The StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 was an exciting way to wrap up the Counter-Strike 2 season. We got an action-packed Grand Final on 14 December between Team Vitality and FaZe Clan, pitting some of the best players in the scene against one another. Ultimately, Team Vitality won 3-1 and Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut earned his third Major MVP.
Recaps of Counter-Strike 2 tournaments often focus more on the data and trends rather than the Grand Finals results themselves. The top CS2 players can often be mechanical and laser-focused in that way. One thing that CS2 players love to hear about and dive into? The most used maps.
The strategy behind map picks and bans at CS2 Majors
Throughout Stage 3 and the Playoffs, Dust2 and Inferno were ultimately the most played-on maps. A total of 15 matches were played on Dust2 and 13 on Inferno, followed by Nuke and Mirage at 10 times each.
However, the reason that CS2 fans love to take note of these map trends is because a lot of strategy goes into picking and banning maps in tournaments. Every team has a map where they excel, leading to a lot of interesting map decisions throughout the tournament.
Nuke and Mirage may be the third most selected maps, but they were also one of the most banned maps, with 27 bans each. Overpass and Train were the least selected maps, both only getting picked six times. These two maps were often used as bargaining chips in vetoes, meaning teams would intentionally leave a map their opponent is weak at, forcing them to choose another map, possibly one that they feel they have an advantage in.
Needless to say, mind games play a big role.
The other aspect of the strategy is putting emphasis on side balance. Most maps are not perfectly balanced — although they try to be — so teams want to select maps that are stronger for the side they’re playing as (Terrorists or Counter-Terrorists). An example? The maps Nuke and Mirage saw a lot more Counter-Terrorist (CT) wins — 62% and 57% of rounds were won by the CT side.
Terrorists won the most on Dust2 at 51% and Ancient at 53%. Unlike maps that favour defence, these maps inspire fast-paced pushes, grenade setups and sniping opportunities.
Meanwhile, Train had an even outcome in the Budapest Major.
The most picked maps at StarLadder Budapest Major 2025
Curious which maps in the pool were picked (and banned) the most? Here are the raw numbers:
| Map | Played | Banned |
| Nuke | 10 | 27 |
| Mirage | 10 | 27 |
| Inferno | 13 | 25 |
| Overpass | 6 | 32 |
| Train | 6 | 34 |
| Dust2 | 15 | 22 |
| Ancient | 8 | 31 |
Map pool changes in 2026
While these insights can definitely help competitive players grinding the game at home as well as bettors that want to make some well-informed bets based on map choices, it’s all about to change.
With the StarLadder Budapest Major wrapped up, CS2 Premier Season 3 will likely come to an end soon. Map pools are changed every six months or so, so the CS2 community is already speculating as to what’s in store.
The most-discussed possibility is Anubis. Valve removed the Anubis Collection Package from the Counter-Strike store after the Budapest Major, which is not a common occurrence. Along with Valve asking for weapon skins inspired by “Arabesque art and Arabian mythology,” it seems like a pretty good bet that Anubis is going to be added to the active map pool.
CS2 fans also want to see brand new maps added to the game, which hasn’t happened in quite some time. It’s not as likely as Anubis entering the fray, but if this were to happen it would shake up the map pool and Major strategies significantly.
