NaVi upset favourites Furia to advance to StarLadder Budapest Major semi-finals

Darragh Harbinson, Senior Editor

Last Updated: 13/12/2025

NaVi will take on FaZe in the semi-finals of the StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 after a staggering 2-1 victory over pre-tournament favourites, Furia.

The Brazilian roster had dismantled NaVi in groups, but fell in three maps in what was a highly memorable series.

NaVi show best face on Mirage

NaVi’s coach, Andrii ‘B1ad3’ Horodenskyi had clearly drilled his men well going into the quarter-final contest, as NaVi showed expert manipulation of the T-side on Mirage.

In contrast to the Swiss Stage loss, NaVi started shooting sharp, giving their individuals the spotlight in a confidence-building beginning of the contest.

Following an 8-4 T-side, NaVi quickly closed the map 13-5 in a commanding performance in Mirage.

With Furia failing to show up early, all eyes turned to Inferno to see if they could rally.

While it seemed in the early-stages that Furia would simply limp out of the tournament, Inferno turned into the most entralling contest of the Major thus far.

NaVi’s CT-side completely stifled a flat Furia, who continuously ran short on time.

NaVi and Furia playout classic Inferno, with FalleN’s heroics starring

Late executions are not necessarily an issue in an of themselves, but it was the nature of those executions that were worrying.

Furia has little map control, failed to force out utility, and lacked pressure across positions, making NaVi’s shutdowns simply as NaVi raced to a 9-2 half-time lead.

After the pistol, the map seemed done at 10-3 to NaVi but a forcebuy victory gave the Brazilians hope.

An incredible comeback followed, where Furia simply dominated Banana. NaVi could not get a foothold anywhere in the crucial corridor to B.

The result was a simple read for Furia, who could continuously stack the A bombsite, as NaVi had nowhere else to go, usually with wounded soldiers.

FalleN pulled off the most extraordinary 1v3, with no time to spare as NaVi tried to exit the bomb site, giving Furia the lead 11-10.

Two solid rounds from NaVi followed, showing their mental resiliency in the face of a terrible round to lose, but Furia clawed the map back, bringing it to overtime.

In overtime, the same pattern emerged of NaVi’s T-side struggles, as the won only one of the three T-rounds, before Furia blew NaVi’s B bombsite open to close the map 16-13.

Train masterclass ends Furia’s Major hopes

Now, with all the momentum, and after a huge comeback, it seemed the series was there for the taking for the world Number 1s.

Yet what Furia needed was their stars to wake up, as FalleN has kept them alive on Inferno.

That is not occur, as NaVi ripped apart Furia’s CT-side on the heavily defensively-sided map.

Danil ‘molodoy’ Golubenko has a rare off-day throughout the contest, but Train made those struggles evident as he failed to connect in NaVi’s Ivy, Halls, or T-Conn pushes.

That is not to undermine NaVi’s gameplan, which was played to perfection. The Copenhagen Major champions showed their tactical best in their approach, finding timings and gaps which gave them a 10-2 T-side half.

Now on the favoured CT-side, it was inevitable that NaVi would convert the map, and they did so on the second time of asking.

A classic series with a sad ending for Furia, they were outplanned and outfought in a rare off-day for their aimers.

NaVi now move on to a semi-final against FaZe, who demolished Mouz 2-0 in their quarter-final.

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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