IEM Melbourne 2025 is right here – Counter-Strike is again for an additional Aussie journey, with issues set to warmth up on the server with $1,000,000 in prize cash on the road. This time round, it’s an occasion with one clear favourite, with the remaining pack lining as much as try to dethrone the Kings of Counter-Strike down below.
So, who precisely are we speaking about? Learn on to search out out our IEM Melbourne 2025 energy rankings, in addition to some evaluation of favorites and underdogs.
Credit score: ESL
IEM Melbourne 2025 Favorites
Coming into IEM Melbourne 2025, Staff Vitality are the clear favorites. They’ve received nearly each occasion they’ve competed on this 12 months and are at present on a three-tournament profitable streak. Scarily, no group even seems near stopping them, both, which is additional exacerbated by Spirit pulling out of the occasion last-minute. Ought to Vitality get the job executed in Melbourne, they’ll additionally win the ESL Grand Slam, changing into the fifth-ever group to take action. They’re high of the pile – there’s no query about that.
The one group you could possibly realistically count on to problem Vitality at this occasion based mostly on current kind is MOUZ. They had been one map away from beating Staff Vitality at ESL Professional League Season 21, nevertheless it was finally the star energy that separated the 2 groups. Given the truth that MOUZ have constantly been in Grand Finals all through 2025, you may’t depend on the market IEM Melbourne probabilities, even when they must go in second place.
It is going to be fascinating to see how Falcons carry out at IEM Melbourne 2025. It is going to be m0NESY’s debut for the Saudi Arabian outfit, marking his swift reunion with NiKo after their G2 stint collectively. These two collectively are a pressure that offers them an opportunity at actually any CS2 match (see IEM Dallas 2024’s GStew run), and so it’s tough to place them any decrease than third, given the final inconsistency within the scene proper now.
These are our full CS2 energy rankings for the groups attending IEM Melbourne 2025. What do you reckon?
Staff Vitality
MOUZ
Falcons
The MongolZ
NAVI
FaZe Clan
Staff Liquid
3DMAX
Virtus.professional
Complexity
GamerLegion
paiN Gaming
MIBR
SAW
BIG
FlyQuest
Credit score: Helena Kristiansson | ESL
IEM Melbourne 2025 Underdogs
Underdogs – all of us love them, proper? Cheering for the unlikely overperformers of every occasion can present a rush like no different, so it’s no shock that followers all the time need to discover out who the underdogs are for every CS2 match.
Our first underdog to be careful for at IEM Melbourne 2025 is Complexity. A Semi-Last end at PGL Bucharest 2025 felt like an enormous achievement for this present lineup, particularly given how they struggled to start out 2025. Coming in as late replacements for Spirit, Complexity now have a novel probability to indicate that their Bucharest run wasn’t only a fluke, however relatively an indication of real high quality that they will preserve over the subsequent few months. Watch this house.
Liquid‘s debut with new IGL siuhy was a little bit of a horror present in Bucharest, with the group bombing out 0:3 with out profitable a single map. But, it’s siuhy. He’s simply obtained a knack for making doubters into believers, and I reckon he’ll come into IEM Melbourne 2025 with much more to indicate than final day trip. I’ll be protecting an eye fixed out for them as one in every of my large underdogs.
Credit score: Sebastian Pandelache | PGL
