From May 19 to 25, the IEM Dallas 2025 CS2 tournament will take place on LAN in Texas, featuring a $1 million prize pool. The event has attracted huge community interest, primarily because s1mple is set to debut as part of FaZe Clan. Unlike the ongoing PGL Astana 2025, the Dallas tournament will host most top-tier 1 teams.
With only 17 days left before the start of the first stage of the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025, teams have their last opportunity to challenge Vitality`s win streak before the Major. This preview examines the favorites and assesses their current form.
s1mple`s Return to FaZe
s1mple`s debut as a sniper for FaZe! The news of Kostylev`s return undoubtedly excited the entire community but came as a surprise to many. Everyone remembers the Ukrainian sniper`s previous return attempt. Expecting immediate success or a trophy isn`t realistic, especially considering the group where the team will face Falcons, MOUZ, and Aurora. These collectives can cause significant problems even for the scene leader, Vitality, let alone a seemingly disassembled FaZe.
However, most are confident that the failure seen during the Falcons trial won`t repeat, as s1mple will play in his familiar role. For him, this is potentially his last chance to return directly to the tier-1 level. But was the sniper role FaZe`s only problem? After ropz`s departure and their second-place finish at Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024, karrigan`s collective immediately lost competitiveness. Perhaps Andersen has already done all he could, and the team now needs a complete overhaul?
Vitality`s Unchallenged Dominance
The French machine that no one has managed to stop yet. ZywOo and company have taken first place in their last five tournaments, demonstrating complete dominance on the tier-1 scene. The team has only extended its win streak, surpassing all previous records (excluding NiP`s record). After winning the ESL Grand Slam, there`s no doubt that this is currently the Vitality era.
But it`s important to understand that the longer Vitality`s win streak is, the more pressure is on the team. This could play a trick on them, especially since Falcons and MOUZ have already come close to breaking this winning streak twice. apEX`s roster has clearly provoked and angered opponents. Despite all this, Team Vitality is considered the clear favorite for the championship.
Falcons Eye the Trophy
IEM Dallas will be Falcons` third tournament with m0NESY. In the previous two, the team showed flashes but still has issues. Perhaps during the short break, the members managed to polish out all the rough edges and refine their macro- and micro-game. The probability of Falcons reaching the playoffs is high; the main antagonist of this story has landed in Group A, and the team shouldn`t face significant difficulties until the group stage final.
Falcons` biggest challenge now, besides Vitality, could be the rumors about signing kyousuke, which might affect the morale of some players (specifically one – Magisk, everyone understands). Even if Reif isn`t fully fixated on this, he will likely keep it in mind, which also impacts gameplay. A win at IEM Dallas is only possible if all players demonstrate their prime aiming form.
MOUZ in Contention
Last, but not least, representative from the strongest trio of contenders for the trophy. MOUZ is also considered a potential champion, but their only victory in 2025 so far is PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025, where the opponents weren`t particularly strong. Like for many other teams, the main stumbling block has been Team Vitality, which prevented Brollan`s roster from winning ESL Pro League Season 21 and BLAST Open Lisbon 2025.
And after m0NESY joined Falcons, MOUZ faced a new problem: in their last two meetings, Brollan`s roster couldn`t even take a single map from their opponent. However, the club doesn`t have similar difficulties against other teams. MOUZ is considered the third strongest team in the championship.