The Budapest Major has finally kicked off and we couldn’t be more excited for the most important eve… oh wait. It’s the Bucharest Masters. Sorry, we just can’t wait.

Anyway, the PGL Masters Bucharest 2025 might not have the most stacked lineup of teams, but hey, at least it’s not the Thunderpick World Championship. So yes, we’re actually looking forward to seeing how things play out in Budap… sorry, Bucharest.

Aurora, fnatic, Astralis, B8, 3DMAX, SAW, BetBoom, MIBR, GamerLegion, FlyQuest, HEROIC, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Legacy, Liquid, paiN, and Gentle Mates have all accepted the invite to fight for a share of the $1.25M prize pool.

Apart from MIBR, SAW, and FlyQuest, who seem a few levels below the rest, most of these teams have a fair shot at taking home the trophy - simply because the sharks stayed at home.

For squads like Aurora, 3DMAX, Astralis, NIP, and paiN, this is the perfect chance to grab their first big trophy of the year and head into the Major with a confidence boost. And for the most part, they lived up to that favoritism in their opening matchups. Again, for the most part.

The Turks, French, and Brazilians comfortably swept fnatic, SAW, and Gentle Mates, respectively, with some juicy highlights sprinkled in.

In the storied matchup between Astralis and B8, the Ukrainians reenacted the Austin Major MRQ - not to keep Astralis out, but to drop them into the 0-1 group in Bucharest.

The battle of mid between HEROIC and NIP saw xfl0ud go absolutely nuclear, finishing the series with a 2.15 rating and a very sore back. He finished Nuke with a 33-11 KD. That’s just insane.

In the remaining matches, Liquid proved that old habits die hard as they managed to edge past Legacy 2-1. Meanwhile, GamerLegion and BetBoom took their time to send FlyQuest and MIBR to the winless pit.

On today’s menu, we’ve got Aurora vs Liquid as the marquee matchup in the winners’ group, while ewjerkz faces his former team for the first time as NIP take on SAW in the 0-1 game.

Editor’s note: Sorry to all of our Romanian readers, but we know you have humor – otherwise, you wouldn’t be reading this. And to everyone else, 🇷🇴 Bucharest = Romania. 🇭🇺 Budapest = Hungary. 650km / 400 miles apart.