTV world ranking placement at the time of writing tells all you need to know about their recent accomplishments. While the side has cemented itself as the preeminent force in Asian Counter-Strike, and they have proven their longevity in the space, their longstanding issues in arena play and grindy series remain, making an early playoff elimination – so somewhere exactly in the 7th-place range – the most likely outcome for them.

MOUZ

(Brollan, Spinx, torzsi, Jimpphat, xertioN)
#8 in the February Valve global rankings (directly invited to the event)
#2 in the May 12 HLTV world rankings

With every passing week and month and tournament, we get another data point to plug into our system about the whole “Brollan as an IGL” experiment. The team has clearly benefited from the overall firepower upgrade brought along with the arrival of Spinx, and they managed to shake off a lot of their jitters when it comes to playoff play, but they feel a definite step behind the true title contenders, as their one-sided grand final losses indicate, too. IEM Dallas might offer them a better chance than usual to leapfrog their fellow contenders because many teams will be saving their best strats for the Major, but make no mistake: that #2 spot is a bit too kind for this young international side.

FaZe Clan

(karrigan, rain, s1mple, frozen, EliGE)
#5 in the February 25 Valve global rankings (directly invited to the event)
#9 in the May 12 HLTV world rankings

FaZe responded to their slip from grace with a spectacular Hail Mary of a roster move: bringing s1mple back from the cold as a loanee for Dallas and the Major, replacing broky in the active lineup. While the issues with the squad go deeper than the big green, benching their floundering Latvian AWPer was definitely the correct decision. Having both EliGE and s1mple on the team has skyrocketed the tilt potential – even if both players have grown and mellowed since their Team Liquid stint, which was eons ago in esports terms – but this move has single-handedly made them one of the most exciting sides to watch right now.

Say what you will about FaZe’s recent travails, karrigan remains the best IGL to exploit the benefits of a honeymoon period, and he will no doubt set s1mple up to get the most out of the CS:GOAT for these two events. Is s1mple hungry enough to prove that he’s still got it, or will he put in another lackluster showing like he did during his loan spell with Falcons? The roster is now clearly on the older side, and all the veterans on it must feel like they’re playing for the continuation of their career. It’s going to be pure box office, but it’s impossible to tell how it will work out – but Dallas, for what it’s worth, will give us great indicators heading into the Major.

Aurora Gaming (formerly Eternal Fire)

(jottA, MAJ3R, Wicadia, woxic, XANTARES)
#7 in the February Valve global rankings (directly invited to the event)
#5 in the May 12 HLTV world rankings

Ultimately, the move from Eternal Fire to Aurora, painful as it must have been for the players, hasn’t exactly changed things around for the roster. Perennial dark horses with great firepower, the Turkish squad can always do some real damage but they still lack the wherewithal required to complete a title run. In Bucharest, they secured a playoff spot with wins over three unimpressive sides – paiN, LEGACY, and Apogee – and went on to a surprise defeat at the hands of Complexity in the round of sixteen. Not exactly the greatest preparation for Dallas – and having to fly in immediately from Astana suggests a heck of a jetlag debuff is on the cards. We predict a group stage exit and a much stronger Major performance to follow.

Team Liquid

(siuhy, NAF, NertZ, Twistzz, ultimate)
#10 in the February Valve global rankings (directly invited to the event)
#10 in the May 12 HLTV world rankings

Twistzz is back on the rifle, isn’t that wonderful? Well, turns out the IGL situation was just the beginning of Team Liquid’s worries. The North American side had a torrid time in Bucharest, and while they did deliver a more respectable showing in Melbourne, making it out of the group stage at the expense of NAVI, a defeat to The MongolZ in the arena has to be classified as a disappointment. The biggest issue heading forward is the hit-and-miss performances of NAF, and newly-minted loanee IGL siuhy has to find a way to get the most out of the veteran. If they make it to the playoffs again, the home crowd buff could definitely help – the Aussies were pretty hostile to them on account of the jks benching – but there is clearly a lot of work still to be done as we inch ever closer to the Major.

G2

(huNter-, malbsMd, Snax, HeavyGod, hades)
#2 in the February Valve global rankings (directly invited to the event)
#8 in the May 12 HLTV world rankings

There’s messy, and then there’s G2. I mean, the current situation of the org and the squad is just baffling. Having had to let go of NiKo and m0NESY, a setback was inevitable, but picking up hades and keeping Snax – turning the squad, funnily enough, into a majority-Polish roster – is a Frankenstein squad of no tactics and limited brawn, with abject results to match. The roster will no doubt get nuked after the Austin Major, but in the meantime, expect extremely awful showings all around, regardless of being the nominal title holders in Dallas.

FURIA

(yuurih, KSCERATO, FalleN, molodoy, YEKINDAR)
#11 in the February 25 Valve global rankings (directly invited to the event)
#19 in the May 12 HLTV world rankings

A lot of interesting things are going on in the FURIA household. FalleN, who spent his whole career juggling the AWP with IGL responsibilities, relinquished the big green to fully focus on the leadership side of things. Meanwhile, chelo was benched to make way for AMKAL’s molodoy, with skullz also leaving the active roster with a loanee coming in in the form of… YEKINDAR.

That’s quite the curveball, isn’t it?

Moving the Brazilian core to English comms seems like a huge undertaking – longtime fans may remember how awful that worked out with the first iteration of MIBR – and right now, this team is just an exciting bit of mess, a lot like FaZe. Very temporary, very odd, and likely not at all that strong, either, if we are being honest.

Team Falcons

(NiKo, Magisk, TeSeS, m0NESY, kyxsan)
#9 in the February 25 Valve global rankings (European qualifier winners)
#4 in the May 12 HLTV world rankings

The Falcon has landed, folks. While the much-vaunted superteam may still be missing a part of two, the long-awaited pickup of m0NESY has immediately turned the squad into contenders. They have managed to complete an impressive comeback run in Bucharest and pushed Vitality all the way to the grand final in Melbourne. Make no mistake, this squad is a real threat now, and it is a great indictment of G2’s management of just how little they got done with the NiKo-m0NESY axis. Mental fragility is still a factor for the team, as is the relatively short time they had to incorporate the young Russian AWPer – but even with these elements considered, the semis and beyond is the least we can expect in this field from the Saudi-backed side.

GamerLegion

(sl3nd, ztr, Tauson, PR, REZ)
#13 in the February Valve global rankings (European qualifier winners)
#11 in the May 12 HLTV world rankings

While GamerLegion’s elimination from the Major qualifiers was a bitter blow, as they were the only at-the-time top-tean team to miss the showpiece event, their recent results and performances have left a bit to be desired. As fabled as their recruitment process is – and as many accolades their coach, ashhh, has deservedly received as of late – sl3nd is simply not good enough on the AWP, and it feels inevitable that GL will get involved in the post-Major rostermania to find another gem in the rough. In the meantime, with no Austin attendance to consider, Dallas represents their last big tournament for a while, so expect them to go absolutely all-out on this occasion.

3DMAX

(bodyy, Maka, Lucky, Ex3rcice, Graviti)
#14 in the February Valve global rankings (European qualifier winners)
#13 in the May 12 HLTV world rankings

Admittedly, we had a bit of a recency bias when it came to 3DMAX’s performances in the past few tournaments, but seeing the old VRS and the current HLTV ranking next to one another makes for unassailable reading: a team that may very well have found its level, even with its one roster move that saw body arrive on the squad. In a somewhat funny way, 3DMAX found itself the whipping boys of FaZe, losing to them in both their previous events, in super one-sided fashion on each occasion. In Bucharest, a successful Swiss stage campaign was marred by a 13-0 13-5 defeat to karrigan’s men, and the 13-1 13-7 in Melbourne doesn’t make for much nicer reading. It indicates a clear ceiling, one that is outside the top ten. But they have also shown that they are capable of doing real damage in the group stages of big tournaments – at least as long as they can dodge FaZe in the bracket. Good news: they have done just that in Dallas.

BC.Game Esports

(nexa, nawwk, CYPHER, primetapz, Perfecto)
#99 in the February Valve global rankings (European qualifier winners)
#75 in the May 12 HLTV rankings

Obviously, the only thing that everyone is talking about in relation to this team is the jkaem saga, and there can be no doubt that the situation has caused much consternation to everyone in and around the squad. While Perfecto as the temporary replacement is a pretty impressive pickup, this team was ranked rather low to begin with, and you should not expect much from them in Dallas, considering the circumstances.

HEROIC

(SunPayus, LNZ, yxngstxr, xfl0ud, tN1R)
#20 in the February Valve global rankings (European qualifier winners)
#17 in the May 12 HLTV world rankings

It has truly been impressive that HEROIC have once again found a way to cobble together a reasonable squad after they had to once again relinquish their core to a buyout – this time, to Falcons rather than Astralis – but this version of the team is not exactly a title contender, and longtime fans should not confuse the exploits of past rosters with the limited hopes hanging on this one.

The team has been posting good results in lower-tier events like wins at the CCT Season 2 Global Finals over B8 and a triumph at MESA Nomadic Masters Spring 2025 at the expense of BIG. The team also made it to the Austin Major via the regional qualifier, so they are no slouches – but by the same token, they seem to lack what it takes to truly challenge the current elite of the game.

NRG

(oSee, HexT, nitr0, Jeorge, Br0)
#41 in the February Valve global rankings (North American qualifier winners)
#38 in the May 12 HLTV world rankings

Having beaten Marsborne, BOSS, and Nouns on their way to this event, NRG are on the precipice of the top of North American CS right now, as evidenced by their qualification to the Austin Major by the narrowest of margins. However, the last time they faced strong international opposition was back in March at ESL Pro League Season 21, exiting early with a 1-3 record in the first Swiss stage, with losses to GamerLaegion, Eternal Fire, and FURIA. Their solitary win came at the expense of Nemiga Gaming: that level won’t be enough to cause real damage in Dallas.

Legacy

(latto, dumao, saadzin, n1ssim, lux)
#56 in the February Valve global rankings (South American qualifier winners)
#29 in the May 12 HLTV world rankings

The tragedy of Brazilian Counter-Strike in 2025 is that there are definitely enough disparate parts to put together a competitive team, but for a multitude of reasons, they are scattered across a variety of different teams. You could argue that dumao could be a useful part of such a team, but this particular squad cannot lay a claim to anything notable, really. Having finished 12-14th at PGL Bucharest, the only S-Tier event they participated in this year, and missing out on the Austin Major at the expense of BESTIA, it feels like a roster that is in flux heading into the post-Major rostermania.

Lynn Vision Gaming

(westmelon, z4kr, EmiliaQAQ, Starry, C4LLM3SU3)
#62 in the February Valve global rankings (Asian qualifier winners)
#33 in the May 12 HLTV world rankings

While Lynn Vision have made great strides in establishing themselves as one of the top teams in China, securing impressive wins over TYLOO in the Austin Major’s Chinese regional qualifier and ESL Challenger Season 49’s Asian bracket, this squad is a far cry from The MongolZ and the top of international competition. That said, their opening matchup is against a floundering G2 who will be flying straight in from Astana, so there is actual upset potential there, but anything beyond would be an incredible surprise.

Conclusion

IEM Dallas offers CS2 teams and players the last big opportunity to test their mettle heading into the Austin Major – and since the best squads are likely going to hide some of their spiciest strats, the rest of the rosters have a good opportunity to do some damage here. While title defenders G2 are a shadow of their championship-winning former selves, they are going to play a big part in the proceeding at Dallas – but realistically, all eyes will be on Team Vitality and Team Falcons tussling it out at the top.

Meanwhile, teams like FaZe Clan and FURIA are coming into the event (and the Major) with an odd hodgepodge of temporary rosters, offering plenty of intrigue and spectacle for fans – and making this a great opportunity for some CS2 esports betting action.

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