Vitality vs Falcons: IEM Melbourne CS2 betting guide

Steven Rondina Published 22/04/2025

Team Falcons’ latest iteration is off to a strong start in IEM Melbourne, but does the team stand a betting chance against Counter-Strike’s top squad, Team Vitality?

Team Falcons celebrated the best performance in organization history by changing its roster. While there’s plenty of reason to question the team’s decision-making at this point, it’s so far, so good for Team Falcons. Still, when it comes to elite-level Counter-Strike, there’s little opportunity to find footing.

Case and point, the new Team Falcons roster will play its third match ever against CS2’s best, Team Vitality. How should you approach betting on this one?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0wlKMhJOPY

Team Vitality vs Team Falcons match details

Team Vitality and Team Falcons will play in a best-of-three match in the IEM Melbourne 2025 group stage. This match is an upper-bracket final. Both teams have a spot in the playoffs guaranteed, but the winner will start in the semifinals for a guaranteed top-four finish.

Team Vitality vs Team Falcons rosters, recent results, and best maps

Team Vitality roster and recent results

Team Vitality entered IEM Melbourne on a lengthy winning streak that dates back to IEM Katowice, and that run hasn’t been broken yet. The squad started IEM Melbourne with wins over FlyQuest and Team Liquid. In both cases, the wins were fairly decisive.

Vitality has been on a strong run since adding Robin “ropz” Kool to its roster:

• Dan “apEX” Madesclaire
• Robin “ropz” Kool
• Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut
• Shahar “flameZ” Shushan
• William “mezii” Merriman

Team Vitality map pool

Throughout 2025, Vitality has banned Ancient and been dominant everywhere else. The team doesn’t really gravitate toward any specific map, but it has a winrate of 66.6% on every map. It’s unbeaten so far on Inferno (10-0) and Train (4-0)

Team Falcons roster and recent results

Falcons rebooted its roster in January by signing away the core of Heroic and dropping almost all its players. While the new squad found its footing and wound up winning PGL Bucharest, it inexplicably followed that win with a roster change. Time will tell if that move was the right one but so far, it’s looking good.

The new Team Falcons roster started IEM Melbourne with wins over SAW and NaVi:

• Emil “Magisk” Reif
• Nikola “NiKo” Kovač
• René “TeSeS” Madsen
• Damjan “kyxsan” Stoilkovski
• Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov

Team Falcons map pool

Falcons has a close-to-even record on most maps so far in 2025. The exceptions are Mirage, where it’s 9-4, and Dust 2. Falcons has been Anubis throughout the year.

Team Vitality vs Team Falcons head-to-head history

Team Falcons vs Team Vitality is a very fresh matchup. The last time these two teams played each other was January 2024, and both have undergone multiple roster shakeups since then. This is effecitvely a brand-new matchup that fans haven’t seen before.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W8PSuHDUkY

Team Vitality vs Team Falcons betting odds snapshot

Team Vitality is a huge betting favorite against Team Falcons in the IEM Melbourne group stage. The moneyline on Team Vitality is 1.26 against Falcons’ 3.78. Though Falcons is off to a good start, betting sites aren’t giving them the time of day against Vitality.

Team Vitality vs Team Falcons betting picks & predictions

Core picks

• Vitality wins 2-0 (1.93)
  • Vitality has scarcely given up maps in recent months, making this the best option for getting a solid return for a bet on Vitality
• Team Falcons wins (3.78)
  • While Vitality is the best team in the world and on an exceptional winning streak, there’s some value in this 3.78 line

Prediction

Vitality should be able to take the victory over Team Falcons in the IEM Melbourne group stage. The m0NESY era of Falcons is off to a good start, but it’s impossible to reasonably pick against Vitality right now with how good the team has looked.

Steven Rondina

About Steven Rondina

Steven Rondina is a true lifelong gamer. His earliest memories are of playing video games, and he has continued playing them throughout his life with no plans to stop any time soon. Steven’s favorite franchises in gaming include Pokemon, Dark Souls, and Counter-Strike. He has previously published with Bleacher Report and other gaming outlets.

View full profile

Read Also

Counter-Strike

StarLadder StarSeries Fall 2026: Teams, format, schedule, and prize pool Owen Harsono Top-tier Counter-Strike is back on the menu with StarLadder StarSeries Fall 2026. It’s not a 16-team tournament with every top team in attendance, but it’s still bound to entertain us for a solid four days. Here’s everything you need to know about StarLadder StarSeries Fall 2026. Tier 1 Counter-Strike lands in Spain again for the first time in a while, with only eight teams in attendance. StarLadder StarSeries will be ...

Valorant

VCT Champions 2026: Preview, Schedule, Format, Prize Pool, and Teams To Watch Owen Harsono The VCT 2026 season ends with the annual VCT Champions tournament, and this year’s iteration is heading to Shanghai. Even if you haven’t been actively following the competitive scene, this is a tournament you don’t want to miss. Below we outlined everything you need to know about VCT Champions 2026, including where is best for some Valorant betting. A total of 16 teams will compete in the battleground that is ...

Esports Betting

Gen.G vs HLE: Best betting odds and picks for LCK 2026 grand final Hannan Mundia The 2026 LCK grand final will see HLE challenge Gen.G to determine which team walks away with the first-place prize, giving the winning team a much-needed confidence boost before the World Championship. After every top professional Korean League of Legends team has poured sweat and time, this year’s LCK split is finally about to conclude. The grand final match will be between the powerhouse team Gen.G and the challenging Hanwha ...

Esports Betting

Here Are My Predictions For The Hanwha Life Esports vs T1 LCK Lower Final Ben Boland LCK fans are in for a treat as Hanwha Life Esports and T1 both battle for a ticket to the grand final, where Gen.G awaits. The last time these two met, they tore the house down. I expect more of the same this time in the lower final. Here are the best bets to make on HLE vs T1 in the LCK 2026 Summer Playoffs Lower Final at GG.BET, one ...

League of Legends

Riot Games eyes Polymarket and Kalshi for esports sponsorships Michael Hassall Riot Games, the creator of League of Legends and VALORANT is reportedly exploring the protentional of sponsorship deals with prediction market operators including Polymarket and Kalshi, as per reports emerging late last night (Sep. 10). First reported by Cecilia D’Anastasio of Bloomberg, Riot has started conversations with the two top prediction market operators, Kalshi and Polymarket, with a view to one or both of them becoming sponsors within Riot Games’ ...

Esports Betting

GRID launches in-round esports betting markets with GRID Odds Wasif Ahmed GRID Esports, the data platform specializing in providing in-game data to publishers and operators alike, is adding one more offering to its list of solutions–GRID Odds. The company announced on LinkedIn yesterday that GRID Odds were going live for Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, VALORANT, and League of Legends. As a part of this, GRID says that its odds combine proprietary models with specialist trading expertise across pre-match and live esports ...

Dota 2

ESIC hand down ruling in EWC Dota match-fixing case: Lifetime ban for coach as DarkMago gets a nickel Michael Hassall South American Dota 2 player Gonzalo "DarkMago" Herrera will be banned for five years from competitive Dota 2, with his coach Juan "Vintage" Angulo banned permanently, following the results of an The Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) investigation. ESIC handed down the findings and rulings from its investigation into match-fixing allegations leveled at members of South American Dota 2 team PlayTime during the Esports World Cup on Sep. 10, in a ...