Vitality vs FaZe, the Budapest Major grand final: Second title in a row

Team Vitality won their third Major title — second in a row. These players dominated the first half of 2025. The competitive season ahead of the Budapest Major wasn't that perfect, but Vitality were still at least in the top 4 of the biggest CS2 esports events.

FaZe Clan won the Antwerp Major in 2022, so this grand final could bring their second such title in total. While the team was in both Major grand finals of 2024, this year, the results of FaZe declined significantly.

At the StarLadder Budapest Major 2025, FaZe Clan were considered underdogs, but they crushed this illusion, destroyed big opponents in the Playoffs, and were ready to face Vitality.

The CS2 Budapest Major grand final happened on the Championship Sunday, Dec. 14. The stream is embedded above, and you can watch it on the official StarLadder YouTube channel.

It's the best-of-five match, as all CS2 Major grand finals should be. Vitality and FaZe needed to unleash their mastery with an extended set of maps to win the Budapest Major. Many considered Team Vitality the favorites in this grand final, but FaZe already surprised us with their chaotic magic throughout this tournament.

FaZe Clan were great on Map 1, but that Nuke was probably a great wake-up call for Team Vitality. With ZywOo hitting his tournament mode, Vitality dominated on Dust II. FaZe had some glimpses of chances on Inferno, but Overpass took that away completely.

It felt like FaZe just continued playing their Swiss-stage Nuke against Vitality or the same map against NAVI. They won amazing duels, moved aggressively and creatively, and simply dominated the play.

FaZe won the pistols — Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken was luckier in a 1v1 against William "mezii" Merriman. They continued with the convention and generally had an amazing series on the T side.

Vitality had splashes of power, but that happened mainly on low buys: like the kills by Robin "ropz" Kool with the Five-SeneN. mezii was pretty good: like, he won a 1v2 on rerake but had no time to defuse. Or, on the CT side, mezii took down two opponents and then denied defuse just by his presence. 

While FaZe were on the rise, Vitality struggled with weird mistakes. Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut missed too many shots. In Round 8, they flashed themselves in an awkward situation.

Jakub "jcobbb" Pietruszewski was suddenly such a great power for FaZe Clan! He performed miracles on the Desert Eagle specifically, so the team just won rounds out of that.

When the situation was already desperate for Vitality, they fell victim to their own error: ran right into the bullets of Finn "karrigan" Andersen. The round started great for Vitality but turned out to be the match point for FaZe.

This map was fully Vitality’s territory. FaZe made many rounds extremely close, but they were desperately losing them again and again.

Vitality won the pistols by actively trading kills. Shahar "flameZ" Shushan delivered great final shots. ZywOo woke up to the game. He delivered kills throughout the entire Dust II play, including 4K in the second pistols.

FaZe had frags even on low buys, like in Round 4. Thanks to quick rotations, Vitality still won those situations.

At some point, Vitality even went for reckless aggression on B. They were punished and returned to more curious strategies. In Round 9, Vitality were so slow with their action that FaZe players got confused. ZywOo with mezii finished that with clutch kills.

An eco win in Round 11 was one of three for FaZe on Dust II. The worries about their map pool were strongly confirmed.

This map wasn't a total disaster of Dust II, but those FaZe numbers in the score are mainly the pistols and conversions.

On the T side, both teams emphasized pushing through Banana. Executions on A were rather rare.

Even on low buys, Vitality landed good kills, especially in the first half. To start their winning machine, ropz literally saved Round 4 from Pit on A. A bit later, ropz repeated his multiple kills feat on the same bombsite.

A lot of rounds for Vitality became possible thanks to mezii. It was his clutch defuse in Round 5. Then, he had a great positioning on B and stared at an opponent for quite a while before shooting: that became crucial two kills to save Vitality from planting. Later, mezii had a few kills through smoke.

ZywOo had their moments as well, like retake in Round 11. On low health, he lost a 1v1 against karrigan in Round 15, though.

On the FaZe side, frozen was exceptional again. In the second pistols, his HE damaged the pack of Vitality players, and then frozen saved the B site almost on his own. His CT push through Banana caused chaos and saved FaZe in Round 21.

Team Vitality simply demolished FaZe Clan on this map and took away all their hopes for the Budapest Major win. It was a threat of 12:0 in the first half, but FaZe took at least one to save themselves from embarrassment — and ZywOo was close to clutching it. They also won the second pistols, but then just lost to Vitality's eco.

Once again, ropz was absolutely great! He delivered kills in the first pistols and throughout this Overpass play. With ZywOo, they proved to be a perfect link in CS2: like when ropz were protecting ZywOo during planting and eventually killed all the remnants of FaZe Clan.

ZywOo was himself with the AWP. Dan "apEX" Madesclaire unleashed his entry fragger skills. It was he who delivered the last kill in a 1v1 duel to seal the second CS2 Major trophy for Team Vitality.

Vitality players certainly understand the importance of the Budapest Major's grand finals. This roster has a historic chance to win two Majors in a row and cement their prime status in Counter-Strike history.

As an organization, Team Vitality won the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023, which was the last one for CS:GO. Three players and the coach have left the team since then.

In this specific version, Team Vitality won the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025. The future is always obscure, and the current Vitality players should cling to this unique opportunity.

The current roster of FaZe Clan is also different from the Antwerp Major winners and the grand finalists in Copenhagen and Shanghai. Two players joined the organization in the late 2025: Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken and Jakub "jcobbb" Pietruszewski. The loss of Håvard "rain" Nygaard after the EPL S22 caused lots of discussion among the fans, and the rookie, jcobbb, was a target of those conversations.

FaZe took the full ride in the Budapest Major, as they started from Stage 1. In the latest matches, jcobbb proved he's worthy of taking this spot in FaZe, and the team in general looked amazingly strong. If FaZe win here, the organization joins a limited list of two-time Major winners, which includes CS:GO and CS2.

As for the most recent head-to-head record, Team Vitality defeated FaZe Clan in the quarterfinal of the ESL Pro League Season 22 with a 2:1. FaZe could take Map 1, and it was a sweaty set of 22:20 on Mirage. Then, Vitality won two remaining maps, Inferno and Dust II, with 13:9 and 13:8.

With these results in Budapest, it's unlikely to see harsh roster changes in Team Vitality and FaZe Clan ahead of the CS2 esports season in 2026. Still, the players and the organizations may have their own plans. The competition restarts at the end of January, with IEM Cologne 2026 as the next Counter-Strike 2 Major.