G2 vs 9z – IEM Dallas 2024 Playoffs: GStew!

9z's Cinderella run through the group stage of IEM Dallas 2024 puts them up in the Semi-Finals, but they now face Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov's G2. With Jake "Stewie2k" Yip bringing in the NA support, can G2 finally make their first finals of the year?

The team has never found its footing since Nemanja "nexa" Isaković replaced JKS in the G2 roster for "non-performance" reasons. What should've been a stable role player has had to step into star roles as NiKo and huNter- have gone off the boil.

That script, however, has been flipped on its head with NA veteran Stewie2k coming back into the server to bring the same energy he once brought to the 2019 Liquid.

NA's legend goes up against the South American underdogs in 9z. Antonio "Martinez" Martinez may not have been the perfect replacement for SunPayus, but since he stepped into 9z, he's felt at home.

At IEM Dallas, he's been right on the heels of m0NESY himself. With dgt and max to support him and the team working as a tight-knit unit, they have made it to the top 4. But can they keep it up against the crowd and G2?

The map veto was solid in G2's court, with 9z unwilling to commit to the Vertigo float. Despite G2 fielding a stand-in, a pool with Inferno-Dust2-Nuke will allow G2 to flex whatever strat book they have mustered.

9z's IEM Dallas stars Max and MartinezSa started with dualies but went missing as G2 kicked off proceedings with a pistol win on B. But right back comes Buda on the force buy to silence the GStew fans as 9z takes three without dropping a single frag.

In what could have been a haunting reminder of the Boston Major, NiKo and Stewie rotated late to the B site and managed to win the round.

The two teams went back and forth, including a hilarious 4:3 moment from dgt, followed by a failed Stewie2k clutch. The half finally closed out 6-6 with NiKo casually taking two frags down mid, through a smoke.

The second half could've quickly gotten out of hand had it not been for Stewie2k's clutch out in a 5-glocks round from 9z. But that round did the damage, as a single loss blew G2's economy up.

The game felt more like G2 shooting themselves in the foot rather than 9z getting it done as nexa curiously burned himself to death without even taking a fight from the pit.

And then he went and did it again on B. Luckily, NiKo's right there to save G2's map. The Kovac superstar may have been missing in previous events, but here he brought out his CS:GO form once more to close it out 13-11 with 25 kills.

HUASOPEEK was again at the forefront of 9z's attack on Dust2, starting with a 4-0 lead. Unfortunately for them, G2 still have the best player in the world on their roster. m0NESY stepped up in round five with a rifle triple to open his team's account.

Despite massive damage from huNter- and Stewie2k, nexa could not pull it off in the 1v1, and 9z continued their storm through the T side. The second time around, B site's defense held up to earn G2 a clean round.

A VAC-worthy headshot from MartinezSa could've been enough to get 9z their 7th, but m0NESY managed to take it in the retake on A. That was when huNter- popped off, first sliding into mid to clean up an anti-eco and then taking up the secondary AWP against MartinezSa as nexa closed the half 6-6.

The International squad was off to a hot streak to start their attack until MartinezSa put the team on his back and a Scout in his hands to blow everyone's minds.

m0NESY saw MartinezSa popping off on the AWP and pulled out a hero sniper to decimate the defenses even as HUASOPEEK nearly snatched victory away from him. With all G2 fans successfully going bald with stress, GStew finally closed the series out with a clean double kill.

m0NESY and G2 move on to the Grand Finals, where they will once again face Vitality. The last time the two faced off, flameZ led Vitality to a dominant win. With ZywOo finding his confidence, can the crowd power GStew and NiKo to a trophy?

Stay tuned to esports.gg for more esports news and CS2 coverage.

Featured Image via ESL, Helena Kristiansson, Viola Schuldner, and Igor Bezborodov.