Images: Perfect World Esports
FaZe Clan's Cinderella run in the Shanghai Major continues, with only Team Spirit standing in the way of their perfect ending.
The grand finals for the Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 is now set. 
Team Spirit and 
FaZe Clan will be battling for the second Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) after they defeated 
MOUZ and 
G2 Esports, respectively, in the tournament's semifinals on Saturday (December 14).
Here's how all the action in the penultimate day of the Shanghai Major Playoffs went down:
Team Spirit and FaZe Clan advance to Shanghai Major grand finals
1-2
Team SpiritWith world #1 player candidate 
Danil “Donk” Kryshkovets leading the way for Spirit, MOUZ were seen as the underdogs in the first semifinals matchup of the day. But MOUZ had something to say about their odds of victory in the series opener at Nuke.
Excellent teamplay from the entire MOUZ roster allowed them to neutralize Donk's impact and go on a six-round run from round 2 to 7, giving them a comfortable 8-4 first half lead as the T side. The second half's pistol round was then won by 
Adam “torzsi” Torzsás off a one-versus-two clutch, preventing Spirit from mounting a serious rally and eventually giving MOUZ the 13-7 win in Nuke.
After recording just six frags in map one, Donk finally woke up in map two at Ancient to help Boris “magixx” Vorobiev and Dmitry “sh1ro” Sokolov spark their team's comeback. Spirit won the first five rounds of the first half as the T side to head into halftime up 9-3. MOUZ only managed one more round win in the second half before Spirit forced the series to a decider with a 13-4 stomp in Ancient.
With the Shanghai Major grand finals within reach, sh1ro and Donk showed out in map three at Mirage to lead Spirit in completing the 2-1 reverse sweep. While the first half ended with both teams in a 6-6 deadlock, Spirit racked off a five-round streak as the T side to start the second half en route to claiming the 13-7 victory.
Sh1ro stepped up for Spirit in this series amid Donk's map one struggles, recording a series-best 54 frags and 11 assists on 31 deaths. Donk still had his impact in games two and three, however, to finish with 42 kills and 13 assists on 43 deaths while magixx also pitched in with 41 frags and 13 assists on a series-best 30 deaths.
0-2
FaZe ClanThe second series of the day featured arguably the biggest favourites to win the Shanghai Major in G2 Esports, thanks to its star-studded roster headlined by 
Nikola “NiKo” Kovač, Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov, and 
Mario “malbsMd~” Samayoa. Facing them were the veteran squad of FaZe Clan, led by legendary in-game leader 
Finn “karrigan” Andersen.
On paper, G2 were heavily favoured to win this series. But karrigan and his squad should never be counted out so easily, especially after FaZe already took down another tournament favourite in Team Vitality in the quarterfinals.
After already besting Vitality's 
Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut to advance to the semifinals, 
Robin “ropz” Kool looked to outshine two more big stars in NiKo and m0NESY to help push FaZe to the grand finals. Ropz immediately made his impact felt in the very first round of the series opener at Ancient, as he scored a 3K to clutch out a three-versus-five situation. That sparked an incredible run of eight straight rounds for FaZe that gave them the 10-2 T side lead after the first half. G2 showed signs of life by winning four straight rounds after the side switch, but FaZe still closed out the map strong with a 13-6 win behind 22 frags from ropz.
FaZe once again struck first in map two at Nuke, winning five of the first six rounds to take a commanding 8-4 lead heading into halftime. With ropz and 
Håvard “rain” Nygaard outshining both NiKo and m0NESY, it was left up to Nemanja “huNter” Kovač and 
Janusz “Snax” Pogorzelski to pick up the slack – and they did just that as G2 went on a furious seven-round streak to be the ones leading at 11-8. NiKo finally woke up with a 3K in round 22 to push G2 within map point, but FaZe answered with two straight round wins to force overtime.
Both teams traded the first two rounds of overtime before FaZe racked up two round wins to get within series point at 15-13, but Snax managed to clutch round 29 to keep his team in it. Despite G2's best efforts to force a second overtime period, FaZe methodically and cleanly took them down in round 30 to advance to the grand finals.
Ropz once again was the brightest star in the closeout game, recording 28 frags and 10 assists on 21 deaths. Rain also added 25 kills and seven assists on 21 deaths. With NiKo, m0NESY, and malbsMD all having negative kill/death ratios in Nuke, huNter and Snax put up a valiant 24 frags apiece in the loss.
Ropz continued his campaign of outshining the game's biggest stars in the Shanghai Major, as he spearheaded FaZe's victory over G2 with 50 total frags and 17 assists on 35 deaths. His next test will be against Donk and sh1ro as FaZe will be battling Spirit in the grand finals of the Shanghai Major.
With the day's results, Spirit and FaZe have guaranteed themselves at least a second place finish and $170,000 in winnings. Of course, they have their sights set on becoming CS2's second Major champions and claiming the lion's share of $500,000 out of the Shanghai Major's $1.25 million prize pool.
Meanwhile, MOUZ and G2 bow out of the Shanghai Major with a commendable 3rd-4th place finish and $80,000 in consolation.
For everything you need to know about the CS2 Perfect World Shanghai Major, check here.
