Pick’em Challenge for BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025: Stage 2 from s1mple, m0NESY, NiKo and others
The first part of the Major has come to an end and we have literally just a few hours to make new predictions and analyze what the participants and industry people think about it. As we said, the first stage turned out to be quite random, where 2 teams with a 2:0 record after the first day couldn’t advance to the next stage. Well, the most popular 0:3 pick – Chinggis Warriors – managed to get one victory and ruin all the pickems. But not ours! We successfully predicted the advancement of HEROIC, TYLOO, BetBoom Team, Nemiga and Legacy, so we’re moving forward!
Pick'em challenge from SIH
3:0 – Falcons, FaZe
3:1/3:2 – FURIA, VP, BetBoom Team, B8, HEROIC, 3DMAX
0:3 – TYLOO, Lynn Vision
We really don’t want to remember what happened in the first stage, because the quality of play absolutely didn’t match the Major’s status, and resembled more like some tier-3 tournament. It’s good that in the second stage we’ll already see more familiar tags like Falcons, FaZe, FURIA, VP and other regular visitors of tier-1 events, so at first glance, the choice should be easier now. The main problem is quite traditional – it’s the chance of randomness in BO1 on MR13 and determining exactly the 3:0 and 0:3 teams.
The first thing to note – creating another fairy tale story for the first stage triumphants is unlikely to happen, so we’ll focus maximally on the direct invites of the second stage. FaZe and Falcons are obvious favorites and apparently the bracket shouldn’t put them against each other in the 2:0 round due to close seedings. The only moment – the match against HEROIC for FaZe, which s1mple was strongly hyping up and guaranteeing that with rain they would never lose to them at IEM Dallas. Let’s assume that Sasha knows what he’s talking about and will keep his word.
Regarding the advancement teams, as we already said, we suggest focusing on the debutants, and from the previous stage we only believe in B8, HEROIC and BetBoom Team, who looked more confident than the rest. You can also take a look at OG, but in the previous stage they had too easy a bracket. Regarding 0:3, we decided to pick two Chinese collectives who barely secured their ticket on the last day and in our opinion are the most inexperienced collectives with quite a narrow map pool, which will make it difficult for them to pick their maps in BO1 stages.
Pick'em challenge from s1mple and ELiGE
3:0 – Falcons, FaZe
3:1/3:2 – FURIA, VP, BetBoom Team, B8, HEROIC, 3DMAX
0:3 – MIBR, Lynn Vision
Despite Kostylev’s complete failure in the previous stage – we still can’t help but include his pickem in this selection. Moreover, now he didn’t make it alone and also because his choice is practically identical to ours. The only difference – choosing MIBR instead of TYLOO for 0:3. Let’s explain why for us this isn’t the best solution, although MIBR, like any other Brazilian collective, also doesn’t inspire confidence. MIBR debuts at the Major in Austin with a derby against Legacy, and anything can happen in such matches. Also, it seems to us that Legacy has an advantage, as they’re already warmed up and don’t need to “get into” this tournament and they’ve already gained momentum in the previous stage.
Pick'em challenge from m0NESY and NiKo
3:0 – Falcons, FURIA
3:1/3:2 – paiN, FaZe, BetBoom Team, B8, HEROIC, 3DMAX
0:3 – TYLOO, Nemiga
Vitality’s main competitors at this Major start their journey only from the second stage, which is especially comical considering that G2 and Liquid are already in the top-16. But invites were distributed back in early April, and then Falcons didn’t have everything as good as the last month and a half. Well, this VALVE system hasn’t been criticized only by the lazy, so let’s focus on the Pick’em. And there’s something to look at here.
First of all – it’s FURIA for 3:0, but most surprising is paiN’s advancement instead of VP. The best duo of recent years believes too much in Brazilian collectives, won’t this be a mistake, like supporting Americans at a “home” event? Maybe the guys know something about them from scrims, but on paper this looks quite risky. Same as picking Nemiga for 0:3, although the guys showed quite decent CS and in head-to-head confrontations with weaker collectives could secure at least one victory.
Pick'em challenge from HooXi
3:0 – Falcons, 3DMAX
3:1/3:2 – paiN, FaZe, VP, B8, MIBR, FURIA
0:3 – Legacy, Lynn Vision
However, we found someone who believed in Brazilians even more than NiKo and m0NESY and, ironically – it’s their former teammate HooXi. Honestly, we don’t doubt the genius of the gigachad at all, he already proved everything with Astralis at PGL Astana 2025, but here he clearly went overboard. Maybe he also knows something that’s unknown to us watching from the sidelines. Let’s see what this leads to, it’s not excluded that we’ll be applauding HooXi again and admiring his genius.
Pick'em challenge from Overdrive
3:0 – Falcons, HEROIC
3:1/3:2 – paiN, FaZe, VP, BetBoom Team, OG, FURIA
0:3 – TYLOO, Lynn Vision
Let’s step away from esports players a bit and turn to the main scout/insider of the CIS region, who obviously after 20 years in the scene should understand the game. Here we can observe one of the most unique pickems, which, to be fair, is quite good. Apparently, Overdrive doesn’t believe in s1mple’s beautiful revenge over HEROIC and in that key we would also easily put these guys for 3:0, as in the previous stage they were really very good. Despite the departure of two key team elements in just a couple of weeks, the team looked very cohesive both on the server and beyond it. Apparently, Overdrive was based on exactly what he saw in the previous stage and for the same reason took OG for advancement. But this collective didn’t impress us much – victories over Complexity, NRG and TYLOO don’t seem to us an objective indicator of strength.
Pick'em challenge from Launders
3:0 – Falcons, 3DMAX
3:1/3:2 – TYLOO, FaZe, B8, Nemiga, HEROIC, FURIA
0:3 – M80, paiN
Another analyst, but already a Western one, produced a completely unique pickem. Honestly, we have nothing to latch onto here, but maybe you share the same feelings with him and were looking for confirmation of your thoughts. Putting TYLOO for advancement – that’s very bold, as is choosing Nemiga instead of VP or the same BetBoom Team as representatives of the CIS region. The only thing that doesn’t seem completely insane to us in this pick – is M80 and paiN for 0:3. The American region doesn’t impress at all at this event, and paiN is indeed experiencing quite a lot of problems lately. But once again we say that we wouldn’t recommend making such a choice, as in the second stage there are immediately 4 Brazilian collectives and the chance for a derby is very high, and that’s always 50/50.
Pick'em challenge from FalleN and YEKINDAR
3:0 – Falcons, FURIA
3:1/3:2 – paiN, FaZe, VP, BetBoom Team, OG, 3DMAX
0:3 – M80, MIBR
Since we’re talking so much about Brazilians, let’s finish our selection with picks from FURIA players. That they put themselves for 3:0, we’ll put aside, but it’s good that the guys are confident in themselves. Further from the interesting – is the absence of two teams from the previous stage who advanced here without a single loss – HEROIC and B8. Giving preference to OG, who already lost to the same B8 at this tournament – is a strange decision. Regarding Brazilians, the father decided to believe in his compatriots from paiN and write off MIBR.
