The 29-year-old veteran will once again sport the Grayhound jersey, filling the void left by Simon “Sico” Williams, who recently parted ways with the team.

Dexter has a rich history with the Grayhound family, having been an integral part of the organization from 2017 to 2019.

After his initial departure, he joined Renegades for an additional year before his talents garnered attention in the European scene.

Notably, he was signed by MOUZ to replace Finn “karrigan” Andersen.

During his time with MOUZ, dexter experienced moderate success, achieving notable performances such as a semi-final placement at the IEM Rio Major 2022 and a first-place finish at Flashpoint 3.

Despite these achievements, the team faced challenges in 2023, leading to the signing of Kamil “siuhy” Szkaradek as his replacement.

Following his departure from MOUZ, dexter found a new home in fnatic.

However, his tenure with the team lasted only five months, marking his return to the Australian esports scene after a three-year absence.

The coaching responsibilities for Grayhound will continue under the capable hands of Erdenetsogt “erkaSt” Gantulga.

Dexter’s reunion with Grayhound sparks anticipation for the team’s resurgence in the Oceanian esports scene.

As the seasoned leader reassumes his role, questions arise about the squad’s potential trajectory. Can his experience and leadership guide Grayhound to new heights? Only time will tell.

GRAYHOUND
EPISODE III: REVENGE OF DEXTER@dextersjourney pic.twitter.com/J97kDHRqIb

— GRAYHOUND (@grayhoundgaming) December 12, 2023

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Despite this setback, Na’Vi left a lasting impression with a dominant performance on Mirage, a map of their choosing, which they convincingly won 13-4.

FaZe, led by Finn “?karrigan?” Andersen, initially had a strong start in the series, taking a commanding 6-0 lead on the attacking side of Overpass, their map pick.

However, Natus Vincere showed resilience and managed to secure five of the final six rounds in the first half.

Unfortunately for Na’Vi, the tides turned when the teams switched sides, as FaZe took control on the defensive side and ultimately closed out the map with a 13-7 victory.

In a similar fashion, Natus Vincere dominated their Mirage pick, with Aleksi “?Aleksib?” Virolainen and Valeriy “?b1t?” Vakhovskiy leading the charge on the scoreboard.

Mihai “?iM?” Ivan made impactful plays on both sides, and even Andrey “?B1ad3?” Gorodenskiy, despite his role as a coach, secured a triple kill in the late stages of the map, sealing FaZe’s fate and preventing a comeback.

The final map, Inferno, became FaZe’s playground as they raced to a 7-1 lead on the defensive side, leaving Natus Vincere struggling to find their footing.

Although Na’Vi managed to string together two rounds, they ended the first half 9-3 behind.

The second half proved no different, with a 4-4 scoreline securing FaZe’s continued presence in the tournament as they clinched the map 13-7.

#1 & #5 eliminated from #IEM Sydney by @FaZeClan

They take down @natusvincere 2-1 to advance to the Group A lower bracket final!#IEM pic.twitter.com/WbGYkJiLEA

— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) October 17, 2023

On the other side of the bracket, GamerLegion delivered a decisive blow to Apeks, eliminating them in a two-map series.

The showdown began with a strong GamerLegion performance on Vertigo, winning 13-8, followed by an impressive comeback on Overpass, where they triumphed 13-11 despite trailing 6-10.

GamerLegion’s recent resurgence can be attributed to the addition of Janusz “Snax” Pogorzelski as the in-game leader, which seems to have unlocked the team’s individual brilliance.

Frederik “?acoR?” Gyldstrand and Sebastian “?volt?” Malo? shone in the matches, recording two of the highest ratings in the server.

Apeks’ decision to pick Vertigo didn’t pay off as they struggled on the offensive side, managing to secure only four rounds.

This allowed GamerLegion to reach map point at 12-4. Although the Snax-led team encountered some resistance, they ultimately closed out the game with a 13-8 score.

GamerLegion carried their momentum into the second map, taking a 6-2 lead. Apeks, led by ?dne “?sense?” Fredriksen, made a valiant effort with two 1vs1 clutches, resulting in a tied score at the switch.

Apeks continued their strong performance, going up 10-6 after a pistol-round win.

However, GamerLegion rallied, winning seven of the final eight rounds to secure victory in two maps and advance to the lower-bracket final, where they will face FaZe for a playoff spot in the first Counter-Strike 2 event..

The last match on the B Stream for tonight was @GamerLegion eliminating @apeksgg from #IEM Sydney 2023 in a 2-0 series.

Vertigo 13:8
Overpass 13:10

GGWP! #IEM pic.twitter.com/ndIQb6zdmu

— Intel? Extreme Masters (@IEM) October 17, 2023

Earlier in the day, Cloud9 sent Lynn Vision packing with a dominant 2-0 victory, while Grayhound suffered a similar fate at the hands of Monte.

Although the Australian squad showed some promise on the second map, they couldn’t secure the map victory, and Monte claimed the 2-0 series win to eliminate the final Australian representative at IEM Sydney.

Wednesday’s IEM Sydney matches

• Complexity ($2.50) vs Cloud9 ($1.50) @ 1:30pm AEDT
• Monte ($1.83) vs Fnatic ($1.83) @ 1:30pm AEDT
• GamerLegion ($3.00) vs FaZe Clan ($1.36) @ 4:30pm AEDT
• MOUZ ($1.61) vs BetBoom Team ($2.20) @ 4:30pm AEDT
• G2 Esports ($1.72) vs ENCE ($2.00) @ 7:30pm AEDT
• Winner of Complexity/Cloud9 vs Winner of Fnatic/Monte @ 7:30pm AEDT

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Astralis’ new roster had a slow start in July, suffering an early exit from the Gamers8 2023 Last Chance Qualifier, but then started ramping up at BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2023 (4th-6th) and made the semifinals at Intel Extreme Masters Cologne 2023 at the start of this month.

In Cologne, Astralis produced a few good games, beat Heroic (2-0) in the first round of the playoffs, and crushed Ninjas in Pyjamas (16-6, 16-6) during the group stage. Those are excellent results, and while it’s too early to draw any conclusions, this new-look roster has potential.

Ninjas in Pyjamas made a single roster change in June, when they let go of Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen and replaced the Finnish in-game leader with Hampus “hampus” Poser. The change didn’t seem like it would affect the team too much, but NiP haven’t looked too good since.

Besides winning BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2023 in July, NiP have looked mediocre at best, and their performance en route to fourth place in the Intel Extreme Masters Sydney 2023 European Qualifier last week left much to be desired.

Astralis are slowly finding their stride, and it’s fair to be cautiously optimistic about what this new-look roster can accomplish. Even though there are doubts about Astralis and how they’ll fare in big events, the Danes shouldn’t struggle against NiP.

FURIA Esports spared no expense to bring in Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo and Marcelo “chelo” Cespedes during the summer break. But the big spending hasn’t led to any notable results.

A 17th-20th finish at Intel Extreme Masters Cologne 2023 in July kicked off a dry streak that extended through both IEM Sydney 2023 European Open Qualifiers (9th-16th, 17th-32nd) and Gamers8 2023 (9th-16th). Until the Brazilians start showing something, it’s tough to feel optimistic about their chances in ESL Pro League Season 18.

Movistar Riders are in a similar spot results-wise, as they’ve come close to winning an event over the last two months. Like FURIA, Movistar Riders failed to make it through the IEM Sydney 2023 European Open Qualifiers, and they didn’t look good at CCT Online Finals #2 (13th-16th) either.

FURIA Esports are priced as favourites for this match, which makes sense as this roster has a much higher ceiling, but that doesn’t necessarily mean much. Expect a close game between two struggling teams.

Grayhound recently attended Intel Extreme Masters Cologne 2023 but didn’t make it far. The Australian squad crashed out in the first round of the play-in stage with defeats against FURIA Esports (11-16) and Imperial Esports (1-2).

Results like that don’t inspire much confidence, but it’s not like Grayhound were expected to do well in bigger events. Before the summer break, they attended BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 and IEM Dallas 2023, and in both tournaments they got crushed when faced with top-tier teams.

GamerLegion don’t look like an elite team, but they have been playing like one recently. Since their Cinderella run to the Paris Major finals, the international squad finished IEM Cologne 2023 and Gamers8 2023 inside the top eight, which are impressive results that suggest GL should do just fine in ESL Pro League Season 18.

GamerLegion have a long way to go to reach the top five in the CS:GO world rankings, but they’re up there with the best teams right now. Grayhound, on the other side, have been on a steady decline since July and on Monday reached their worst ranking (no.33) since March 2023.

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Seven invites were handed to teams who are partners with the tournament organiser, four were offered to teams due to their ESL world ranking, and one went to the local Australian hero.

Of the 11 total invites, eight teams from the top 10 in the ESL world rankings will make the trip down under for the first international CS:GO event held in Australia since 2019.

Among the notable absentees are the two all-Danish squads, with world no.1 Heroic and world no.6 Astralis declining their invites to the $250,000 event.

However, even without those two teams, there will still be a lot of talent on display in Sydney, with recently crowned IEM Cologne champions G2 Esports, BLAST.tv Paris Major champions Team Vitality, and ESL Pro League Season 17 winners FaZe Clan all accepting their invites.

Teams that weren��t offered direct invites will have to go through qualifiers to earn their spot at IEM Sydney, with two spots on offer at the European qualifier and one spot available for the winner of each of the North American, Asian and Oceanian qualifiers.

IEM Sydney teams

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After their much-improved performance in the BLAST Premier Fall Groups, Ninjas in Pyjamas enter the IEM Cologne play-in stage as one of the favourites to advance to the main event. Into The Breach will be playing their first competitive map after the player break, so expect them to be a little rusty; however, given their performance at the BLAST.tv Paris Major, they have a good chance to advance to the main event.

MOUZ and TheMongolz will debut new rosters in their opening IEM Cologne play-in series. MOUZ will be looking to start a new chapter under the Kamil ��siuhy�� Szkaradek’s leadership, after he returned to MOUZ from GamerLegion during the player break. Both teams have proven that they are able to match it with the best in the world; however, with new rosters engaged on both sides, we could see a bit of rustiness early on.

This is set to be one of the best series of the opening round, with both Fnatic (17th) and Complexity (19th) sitting inside the top 20 in the CS:GO world rankings. Complexity will be looking to bounce back after they ended their BLAST Premier Fall Groups campaign with three straight losses, while Fnatic will be playing their first series since the player break.

OG are yet to win a series with their new roster, having lost against FaZe Clan, G2 Esports and BIG in the BLAST Premier Fall Groups. 9INE have been consistently good during 2023, earning qualification to most of the S-Tier events so far this year. Given that they didn’t make any changes to their roster during the player break, we expect 9INE to begin their play-in campaign with a win over OG.

Astralis and Team Liquid both made changes to their rosters. The new-look Astralis side qualified for the BLAST Premier Fall Final after they defeated Team Liquid 2-0 in the final round of the playoffs. Despite that result, we expect Liquid to put up a better showing and play out a close best-of-one series here.

This series between Monte and Imperial appears to be one of the hardest series to predict, as both teams have made roster changes that don��t seem to be improvements. Monte lost one of their better players in Mohammad ��BOROS�� Malhas, who carried them to their fifth-eighth finish at the BLAST.tv Paris Major. Meanwhile, Imperial lost in-game leader Gabriel ��FalleN�� Toledo, who moved to FURIA during the player break. Anything could happen here, so the outsiders at the round line looks a solid play.

Apeks only made the one change to their roster over the player break, adding Aleksandar ��CacaNito�� Kjulukoski for Justinas ��jL�� Lekavicius. After finishing third-fourth at the BLAST.tv Paris Major earlier this year, the world no.9 team comes into this with a bit of buzz around it. BIG had an up-and-down BLAST Premier Fall Groups, and this new roster may take some time to work things out, so all signs point to an Apeks win.

Grayhound are one of the underdogs to qualify for the IEM Cologne main event, and they will be up against when they take on the best Brazilian team in the tournament. FURIA are ranked 18th in the world, but with the new additions of Gabriel ��FalleN�� Toledo and Marcelo ��chelo�� Cespedes, they have improved their roster massively. FURIA are not only short favourites to get out of the play-in, but they are eighth favourite to win IEM Cologne.

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The Australian Counter-Strike team faced off against VERTEX in the event’s grand finals, beating them 3-1 in a best-of-five series. They duked it out on Vertigo, which Grayhound won 16-5, before VERTEX evened out the scores on Inferno with a 13-16. Grayhound won both remaining maps on Anubis and Mirage 16-13.

Grayhound started ESL Australia & NZ Championship Season 16 in dominant fashion, beating teams like Stirlzs Angels, The Big Dogs, and VERTEX on two occasions before advancing to playoffs. They kept up the pressure during playoffs and secured victories over e-LEMON-ators in a two-map series and, finally, VERTEX to win the title.

Grayhound were able to secure the win despite playing two matches without their star player, Alistair “?aliStair?” Johnston. They fielded Patrick “?Falcon?” Desousa in his place and were still able to topple other competition in the Oceania region.

The win secured Grayhound another international LAN qualification, increasing their impressive list of achievements. This year alone, they have qualified for events like IEM Katowice, IEM Dallas, the BLAST.tv Paris Major and ESL Pro League Season 17.

Season 18 of the ESL Pro League will take place from August 30 to October 1 in Malta and feature 32 teams competing for an $850,000 prize pool. The listed teams include 15 partners of ESL, the tournament operator invitees, and the winners of the regional qualifiers.

There are currently seven spots yet to be filled, and three will be teams from the ESL’s world rankings. Two spots will be taken by squads from the ESL NC EU qualifier, while the winners of the Oceania and South America qualifiers will complete the list.

ESL Pro League Season 18 qualified teams

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That leaves us with six teams and only three spots in the Legends Stage up for grabs in the final CS:GO Major.

The first three series on Wednesday featured the six outfits that were facing elimination, with TheMongolz vs Monte and GamerLegion vs OG kicking off the day with best-of-three series, followed by Complexity vs Team Liquid.

TheMongolz put up a good fight against Monte, but the latter side found a way to win the big rounds and secure a hard-fought 2-0 victory to send the all-Mongolian roster packing and set up a final-day matchup with paiN Gaming.

Many people would have had OG getting out of the Challengers Stage, but the world no.11 ran into a very determined GamerLegion roster and ended up losing 1-2.

The third of the elimination series was a grudge match between Complexity and Team Liquid, with one North American organisation set to go home while the other lived to fight another day.

Liquid as the world no.6 came into the series as overwhelming favourites, and they delivered with a quick 2-0 victory (16-11, 16-3).

The promotion clashes featured FaZe Clan and Apeks, who lost their 2-0 pool matches yesterday, with Ninjas in Pyjamas, forZe, Grayhound and paiN Gaming joining them in seeking a spot in the Legends Stage.

From the three series, FaZe Clan, Apeks and Ninjas in Pyjamas earned promotion, with FaZe and NiP winning 2-0 and Apeks defeating paiN Gaming 2-1 in a tough series that went the distance.

We now move on to the final day of the Challengers Stage, where all three matches are both elimination and promotion series between the remaining six teams.

Day 4 matches – May 11, 2023

• forZe ($1.57) vs GamerLegion ($2.25) @ 10:30 BST
• Monte ($1.57) vs paiN Gaming ($2.25) @ 14:30 BST
• Grayhound ($4.50) vs Team Liquid ($1.16) @ 18:30 BST

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The BLAST.tv Paris Major commenced as all CS:GO Majors do, with the Challengers Stage and a 16-team Swiss system, and day one featured the opening two rounds of best-of-one series.

Coming into the Challengers Stage, G2 Esports, FaZe Clan and ENCE were installed as the three top teams according to the HLTV power rankings, and those teams didn��t disappoint, winning all of their matches to go straight into the 2-0 pool.

Joining those three teams will be the surprise packet of day one, Apeks, who defeated one of the pre-tournament favourites with esports betting sites in Team Liquid (16-12), before going on to become just the second team to record a flawless 16-0 victory at a CS:GO Major, thrashing Grayhound.

On day two, Apeks will face G2 and ENCE will clash with FaZe, with the winner of each best-of-three series earning their way into the Legends Stage as the ninth and 10th seed, respectively.

At the other end of the spectrum, world no.7 Team Liquid and world no.11 MOUZ fell into the 0-2 pool and will be facing elimination on day two when they take on fellow winless teams GamerLegion and Fluxo.

The first of the elimination matches will take place on Tuesday, with Fluxo taking on Team Liquid and GamerLegion clashing with MOUZ as the final two matches of round three.

In helping G2 to their current 2-0 record, Ilya ��m0NESY�� Osipov was easily the player of the day, recording event-highs in overall rating (1.82), kill/assist participation (88.5%), average damage per round (109.7) and impact (1.93).

The star AWPer from Russia produced the best performance of the day against Complexity, where he carried his team to a 16-9 win on the back of 34 kills and nine deaths, earning a massive rating of 2.23 for the match.

Going into day two, eyes will be firmly on the last four best-of-three series, where we will find out who will be promoted to the Legends Stage at 3-0 and who will be sent packing at 0-3.

Below is a list of round three fixtures to kick off day two:

• 1-1 pool

  • Complexity ($2.20) vs paiN Gaming ($1.61) @ 10:30 BST
  • Grayhound ($2.00) vs TheMongolz ($1.80) @ 10:30 BST
  • forZe ($2.50) vs Monte ($1.50) @ 12:00 BST
  • Ninjas in Pyjamas ($1.90) vs OG ($1.80) @ 12:00 BST

• 2-0 pool (promotion series)

  • Apeks ($3.75) vs G2 Esports ($1.25) @ 13:30 BST
  • ENCE ($2.50) vs FaZe Clan ($1.50) @ 13:30 BST

• 0-2 pool (elimination series)

  • Fluxo ($6.50) vs Team Liquid ($1.10) @ 17:30 BST
  • GamerLegion ($2.75) vs MOUZ ($1.40) @ 17:30 BST

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Complexity arrive in Melbourne as the highest-ranked team at the event (no.18), and they come off a promising BLAST.tv Paris Major Americas RMR where they finished fourth and qualified for the Challengers Stage. This Complexity roster has been together for over eight months now and performed quite well domestically; however, the jury is still out about how competitive these guys are on the international level.

ECSTATIC may only be a relatively new roster, but they have been in great form of late. The all-Danish squad won their ESL Challenger Melbourne Open and Closed Qualifier, before finishing fifth-eighth at CCT Central Europe Series 5 at their most recent event. ECSTATIC, the world no.55, come into this match with Complexity as massive outsiders, but given the inconsistencies of the North American team, we could see a closer match than many expect.

Evil Geniuses Black will get their ESL Challenger Melbourne campaign underway against one of the two Australian teams, with the world no.48 clashing with Grayhound in their opening round best-of-one series. This Evil Geniuses roster has chopped and changed over the last six months due to a lack of results, with three new players added. However, with this current roster, EG Black have finished third in the ESL Challenger League Season 44 North America, won their ESL Challenger Melbourne North America Closed Qualifier and finished third-fourth BLAST Premier Spring Showdown Americas.

The top hope for the Aussies will be Grayhound, with the world no.26 receiving a direct invite to the event due to their ESL ranking. Grayhound are dominating the regional scene, with the all-Australian roster winning the IEM Dallas 2023 Oceania Closed Qualifier and BLAST.tv Paris Major Asia RMR, while they are currently undefeated in ESL Australia & NZ Championship Season 16. Grayhound are one of the rough chances to take out this event, but first they need to get through Group A and make the playoffs.

Bad News Eagles make their way to Melbourne off the back of a strong showing in the BLAST.tv Paris Major Europe RMR A, finishing fourth and booking their place in the Legends Stage. Ranked no.23 in the world, BNE are currently on a four-match win streak and appear a very good chance to extend that to five when they take on Vertex in their opening round series. BNE have won four of their last seven best-of-one series, and their form against S-Tier teams in Europe is far superior from most of the teams at ESL Challenger Melbourne.

VERTEX will be the lowest-ranked team at ESL Challenger Melbourne 2023, and they look to be up against it in their first series of the tournament. Although the all-Australian squad made it through the Oceania Closed Qualifier, they have been competing in far inferior competition when compared to Bad News Eagles. This should be a one-sided affair.

Rare Atom have improved their world ranking over the last two months, rising from no.74 in the world to their current ranking of no.31. This Chinese squad were in great form before they competed in ESL Pro League 17, where they finished 21st-28th. Since then they have been knocked out in the opening round of the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown Europe and failed to qualify for the Paris Major earlier this month.

Movistar Riders are replacing TheMongolz at ESL Challenger Melbourne after the all-Mongolian team withdrew from the event. Movistar are the third-highest-ranked team at this event, currently ranked as the world no.25; however, their form coming into the event is questionable. The all-Spanish roster were bundled out of ESL Pro League 17 in 13th-16th place before they failed to qualify for IEM Dallas as they were knocked out in the opening round.

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ESL Challenger Melbourne 2023 will begin on April 28 and conclude on April 30, with the entire event taking place during DreamHack Melbourne at Rod Laver Arena.

The eight rosters will compete for a US$100,000 prize pool and a $50,000 winners’ cheque, as well as a spot in ESL Pro League Season 18 in August.

World no.13 Complexity and no.22 IHC were both invited due to their ESL rankings, while Grayhound (#27) and Bad News Eagles (#29) will also be among the drawcards.

Rare Atom (#26), ECSTATIC (#60), EG Black (#63), and Vertex (#76) qualified through the North American, European, Asian, and Oceania closed qualifiers.

These eight teams will be enjoying a Chicken Parma come April 28 – 30 for #ESLChallenger Melbourne

@grayhoundgaming
@EvilGeniuses
@Complexity
@_badnewseagles
@ihc_esports
@VertexESC
@rare_atom
@EcstaticCS

https://t.co/833J3FgywG pic.twitter.com/qSJkH69z98

— ESL Counter-Strike 2 (@ESLCS) April 3, 2023

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