Stage 1 Bo1s conclude with FaZe & Parivision in trouble of elimination at the Budapest Major
The Best of 1s at Stage 1 of the StarLadder Budapest Major have concluded, with FaZe, Parivision, Red Canids, and Imperial at risk of falling out of the Major after slumping to 1-2 records in the event.
FaZe played a truly abysmal Bo1 against Ninjas in Pyjamas on Overpass to lose 13-8 after starting on the CT-side, leaving Finn ‘karrigan’ Andersen and his men on the brink of elimination.
The results also mean that former Major Champion, Dzhami ‘Jame’ Ali, is now on the brink of elimination from Stage 1 after falling to a 1-2 record at the event.
Conversely, NiP, B8, Fnatic, and Legacy are now just one win away from Stage 2 after securing wins in the Bo1s to go 2-1 at the StarLadder Budapest Major 2025.
StarLadder Budapest Major 1-1 Bracket Match Reports:
Legacy recover to show dominant T-side on Nuke
Legacy came into Stage 1 as the highest-ranked team, but in playing Red Canids they were against an enemy familiar with their style.
On Nuke, Red Canids were playing with their food on the T-side, with Legacy suffering a horror CT-side on the usually defence-sided map.
Red Canids consistently gained entry to the B site through exploitation of the map peripheries, with Legacy failing to adjust to lose six rounds on their CT side.
Despite the nature of the map, Legacy’s own strengths are in their ruthless aggression, and they brought that furious pace to their own T-side.
Now it was Red Canids that looked shaken, as Allan ‘history’ Lawrenz missed successive shots in what was looking like a nervy display.
Legacy quickly put Red Canids out of their misery, winning every single T-round to convert a 13-6 victory.
It was possibly the most T-sided Nuke we will see at this Major.
Legacy moves on to the 2-1 bracket, with Red Canids falling to the 1-2 group.
B8 best Parivision: Jame out of time at the Budapest Major?
Back-to-back 4ks from Emil ‘nota’ Moskvitin put Paravision in control of Inferno early, as Paravision took control of the contest.
The rounds did not prove decisive, however, as B8 began to assert themselves on banana and pull off rare retakes on the map.
The wisdom of Jame’s unique economic management was drawn into question as Andrey ‘BELCHONOKK’ Yasinskiy was left with only a Tec-9 when Jame could have dropped him an AK.
That choice paid off, as Parivision managed to fend off the B8 fightback and secure a reasonable 7-5 half on the T-side.
BELCHONOKK pulled off an absurd 3k to recover a 2v4, with Jame ninjas defusing the bomb to win the second pistol, but Parvision could not convert the pistol due to a Dmytro ‘Esenthial’ Tsvir clutch.
The loss devastated the Parivision economy to give B8 a lead at 9-8.
Parivision won their first complete buy, five rounds into the half, but excellent openings from Esenthial and Artem ‘kensizor’ Kapran put B8 within touching distance of victory.
A strong AWPing hold from Jame and a hold from a stacked B site evened up the game at 11-11, with B8’s economy now suffering.
It was B8 that took map and match point as they adeptly successfully took A yet again to convert the map 13-11.
Ninjas in Pyjamas and FaZe clash in tough moment for both teams
Both NiP and FaZe have looked shaky in their form, and at this event, before their 1-1 clash, both losing to NRG with a coaching stand-in.
A pistol conversion may have made FaZe fans hopeful of another dominant victory, like their Round 1 victory over Lynn Vision.
In reality, NiP were quick to fight back on Overpass, exploiting FaZe’s B-site, which was farcical at times.
Another struggling start from Jakub ‘jcobbb’ Pietruszewski gave NiP control of Connector to get their initial rounds, but after that, it was simply a job of walking into the site and claiming largely untraded frags.
NiP finished the half with eight of the last nine rounds in a display which was antithetical to their Overpass loss to NRG. Yet it said more about FaZe than NiP in truth.
FaZe did what was needed and won the pistol round, converting the first three rounds to close the gap, but again, they were messy this time in attack.
NiP continued to pick up kills with no fight back, losing track of NiP pieces and surrendering advantages.
FaZe started both halves 3-0, but won only two rounds outside of that as they fell to within one Best of 3 to elimination in only Stage 1 of the Budapest Major.
Fnatic crush Imperial to put them on the edge of advancing
Fnatic wasted no time against Imperial on Train. Benefiting from a CT-sided start, Fnatic showed an unusually proactive face on the CT-side.
The roster didn’t give Imperial time to breathe, pushing Ivy, Popdog, and B Halls to stop Imperial before they got started.
Dmytro ‘jambo’ Semera starred for the now majority-Ukrainian roster as they took a 10-2 CT-sided half.
The scoreline left Fnatic with little work required in the second half.
After a pistol round win and a conversion, Fnatic needed only one round to go 2-1 at the Budapest Major, grabbing it on the second time of asking in a one-sided affair.
Why are Best of 1s unpopular in Counter-Strike Majors?
Best of 1s have become a somewhat infamous aspect of Counter-Strike majors, with high variance leading to inconsistent results during the Bo1 stage.
Best of 1s have largely been removed from the Tier 1 calendar following the switch to MR12 in Counter-Strike 2, shortening matches from the previous MR15 format.
As a result, Bo1s have been banished to the annals of history for much of the scene, but not for Counter-Strike’s most prestigious tournaments – the Majors.
With the StarLadder Budapest Major switching to a Best of 5 final, Counter-Strike fans are hopeful that further changes will see Bo1 removed in future tournaments.
Whether these were the last Bo1s at a Major remains to be seen, but what is for sure is that the Major’s Bo1s have continued to provide upsets in Stage 1.
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