OG Receives Invitation to IEM Dallas; regali to Substitute for degster

May 18, 2023

OG has been announced as the final addition to the team lineup for the upcoming IEM Dallas 2023 tournament, according to ESL.

Originally not slated to compete in the event, the European squad stepped in after another team withdrew and was selected based on their ESL Ranking.

However, due to the short notice, Abdul “degster” Gasanov will not be joining the team for the tournament. After the conclusion of the BLAST Paris Major, degster had planned to take some time off. As a result, OG has enlisted Iulian “regali” Harjău as their substitute AWPer for the duration of the event.

OG will join Heroic, G2, ENCE, and other top teams at the LAN event in Texas, USA.

They will be vying for a share of the $250,000 prize pool, as well as a direct invitation to IEM Cologne 2023. The winners of the tournament will also be in the running for the Intel Grand Slam Season 5 and have the opportunity to secure one of the four necessary wins to claim the $1,000,000 prize.

Here is the complete list of teams participating in IEM Dallas:

G2 (Europe)
Heroic (Denmark)
Liquid (United States)
FaZe (Europe)
fnatic (Europe)
Complexity (North America)
MOUZ (Europe)
FURIA (Brazil)
ENCE (Europe)
Evil Geniuses (United States)
Nouns (United States)
Grayhound (Australia)
Cloud9 (Russia)
Astralis (Denmark)
9z (South America)
OG (Europe)

As for regali, the Romanian AWPer is currently a free agent after being benched by Copenhagen Flames and the subsequent bankruptcy of the Danish organization. He had an impressive run with the squad, maintaining a 1.20 rating in various online competitions over five months.

Replacing degster will be a challenging task for regali, as degster has been OG’s primary star and most consistent fragger since joining the team in July 2022. Additionally, regali has not participated in official matches since March, making IEM Dallas his first LAN event since the WePlay Academy League Season 1 Finals in August 2021.