Vitality vs Falcons: IEM Melbourne CS2 betting guide

Steven Rondina Published 22/04/2025

Magisk is the only remaining player on Team Falcons in December 2024.

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.

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