StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 Winners: Champions, Final Standings, and Highlights

Dec 15, 2025

Vitality are the CS2 StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 champions after beating FaZe 3-1 in the grand final.

The match swung hard after the opening map, with Vitality taking control and closing the series with confident CS. This article breaks down every map score, the final standings, and the top individual awards, including the best performers.

Who won the Major: champion, finalist, and key moments from the grand final

Vitality lifted the CS2 StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 trophy on December 14, closing the event as back-to-back Major champions, the first repeat winners since Astralis in 2019.

The first-ever best-of-five Major final opened with a shock. FaZe’s Nuke pick was one-sided, a 13-6 win where ZywOo looked unusually off his timing, and Finn “karrigan” Andersen topped FaZe’s defense with a 2.90 CT rating and 158 ADR.

Then the reset hit. On Dust2, Vitality flipped the pace, punished FaZe’s early info moves, and sprinted to a 9-1 lead before sealing a 13-3 stomp.

Inferno was tighter on paper at 13-9, but it still felt like Vitality were steering the wheel. Mezii stacked clutch after clutch and finished the map with a 23-8 K-D, 2.00 rating, and seven multi-kills, stopping every late FaZe push from turning into real momentum.

Overpass was the finishing blow: Vitality ran up an 11-1 T half and closed 13-2. Ropz, facing his former team, produced the series’ signature highlight with a 22-7 K-D, 144.1 ADR, and a 2.89 rating on the decider.

Grand final map scores (Bo5):

Map	Winner	Score
Nuke	FaZe	13-6
Dust2	Vitality	13-3
Inferno	Vitality	13-9
Overpass	Vitality	13-2

After dropping the opener, Vitality won three straight and never let the series reach Mirage.

Final placement overview: how teams are ranked and what each position means

StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 ran from December 4 to December 14 in Budapest, Hungary, with 16 teams and a $1,170,000 prize pool.

In this format, the top eight are the playoff teams, with quarter-finals deciding who enters the “real trophy zone” of top four. Top 11 still pays out, but it usually reads like a missed chance because one bad day can turn a good Swiss run into an early exit.

Placement	Teams	Prize
1st	Vitality	$500,000
2nd	FaZe	$170,000
3rd-4th	Natus Vincere, Spirit	$80,000 each
5th-8th	FURIA, MOUZ, The MongolZ, Falcons	$45,000 each
9th-11th	G2, Passion UA, B8	$20,000 each
12th-14th	3DMAX, Imperial, paiN	$20,000 each
15th-16th	PARIVISION, Liquid	$20,000 each

Those placements also reflect the playoff bracket: Vitality beat Spirit in the semis, while FaZe defeated Natus Vincere to reach the final.

Awards and takeaways: MVP, best performers, and main highlights

ZywOo earned the Major MVP award, giving him a historic third Major MVP medal and making him the only player with three.

The grand final stats tell a clean story: Vitality had multiple stars online at once. Mezii was the series’ most efficient closer at 54-33 (1.64 K/D) with a 1.41 rating, while ropz piled on the damage at 60-46 (1.30 K/D) with a 1.39 rating. ZywOo still posted 58-39 (1.49 K/D) and a 1.23 rating even after that rough Nuke opener.

FaZe’s best overall performer was David “frozen” Čerňanský, ending 53-47 (1.13 K/D) with a 1.16 rating, but the series slipped away once Vitality started chaining late-round hits and clutches.

Key player lines (grand final totals)

Here are the most telling individual numbers from the grand final, showing who consistently won duels and who delivered the biggest impact across the series. The stats below combine total K-D, K/D ratio, and Rating 3.0 for quick comparison.

Player	Team	K-D	K/D	Rating 3.0
mezii	Vitality	54-33	1.64	1.41
ropz	Vitality	60-46	1.30	1.39
ZywOo	Vitality	58-39	1.49	1.23
frozen	FaZe	53-47	1.13	1.16

One more storyline landed in the background: ropz has now played in every CS2 Major final and added a third Major trophy to his cabinet.

Two final takeaways stuck after the confetti. First, Vitality’s calling was the difference maker, turning FaZe’s trademark chaos into predictable rotations across Dust2, Inferno, and Overpass.

Second, FaZe’s run still had that “how are they still alive” feeling. They were reported to be 0.4 seconds from elimination against RED Canids earlier in the tournament, and they still reached the final, with rookie Jakub “jcobbb” Pietruszewski growing into the stage as the event went on.

Anyone who has watched a Major from the last row of the arena knows that kind of escape creates belief, right up until a team like Vitality slams the door.