Fnatic claim final PGL Budapest Major 2025 spot in dramatic fashion; Major Invites set

Darragh Harbinson, Senior Editor

Last Updated: 06/10/2025

Fnatic beat 9ine 3-2 in the Grand Final of Fragadelphia Blocktober to claim the final available Major spot in dramatic fashion.

The event was the culmination of six months of chasing VRS points in order to ultimately earn a place at the PGL Budapest Major 2025, which will begin on November 24.

As the invite date was October 6, Frag Blocktober was the last event counted towards the VRS invites for the Major. As such, we now know the full list of teams attending Counter-Strike 2’s second major of the year.

Fnatic find an unlikely path to Major

Fnatic were at a point long odds to make the major, after suffering damaging defeats to ESC, Alliance, and Ecstatic online, damaging their standing in the VRS.

Despite online losses, Fnatic went into the event with strong LAN form, having won DracuLAN 1. They also benefited from the hugely consequential Visa issues of Virtus.pro, which saw them miss out on ESL Pro League Season 22, as they were turned away at the border due to not meeting insurance requirements.

Fnatic went into Frag knowing that their fate was in a tenuous position. Had SAW made a run to the final, then there would not have been a path for them to the major, as the VRS gap would have been too large to bridge even in winning the event.

Subsequently, VRS expert and EPIC.LAN admin, Finn ‘Mischief’ Farrer gave Fnatic only a 9.7% probability of making the major prior to the event, based on thousands of simulations.

However, SAW’s elimination at the hands of 9ine in the quarter-finals opened up the pathway to several teams.

Thousands of variables collapsed into one single simple moment; SAW’s defeat meant the winner of Fragadelphia Blocktober would qualify for the major.

The semi-finalists, Fnatic, OG, 9ine, and Ecstatic, all would have qualified had they won the event.

Fnatic were the ones to hold their nerves and book their place at the major at the unlikely climactic venue of six months of labour – Localhost in Philly, a LAN venue in Philadelphia.

A second major for Britain’s CYPHER

British entry ace, Cai ‘CYPHER’ Watson, will make his second appearance at a Counter-Strike major following Fnatic’s qualification to the major. CYPHER made the quarter-finals of the BLAST Paris Major 2023 with Into The Breach in a famous miracle run.

CYPHER joined Fnatic in late July, departing BC.Game that signed legendary AWPer, Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev, only a few days later.

CYPHER revealed to UKCSGO that the offer to join Fnatic came after knowledge that BC.Game were in communication regarding signing s1mple

“It came around quite randomly, to be honest. I think one day I just woke up, and I was on BC.Game, and we were talking about signing s1mple, so I was quite excited. Then all of a sudden, Fnatic messaged. My agent was like, ‘Fnatic is interested, would you be interested?’ I was like, ‘It’s Fnatic, I obviously am.'”

CYPHER’s choice to forgo playing with the CSGOAT has been rewarded with his incoming second sticker in the game, as Fnatic secured the primary goal of all Counter-Strike rosters in guaranteeing their place at the Major.

Full invite list for PGL Budapest Major 2025

Stage 1 (Nov 24-27):

Stage 2 (Nov 29-Dec 2):

Stage 3 Invites (Dec 4-7):

The PGL StarLadder Budapest 2025 Major will run from November 24-December 14, culminating in the Playoffs taking place from December 11-14 at the 20,000-capacity MVM Dome.

Darragh Harbinson, Senior Editor

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.

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