BLAST.tv Austin Major: Most popular teams after Stage 2

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Shocking eliminations, thrilling comebacks, highlight-reel moments — and the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025 hasn’t even reached playoffs yet. The tournament has already delivered plenty of emotional highs and lows for fans, and there’s still more to go. 

As the second stage wrapped up yesterday, two of the event’s most popular teams were knocked out, with Team Falcons as the expected headliner. But who was the other fan favorite to exit early? Esports Charts breaks down the most-watched teams from the opening stages and reveals the top five eliminated squads that still led the viewership charts.

The biggest shock of the first two stages was, without question, the early elimination of Team Falcons. Some fans had them pegged as potential champions, and they were a clear favorite in Pick’Em Challenges. The addition of Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov had reignited his iconic partnership with Nikola "NiKo" Kovač, creating a wave of hype around the roster. Their exit not only dents the tournament’s viewership numbers but also robs fans of high-stakes clashes we all wanted to see: imagine a Falcons showdown with G2 Esports or Team Vitality.

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MIBR also landed near the top of the eliminated teams ranking, largely thanks to their dramatic performances and key matchups. Their unforgettable win over Falcons gave fans hope for another upset against FaZe Clan, a dream that ultimately fell short, but not without earning the Brazilian side new admirers along the way. 

Both MIBR and Falcons featured in some of the tournament’s most-watched and intense games, leaving the rest of the field — including HEROIC, OG, and TYLOO — trailing behind by a wide margin. These three made the list primarily through matches against big-ticket opponents like FaZe and Falcons, but their viewership footprint wasn’t nearly as large.

Expanding the scope to include all teams from Stage 1 and 2, FaZe Clan stands in a league of their own. With Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev now in the lineup, a player whose name alone can draw over thousands of viewers, and a dramatic run that saw them qualify in the very last possible match, FaZe was a must-watch squad throughout the early stages of the Major.

One surprise in the viewership charts is 3DMAX, who cracked the top ranks largely due to their upset win over FaZe Clan in their final Stage 2 match, a victory that gave their average viewership a major boost.

FURIA, on the other hand, didn’t need marquee opponents to land in the top 5. Their fanbase speaks for itself. Although they currently sit behind MIBR in terms of viewership during this event, FURIA remains Brazil’s more widely followed team overall, bolstered by the presence of legend Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo.

The team viewership rankings are set for a major shake-up as Stage 3 gets underway, bringing in Counter-Strike’s biggest crowd-pullers. The final phase of the group stage kicks off tomorrow, June 12: don’t miss a moment of the action or the numbers behind it with Esports Charts!