The StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 was the second Major of 2025 and the first with a best-of-five grand final. Team Vitality beat FaZe Clan 3-1 at the MVM Dome on December 14, 2025, becoming the first team to win back-to-back Majors since Astralis in 2019. The event also introduced a new embroidered sticker finish and sticker slabs.
The tournament
StarLadder, which last hosted a Major at Berlin 2019, ran the event from November 24 to December 14, 2025. All three Swiss stages were played in front of a crowd at MTK Sportpark, and the playoffs moved to the 20,000-seat MVM Dome.
The structure followed Austin, with one change at the end:
- Stages 1 to 3 (November 24 to December 7): three 16-team Swiss stages. Advancement and elimination matches were best-of-three, the rest best-of-one, and eight teams went through each time.
- Playoffs (December 11–14): eight teams, single elimination. Quarter-finals and semi-finals were best-of-three, the grand final best-of-five.
There were no qualifiers this time. In June 2025 Valve cancelled the Major Regional Qualifiers, saying a separate qualification process was "both unnecessary and disruptive", and all 32 teams were invited directly from the Valve Regional Standings published in early October. Eight started in Stage 3, eight in Stage 2 and 16 in Stage 1.
The prize pool was $1,250,000, with $500,000 for Vitality and $170,000 for FaZe.
Vitality and FaZe
Vitality kept the lineup that won in Austin: Dan "apEX" Madesclaire as in-game leader, Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut, Shahar "flameZ" Shushan, William "mezii" Merriman and Robin "ropz" Kool, coached by Rémy "XTQZZZ" Quoniam.
The two finalists took very different routes. Vitality were invited to Stage 3, lost their opening best-of-one to FaZe, then won three in a row. In the playoffs they beat The MongolZ and Team Spirit without dropping a map.
FaZe started in Stage 1, and HLTV reported they were 0.4 seconds from elimination against RED Canids. Finn "karrigan" Andersen's team then went 3-0 through Stage 2, beat Vitality in Stage 3 and knocked out MOUZ 2-0 and Natus Vincere 2-1 in the playoffs.
The grand final
| Map | Vitality | FaZe |
|---|---|---|
| Nuke | 6 | 13 |
| Dust II | 13 | 3 |
| Inferno | 13 | 9 |
| Overpass | 13 | 2 |
Mirage would have been the fifth map. FaZe were the better side on Nuke, where HLTV singled out Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken and karrigan, and ZywOo struggled. Vitality answered on Dust II, which HLTV noted was a map they had lost only four times in 2025 before the final. On Inferno they overturned a 0-3 start, with mezii finishing on 23 kills to 8 deaths and a 2.00 rating. Overpass was one-sided: Vitality opened with 11 straight rounds on their T side, and ropz posted a 2.89 rating, the best map of his career by HLTV's numbers.
Records
- Back to back. Vitality became the first team to win consecutive Majors since Astralis in 2019, and it was the organisation's third Major title.
- Three Major MVPs. HLTV named ZywOo MVP, making him the only player with three Major MVP awards and the first since coldzera in 2016 to win two in one year. HLTV called the race with ropz razor-tight.
- ropz in every final. HLTV noted that ropz had played in every CS2 Major final: two with FaZe in 2024 and two with Vitality in 2025. This was his third Major title.
- apEX's fourth. According to HLTV, apEX moved level with Emil "Magisk" Reif, Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz, Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander and Andreas "Xyp9x" Højsleth on four Majors, one behind Peter "dupreeh" Rasmussen.
Stickers: embroidered and slabbed
Valve released the Budapest stickers with the Major hub and Viewer Pass on November 12, 2025. The finishes were paper, embroidered, holo and gold. Embroidered was new, a stitched look in place of the foil used at Austin.
The capsules again followed the starting stages, with the StarLadder logo in each team capsule:
| Capsule | Teams |
|---|---|
| Legends | FURIA, Falcons, G2, MOUZ, paiN Gaming, Team Spirit, The MongolZ, Vitality |
| Challengers | 3DMAX, Astralis, Aurora, MIBR, Natus Vincere, Passion UA, Team Liquid, TYLOO |
| Contenders | The 16 Stage 1 teams, including runners-up FaZe Clan |
The same update added sticker slabs: charms that seal a sticker so it can hang on a gun without being applied, and can be broken open to get the sticker back. On December 18 Valve released the Budapest 2025 Champions Autograph Capsule with Vitality's autographs in paper, embroidered, holo and gold. As at every capsule-era Major, half of the proceeds went to players and organisations; our Major sticker capsules guide explains how.
Souvenir packages
The map pool had changed again: Overpass returned in place of Anubis, so the seven packages were Ancient, Dust II, Inferno, Mirage, Nuke, Overpass and Train. The Overpass package drew on the Overpass 2024 Collection, whose Covert skin is the AK-47 | B the Monster, and Train again used the Train 2025 Collection.
Valve brought back highlight packages "by popular demand": playoff Souvenirs came with a charm showing a clip from the match, as introduced at Austin. There is a highlight package for each of the seven maps, and grand final Souvenirs come from the Nuke, Dust II, Inferno and Overpass ones. Our souvenir packages guide covers how they were sold and when the playoff ones arrived.
Collecting Budapest items
- Austin or Budapest. Vitality's five players have champion autographs from both 2025 Majors. An embroidered one can only be from Budapest and a foil one only from Austin; for paper, holo and gold, read the event name.
- FaZe from Stage 1. FaZe's Budapest team stickers come from the Contenders capsule, not the Legends one.
- Slab or applied. A slabbed sticker can be returned to the inventory, while an applied one can only be scraped. Check which you are buying.
- Inspect the scrape. Our stickers guide explains how wear affects applied stickers.
- Search by sticker. The sticker filter on Buy finds guns carrying a specific Budapest sticker.
The previous Major was Austin 2025, and the next was IEM Cologne 2026, where Valve replaced capsules with a shop.
Sources
- StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 — Liquipedia
- Vitality beat FaZe 3-1 to become back-to-back Major champions in Budapest — HLTV.org
- ZywOo earns historic third Major MVP at StarLadder Budapest — HLTV.org
- Valve cancels MRQs ahead of Budapest Major — HLTV.org
- StarLadder to host 2025 CS2 Major in Budapest's 20,000-seat MVM Dome — StarLadder
- The StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 — Counter-Strike 2 announcements (Valve)
- The Year of the Bees — Counter-Strike 2 announcements (Valve)
