I. Valve’s August Rankings Revealed: Spirit, Na’Vi, and FURIA Rise Strongly
On August 4, 2025, Valve released the latest official global team rankings (Valve Regional Standings). This list directly determines the direct invite lineup for IEM Chengdu 2025.
This ranking saw significant fluctuations, directly impacted by the recently concluded IEM Cologne event:
Team Spirit rose from 3rd to 2nd globally, largely thanks to their IEM Cologne championship;
Natus Vincere (NaVi) leapt from 8th to 5th, thanks to their strong performance in the semifinals;
FURIA emerged as the biggest surprise, rising from 9th to 6th, securing a direct invite;
Team Liquid, due to a prolonged period of poor performance, fell from 17th to 26th, missing out on the Chengdu main event;
In addition, teams like Aurora and HEROIC also saw some declines.
This ranking not only impacts IEM Chengdu but also determines eligibility and seeding for future ESL Pro Tour, Thunder pick, and BLAST tournaments.
II. IEM Chengdu 2025: Comprehensively Upgraded Schedule, Prize Pool, and Mechanics
According to ESL and Liquipedia:
Date: November 3-9, 2025
Venue: Chengdu, China, Offline LAN Tournament
Participating Teams: 16 elite teams from around the world
Total Prize Pool: $1,000,000
Tournament Overview
IEM Chengdu 2025 is a Valve-certified S-Tier high-level tournament with two stages:
Group Stage: Two GSL double-elimination brackets, with the top two teams advancing;
Knockout Stage: Quarterfinals, single-elimination, all Best-of-3, with the Finals being Best-of-5.
Invitational System
Each region (Europe, Americas, Asia) reserves two direct invitation slots;
The remaining 10 slots will be automatically allocated based on the August VRS rankings;
All teams must remain active and meet the RMR requirements before the deadline.
This means the top ten teams globally have virtually locked in their spots, while the remaining teams will rely on regional influence or subsequent substitute opportunities to compete for the final spot.
III. Predicted Participating Team: Vitality, Spirit, and FaZe: Who Will Win?
Based on the latest rankings and team performance, the following 10 teams have virtually locked in their spots in the main draw:
Team Vitality (World No. 1)
Team Spirit (IEM Cologne Champion)
MOUZ
NaVi
FURIA
FaZe Clan
The MongolZ (Asian Dominant)
Falcons
Virtus.pro
G2 Esports
Vitality’s ZywOo has already won three MVP awards in 2025, surpassing s1mple to become the most MVP award winner in history. Team Spirit, leveraging their dual-core system of donk and sh1ro, achieved the most dominant victory of the season. FaZe, with its consistent play, has maintained its position in the top six globally.
In Asia, The MongolZ secured the top spot in the Asia-Pacific region with multiple championships and high rankings. Chinese teams TYLOO or Lynn Vision will need to secure additional spots through the ESL Challenger or regional qualifiers.
IV. Prize and Ranking Strategies: The Game Behind $1 Million
IEM Chengdu 2025 offers a massive $1,000,000 prize pool, with the champion taking home $125,000 and receiving a significant amount of ESL Pro Tour points.
Concurrently, Valve is continuously optimizing its ranking update mechanism. Starting in early 2025, all tournaments will require unified post-match point updates to prevent ranking conflicts caused by overlapping events.
Key Ranking Changes:
Only official Tier 1 tournaments will be counted;
All points must be fully completed after the tournament;
Teams that change their roster or miss an event will be automatically demoted.
This change improves the fairness of the rankings and makes the competition for IEM Chengdu even more intense.
V. Conclusion: Chengdu Will Be the Most Important Autumn Battle of 2025
IEM Chengdu 2025 is not only a major event with a million-dollar prize pool, but also a key battleground for Valve Rankings, Major qualification, and the year-end points sprint. The duel between Vitality and Spirit is highly anticipated; strong teams like FURIA, NaVi, and FaZe are also eyeing the action.
For Chinese and Asian Counter-Strike teams, this is an opportunity to showcase regional strength and secure a spot in the global tournament.
The battle in Chengdu is about to ignite. A battle for rankings, championship glory, and a million-dollar prize await the strongest teams to reach the top of Asia. Gocsgo provides many CS2 news and CS2 cases.