StarLadder Budapest Major Stage 3 preview: Who survives to face CS2’s titans?
Stages 1 and 2 have concluded, and StarLadder Budapest Major Stage 3 is set to begin. Half of the 32 starting teams have been eliminated, leaving 16.
Meanwhile, the journey of CS2’s most impactful teams is only beginning. Who has been knocked out, what are Stage 3’s opening matches, and which teams are most likely to reach the Playoffs?
Lucky scrapes, crushing eliminations, and strong performances: summarising Stages 1 and 2
As ENUK predicted in its StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 Stage 2 Preview, NAVI have advanced to Stage 3, despite the roster’s issues. While NAVI recently feels disjointed as a roster, they managed to finish Stage 2 at the top of the leaderboard with three wins.
Following close behind after Stage 2 is FaZe Clan, despite their early elimination scare.
Meanwhile, Team Liquid, Passion UA, and 3DMAX are the lowest-ranked teams to make it through to the StarLadder Budapest Major Stage 3, with a 3-2 record for Stage 2.
Team Liquid was likely hoping that their new roster, featuring the return of Jonathan ‘EliGE’ Jablonowski following his stint on FaZe Clan, would put them in a more favourable position for the Major.
However, Team Liquid have not had the best start, losing their Stage 2 Round 1 and Round 2 matches to B8 and PARAVISION.
Having qualified through both Stages of competition so far, Imperial Esports, B8, and PARAVISION have worked hard to achieve Stage 3 qualification. Nevertheless, their most significant challenges lie ahead.
StarLadder Budapest Major Stage 3 teams: Qualified rosters and direct invites
The following teams have qualified for Stage 3 through Stage 2 and 1 competition, listed in order of Stage 2 results:
- NAVI (entered the Major in Stage 2)
- FaZe Clan (entered the Major in Stage 1)
- B8 (entered the Major in Stage 1)
- Imperial Esports (entered the Major in Stage 1)
- PARAVISION (entered the Major in Stage 1)
- Team Liquid (entered the Major in Stage 2)
- Passion UA (entered the Major in Stage 2)
- 3DMAX (entered the Major in Stage 2)
However, the following teams were directly invited to Stage 3:
- FURIA
- Team Vitality
- Team Falcons
- The MongolZ
- MOUZ
- Team Spirit
- G2 Esports
- paiN Gaming
Who presents the most serious threat from the directly invited teams?
Teams that qualified directly for the StarLadder Budapest Major Stage 3 have yet to prove themselves in this tournament. However, their recent performances in other tournament series offer some indication of who will pose the greatest threat.
FURIA is certainly arriving in Budapest on a high. Alongside winning IEM Chengdu and BLAST Open Fall back-to-back, they now also top the CS2 Valve Regional Standings for December.
Team Vitality is also incredibly likely to progress to the Playoffs. However, there are significant doubts surrounding their ability to take the title.
In fact, Team Vitality has not won a significant Tier 1 LAN trophy since the previous June 2025 Major in Austin, Texas. Nevertheless, it would take a severe upset for Vitality to miss the Playoffs.
Moving to the other end of the confidence spectrum, The MongolZ is still adjusting to their latest roster change. BLAST Open Fall in Hong Kong saw them bow out as one of the first teams eliminated.
Team Spirit have also struggled with consistency since their IEM Cologne 2025 victory. This is also likely impacted by roster changes.
Meanwhile, Team Falcons are entering the Major with a lot to prove.
The BLAST Austin Major earlier in 2025 saw the roster eliminated embarrassingly early, prompting roster changes and a hard re-evaluation.
Despite qualifying for and competing in several Playoffs since then, titles continue to elude them.
They may pose a more significant threat in Budapest, with the weight of expectation and past failure on their shoulders.
StarLadder Budapest Major Stage 3 Opening Matches
From December 4th to 7th, teams will battle for a place in the Playoffs in the StarLadder Budapest Major Stage 3 Swiss format.
The opening Round 1 matches take place on December 4th:
- The MongolZ vs Imperial Esports (12:00 GMT)
- MOUZ vs PARAVISION (12:00 GMT)
- Team Spirit vs Team Liquid (13:00 GMT)
- G2 vs Passion UA (13:00 GMT)
- Team Vitality vs FaZe Clan (14:00 GMT)
- paiN Gaming vs 3DMAX (14:00 GMT)
- FURIA vs NAVI (15:00 GMT)
- Team Falcons vs B8 (15:00 GMT)
Round 2 matches also take place on December 4th, and are determined by the results of Round 1. These matches are split into “High Matches” (winners) and Low Matches” (losers) with the winners and losers of Round 1 divided accordingly.
Following the conclusion of the StarLadder Budapest Major Stage 2, the Playoffs run from December 11th to 14th.
Only then will the final Counter-Strike champions of 2025 be crowned.
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