The Good, Bad, and Ugly: IEM Melbourne 2025

IEM Melbourne was a sight for sore eyes in Australia with the packed-out tournament drawing plenty of heads at home and abroad. Millions of fans tuned in over the week to witness history in the making as a rabid crowd of starved fans filled the Rod Laver Arena.

Here's a look back at the good, the bad, and the downright brutally ugly from IEM Melbourne.

Up until championship Sunday, it really felt like Vitality's world in Australia. From the dominant individual performances to the average of six rounds conceded prior to the grand final, it appeared the world number one's would wipe out all at IEM Melbourne with ease.

While Falcons did put up a hell of a fight in the end, ultimately the French organization walked away with the full sweep including the IEM trophy and the ESL Grand Slam (plus that cool $1 million bonus in cash).

Dan "apEX" Madesclaire's men have truly mounted the summit of CS, yet one target remains: the Austin Major later this June. They will enter the tournament as heavy favorites, and should they win the Major, we'll very much be living in the Vitality era.

Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov pulled on Falcons colors for the first time at IEM Melbourne, and in his big debut with the squad, he was scintillating as ever.

Despite speaking to esports.gg about the adjustment to the squad and how he was still coming to grips with callouts and the system, the 19-year-old dazzled Down Under, posting a 1.21 HLTV rating and a +76 kill differential over his 16 maps.

He topped the stats charts for differential and total kills both on the AWP and overall for the event, and saved some of his best for last including several clutches and some remarkable flick shots.

Now that he's got a few reps under his belt, the sky is the limit again for m0NESY. Where will he and Falcons finish up this year?

A third "good" but it warrants a mention. The Australian crowd knows how to put on a show, with many tuning in for more than just the CS over the weekend.

Yes, alright, I'm a little biased as I was amongst it all, but we don't get events down here often enough. From the shoeys to the shenanigans and everything in between, everyone from the players to the viewers at home love a taste of Australiana.

Throw up the banger grand final that had the crowd in raptures and over a million watching online, and it was the perfect end to a stellar week in Melbourne.

Valve, give us a Major, please.

It was tough to find anything bad from IEM Melbourne last week (apart from our last entrant in the list), but a shoutout has to go to Virtus.pro. In what has been a lackluster year to say the least, the Russian squad sunk to a new low with straight-sets losses to a rebuilding Liquid and a "new" FlyQuest.

You know it's bad when, just hours after the tournament ended, team coach Pavel "PASHANOJ" Legostaev was unceremoniously dumped from the roster. He might not have made it to the hotel after dinner before they pulled the trigger.

If anything, it made for a really awkward flight home. Hope he took the late checkout and explored Melbourne a bit!

It's a fall of epic proportions for Natus Vincere. The Ukrainian organization's perfect playoff streak in 2025 was put on ice following the group stage finale loss to Liquid—and it may symbolize the end of this NaVi roster as we know it.

The signs have been there for months now, with individual performances dropping and the rock-solid consistency we've come to expect from the Copenhagen Major champs no longer there. They nearly fell to FlyQuest in the eliminator before Liquid finished them off.

The question right now: Can NaVi win the Austin Major in this current form? If the answer is "no" (which it should be), then surely changes must be made. But who should be cut?

Plenty of hypotheticals but one thing's for sure: NaVi has a lot of soul-seeking to do in May before the Major.

For more CS2 news stay tuned to esports.gg.