Cloud9 advance to IEM Dallas grand final with win over BIG

Vladislav "⁠nafany⁠" Gorshkov's squad recovered from a loss on Overpass to defeat the German side 2-1.

Following up on their victory over FaZe in the quarter-finals, Cloud9 took down BIG in the semis to get one match away from the title of the IEM Dallas champions.

Both teams entered the server on a three-match win streak, but it was undeniable that Cloud9 took bigger scalps to get to the semis. Looking at historic results, BIG struggled against the Cloud9 squad, going 0-8 in maps across four matches played against this five-man lineup since 2020.

This time around, BIG started well, stealing away Cloud9's map pick of Overpass 16-14 thanks to an inspired Karim "⁠Krimbo⁠" Moussa. After the game, nafany commented that his team was "a little bit stressed, and it was [felt] in TeamSpeak," which led to a disappointing CT side. They recovered on Dust2, however, winning it with a strong offensive side, and swept BIG on Ancient to conclude the series.

Cloud9 will face off against ENCE in a BO5 grand final for a chance to lift a trophy in an arena for the first time on Sunday at 18:00 .

Cloud9's map pick Overpass had a tense start, but the Russian side started rolling on the Terrorist side as Abay "⁠HObbit⁠" Khassenov emerged on the forefront, standing out with multikills and openings. With quite a few convincing round wins, they swapped to the defense 9-6 ahead, leaving BIG with a tall task in the second half.

Johannes "⁠tabseN⁠" Wodarz's quad kill on the pistol laid out the path for BIG's recovery, but it was the calling of the team's veteran IGL, as well as the fragging from their rookie playing his first stage match Krimbo, that enabled the unlikely comeback. The Germans chained eight rounds on the offense, outclassing Cloud9, before nafany and co. woke up to bring the game back. In the end, tabseN pulled his team over the line with a triple kill in round 30 as BIG stole away Overpass.

With a 6-1 lead acquired early, Cloud9 put their foot down on the defensive side of Dust2 and gave hope to their fans in the arena that the series wasn't yet lost. A successful B hit worked out for BIG, shortly turning into three rounds in a row, but Cloud9 regained control of the half with three clean rows chained together.

The half ended 9-6, but the score was equalized after tabseN locked down the pistol (9-9). From that point onward, though, the German defenses provided little resistance. Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov activated to match HObbit's efforts as Cloud9 ravaged the CT setups and struck back on Dust2, 16-9.

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To conclude the series, Ancient was required, but the map was nothing like the first two. Cloud9 dominated from start to finish, nafany leading by example as he locked down the B approach. A 12-3 CT side was converted into a 16-3 win in no time, securing their spot in the grand final.