Counter-Strike Major Championships have entered a new era. StarLadder has announced that the Budapest Major 2025 Grand Final will be contested as a best-of-five series, the first time in all of CS history that a Major’s championship match will go beyond three maps. The news, which came on November 4, arrived just days after Valve hinted at this very change.
For twelve years and twenty-four Major Championships stretching back to CS:GO, the Grand Final has remained locked in best-of-three, a format increasingly seen as outdated in the modern competitive landscape. The shift comes as a direct response to overwhelming community sentiment demanding more decisive, dramatic finals that genuinely test a team’s championship mettle.
Timing couldn’t be better. Recent tournaments showcased exactly why the change matters. The jaw-dropping reverse-sweep by FURIA against NAVI at the Thunderpick World Championship, a comeback that would have been mathematically impossible under the old format, showcased the story potential of best-of-five series. Similarly, Aurora’s thrilling five-map win over Legacy in the PGL Masters Bucharest sent ripples across the world, building up a groundswell of popular support for evolution in the format at the Major level.
Valve’s reluctance to change the Major format had increasingly felt out of step with the wider esports landscape, with tournament organizers such as BLAST, ESL, and PGL having already standardized best-of-five Grand Finals across their respective CS2 circuits with considerable success and more competitive variety accordingly. The Budapest Major’s adoption now brings Valve’s most prestigious tournament into alignment with professional standards.
The StarLadder Budapest Major runs from November 24 through December 14, with the Grand Final scheduled for December 14. Teams will be competing across seven maps: Ancient, Dust II, Inferno, Mirage, Nuke, Train, and Overpass.