Be honest.

When you first opened the Austin Major Stage 1 page on HLTV you thought you’d clicked into one of CCT’s 2530 tournaments, right?

Yeah, of course not. Definitely didn’t happen to us…

There’s no hiding that the team lineup for the first Stage of the BLAST Austin Major 2025 isn’t exactly thrilling, largely thanks to Valve’s decision to expand the Major from 24 to 32 teams. And even then, Asstralis couldn’t make it.

But hey, we work with what we’ve got - and in this mixed bag, a few frontrunners are already making a strong case for one of those eight Stage 2 spots.

HEROIC, BetBoom, B8, Wildcard, and Complexity should have little trouble making it out of Stage 1, given what we know they’re capable of. And partly because, let’s face it, the opposition isn’t exactly stacked.

Out of this group, Complexity will be the most intriguing to watch. They’ll be playing with junior instead of hallzerk, due to VISA issues, which is definitely a setback. Still, with the advantage of being on home soil, the rest of the lineup should be enough for them to make it through relatively unscathed.

Right behind the frontrunners, we have teams like OG, Imperial, FlyQuest, TYLOO, and Nemiga, who we expect to be scrapping it out for the remaining three Stage 2 spots. Quick maths.

We’d like to highlight OG and FlyQuest for a moment.

OG stands out because they’re a majority Danish team - with some legit talent, if we may add - and they actually made the Major over Astralis. God, we love laughing at Astralis.

FlyQuest catches our attention because they’ve finally got rid of dexter, who was a big reason behind their awful CS, and brought in fresh blood in nettik. Together with regali, they are in a solid position to reach Stage 2. We’re curious to see how they handle this level of competition.

Oh, and we’re also rooting for Jee. Seriously, we need more Jee. Please.

Finally, these are the teams whose only fight will be for a window seat on the first plane out of Austin: Lynn Vision, NRG, Metizport, Legacy, Chinggis Warriors, and Fluxo.

Basically, these squads probably wouldn’t have even made the Major if it was still capped at 24 teams. So yeah, nobody’s pinning much hope on them - mostly because, let’s be honest, they’re just bad.

On a side note, we have a feeling the Argentinians will be over the moon if Legacy goes 0-3. Come on guys, at least give them that joy.

Oh, and good luck on your Pick’ems. You’re definitely going to need it.