As Counter-Strike prepares to head back down under for IEM Melbourne 2025, one team has made a late withdrawal: Team Spirit. The Russian team were originally considered one of the favorites for the event, which is set to take place between April 21st and 27th.
According to a post by ESL, Team Spirit confirmed their decision to withdraw from the event on April 4th. In accordance with invite rules, Complexity will replace them, thanks to their position in the Valve Regional Standings at the time of the withdrawal. G2, FURIA, Astralis, Wildcard, B8, and HEROIC all declined invites to the event, leaving Complexity the next team in the pecking order to be invited to IEM Melbourne.
Team Spirit have yet to confirm a reason as to why they have withdrawn from the upcoming CS2 tournament.
#IEM Melbourne 2025 Teams Update 🚨@Team__Spirit have withdrawn from the event. In accordance with the global ranking at the time of withdrawal, we approached the next eligible teams per our rulebook.@Complexity have accepted the invite and will join us in Melbourne!
See… pic.twitter.com/GjSZdMZp0S
— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) April 11, 2025
Complexity may not be a drop-off as significant as feared
Credit: Sebastian Pandelache | PGL
With Complexity coming in for Team Spirit, the obvious concern is that it represents a big drop in quality for the event. If PGL Bucharest 2025 is any indicator, that may not be the case. At the time of writing, Complexity have already made it to the Semi-Finals in Romania, and look more than capable of being even the best CS2 teams in their current form.
Losing donk and co. is obviously a big miss for IEM Melbourne 2025, but I’m equally excited to see what Complexity can bring to the table. There’s even a world where they come to the event as Tier 1 trophy winners, so watch this space.
IEM Melbourne could now be an easy Grand Slam win
Credit: Stephanie Lindgren | BLAST
The big storyline here is how Team Spirit’s withdrawal could affect the ESL Grand Slam. Going into the event, Team Spirit would’ve been touted as one of the only teams capable of beating Team Vitality right now. This is a Vitality team just one trophy win away from winning the $1,000,000 Grand Slam, and it would already take a miracle for them not to finish the job at IEM Melbourne 2025.
With Team Spirit now confirmed to not be attending, the runway appears clear for Vitality to pick up that ESL Grand Slam victory. On paper, it seems like only MOUZ can stop them.