With 32 teams converging on the capital of Hungary for the crowning Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) event of the year, the pressure is on for those who’ve never competed on the biggest stage. It’s always thrilling to watch Major rookies compete, but at the StarLadder Budapest Major, there are far fewer to keep an eye on than in Austin.

There are a total of 19 CS Major Championship rookies at the StarLadder Budapest Major. In comparison, more than twice as many rookies competed at BLAST Austin Major, at 42 total. 

All Rookies At StarLadder Budapest Major

The smaller number of rookies is somewhat surprising considering the increase in teams (24 to 32) from the BLAST Austin Major onward. One must also consider huge fluctuations in the number of rookies competing at each Major. For example, the Perfect World Shanghai Major had 25.

Here are the rookies competing at the StarLadder Budapest Major:

• Maxim “kyousuke” Lukin (Team Falcons)
• Vladyslav “Kvem” Korol (Passion UA)
• Klimentii “kl1m” Krivosheev (MIBR)
• Drin “makazze” Shaqiri (NAVI)
• Jakub “jcobbb” Pietruszewski (FaZe Clan)
• Milan “hypex” Polowiec (GamerLegion)
• Oldřich “PR” Nový (GamerLegion)
• Artem “r1nkle” Moroz (NIP)
• Kacper “xKacpersky” Gabara (NIP)
• Zack “XotiC” Elshani (NRG)
• Carlos “venomzera” Dias Junior (RED Candis)
• Andrey “AW” Anisimov (PARIVISION)
• Andrey “BELCHONOKK” Yasinskiy (PARIVISION)
• Emil “nota” Moskvitin (PARIVISION)
• Vladislav “xiELO” Lysov (PARIVISION)
• Zheng “TiGeR” Junhao (Rare Atom)
• Tzu-Chi “Marek” Huang (Rare Atom)
• Anarbileg “cobrazera” Uuganbayar (The Huns)
• Munkhtogtokh “xerolte” Enkhbat (The Huns)

While no team has a roster made up entirely of rookies, PARIVISION comes close with four of the five, led by veteran AWPer Dzhami “Jame” Ali. Only one rookie is starting their journey in Stage 3, and that’s Team Falcons’ wunderkind rifler.

The Odds Of A Major Championship Royal Roader

A “royal roader” commonly refers to a player who wins a specific type of event, in this case, a CS Major Championship, in his/her first attempt. While all the rookies mentioned are obviously eligible to become a royal roader, there’s only one with a high probability of success.

Enter Maksim “kyousuke” Lukin, Team Falcons’ rifling prodigy acquired from Team Spirit’s Academy by the Saudi Arabian organization to complete its superteam on June 23, 2025. Team Falcons is the only squad featuring a rookie who received a direct invite to Stage 3 and is currently ranked #3 on the VRS.

According to the latest CS2 betting odds of 3.75 Decimal (+275 America), there’s an implied probability of 26.67% for Team Falcons to win the tournament.

If Team Falcons can find peak form in Hungary, kyousuke has a good shot at becoming a Major Championship winner at the age of 17. That would be an incredible achievement in its own right—but there’s more.

Danil “donk” Kryshkovets currently holds the record for being the youngest-ever winner of a Major Championship. If Team Falcons wins the StarLadder Budapest Major on December 14, 2025, kyousuke (born on January 30, 2008) will beat that record by roughly one week.

The Major 2025 runs from November 24 to December 14, boasting three weeks of CS2 esports action to close out the season. There’s a chance that Major Championship rookies could appear at the MVM Dome to compete in playoffs from December 11 to 14, and maybe, we’ll get to witness a royal roader storyline.