FaZe demolish sorry Mouz to continue their Budapest miracle run

FaZe swept Mouz aside in two maps to continue their miracle run at the StarLadder Budapest Major in a startling performance that saw them dictate the contest.

The international roster barely made it through Stage 1 of the competition, but now have a chance of reaching their third Grand Final in four Majors, after qualifying for the semi-finals.

From Stage 1 to the Semifinals!

ARE YOU NOT F$%&ING ENTERTAINED???? pic.twitter.com/lAOGhFVvjA

— StarLadder CS2 (@StarLadder_CS) December 12, 2025

FaZe clinch enthralling Nuke

Despite playing in his home town, Ádám ‘torzsi’ Torzsás did not get the lion’s share of the crowd support, with FaZe commanding most of the crowd.

Finn ‘karrigan’ Andersen used that arena energy to call a lightning-fast T-side, which saw FaZe steamroll a Mouz who could not prevent FaZe snowballing into sites with quick trades.

karrigan even secured a rare AWP kill, as Mouz failed to hold A yet again despite a strong setup as FaZe took a 6-2 lead.

Perhaps most pleasing of all for FaZe, Jakub ‘jcobbb’ Pietruszewski started hot despite being a Major playoff rookie.

He started the pistol with a hot shot, and ended the half with four as a double-entry was followed by two more quick kills to guarantee FaZe an ominous 9-3 lead after their T-side.

It was on Nuke that FaZe were less than half a second from being eliminated on Stage 1 against Red Canids.

In that moment, the exploitable nature of karrigan playing Outside was a clear reason for FaZe’s struggles.

As FaZe took their substantial lead into the second half, FaZe threw in a variation with David ‘frozen’ Čerňanský taking the duties on Yard when Helvijs ‘broky’ Saukants was not there to back up the IGL.

Despite that, Mouz began to find the solutions, turning around a 3v4 deficit to take the game to within 2 rounds, 9-7.

Mouz equalised after Ludvig ‘Brollan’ Brolin and Lotan ‘Spinx’ Giladi had consecutive clutches.

After clutch for Mouz from the hometown boy gave Mouz 11 rounds, but a teamkill from the Hungarian meant Mouz would not secure map point on the first time of asking, granting FaZe their first CT-side round on Nuke.

As Mouz had won their rounds with so many 1vX clutches, their money was suddenly broken after FaZe collected their second of the half.

The result was a depleted buy for Mouz, giving up map point despite an outrageous deagle shot from Jimi ‘Jimpphat’ Salo.

broky took the final round in his hands, securing the opening kill before picking off jimpphat’s lobby lurk, leaving Mouz with few options but to attempt a desperate 2v4 lower hit that frozen an broky easily dispatched to give FaZe the map and a 1-0 series lead.

FaZe obliterate misfiring Mouz on Inferno

Mouz needed some momentum to get back into the series, but it was not forthcoming as they once again lost the first pistol without a single kill.

That clean pistol round from FaZe came despite Mouz hitting a B with only frozen present, and four of FaZe stacked on A.

Far from building into the series, it seemed nothing was going in Mouz’s favour as they fell to a 0-4 deficit.

Despite winning a tec-9 round built around torzsi’s saved AWP, FaZe cleanly shut down a weak B-site execute to maintain control.

It has often been said that Mouz live or die based on the opening success of Dorian ‘xertioN’ Berman.

Going 0-8 in the first eight rounds, Mouz were dying a limp death.

The Israeli finally had his impact, in a three-kill clutched to give Mouz signs of life.

Yet the general trend was simply poor CS from Mouz as missed molotovs, left gaps in smokes, dinked their teammate on Banana.

For FaZe, all of their win conditions were fully online. twistzz and broky were dominating, frozen was guaranteeing opening kill after opening kill.

It was 10 for FaZe on the half. The writing was on the wall, this Mouz was being put down by a clinical FaZe Clan.

The three rounds they needed quickly followed, as the pistol victory marked the final capitulation from Mouz.

A rapturous crowd was elated despite eliminated the Hungarian representation from the event, as FaZe continued to ride their momentum to a 13-3 victory on Inferno.

It was a sad and familiar story for Mouz. The same patterns, the same meekness on the stage.

Despite growing to be a team who can beat anyone on their day, despite reversing their previously abject record against FaZe, Mouz were left in the same position as always.

It is hard to imagine the pain within the roster after the loss, and whether the team can recover from being demolished in a game they were strong favourites for.

In that moment, when a jubilant crowd chanted “Send them home” to a player in his home city, it was hard to see that Mouz had made any progress at all since being labelled the ‘FaZe Academy.’

Certainly, they were taken to school in Budapest.

FaZe will now face the winner of Furia and NaVi, seemingly with all of their pieces online and firing.

Can FaZe magic take them even further?