A couple of years removed from Intel Extreme Masters in Sydney, IEM and professional Counter-Strike return to one of its most extreme markets: Australia. This time around, the world’s best players and teams will come to Melbourne, taking place at the historic Rod Laver Arena from April 25 to 27, 2025, all competing for a share of the $1,000,000 prize pool at stake.

Our weekend started on Friday, so once we collected our media passes, we waited for the doors to open at 2 pm. Upon entry, TypicalCambieAU and I got our bearings by doing a quick lap around the arena before making our way over to the Expo Hall since the inner arena doors didn’t open until 3 pm.

The Expo Hall was held inside one of the buildings in the Rod Laver precinct, called the Centrepiece, utilizing one of its three available halls. The space was relatively small but packed with plenty to do. Intel hosted 1v1 aim challenges between creators and spectators, with winners taking home prizes. There were PC stations where you could sit and game – some titles were even outside the esports realm, like ‘Assassin’s Creed: Shadows.’ You could also try your hand at a Formula One racing sim or relax with a book in what I called the “cozy corner”.

After exploring the Expo Hall, it was time to head into the inner arena, find a seat, and enjoy some esports. The opening ceremony featured a traditional Welcome to Country and a minute of silence for ANZAC Day. The silence was powerful in a crowd full of energy – you could hear a pin drop. It was incredibly moving to witness that moment of respect.

The Matches:

The first quarter-final involved GamerLegion taking on a revamped Team Falcons roster who only had one day of practice together before coming into the tournament. However, longtime best buds Nikola ‘Niko’ Kovac and Ilya ‘M0nesy’ Osipov were no strangers to each other, with ‘M0nesy’ saying he plays his best Counter-Strike when they play together and was one of the key reasons for joining the roster. In the end, Team Falcons were just way too strong, with GamerLegion winning the first quarter-final 2-0 in what felt like a record pace.

First Quarter-Final

Team Falcons 2-0 GamerLegion

The second quarter-final gave us the match-up of Mongolz vs. Team Liquid. Liquid going into the tournament replaced their Australian player, Justin ‘jks’ Savage with Polish player Kamil ‘siuhy’ Szkaradek, which turned them into public enemy number one for the big Aussie crowd, letting the team know about it throughout the match with loud chants that cannot be repeated. The crowd obviously played a factor with the Mongolz winning the much tighter second quarter-final match against Team Liquid 2-1.

Second Quarter-Final

The Mongolz 2-1 Team Liquid

Saturday was then upon us, and that meant with it came the semi-finals. The first semi-final gave us the matchup of Team Falcons vs. Mouz. Team Falcons had an impressive win on day one over GamerLegion but now found themselves going up against the second-ranked team in the world, Mouz. In a huge upset, Team Falcons clean swept Mouz 2-0 in the first semi-final and were our first team in the Grand Final.

First Semi-Final

Team Falcons 2-0 Mouz

The second semi-final featured Team Vitality vs. Mongolz. Team Vitality came into the tournament as heavy favourites, having won the past three events in a row, not dropping a map in a single one of them, and chasing the ESL Grand Slam. This strength saw them easily outclass Mongolz 2-0 in the second semi-final and booking their place in a fourth consecutive grand final.

Second Semi-Final 

Team Vitality 2-0 Mongolz

Championship Sunday was set. The Grand Final. Team Falcons vs. Team Vitality. Vitality was chasing to be only the third team in Counter-Strike history to win the ESL Grand Slam, netting the players a bonus of $1,000,000 to share between them. Team Falcons aimed to ruin the party themselves, winning a bonus of $100,000 for spoiling the grand slam.

Team Vitality started hot, winning the first game 13-2 and suddenly things looked bleak for Falcons. Game 2 started much the same as the first, with Vitality jumping to an early lead, though the Falcons managed to claw their way back into the game thanks to an insane performance from Damjan ‘Kyxsan’ Stoilkovski, eventually winning in overtime 16-12 in a hard-fought battle. Game 3 saw Team Falcons jump to an early lead and suddenly we thought the tides of battle may have just shifted, but team Vitality had other plans, showing their calibre, and coming back to win the map 13-9.

Game 4 was a back-and-forth battle. At one stage, Vitality had all the momentum, leading 9-6, and looked well on the way to securing their fourth championship in a row. However, Team Falcons, on the back of some clutch performances by ‘M0nesy’ and ‘Kyxsan,’ pulled the game back to win 13-10 to tie the series 2-2, meaning we were going to a championship-deciding game 5.

Game 5 began and Team Falcons carried the momentum from the previous game dominating the early stages leading 9-3 at half-time off the back of some good performances by the usual suspects ‘M0nesy’ and ‘Niko’. Shortly after, they found themselves on the verge of history leading 12-6 with 6 championship points to play with before what can only be called nothing short of extraordinary; Team Vitality brought the game back from the brink tying the game 12-12 thanks to clutch plays from Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut, Robin ‘Ropz’ Kool and Dan ‘ApEX’ Madesclaire taking us to overtime in the decider.

A scrappy first overtime saw both teams struggle to take ascendancy ending up 15-15 and bringing us to a second overtime. What we thought might have finally been the end wasn’t to be with Team Falcons tying it up 18-18 and bringing us to an incredible third overtime. Eventually after an insane series, a stunned crowd, and Vitality team manager, Aphi, next to me in the press pit near the stage going through every emotion under the sun, experience shined through with Team Vitality winning 22-20, winning Intel Extreme Masters Melbourne 2025, and thus, going into the record books becoming only the fifth team behind Astralis, Team Liquid, Natus Vincere and FaZe Clan to win the ESL Grand Slam.

IEM Melbourne 2025 Grand Final

Team Vitality 3-2 Team Falcons

DHL MVP: Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut

The Grand Final capped off an insane weekend, with over 20,000 people packing into Rod Laver Arena over the three days and creating a fantastic atmosphere. A crowd that had it all from shoeys, a giant clapper snake that spanned the arena, Jesus Christ in the flesh, and even a banana proposing on stage, they had it all and truly earned the right to chant all weekend long: “GIVE US A MAJOR” because we absolutely deserve one down under.

I was incredibly privileged to attend thanks to MKAU Gaming, Power Up PR, and ESL Australia. Thank you for the hospitality and for looking after us in the press room with food and drinks. This was a weekend, and a Grand Final, that we’ll never forget.

Until next time…

GIVE US A BLOODY MAJOR.