Vitality are the StarLadder Budapest Major Champions!
Vitality have defeated FaZe 3-1 to become StarLadder Budapest Major Champions and win back-to-back Major Championships in 2025!
FaZe and Vitality couldn't have had more differing roads to the StarLadder Budapest Major Final in 2025. Vitality began the year as the world's undisputed best team, winning nearly every big tournament in the first season of 2025, including the BLAST.tv Austin Major.
FaZe on the other hand, had a much more tumultuous journey to the Final. FaZe's best placing of the year came at PGL Bucharest, where they placed third with a roster that featured Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski and Håvard "rain" Nygaard, two players who no longer feature for FaZe.
Even at the Budapest Major, FaZe began the tournament all the way back in Stage 1 and were nearly eliminated by RED Canids in a 1-2 elimination match in that stage if not for a last-second clutch from captain Finn "karrigan" Andersen. FaZe breezed through Stage 2 and squeaked through Stage 3 to book their spot in the playoffs. FaZe swept MOUZ in the quarters and beat NAVI in a 2-1 thriller in the semi-final.
Vitality started in Stage 3 and lost their opening game to this FaZe team. However, 2025's best team bounced right back, winning their next three matches to qualify for the playoffs. Vitality stayed perfect until the final, winning both of their best-of-threes in 2-0 sweeps over The MongolZ and Spirit.
FaZe's first map pick was Nuke, where they sprinted out to an early 4-0 advantage on the T side. They continued their solid play to hold an 8-4 lead at the half. Vitality couldn't get anything going against FaZe's defense, as FaZe surrendered just two rounds in the second half to win the map convincingly by a 13-6 score. karrigan led from the front with a map-high 18 frags to give his side a 1-0 lead.
Dust2 was the first choice of Vitality and it was easy to see why. Vitality started 7-0 up and finished the half at 9-3. This map was a complete nonstarter for FaZe, as they fell at the hands of Vitality 13-3 and the series was left tied at 1-1. This was Vitality's 31st win on Dust2 in 2025, a map where they've only lost four times this year.
FaZe chose to play Inferno as the third map, and won the pistol, converted, and the first gun round to take a 3-0 lead. Vitality bounced back with eight of the next nine rounds to secure themselves an 8-4 advantage, thanks to numerous key frags and clutches from William "mezii" Merriman. FaZe battled back in the second half, but it wasn't enough as mezii put FaZe to bed with an insane 23-8 K/D ratio and a 2.00 rating. This win put Vitality up 2-1 and on the brink of their second Major Championship of the year.
Vitality's second pick was Overpass and they got off to a near-perfect 11-1 start behind outstanding play from Robin "ropz" Kool, who ended the first half with 20 frags. Vitality easily cleaned up in the second half, winning 13-2 and cementing their place as the best team of 2025 and one of the greatest teams in CS history.
mezii was the Vitality's standout, dropping 48 frags and a 1.57 rating over the four map series.
VitalityFaZe| Vitality |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 3.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 William 'mezii' Merriman |
54 - 33 | +21 | 73.0 | 79.2% | 1.41 |
 Robin 'ropz' Kool |
60 - 46 | +14 | 92.4 | 75.0% | 1.39 |
 Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut |
58 - 39 | +19 | 76.8 | 76.4% | 1.23 |
 Shahar 'flameZ' Shushan |
44 - 52 | -8 | 67.5 | 66.7% | 1.04 |
| Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire |
34 - 50 | -16 | 61.9 | 72.2% | 0.80 |
| FaZe |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 3.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 David 'frozen' Čerňanský |
53 - 47 | +6 | 82.1 | 75.0% | 1.16 |
 Helvijs 'broky' Saukants |
47 - 50 | -3 | 71.2 | 75.0% | 0.95 |
 Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken |
43 - 49 | -6 | 63.6 | 66.7% | 0.88 |
 Finn 'karrigan' Andersen |
39 - 54 | -15 | 59.9 | 63.9% | 0.79 |
 Jakub 'jcobbb' Pietruszewski |
36 - 52 | -16 | 59.4 | 65.3% | 0.79 |
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