Wildcard, MIBR, Liquid among seven teams that qualified for CS2 Shanghai Major through American RMR

Image: Perfect World Esports

Four out of the seven teams that qualified for the Shanghai Major through the American RMR notably come from Brazil.

Seven more teams have qualified for the Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 with the conclusion of the tournament's American Regional Major Ranking (RMR) event on Friday (November 15). 

Wildcard Gaming, MIBR, Team Liquid, compLexity Gaming, paiN Gaming, Imperial Esports, and FURIA Esports emerged from a field of 16 teams from both North and South America across four days of competition to advance to the Opening Stage of the Shanghai Major.

The Shanghai Major's American RMR event pit the 16 participating teams in a Swiss system format that saw seven teams qualify for the main tournament after earning victories in at least three rounds of matches. All the participating teams had to play through at least two best-of-one matches before advancing to the best-of-three advancement and elimination matches.

Here's how the seven qualified teams from the Shanghai Major's American RMR earned their spots in the main tournament:

Wildcard, MIBR, Liquid lead Americas contingent in Shanghai Major

Wildcard were the biggest surprise of the American RMR, as they qualified for the Shanghai Major as the top seed of the event with three clean victories. 

They started their campaign with a huge 16-12 upset in Inferno over Liquid in the first round before defeating paiN, 13-10 in Nuke, in round two to get within touching distance of the Major in round three. There, Wildcard scored a 2-0 series sweep over 9z – off a 16-14 win in Nuke and a 13-6 win in Inferno – to lock in their spot in the Shanghai Major.

MIBR also had a perfect run through the American RMR en route to the Major. They started off with a 13-5 win in Vertigo over KRÜ Esports in round two, routed Imperial in Nuke 13-9 in round two, then soundly swept compLexity in Nuke (13-9) and Vertigo (13-11) in the third round.

Meanwhile, Liquid had to go through four rounds to qualify for the Major after getting upset by Wildcard in round one. 

They bounced back with a 13-2 stomp in Ancient over KRÜ in round two before making short work of BESTIA in Anubis, 13-4, in round three. Liquid then faced FURIA in the fourth round, with both teams trading 13-3 wins in the first two maps at Anubis and Dust II. Liquid then secured the 2-1 series victory and their spot in the Shanghai Major with a 13-7 win in Inferno.

CompLexity started the American RMR strong by defeating BESTIA (13-7 in Anubis) and BOSS (16-12 in Anubis) in the first two rounds. However, they were swept by MIBR in round three and had to earn their Shanghai Major spot in round four at the expense of M80. CompLexity swept that series by taking Anubis 13-8 and Vertigo 13-9.

PaiN was the fifth team to advance through the American RMR, also taking four rounds to earn a spot in the Major. They started their campaign by defeating Nouns in Vertigo, 13-9, in the first round before losing to Wildcard in the second. PaiN bounced back with a 13-5 win in Ancient over Imperial in round three then soundly swept 9z in Mirage (13-11) and Dust II (13-0) in their advancement match.

The last day of the American RMR saw six teams remain in contention in the fifth round – namely Imperial, FURIA, M80, 9z, RED Canids, and BESTIA – with just two spots in the Major remaining. Imperial were quick to take the sixth Major spot after sweeping RED Canids in Vertigo (13-10) and Dust II (19-17). 

FURIA then scored back-to-back 13-8 wins in Anubis and Dust II to stay in contention for the last Major spot. M80 also won their match against BESTIA, taking a hard-won 2-1 victory with wins in Dust II (13-7) and Anubis (19-17). As a result, FURIA and M80 played in one last best-of-three match for the final spot in the Shanghai Major through the American RMR.

Brazilian CS legend Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo was determined to make it to his 16th Major as FURIA knocked out M80 with back-to-back 13-8 wins in Anubis and Dust II. With a spot in the Shanghai Major secure, FalleN now has the fourth-most Major appearances of any player in the history of CS – tied with Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz, Olof "olofmeister" Gustafsson, and Freddy "KRIMZ" Johansson.

Wildcard, MIBR, Liquid, compLexity, paiN, Imperial, and FURIA now join Asia-Pacific RMR winners The Mongolz, Rare Atom, and FlyQuest in the Opening Stage of the Shanghai Major. 

The Shanghai Major RMR events will continue until November 24, with 14 other teams earning their spots in the tournament through the European RMR events. The Shanghai Major proper is set to kick off on November 30 and will conclude on December 15, with 24 teams fighting for the lion's share of $500,000 out of the $1.25 million prize pool, and a spot in the second CS2 Major championship.