StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 will introduce a best-of-five grand final, a historic first for competitive Counter-Strike 2, organizers announced on Tuesday.
This format change departs from the traditional best-of-three, promising a more demanding test of endurance and strategic depth for top teams in the popular esports title.
The announcement was made via the event’s official X (formerly Twitter) page.
📢 You asked, it happened.The Budapest Major Grand Final goes Bo5 for the first time in CS history!💬 Tag the team who’s build to last those 5 maps! pic.twitter.com/pRDPyYDwAT
— StarLadder CS2 (@StarLadder_CS) November 4, 2025
The major tournament, hosted in Budapest, Hungary, will feature a substantial prize pool of $1,250,000 USD.
Competition is scheduled to run from November 24 to December 14.
A strong contingent of Brazilian teams is confirmed to participate across the stages of the event.
Legacy, Imperial, Fluxo, and RED Canids will compete in Stage 1, which runs from November 24 to November 27.
MIBR is guaranteed a spot in Stage 2, scheduled from November 29 to December 4.
Elite teams FURIA and paiN Gaming are also set to join in the final stages of the championship.
Both FURIA and paiN Gaming are currently active, competing in the IEM Chengdu 2025 tournament, with its grand final set for Sunday.