China prepares to host the Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024, where 16 teams will battle through the qualifying rounds to reach the knockout stage. As anticipation builds, questions linger about which teams will emerge as frontrunners and how they’ll fare in the competition. Our Counter-Strike PW 2024 Major opening stage preview provides insights into this event.
The competition will comprise 32 teams, beginning with an opening stage of 16 contestants. This stage will follow a Swiss Bo1 format for the opening duels, while elimination and progression games will be a best-of-three series. The eight highest-ranking teams will proceed to the knockout phase, meeting eight pre-seeded teams. The automatically qualified squads are Team Vitality, Natus Vincere, Team Spirit, FaZe Clan, MOUZ, Heroic, G2, and 3DMax.
Once the top eight teams from the Opening stage are determined, they will face off against the pre-qualified teams in another Swiss round for the 16 best CS2 teams. Just like with the Opening stage, elimination matches will also go in the bo1 and bo3 format, with playoffs being the best-of-three series. This tournament has a $1,250,000 prize pool, with the top teams earning $500,000 and $170,000, respectively. Teams that fail to make it past the opening stage will receive $10,000. The latest Esports betting odds for this competition are available on our recommended bookmakers.
| ℹ️ Tournament: | Counter-Strike 2 PW Shanghai Major 2024, Opening Stage |
| 🧾 Format: | CS2 LAN S-tier tournament with 16 teams and Swiss System format |
| 🏟️ Venue: | Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Center, China |
| 🗓️ Dates: | Sunday, November 30 – Tuesday, December 3 2024 |
The Pick’em Challenge adds extra color and enthusiasm to the excitement associated with CS2 tournaments. Fans can earn points and rewards by predicting match outcomes. Participants can select teams to compete for golden coin points during major tournaments.
Following Valve’s update on November 27, CS2 now includes the Perfect World Shanghai Major stickers and the Pick’em Challenge. Players can purchase capsules to collect stickers representing their preferred teams and players participating in the Shanghai Major. The stickers are available in three traditional categories: Legends, Challengers, and Contenders.
In this section, we reveal our 2024 Copenhagen Major pick’em for the opening stage of this contest. We will explain why we made these selections and then provide Shanghai 2024 Major Counter-Strike predictions for this event. Here are our pick’em selections:
Virtus.pro and Liquid both have the resources to dominate the opening stage of this event. They are naturally tier-1 teams that usually compete in elite events, usually progressing to the playoffs against a much stronger opposition. If they come up to their Opening stage games seriously, they shouldn’t face significant problems.
Wildcard faces a challenging opening matchup against Fnatic, while Rare Atom will face The MongolZ. Both should likely lose those encounters and struggle in their subsequent matches in Shanghai. Given their potential struggles, they are our picks for the team to go without winnings.
Here are our pick’em predictions for participants who are most likely to advance to the next phase:
As mentioned earlier, Virtus.pro boasts a strong squad with experienced players. With a relatively easy start, they should advance to the next stage of the contest. Complexity is in a similar situation and should secure a straightforward win against Fly Quest. Fnatic is favored to defeat Wildcard Gaming in their opening matchup. Our picks to advance are FURIA, Team Liquid, The Mongols, and paiN Gaming. All these teams are well-positioned to reach the elimination stage based on their current standings and potential.
Here are our betting predictions for Shanghai CS2 Major 2024 opening stage for this event:
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While Complexity is outside CS2’s elite teams, they have the skill level to handle early tournament competition effectively. Their roster significantly outclasses Fly Quest’s, giving them a clear advantage for advancing to the elimination rounds. Complexity’s recent track record includes reaching the round of 16 at several tournaments – IEM Cologne 2024, IEM Rio 2024, and ESL Pro League 20 – as well as advancing to the quarterfinals at BLAST Premier Fall Showdown 2024. These consistent results suggest they’re well-positioned to progress through this elimination stage. Chinese legal betting sites value CS2 Shanghai’s major 2024 odds for this bet option at 1.50 (1/2).
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This matchup is relatively balanced, but Virtus.pro holds a slight edge based on several factors. Both teams have similar recent performances, winning three of their last five matches. However, Virtus.pro is in better form overall, currently ranked #12 compared to MIBR’s #19. One notable factor is that MIBR’s core lineup has only played four maps in the past 30 days, which could affect their cohesion and consistency. Virtus.pro’s higher ranking and recent form make them the stronger team. As a result, we expect them to come out tops in this clash. This is our second CS2 PW Shanghai major 2024 predictions tip.
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The historical matchup strongly favors Team Liquid, who have dominated Cloud9 with nine victories across their 12 encounters, translating to an impressive 75% success rate. Liquid’s map dominance is equally telling, having secured 18 maps to Cloud9’s 9. The competitive landscape further reinforces this advantage, with Liquid placing 13th in the HLTV rankings while Cloud9 trails at 35th. Given this significant gap in historical performance and current standing, Team Liquid appears poised to maintain its winning trend in this matchup.
Here are our selected 2024 PW major Opening stage betting tips for this tournament:
All of our selections in this guide are based on a deep analysis of the teams competing in the opening stage of this contest. Feel free to bet on the opening stage of PW Major 2024 using any of our recommendations. Also, check out our selections for top bookmakers; they offer the best CS2 betting odds for all punters.
