Image: Perfect World Esports
Six teams, including Natus Vincere, will be fighting for the last three spots in the Playoffs in round five of the Elimination Stage.
The action continued to heat up in day three of the Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 Elimination Stage as three more teams advanced to the Playoffs while three others were eliminated.
G2 Esports, 
Team Liquid, and 
Team Spirit finished the Elimination Stage with a 3-1 record and have joined 
The MongolZ and 
Team Vitality in qualifying for the final stage of the Shanghai Major. Meanwhile, 
3DMAX, 
GamerLegion, and 
paiN Gaming have been knocked out in 12th-14th place.
Here's how all the action in day three of the CS2 Perfect World Shanghai Major Elimination Stage went down:
G2, Liquid, and Spirit advance to the Playoffs
With the MongolZ and Vitality finishing the Elimination Stage with perfect 3-0 records and taking the first two Playoff spots in round three, round four saw the six teams with 2-1 records claim the next three slots in the tournament's final stage.
After getting upset by the MongolZ in round one, top-ranked team G2 soundly swept 
FaZe Clan in Inferno (13-4) and Mirage (13-3) to advance to the Playoffs as the third seed. Liquid then followed suit by defeating 
MIBR in three games with wins at Mirage (13-2) and Anubis (13-5).
The final round four high seed match was a three-map slugfest between Spirit and 
HEROIC, where 
Danil “donk” Kryshkovets reminded everyone that any conversation about the best CS2 player of 2024 must include him. Map one of the series at Ancient saw Spirit claim a 16-14 win in overtime behind donk's 32 frags and 11 assists on 23 deaths.
While HEROIC would tie up the series with a 13-10 win in Mirage, donk was still the best player on the server with 25 frags on 16 deaths – including an insane one-versus-five clutch in round 22.
Spirit then closed out the 2-1 series victory with a decisive 13-7 win in Dust II, where donk topped the kill board for the third straight map with 22 frags on 11 deaths. Spirit's superstar entry fragger finished the series with a whopping 79 kills to go with 17 assists on 50 deaths to push his team to the Shanghai Major Playoffs.
Meanwhile, the round four low seed matches saw 
MOUZ, 
Natus Vincere (NAVI), and 
FURIA Esports survive for the final day of the Elimination Stage at the expense of 3DMAX, GamerLegion, and paiN, respectively.
MOUZ opened the day's set of Elimination Matches by knocking out 3DMAX with back-to-back 13-11 victories in Dust II and Nuke. NAVI, a team many considered to be among the biggest favourites to win the Shanghai Major, bounced back from their disastrous 1-2 start in this stage by taking down GamerLegion in Nuke (13-6) and Mirage (13-9).
Finally, an all-Brazilian brawl to close the day out saw FURIA send paiN packing after three hard-fought games. FURIA locked in a round five appearance with a 2-1 reverse sweep, bouncing back from narrowly losing in Vertigo (11-13) by emerging victorious in Mirage (13-9) and Inferno (13-11).
The fifth and final round of the Shanghai Major Elimination Stage will see six teams fight for the last three spots in the Playoffs. MIBR will be taking on MOUZ, FURIA will face FaZe, while NAVI will have to defeat HEROIC if they hope to close out their dominant run in 2024 with their second Major championship of the year.
The CS2 Perfect World Shanghai Major 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. The tournament is 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.
For everything you need to know about the CS2 Perfect World Shanghai Major, check here.
