FaZe Clan and NAVI round out StarLadder Budapest Major semi-finals

FaZe Clan and NAVI have rounded out the StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 with victories in the quarter-final. 

After surviving elimination on several occasions, FaZe Clan bested MOUZ while NAVI overcame FURIA to close out the second day of the playoffs.

FaZe Clan’s pick of Nuke began on the front foot, breaking through the MOUZ defence to establish a four-round lead. Four eliminations from Jakub ‘jcobbb’ Pietruszewski in round 12 destroyed any chance of a MOUZ comeback, with the Red Militia dominating its attacking half with nine rounds. 

MOUZ answered back with eight consecutive attacking rounds of its own to bring the typically defensive map of Nuke level after 20 rounds. The FaZe Clan defence held firm in the latter stages of regulation, securing a 13-11 win to move within one of another semi-final appearance. 

The FaZe Clan magic made its presence known on MOUZ’s pick of Inferno. Flawless defensive holds spearheaded by Helvijs ‘broky’ Saukants’s incredible AWPing prowess built an unprecedented 10-2 lead at halftime. MOUZ had no answer to the FaZe magic.

The team that was milliseconds away from elimination in Stage 1 rounded off Inferno with three straight offensive rounds, taking a 13-2 win and a 2-0 sweep.

Ihor ‘w0nderful’ Zhdanov continued his fine run of form in the Hungarian capital with another stellar performance on Mirage that led the way for the Ukrainian organisation to an 8-4 lead in the opening half. The ball kept rolling for the StarLadder StarSeries Fall 2025 runners-up, taking five defensive rounds to open the best of three with a 13-5 win.

Inferno began with both sides trading rounds back and forth, with nothing separating them after six rounds. FURIA’s attacking strategies crumbled in the face of a fierce NAVI offence that extended its lead to 9-3 at the end of the half. 

FURIA slowly chipped away at the deficit. A one-versus-three clutch from Gabriel ‘FalleN’ Toledo in round 21 gave FURIA the lead. Despite a slight NAVI resurgence, FURIA completed the comeback to force overtime.

After a quiet 24 rounds, Danil ‘molodoy’ Golubenko roared into life in round 26. Four AWP eliminations to lock down the B site were enough to fend off any late NAVI fightback. FURIA completed the comeback with a 16-13 scoreline, levelling the series in a thrilling second map.

Train started in a similar fashion to Inferno, with NAVI racing to a 9-1 lead, leaving FURIA floundering on the defence. FURIA mustered a second round to end the opening half with a 10-2 deficit to overcome in order to keep its Major campaign alive.

FURIA had no answer against a ruthless NAVI attack and couldn’t overcome its defence in the second half. A dominant 13-3 win wrapped up a 2-1 victory to earn the second semi-final place.

With the quarter-finals done and dusted, all eyes turn towards the semi-final where the final four teams will battle it out for a place in the Grand Final.

Team Vitality faces off against Team Spirit, while NAVI takes on FaZe Clan.