FaZe have secured their place in the grand final of the StarLadder Budapest Major after beating Natus Vincere in a hard-fought best-of-three on 13 December 2025. The series swung widely — FaZe lost the opening map on Ancient 5-13 before fighting back to take Nuke 13-11 and close the decider on Inferno 13-8.
The route to the final has been a testing one for Finn "karrigan" Andersen's side. FaZe opened their Major campaign with a mixed showing in Stage 1, recovered to sweep Stage 2 and, after a shaky 1-2 start in Stage 3, battled through the lower bracket to reach the playoff bracket and now the final.
With this victory FaZe will face reigning Major champions Vitality in the grand final. The decider is scheduled for 14 December 2025 at 18:00 and will be the first-ever Major grand final played as a best-of-five — a historic change to the event’s climax and a daunting task against Vitality’s star-studded roster.
David "frozen" Čerňanský described his feelings after the comeback, saying he only began to feel comfortable as the series progressed. He admitted that on the first map he struggled to find opportunities, but on Nuke he finally found his rhythm and helped swing momentum back toward FaZe.
Ancient, Natus Vincere’s pick, began promisingly for FaZe with a pistol round win, but that early lead proved to be their only advantage on the map. NAVI responded strongly after an early force-buy evened the score and then ran rampant: under Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen’s leadership they dominated both bombsites for the majority of the half.
A standout performer for Natus Vincere on Ancient was Drin "makazze" Shaqiri. The 18-year-old rifler won five opening duels, collected six multikills and posted an exceptional 3.09 T-side rating as NAVI steamrolled to a 10-2 lead at halftime. NAVI closed out the map 13-5, with makazze finishing the game with a career-best 2.54 overall map rating.
FaZe tried to answer on Nuke and managed to reassert themselves after the halftime break. They claimed the second pistol and converted it into a run of rounds, helped by a key anti-eco quad-kill from Jakub "jcobbb" Pietruszewski that kept FaZe afloat when NAVI’s economy was collapsing. Once NAVI recovered financially they reclaimed control, but FaZe continued to fight and ultimately edged Nuke 13-11.
The Nuke decider was a rollercoaster: NAVI looked on course to finish the series early after building an 8-2 lead on the CT side thanks to strong performances from Mihai "iM" Ivan and Ihor "w0nderful" Zhdanov. FaZe narrowed the gap before halftime and then converted a second-half pistol to almost level the map, but a costly anti-eco loss briefly halted the comeback. Frozen produced a critical 1v3 late in the match to keep FaZe in contention and the team closed out the map in the final rounds.
Momentum firmly with FaZe going into Inferno, they dominated the CT half to establish a 9-3 advantage. JCobbb, who had been quiet earlier in the series, produced important rounds on the decider and FaZe repeatedly found clutch plays to deny NAVI chances to mount a comeback.
Natus Vincere did begin to chip away at the deficit on Inferno, including a near 1v3 from Helvijs "broky" Saukants that was ultimately stopped, but FaZe had the decisive plays when it mattered. Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken delivered a spectacular Desert Eagle 1v3 in a late round that clinched series point for FaZe and helped them seal the map 13-8 and the series.
Across the three maps, individual performances stood out on both sides. For FaZe, Twistzz produced one of the highest ratings for the team, while frozen and jcobbb delivered the pivotal moments that turned rounds around. For Natus Vincere, makazze was the clear statistical leader with the best overall map rating in the series, supported by solid contributions from w0nderful and iM.
FaZe’s victory sets up a heavyweight final against Vitality, who remain the team to beat after winning the previous Major. The best-of-five final represents a new challenge and a test of endurance and depth for both lineups; FaZe will hope their comeback resilience carries over, while Vitality will look to impose their own tempo and deny FaZe any more reverse sweeps.