Team Vitality extend their historic run of dominance with a dramatic victory over Team Falcons in the grand finals capped off by a triple overtime thriller.
French Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) juggernauts 
Team Vitality have been crowned as champions of Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) Melbourne 2025 after they outlasted star-studded powerhouse 
Team Falcons, 3-2, in the tournament's best-of-five grand finals on Sunday (27 April).
With their victory, Vitality claimed the grand prize of US$125,000 out of IEM Melbourne's US$300,000 prize pool. This marks their fourth straight tournament victory since 
Robin “ropz” Kool joined the team in January to become Vitality's second star alongside 
Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut. The French team has also extended their match win streak to 21 consecutive victories, the third-longest streak in the history of CS behind 
Team Liquid's 23-match win streak in 2021.
With Vitality's triumph in Melbourne adding to their victories in ESL Pro League Season 21, IEM Katowice 2025, and IEM Cologne 2024, they also secured the ESL Grand Slam Season 5 championship and its US$1 million grand prize. Vitality are now the fifth team to win the Grand Slam, joining 
Astralis, Liquid, 
Natus Vincere, and 
FaZe Clan.
Ropz has also become just the second player in the history of CS to win the Grand Slam twice after 
Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken. Both players notably won their two Grand Slams in different teams, winning one each as teammates in FaZe Clan during Season 4 of the Grand Slam. Twistzz notably won his first with Liquid in Season 2.
Meanwhile, Falcons settle for second place in IEM Melbourne and US$50,000 in consolation, a commendable result when considering this was the team's first tournament since their massive signing of 
Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov to reunite the superstar AWPer with his former 
G2 Esports teammate in 
Nikola “NiKo” Kovač.
Vitality outlast Falcons to win IEM Melbourne, ESL Grand Slam Season 5
Both Vitality and Falcons started their IEM Melbourne campaigns in Group B of the tournament's GSL format Group Stage. The eventual grand finalists had their first clash of the tournament in the group's upper bracket finals, where Vitality emerged victorious in a 2-0 sweep. With that, Vitality earned a direct berth to the semifinals in the Playoffs while Falcons had to start in the quarterfinals.
Vitality soundly swept 
The MongolZ to advance to the grand finals, while Falcons scored back-to-back sweeps over 
GamerLegion and 
MOUZ to earn a rematch with the French squad in the championship round.
2-3
Team VitalityVitality entered the grand finals with all guns blazing, dominating the first half of Inferno 10-2 in the first half before scoring three straight rounds after halftime to take their first win of the series. ZywOo led the way with 17 frags and four assists on five deaths. Dan “apEX” Madesclaire added 13 frags and 12 assists on seven deaths, while ropz had 13 frags and two assists on six deaths.
Game two at Dust II saw Falcons eke out a 7-5 first half lead as the T side and getting map point at 12-10, only for Vitality to win rounds 23 and 24 to force overtime. However, Falcons cleanly won the ensuing four overtime rounds to tie up the series with a 16-12 win in Dust II. 
Damjan “kyxsan” Stoilkovski showed out with 26 frags and 13 assists on 20 deaths, while 
René “TeSeS” Madsen added 21 frags and six assists on 17 deaths.
Train hosted the pivotal third game of the series, where Falcons once again built a 7-5 first half lead as the CT side. Vitality won the second half's pistol round to spark a three-round streak, which Falcons answered with back-to-back rounds of their own. However, the French squad then proceeded to rack up five straight rounds to close out the 13-9 win in Train and take a 2-1 series lead.
ZywOo led the way with 24 frags and five assists on 14 deaths. ApEX, 
Shahar “flameZ” Shushan, and 
William “mezii” Merriman each added 16 frags and combined for 27 assists against 14, 15, and 15 deaths respectively. M0NESY notably put up 21 frags and three assists on 17 deaths in the loss for Falcons.
With Falcons having their backs against the wall in Mirage, the team's star duo of m0NESY and NiKo showed out to force the series to a decider. The first half ended with both sides in a 6-6 deadlock, which Vitality quickly broke with another second half pistol round win into a three-round streak. Falcons then responded with a fiery 7-1 run to claim the 13-10 win in Mirage.
M0NESY sparked Falcons' comeback with 23 frags and six assists on 10 deaths while NiKo added 18 frags and five assists on 17 deaths. Mezii notably finished with a valiant 21 frags and three assists against 17 deaths for the side of Vitality.
The championship decider at Nuke was, for lack of better words, absolute cinema. Falcons absolutely dominated the first half as the CT side, 9-3, and were on championship point at 12-6 after six rounds in then second half. However, Vitality rallied and somehow mustered an incredible six-round streak to force overtime.
The first overtime period saw both sides win their respective CT side stints, 2-1, resulting in a 15-15 deadlock after round 30 that forced a second overtime. The T side would then dominate for the rest of the map, with both teams sweeping in their respective stints and thus forcing a third overtime period. Falcons' T side stint in 3OT saw Vitality steal one round courtesy of a ninja smoke defuse by FlameZ. Vitality didn't squander their own T side stint, however, scoring three straight rounds to secure the 22-20 win in Nuke and the IEM Melbourne championship.
Vitality's star pairing proved themselves superior to their counterparts in that Nuke showdown. ZywOo finished with 35 frags and 12 assists on 31 deaths, while ropz had 33 frags and seven assists on a map-best 25 deaths. For comparison, m0NESY had 31 frags and five assists on 29 deaths while NiKo record 28 frags and nine assists on 33 deaths.
But it was TeSeS that almost carried Falcons past the finish line, finishing with a series-best 40 frags and six assists on 32 deaths, in a valiant losing effort.
