Shanghai Major: Americas and Asia-Pacific Close the Counter-Strike Gap

With the first stage of the Perfect World Shanghai Major now completed, we have our top 16 teams locked in. Qualifying for the Elimination Stage of a Counter-Strike Major is a big deal. Not only does it give you a chance to play against the best teams in the world for a shot at the game’s biggest prize, it also awards attendance slots for the next Major.

Counter-Strike has three main regions: Americas, EMEA, and Asia-Pacific. Historically, the game has been European dominated but some American, Brazilian, and even Oceanic teams have managed to break their way into the top echelon before.

The past two Majors have seen the game skew towards total EU domination. With the top eight at PGL Copenhagen Major earlier this year consisting of only EU teams, the Shanghai Major is the first one since 2015 to not have a single Americas representative given a top eight seed going into the event.

The Perfect World Shanghai Major has already been turned on its head after just the Opening Stage. Only two of the six European teams managed to advance, one of them doing so by the skin of their teeth.

We saw our first ever perfect 3-0 from an Asia-Pacific team as The Mongolz dominated the competition. Brazil showed up big, getting three teams through to the Elimination Stage. And Wildcard showed that North America still has even more promising talent waiting for their shot at the big stage.

The Best Asian Team Ever?

It cannot be overstated how amazing it is that The Mongolz have become a true top level team in Counter-Strike, even taking down world number 1 team G2 Esports in the elimination stage. Asian CS has always been a step behind everybody else due to the game’s lesser popularity in the east. For the majority of the game’s life, even having a team in the top 25 was considered out of the ordinary.

Last Major, The Mongolz barely snuck into the top 16 with a 3-2 record. This time, they’ve blasted through that mark without dropping a map. Suffice to say, The Mongolz have charged onto the scene in full force and are looking to be the first Asian team to win a game in the top 16 of a Major. Maybe they can even advance to the Playoffs…?

The Mongolz’ rise has also helped to steadily improve their region. Prior to this Major, an Asia-Pacific team has always been one of the 0-3 teams in the Opening Stage. Not this time, much to the dismay of many a pick-em.

In Asia’s first Major, we saw the Shanghai crowd start a “send them home” chant as Rare Atom eliminated Fnatic with a win in the 0-2 match. If that doesn’t show the beauty and unity of esports, I don’t know what does.

🚨 Shanghai Crowd Chants "Send Them Home" as Rare Atom eliminates Fnatic from the competition.

u/thebrainypole pic.twitter.com/aqbqNIZDAt

— GWRLD (@gwrldmedia) December 1, 2024

Though it’s a shame that FlyQuest came up just short in the round five match against MIBR, Asia-Pacific will at least maintain their three teams at the next Major.

Brazil Brings the Heat

Ever since the dissolution of the legendary Luminosity and SK Gaming core, Brazil has been trying to put together a team that can compete for trophies at that same level. FURIA has gotten close with a few of their iterations, but ultimately fell short of being a true powerhouse.

Their latest iteration with Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo and Felipe “skullz” Medeiros appears to have hit a hot streak. They earned a 3-1 record after losing their opening BO1 to GamerLegion, qualifying with room to spare.

With a team as highly rated as FURIA, I’d expect to make the top 16, but what isn’t expected is two more Brazilian teams to make it through as well. MIBR and paiN Gaming have also made it to the elimination stage. This is the most BR teams ever in a Major top 16.

While FURIA has a roster of mostly tenured and experienced players, MIBR and paiN are much younger teams that have started to show high levels of competency in CS2. They’re both solid strategically and have some potential star players in their ranks.

Of course, FURIA is still the most likely team, if any, to make the top eight. Even so, advancing this far is already a huge achievement for paiN and MIBR.

Hope Continues to Rise for NA

Two North American squads have advanced to the Elimination Stage at the Perfect World Shanghai Major. Team Liquid is obviously the first. Their Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken IGL experiment seems to be moving along at a steady pace. Though they still have some inconsistency issues, I trust them to bring their A-Game to the Major.

The second team is an unlikely one. Wildcard has just managed to sneak in after a nail-biting win over Passion UA in round five. Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz has done it again, leading another rag-tag bunch to the pinnacle of Counter-Strike competition. No one thought that they would be here a month ago, and yet here they stand. North America is already proud of their performance, anything more is a bonus.

Together with Brazil, the Americas has sent five teams through to the top 16 at the Perfect World Shanghai Major. Not only have they secured another slot for next Major, they also have a great chance at getting their top eight seed back if just one team can advance.

European Shortcomings a Sign of Things to Come

Among the laundry list of European teams that “should have” qualified that instead missed out are Virtus.pro, Cloud9, and Fnatic. Of course, we can’t forget the likes of Team Falcons, Astralis, Ninjas in Pyjamas, and Eternal Fire who also didn’t even make it to the big stage.

For years, the second tier of European squads was still above the Americas and Asia-Pacific no questions asked. That is not the case anymore. As we’ve settled into CS2, there’s a new pecking order; one with more parity than before. It won’t be long before we see more teams become competitive alongside their countrymen that lead the way.