IEM Melbourne is proving to be one of those CS2 tournaments that provide numerous surprises. The two best teams in the race, Team Vitality and MOUZ, won their groups with ease.
But other strong teams, such as Natus Vincere and FaZe Clan, did not even manage to qualify for the playoffs.
Group A Results
In group A of IEM Melbourne 2025, it looked as though MOUZ, FaZe Clan, and The MongolZ would be the three winners. However, only two of them advanced to the playoffs. They were joined by GamerLegion, who defeated FaZe in the lower bracket Final.
This was a very tough match for both sides and the scores speak for themselves: 16 – 19 on Mirage and 11 – 13 on Nuke.
MOUZ defeated everyone without too many problems. They lost one map, against BIG, and came close to losing another map against GamerLegion (16 – 13 on Nuke). But other than that, they looked very dominant in group A.
Group B Results
In group B of IEM Melbourne, Vitality crushed FlyQuest and Team Liquid, and then had a tough match against Team Falcons. Given that the Saudi team has recently signed Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov, it’s not that surprising to see them causing major problems for the best team in CS2 at the moment.
To reach the upper bracket Final, Team Falcons had to defeat SAW and NAVI. Both victories were convincing but not flawless.
In the lower bracket Final, NAVI were expected to beat Liquid but found themselves losing the first map and struggling on the third one, which they eventually lost as well.
Mihai “iM” Ivan, who is usually in great shape, encountered major difficulties throughout the match and finished with the worst score on the server: 31 – 44. Hopefully for NAVI, the coming months will be better. This team had a phenomenal year in 2024 and it would be a shame to see them having to make roster changes at the end of 2025.
