With two final spots in Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena on the line, today was largely about the Lower Bracket runs. Yesterday, four teams secured their spots in the IEM Melbourne 2025 Playoffs, and today, it was GamerLegion and Team Liquid who managed to go the distance to claim the final two.
That’s not all, though – over in the Upper Brackets, we also saw two teams lock in their places in the Semi-Finals. Read on to find out who!
GamerLegion overcome FaZe Clan to reach IEM Melbourne Playoffs
Credit: Enos Ku | ESL
GamerLegion continued to prove that their failure to qualify for the BLAST.tv Austin Major was but a blip, with their performance in other events showing their true level. Here, they were able to snatch their IEM Melbourne 2025 Playoff berth away from FaZe Clan in 2:0 fashion, GamerLegion even coming back from 11:4 down on the second map to further add to FaZe’s struggles.
GamerLegion were essentially carried by the great form of REZ, whose career revival since leaving NIP has been nothing short of astonishing. REZ, your time at NIP did not count. For FaZe, this will sting. Missing the IEM Melbourne Playoffs is a bad enough result that it wouldn’t be a surprise to see FaZe Clan make some CS2 roster moves before the upcoming Major.
Liquid pile on NAVI misery in Playoff run
Credit: Enos Ku | ESL
In Group B’s Lower Bracket, it was Team Liquid who came out on top, knocking out NAVI to mark siuhy’s first Playoffs with his new team. The improvements for Liquid after their very poor PGL Bucharest 2025 are swift and obvious, showcasing why siuhy is one of the most sought-after IGLs in the world. It’s a positive sign of things to come for Liquid, who showed a great mentality to put NAVI to the sword in a 2:1 series.
For NAVI, it’s time to do some real soul-searching. IEM Melbourne 2025 could have been a chance for the team to show their struggles this year are on the way out, but missing out on the Playoffs will only serve the narrative that this iteration of the roster is completely done. Watch this space for any potential NAVI roster changes.
Vitality and MOUZ lock down Semi-Final spots
Credit: Enos Ku | ESL
The Upper Brackets are always the least interesting part of these Group Stages, and IEM Melbourne 2025 is no exception. Even still, MOUZ and Vitality were the total winners of Groups A and B respectively, ensuring they end up on opposite sides of the bracket. In our IEM Melbourne power rankings, we had Team Vitality at the top with MOUZ in second. Could we see another rematch between these two teams in a Grand Final? It’s been a banger of a rivalry in recent times, so I sure hope so.