IEM Dallas playoff bracket set as FaZe eliminate Cloud9

Cloud9 won't be able to defend their IEM Dallas crown after suffering a 1-2 defeat to FaZe.

The IEM Dallas playoff bracket has been determined, with six teams now set to take to the stage in the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center for a shot at taking home the $100,000 first-place cash prize and a spot at IEM Cologne.

Play will continue in Texas on Friday with the two quarter-finals, making its way through to the semi-finals on Saturday before wrapping up with a best-of-three grand final on Sunday.

Astralis will lock horns with MOUZ in the first IEM Dallas quarter-final, taking to the server on Friday at 20:30 for a chance to guarantee a top-four finish in Texas.

The Danes had the chance to earn a bye and begin their playoff campaign from the semi-finals, but a gut-wrenching 1-2 defeat to ENCE (Overpass 16-12, Nuke 17-19, Mirage 12-16) in the Group B upper bracket final ultimately forced Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander and company to start the single-elimination stage from the quarter-finals instead.

A tantalizing affair between G2 and FaZe will follow, with the two top-10 sides set to hop in the server at 00:00 in an expectedly brutal quarter-final bout. FaZe successfully completed a lower bracket run en route to a spot in the playoffs, first moving past Liquid before once again besting Cloud9 (Mirage 16-7, Inferno 7-16, Ancient 16-9) in a rematch of their BLAST.tv Paris Major RMR last chance qualifier fixture to pick up the final playoff spot available.

HEROIC are waiting in the first semi-final of the $250,000 tournament, where they will face the eventual victor of the series between Astralis and MOUZ. The Danes, who suffered a semi-final exit at the hands of GamerLegion from the BLAST.tv Paris Major playoffs in May, have once again showed why they're among the best in the world, not dropping a map during their time in Dallas to lock in a top-four finish.

Over on the other side of the bracket are ENCE, who are on track to secure back-to-back IEM Dallas grand final appearances. The Marco "⁠Snappi⁠" Pfeiffer-led lineup will go toe-to-toe with the winner of G2 vs. FaZe on Saturday at 22:00 , where they'll look to make it to the IEM Dallas title decider for the second time running.

The full bracket for the IEM Dallas playoffs is as follows:

Date	Matches
IEM Dallas 2023
02/06/2023	Astralis 20:30 MOUZ	Match
03/06/2023	G2 00:35 FaZe	Match
03/06/2023	HEROIC 18:30 MOUZ	Match
03/06/2023	ENCE 23:00 FaZe	Match
04/06/2023	MOUZ 20:00 ENCE	Match