It’s hard to hide an elephant in the room: the community is looking forward to seeing s1mple battling at a Major again. This time, it’s under FaZe Clan. Still, plenty of other exciting teams are ready to treat us to some top-tier CS2 action.
Eight qualified teams survived Stage 1 of the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025 event. They are going to face an even bigger challenge: matches against some of the invited teams.
The main battle is still ahead, with the top-most Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) teams joining the tournament a bit later. However, there are some extremely interesting teams to follow during Stage 2 Swiss-format matches.
Some of them should prove their might in light of the recent shaky performance. Some are well-known powerhouses that should play a beat 'em up game and easily advance to Stage 3. We are also pretty open to underdog stories, and the initial period of the Austin Major brought us a promise of splendid upsets.
Let’s take a look at a few CS2 esports teams to watch out for during BLAST Major 2025.
Stage 2 invited teams to follow at CS2 BLAST Austin Major 2025
Theoretically, all eight invited teams in Stage 2 of this CS2 esports event are worth your attention if you enjoy great competition. Still, we certainly can highlight three that should deliver the best show and probably some drama to BLAST Austin Major 2025.
FaZe Clan: All eyes on s1mple, once again
The team has a difficult period, for sure. Even those games FaZe won didn’t go smoothly for them. At BLAST Rivals Spring 2025, they defeated FlyQuest, but there were periods when it looked like FaZe were out for a break, and bots played instead.
To save the situation, FaZe Clan signed s1mple, and it’s a super big deal. After a long period outside the pro CS2 esports, s1mple returns — everyone is eager to see what the legend is capable of now.
FaZe with s1mple played at IEM Dallas 2025, and they got eliminated early by HEROIC.
Fans still have high expectations from Faze at Austin Major. Their chances to qualify for Stage 1 are high. We can watch how FaZe Clan approaches this and what happens when the top CS2 joins the competition.
Team Falcons: Battling to face Vitality
In fact, it’s somewhat weird to see Team Falcons starting their BLAST Austin Major 2025 run so early. This team is certainly of the grand final level: the recent addition of m0NESY and NiKo went well for Falcons.
Team Falcons still have one beast to overcome, and these opponents are not playing in Stage 2. Falcons vs Vitality was a decisive match at two recent big events, BLAST Rivals Spring 2025 and Intel Extreme Masters Melbourne 2025. Team Falcons finished 3rd-4th at IEM Dallas 2025, and they lost to Vitality back then too.
To overwrite this annoying head-to-head history, Falcons should blast through Stage 2 of the CS2 Austin Major 2025 event. It should be fun to watch them playing against brave contenders.
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paiN Gaming: One for Brazil
Three teams from Brazil join BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025 in Stage 2. paiN Gaming, FURIA, and MIBR are generally great to follow during CS2 events thanks to wonderfully explosive emotions and interesting play styles.
paiN Gaming attract somewhat more attention this time because of their performance at BLAST Rivals Spring 2025. Even if the team could not go too deep into the tournament, they created great memories in fans’ hearts. MOUZ specifically had difficulties playing against paiN.
Still, the team suffers from some down periods: two almost 0-13s maps in the next match were painful indeed. What can paiN players show during the CS2 Austin Major?
Qualified teams to keep an eye on at BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025 Stage 2
A total of 16 teams qualified for this CS2 Major to start the tournament. Some already made it through the Swiss-format challenge, and they are ready to repeat their success.
HEROIC: Can the flawless run continue?
It was a pretty safe bet to expect a good run from HEROIC in Stage 1. The team eliminated FaZe Clan from IEM Dallas 2025, and that’s a lot.
HEROIC stepped beyond even this credit. They won all their starting matches at the BLAST Austin Major 2025, which includes such opponents as NRG in Round 2 and FlyQuest in the upper match of Round 3.
Can HEROIC continue their victorious march?
B8: Masters of upsets?
It’s not your usual big CS2 team, but that's a great thing about B8. They are young players charging toward the top stage — and they surprisingly achieve brilliant victories.
Not only did not B8 lose even one match in Stage 1 of the Austin Major, but the team also reached one of the highest spots in terms of won-lost rounds. It’s impressive.
Their goal during those starting battles was to perform a great comeback. It worked in matches against Imperial and Wildcard. B8 also defeated OG.
It’s not too good of a strategy to rely on comebacks, but let’s follow B8 in the remaining stages of the BLAST Major in Austin. Everyone loves upsets, and this team can deliver them.
Stage 2 of BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025 goes on for four days, from June 7 to June 10. Stick around on esports.gg for CS2 news and updates!
