Vitality, MOUZ, MongolZ advance to StarLadder Budapest playoffs

Stage 3 of the StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 has almost concluded, and the playoff slots are starting to fill up. After the Round 4 matches, three more teams have qualified to advance: MOUZ, Team Vitality, and The MongolZ, after their respective wins against Team Falcons, Natus Vincere, and G2 Esports.

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These three teams join Team Spirit and FURIA in the playoffs after their wins in this stage. With a total of five playoff slots now taken up, only three more teams can advance.

MOUZ found themselves an early lead in Mirage, Falcons' map choice. They got four rounds before Falcons could even find one. However, MOUZ resumed their CT-side domination afterwards, placing themselves at 8-4 at halftime.

Falcons, now in CT, slowly but surely closed the gap. They found good pockets and had answers to MOUZ' executes. Impressively, Falcons manage the comeback to take their own map pick, 13-11.

The two moved on to Inferno, where MOUZ was only allowed a slightly bigger lead by halftime, which ended 7-5 in their favor. This time, though, they made quick work of Falcons in the second half and took over the map, 13-6.

The series decider was on Nuke. Once again, MOUZ found a sizable lead in the first half, absolutely wiping the Falcons round after round. Falcons found ways to stymie this somewhat and kept the map at a manageable 8-4 for MOUZ by halftime.

Now on T-side, MOUZ' round wins were more labored. Nevertheless, they avoid the same outcome as map one and locked their playoff spot with a 13-10 win on Nuke.

The series began in Inferno, VIT's map pick. Despite this, they were unable to find a significant lead on T-side. They closed out the half 7-5 before it was NAVI's turn to execute. The second half was a nailbiter as both teams were neck and neck, but Vitality were the ones to close it out, 13-11.

Next came Train, which carried the momentum of map 1. The first half was an even 6-6. In the second half, Vitality proved better on the T-side and booked their StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 playoff tickets with another 13-11 win.

In the first half of their map choice, Ancient, The MongolZ found a comfortable 9-3 lead for themselves on T-side. When the sides flipped, the story did not. MGLZ continued their rampage against G2 and made quick work of them, 13-4.

G2 showed signs of life on Dust 2, but they only managed 5 rounds on T-side. In the second half, MongolZ took complete control to advance to the playoffs, 13-6.

StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 Stage 3 continues with do-or-die matches before the event moves on to the playoff stage.