Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 - Asia RMR Preview

The Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 - Asia RMR starts this monday with 8 teams vying for 3 spots in the Major's opening stage. This will be the final major with the RMR set up and a new set up of inviting the 24 best teams according to Valve's World Rankings would be done instead.

In Asia, we have a highly competitive bracket compared to previous RMRs and Minors where 6 out of the 8 teams have a decent change of being able to lock up a Perfect World Shanghai Major Spot. The Asia RMR is just as competitive as the Americas RMR which is great for the scene overall.

Here is the bracket:

Let's introduce the teams shall we?

The Mongolz

The Mongolz are a heavy favourite to take one of the Major spots with consistent success at the MESA Masters, Yalla and now, the Thunderpick World Championship. They are the only team in the Asia RMR that have won multiple international tournaments. They are also currently ranked #5 in the World.

The Mongolz do have some downsides with some underperformances at Elisa (losing to ENCE), ESL Pro League XX (losing to Eternal Fire), Skyesports (losing to 3DMax) and IEM Rio (losing to Virtus Pro 2-0). Their current ranking is overinflated and they should really be ranked at #9 or #10 instead of within the Top 5. The Mongolz need to reliably make deep runs and take out teams like Vitality, Spirit and G2 consistently to be in the converation.

The Mongolz have many strengths and one of them is that they'll be playing to a home crowd which will be massive for them. The Mongolz have amazing young talent in Senzu, mzinho and 910 who have been lynchpins for this offence. The veterans in Techno4k and the IGL, bLitz have been cruical in maintaining the composure within the team. Mongolz are currently performing beyond the sum of their parts and starting to become an inspiration as well as a force in the Counter-Strike 2 scene.

The victory over Heroic is a massive hurdle for the team as Heroic is generally seen as the Top 10 Gatekeepers like BIG are the Top 20 gatekeepers before them.

This should be a hop, step and a jump for the Mongolz as most of their underperformances have been against Tier 1.5 to Tier 1 teams. Their only Tier 1.5 obstacle would be FlyQuest. They are also able to qualify for the major without having to play them too. The Mongolz will qualify.

FlyQuest

The FlyQuest boys are back and they're looking a lot sharper compared to their earlier performances. It has been a wild ride for FlyQuest as they won their first international tournament at ESL Challenger Atlanta with a massive win over BIG. The first time that they've beaten BIG in a Bo3. FlyQuest are the only other team who have won an international tournament other than the Mongolz.

FlyQuest are another favourite to take a Major Spot as they can avoid playing the Mongolz to make it. However, they would need to be able to tackle Rare Atom in a Bo3 which could be challenging as Rare Atom are in incredible form currently.

FlyQuest's form before Atlanta has been troublesome as they underperformed as ESL Pro League XX, IEM Dallas, Esports World Cup and IEM Cologne. The main conduit for a lot of their failures has been pointed at the inconsistency of aliStair, their AWPer. The crucial shots that needed to connect has been hampering this team immensely. The other issue has been the mid to late-round and late-game composure where FlyQuest have lost winnable rounds due to this.

FlyQuest have hired an analyst, JTR who has made an immediate impact which has lifted aliStair from being a liability to a win condition. The improvement from IEM Cologne to ESL Challenger Atlanta is essentially night and day. aliStair was a massive win condition during ESL Challenger Atlanta and was a potential one during ESL Pro League XX.

With the aliStair revitalisation being realised, this has allowed the rifling core of liazz, INS and Vexite to jump to incredible heights. INS is currently Australia's best CS2 player and has been sharp in many unfavourable situations for FlyQuest. The most important factor is that FlyQuest are now starting and FINISHING rounds strongly.

The only difficult step is Rare Atom but FlyQuest should squish them with ease. FlyQuest to make the major.

Rare Atom

Rare Atom were an unlikely team to make the Asia RMR as everyone expected Tyloo to steamroll passed everyone. However, Tyloo (basically former Rare Atom) just couldn't get over the final bump and the AWPer, kaze got his revenge over his former teammates.

Rare Atom are a slight favourite to attain a major spot as a Bo3 win over FlyQuest would be all they need. However, it would be incredible difficult because other than the RMR qualification against Tyloo. Rare Atom hasn't done too much outside of Asia.

Rare Atom have been struggling against lower Tier 2 teams in Europe which is not a good build-up going into the event. They are going to take on a few more teams on that level such a DRILLAS and Alter Ego especially if they fall into the lower bracket.

Rare Atom's main strength is that their current roster has tasted success in other teams and have a lot of veterans on their roster that are hitting their peaks. Could their ceiling just be enough to qualify?

I say Rare Atom will be on top of the pile in the Lower Bracket and they'll be making the major!

Lynn Vision

Lynn Vision were the first Chinese team that wasn't Tyloo to make a major which ironically enough they sent Tyloo to the lower bracket. A massive win over Grayhound sent them to the Major and now all of this is simply a nostalgic trip back to older times.

Naturally when Tyloo lose badly like this major, they decide to change up a few things by buying the best parts out of the other teams that beat them. They did this with Rare Atom awhile ago. Why does this matter for Lynn Vision? That is exactly what Tyloo did in poaching Jee and Starry for their roster.

With Starry and Jee gone, Lynn Vision are a shadow of their former selves with z4kr and EmiliaQAQ being the main lynchpins of attack. The major weakness of this team is that they are heavily reliant on z4kr to have an amazing game to have any chance of victory. z4kr is their only win condition against decent opposition which can lead to horrible results if he is shutout.

Lynn Vision were incredibly lucky to get an invite because I don't think they would have survived the qualifier. They have done virtually nothing after bombing out of ESL Pro League and they are swirling back down to being under Tyloo's foot once again. Lynn Vision is at a similar level to Rare Atom which can

However, Lynn Vision's major strengths are definitely in z4kr. He is an incredible awper who can change the game on his own dime. He enables the other riflers to have better matchups as all the focus will be on him. Emilia and Westmelon have improved individually due to this. flying and afufu are not going to be replacements for Starry and Jee but they are servicable.

Despite the feel good story, Lynn Vision aren't going to be making much noise and I wouldn't be surprised if they are the first team eliminated.

Drillas

Drillas are a team mostly of European CS2 players that are currently free agents looking for sticker money. It is a fun project for ohnepixel to promote himself as a brand and the players that are in this team. I am unsure whether this team would continue after the Shanghai Major. Drillas have been participating in European Tier 2 tournaments but we haven't seen anything further from them.

Drillas are a mostly unserious team that'll likely disband after they are eliminated. I am a bit cynical about how the Drillas qualified by using the Middle Eastern Qualifiers and then booting AMSALEM to bring in SENER1 as a sub. Fortunately, AMSALEM would be entitled to the sticker money if they did qualify to the major.

The rules state that you need to have 3 players from the Middl East being AMSALEM, Hadjii (using Moroccan Passport) and Meztal hence why I am a bit aggreived that AMSALEM was kicked from the team. It feels like it is going against the spirit of the rule. Also, if it isn't obviously, SENER1 is from Kosovo and used to play for the Bad News Eagles.

The team has been performing alright but there isn't anything special that you couldn't get out of a lower Tier 2 European Team. I believe it is going to take more than that if you want to stamp your card to the Major.

Drillas have some good working parts in this team. Woro2k is an absolute prodigy with the AWP and has the ability to ingame lead. He has a way of imposing his will onto the match. Hadjii is an incredible rifler who has been on the cusp of Tier 1 for a very long time. meztal has been in various teams such as Finest, Jijiehao and many other teams where he has been a serviceable rifler. SENER1 is a great young rifler who used to play for Bad News Eagles - he is not up there with juan and sinnopsy but does get incredibly close. Kvem is a standard rifler and doesn't have many good parts but doesn't have many bad parts ether.

I don't see Drillas making the major. They'll most likely be eliminated by Rare Atom or Lynn Vision. I feel like when they don't have the raw firepower to outmatch their opponents, they just fall to pieces.

GR Gaming

GR Gaming are a Russian Esport Organisation in the Far East of Russia hence they would play in the Asia RMR Qualifiers. This has been a thing in ESEA as well. I remember someone having a huge complaint about it in my chat and I had to explain it to them that they play in the Asia league in ESEA as well. GR Gaming don't have much going for them other than the local tournaments.

GR's massive weaknesses is that they have had no meaningful results coming into this. Their domestic form has been quite terrible as the ESEA League ended up with them being eliminated before the LAN Finals. You are taking on teams at this event that are taking these domestic titles or getting close to doing so with ease.

They have picked up dukefissura who as played at the Tier 2 European Level as coach which is a good step in the right direction. However, despite that, there aren't any real good points about GR.

GR are desperately and hopelessly outclassed at this Asia RMR. They are most likely the weakest term at this tournament by a long mile and this is the team that beat Atox for a spot. Atox, what happened?

Talon Esports

Talon were probably the worst-kept secret in Australian CS history where they had been making a roster for a long time with AZR, a european AWPer and three of the highest potential riflers in the Australian scene. They have also been bootcamping and participating in tournaments within Europe which has greatly accelerated the progress of this roster. However, the cruellest of fates would be that they draw their fellow Australian Team in FlyQuest.

The biggest weakness of Talon is their lack of experience. Their rifling core of nettik, haZr and ADDICT have very little international experience. Also, they have a lack of firepower as well as they struggled against a hapless Rooster to qualify for the event. They also have been on par with lower Tier 2 and European Academy teams which does not bode well coming into this competition.

The biggest strength is mhL and AZR who have been competing internationally for multiple year and providing their experiences to the young rifling core. It has likely jumpstarted nettik, ADDICT and haZr's progress and the skill ceiling tremendously. I mean look at Semper Fi and what it has done for Savage, vision and Valiance. Talon are a massive organiastion that can provide the facilities to nurture this growth as well.

The main issue is that will it be enough to secure a Major spot for Talon? I don't think they'll be able to and they'll be eliminated in Lower Bracket Round 2 after knocking out GR of course. However, there is definitely the potential for them to surprise and advance a bit further. I just don't see them beating Lynn Vision or Rare Atom...

Or maybe they could steal a spot like they're stealing Razer products...

Alter Ego

I'm going to be honest with you, I thought this was a similar team to Drillas where they are getting a bunch of players together for stickers. However, Alter Ego are much more than that. Alter Ego is mostly made up from highly skilled and experienced players within the scene and adding on potential young stars such as aidKIT and wasteofammo.

Their weakness is the fact that they lost to a few weaker teams in the Asian Region such as Chinggis Warriors in Open. These early signs do not bode well considering that they're likely going to have to beat Rare Atom and Lynn Vision if they're going to make it. They are definitly playing below the sum of their parts with starts like Bntet and XiGn in their roster.

However, that could be due to the team being quite new and they are working out their kinks as they go along. Chinggis is actually a strong team within the Mongolian region and they have had some good Bo3s against Lynn Vision and Rare Atom. Also, the experience from Bntet and XiGn will be immense especially in close Bo3s.

I do not think Alter Ego will make it very far and I won't be surprised if they are eliminated early by either Drillas or Lynn Vision. It sucks but if they stick to this team, they could be something in the future.

Josh's Call

As i've stated before my call is that FlyQuest and The Mongolz will book their tickets in the Upper Bracket.

Rare Atom will win the Lower Bracket Brawl.

I'll be streaming the games on my channel at Twitter, Youtube and Twitch.