Image: Perfect World Esports
The Shanghai Major will be the crowning event of the 2024 CS2 esports calendar, you wouldn't want to miss it.
The Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 is the second-ever Major Championship for CS2 and will feature 24 of the best teams from all across the globe gunning for the lion's share of a $1.25 million prize pool as well as the prestigious right to be called CS2 Major champions.
Organised by Perfect World Esports, the tournament will be hosted from November 30 to December 15 in two venues in Shanghai, China, namely the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Centre and the Shanghai Oriental Sports Center.
Read on for everything you need to know about the CS2 Shanghai Major.
Teams
The 24 teams competing in the Shanghai Major earned their spots in the tournament through a set of Regional Major Ranking (RMR) events for Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific that took place from November 11 to 24. The Asia-Pacific RMR granted three spots while the Americas and European A and B RMR events gave away seven spots each.
Initially, teams that competed in the European RMR A and B events could earn a direct berth to the Shanghai Major's Elimination Stage depending on how they performed in the RMR.
However, miscommunication between CS2 developer Valve Software and organiser Perfect World Esports resulted in a debacle that caused confusion whether certain teams would be granted direct spots in the Elimination Stage. In the end, the Valve Regional Standing (VRS) system was used to determine where certain teams would be seeded in the Shanghai Major.
Here's the full list of teams that qualified for the Shanghai Major:
Team Vitality
MOUZ
Natus Vincere
FaZe Clan
Cloud9
Fnatic
GamerLegion
BIG
3DMAX
G2 Esports
HEROIC
Virtus.pro
Passion UA
Team Spirit
Wildcard Gaming
MIBR
Team Liquid
compLexity Gaming
paiN Gaming
Imperial Esports
FURIA Esports
The MongolZ
Rare Atom
FlyQuestFormat
The Shanghai Major will be split into three distinct stages: the Opening Stage from November 30 to December 3, the Elimination Stage from December 5 to 8, and the Playoff Stage from December 12 to 15. The Opening and Elimination Stages will be held in the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center while the Playoff Stage will be hosted in the Shanghai Oriental Sports Center.
The Opening Stage will feature 16 teams seeded into the Opening Stage competing in a 16-team Swiss system format, with the Top 8 teams advancing to the Elimination Stage while the rest will be going home early. Advancement and Elimination matches in the Opening Stage will be a best-of-three series while all other matches will just be a best-of-one.
The Elimination Stage will also follow the same 16-team Swiss system format as the Opening Stage. This time around, the 16 participating teams for this stage will include the eight team directly seeded into the Elimination Stage as well as the eight teams that made it out of the Opening Stage. The Top 8 teams in the Elimination Stage will then advance to the Playoff Stage while the rest will be eliminated.
The Playoff Stage will follow a single-elimination format where all matches, including the grand finals, will be a best-of-three.
Here are all the teams sorted according to whether they start in the Opening Stage or the Elimination Stage:
Opening Stage teams:
- FURIA Esports
- Virtus.pro
- Team Liquid
- Complexity Gaming
- BIG
- Fnatic
- The MongolZ
- paiN Gaming
- GamerLegion
- MIBR
- Cloud9
- FlyQuest
- Passion UA
- Wildcard Gaming
- Rare Atom
- Imperial Esports
Elimination Stage teams:
- G2 Esports
- Natus Vincere
- Team Vitality
- Team Spirit
- MOUZ
- FaZe Clan
- HEROIC
- 3DMAX
Note: BIG would have started in the Elimination Stage after finishing in the Top 2 of the European RMR B while Team Spirit would have started in the Opening Stage for finishing seventh, if the seeding parameters originally used by Perfect World Esports were followed. But following Valve's intervention, it will be Team Spirit starting in the Elimination Stage and BIG in the Opening Stage.
Prize pool
The Shanghai Major has a prize pool of $1.25 million. All 24 teams that qualified for the Major are guaranteed at least $10,000 in winnings while the champions will take the lion's share of $500,000. Here's the full prize pool breakdown for the Shanghai Major:
- 1st: $500,000
- 2nd: $170,000
- 3rd-4th: $80,000
- 5th-8th: $45,000
- 9th-16th: $20,000
- 17th-24th: $10,000
Where to watch
PGL has been designated as the official English broadcast partner of Perfect World Esports for the Shanghai Major. All matches will be broadcasted live on the official PGL Twitch and YouTube channels. A secondary Twitch channel will also be active during the Opening and Elimination Stages to accommodate the high number of matches that will be broadcasted.
For live updates, schedule, and results for the Shanghai Major, follow GosuGamers' official Shanghai Major tournament tracker here.
