Best Picks for the Blast 2025 Austin Major — Opening Stage

The third Counter-Strike 2 Major, and the first one in Valve’s own neighbourhood, is starting on the 3rd of June, alongside the Pick’Em challenge. If you’ve bought the Viewer Pass, this challenge entails picking which teams you think will do well and which teams you think will completely fail in each stage of the tournament. Just as with every Major until now, the predictions you need to make are: two teams that will win three matches and lose zero, six teams that will pass to the next stage by winning three matches and losing one or two, and two teams that will lose all three matches to disqualify, without winning even one.

As always, this is basically sports gambling, meaning these are essentially only educated guesses. Nevertheless, I tried to be as accurate as possible and research as much as I can on each team’s recent performance and playstyle.

3:0

Heroic — Winning all of their RMR matches, Heroic is probably the best team in the Opening Stage, and whilst I usually don’t like putting the best teams to go three-to-zero because of the possibility of BO1 shenanigans, they’ve got a pretty easy match against Chinggis Warriors, and I trust them enough to win two matches after that.

Complexity —  One of the only three North American teams to make it into the Major, Complexity won every match in the RMR, surprising everyone with their new lineup of players. Even though they have a tough match against OG, there’s a chance they can go three-to-zero, and I want to keep the other good teams for safer predictions, even if they have higher chances.

3:1/3:2

BetBoom — One of the best teams in the Opening Stage, only losing one match in the RMR, they are almost certain to make it through to the next stage. The only reason I don’t think they could go three-to-zero is because of their first match being against NEMIGA, which is the only team to beat them in the RMR.

Imperial — Winning every match in the South American RMR, Imperial is a sure team to qualify into the next stage, even though they have a hard opening match against B8.

Wildcard — While not the best team, Wildcard has had a perfect RMR, not losing even one match. Though they haven’t been able to beat Vitality or Spirit in BLAST Rivals, their showing lately has still been impressive, so I believe they could make it.

TYLOO — Winning every match in the XSE Pro League and the Hero Esports Asian Champions League, this Chinese team has pretty good chances of securing a spot at the next stage, especially if they will be up against other Asian teams.

B8 — With an impressive, although not perfect, showing in the RMR, this all-Ukrainian team could easily pass to the next stage, even though they’re first match is against Imperial.

Legacy — Although not the best team in this stage, Legacy is still the #28 ranked team on HLTV, so they have a lot of potential in this Major. Given they have a pretty easy first match against Lynn Vision, I can definitely see this team qualify for the next stage.

0:3

Chinggis Warriors — Being brutally honest, this is probably the worst team qualifying for the Major. Not only that, but the odds are stacked against them, with an almost-unbeatable opening match against HEROIC. If I were them, I would just ignore the first game and focus on training for the second one. Regardless, it’s hard to see them winning any matches unless they get lucky in the second or third matchup.

Fluxo — This is probably the prediction I’m least sure of. Fluxo is not a bad team in any way, and have some chance of even winning the opening match against FlyQuest. Still, given the competition, they really have to be lucky if they want to make it to the next stage, so I think it’s a logical bet to put them going 0:3, but this one is dependent on luck.

Conclusion

I feel a lot more comfortable with these picks than I felt with the ones from the last Major. The teams that made it are a lot less random, and honestly, I can see the Diamond Coin coming. Still, you should remember that I am not an expert, and this isn’t financial advice. Don’t buy the Viewer Pass unless you actually like the event, because you are 99% sure to lose money from it — it’s gambling, not an investment.