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

The Russian AWPer was scheduled to take time off after the BLAST Paris Major.

ESL has announced that OG will round up the team list for their upcoming IEM Dallas 2023 tournament. The European squad was not initially supposed to compete at the event, but stepped in based on their ESL Ranking when an unannounced team backed out of the competition.

Due to the short notice nature of the invite, Abdul "⁠degster⁠" Gasanov will not travel with the squad to Texas, USA as he was scheduled to take time off after the conclusion of the BLAST Paris Major. OG subsequently named Iulian "⁠regali⁠" Harjău as their substitute AWPer for the duration of the tournament.

OG were invited based on their ESL ranking

OG will join the likes of HEROIC, G2, and ENCE in the American LAN looking to take home the lion's share of a $250,000 prize pool as well as a direct invite to IEM Cologne 2023. The tournament victors will also join Vitality in the race for the Intel Grand Slam Season 5 as the trophy will also reward one of the four necessary wins to take the $1,000,000 prize.

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

regali is currently a free agent following his benching from Copenhagen Flames and the eventual bankruptcy of the Danish organization. The Romanian AWPer shined alongside the squad for five months, registering a 1.20 rating throughout several online competitions.

Read more Copenhagen Flames files for bankruptcy

The 20-year-old AWPer will have big shoes to fill as degster has been OG's main star since his arrival in July 2022 and the team's most consistent fragger. To make things more difficult for regali, he has not seen official play since March and IEM Dallas will be his first LAN event since WePlay Academy League Season 1 Finals in August 2021.

OG will field the following lineup in Dallas:

Nikolaj "⁠niko⁠" Kristensen
Maciej "⁠F1KU⁠" Miklas
Adam "⁠NEOFRAG⁠" Zouhar
Shahar "⁠flameZ⁠" Shushan
Iulian "⁠regali⁠" Harjău (substitute)

Casper "⁠ruggah⁠" Due (coach)

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 Copenhagen Flames Nouns #40 Christopher 'cJ dA K1nG' JonesEdgar 'MarKE' MaldonadoDavid 'cynic' PolsterBrendan 'Bwills' WilliamsCarson 'nosraC' O'Reilly Kory 'SEMPHIS' Friesen Maciej 'F1KU' Miklas Age: 19 Team: OG Rating 1.0: 1.01 Maps played: 759 KPR: 0.68 DPR: 0.67 FaZe #3 Finn 'karrigan' AndersenHåvard 'rain' NygaardRussel 'Twistzz' Van DulkenRobin 'ropz' KoolHelvijs 'broky' Saukants Robert 'RobbaN' Dahlström Casper 'ruggah' Due Age: 34 Team: OGC Adam 'NEOFRAG' Zouhar Age: 21 Team: OG Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 824 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.68 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 Vitality #1 Dan 'apEX' MadesclairePeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenEmil 'Magisk' ReifMathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautLotan 'Spinx' Giladi Danny 'zonic' Sørensen ENCE #8 Marco 'Snappi' PfeifferGuy 'NertZ' IluzPavle 'Maden' BoškovićPaweł 'dycha' DychaÁlvaro 'SunPayus' García Eetu 'sAw' Saha Liquid #7 Nick 'nitr0' CannellaKeith 'NAF' MarkovicJonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiJosh 'oSee' OhmMareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis Damian 'daps' Steele Shahar 'flameZ' Shushan Age: 19 Team: OG Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 536 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.67 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 Nikolaj 'niko' Kristensen Age: 24 Team: OG Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 1283 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.66 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 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