ENCE Take Down MOUZ to Win IEM Dallas 2023
Photo via Twitter/ @ESLCS
ENCE defeated MOUZ in the Grand Finals of IEM Dallas 2023, sweeping the European team in a best of three series.
ENCE’s Alvaro “SunPayus” Garcia was named the HLTV and 1XBET IEM Dallas MVP after posting an over 1.15 player rating in every map won by ENCE during the event.
SunPayus becomes the first player from Spain to win an HLTV MVP award.
Both teams faced a tumultuous road to the Grand Finals facing off against some of the best teams in the world. In the quarterfinals, MOUZ made slight work of Astralis, by sweeping the red-hot Danish team.
The semifinals gave us some of the best matches of the entire event. MOUZ faced off against Heroic, a Danish team ranked second in the world. MOUZ and Heroic each took their respective map picks. Taking the series to the third and deciding map where MOUZ narrowly came out victorious winning the map 16 to 14.
ENCE would face their first challenge in the semifinals when they had an insane revenge match against FaZe who had lost their last two series against ENCE. FaZe would take their map and pick Mirage in dominating fashion. ENCE would respond by holding FaZe to only six rounds on Anubis, ENCE’s map pick. Map three would be one of the craziest maps played in professional Counter-Strike in the past year.
FaZe jumped out to a commanding lead, going up seven to one only to falter and lose the next six straight rounds to go into the half with an eight-to-seven, one-round lead. The second half would see both teams go on multiple-round win runs with ENCE taking two late rounds to make the score 15 to 14. On the verge of elimination and being sent home, FaZe’s in-game leader (IGL) Finn “karrigan” Andersen perfectly executed a double fake to clear the A bomb site and send the game into overtime.
The map would turn into a war of attrition, going into quintuple overtime with rounds going back and forth between the teams fighting for a spot in the Grand Finals. The map would last nearly two hours and end with ENCE winning the match 31 to 28 and punching their spot in the finals.
Last year at IEM Dallas 2022, ENCE finished second after being swept by Cloud9 in a best-of-five match.
This year, ENCE came with a chip on their shoulder and a revamped roster to take home the trophy.
After their win in Dallas, ENCE has jumped seven spots in the HLTV world rankings now holding onto the number four spot.
