IEM Chengdu Playoffs: Preview

The group stage of IEM Chengdu 2025 has come to a close as the Chengdu Financial City Performing Arts Center gears up to host a thrilling playoffs bracket. The MongolZ, playing with a stand-in were knocked down to the lower-bracket in group A by Astralis where they dealt with donk and took down Spirit, shocking the community. While very little was expected out of controlez the 28 year-old Mongolian stunned the world with a 1.89 rating second map against HEROIC. He hit a form slump against Astralis but picked up against Spirit, powering The MongolZ into the playoffs.

Astralis took a shot at directly making the semi-final but an on song Falcons made short work of them in Group A's upper-final with kyousuke and NiKo lighting up the server. While Falcons wait in the semi-final, FURIA will take on The MongolZ and the winner goes up against the NiKo-m0NESY-kyousuke trio in the semi-finals. After strong 2-0s against Lynn Vision and G2, FURIA fell to MOUZ in the upper-final of Group B. Taking down FaZe, Vitality and FURIA, MOUZ will start in the semi-final.

Astralis who fell to Falcons will face Vitality in the quarter-final as Vitality look to set up a rematch against MOUZ in the semi-final. IEM Chengdu 2025 carries a prize pool of $1,000,000 USD and is ESL's last S-tier event of the year. An IEM Chengdu title win will add towards the team's ESL Grand Slam progression.