None of them advanced to the Playoffs, and still, these players made an impact. Some defeated the favorites. Others showed their unique playing style.
The very format of a Counter-Strike Major supports the attempts of smaller teams to reach the spotlight of the biggest stage. The initial Swiss System phases feature regional organizations you may have never heard of and ambitious young players carving their path to glory. At the Budapest Major 2025, the presence of such underdog teams was pretty loud.
Not all of them left the tournament fully satisfied: splashes of success got covered by bitter losses. The best teams from the lower tiers still managed the full ride and made battles against top favorites positively sweaty.
B8: Defeated Flacons, took the full ride in Stage 3
The story of B8 at this Major and in 2025 in general is very inspiring. Not only is this a new organization in CS2 esports, but B8 also consists of young players. They prove it is possible to crash into the top level and even defeat big celebrities.
B8 is a Stage 1 team that made it to the very last round of Stage 3. With a different draw, they could be even in the Playoffs, but having NAVI as advancement opponents was an impossible challenge.
GG.BET Insights: Defying Expectations on Ancient & The Train Heartbreak
B8’s place among the top underdogs isn't just a story — it’s a statistical reality. Throughout the Major, confidence in the Ukrainian squad on GG.BET remained critically low. They were viewed as heavy outsiders against the giants, earning minimal support: only 12% backed B8 against Vitality, 15% against NAVI, 25% vs Falcons, and 26% vs MOUZ. They entered a match as favorites only once — against paiN Gaming, where 66% of users predicted a B8 victory.
Despite the skepticism, Ancient became their fortress. B8 secured wins on this map against The Huns, Fnatic, 3DMAX, Falcons, and paiN. The only team to defeat them there was NAVI. In fact, this matchup proved to be a significant hurdle: B8 faced NAVI in both Stage 2 and Stage 3, losing 0-2 each time. However, the final scores were closer than they appear. In both series, the match on Train ended in a tight 14-16 loss, proving that B8 was just one round away from pushing the Major champions to the limit.
In Stage 3, B8 won a best-of-one match against Team Falcons. This happened for the second Major in a row!
Among other notable wins of B8 is the match over Legacy in Stage 1. These opponents were considered one of the favorites, at least at the early tournament phases. In Stage 2, B8 defeated Fnatic, Team Liquid, and 3DMAX.
Even the losses of B8 in Stage 3 were impressive. Being defeated by MOUZ and Vitality is a great experience! B8 also took down paiN Gaming, another Stage 3 team. They certainly deserve this place among the best underdog teams at the CS2 Budapest Major 2025.
Passion UA: Forming a new organization
This team also reached the final round of Stage 3. However, Passion UA brought totally different vibes to the Major.
The players were extremely shaky. Even within one match, PUA could look helpless in some rounds and pull off crazy plays in others. It took them all five rounds in Stage 2 as well, mixing disappointing losses and impressive wins.
Passion UA did not have surprising successes over top teams. They played against FaZe in two matches and lost both. They were defeated by G2 Esports and Falcons.
Still, within their category of underdog teams, Passion UA shone at this CS2 Major! They eliminated Team Liquid and Imperial in Stage 3 — when most people already said farewell to them. In Stage 2, PUA eliminated Fnatic and M80.
3DMAX: No fear at all
These guys are not newcomers to the top-level CS2 esports, and still, 3DMAX were considered one of the underdog teams at the StarLadder CS2 Major 2025 in Budapest. Despite participating in plenty of events, 3DMAX don't have big wins.
The team is one of the most interesting to watch on streams. The playstyle of 3DMAX is almost always on the verge of reckless risks. They are fearless in their aggression, rushing towards an unknown danger and defeating it. It's not often we can see such an approach among well-calculated strategies of other teams.
3DMAX defeated FlyQuest and NiP in Stage 2. They had two losses to the favorites in Stage 3: Vitality and FaZe.
Imperial Esports: Steady progress
This team had a tough path at the tournament, from all five rounds of Stage 1 to facing three top opponents in Stage 3. Imperial Esports even defeated one of those favorites.
The initial rounds weren't too crazy for Imperial. They did not succeed in seemingly unfavorable matchups. All wins were within their niche of the Major's underdog teams, such as over The Huns, NRG, and M80.
When Imperial played versus big teams, they mainly lost: to NAVI, FURIA, and Falcons. Still, Imperial Esports defeated The MongolZ in the opening round of Stage 3.
The general style of Imperial can be described as a well-earned progress. They had almost no tier 1 presence, and then climbed pretty high in Budapest.
M80: Fire up the North American competition
It's great when North American teams perform well at big CS2 esports events! We need this to keep the global competition rolling. M80 proved that the region is not about Team Liquid only.
In Stage 1, M80 went 3:0, and that was a great achievement for the team.
Stage 2 turned out to be cruel. M80 got eliminated by Passion UA. Still, they defeated one potentially big team, Astralis.
FlyQuest: Splashes of success
Talking about the cruelty of Stage 2… FlyQuest received an extremely powerful blow from NAVI, and they couldn't recover from that. Still, Stage 1 was brilliant for this team!
Three wins and quick advancement promised a great tournament for FlyQuest. They defeated Legacy, Imperial, and Fluxo.
Getting 12:0 and 11:1 in the first halves against NAVI and 3DMAX did unfixable damage. With a 0:2 loss to Astralis, FlyQuest left the Major.
With the glimpses of power from Stage 1, FlyQuest can break the curse of being underdogs. Still, working on stable performance would not be excessive.
The Playoffs of the StarLadder Budapest Major left us with no underdog teams at all.
The CS2 esports schedule for 2026 has plenty of events, where we can witness B8, 3DMAX, and other promising guys from our list. One day, they may threaten Vitality and MOUZ — or the most successful players can join such big organizations.
