IEM Melbourne 2025 is set to offer an engaging experience with high-calibre teams vying for victory. Team Vitality has consistently performed at an elite level in recent competitions. Will the French squad claim another championship in Melbourne and win Intel Grand Slam Season 5? Our Counter-Strike 2 IEM Melbourne 2025 preview reveals key details about this tournament.
This tournament will be the first IEM competitive CS2 event to be held in Melbourne. All teams were directly invited to compete at this tournament. Eternal Fire and Team Spirit were part of the originally invited teams, but both sides have declined their invitations. Complexity and SAW will now take their place in the competition. The event will commence on April 21 and conclude on April 27, spanning seven days.
| ℹ️ Tournament: | Counter-Strike 2, IEM Melbourne 2025 |
| 🧾 Format: | S-tier LAN tournament with 16 teams and a few stages |
| 🏟️ Venue: | Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne, Australia |
| 🗓️ Dates: | Monday, April 21 – Sunday, April 27, 2025 |
All selected teams make their way to this tournament based on their Valve Regional Standings (VRS). The tournament, which features 16 competitive CS2 teams, will have two phases. During the first phase, all CS2 teams are placed into two groups of eight teams each. At this point, IEM Melbourne will unfold using the GSL double-elimination format. Matches during this phase will be best-of-three contests. Teams that finish 1 to 3 in each group move to the playoffs.
Group winners advance directly to the semifinals, and all second-place teams from the group stage enter the quarterfinals as high seeds. Teams that end up third in the group play will be tagged as the low seeds in the quarterfinals. The playoffs then follow a single-elimination bracket with Bo3 matches for quarterfinals and semifinals, and a Bo5 grand final, held at Rod Laver Arena from April 25–27, 2025.
The tournament will have a $1 million prize distributed based on how teams finish in the contest. The first-place team will get a $125,000 prize money along with a $160,000 club share.
CS2 IEM Melbourne 2025 odds for this contest are now available on all Counter-Strike 2 best bookies. In this section, we examine the chances of the top five teams in this contest:
With victories in their last three tournaments, Vitality are strong contenders to claim this title. The French organisation has been formidable recently, achieving 10 wins in their past eleven matches. Central to this success is Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut, who has earned the MVP award in his last three tournament appearances. The Frenchman is supported by a talented roster, including Shahar “flameZ” Shushan, Robin “ropz” Kool, and William “mezii” Merriman. With their current momentum, Vitality stands as the team to beat in this competition and win 1 million dollars as the Intel Grand Slam prize.
MOUZ have been solid since their victory at PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025. Were it not for Vitality’s exceptional performance, MOUZ would have secured an additional title. Despite advancing to the finals, they fell short in the ESL Pro League Season 25 and BLAST Open Spring 2025 tournaments. Failing to claim victory in their past two events, despite reaching the final stage, is undoubtedly challenging. Nevertheless, this should inspire MOUZ to enhance their efforts as they compete in Melbourne.
Falcons’ coach, zonic, will be optimistic about his team’s prospects following their triumph at PGL Bucharest 2025. Before that success, their strongest performance was at PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025, where they fell to MOUZ in the grand finals. However, in Australia, they will play with their latest transfer – Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov, who arrives instead of Bucharest 2025 MVP – Abdul “degster” Gasanov. Nonetheless, the new Russian sniper will aim to replicate his standout performance and chemistry with NiKo, when they played in G2.
NaVi’s last championship victory was at IEM Rio 2024, six months ago, tempering expectations for a surprise win. Still, they’ve reached the semifinals in two of their past four tournaments, including IEM Katowice 2025. They are also ranked fifth on the HLTV rankings for CS2 teams. Can NaVi defy the odds in Melbourne? Like most teams in this competition, aside from Vitality, NaVi must perform flawlessly to claim the title.
Similar to NaVi, The MongolZ have had limited success in 2025. Still, they remain contenders for the championship. Regarding their achievements, the Mongolian team won the Thunderpick World Championship 2024 Finals. MongolZ also reached the semifinals of ESL Pro League Season 21 and IEM Katowice. If they maintain momentum and perform decisively in the tournament’s final stages, The MongolZ could secure their second victory of 2025.
Here are our betting predictions for CS2 2025 IEM Melbourne:
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Three straight tournament victories (IEM Katowice, ESL Pro League Season 21, and BLAST Open Spring) in their most recent events position Vitality as the strongest contender for this competition. The withdrawal of Team Spirit from this competition has further strengthened their advantage. As a result, all 2025 CS2 IEM Melbourne predictions articles expect the French organisation to win.
Vitality’s superior strength and consistency surpassed their rivals for a few months in a row, and there were no signs of dropping down soon. ZywOo has been pivotal to Vitality’s successes, while ropz has also shone, earning EVP honors in their last three tournaments. The synergy between these players should lead Vitality to a comfortable win in Melbourne. Moreover, their motivation should be sky-high as the victory in Australia will secure them an Intel Grand Slam S5 victory and an extra $1,000,000 prize.
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Besides Team Spirit, MOUZ is the only team actively contending with Vitality. Notably, they have reached the grand final in all three of their recent tournaments. Of those, they secured one victory and suffered two defeats against Vitality. Though MOUZ is not the favorite to win this tournament, their consistent performance demonstrates their ability to advance to the grand finals of intense CS2 competitions. The best sportsbooks for PC games are offering MOUZ odds of 1.50 (1/2) to reach the final.
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Fresh from their PGL Bucharest 2025 win, Falcons are the more likely side to finish in the highest place possible over Liquid. Team Liquid has failed to make it to the semi-finals of any competition this year. On the other hand, the Falcons have a title and finished second at PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025. Given the disparity in performance levels between both sides, we are picking Team Falcons to get the highest place of the two sides.
Here are our 2025 IEM Melbourne betting tips:
Team Vitality has been dominant in recent weeks, making them the top contender at this event. Given their abilities, we expect them to win this title conveniently. Ensure you bet on the 2025 CS2 IEM Melbourne using information from this guide.
