Stage 2 of the Austin Major kicked off with FaZe Clan cruising to a 2-0 start while Team Falcons fell in back-to-back upsets.
The Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025 is already producing some exciting results as the opening day of Stage 2 concluded on Sunday (8 June). Fan favourites 
FaZe Clan with 
Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev are off to a terrific start by winning their first two matches of the Major to get in position for a quick advancement into Stage 3. Meanwhile, star-studded powerhouse 
Team Falcons have looked abysmal, as they lost their first two matches and are at risk of an early elimination.
FaZe and s1mple start strong in the Austin Major
FaZe have been THE team to watch ever since s1mple joined the team in early May in a last-ditch attempt to improve for the Austin Major. While s1mple's debut tournament with FaZe in Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) Dallas 2025 ended in a disappointing Group Stage exit, it should be noted that the team played with 
Felipe “skullz” Medeiros as a stand-in after 
Håvard “rain” Nygaard had to sit out the tournament to be present for the birth of his child.
Many expected that FaZe would perform much better in the Austin Major once rain returned to the lineup, and s1mple had more time to get integrated into 
Finn “karrigan” Andersen's system. FaZe are looking just as advertised with their strong start in the Austin Major.
FaZe's opening match of Stage 2 was against 
HEROIC, the team that notably knocked them out of IEM Dallas. Adding fuel to the fire in this dramatic matchup was the fact that s1mple said they “lost to f*cking bots” in Dallas in a video posted by FaZe on their official social media, something which HEROIC took exception to.
With all due respect to HEROIC, FaZe and s1mple did make them look like bots in a 13-3 stomp in Dust II to kick off Stage 2. FaZe dominated the first half 10-2, with s1mple notably racking up 13 frags and five assists on just two deaths in the half. While HEROIC won the pistol round of the second half, FaZe quickly responded with three straight rounds to close out their round one victory.
While s1mple put up an impressive 2.08 rating off of 17 frags and six assists on five deaths, it was 
David “frozen” Čerňanský that shone the brightest against HEROIC. Frozen ended the team's opening map of the Major with 21 frags and three assists on five deaths for a stellar 2.14 rating, even putting up an absurd highlight after clutching a 1v3 in round 13 with two kills off one Deagle shot.
Up next for FaZe were rising Chinese team 
TYLOO, one of eight squads that survived Stage 1 of the Austin Major and have looked like a a real threat to cause upsets in Stage 2. The first half of that round two matchup in Anubis ended a bit too close for comfort for FaZe, as they only managed a 7-5 lead on the T side. However, they went on to absolutely demolish TYLOO in the second half by winning six straight rounds to secure the 13-5 victory and a 2-0 start in Stage 2.
S1mple didn't need to do much in Anubis, finishing with only nine frags on seven deaths, as rain showed out with 19 frags and three assists on nine deaths, Frozen also continued his strong performance from round one by adding 15 frags and six assists on a map-best seven deaths.
FaZe will next face 
Legacy in a best-of-three in the third round of Stage 2 for advancement into Stage 3. As a last-minute replacement for 
BESTIA after the latter team failed to secure visas in time, Legacy have done well to make it out of Stage 1 and get a 2-0 start in Stage 2. With that said, FaZe are expected to make short work of them to secure a spot in Stage 3, where much stronger competition in the likes of 
Team Vitality, 
MOUZ, and 
Team Spirit await.
Falcons off to a disastrous start, at risk of early elimination
But while FaZe had a flying start to the Austin Major, the same could not be said for Falcons, the team everyone expected to easily cruise through Stage 2. Instead, the star-studded squad have looked listless as they fell in back-to-back upsets against 
B8 and 
Lynn Vision Gaming (LVG) in rounds one and two.
B8 were no slouches by any means, as they were one of the two teams to go 3-0 in Stage 1, but they realistically did not have any real chance against Falcons. After all, the star-studded squad features 
Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov and 
Nikola “NiKo” Kovač, arguably the best star pairing right now outside of 
Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut and 
Robin “ropz” Kool over in Vitality. There was simply no way B8 could compete with firepower of that magnitude.
Apparently Alexey “Alex666” Yarmoshchuk and Daniil “headtr1ck” Valitov had something to say about that, as they each racked up 19 frags and combined for 10 assists on 11 and eight deaths, respectively, as B8 rolled Falcons 13-8 in Ancient. While NiKo had a solid 16 frags and one assist on 14 deaths in the loss, m0NESY was nowhere to be found as he put up an abysmal 0.70 rating off of eight frags and three assists against 14 deaths.
While Falcons losing to B8 was definitely surprising, many chalked that up to a best-of-one fluke. While everyone's Pick 'ems have been destroyed, Falcons will surely bounce back in round two against LVG to get back on track to making Stage 3… right?
Well, 
Zhe “westmelon” Niu put up 25 frags and 10 assists on 14 deaths to lead LVG in a 13-9 victory over Falcons in Nuke. NiKo had an alright 16 frags and one assist on 15 frags and Emil “Magisk” Reif even top-fragged with 17 kills against 15 deaths. However, m0NESY put up another stinker with a second straight 0.70 rating off 12 frags on 17 deaths. A team of Falcons' caliber should not be losing in such embarrassing fashion, but this is the kind of wild result that can only happen in a Major.
While this is certainly not the start Falcons wanted to have in the Austin Major, they should still make Stage 3. With the treacherous best-of-ones now out of the way, the team will only play in best-of-threes moving forward. While Falcons losing one map in a series is a very real possibility now, they should still emerge victorious in the end. The pressure is mounting, however, and the team will face an uphill battle to survive three best-of-threes to advance to Stage 3. Surely, Falcons won't fall victim to a third upset in Stage 2?
OG will have the first crack at knocking Falcons out of the Austin Major in round three. If Nico “nicoodoz” Tamjidi can pull off another life game or two, like he did to tie the record for the highest map rating in a LAN tournament in the history of the game in his team's opening map of the Major, then we might just see Falcons fall even before Stage 3 starts.
The BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025 is the first CS2 Major Championship of the year. From 3 to 6 June, 32 of the best CS2 teams in the world will gather in Austin, Texas to fight across four grueling stages of competition to claim the third CS2 Major title and the lion's share of the tournament's US$1.25 million prize pool.
For everything you need to know about the BLAST.tv Austin Major, check here.
