Team Liquid crushes Astralis and storms into Stage 3 at Budapest Major

Team Liquid faced Astralis in a high-stakes best-of-3 (BO3) elimination match during Stage 2 of the StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 on Dec. 2, 2025.

The winner of this match, Team Liquid, advanced to Stage 3, while Astralis got eliminated. Both teams entered with a 2-2 record each, where Liquid defeated Tyloo 2-1, and Astralis beat Aurora 2-1. The map pool included Dust2, Mirage, Inferno, Nuke, Train, Overpass, and Ancient.

Team Liquid and Astralis roster

Here are the rosters for both Counter-Strike teams for this match:

Team Liquid started Stage 2 with losses to B8 (0-1) and PARIVISION (0-1), but rebounded with wins over MIBR and TyLoo to reach 2-2.​​

Astralis also opened with losses to M80 (0-1) and Ninjas in Pyjamas (0-1), followed by wins over FlyQuest (2-0) and Aurora (2-1) for a 2-2 record.​​

Coming to recent form, Liquid overcame a tough TyLoo match 2-1, showcasing resilience in comeback scenarios, while Astralis demonstrated strong recovery against Aurora after early upsets.

Map Veto

Some classic CS2 maps got removed, with some tactical maps remaining. Here’s what the veto looks like:

• Astralis removed Dust 2
• Team Liquid removed Overpass
• Astralis picked Nuke (CT side)
• Team Liquid picked Mirage (CT side)
• Team Liquid removed Ancient
• Astralis removed Train
• Inferno was left over as the decider map, TL getting the CT side

Liquid vs Astralis – Match Recap

Nuke – Team Liquid dominated on Astralis’ pick (TL 1 – 0 Astralis)

Astralis picked Nuke, but it was Team Liquid who started on a strong note. Siuhy’s side won the pistol round in the first half and then went on to win six rounds nonstop, taking the score to 6-0. Team Liquid even won the bonus round (Round 3).

Astralis had a slower start to the map. In Liquid’s CT side, ultimate was awping from Garage while Nertz was being cheeky from Secret. Both got two kills using their weapons, and the fifth round went in favor of TL. The first half was completely dominated by Liquid, and Astralis only managed to win one round; the score at the end of the half was 11-1.

The second half is where things started getting interesting. Astralis won the pistol round after swapping sides, and the score was 11-2. The very next round was secured by Liquid despite going for an eco round, taking the score to 12-2.

After that, Astralis went on to win five rounds non-stop. During that time, Astralis seemed a lot more disciplined, as they didn’t push hard and held their positions instead. Team Liquid also took their first timeout when the scoreline was 12-4. However, Astralis still went on to win a couple of more rounds, taking the score to 12-7; there were signs of a comeback from the team.

At the end, it was Team Liquid who won the very next round, after being briefly stuck at match point. The last round witnessed Staehr being left in a 1v3 situation, but he failed to clutch it off. The final scoreline was 13-7 in favor of Team Liquid.

Mirage – Team Liquid sealed the deal in their map pick (TL 2 – 0 Astralis)

Mirage was Team Liquid’s pick, and unlike Astralis, they managed to win their map. Although Astralis won both the pistol rounds, thanks to heroic efforts from Staehr, it was Liquid who proceeded to Stage 3 of StarLadder Budapest Major.

Astralis started on a strong foot. They won four rounds back-to-back, were dominating for a while, but then Team Liquid started taking charge. After the first timeout of this map, Team Liquid mimicked Astralis and managed back-to-back four rounds for them. The fifth round win for Astralis was important for them, as their economy was low; HooXi clutched the round by eliminating NAF.

Team Liquid secured the first half, and the scoreline was 7-5. Coming to the second half, Astralis tied scores at 7-7, and things were looking really tight. They played smartly, held their positions, and got a man advantage, which handed them one round after, but it was in round 17, when Astralis started losing momentum.

Their economy was low again, and Team Liquid capitalised on that really well. TL won two rounds back-to-back, taking the score to 10-8, securing the series point at 12-9, and ultimately winning the match. In the last round, Astralis had no other option but to full buy, and they tried taking Catwalk and mid control fast, but in vain.

The final scoreline of Mirage was 13-9. All maps combined, ultimate had the highest rating (1.54), followed by NertZ (1.16) in the end.