Who’ll Surprise in Stage 2? Counter-Strike 2 StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 Betting Predictions & Stage 2 Pick’Ems (November 29 – December 2)

StarLadder CS2 Budapest Major 2025 Stage 2: Key Details

Stage 2 of the Budapest Major is scheduled from November 29 to December 2, 2025. Sixteen teams take part, combining those who advanced from Stage 1 and directly invited or higher-seeded squads. The eight best will go to the third stage, forming another pool of 16 with a Swiss format, before the event will go to the stage with eight survivors.

CS2 StarLadder Major 2025 Structure And Format

The stage follows a Swiss-system format, where most matches are Best-of-One (BO1), and elimination or advancement matches are Best-of-Three (BO3). At the end of Stage 2, the top eight teams proceed to Stage 3, while the bottom eight are eliminated.

This structure creates high stakes: a single loss in a BO1 could jeopardize a team’s progression, while consistency and mental resilience are essential in BO3s. For bettors, Stage 2 offers a mix of calculated risk and opportunity: favorites need to perform immediately, while underdogs may capitalize on chaotic outcomes and upsets.

StarLader Budapest Major 2025 CS2 Pick-em For St. 2

Participants & Opening Matchups

The opening matchups for Stage 2 have been officially set, but even the best Esports bookmakers haven’t presented many markets for Stage 2. The schedule is as follows, with bolded teams considered as higher-seeds:

• Astralis vs Ninjas in Pyjamas
• 3DMAX vs fnatic
• Passion UA vs FaZe Clan
• PARIVISION vs TYLOO
• Natus Vincere vs FlyQuest
• Aurora vs M80
• MIBR vs Imperial
• Team Liquid vs B8

This mix reflects the tournament’s design — established top teams face Stage 1 survivors, while “dark-horse” squads may get favorable draws. Given the Swiss format and BO1 volatility, no match is safe, and every upset has real consequences.

Team That Will Advance Undefeated (3:0)

Given team form, seeding, and the unpredictable nature of BO1s in a Major’s second stage, choosing those with an ideal result is very dangerous. Aurora and 3DMAX look like strong candidates to secure wins in volatile BO1s and close things in conclusive BO3s. These align with analyst expectations for Stage 2 favorites.

Teams That Will Be Eliminated Without Winning (0:3)

Choosing heavy underdogs is not as easy as well, as a lot can be decided in the BO1s and how lucky the teams will be. We surely expect MIBR here as they have a renewed roster with no officials in the last month, which can be a serious problem. The second can be the loser of the PARIVISION vs TYLOO game, which favors the first, but Chinese teams actually love BO1s and are ready to shine on one map; they could prepare for Stage 2. Despite bookies seeing TYLOO as underdogs in the opening game, we see here a high-value upset and PARIVISION nosedive until reaching 0-3.

Advancing Teams

Major is always the place for some magic and unpredictability, where weaker teams from earlier stages come to fights better warmed up. It puts a lot of pressure on the favorites and leads to plenty of unexpected results, so let’s try to mix the ranking and power potential with passion and hunger:

• M80
• FlyQuest
• Passion UA
• Natus Vincere
• Team Liquid
• Ninjas in Pyjamas

Taking into account the results in Stage 1, there is no believe in FaZe and Imperial, who were on the edge of being eliminated. B8 and fnatic also didn’t look persuasively, although they can replace NiP or Liquid in the list above.

CS2 Budapest Major 2025 Predictions

Stage 2’s Swiss format paired with a mix of BO1 and BO3 matches means that consistency, map-pool depth, and adaptability will heavily influence outcomes. Teams with narrow map pools or weak mental resilience may stumble early, and popular Counter-Strike bookmakers see them as clear underdogs. Given the draw, where strong teams sometimes face each other early, bettors should expect upsets, swing matches, and unpredictable trajectories.

TYLOO to Beat PARIVISION @ 2.40 (7/5)

A lot of matches present higher-value upset opportunities, and this one looks perfectly. TYLOO faces PARIVISION in a BO1, which naturally increases the potential for an upset. TYLOO’s map pool is narrower, but they have strong statistics on Inferno and Mirage, historically winning over these maps in 2025 LAN events. If vetoes favor these maps (or Ancient), they could exploit PARIVISION’s relative inconsistency and under-pressure mistakes.

NiP to Beat Astralis @ 2.10 (11/10)

Ninjas in Pyjamas meet Astralis, a matchup loaded with psychological subplots: “device” versus his former team and “sjuush” versus the Danes he played with in Heroic. NiP’s aggressive mid-round strategies and high entry-fragging rate could disrupt Astralis’ slower, methodical style in a BO1, giving NiP a real value upset opportunity. Also, the Swedish organization is already warmed up, which should be a huge advantage for them.

Passion UA to Beat FaZe Clan @ 2.10 (11/10)

Passion UA faces FaZe Clan in a classic underdog scenario despite FaZe having been shaky in recent LANs and edging past Stage 1 against much weaker opponents. Passion UA hasn’t shown notable success recently, but their strong core is ready to exploit any volatility, demonstrating strong coordination and map adaptability. On maps like Overpass and Ancient, their T-side executions have been above 60% win rate, making them a legitimate upset candidate in Stage 2.