Virtus.pro have withdrawn from IEM Dallas 2023 following the inability of a few of their players to obtain visas for the American event.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' Piovezan
Yuri 'yuurih' Santos
Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato
Rafael 'saffee' Costa
André 'drop' Abreu
Nicholas 'guerri' Nogueira 
MOUZ #14 
Christopher 'dexter' Nong
David 'frozen' Čerňanský
Jon 'JDC' de Castro
Ádám 'torzsi' Torzsás
Dorian 'xertioN' Berman
Dennis 'sycrone' Nielsen 
fnatic #15 
Freddy 'KRIMZ' Johansson
Dion 'FASHR' Derksen
Nico 'nicoodoz' Tamjidi
Fredrik 'roeJ' Jørgensen
William 'mezii' Merriman
Jamie 'keita' Hall 
Nouns #40 
Christopher 'cJ dA K1nG' Jones
Edgar 'MarKE' Maldonado
David 'cynic' Polster
Brendan 'Bwills' Williams
Carson 'nosraC' O'Reilly
Kory 'SEMPHIS' Friesen 
FaZe #3 
Finn 'karrigan' Andersen
Håvard 'rain' Nygaard
Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken
Robin 'ropz' Kool
Helvijs 'broky' Saukants
Robert 'RobbaN' Dahlström 

Evil Geniuses #51 

Timothy 'autimatic' Ta
Vincent 'Brehze' Cayonte
Sanzhar 'neaLaN' Iskhakov
Jerric 'wiz' Jiang
Jadan 'HexT' Postma
Daniel 'Vorborg' Vorborg 
HEROIC #2 
Casper 'cadiaN' Møller
Martin 'stavn' Lund
René 'TeSeS' Madsen
Rasmus 'sjuush' Beck
Jakob 'jabbi' Nygaard
Richard 'Xizt' Landström 
ENCE #8 
Marco 'Snappi' Pfeiffer
Guy 'NertZ' Iluz
Pavle 'Maden' Bošković
Paweł 'dycha' Dycha
Álvaro 'SunPayus' García
Eetu 'sAw' Saha 

Vitality #1 

Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire
Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussen
Emil 'Magisk' Reif
Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut
Lotan 'Spinx' Giladi
Danny 'zonic' Sørensen 
Liquid #7 
Nick 'nitr0' Cannella
Keith 'NAF' Markovic
Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski
Josh 'oSee' Ohm
Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis
Damian 'daps' Steele 
Astralis #24 
Lukas 'gla1ve' Rossander
Nicolai 'device' Reedtz
Benjamin 'blameF' Bremer
Alexander 'Altekz' Givskov
Christian 'Buzz' Andersen
Peter 'casle' Ardenskjold 
Cloud9 #5 
Abay 'HObbit' Khassenov
Timur 'buster' Tulepov
Sergey 'Ax1Le' Rykhtorov
Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolov
Vladislav 'nafany' Gorshkov
Konstantin 'groove' Pikiner 
OG #11 
Nikolaj 'niko' Kristensen
Adam 'NEOFRAG' Zouhar
Shahar 'flameZ' Shushan
Abdul 'degster' Gasanov
Maciej 'F1KU' Miklas
Casper 'ruggah' Due 

Complexity #23 

Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou
Ricky 'floppy' Kemery
Håkon 'hallzerk' Fjærli
Michael 'Grim' Wince
Justin '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' Lebedev
Alexey 'Qikert' Golubev
Dzhami 'Jame' Ali
Petr 'fame' Bolyshev
Dastan 'dastan' Akbayev 

9z #41 

Maximiliano 'max' Gonzalez
Franco 'dgt' Garcia
David 'dav1deuS' Tapia Maldonado
Santino 'try' Rigal
Nicolás 'buda' Kramer
Gustavo 'tge' Motta 
Grayhound #27 
Simon 'Sico' Williams
Jay 'Liazz' Tregillgas
Alistair 'aliStair' Johnston
Joshua 'INS' Potter
Declan 'Vexite' Portelli 
G2 #6 
Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač
Nemanja 'huNter-' Kovač
Justin 'jks' Savage
Rasmus 'HooXi' Nielsen
Ilya '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