IEM Melbourne invites announced

14-2-2025 10:22

The top four teams in Valve's ranking will be among the sixteen competing in Australia.

Spirit head Down Under for the first time

ESL has announced the sixteen-team roster for IEM Melbourne, which will take place from April 21-27, with two double-elimination groups that will give way to the six-team playoffs in front of the Australian crowd at the Rod Laver Arena.

Ten invites were handed out through the global ranking, while six went to the three individual regions in the VRS: Americas, Asia, and Europe.

The four top teams in the world will be in attendance: Spirit, Vitality, Natus Vincere, and Eternal Fire. FaZe, who already know what it's like to win in Australia after lifting the IEM Sydney trophy in 2023, also accepted the invite.

Three teams, G2, FURIA, and Astralis, declined participation at the event, while the rest of the highest-ranked teams in the world will travel to Australia to compete for the lion's share of the $1,000,000 prize pool.

The full IEM Melbourne team list is:

All top teams are here except G2.. Otherwise good

2025-02-14 10:23

5 replies

g2 isnt a top team lets be real

2025-02-14 10:25

3 replies

G2 not a top team but MIBR is? 3DMAX? Liquid? FlyQuest? BIG?

2025-02-14 15:19

2 replies

read the article. Those arent top teams.

2025-02-14 15:59

1 reply

It kinda depends on your definition on "top teams". How many teams does that consist of? I'd definitely say that G2 would take a spot off of one of these teams.

2025-02-14 17:51

so all top teams are here

2025-02-14 10:29

YTB

6 replies

4 replies

2025-02-14 11:41

YouTube

2025-02-14 12:19

2025-02-14 15:03

ITB

2025-02-14 15:25

g2 skip. finished team anyway

2025-02-14 10:24

G2 pls explain

this confirms G2 are kicking snax they need time to prac

pls be true 🙏

2025-02-14 10:42

actually going to this one and its a banger i can finally see jks :,)

2025-02-14 10:26

that is if he is still in liquid in two months

2025-02-14 11:10

yeah prolly will be benched kekw

2025-02-14 11:17

liquid not even gonna make playoffs

2025-02-14 13:00

He meant he is gonna see jks having a meat pie inside the nearby 7eleven before the game starts

2025-02-15 04:02

fake. rod laver is the one place in melbourne that doesn't have any 7 elevens near by

2025-02-15 16:02

G2 lol

PGL Bucharest invites when?

2025-02-14 10:28

i think nobody going, its 1 week after blast lisbon and 1 week before iem melbourne, most are gonna be skipping to rest

2025-02-14 10:33

G2 are skipping Melbourne to smurf Bucharest

2025-02-14 10:36

Mongolz vs Spirit is gonna be the hypest quickest bo5

2025-02-14 10:34

No Astralis. Tier 2 Event

2025-02-14 10:38

yes astralis = tier 3 event

2025-02-14 10:49

doesn't Astralis skip Aussie events solely because of Device's stomach issues? it's happened a couple of times now

Astralis should just skip device at this point. Can’t be a diva and mid at the same time.

2025-02-15 17:23

They haven't been going to Australia because of Device's health issues. They skipped Sydney in 2023. Y'all dumb as fvck.

Quick question, if almost all the event are going to have a 1 million dollar prize pool then what prestige does a major have now beside having your name in the game itself?

2025-02-14 10:45

9 replies

sticker money

2025-02-14 10:48

I forgot about that but regardless I feel it doesn’t have the same wow factor as it used to have before when it was 1 mil

2025-02-14 11:14

I get what you mean and I do think that Valve should increase the prize pool, but in all seriousness the biggest events in other esports passed the $1,000,000 mark a long time ago. That was never really the main draw, even Rainbow Six Siege's premier tournament has had a prize pool of $3,000,000 since 2020 and that doesn't hold a candle to CS. Getting your sticker in one of the most popular games of all time is what brings prestige to the major.

2025-02-14 15:48

maybe valve will finally stop making dota's prizepools 30x as big as cs'

2025-02-14 10:50

Pretty sure most comes from their battle pass or whatnot that occurs before major (the international)

2025-02-14 10:59

Doesn't matter, they should incorporate it in cs too

2025-02-14 11:21

isn't that basically sticker money?

2025-02-14 14:38

I suppose that in practice it is, but it's split evenly and it's not listed on Liquipedias etc. so it appears the event pays out less than it actually does

2025-02-14 14:43

major is major

2025-02-14 11:35

furia are trolling if they aren't disbanding

No g2???? -snax coming

2025-02-14 10:51

so how did people even qualify for this event? or is CS now the most closed it's ever been? i'm a bit confused

you can check the event page. al invites are based on valves ranking

2025-02-14 11:23

yuck

2025-02-14 11:54

Every tournament that fulfills valve's requirements gives out Valve ranking points, and all Valve Ranked events give out invites based on that (+TO's can run open qualifiers/qualifiers with invites also based on the ranking)

2025-02-14 11:24

yalla compass has bigger money and weaker teams. ignoring the usual "partner" team bs, it seems smart to skip melbourne for qatar

2025-02-14 11:13

FURIA and Astralis should have accepted this invite the way they are playing they might not be invited much longer.

2025-02-14 11:18

Tbh, the time off might give them more time to prep for the major. Let's see if it'll play off

2025-02-14 11:48

Maybe for FURIA - no chance with Astralis unless they change some players

2025-02-14 20:05

So boring, always the same team with this system. It’s completely closed off.

u want navi javelins or imperial fe? this is the top tier CS echeleon teams, if you want different teams every tournament go watch CCT' okay

2025-02-14 11:36

Im not saying I don’t want the top teams, but with the current ranking system Teams from Tier 2 and 3 rarely get the chance to even try qualifying through a qualifier. That’s BS

2025-02-14 11:52

Should have at least another aussie team playing.

2025-02-15 04:08

that’s what they want no more upset from darkhorse

2025-02-14 11:43

pgl bucharest will have lots of lower teams it looks like.

2025-02-14 12:05

Why I don't see Hesta invite?

they need more matches to get their rank.

2025-02-14 12:00

G2 somehow choked again

2025-02-14 14:10

I can't wait to finally see some of these teams play in person. The Aussie crowd is going to turn up in force for this!

2025-02-14 14:22

No open qualifiers at all????

FURIA declining 2 important events ???? whats happening

2025-02-14 16:09

Why travel when you already know you're going to lose? #PEACE

2025-02-14 21:17

2025-02-14 18:38

No Furia or G2 is interesting, glad to see other teams attending though. Melbourne's crowd will be better than Sydney for sure B]

2025-02-15 10:21

*Bagpipes music starts* "What's your name?" "Lee! Lee Mate" "Lee Mate. What is it like to be the part of BEST CROWD IN ESPORTS?" "IF YOU ARE NOT HERE, YOU ARE NOT LIVING. LETS GO THE BOYS!" All right for now we have got to send it away....." "LETS SHOW THE WORLD WHY WE ARE THE BEST CROWD" "YOUR CHAMPIONS......." *Bagpipes music stops*

2025-03-08 16:08