FaZe conjure magic once again to make Budapest Major Grand Final

FaZe conjured their magic to make the Grand Final of the StarLadder Budapest Major, prevailing 2-1 over Natus Vincere in a scintillating series.

Finn ‘karrigan’ Andersen’s men were, at a point, a map and 2-8 down, but once again FaZe fought back to reach their third Major Grand Final in four attempts.

FaZe will now face the reigning Major champions in Vitality, who defeated Spirit 2-0 to make the final in Budapest.

makazze blows FaZe away on Ancient

NaVi picked Ancient against FaZe for a simple reason: The international roster had not played it at the Major.

Despite winning the first pistol, FaZe looked uncomfortable soon after as they failed to convert.

Drin ‘makazze’ Shaqiri soon starred as the Kosovar rifler acted as the hard entry into mid for NaVi, having startling success in an incredible performance.

The map was the home map for the NaVi Junior academy roster he was a prominent aspect of, and it showed as he secured multi-kill after multi-kill.

FaZe lacked any agency as makazze went where he pleased, with FaZe clearly lacking the protocols and responses to deal with NaVi’s strategies.

With FaZe comebacks being a common feature of the roster, it didn’t seem impossible after FaZe won the pistol and conversions.

FaZe’s own rookie, Jakub ‘jcobbb’ Pietruszewski threatened to mirror makazze as he started hot on that T-side.

However, on 10-5, NaVi secured their first as a failed flank from David ‘frozen’ Čerňanský gave NaVi a 2v2 victory to get their first CT-round.

Ihor ‘w0nderful’ Zhdanov was there when needed as FaZe tested the A site, securing a 3k to secure the map 13-5 for Natus Vincere.

NaVi stomp FaZe on Ancient behind a special performance from rookie makazze.

13-5 and 1-0 in the series. Can FaZe recover on their own pick of Nuke? pic.twitter.com/L4VSfoj3ep

— Esports News UK (@Esports_News_UK) December 13, 2025

Cold as ice frozen delivers FaZe Nuke

Starting on the favoured CT-side, a duel beretta 4k from Mihai ‘iM’ Ivan continued NaVi’s momentum early on Nuke.

However, FaZe fought back to find success, with Russel ‘Twistzz’ Van Dulken finding success in his classic Mini plays.

A string of rounds followed where NaVi continually found solutions, despite FaZe having space on the map.

As the half came to an end, FaZe managed to find a few more rounds to give them a reasonable four rounds on the T-side.

FaZe quickly rotated to deny NaVi a B-site plant on the second pistol, giving them a foothold to build into the half.

All the momentum was now with FaZe and NaVi’s first gun round led a complete shutdown in ramp.

NaVi’s first T-side round game instead from a forcebuy, and now they found success pushing down secret.

NaVi seemed to be in the position to close out the map, but a 1v3 ending in a stuck defuse reduced the deficit to just two rounds at 10-8 to NaVi.

frozen again delivered in the 2v2 on the following round. With broky stuck in vent, frozen stepped out to cover his teammate and delete NaVi.

NaVi needed something in the lowbuy that followed, and Valeriy ‘b1t’ Vakhovskiy provided, killing a misfiring Helvijs ‘broky’ Saukants on ramp and iM collecting Twistzz on a quick vent drop.

frozen again was the hero as NaVi threated to take map point, denying a clutch against w0nderful.

It was now broky’s turn to step up, with NaVi’s money on the line, broky delivered in the 1v2 to give FaZe control for the first time.

A quick failed top pop followed, and FaZe had map point. NaVi could not dislodge FaZe’s A pieces, and FaZe had the map to equalise the series.

Budapest is happy about that one.

We're going three in Semi-Final 2 in the MVM Dome.

Inferno Map 3 for all the marbles! pic.twitter.com/fK3GhMbJ5C

— Esports News UK (@Esports_News_UK) December 13, 2025

FaZe crush NaVi on Inferno

Starting on the T-side, where there troubles emerged against Furia, NaVi struggled immediately on the T-side.

A 4-0 start for FaZe showed great signs for FaZe’s individuals. In contrast to the Copenhagen Major final, Finn ‘karrigan’ Andersen was also contributing in spades on Inferno.

But it was truly jcobbb whose A holds were outstanding, delivering on porch and Under Balcony to preclude b1t having impact on his favoured map.

An 8-1 lead followed, with FaZe controlling Banana, and Faze consistently able to shut down NaVi’s trips into brackets.

Despite 1v2 heroics from w0nderful, NaVi were restricted to just three T-side rounds as FaZe took a 9-3 lead on the half.

A pistol clutch from Aleksi ‘Aleksib’ Virolainen gave NaVi a thin path to recover, by jcobbb once again delivered to open up A for a FaZe pivot to give FaZe 10-5.

iM burning down early on Banana opened up the options for FaZe on 10-6, giving karrigan the knowledge to make the perfect call to give FaZe 11 and leave NaVi’s buy shattered.

Hearts were in mouths for NaVi in the following round, as a 2v2 retake kept them in the contest with a defuse that went down to the wire.

“Oh my God,” b1t visibly mouthed. Another round followed but Twistzzz was about to decide the game.

With only pistoled, Twistzz produced an outrageous 1v3 clutch with just the deagle to give FaZe map point.

A fast B hit followed and an elated MVM Dome burst into an explosion of exaltation as FaZe got over the line 13-8.