After losing two opening matches in the CS2 Budapest Major, Astralis had three must-win battles, or they were just packing back home.
The golden era of Astralis has been in the history books for a long time already, and it feels great to see Magisk and dev1ce back at a Major in one team. It turned out to be a short treat for fans, so not missing the remaining matches of Astralis in Stage 2 of the StarLadder Major 2025 in Budapest was a good idea.
Astralis with dev1ce and Magisk in the roster won the StarLadder Berlin Major 2019, and it was their fourth title. As part of NiP, Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz competed in the PGL Major Stockholm 2021, and they were in the top 8. With Team Falcons, Emil "Magisk" Reifwas at BLAST.tv Major Austin 2025 but couldn't make it out of Stage 2.
Both players are still very strong. The creative offense by Magisk spreads chaos and earns kills. The AWP of dev1ce delivers tricky shots across the maps.
Still, the opening results of Astralis in the Budapest Major could be better. They lost to NiP and M80, so the elimination hammer was a threat in each following round. Astralis took this full ride, won two matches, and still got eliminated in the end.
Match 1: Astralis versus FlyQuest
Banned maps | Map 1 | Map 2 | Map 3 | Match score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nuke, FLY Dust II, AST Train, AST Ancient, FLY | Mirage, FlyQuest pick | Overpass, Astralis pick | Inferno, decider | AST 2:0 FLY |
| AST 13:5 FLY | AST 13:11 FLY | - |
The first elimination match for dev1ce and Magisk in the Budapest Major Stage 2 was against FlyQuest. It was a very unpredictable battle.
Astralis won, eliminating FlyQuest from the tournament and advancing to the next challenge in Round 4, where they face Aurora.
FlyQuest had a good start on Mirage, but after three rounds, their play returned to the ways of uncertainty and some disorientation. Astralis pretty much dominated the first half on the CT side, losing no rounds on T-side.
Overpass turned out to be more competitive, a back-and-forth exchange of rounds. Only close to the end, Astralis found their CT play and blew FlyQuest with a nice series of kills.
"Of course. [I feel] better than yesterday, just happy right now, but a lot of job to do. [...] The CT side [on Overpass] was a bit tougher than usual for us. Usually, we have better mind control. Some of the rounds were tough, losing OP early and not having OP in the second buy rounds. Stuff like that made the game a little bit harder for us. But we managed to come through at the end.
Yes, [we can do a reverse sweep]. You have to believe."
Stage 1 powerhouses, who fell apart quite badly
The story of FlyQuest's run in Stage 1 was cheerful, as the team finished with a perfect 3:0. They absolutely destroyed Fluxo in the advancement match back then.
The start of Stage 2 was an unpleasant wake-up call. FlyQuest lost 2:13 to NAVI, without taking even one round in the first half on Nuke.
The second loss was to TYLOO, with a 7:13. The final score looks better, but that was 1:11 in the first half. The recovery attempt was decent but insufficient.
FlyQuest is on a harsh rollercoaster ride, and they can be on the way up to battle Astralis or on the fall to the abyss of elimination.
Match 2: Astralis versus Aurora
Banned maps | Map 1 | Map 2 | Map 3 | Match score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dust II, AST Ancient, AUR Inferno, AUR Overpass, AST | Nuke, Astralis pick | Train, Aurora pick | Mirage, decider | AST 2:1 AUR |
| AST 11:13 AUR | AST 13:8 AUR | AST 13:11 AUR |
These opponents were pretty dangerous, at least in theory. Defeating them should be a boost of confidence for Astralis players and their fans.
Astralis won this match to have another chance to advance to Stage 3: in the match versus Team Liquid. Aurora are out.
The match did not start too well for Astralis. They lost their signature pick, Nuke. The game fell apart for them on the T side, as the first half finished with a 4:8. Aurora reached the match point, and even a recovery with a five-round streak did not help Astralis force overtime.
On Train, the start was almost desperate. Astralis were down 2:7, and then Staehr performed a mind-blowing ace. Not only did he win that round, but he also powered up the entire team. With a phenomenal streak of 11 rounds, Astralis secured the map.
Mirage brought Astralis a strong T side and a pretty shaky CT performance. It was the time for Rasmus "HooXi" Nielsen to shine. He found many opening frags, even if other players could not finish that: like losing a 3v5 in round 20.
Both dev1ce and Magisk contributed nicely to this win at the Major. When it looked like Aurora could bring it to overtime, Magisk absolutely blew them away with a crazy final kill and retake in the very last seconds. dev1ce delivered nice opening kills with offensive pushes on Mirage.
Even with some really weird moments, Astralis took this win.
“This Mirage, I’m just happy we pulled off this crazy retake at the end. I’m just relieved to be honest.
When you get this ace, you just get the momentum, you get the confidence [...}. They had a very good start on Train, they just won everything they did against us. And that [ace] was the turning point
[Tomorrow] is gonna be exciting. These 2:2 games are never funny. They are scary, but I hope we can pull through.”
Tournament-winning experience
What makes Aurora one of the favorites in Stage 2 is that they have a grand final presence and tournament wins this season.
- The CS2 Esports World Cup 2025 grand final did not go well for Aurora, but reaching that fate and taking down Team Falcons on the way is a great achievement.
- Aurora Gaming won PGL Masters Bucharest 2025.
The StarLadder Budapest Major doesn’t go too well for this team. Aurora defeated M80 in the opening match but then got two losses: to FaZe Clan and PARIVISION.
Match 3: Astralis versus Team Liquid
Banned maps | Map 1 | Map 2 | Map 3 | Match score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dust II, Astralis Overpass, Liquid Ancient, Liquid Train, Astralis | Nuke, Astralis pick | Mirage, Liquid pick | Inferno, decider | AST 0:2 TL |
| AST 7:13 TL | AST 9:13 TL | - |
After two nice wins, Astralis had to face their final opponents in Stage 2 of the Budapest Major. Liquid players also aimed for the next stage from the 2:2 group.
And the current strength of Team Liquid allowed them to do so! They defeated Astralis: Magisk and dev1ce got eliminated from the Budapest Major. The final step in the reverse sweep attempt did not happen.
“It didn’t feel like we showed up at all. Could have some hero rounds like we had yesterday, but we had none of those. We just got a bad start and that kind of snowballed.
We tried our best; had long days before this event. That just wasn’t enough.”
Nuke
The match did not go Astralis’ way from the very beginning. Even on Nuke, Team Liquid were dominant: 11:1 in the first half. The CT side is more favorable on this map, sure, but not that much. Astralis could take some rounds after the side switch, but it was generally too late for them.
Mirage
On Mirage, Team Liquid nicely recovered from losing early rounds, and they left the opponents very little space for success. After still winning the second pistols, Astralis fell apart and lost the match.
CS2 Team Liquid
In September 2025, Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski came back to Team Liquid from FaZe Clan. That caused conversations among fans about the return of the glory days — at least hope for better tournament results.
This year, Team Liquid competed at quite a few big Counter-Strike 2 esports events.
- The top 6 at IEM Melbourne was their highest results in tier 1.
- Liquid were in the top 3 at CS Asia Championships 2025 and in the top 4 at FISSURE Playground #2, which are much smaller tournaments.
The tournament run of Team Liquid at the CS2 StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 is pretty similar to the experience of dev1ce, Magisk, and the entire Astralis. Liquid lost two opening Bo1 matches: to B8 and PARIVISION.
They needed to recover from that 0:2 abyss. Team Liquid defeated MIBR and TYLOO to make it to the final round and experience the tension of the 2:2 battle.
If you wonder what happens with other guys from that legendary Astralis roster, here is a quick recap as of the end of 2025.
- Andreas "Xyp9x" Højsleth is an Assistant Coach for MOUZ.
- Peter "dupreeh" Rasmussen announced his retirement during the Austin Major. He is an analyst at BLAST events.
- Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander revealed his move to the position of a head coach during the Budapest Major. It's unclear if he already has the job.
- The coach, Danny "zonic" Sørensen, has the same role in Team Falcons.
The current version of Astralis may have matches until the end of Stage 2 and advance further. Or they can be eliminated.
