The Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 was the second Counter-Strike 2 Major Championship and twenty-first Counter-Strike Major overall. It was held in Shanghai, China from November 30 to December 15, 2024, and was the first Major organized by Perfect World. For the first time since Rio 2022, each stage of the tournament was in front of large audiences. The Opening and Elimination stages were held at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center, while the Playoffs stage were held at the Shanghai Oriental Sports Center. Twenty-four teams qualified from regional qualifiers for the tournament, which included a prize pool of US$1,250,000.
Team Spirit were the Major's champions, following a 2–1 victory over FaZe Clan. 17-year-old Spirit player Danil "donk" Kryshkovets was named the tournament's MVP, making him the highest-rated ever as well as the youngest ever, since Markus "Kjaerbye" Kjærbye at Atlanta 2017.
Background Counter-Strike 2 is a multiplayer first-person shooter video game developed and published by Valve Corporation. It is the fifth game in the Counter-Strike series. In professional Counter-Strike, the Valve-sponsored Majors are considered the most prestigious tournaments.
The defending Major champions were Natus Vincere, following a 2–1 victory over FaZe Clan at Copenhagen 2024. They were eliminated following a defeat to HEROIC in the Elimination Stage.
On July 4, 2024, it was announced that Romanian tournament organizer and previous Major hosts PGL had acquired the rights to the English-language broadcast.
Format Like previous Majors using a Swiss-system group stage, twenty-four teams will qualify for the tournament. This includes sixteen teams who qualify for the Opening Stage. The top eight teams from the Opening Stage move on to the Elimination Stage, along with eight teams directly from the Regional Major Ranking (RMR) qualifiers. Finally, the top eight teams from the Elimination Stage will play a single-elimination Playoffs Stage to determine a champion. As a tiebreaker, each team with the same number of matches won and lost during the Opening and Elimination stages will be seeded according to their Buchholz score. Teams qualified for the Playoffs Stage will also be seeded according to their final Buchholz scores.
In the first two stages, all matches except for progression or elimination matches, which are played as bests-of-three, are played in a best-of-one format. All matches in the Playoff Stage are played in a best-of-three format.
Map pool Ancient Anubis Dust II Inferno Mirage Nuke Vertigo
Talent On November 1, 2024, PGL announced the full talent lineup for the Major's English-language broadcast.
Hosts
James Banks (stage host) Richard Lewis Sam "TechGirl" Wright
Analysts
Alex "Mauisnake" Ellenberg Janko "YNk" Paunović Sudhen "Bleh" Wahengbam Dustin "dusT" Mouret
Casters
Jason "moses" O'Tool Adam "dinko" Hawthorne Hugo Byron Harry "JustHarry" Russell Chad "SPUNJ" Burchill Alex "Machine" Richardson Mohan "launders" Govindasamy Conner "Scrawny" Girvan
Teams Europe
Cloud9 Team Vitality MOUZ Natus Vincere FaZe Clan fnatic GamerLegion BIG Clan 3DMAX HEROIC Virtus.pro G2 Esports Passion UA Team Spirit
Asia
Rare Atom The MongolZ FlyQuest
Americas
MIBR Wildcard paiN Gaming Team Liquid Complexity Gaming Imperial Esports FURIA Esports
Qualification Qualification took place through three Regional Major Ranking events, based on teams' geographical regions, events were held for Europe, Americas and Asia.
Four teams who qualify from each Europe RMR earned direct berths to the Elimination Stage, in accordance with the number of each region's teams that advanced from the Elimination Stage to the Playoffs Stage of Copenhagen 2024. Like the previous Major, these places were distributed according to the highest ranked teams in the Valve Regional Standings.
The RMR tournaments for all regions took place in Shanghai, at the following dates:
Asia: November 11–13 Americas: November 12–15 Europe: November 17–24 RMR A: November 17–20 RMR B: November 21–24
RMR results +RegionOpening StageElimination StageEurope A GamerLegion fnatic Cloud9 Natus Vincere Team Vitality MOUZ FaZe ClanEurope B Virtus.pro
Passion UA G2 Esports Team Spirit HEROIC 3DMAXAmericas MIBR paiN Gaming Complexity Gaming Wildcard Team Liquid Imperial Esports FURIA EsportsAsia Rare Atom The MongolZ FlyQuest
Team seeding Following the conclusion of the Europe RMRs, Valve updated their regional standings and awarded teams Elimination Stage berths based on their new rankings. Perfect World initially had the top 4 teams from each of the Europe RMRs qualify for the Elimination Stage, following the rulebook that was in place up to Paris 2023. Team Vitality, MOUZ, Natus Vincere and FaZe (in Europe RMR A), as well as BIG and 3DMAX (in Europe RMR B), were mistakenly qualified for the Elimination Stage before Perfect World reverted to utilizing the Valve Regional Standings on November 22, during the middle of Europe RMR B. +Europe Regional Standings for qualified teams (as of 25 November, 2024)StandingTeam NameRosterSeed1G2huNter-, m0NESY, malbsMd, NiKo, SnaxElimination Stage2Natus VincereAleksib, b1t, iM, jL, w0nderful3Team VitalityapEX, flameZ, mezii, Spinx, ZywOo4Team Spiritchopper, donk, magixx, sh1ro, zont1x5MOUZBrollan, Jimpphat, siuhy, torzsi, xertioN6FaZebroky, frozen, karrigan, rain, ropz7HEROICdegster, kyxsan, NertZ, sjuush, TeSeS113DMAXDjoko, Ex3rcice, Graviti, Lucky, Maka13Virtus.proelectroNic, fame, FL1T, Jame, n0rb3r7Opening Stage15BIGJDC, Krimbo, rigoN, syrsoN, tabseN17fnaticblameF, bodyy, KRIMZ, MATYS, nawwk22GamerLegionFL4MUS, sl3nd, Tauson, volt, ztr30Cloud9Ax1Le, Boombl4, HeavyGod, ICY, interz34Passion UAfear, jackasmo, jambo, s-chilla, zeRRoFIX
Opening stage On November 4, 2023, it was announced that Valve had renamed the Challengers Stage and Legends Stage of the Major to "Opening Stage" and "Elimination Stage" respectively. Teams would also be seeded into these stages according to their regional standings. Like previous Majors using a Swiss-system bracket, sixteen teams will compete for eight Elimination Stage spots, with all matches besides elimination and progression matches, which are bests-of-three, being bests-of-one.
The Opening Stage was played between November 30 and December 3, 2024.
Matchup results
Round 1 matches Team Score Map Score Team Vertigo Ancient Ancient Anubis Mirage Mirage Anubis Dust II
Round 2 matches Team Score Map Score Team1–0 Nuke Ancient Inferno Nuke 0–1 Ancient Anubis Anubis Anubis
Round 3 matches Team Score Map Score Team2–0 Series Series 1–1 Vertigo Mirage Vertigo Anubis 0–2 Series Series
Round 4 matches Team Score Map Score Team2–1 Series Series Series 1–2 Series Series Series
Round 5 matches Team Score Map Score Team Series Series Series
Elimination stage Like the Opening Stage, the Elimination Stage is played in a Swiss-system bracket, with eight teams advancing to a single-elimination Playoffs Stage. The Elimination Stage includes the eight teams that advance from the Opening Stage, as well as the eight highest teams from the Europe RMR in Valve's regional standings. Matches are played in the same format as in the Opening Stage.
On December 6, The MongolZ secured qualification to the Playoffs Stage following a victory over HEROIC, making them the first Asian team to compete in the playoffs of a Major.
The Elimination Stage was played between December 5 and December 8, 2024.
Matchup results
Round 1 matches Team Score Map Score Team Inferno Nuke Mirage Dust II Nuke Ancient Mirage Vertigo
Round 2 matches Team Score Map Score Team1–0 Mirage Mirage Inferno Ancient 0–1 Inferno Ancient Mirage Dust II
Round 3 matches Team Score Map Score Team2–0 Series Series 1–1 Mirage Inferno Ancient Inferno 0–2 Series Series
Round 4 matches Team Score Map Score Team2–1 Series Series Series 1–2 Series Series Series
Round 5 matches Team Score Map Score Team Series Series Series
Playoffs stage The top eight teams from the Elimination Stage will advance to a single-elimination bracket. Each match in the Playoffs Stage is played in a best-of-three format.
The Playoffs Stage was played between December 12 and December 15, 2024.
Final standings The final placings are shown below. In addition, the prize distribution, roster, and coaches are shown.
Place Prize Money Team Roster Coach 1st Team Spirit donk, chopper, sh1ro, zont1x, magixx hally 2nd FaZe Clan ropz, frozen, broky, rain, karrigan NEO 3rd 4th G2 EsportsSnax, NiKo, m0NESY, malbsMd, huNterTaZMOUZBrollan, siuhy, torzsi, Jimpphat, xertioNsycrone 5th 8th Team VitalityapEX, ZywOo, flameZ, Spinx, meziiXTQZZZHEROICNertZ, TeSeS, sjuush, degster, kyxsansAwTeam LiquidTwistzz, jks, ultimate, NAF, YEKINDARmithRThe MongolZbLitz, Techno4K, Senzu, mzinho, 910maaRaa 9th 11th FURIA EsportsFalleN, chelo, yuurih, KSCERATO, skullzsiddeNatus VincereAleksib, iM, b1t, jL, w0nderfulB1ad3MIBRexit, Lucaozy, saffee, drop, insaninak 12th 14thGamerLegionztr, Tauson, volt, sl3nd, FL4MUSashpaiN Gamingbiguzera, nqz, kauez, snow, luxrikz3DMAXMaka, Lucky, Djoko, Ex3rcice, GravitiwasiNk 15th 16thBIG ClantabseN, syrsoN, rigoN, JDC, KrimbokakafuWildcardstanislaw, Sonic, phzy, susp, JBavinS 17th 19th Passion UAfear, jambo, s-chilla, jackasmo, zeRRoFIXKaneFlyQuestdexter, Liazz, aliStair, INS, VexiteerkaStComplexity GamingEliGE, JT, floppy, hallzerk, GrimT.c 20th 22nd Virtus.pro Jame, FL1T, fame, n0rb3r7, electroNic PASHANOJ Cloud9 Ax1Le, Boombl4, HeavyGod, ICY, interz groove Rare Atom somebody, Summer, L1haNg, ChildKing, kaze z8z 23rd 24th Imperial Esports felps, VINI, try, decenty, noway zakk fnatic KRIMZ, bodyy, nawwk, blameF, MATYS keita
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