Strong teams are present in each tournament stage at StarLadder Budapest Major 2025. They can be relatively safe picks for esports betting during the event.
The Major Counter-Strike 2 tournament in Budapest is an excellent opportunity to experiment with betting. You place bets and boost the general excitement from watching each match and following the entire event.
There is no way to make 100% correct predictions in esports! Too many aspects are involved in determining the match results, and no deep analysis can guarantee wins.
At the same time, it is certainly possible to take a look at the current form of each team and make assumptions about their success in the Swiss Stages and Playoffs. May our overview of the tournament favorites help you make good, reasonable CS2 bets during the Budapest Major 2025.
Stage 1: The underdogs’ realm
The tournament format includes three Swiss Stages. New teams join the event with each of them, and the Playoffs is their desired destination — to battle for the ultimate title.
We’ve listed all teams at the StarLadder Budapest Major in a dedicated article. The lowest-seeded players start this competitive run from Stage 1. They are generally considered underdogs, but in terms of bets, you can make predictions on match results and guess who can advance to Stage 2. CS2 esports betting has many interesting markets beyond just the tournament winner.
Let’s highlight Stage 1 teams that potentially can perform well in most matchups. These and the following betting predictions for the Budapest Major are based on the teams’ most recent tournament successes.
- Legacy: They won CS Asia Championships 2025 and finished 2nd at PGL Masters Bucharest 2025.
- FaZe: It’s a low Major start for FaZe Clan, but the team has had some time to train with the new player, Jakub “jcobbb” Pietruszewski. Right before this roster change, FaZe were 4th at ESL Pro League Season 22.
- GamerLegion: The team was 4th at PGL Masters Bucharest 2025.
- Ninjas in Pyjamas were 2nd at StarLadder StarSeries Fall 2025.
- B8 is a pretty strong team, which surprised the community with some results. B8 performed well at the Austin Major. They were in the top 8 of PGL Masters Bucharest 2025: defeated Legacy, 3DMAX, and Astralis in the Swiss Stage.
Perhaps only Legacy and FaZe Clan have good chances in the following stages. The other Stage 1 teams are good at competing only within their circle. Upsets are still possible, but it’s rather risky to make such bets during the CS2 Budapest Major.
Stage 2: Mid-tier with the Playoffs potential
In general, the eight teams that join the tournament in Stage 2 should have no problems with the Stage 1 contenders. This principle proved itself at previous Major events, and we can base our esports betting on it. You certainly can use it for your Pick'Ems predictions during the Budapest Major.
- NAVI: The Major winners have been struggling with their results recently. NAVI can win lower-tier events, such as StarSeries Fall 2025, but their inconsistency is just ridiculous at bigger tournaments. The reverse sweep from FURIA in the grand final of the Thunderpick World Championship 2025 feels like a fatal blow to Natus Vincere.
- Aurora won PGL Masters Bucharest 2025, after defeating Legacy in the grand final.
- 3DMAX: These players have decent results at mid-tier Counter-Strike 2 tournaments. 3DMAX were 2nd at CS Asia Championships 2025.
- Astralis: The rollercoaster of tournament results has been taking Astralis high recently. The team was in the top 6 at IEM Chengdu 2025. They are still very inconsistent, so be careful with such bets.
- Team Liquid has got Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski back to the active roster, which reminds us of a better period for this legendary esports organization. Team Liquid reached the top 3 at CS Asia Championships 2025.
Stage 3: Tournament favorites for CS2 Budapest Major esports betting
The big-boys Counter-Strike starts here! Similar to the transition from Stage 1, challenger teams of Stage 2 should have difficulties facing the currently strongest CS2 teams in the world: at least some of them.
In fact, the Stage 3 favorites are also the safest bets during the Playoffs and for winning the StarLadder Budapest Major. Legend clashes are even more unpredictable, though.
- FURIA won a few big tournaments in the second half of 2025, and the progress of this team is mind-blowing. The addition of Danil "molodoy" Golubenko to the roster pays off for FURIA. After winning IEM Chengdu 2025 and BLAST Rivals Fall 2025, FURIA are the biggest favorites of the Budapest Major and arguably the safest bet throughout the tournament.
- Team Vitality can't return to their historic win streak from the first half of 2025, but these players can strike differently at the Major. Vitality are the winners of EPL Season 22.
- Falcons have been looking extremely strong at the recent events, especially at BLAST Rivals 2025 Hong Kong. Still, the team was smashed by the new power of FURIA.
- MOUZ: It feels like these guys are the dark horses among the Budapest Major favorites. MOUZ are most likely to defeat opponents from the earlier stages, but they somewhat struggle against other top teams: for instance, they lost to Falcons at IEM Chengdu 2025.
However safe some CS2 esports bets seem to be, you should always consider the risk of losing. Betting has no guaranteed wins, and you must avoid reckless decisions here, which certainly includes the Budapest Major 2025.
