Valve teases best-of-five Major finals

After the wild conclusion of PGL Masters Bucharest, which saw Aurora hold off Legacy in a five-map thriller, Counter-Strike's official X account has hinted at implementing a new finals format.

All 24 Major Championships to this point, dating back to CS:GO, have featured a best-of-three match in the final. Calls for a best-of-five finals have increased since CS2 games have been shortened from MR15 to MR12.

Content creator Ozzny implored Valve to switch Major finals to a BO5 series after the conclusion of Legacy v. Aurora, which saw an unforgettable comeback from Legacy fall just short in the final map.

Aurora got off to a 2-0 lead before Legacy stormed back to force a deciding fifth map. Aurora just managed to win the final map 13-11 to win their first notable LAN tournament.

The classic in Bucharest comes a couple weeks after another unbelievable best-of-five final between FURIA and NAVI, where FURIA were able to go one better than Legacy and complete the comeback from 2-0 down. FURIA took control after falling two maps behind, even winning the fifth map by a dominant 13-1 scoreline.

The CS X account replied to Ozzny's post with a cheeky GIF, seeming to hint at the idea of best-of-five finals making an appearance at Valve's Major Championships. As of now, there is no official confirmation for the formats at the Starladder Budapest Major 2025, with play beginning on November 24th and the grand finals scheduled for December 14th.