FaZe make Major finals over NAVI — StarLadder Budapest Major 2025

FaZe Clan have done it! After being a single round from elimination in Stage 1, Karrigan and co. have made it all the way to the Grand Finals of the StarLadder Budapest Major 2025. A thrilling series against NAVI ended with a series of magical clutches going FaZe’s way. Here’s how the story unfolded for FaZe.

Team Rosters – NAVI vs. FaZe Clan

Map Veto

1. Natus Vincere removed Overpass
2. FaZe removed Train
3. Natus Vincere picked Ancient
4. FaZe picked Nuke
5. FaZe removed Mirage
6. Natus Vincere removed Dust2
7. Inferno was left over

Match Recap – NAVI vs. FaZe Clan – StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 semifinals

Ancient – Major debutant makazze steals the show – 13-5

FaZe found a smattering of pistol headshots to kick start their CT side. NAVI force-bought in round two and their Galils allowed them to break into the B site in back to back rounds. jL had classically been an Ancient specialist, but NAVI would hardly feel his absence on the map. makazze was stepping up with entry kills across the map, forcing FaZe to invest their resources into shutting him down. And even against all the utility, he consistently found multi kills, giving NAVI a massive lead on the T side.

FaZe only found their second round when NAVI threw caution to the wind with a B rush straight into a stack of MP9s. But Aleksib was quick to refocus, pushing his team to a massive 10-2 half. Despit frozen reminding his squad of a practice win from a similar deficit, FaZe simply did not have any fight in them on Ancient. Once guns came out for NAVI, they shutdown the T side and locked in a map win 13-5.

Nuke – FaZe magic takes over the map – 13-11

With momentum still on their side, NAVI picked up another pistol round to start map two. An early kill from Twistzz on iM defined the first gun round, starting off FaZe’s T side. B1ad3 was immediately on the comms, guiding his squad, but another Twistzz kill followed by karrigan’s double into heaven gave FaZe the advantage.

iM was the hero of round six and seven, as the Romanian put up a defensive hold to give NAVI another two rounds. FaZe’s deadly deagles nearly proved too costly for Aleksib’s squad, but the captain himself came in clutch to prevent disaster. With eight on the board, it looked like NAVI would run away with the map like on Ancient, but in the closing moments of the half, FaZe pulled back two more rounds to keep it competitive.

FaZe were ready for some up-tempo play on the CT side, as they crashed down onto the B site and cleared out the T side for a pistol round. NAVI’s lead was quickly cut down to just one round, but a successful heaven flank finally allowed them to slow FaZe down. NEO called a timeout and led FaZe into a forcebuy in round seventeen. While that buy proved unsuccessful, frozen’s incredible 1v3 clutch in the subsequent round completely broke NAVI’s momentum.

The Slovakian rifler was truly thriving in the chaos, as he followed that clutch up with a leap out of hut to deny w0nderful any chance at a clutch in round 21. Broky then followed it up with three huge AWP kills on the A site defence to take 11 for FaZe. NAVI were out of energy at this point, and FaZe closed the map out 13-11.

Inferno – Twistzz’s Deagle deals the killing final blow – 13-8

FaZe had the entire arena on their side by now, and they came into Inferno guns blazing. A quick pistol victory, and a massive spraydown from jcobbb on A, allowed FaZe to take three rounds uncontested. Far from a round win, NAVI were struggling to even get into comfortable positions before FaZe’s defence ravaged them. It took a massive clutch from the AK-47 of w0nderful to earn a sole round win for NAVI, but FaZe maintained their solid defensive lines, extending their lead to seven rounds.

B1ad3 called another timeout to instill some confidence in his troops, and his call allowed the team to finally find some traction on the T side. In the end though, FaZe walked away with a comfortable 9-3 lead in the half. NAVI followed that up with a pistol conversion to put five on the board, but an overrotation in round 15 gave FaZe free access to the A site. Still, NAVI had guns in their hands and they converted a 5v3 advantage in the following round to another CT side win.

FaZe swung back with a successful B take, and b1t replied with a last millisecond defuse to keep NAVI alive. FaZe came into round eighteen with just a set of pistols and burst onto the A site. Twistzz, who had already found an entry kill, was left in an impossible 1v3 clutch, but the magician picked his targets and played the clock, forcing NAVI to get antsy. That led to three gorgeous headshots, putting the final nail in NAVI’s coffin, as FaZe closed out the map 13-8.

FaZe now head into their third Major grand final of CS2, looking primed for an upset. While Vitality are the definite favorite for that matchup, it’d be foolish to count Karrigan out. The sheer tenacity FaZe have shown across this major, is incredible to witness. Will this Cinderalla run hit midnight in the grand finals?