StarLadder Budapest 2025: Everything you need to know

Counter-Strike's winter Major is just around the corner with all the pre-requisites- roster locks, stickers, Pick'Em among other stuff, done and dusted. The first stage of StarLadder Budapest 2025 will kick off on Monday, 24th November 2025 with sixteen teams- the contenders locking horns in a Swiss system iteration. The opening day's matches begin at 05:30PM IST, running two games on parallel streams at once with the last set of games starting at 11:30PM IST.

Here's where you can watch StarLadder's broadcast of the Major:

In the Swiss system iteration that kicks off the group stage of the Major, every team's opening matchup is determined by their seed. A team from a higher seed gains a slight advantage, taking on a lower seed opponent. Consequently, winners face winners and losers face losers until a team wins or loses three matches. A team with three wins proceeds to the next stage and a team with three losses crashes out of the Major. Two more iterations of the same format will determine the top eight who head into the single-elimination bracket playoffs.

StarLadder Budapest 2025 Stage 1 teams

While the group stages run Bo3s only for deciders and eliminators, the playoffs exclusively runs Bo3s, concluding with a Bo5 grand-final. StarLadder Budapest 2025 is the first ever Major to host a best-of-five grand-final. The opening matches for the first stage of the Major are already set. Lynn Vision will take on a formidable opponent in FaZe. The Chinese side has never faced FaZe on LAN before and will look to take full advantage of FaZe's signature shaky group stage starts. The Huns will go up against Russian team PARIVISION who will come into the matchup off of an eight game win streak. The final round of matches will conclude with Rare Atom's clash against Imperial.

Opening round (24/11/2025; 02:30PM IST)

Legacy vs FlyQuest
Fnatic vs RED Canids
FaZe vs Lynn Vision
PARIVISION vs Lynn Vision
B8 vs M80
NiP vs NRG
GamerLegion vs Fluxo
Imperial vs Rare Atom

The eight invited teams in Stage 2 will face off against the eight teams who clear the first stage's Swiss system iteration with Stage 3 following suite. While TYLOO start in Stage 2, The MongolZ have bagged a direct Stage 1 spot alongside Vitality, Spirit, Falcons, MOUZ, FURIA, G2 and paIN. The MongolZ will the Major without Senzu, as controlez stands in. The 28-year old Mongolian rifler has exceeded expectations in his recent outings with The MongolZ but only time can tell if the team can stand the pressure of taking on the best of the best in the most important tournament of the year, without one of their hardest hitters.