For Counter-Strike 2 fans, Stage 2 of the Budapest Major brought polarized experiences. It’s great to see some teams succeeding. It’s sad to witness disappointing defeats and lost opportunities.
Throughout the four days of Stage 2, we could witness amazing CS2 battles at the StarLadder Major 2025 event in Budapest. Those Swiss system matches revealed the current power of the two favorites and brought to light some obscure underdogs.
At the same time, there were a couple of really powerful hits at teams and their fans. Someone certainly had to be eliminated, but being blown away or losing a real chance is especially painful.
Here, we take a look at the key events of CS2 Budapest Major Stage 2 — with a brief gallery of emotions.
Two teams to dominate Stage 2
It wasn’t too difficult to point at one team as the biggest favorites of this tournament phase. The second one to go 3:0 in Stage 2 of the Budapest Major was the question.
NAVI is basically a Stage 3 team that was seeded to Stage 2. These players should battle Vitality and FURIA! Still, NAVI fell here because of their own results, like the last place at IEM Chengdu 2025, losing to Astralis and HEROIC.
In Budapest, NAVI proved their boot camp training was pretty effective. Three wins over FlyQuest, Imperial, and B8 took NAVI to the next stage.
We need to see them playing against opponents of a proper level to really confirm NAVI’s return to power.
After the rollercoaster of Stage 1, FaZe Clan players were suddenly good. They also needed only three rounds to advance.
There weren’t such dominant wins for FaZe as for NAVI over FlyQuest. The team even required two close overtimes to defeat Ninjas in Pyjamas in their advancement match. But the final result matters the most!
Also CS2 FaZe got pretty strong opponents in Stage 2 of the Budapest Major. In addition to NiP, they defeated Aurora in the best-of-one (Bo1) match of Round 2.
The Verdict: How Stage 2 shifted the GG.BET users expectations
While the summit remains stable — with FURIA (35%), Falcons (26%), and Vitality (26%) holding firm as the primary title contenders — a fierce battle for fan confidence is unfolding just beneath them.
NAVI has made the most significant leap. Prior to Stage 2, their title chances were pegged at 7% (tied with G2), but fueled by the incredible performance of w0nderful and b1t, their flawless progression to the next stage has spiked that figure to 10%. This surge propels Natus Vincere to outright 6th place among the favorites, leapfrogging both G2 and Aurora, who have stalled with a 1-2 record.
Another key storyline is the resurgence of FaZe Clan. For a long time, their backing stagnated at 4% due to an unconvincing start. However, a dominant 3-0 qualification for Stage 3 has forced the community to recalibrate: support has climbed to 6.6%, officially returning FaZe to the Top 8 list of contenders.
Some criticism for FaZe was connected to the addition of Jakub "jcobbb" Pietruszewski to the roster. The player obviously has much less experience than Håvard "rain" Nygaard, who left FaZe for 100 Thieves.
Still, jcobbb performed well in the Major’s Stage 2 matches: his rating was 1.07 against Passion UA, 1.53 against Aurora, and 1.22 against NiP. This ranked him 2nd-3rd in FaZe’s roster.
Underdogs to Stage 3
While big teams are measuring their success by lifting or not the main trophy, smaller organizations can be happy with just reaching the final Swiss stage. For them, playing against giants, such as Vitality or MOUZ, is a great experience and a chance to prove themselves on the biggest stage.
During Stage 2 of CS2 StarLadder Budapest Major 2025, we could witness wonderful breakthroughs of a few underdogs.
- It’s only the second Major for B8, and these young players already managed to make it to Stage 3. This achievement was close in Austin, but did not happen. In Budapest, B8 played well in Stage 1: they defeated Legacy, one of the favorites. To advance from Stage 2, B8 won over Team Liquid, Fnatic, and 3DMAX. Their loss to NAVI is quite understandable — but still, it’s the caliber of opponents in Stage 3.
- Imperial Esports is another Stage 1 team that will be playing against the strongest competitors of this Major. The players took the full five-round ride in the opening phase, but they needed only four in Stage 2. Imperial defeated MIBR, Fnatic, and M80. This result puts them on the same level as another underdog team at this Major, PARAVISION.
- Passion UA battled for the big breakthrough with M80 in the final round of the Major’s Stage 2. Despite having the core roster from Complexity, this organization is very fresh in the top CS2 esports. Even Complexity never reached the final Swiss stage at a Major. In general, there was a lot of pressure on PUA, and especially on their young rifler, Vladyslav "Kvem" Korol. It caused some notable drops during the matches, but the adaptation from the guys turned out to be very decent.
Disasters during Budapest Major 2025 Stage 2
We can name three teams that delivered the biggest disappointments of this tournament phase — to themselves and their fans.
FlyQuest players were great at Stage 1. They went 3:0, and the community started talking about breaking the curse of getting swept from 2:0 in Austin.
It’s a good thing we did that cautiously, as FlyQuest lost 2:13 in the opening match versus NAVI. That was a real risk of 0:13. Then, they were at 1:11 in the first half against 3DMAX. To get eliminated, FlyQuest lost to Astralis, with a 5:13 on Mirage. The team did not take even one map in Stage 2 of the Budapest Major.
Astralis were on a painful ride during this tournament. It was exciting to see Emil "Magisk" Reifwas and Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz playing together again at a Major. However, Astralis went 0:2 quickly, gave the fans hope for advancement, and got destroyed by Team Liquid in the final round.
Losing is part of competition, sure, but giving the opponents a 1:11 first-half advantage on your map pick is a disaster. In the post-match interview, Rasmus "HooXi" Nielsen hinted at problems around Astralis: “It’s hard to be in a good form with everything that’s going on.” Let’s see what can happen with the team ahead of the 2026 season.
We had big expectations from Aurora and named this team one of the Stage 2 favorites. However, the successes of this esports season did not help Aurora at the Budapest Major: 1:3, and they are out in Stage 2. Aurora defeated M80, but they lost to FaZe, PARAVISION, and Astralis
Strong mid tier: Good results, no big surprises yet
It was kind of predictable to see these teams doing well in Stage 2, but without crazy success. Real surprises for them may happen in Stage 3, but that requires activation of some hidden power.
- 3DMAX is a great team to watch at CS2 esports events thanks to their unique, fearless playstyle. They lost to Fnatic and B8 but won over FlyQuest, Passion UA, and NiP.
- Team Liquid had two losses in the initial rounds of the Major’s Stage: to B8 and PARAVISION. They recovered to defeat MIBR, TYLOO, and Astralis. It’s nice to see Liquid getting wins, but overall, their performance was too shaky.
Some other interesting teams that didn't make it to Stage 3 were Ninjas in Pyjamas, Fnatic, and M80. Let’s follow their progress in the next competitive season.
The strongest CS2 esports teams join the StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 with Stage 3. This Swiss System phase happens from Dec. 4 to Dec. 7.
