Falcons’ ascent continues as they set up Vitality clash in IEM Melbourne 2025 Final

IEM Melbourne 2025 continues to deliver the goods, with the Rod Laver Arena playing host to the Semi-Finals with Falcons vs. MOUZ and Vitality vs. The MongolZ on the agenda. Aussie crowds have remained unparalleled throughout the event, showcasing why Counter-Strike down under is always a great time.

You’ve ready the title, you already know who came out on top – here’s how it all went down in Melbourne.

Falcons topple MOUZ to reach new peaks

I have to hand it to Falcons. It was obvious to anyone that m0NESY was going to be a massive buff to the team, but even I’m surprised at how good they’ve become so quickly after his arrival. His seemingly telepathic connection with NiKo has continued immediately, the duo reigniting their partnership that brought so many trophies together with G2.

Their IEM Melbourne 2025 Semi-Final was over far faster than I would have ever predicted, the team taking down MOUZ 2:0, only dropping a total of nine rounds along the way. This is a MOUZ squad who have been specialists in making Grand Finals of late, so to sweep them aside in such convincing fashion is a sign of how far Falcons have come already.

Falcons aside, this was a miserable day at the office for MOUZ. Their usually-consistent AWPer torzsi managed just 10 kills across the two maps, his 0.27 rating on Dust2 being the second-worst map of his entire career (trust me, I checked). It was so bad across the board that for MOUZ, I’m not even sure you can realistically analyze it for future improvement. I’d describe this as a proper freak performance from MOUZ, one that they can hand-wave away as being nigh-impossible to repeat.

Vitality winning machine rumbles on

It’s almost becoming a little boring now, isn’t it? Come on, Vitality – give someone else a chance to win. It has been a long time since we’ve seen a team this dominant, their winning streak now extending to a remarkable 20 consecutive series after dominating The MongolZ in the IEM Melbourne 2025 Semi-Final. They were always heavy favorites, sure, but this was a display that showed just how far ahead Vitality are of the pack right now, with The MongolZ barely laying a glove on the team across two maps.

There just isn’t enough superlative in the world to describe Vitality. Even as a team of strong individuals, they still manage to look more than the sum of their parts. FlyQuest, Liquid, Falcons, and The MongolZ – no team has managed to even take a map from Vitality at IEM Melbourne 2025. Frankly, I see no reason for that to change as we head into the Grand Final rematch against Falcons.

As always, we only have to look at ZywOo as to why Vitality are having such a dominant event. He’s the highest-rated player of the event with 1.43, and you’d back him to pick up a staggering fourth MVP of the year so far (remember, it’s only April!) should Vitality get over the line in tomorrow’s Final. He’s not the only reason, though – ropz (1.41), flameZ (1.34), and mezii (1.23) are all among the top seven highest-rated players at IEM Melbourne 2025, showcasing the unreal firepower this team has at the moment. They’re my nailed-on favorites to lift the trophy tomorrow.