fnatic to attend IEM Dallas instead of Virtus.pro

Some of the Russian squad's players were unable to obtain visas ahead of the tournament.

Virtus.pro have withdrawn from IEM Dallas 2023 following the inability of a few of their players to obtain visas for the American event. fnatic were invited to replace the Russian core due to their fourth-place finish in the closed qualifier.

According to ESL rules, in the event of a team withdrawing from the tournament after the qualifier stage and before the replacement deadline, the next available squad from the bracket will be invited. In this case, William "⁠mezii⁠" Merriman and company finished in fourth place in the closed qualifier behind OG, Cloud9, and Astralis — teams already invited or qualified for the competition.

fnatic will replace Virtus.pro at the $250,000 tournament

If the team dropout occurred before the start of the closed qualifier, then the next available team from the region in the ESL World Ranking would have received the invite.

This is the second development from IEM Dallas recently announced as earlier on Wednesday it was revealed that OG was invited to the tournament instead of an unnamed participant. Iulian "⁠regali⁠" Harjău was also announced to be stepping in for Abdul "⁠degster⁠" Gasanov at the tournament due to the Russian AWPer taking time off after the Paris Major.

Read more OG invited to IEM Dallas; regali to step in for degster

IEM Dallas will take place May 29 - June 4 in the Texas city of Dallas and will host 16 teams battling it out for a $250,000 prize pool and a direct invite spot to IEM Cologne 2023. The winners will also fight for a notch in the Intel Grand Slam belt as the race for the fifth season of ESL's premier prize got started with Vitality's win at IEM Rio in April.

fnatic will join the tournament alongside the likes of HEROIC, G2, and ENCE as they tackle their first LAN tournament following their elimination from the Paris Major in 9-11th place.

The list of teams attending IEM Dallas is as follows:

G2
HEROIC
Liquid
FaZe
fnatic
Complexity
MOUZ
FURIA ENCE
Evil Geniuses
Nouns
Grayhound
Cloud9
Astralis
9z
OG FURIA #9 Andrei 'arT' PiovezanYuri 'yuurih' SantosKaike 'KSCERATO' CeratoRafael 'saffee' CostaAndré 'drop' Abreu Nicholas 'guerri' Nogueira MOUZ #14 Christopher 'dexter' NongDavid 'frozen' ČerňanskýJon 'JDC' de CastroÁdám 'torzsi' TorzsásDorian 'xertioN' Berman Dennis 'sycrone' Nielsen fnatic #15 Freddy 'KRIMZ' JohanssonDion 'FASHR' DerksenNico 'nicoodoz' TamjidiFredrik 'roeJ' JørgensenWilliam 'mezii' Merriman Jamie 'keita' Hall Nouns #40 Christopher 'cJ dA K1nG' JonesEdgar 'MarKE' MaldonadoDavid 'cynic' PolsterBrendan 'Bwills' WilliamsCarson 'nosraC' O'Reilly Kory 'SEMPHIS' Friesen FaZe #3 Finn 'karrigan' AndersenHåvard 'rain' NygaardRussel 'Twistzz' Van DulkenRobin 'ropz' KoolHelvijs 'broky' Saukants Robert 'RobbaN' Dahlström Evil Geniuses #51 Timothy 'autimatic' TaVincent 'Brehze' CayonteSanzhar 'neaLaN' IskhakovJerric 'wiz' JiangJadan 'HexT' Postma Daniel 'Vorborg' Vorborg HEROIC #2 Casper 'cadiaN' MøllerMartin 'stavn' LundRené 'TeSeS' MadsenRasmus 'sjuush' BeckJakob 'jabbi' Nygaard Richard 'Xizt' Landström ENCE #8 Marco 'Snappi' PfeifferGuy 'NertZ' IluzPavle 'Maden' BoškovićPaweł 'dycha' DychaÁlvaro 'SunPayus' García Eetu 'sAw' Saha Vitality #1 Dan 'apEX' MadesclairePeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenEmil 'Magisk' ReifMathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautLotan 'Spinx' Giladi Danny 'zonic' Sørensen Liquid #7 Nick 'nitr0' CannellaKeith 'NAF' MarkovicJonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiJosh 'oSee' OhmMareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis Damian 'daps' Steele Astralis #24 Lukas 'gla1ve' RossanderNicolai 'device' ReedtzBenjamin 'blameF' BremerAlexander 'Altekz' GivskovChristian 'Buzz' Andersen Peter 'casle' Ardenskjold Cloud9 #5 Abay 'HObbit' KhassenovTimur 'buster' TulepovSergey 'Ax1Le' RykhtorovDmitry 'sh1ro' SokolovVladislav 'nafany' Gorshkov Konstantin 'groove' Pikiner OG #11 Nikolaj 'niko' KristensenAdam 'NEOFRAG' ZouharShahar 'flameZ' ShushanAbdul 'degster' GasanovMaciej 'F1KU' Miklas Casper 'ruggah' Due Complexity #23 Johnny 'JT' TheodosiouRicky 'floppy' KemeryHåkon 'hallzerk' FjærliMichael 'Grim' WinceJustin 'FaNg' Coakley Tiaan 'T.c' Coertzen Abdul 'degster' Gasanov Age: 21 Team: OG Rating 1.0: 1.18 Maps played: 830 KPR: 0.78 DPR: 0.60 Iulian 'regali' Harjău Age: 20 Team: No team Rating 1.0: 1.17 Maps played: 314 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.61 Virtus.pro #16 Evgenii 'FL1T' LebedevAlexey 'Qikert' GolubevDzhami 'Jame' AliPetr 'fame' Bolyshev Dastan 'dastan' Akbayev 9z #41 Maximiliano 'max' GonzalezFranco 'dgt' GarciaDavid 'dav1deuS' Tapia MaldonadoSantino 'try' RigalNicolás 'buda' Kramer Gustavo 'tge' Motta Grayhound #27 Simon 'Sico' WilliamsJay 'Liazz' TregillgasAlistair 'aliStair' JohnstonJoshua 'INS' PotterDeclan 'Vexite' Portelli G2 #6 Nikola 'NiKo' KovačNemanja 'huNter-' KovačJustin 'jks' SavageRasmus 'HooXi' NielsenIlya 'm0NESY' Osipov Jan 'Swani' Müller William 'mezii' Merriman Age: 24 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 659 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.63