IEM Cologne 2025 Playoffs Recap

IEM Cologne 2025 was a banger. The Cathedral of Counter-Strike once again shook with the roar of the crowd, the hype of the casters, and the kind of drama only CS can produce. Rivalries came to a head, titans fell, and storylines were written and rewritten in the heat of the playoffs. In this quick roundup, we’ll walk you through every playoff match so you can relive the best moments – or catch up on what you missed – without skipping any major details.

MOUZ vs FURIA (Quarter Final)

MOUZ vs FURIA was an absolute barn-burner of a matchup. On one side, you had a MOUZ looking for redemption after heartbreak in the Austin Major, and on the other, an exciting FURIA going from strength to strength with every game. MOUZ have proved themselves to consistently be within the top three teams in the world, with Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin’s leadership seeming to fit the team perfectly. On the other hand, FURIA have made significant changes of late, with young AWPer Danil “molodoy” Golubenko taking the AWP from the Professor, Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo, and the resurgence of Mareks “YEKINDAR” Gaļinskis.

The first map – Train – was a close affair, with MOUZ winning 19:16 in overtime. Ádám “torzsi” Torzsás had a fantastic map, ending with 34 kills and a 1.56 HLTV Rating.

Mirage was up next, and was every bit as intense as was expected. Both teams played well, but FURIA – bolstered by a 1v2 YEKINDAR clutch – found map point first, converting it to take Mirage 13:10.

The decider was Inferno. Again, both teams played well, with only 0.01 Team Rating splitting them at the end of the map. However, despite the very positive showing from FURIA throughout the entire series, the experience and interplay of MOUZ was enough to see them clinch the final map 13:11, and book their passage into the Semi-Finals.

The MongolZ vs NAVI (Quarter Final)

This was a strange series. Based on recent form alone, many had The MongolZ as favorites heading into this matchup, despite the admittedly impressive recent debut of NAVI’s young demon, Drin “makazze” Shaqiri. However, as you’ll see, that assumption couldn’t have been more wrong.

The first map was Inferno, and was a very close-run battle. The MongolZ played well, but unfortunately for them, there isn’t a lot you can do when makazze, Valerii “b1t” Vakhovskyi, and Ihor “w0nderful” Zhdanov all decide to turn up and drop a 1.17, 1.35, and 1.32 HLTV Rating respectively. NAVI’s firepower and rotational accuracy were too much to handle, and Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen’s squad ended up closing the first map 22:18.

This protracted and, ultimately, unsuccessful first outing seemed to have taken its toll on the Mongolian side, as the next map was slightly less competitive. NAVI took Ancient 13:6, thundering into the Semis with confidence.

Vitality vs MOUZ (Semi Final)

Our first Semi-Final, and we all know where this is going, right? MOUZ, eternally doomed to be second-best to Vitality, against…well, Vitality. We’ve all read the script, we all know what’s going to happen, and…MOUZ beat Vitality. I know, I’m almost surprised to be writing it! They finally got it over the line, and in the Semi-Final of one of the most prestigious Counter-Strike events, no less!

On the first map – Mirage – it seemed like the only Vitality player who had woken up in the morning was Robin “ropz” Kool. He was the only player with a positive HLTV Rating for the map, ending up with a 1.15. In contrast to this, everyone other than Lotan “Spinx” Giladi netted a positive rating on the MOUZ side. The map was over and done with in a 13:9 fashion in favor of the underdogs.

The next map – Train – was, unfortunately for the French organization, destined to be much the same story. ropz’s 1.13 was the only positive rating on Vitality, with Dan “apEX” Madesclaire the next highest at 0.97. On MOUZ’s side, Spinx locked in and put forward a 1.35, with the rest of the team also going positive. Train looked fantastic for MOUZ, who closed out the 2:0 victory with a 13:8 scoreline, slaying their demons and moving into the Grand Final.

Spirit vs NAVI (Semi Final)

NAVI came into this Semi-Final full of confidence, having taken down a well-playing MongolZ on their road to the Semi. Team Spirit came into this Semi-Final full of confidence, because they’re Team Spirit. It was perfectly set up to be a great matchup, and it didn’t disappoint.

This Semi-Final commenced on Mirage, with both Danil “donk” Kryshkovets and makazze putting up the numbers for their respective teams. Spirit were able to overcome NAVI, with a few impressive clutches from donk, closing out the map 13:11.

On Nuke, Aleksib’s boys bounced back. Impressive performances from both b1t and w0nderful saw a locked-in NAVI take the second map of the Semi-Final 13:9, bringing the match to its decider map – Ancient.

Unfortunately for NAVI, Ancient was where they began to run out of steam. A 10:2 opening half saw Spirit sitting comfortably. Other than their IGL, Leonid “chopper” Vishnyakov, everyone on Spirit netted a positive HLTV Rating, and were able to close out the map – and the Semi-Final – with a 13:6 domination.

MOUZ vs Spirit (Grand Final)

The Grand Final of IEM Cologne is always a prestigious affair. It’s one of – if not the – most historic events in our game. Every team wants to raise the silverware, and every player dreams of being a champion in the Cathedral of Counter-Strike. This Grand Final was no different. Two warring storylines clashed in the server, with MOUZ looking to break their curse of struggling to lift trophies, and donk looking to pick up the only S-Tier trophy he hasn’t already claimed.

The final was set to be a Best of Five, with CS fans across the globe excited for a close-fought, drawn-out battle between the two teams most held back by Vitality’s recent dominance. Unfortunately, that wasn’t quite the case.

The Grand Final opened on Mirage, with a fairly quiet MOUZ losing the first half 2:10, before Spirit closed out the map at a dominant 13:7. donk ended the opening map with a 97.7 ADR and 1.47 rating, looking set to crush the hopes of Brollan and co.

The second map of the Bo5 was Ancient. This was, by far, MOUZ’s best performance in the final. Brollan led from the front with a 1.33 rating and 21 kills, and called a number of well-executed rounds. However, despite MOUZ’s good showing on this map, Team Spirit proved too hard to break, closing out the second map of the final with a close 13:11 victory.

And so we come to what proved to be the last map of IEM Cologne 2025 – Nuke. Right from the start, you could see that Spirit were playing to close out the final. Whilst MOUZ didn’t play badly, Spirit were just simply locked in. Everybody on Spirit had a positive HLTV Rating, with the lowest being a 1.02 on AWPer Dmitriy “sh1ro” Sokolov. This is in contrast to MOUZ, who’s highest individual rating on this map was a 0.99 on torzsi. Team Spirit were able to close out the map with a destructive 13:6 scoreline, netting donk and his teammates the coveted chalice.

All in all, the playoffs of IEM Cologne 2025 were a spectacular affair, with emotions, clutches, and star power on display throughout. An emotional donk celebrating netting the final silverware of the triple in such a short time was the icing on the cake, showing that, despite his usual calm and nonchalant manner, Counter-Strike is as beautiful, impactful, and emotionally-charged to him as it is to all of us watching in awe.