Vitality go back-to-back and defeat FaZe to win CS2 StarLadder Budapest Major Final

Vitality have defeated FaZe Clan in a blockbuster 3:1 Final to win the StarLadder Budapest Major 2025. In winning the CS2 Budapest Major Final, Vitality have become the first team since Astralis in 2019 to win back-to-back Major championships, following their victory earlier this year at the BLAST Austin Major. There’s no doubt about it – they may have off events, but we’re certainly in the middle of the Vitality era.

Vitality battle through early map loss to win StarLadder Budapest Major 2025

The difficult veto made it so that the pressure was on FaZe from the off. Their map pool is untested in best-of-fives, while Vitality have been subject specialists in the matter throughout 2025. Nuke was up first, a map they had already beaten Vitality on earlier in this StarLadder Budapest Major 2025. Winning this felt fundamental to FaZe‘s chances in the rest of the series. They delivered the goods, a 13:6 map win powered by karrigan’s many years of experience. The FaZe leader put up a great 18:12 showing, with a 2.90 CT side rating showing the veteran still has it in him to be a rock on the server.

FaZe were quickly dragged back to reality on Dust2, where Vitality have a 90% win rate in the last three months. FaZe’s own record of 46.7% in that same timeframe made this one feel like a pretty significant non-contest before a bullet was ever fired on the server. This gulf in class showed, too, with Vitality limiting FaZe to just a three-round haul on Dust2. 13:3, and we were all tied up in the StarLadder Budapest Major Final.

Inferno was more of a war of attrition between the two teams, taking enough rounds from each other to keep it pretty competitive throughout. But when Vitality decided it was over, it was over. A mezii masterclass, his highest-ever rated Big Event map, was the major difference to separate the teams on Inferno. At 23:8, the Brit was an absolute pest for FaZe on both sides of the map. Although FaZe put up a respectable nine rounds, it wasn’t nearly enough to gather the momentum for a map win.

And with two maps down and the momentum swinging in Vitality’s favor, Overpass could hardly have arrived at a worse time for FaZe. A map for specialists, which they certainly have not been on this particular battleground lately. An early pistol put Vitality on the road to success, and they kept the good times rolling all the way to a dominant 13:2 victory.

Vitality. Back-to-back Major champions. It’s only right that they, arguably the best lineup since prime Astralis, become the first since the Danes to complete this particular feat. And apEX, now level with the likes of Xyp9x, dev1ce, Magisk, and gla1ve on four total. Vitality, now level with Fnatic in total Major wins, again behind only Astralis. You are watching one of the great Counter-Strike teams. Enjoy it while we have it, as they don’t come around too often, especially in a scene as competitive as this.