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GUIDES
Simple Radar
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Who remembers when Majors featured exclusively good teams?
BLAST Austin Major is about to begin and we should be pretty excited about that, but then we remember what the team list is for Stage 1.
It’ll still be a good time, though. It's the Major after all!
Plus we’ll get to see Americans cry when their teams all massively disappoint them. Sorry, American readers.
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.
The Major is here and there are a whole bunch of teams to crash out on.
We’ve got four hosts for this special episode of Overtime on Inferno, including the return of aizyesque, as we go over everything you need to know about the Austin Major teams before the competition begins.
We’ve got a feeling that this Major might end up being a little more open than everyone expects it to be.
The stage might be set for Vitality to add to their trophy cabinet, but it’s never that simple in Counter-Strike, is it? How we get to anyone else winning the event, we don’t know. But we do have some hot takes from our crew that might just fit together like a puzzle:
“Vitality go out early.” - Ty ‘simba’ Sherback
We’ve seen favourites fall before. Spirit were eliminated in the PGL Copenhagen quarter-finals and NAVI didn’t even make it to the arena in Shanghai… but still, Vitality out early? That’s a hard one to accept.
“Falcons go out in the quarter-finals.” - Ethan ‘fl0wz’ Rogersen
Looks like Vitality aren’t the only team we have a lack of faith in. Ethan is predicting that NiKo’s Major curse will have followed him over to another organisation, and the World’s number two will be out in the quarter-finals.
We like NiKo, but we can’t pretend it wouldn’t be at least a little bit funny.
So if Vitality or Falcons won’t be winning the Major, who will? Our pod editor macc has the hottest take:
“HEROIC will win it all.” - macc
Yeah, we’re sorry, macc. You’re insane. That said, you’re not the only one with faith in HEROIC.
“HEROIC will make it to the playoffs” - Sam ‘AN1MO’ McKenzie
Now this one is a little more realistic, and it feels like a fitting end to what could have been one of the biggest dark horse teams for the second half of the year.
It seems none of us can come to an agreement on how the Major is going to go for The MongolZ. Elliott has no faith in them at all.
“The MongolZ go 0-3.” - Elliott ‘aizyesque’ Griffiths
Really? This take might be as cold as macc’s. On the flipside, dickle is expecting big things from The MongolZ… and that’s not the only Asian team he’s optimistic for.
“Chinggis Warriors to make playoffs, The MongolZ to make the final.” - Michael ‘dickle’ Shorte
Right… Well, we don’t really know what to say to that one, but Logan seems pretty supportive of it.
“The MongolZ will be in the final against a random Stage 2 team. It’ll be just like PGL Krakow, but we’re not ready to have that conversation yet.” - Logan ‘M3CHAT0NIC’ Ramhap
This feels a lot more solid as a prediction. Chinggis Warriors? We’re not getting over that one for a while.
And finally, Logan has high hopes and no hope for two of the American competitors: “Wildcard make it to the playoffs, NRG go 0-3.” - Logan
At least the home crowd will have something to cheer about.
Can anyone tip the scales at the BLAST Austin Major 2025?
That’s the question we want to answer, and we’ve got some picks that might just do the trick.
Firstly, The MongolZ.
If we can set aside the whole ‘playoff chokers’ label - and yeah, that’s a big if - this team has everything it takes to upset the big boys in Austin.
It might sound a bit much, but this is a squad that’s been steadily improving over the past year. In their last three tier-1 tournaments, the only teams they lost to were Vitality, MOUZ, and Aurora. And except for Aurora, those are two of the best teams in the world.
So yeah, we’re confident The MongolZ will make a splash at the Major - the real question is just how big of a splash that will be.
Next up, FaZe up.
Before you start throwing rocks, we get that calling FaZe a dark horse might be a stretch given their rough form lately. They’ll probably still struggle and fight tooth and nail just to make it out of Stage 2.
But hey, it’s FaZe we’re talking about. FaZe with s1mple. That’s every CS fan’s wet dream. People always talk about the ‘FaZe magic’ for a reason. Mix that with s1mple getting some practice, and you’ve got something worth watching.
We’re not saying he’s going to go full 2019-2020 s1mple again, but honestly, can it really be worse than what they’ve shown so far?
Finally, we’re picking NAVI.
No one expected them to get past the quarter-finals at the Copenhagen Major, and yet, they ended up lifting the trophy. So, who’s to say they won’t pull it off again in Austin?
Okay, please drop the rocks again. That might be a bit too optimistic, but we’d be crazy to count out a B1ad3-led team right from the start.
We’d argue NAVI’s floor is solid enough to make the Playoffs. The real question is whether every player can step up and take them that one step further.
So, if we had to bet on a team to defy the odds and make a run, it’d be one of these three.
Because if CS has taught us anything, it’s to expect the unexpected.
The best of the best. The cream of the crop. The smoked brisket to end all smoked briskets.
In a couple of weeks, Austin, Texas will host the finest Counter-Strike the world has to offer, and it’s almost certain the most thrilling action will come from these select few.
Kicking things off with the ‘unless-something-goes-horribly-wrong-they’re-winning-this’ spot, we’ve got ‘you-know-who’.
Look, there’s not much left to say that hasn’t already been said during their 30-BO3 win streak. Vitality are playing some of the most beautiful Counter-Strike we’ve seen since prime Astralis, and the results more than back it up.
And it’s not like they’re padding their stats against weaker teams - they’re consistently battling what’s arguably the strongest and most evenly matched top-3 we’ve had in a while. They are, without the slightest bit of doubt, the best team in the world right now.
With just one prize left to claim this season, we fully expect them to put the cherry on top of an already tremendous streak.
Now, if someone had a gun to our head and demanded we name a team with a shot at stealing this Major from Vitality, we’d probably take the bullet.
But if we really had to choose, it’d be Falcons. Ever since adding m0NESY, they’ve proven they can hang with the best, taking Vitality to a decider map in back-to-back BO5 grand finals.
That said, it still feels like they’re missing just that extra bit of prep time - and perhaps a little help from a certain Russian wonderkid - to finally push past the finish line. Could that breakthrough come at this Major? We’ll just have to wait and see.
MOUZ aren’t far behind Falcons, as they’ve also been playing some great CS.
But unlike Falcons, who have clear x-factor players in m0NESY and NiKo - guys who can turn unwinnable rounds and swing a map - MOUZ lack that one standout name you can truly count on to make the difference when it matters most.
Their ceiling and floor are very close, which makes them consistently strong - good enough to reach Playoffs and go deep at most events - but that same consistency can also cap their potential. And that’s really the only reason we’re placing MOUZ just a touch below Falcons in the contenders ranking.
At the edge of the list of teams we can confidently call contenders, we have Spirit. Honestly, if you have donk, you’re a contender. Simple as that.
But for Spirit to have a real shot at winning this Major, they’ll need a step-up in performance from everyone not named donk. We’ve already seen that if the kid dips even slightly, the team starts to struggle. And that’s something that just won’t cut it against top-3 opposition.
That’s been the story all season. Spirit’s only tier-1 tournament wins came at BLAST Bounty Season 1 - early in the year, before Vitality hit top gear - and PGL Astana, which notably didn’t feature Vitality, MOUZ, or Falcons.
So, there you have it.
We’ve read the script. Vitality will win the Major. Falcons will fall at the final hurdle.
Don’t bother coming back here on June 22nd to tell us we were right.
Or do, we love the interaction.
