IEM Dallas 2022 Grand Final: Cloud9 sweeps ENCE, crowned champions
It was ELEAGUE Boston Major back in January 2018 when Cloud9 last stood on the CS:GO champions’ podium. After four years, C9 finally crafted its name back on the trophy once again.
Cloud9 swept and dominated ENCE 3-0 in the final even though ENCE looked solid early on Mirage, but they were losing their grips after the halftime and followed to Overpass and Ancient maps, resulting in Cloud9’s victory in IEM Dallas 2022.
Grand Final recap
MAP 1 (MIRAGE) SCORE: ENCE 12 – 16 C9
ENCE picked Mirage map and came out swinging after a strong start from Pavle ‘maden’ Bošković. Cloud9 tried to go mid and A to contain ENCE’s momentum, yet Olek ‘hades’ Miskiewicz and Janusz ‘Snax’ Pogorzelski pulled a successful double AWP setup and gave ENCE a lead in halftime.
C9 finally picked up their gear after Vladislav ‘nafany’ Gorshkov and Sergey ‘Ax1Le’ Rykhtorov stepped into the game. ENCE then decided to take a timeout and ended at 10-5.
Cloud9, who started on the Counter-Terrorist side, managed to tie the score at 10-10. In the second half, both teams were changing fires and trading rounds with Dmitry ‘sh1ro’ Sokolov began to play well for C9. Abay ‘HObbit’ Khasenov then picked up his pace and eventually Cloud9 completed Map 1 with the score of 16-12 after multiple takedowns at the A site.
MAP 2 (OVERPASS SCORE): ENCE 11 – 16 C9
C9 decided to choose Overpass and began the second map with a convincing pistol victory. Cloud9, supported by home crowds as an NA team, together with HObbit took a lead. Marco ‘Snappi’ Pfeiffer for a moment snapped C9’s momentum by gaining a double kill to put ENCE 2-1. Both nafany and hades were a bit struggling, especially for hades and ENCE went back to climb two more extra rounds and squeezed the score to 10-5.
Two maden’s headshot brought ENCE in the next round and forced C9 to act swiftly, pushed even more by Paweł ‘dycha’ Dycha’s triple kill on A. When the tide seemed to go in ENCE’s favor, poor finishing at the B site gave Cloud9 some air. Ax1Le and sh1ro strengthened their defense and in the end, C9 wrapped the Overpass map in the 27th round.
MAP 3 (ANCIENT): ENCE 3 – 16 C9
Cloud9 and nafany made a triple kill, with sh1ro also following through with a triple kill as well. ENCE tried to keep up with their strategies to rush on the B site.
C9 should thank nafany’s outstanding performance as he got a quad kill with an AWP, resulting in ENCE’s T side struggling to get any kills. They dominated ENCE with a 12-3 half lead.
Starting with the T half, Timofey ‘interz’ Yakushin put his name on the scoreboard with a double kill as C9 continued their domination in the pistol round. Yakushin did not stop there, he managed to get a triple kill and put ENCE on the edge at 15-3. ENCE could not do much at this point and C9 was crowned IEM Dallas 2022 champions.
“Honestly, I probably don’t understand it yet. I have a lot of different emotions and we just really needed this win and I am happy that we did it. I mean, I am really at home and a lot of people did support us and it does mean a lot to us,” nafany said.
MATCH DETAILS
IEM Dallas 2022 Grand Finals: Cloud9 Vs ENCE
Best of 5 LAN Event
Location: Dallas, Texas, USA
RESULT
Map 1: Mirage (Winners: Cloud9, Final Score: 16 – 12)
Map 2: Overpass (Winners: Cloud9, Final Score: 16 – 11)
Map 3: Ancient (Winners: Cloud9, Final Score: 16 – 3)
PRIZE POOL
1. $100,000, 1,000 ESL Pro Tour points, 2,400 BLAST Premier points — Cloud9
2. $42,000, 750 ESL Pro Tour points, 1,200 BLAST Premier points — ENCE
3-4. $20,000, 525 ESL Pro Tour points, 750 BLAST Premier points — FURIA Esports, BIG
5-6. $10,000, 350 ESL Pro Tour points, 225 BLAST Premier points — G2 Esports, FaZe Clan
7-8. $6,000, 200 ESL Pro Tour points, 225 BLAST Premier points — Team Vitality, Team Liquid
9-12. $5,000, 100 ESL Pro Tour points, no BLAST Premier points — Astralis, MOUZ, MIBR, Ninjas in Pyjamas
13-16. $4,000, no ESL Pro Tour points, no BLAST Premier points — Movistar Riders, Encore Esports Club, Imperial Esports, Complexity Gaming
