G2 are your IEM Dallas 2024 champions. Words I never thought I’d be writing even days ago, but that’s the reality we’re living in. It’s been an absolute miracle run for G2, beating Falcons, MOUZ, FaZe, Liquid, and Vitality along the way. Look again at that line-up of teams – that’s as legitimate a tournament win as you’re ever likely to see.
Credit: Stephanie Lindgren | © ESL
It never stops feeling absurd, but G2 have won IEM Dallas 2024 with Stewie2k playing as a stand-in after a two-year break from competitive play. You couldn’t write a better storyline – the laughing stock when the news initially broke, but guess what: no one’s laughing now. A Major winner with Cloud9, an Intel Grand Slam winner with Liquid, yet arguably, this IEM Dallas run tops the lot of them in the story of Stewie2k.
We could talk about the Stewie narrative all day, but that would be unfair to the rest of G2. This was two Counter-Strike phenomenons in NiKo and m0NESY at the peak of their powers, proving to be a potent combination that Vitality simply had no answers to. A barn-burner Inferno went to double overtime, eventually going the way of G2. That was when everyone started to believe that this could actually happen. However, Vitality looked to run away with map two, before G2 came back from 12:5 down to secure another overtime. Vitality handled the pressure well, resisting the full comeback and taking it to a third and final map.
Credit: Stephanie Lindgren | © ESL
A full mental reset was required for G2. They had a great opportunity to win IEM Dallas 2024 on map two, but overtime proved a step too far. After nearly completing such a dramatic comeback, having to take it to a third was tough to take. If G2 were frustrated, they certainly didn’t show it on the final map of Nuke. NiKo IGLed like a veteran, leading G2 to a convincing victory on Nuke and securing the IEM Dallas 2024 championship.
It’s one of the greatest Counter-Strike storylines of all time, one that will go down in the history books. No matter whether Stewie sticks around for good after this, he’ll always have the GStew win on home soil.
Credit: Helena Kristiansson | © ESL
It’s a second consecutive Grand Final loss for Vitality, and against a stand-in no less. They’ll be left wondering how they lost this one, for sure. The truth is, this was Vitality’s key members performing a vanishing act at the exact wrong moments. Spinx and flameZ were way below the standard required on the first map of Inferno, while it was ZywOo who bottom-fragged on the server on the Nuke decider.
All of this raises an important question: are changes afoot at Vitality in the upcoming player break? It’s difficult to say for sure. The obvious choice would be mezii, but given he was one of the only players to consistently show up throughout the Playoffs of IEM Dallas 2024, it would feel like a massive injustice, to say the least. ZywOo and apEX are going nowhere, and rightfully so, yet it’s equally difficult to imagine either of Spinx or flameZ being sent packing. Truthfully, we have no idea what Vitality will do next, but it’s a big decision regardless of the route taken.
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