Everything We Learned From The StarLadder Budapest CS2 Major Playoffs

The Counter-Strike year is over, and what a year it’s been. 2025 has undoubtedly been the year of Vitality, but a handful of other teams have had their stories as well. It has been a year of innovation, stiff competition, and incredible upsets, culminating in the spectacle that was the StarLadder Budapest Major. Today, we’re going to give you a brief rundown of everything we learned from the playoffs of the Major.

Spirit’s anchors love playoffs

What is it with Team Spirit’s anchors becoming the best version of themselves in Major playoffs? In Shanghai, we had Boris “magixx” Vorobyev lifegaming against FaZe Clan, and in Budapest, it was the turn of rookie rifler Ivan “zweih” Gogin. A 22-kill masterclass against Falcons in the Quarter Final – a match in which he put forward two aces – saw Spirit take out the Saudi org and crush Nikola “NiKo” Kovač’s dreams of getting his hands on the coveted Major trophy. Of course, as always, Danil “donk” Kryshkovets had a fantastic tournament, with a 1.57 event-wide HLTV Rating.

Whatever it is Team Spirit are feeding their anchors in Playoffs, we need some.

Falcons fall flat

Unfortunately for Damjan “kyxsan” Stoilkovski and co, Budapest was another disappointing result. Of course, getting into the playoffs of a Major is never the most disappointing finish, but a 0-2 loss to Spirit in the Quarters was underwhelming to say the least. Whilst they certainly looked tighter than past Major showings (Inferno B site, anyone?), the Falcons would certainly have expected to make a deeper playoff run than this.

At points throughout the tournament, flashes of Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov’s genius came through, but on the whole it wasn’t the best tournament for him. The rest of the team, including whilst solid, failed to pull through when it mattered most, resulting in another lacklustre finish for the team.

Next time, NiKo. Next time.

MongolZ made a good run

You would have been forgiven for expecting The MongolZ to have fallen flat in the Major, considering the recent loss of Azbayar “Senzu” Munkhbold from the starting lineup. However, as we mentioned in our previous Major-related article, new pickup Unudelger “controlez” Baasanjargal has been putting forward surprisingly great performances considering it’s his first time at this level of CS.

Unfortunately for the Mongolian squad, a deep playoff run proved too much to ask, with a one-sided 0-2 loss to eventual winners Vitality in the quarter-final. That being said, the performance of their big-stage rookie was, at many points, very impressive. There are lots of positives to take away from Budapest, for them.

FURIA fell earlier than expected

FURIA. Probably the team most disappointed by their Major result. Whilst recency bias is, of course, a real thing, it has to be said that the Brazilian org was coming into Budapest as favorites to take the top spot. Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo and his team had been in lights-out form for weeks coming up to the Major, and looked unstoppable coming into playoffs. Unfortunately for them, they met a powering-up NAVI in the quarters with a point to prove. Losing to a team like NAVI is never something to be ashamed about, but for a team with as much momentum behind them as FURIA, going out in the quarter-final must have been a painful experience.

Hopefully, this loss hasn’t shaken the confidence too much, and next season we get to see Danil “molodoy” Golubenko go from strength to strength, and Mareks “YEKINDAR” Gaļinskis continue his personal renaissance of form.

NAVI locked in

It would be a fool’s game to ever truly write off the combined strategic wisdom of NAVI’s coach Andrii “B1ad3” Horodenskyi and IGL Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen, as they are both in their own rights some of the brightest minds in the game. This truism notwithstanding, few could have expected the frankly astonishing uptick in form that NAVI showed in the early half of the Budapest playoffs.

A pretty dominant quarter-final, all things considered, against a struggling FURIA showed a totally different face to the team who were roundly trounced by the same squad 13-2 earlier in the tournament. Heading into a semi-final against surprise contenders FaZe Clan, the stage looked set for a NAVI Grand Final. The match was an absolute banger – one of the best games of the entire Major – and NAVI looked very strong throughout. Unfortunately for Drin ‘makazze’ Shaqiri and Ihor ‘w0nderful’ Zhdanov, who had a wonderful series, FaZe’s plot armor proved too strong.

Still, there’s much to be happy with for NAVI. Here’s hoping this is the first sign of a true return to form heading into 2026.

MOUZ lacked hometown cheers

There are few sights at a Counter-Strike Major that can genuinely make you feel a little sad, but unfortunately for MOUZ, one of them occurred in their quarter-final showing against FaZe Clan. Ádám “torzsi” Torzsás was supposed to be the hometown hero, as the only Hungarian playing on the stage in Budapest, but unfortunately for the AWPer the cheers were almost entirely being directed to his opponents. FaZe Clan turned up as serious crowd favorites, leaving MOUZ to handle a lack of crowd support that they surely must have been hoping for, if not expecting.

Unfortunately for Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin and his boys, FaZe proved too strong in the end, with a hard-fought 13-11 victory on Nuke followed by a dominant 13-2 thrashing on Inferno. MOUZ’s tournament ended with a whimper, and subsequent roster rumours surrounding the future of Jimi “Jimpphat” Salo have begun to drip-feed into the community.

FaZe magic never dies

I am a FaZe fan. I never stop believing, no matter how stressful or disappointing the year might get. Having said that, I cannot really believe that I’m writing about another CS2 Major Final from their point of view. Somehow, against all odds, Finn “karrigan” Andersen has managed to lead his team to the biggest stage of all yet again.

As everyone is likely bored of hearing, this team were 0.4 seconds away from being eliminated in Stage 1 by Red Canids, when the veteran and legendary IGL saved them at the very last possible moment. Since then, FaZe Clan went on to slowly but surely power up, doing what only they can do, until they found themselves staring down the big boss of 2025 Counter-Strike, Vitality, in the Grand Final.

Unfortunately for FaZe, but perhaps expectedly, Vitality proved too strong at the very end. Having said that, this is one of the most incredible do-or-die runs in Major history, and both karrigan and the rest of his team must be proud of what they achieved. As a Counter-Strike fan, it was beautiful. As a FaZe fan, it has restored faith and belief in a project that looked to be struggling.

Vitality = greatest team of all time?

What is there to say about Vitality that hasn’t already been said a thousand times this year? 2025 has truly been the year of Dan “apEX” Madesclaire, Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut, Shahar “flameZ” Shushan, Robin “ropz” Kool, and William “mezii” Merriman. They have managed to end the year as a genuine contender for the greatest Counter-Strike team in history, with an output, floor, and ceiling rivalling the legendary Astralis roster.

Every piece of this particular puzzle has been utterly fantastic throughout the year. The signing of ropz was an inspired move. apEX has proven himself to be amongst the greatest IGLs in history. ZywOo is…well, he’s ZywOo. flameZ has been an entry-fragging demon. And, of course, the greatest UK Counter-Strike player in history, mezii, continues to be an absolute rock for the team, oftentimes pulling the weight and giving his star players time to warm into the game.

As a Counter-Strike fan, watching Vitality work throughout this year has been nothing short of incredible. The work that apEX has done, and continues to do, is astonishing. It has been a piece of art, and one of the most impressive feats of competitive dominance ever seen in our beautiful game. Here’s hoping, for their sake and the sake of the game, they don’t slow down. Watching other teams have to improve at a rapid pace to keep up with even standing a chance against the French organization is a good thing for the ecosystem of CS, and puts us in with a great chance of 2026 being even more explosive, exhilarating, and enjoyable than ‘25.

So, there you have it. A quick rundown of the playoffs stage of the StarLadder Budapest Major 2025. What a fantastic year it’s been. As always, if you want to continue your own grind and self-improvement in Counter-Strike over the festive period, make sure to brush up on your utility, perfect your role, and get on the solo-queue grind!