IEM Dallas 2025 kicked off on May 19th with a bang as the debut of FaZe S1mple helped the event already attract a peak viewership of over 800,000, according to Esports Charts.
Counter-Strike 2 legend Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev is competing in the event following a loan deal from NAVI to FaZe Clan.
IEM Dallas 2025 attracted over 803,335 viewers at its peak on its opening day, nearly surpassing its overall 2024 peak of nearly 830,000. The tournament’s current average viewership is nearly 330,000.
Of all matches, the game between FaZe Clan and Team Liquid in the group stage: day one attracted the most viewers by far, with a peak of 784,335 views. For context, the closest match in terms of views was the Team Vitality and Legacy, with less than half the viewership at 315,650.
A lot of that excitement comes from s1mple’s anticipated return to active play, who hadn’t seen competitive action since Shanghai Major’s Europe RMR last November under Team Falcons.
He replaced Helvijs ‘broky’ Saukants, and will be playing for FaZe until the end of the BLAST.tv Austin Major next month.
All Eyes on FaZe Clan in IEM Dallas 2025
FaZe Clan’s first match was against Team Liquid in the upper bracket quarterfinals. In this match, Felipe ‘skullz’ Medeiros stood in for Håvard ‘rain’ Nygaard. In a strange turn of events, both s1mple and skullz began IEM Dallas playing against an organisation they had previously represented.
In the end, Team Liquid prevailed over FaZe Clan. Team Liquid won 13-10 on Ancient, followed by another 13-10 victory on Inferno. Team Liquid has now progressed to the upper-bracket semi-finals to fight against MOUZ, while FaZe Clan’s next appearance will be in the lower-bracket quarterfinals against BC.Game Esports.
This is the full FaZe Clan roster heading into IEM Dallas 2025:
- Håvard ‘rain’ Nygaard
- Finn ‘karrigan’ Andersen
- David ‘frozen’ Čerňanský
- Jonathan ‘EliGE’ Jablonowski
- Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyljev (loan)
- Felipe ‘skullz’ Medeiros
- Filip ‘NEO’ Kubski
