Valve has revealed the regional distribution of major slots for the StarLadder Budapest Major 2025, which remain unchanged from the BLAST.tv Austin Major, however, all slots for Budapest will be decided by direct invitation based on VRS rank.
The first major of the year, the BLAST.tv Austin Major, did not include invites to Stage 1. Instead, it included qualification slots for MRQs, qualifying tournaments from which teams ranked below the Stage 2 & 3 teams could qualify for the major. Budapest has no MRQ tournaments, meaning all the slots at the major are decided by VRS invitation only.
The slots for Stage 1 line up exactly with the number of slots dedicated to MRQ qualification spaces for Austin, meaning there is no change to the regional representation at the major.
The invitation date for the StarLadder Budapest Major is October 6, with the announcement of attending teams expected to follow closely. Teams, therefore, know exactly the date by which they will have to have risen in the ranks to get those coveted slots.
Despite their loss to MOUZ at IEM Cologne, Vitality will remain huge favourites with esports betting sites owing to their dominant first season of the year, amassing eight consecutive trophies, including the BLAST.tv Austin Major trophy.
Who would qualify for the StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 if invites went out today?
As there is a lot of CS to be played between now and October, and VRS points degrade over time, so it’s impossible to know exactly who will qualify for the major yet, but just for fun, let’s have a look at what these invitation slots would mean if the major invites went out today*:
*Data is based on the August 4 VRS snapshot
Stage 3 Invites:
| EU | Americas | Asia |
| Vitality | Furia | The MongolZ |
| Spirit | paiN | |
| MOUZ | ||
| NaVi (Natus Vincere) | ||
| Falcons |
Stage 2 Invites:
| EU | Americas | Asia |
| FaZe | Complexity | Tyloo |
| Astralis | Legacy | |
| Aurora | ||
| G2 | ||
| 3DMAX |
Stage 1 Invites:
| EU | Americas | Asia |
| GamerLegion | mibr | Lynn Vision |
| Virtus.pro | M80 | FlyQuest |
| Heroic | NRG | Rare Atom |
| Ninjas in Pyjamas | Imperial | Chinggis Warriors |
| SAW | Fluxo | |
| BetBoom | Wildcard |
I hope the above is taken with the largest pinch of salt possible, as there are sure to be lots of changes to the above. Yet, if the StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 were sent out today, Liquid, Fnatic, BIG, ENCE, OG, and 9z would be amongst the high-profile teams to miss out.
Don’t worry, Liquid fans, there is a lot of Counter-Strike still to be played. Still, it shows that Liquid must have a more positive second half of their year, following a disjointed first half, which has continued into this season in their humiliating loss to VP Prodigy, Virtus.pro’s academy roster.
Darragh Harbinson is an esports writer specialising in Counter-Strike. He has written for Esports News UK, Esports Insider, UKCSGO, Dexerto, and Rush B Media.
