Vitality hold on in the battle of super teams to win IEM Melbourne 2025
Vitality were pushed to the limit but apEX and co. showed why they are a cut-above the rest as they bested Falcons 3-2 in the IEM Melbourne 2025 Grand Final, to not only win the $1,000,000 event but also complete a stunning Grand Slam run. Vitality dropped their first map in the tournament on Dust2 against Falcons and the series was pushed to a fifth map after Vitality went down on Mirage as well but that was all as apEX and his boys extended their unbeaten winning streak as they held on in the decider.
Vitality's pick of Inferno got the Grand Final underway and it was ZywOo leading Vitality's 10 round T side which saw them stomp Falcons 13-2 to start the series on a dominating note. Falcons finally joined the server in the final on their pick of Dust2 with their captain kyxsan leading from the front as it took an overtime affair for Falcons to lock in a 16-12 win, also becoming the first team at the event to take a map off Vitality.
Vitality's second pick of Train was the ZywOo vs m0NESY show with a strong CT half seeing Vitality run away with a 13-9 win to retake the lead in the series, following an eco win, which set them up for the map win. A late fightback on their CT half on Mirage saw Vitality tie up the opening half after being 0-5 down with ropz and mezii having impact. A mezii double opener on the A site saw Vitality pick up the second half pistol and Vitality seemed like they will close the series on Mirage but it was m0NESY's AWP got Falcons back into the game and it was the Falcons pushing the series to a fifth and final map after at 13-10 win on Mirage.
A solid team performance kicked off Nuke for the Falcons as they raced away to a big lead on their defensive half, going 9-3 up with ropz denying TeSeS a 1v2 to close the half and give Vitality their third. Crucial impact from mezii netted Vitality a much-needed pistol to get the final half of the tournament underway but it was Falcons hitting championship point first off the back of a kyxsan clutch to go 12-6 up before Vitality brought it all the way back to overtime.
Vitality seemed to have locked it in, in first overtime but m0NESY kept the Falcons afloat as the game went to triple overtime with neither team willing to give up. It was Vitality in the end who held on for a 22-20 win to seal the series 3-2 winning IEM Melbourne 2025 and completing their Grand Slam run as well.
FalconsVitality| Falcons |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 René 'TeSeS' Madsen |
105 - 95 | +10 | 90.0 | 71.5% | 1.16 |
 Ilya 'm0NESY' Osipov |
97 - 81 | +16 | 73.2 | 70.0% | 1.09 |
 Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač |
83 - 92 | -9 | 74.7 | 72.3% | 0.98 |
 Damjan 'kyxsan' Stoilkovski |
81 - 96 | -15 | 75.9 | 71.5% | 0.97 |
| Emil 'Magisk' Reif |
68 - 87 | -19 | 60.2 | 69.2% | 0.83 |
| Vitality |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut |
110 - 82 | +28 | 91.1 | 80.8% | 1.34 |
 Robin 'ropz' Kool |
98 - 74 | +24 | 77.3 | 76.2% | 1.18 |
 William 'mezii' Merriman |
86 - 89 | -3 | 67.3 | 73.1% | 0.98 |
| Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire |
78 - 94 | -16 | 70.2 | 71.5% | 0.96 |
 Shahar 'flameZ' Shushan |
75 - 96 | -21 | 69.3 | 71.5% | 0.93 |
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