Team Falcons, MOUZ earn bye into playoffs at IEM Chengdu

Team Falcons and MOUZ won their respective group's upper-bracket final on Wednesday at the $300,000 Intel Extreme Masters Chengdu 2025 tournament in China.

Falcons recorded a 2-0 win over Astralis in Group A, courtesy of a 13-6 victory on Nuke and 13-7 triumph on Mirage.

MOUZ had a tougher time of it in their matchup versus FURIA before posting a 2-1 win. MOUZ sandwiched a 13-2 victory on Inferno and a 16-14 triumph on Train around a 13-11 setback on Overpass.

By virtue of their respective wins, Team Falcons and MOUZ received a bye into the semifinals of the playoffs.

Also on Wednesday, The MongolZ collected a 2-1 win over Team Spirit in the Group A lower-bracket final. The MongolZ sandwiched a 13-7 victory on Dust II and 13-6 triumph on Mirage around a 19-16 setback on Ancient.

The MongolZ will face FURIA in the quarterfinals on Friday. The single-elimination playoffs feature best-of-three matches until Sunday's best-of-five grand final.

Also on Wednesday, Team Vitality secured a 2-0 victory over G2 Esports in the Group B lower-bracket final. Vitality advanced to the playoffs and a date with Astralis on Friday after posting a 13-4 win on Train and 13-11 triumph on Mirage.

Sixteen Counter-Strike 2 teams began this week's competition on Monday, vying for a top prize of $125,000.

The double-elimination group stage features two groups of eight teams, with all matches best-of-three. The group winners advance to the playoff semifinals, with the group runners-up entering the quarterfinals as high seeds and the third-place teams entering the quarterfinals as low seeds.

IEM Chengdu prize pool:

1. $125,000

2. $50,000

3. $30,000

4. $20,000

5-6. $12,500

7-8. $7,000 -- Team Spirit, G2 Esports

9-12. $5,000 -- paiN Gaming, Lynn Visiting Gaming, Virtus.pro, Natus Vincere

13-16. $4,000 -- Natus Vincere, TYLOO, 3DMAX, FaZe Clan

--Field Level Media