What To Expect From The StarLadder Budapest CS2 Major – Stage 1 [Part 1]

It’s that time again! As the year draws to a close and the festive period looms, the biggest event in the Counter-Strike calendar is ready to get underway. The Major is back, and this time it has a Bo5 Grand Final! The StarLadder Budapest CS2 Major kicks off on November 24th, with all the teams in Stage 1 battling it out to get through to the next stage of the competition.

Whether you’re looking to brush up on stuff you might have missed throughout the season, perfect your pickems, or simply just get hyped about the Major, today we’re giving you a rundown of everything you can expect from the first eight of the sixteen teams heading into Stage 1 of the StarLadder Budapest Major.

FaZe

FaZe Clan have had a very strange year. In January, they signed Jonathan “⁠EliGE⁠” Jablonowski, hoping to shore up their firepower and make consistent deep runs in tournaments. Unfortunately for all parties involved, this didn’t work out as planned, resulting in EliGE returning to Team Liquid and FaZe picking up a relatively unknown quantity in Betclic’s young rifler, Jakub “⁠jcobbb⁠” Pietruszewski.

Since the start of the year, FaZe have been unable to do any real damage in any of the tournaments they have attended. Their best result in 2025 was a third-place finish in PGL Bucharest – a tournament without most of the big names at the top of Tier 1. Recently, FaZe made the surprising move of benching their longest-serving player – Håvard “rain” Nygaard – before the run-up to the Major. There is some excitement around the FaZe camp, however, with the return of Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken, whose output has been impressive to say the least. Perhaps a dedicated secondary caller is what Finn “karrigan” Andersen needs to make this Major FaZe’s chance to end 2025 on a high.

Having said all of this, as any Counter-Strike fan knows, there is one important fact to remember: this is Stage 1. These are Bo1 games. This is FaZe Clan. Notorious for slow starts and ramping up as they grind their way into playoffs, FaZe Clan are set up equally for success or failure here in the opening stage. Whilst, on paper, they should be coming in as heavy favorites to get through this stage, nothing is ever guaranteed with a team that courts chaos as doggedly as this one.

Legacy

Legacy are coming into Stage 1 as one of the favorites to go through. Overall, they’ve had a pretty solid 2025, with a 2nd place finish in PGL Masters Bucharest and a 1st place finish in the CS Asia Championships. Consistent fragging, good teamplay, and explosive midrounds have taken them to new heights throughout the year. It’s safe to say that they’ll be eyeing up the next stage of the Major right from the outset. They play a relatively weak-looking FlyQuest in their first game, so they will be looking for a calm 1-0 start to the opening stage. One to keep your eye on, for sure.

GamerLegion

GamerLegion is a funny one. From name value alone, you’d be forgiven for expecting them to have an easy run of it in Stage 1. Especially considering the strength of their core, and the fact that they have Ashley ‘ash’ Battye as their coach. However, they’ve had a pretty rocky few months of late. Bo1s are always a risky path to take in any form, but specifically for a team who have struggled to find its form for a while now, Stage 1 could be a trickier road for GamerLegion than one might initially assume.

The recent pick-up of AWPer Milan “hypex” Polowiec will be key to finding success in the opening stage – he will need to find his form early on and add some of that signature GamerLegion systemic solidity to their game, otherwise the inherent chaos of Bo1s against hungry underdogs might prove challenging. Despite this, they’re still coming in with expectations of a fairly clean qualification to the next stage behind them.

B8

B8 are a very young team, but what they lack in age they make up for in consistently solid performances. Whilst they lack significant Tier 1 experience as a team, they have some in the form of Danyyl “headtr1ck” Valitov and Andrii “npl” Kukharskyi, having played on Ninjas in Pyjamas and NAVI respectively.

B8 are undoubtedly a dangerous team, and will be looking to do some serious damage in the opening stage. They have the potential to get through fairly handily…the only question is, will the pressure get to them?

Lynn Vision

Lynn Vision have proven themselves to be one of the strongest teams coming out of Asia, but have consistently fallen at the hurdle of harder EU teams in the bigger tournaments. Having said that, they are more than capable of shooting hard and pulling off some crazy rounds. Also, they have one of Counter-Strike’s most beloved characters in Tang “EmiliaQAQ” Junjie on their roster. This is a team that’s hard to dislike and, on their day, impossible to ignore.

M80

One of – if not the – most exciting teams in the NA region at the moment, M80 have the capacity to do some real work in Stage 1. Their aggressive style will be perfectly suited to taking scalps in the Bo1s, especially if Mason “Lake” Sanderson comes into the tournament on top form. Expect explosive, disruptive CS, and the signature hype from their newest pickup, Jadan “HexT” Postma. This is a team that will categorically be looking to get through to Stage 2, and stand a good chance of achieving it.

fnatic

fnatic haven’t won any friends from the UK CS scene of late (I’m sorry, I had to mention it), benching Cai “CYPHER” Watson shortly after he helped them qualify for the Major. They are an interesting prospect, who tend to be standing in the middle-ground of most people’s expectations heading into the opening stage. Veteran and 2x Major winner Freddy “KRIMZ” Johansson heads into his 18th Major, bolstered by Benjamin “blameF” Bremer’s safe pair of hands, Dmytro “jambo” Semera’s AWPing, and both Rodyon “fEAR” Smy and Mykyta “jackasmo” Skyba – their newest pickup. It remains to be seen how much damage this new iteration of fnatic can do, but their potential ceiling is undoubtedly high.

Ninjas in Pyjamas

What a journey it’s been for NiP. Since the advent of their new roster, the legendary organization have been grinding it out in Tier 2, getting their VRS points slowly but surely. They truly feel like a wildcard team in the sense that they definitely have the individuals to perform well at a high level, but also lack the consistency needed to stay in the big leagues.

The question is, will the leadership of Marco “Snappi” Pfeiffer and top-tier experience of Rasmus “sjuush” Beck be enough to keep the team focused and able to function under the pressure of fighting through the longest journey in the Major. They have done so much to get here – how much more can they do?

So, there you have it. A brief rundown of the expectations for half of the teams in Stage 1 of the StarLadder Budapest Major. Soon, we will be releasing the next part of this article, looking at the rest of the teams in the opening stage. Until then, learn some utility, practice your AWPing, and get some solo-queue in!