G2 Esports and Team Vitality swept their way through the quarterfinals of the 2024 Intel Extreme Masters Dallas event on Friday.
G2 beat FaZe Clan 2-0 to advance to the semifinals, where they will face 9z Team. Vitality topped HEROIC 2-0 and will meet Team Spirit in the semis.
Sixteen teams competed in the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament’s double-elimination group stage. The teams were split into a pair of eight-team groups, with the winner of each group advancing to the playoff semifinals. The group runners-up advanced to the quarterfinals as the high seeds, while the third-place finishers faced them as the low seeds.
All matches in the single-elimination playoff bracket are best-of-three, and the grand final is scheduled for Sunday.
The winner of the tournament will receive $100,000, 1,400 BLAST Premier points and a spot in the 2024 IEM Cologne event in Germany, scheduled for Aug. 7-18.
On Friday, G2 notched a 13-8 win over FaZe on Dust II before completing the sweep with a 13-2 demolition on Nuke. Russia’s Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov had a match-high 42 kills on a plus-26 kills-to-deaths differential for G2.
Vitality’s results against HEROIC practically mirrored G2’s scores. Vitality started on Nuke and won 13-8 before cruising to a 13-2 victory on Dust II.
Vitality received a balanced effort, with all five players contributing between 28 and 31 kills. Dan ‘apEX’ Madesclaire had a team-high 31 kills on a plus-10, while fellow Frenchman Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut posted 30 on a plus-13 and Israel’s Shahar ‘flameZ’ Shushan added 30 on a plus-12.
The tournament continues Saturday with two semifinal matches:
–9z Team vs. G2 Esports
–Team Spirit vs. Team Vitality
IEM Dallas 2024 prize pool:
1. $100,000, 1,400 BLAST Premier points, qualification to IEM Cologne 2024
2. $42,000, 1,000 BLAST Premier points
3-4. $20,000, 600 BLAST Premier points
5-6. $10,000, 400 BLAST Premier points — FaZe Clan, HEROIC
7-8. $6,000, 300 BLAST Premier points — Team Liquid, BIG
9-12. $5,000 — Virtus.pro, Natus Vincere, Team Falcons, MOUZ
13-16. $4,000 — FlyQuest, M80, Monte, Complexity Gaming
–Field Level Media