IEM Melbourne 2025 is underway, and we already have our first four Playoff teams decided, with four teams being sent packing, too. It has only been two days of play, but it’s pretty clear that IEM Melbourne is already delivering the goods.
Read on to find out who made it through to the IEM Melbourne 2025 Playoffs after day two of play!
MOUZ and The MongolZ top IEM Melbourne Group A
Credit: ESL
Over in Group A, MOUZ were the first team to secure their place in the IEM Melbourne 2025 Playoffs by taking down BIG and GamerLegion. They had a slow start to the series against BIG, losing a map to a team they should be beating comfortably. Since then, it’s been business as usual, with MOUZ staking their claim among the IEM Melbourne favorites, as we expected pre-tournament.
Group A has also seen a return to form for The MongolZ, who arrived in Australia on the back of a few uncharacteristically poor performances across recent events. Still, it’s the Playoff for them in Melbourne, after beating a strong Complexity team and a not-so-strong FaZe Clan. Being back on the big stage will be a good confidence booster for The MongolZ as they look to regain their form, even if this event might be too soon for a trophy lift.
Vitality and Falcons secure top Group B finish
Credit: ESL
Surprise, surprise. Team Vitality have made another Playoffs at IEM Melbourne 2025. They arrived in Australia as big favorites to win the event and complete their ESL Grand Slam, and they’ve made the perfect start down under with consecutive victories against FlyQuest and Liquid in Group B. Two teams you’d expect Vitality to beat, sure, but they haven’t once been tested so far. It still looks too easy for the team, who are now on the third-longest LAN series victory run in the history of competitive Counter-Strike.
They’re joined in the Group B Upper Bracket Final by Falcons, who have made an impressive start to life with m0NESY. They kicked off their IEM Melbourne run with a strong win against SAW, before battling back from one map down (and 11:3 down in the second map) to reverse sweep NAVI as they secured their Playoffs berth. Much has been made of this Falcons project over the last 18 months, but with its main superstars now in place, it finally seems like it’s all coming together. Whether they can win IEM Melbourne 2025 is another question entirely, but let’s wait and see.
Virtus.pro among first teams sent packing
Credit: ESL
As well as our four qualifying teams, we also saw four teams eliminated from IEM Melbourne 2025 today. The biggest name is Virtus.pro, who bomb out without a series win to speak of. They’ve looked pretty diabolical of late, and are in a really bad run of form. Could more changes be afoot before the BLAST Austin Major?
Also exiting on day two of IEM Melbourne 2025 are paiN Gaming, SAW, and BIG. You can sort of give paiN Gaming a pass because they were playing with their coach in place of their IGL, but the other two teams will be very disappointed they even bothered to make the long, arduous journey to Australia to compete in this CS2 tournament.