Starladder Budapest will be the first Counter-Strike Major ever to feature a best-of-five (BO5) grand finals, Valve and StarLadder announced on November 4th.
Even though the best-of-five format has risen in popularity over the past few years, especially due to big events such as IEM Katowice and IEM Cologne, the Major finals remained a best-of-three series.
But, from now on, all CS2 Major finals will feature BO5 finals, starting with the upcoming StarLadder Budapest Major, Valve announced on X.
The news comes shortly after Valve had teased BO5 series for the Majors grand finals, in a reply to popular CS2 content creator Ozzny on X. Now that Valve has bought into the idea, all tournament organizers may switch to BO5 finals in 2026.
This is a pretty significant change for the Majors, as BO5 finals favors the best/favorite team. A team that has a deeper map pool, better players, and a better understanding of the game have more room to work with in a BO5 than a BO3 series.
So, underdogs will probably have less chance to win the CS2 Majors from now on.
The StarLadder Budapest Major will kick off on November 24th with Stage 1, the first of three Swiss groups, and conclude on December 14th after the BO5 finals. The $1.25 million tournament will welcome 32 teams in total.
For YNk, Valve should have gotten rid of best-of-ones first. Credit: Sebastian Pandelache | © PGL
Ozzny was one of the first ones to comment on the announcement.
“BANGER, replace BO1s from 2026 on and you’re cooking,” the content creator wrote on X.
This sentiment was also echoed by Janko “YNk” Paunovic, one of CS2’s most popular analysts.
“It’s good news that the Major final will now also be a bo5, but I’d much rather they got rid of BO1’s first,” YNk said. “It’s an absolute joke to have them, even more so with MR12.”
Some tournaments, including the Majors, still feature best-of-one matches. In the case of the Majors, all games that aren’t advancement or elimination series during the Swiss groups are BO1 series.
But, for now, it’s time to celebrate that we’ll have a best-of-five finals at the StarLadder Budapest Major in December.
Check back for more CS2 esports news.
Feature image credit: © StarLadder
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