Ninjas in Pyjamas advance to Stage 2; B8 upset Legacy

Darragh Harbinson, Senior Editor

Last Updated: 26/11/2025

Ninjas in Pyjamas and B8 have qualified for Stage 2 after defeating Fluxo and Legacy in their 2-1 bracket contests in Stage 1 of the StarLadder Budapest Major 2025.

Both teams have advanced to Stage 2 of the Major, with Fluxo and Legacy falling to a 2-2 overall record, meaning they will face a do-or-die Bo3 on Thursday.

Legacy were one of the favourites to advance from the stage, and Fluxo were 2-0 after Day 1, meaning there is a huge amount of pressure tomorrow on the Brazilian rosters.

Ninjas in Pyjamas sweep Fluxo aside in an impressive display

About 15 minutes into NiP’s Nuke contest with Fluxo, they were most of the way there to winning the map.

Six unanswered T-side rounds in the typically CT-sided map put Snappi’s men easily in control of the contest.

Fleet-footed moves from Rasmus ‘sjuush’ Beck opened up successive rounds for Marco ‘Snappi’ Pfeiffer’s men.

Though the Ninjas would only get one more T round, the total of seven seemed more than enough, and that theory was redoubled by NiP winning the pistol.

Kacper ‘xKacpersky’ Gabara was the anti-virus to Fluxo’s attack, repelling the Brazilians in a messy T-side that netted them zero rounds in a 13-5 loss.

Train was Michel ‘ewjerkz’ Pinto’s playground as NiP started on the CT-side. The Portuguese racked up three multikills, remarkably not dying in the first half of play.

Yet Fluxo fought back in the latter half, getting four key rounds to give themselves a chance.

Again, however, Fluxo collapsed in the second half, this time on the favoured side, as they could only muster one CT-round.

ewjerkz ended the match with a 20/5 K/D as NiP ran rampant in B Halls, back Bomb, and the A-site to easily convert the map 13-5.

Snappi took the time to praise Artem ‘r1nkle’ Moroz after the match on broadcast. An interesting choice, as the Ukrainian, in fact, struggled on both maps, statistically dropping 0.95 and 0.94 HLTV ratings.

Recovering his confidence will be key to NiP’s Stage 2 run, so perhaps a smart move from NiP’s IGL to big up his main man.

Certianly, the team as a whole seem to have recovered its feel after losing in their opening matchup to NRG. They advance from Stage 1 with a 3-1 overall record.

B8 grind Legacy to Dust

B8 outlasted Legacy on Dust 2, who through away a late lead to concede the first map of the series.

An 8-4 T-side looked to open up a clear path to victory for Legacy. Despite their main man, Eduardo ‘dumau’ Wolkmer misfiring, the Brazilians raced to their half-time lead.

The game tightened up as B8 took the pistol and conversions, but Legacy seemed to have taken decisive control of the contest in winning three back-to-back rounds to take an 11-7 lead.

From that moment on, Andrii ‘npl’ Kukharskyi seemingly could do no wrong, commanding his men to the right spots to exploit Legacy.

Legacy were dizzy chasing fakes, rotating to the wrong spots as B8 took five of the last 6 rounds to force Overtime.

Overtime continued the pattern, as B8 converted all their T-sided rounds, winning the map on the first time of asking 16-12.

Having stolen Legacy’s map-pick, B8 were riding high and playing with confidence.

Legacy, on the other hand, looked out of sorts after letting Dust 2 slip away.

Artem ‘kensizor’ Kapran further tilted Legacy by getting a knife kill on Guilherme ‘saadzin’ Pacheco.

B8 were in full control. Even the one time their economy became shaky, they won the full deagle round, further putting Legacy’s mental at risk.

The Mirage showing was B8’s best in many ways. It was exciting, proactive, and decisive as they raced to a 13-5 victory.

Legacy will now await their 2-2 matchup, where they could play FaZe Clan.

Legacy were favourites to advance from this stage, but will have to make sure their stars are firing in the last match of Stage 1.

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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