The playoff bracket at Intel Extreme Masters Melbourne 2025 saw Team Falcons and The MongolZ emerge victorious in their quarterfinal matches on Friday, earning them spots in the tournament’s semifinals. The event, taking place in Australia, features a total prize pool of $300,000 in the Counter-Strike 2 competition.
Team Falcons Dominates Quarterfinal
Team Falcons delivered a commanding performance in their quarterfinal clash against GamerLegion, securing a clean sweep. Falcons decisively won their map picks, taking Train with a dominant 13-3 scoreline, followed by a convincing 13-4 victory on Nuke. Their next challenge in the semifinals on Saturday will be against MOUZ, who previously secured their spot by winning the Group A upper-bracket final.
The MongolZ Overcome Tough Liquid Matchup
The MongolZ faced a more challenging path in their quarterfinal encounter with Team Liquid. After dropping the first map, Anubis, with a 5-13 score, The MongolZ regrouped to take the series. They fought back to win Ancient 13-6 and closed out the match on Inferno with a 13-10 score, securing the 2-1 series victory. The MongolZ will now face Team Vitality in the semifinals on Saturday. Vitality advanced after winning the Group B upper-bracket final.
Path to the Grand Final
The single-elimination playoff bracket at IEM Melbourne began on Friday, featuring the top three teams from each initial group stage. All matches in the quarterfinals and semifinals are played as best-of-three series. The tournament will culminate in the grand final on Sunday, which will be a best-of-five match to determine the champion. The winning team will receive the largest share of the prize pool, taking home $125,000.
IEM Melbourne Prize Pool Breakdown
The $300,000 prize pool is distributed among the participating teams. The teams eliminated in Friday’s quarterfinals, GamerLegion and Team Liquid, secured 5th-6th place and will each receive $12,500.
Here is the prize distribution for the top teams:
- 1st Place: $125,000
- 2nd Place: $50,000
- 3rd-4th Place (Semifinal Losers): $25,000 each
- 5th-6th Place (Quarterfinal Losers): $12,500 each (GamerLegion, Team Liquid)
- 7th-8th Place: $7,000 each (FaZe Clan, Natus Vincere)
- 9th-12th Place: $5,000 each (3DMAX, Complexity, FlyQuest, MIBR)
- 13th-16th Place: $4,000 each (BIG, paiN Gaming, Virtus.pro, SAW)
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