The $2 million esports tournament: Intel Extreme Masters 2025
- Patrick Lyne
- 2 days ago
- 7 min read
Colossal crowds, deafening chanting and drunk Australians. I was almost convinced I was at the AFL.
The Intel Extreme Masters event (IEM) is 2025’s largest Australian esports event, with a $1 million prize pool vied for by the world’s best Counter-Strike 2 players in the Electronic Sports League (ESL).
While Rod Laver Arena sold out for the three day event, over 1.2 million people tuned in across live streaming platforms and solidified IEM Melbourne as the most viewed Australian esports event and the second-highest viewed Counter-Strike non-major event.
As the longest-running global pro gaming tour, this is the first time IEM has come to Australia to facilitate the ESL, and this is one of the largest prize pools offered in an Australian esports event due to the US$1 million Grand Slam up for grabs by consecutive ESL winners Team Vitality. This will be on top of their regular US$2.8 thousand winnings, with a total prize of just under AU$2 million if they win the Grand Final.
“This year, we made the decision to bring the tournament into a new city, and one of the world’s most iconic sporting arenas,” says Marc Winther of ESL FACEIT Group in a press release.
“Australian fans have proven their appetite for the highest tier of competitive Counter-Strike is only growing, and helped make our first trip to Melbourne a truly memorable one.”
With limited opportunities, the pro esports scene in Australia isn’t as big as other countries, and IEM gave our home team FlyQuest a chance to show their grit on the world stage.
Though they were knocked out in the top 16, FlyQuest coach Erdenetsogt ‘erkaSt’ Gantulga was happy to have attended.
“It was our first time with this new roster,” said erkaSt, commenting on his team line-up.
“We had good preparation, but the opposition was very strong.”
The teams at IEM are some of the highest-performing esports competitors in the world, with FlyQuest currently the #1 Counter-Strike 2 team in Oceania. FlyQuest also recently participated in BLAST Rivals in Copenhagen, Denmark, further helping put Australia on the board in the global esports scene.
How does Counter-Strike 2 work?
Counter-Strike 2 is a first-person competitive shooter, with two 5-man teams trying to kill the opposing team in a series of game rounds. The first team to reach 13 rounds wins the match. Generally the game ends when the match is won, but ESL is a best-of-three, meaning a team must win 2 matches to advance.
The Rundown
The ESL tournament started off as a best of 16 until the bracket advanced to 6 teams, with the quarter finals marking the beginning of the Intel Extreme Masters event. Team Vitality and Team Mouz were fast-tracked to the semi-finals with their bracket wins, while the others battled it out in the quarter finals.
On the first day, both Team Falcons and the MongolZ advanced to the semi-finals. The second day comes, beginning with Team Falcons securing their placement in the Grand Final. Their performance was good, and though spirits were high for the five remaining teams, there was a boogeyman on everyone’s mind.
“There’s a big elephant in the room called Team Vitality,” says Team Falcon’s coach Danny ‘zonic’ Sørensen after his semi-final win.
“They’re gonna be a tough opponent if we go up against them.”
Currently the #1 team in the world, Vitality loomed over the competition with their reputation of a 69% winrate and their 19 game win streak.
Though they aren’t strangers to the limelight, there’s a lot on the line for Vitality. Winning the tournament means a 4-consecutive ESL Pro Tour win streak, which means if Vitality wins, they’ll be taking home the Grand Slam and securing an additional US$1 million.
Day two goes on, and the MongolZ go head-to-head against Vitality.
“We can’t count the MongolZ out,” says zonic, and his admiration for the #6 best team in the world isn’t unfounded.
Everyone held their breath as the crowd-favourite MongolZ walked out on stage and are pitted against Team Vitality. Unfortunately, it’s completely one-sided.
The first match ended 13-1 in Vitality’s favour and they started off strong in the second, going three rounds until the MongolZ finally made a single kill. However, it wasn’t enough to stop Vitality’s tempo and they went onto the finals against the Falcons with a match score of 2-0, surprising no one.
With that, zonic’s worry came true.
Come day three, and tensions are high as the best of 5 Grand Slam kicks off between the Falcons and Vitality.
The pressure was on, and the arena was at peak capacity with 198k livestream viewers.
As the game kicked off, it shaped up to be another one-sided performance, with Vitality going 13-2.
The crowd-favourite Falcons were visibly frustrated as the big screen panned over their faces.
However, the Falcons were able to surpass Vitality 5-4 in the first half of the second match, marking the first time in the tournament that Vitality was behind in round scoring. They were finally evenly matched, even going to overtime with a score of 12-12 until the Falcons finally won the match 16-12.
The Falcons were all cheers and fistbumps as they took the win and threatened Vitality’s 20 win streak – the third highest win streak in Counter-Strike history. The Australian crowd was happy too as the underdog came out victorious.
Match three, the Falcons go 4-0 until Vitality finally gets a round on the board after nearly 10 round losses in a row.
If Vitality lose the game, they risk losing the million-dollar Grand Slam, but nobody seemed to be feeling the pressure more than Vitality team leader Dan ‘apEX’ Madesclaire, who faced the crowd’s “f*** you apEX” chant. He then went on to berate his team for losing a round, seemingly taking out his frustration on his teammates.
But maybe the stern ear was just what Vitality needed as they went on to win the match, setting the match score at 2-1. One more match win for Vitality meant they were taking home everything.
However, the new crowd-favourite Falcons regained their tempo and won 13-10, setting the match score at 2-2 to a deafening cheer.
Enter the precipice of the ESL Grand Final best of 5.
Everything rides on this match, and the winner takes home the trophy. If the Falcons win, they receive an additional US$100,000 “Giant Killer” bonus and deny Vitality the Grand Slam. If Vitality wins, they make history.
The countdown hits zero and the game starts.
“This match is going really quickly,” mumbles an event worker. Sure enough, the score is 7-1 in the Falcons’ favour, and the first half ends 9-3. Vitality seemed to have completely lost their tempo.
By this point the energy in the arena has palpably changed, and every player is stoic-faced as the timer ticks down to the second half.
Photographers in the press pit had their cameras primed, ready to catch the celebrations of the winning team. What they didn’t know is that they would be waiting for a while.
Despite being 12-6, with the Falcons being one win away from taking the trophy, Vitality went on a six round win streak, setting the score at 12-12 and putting the game into another overtime. Whoever wins 4 rounds will take the win, but if they tie again, the match will go into another overtime, which is exactly what happened.
The Grand Final is now in double overtime. It’s long past closing time for IEM, but the stadium is still live with action as everyone holds their breath.
However, the unexpected happens, and they tie again, sending the match into a monumental triple overtime to the disbelief of the crowd and to the sore-armed press.
The Australian crowd is still making enemies out of Vitality, with apEx being their prime target.
However, Vitality is unfazed, and, with bated breath, they finally win the match with a score of 22-20.
By this time it’s close to midnight, and the competitors finally catch a break after the extended match.
As the event-goers go home, the stadium is quiet. But down in the hall outside the press room, Vitality member Shahar “flameZ” Shushan leans against the wall, a medal around his
neck and a trophy in hand, trying to come to terms with how he is feeling.
“I’m very tired and very excited at the same time,” he tells me.
“There’s so much adrenaline going through my body right now. I haven’t eaten in nine hours and I’m not hungry.”
Despite the lack of physical activity, Counter-Strike 2 is mentally high-demanding, and the toll on his body is obvious. However, this win has left the 21 year-old with hundreds of thousands of dollars in his pocket.
“They pushed us to our very limits… It could’ve gone both ways so many times,” he says, commenting on Team Falcons’ performance. He then reflected on what he thinks separates Vitality from the other competitors.
“It’s the relationships in our team. We also have a captain that everyone would want to have. The second thing is that, no matter how hard it is, we show up.”
The win marks Vitality’s 20 win streak, but they’re not done. Shortly after IEM, they left Australia to compete in BLAST Rivals, which they also went on to win. The finals once again saw them pitted against Team Falcons, where Vitality went on to win 3-2, putting their current streak at 21.
“As a team, it’s our job to be the best and keep being the best,” he says to me.
“It’s gonna be tough to keep that #1 spot, but we’re gonna give it our all.”
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