An infographic, quote, stat, and fact for every team in the running for the first Major ever hosted in Asia.
To get you up-to-date with the participants of the second Counter-Strike 2 Major, here is an in-depth infographic on all 24 teams qualified for Shanghai, ordered by their HLTV world ranking.
We’ve done this for a few Majors now, but there’s a few changes this time around so stay with us if you want an explanation. If you want to skip straight to the graphics, feel free.
First things first, the number in the top right is the team’s HLTV World Ranking on November 25, the last update before the Major.
Then we move on to players, and we have added a color, their roles on CT and T side, and how many times they have all been to a Major. They’re ordered left-to-right by their HLTV database ID, just like they are on team pages.
As a general rule of thumb, Green is for AWPers, Purple for Lurkers, Orange for Openers, Yellow for Anchors or Supports, and Blue is in-game leaders. We’ve also added a little icon for in-game leaders under their flag, in case they are AWPing IGLs, and in those teams AWPers remain Green with Blue reserved for the rifler in ‘traditional’ roaming IGL roles.
Then we have their five latest event results, starting with their RMR placings. After, it’s a rolling HLTV Ranking (using points, not ranking) since January 2024 to see the trend in a team’s calendar year. Circles with their world ranking have been added at two month spaces starting on March 1.
Map pool is next, but uses data from this season — i.e., all games since we returned from the tournament break on July 1. It’s sorted by total wins to give you an idea not only of a team’s win-rate, but how often they play there too.
Our graphics are finished off by three scatterplots, using the new HLTV Attributes. Rather than a 0-100 scale, the graphs are plotted based on the team’s minimum and maximums to show you what a player’s role is within their own squad’s structure.
First is Firepower plotted against Utility. Firepower is a metric that uses players’ raw statistical output in kills, damage, and multi-kills. Utility favors players who provide high quantities of flashbangs (thrown and assists) and grenade damage. Combined, we can see which players can focus on their crosshair, and which are tasked with grenadier duties.
Next, a proxy for how aggressive a player is: Opening vs Clutching. As it says on the tin, Opening concerns opening duels, the all-important first fights of a round. Clutching is also self-explanatory. When they’re together, you can see if a player is predominately early-round (bottom right), late-round (top left), mid-round (bottom left), or does it all (top right).
Entrying vs Trading is similar to our aggression chart, but is designed to show which players are most likely to sacrifice themselves going into a bomb-site or risky retake first. Players in the bottom right of the chart are the team’s most likely entry fraggers, who get traded far more than they are trading. The top left is the baiters.
Put together, we hope you learn something new about each of the 24 teams in Shanghai.
Natus Vincere
Quote: “When you’re dominant you don’t put as much attention to [your best map]. You go from tournament to tournament, and you focus on your weaknesses and not your strengths. Mirage was our top map, but it dropped and we have to work on it like a usual map” – Justinas “jL” Lekavicius to HLTV.
Stat: Valeriy “b1t” Vakhovskiy has overperformed his roles more than any player outside the ‘Big Three’ (donk, ZywOo, m0NESY) this season: He averages a 1.20 rating, 0.19 above the expected average of 1.01.
Fact: Natus Vincere have spent 17 of the last 19 weeks at No. 1 since hitting top spot for the first time on July 22, the most of any team this year ahead of FaZe (14 weeks). They are also the only organization to attend all 21 Majors.
G2
Quote: “I always felt that I was ready to make that big step. [Then in G2], as I got more experienced and I’ve learned from like the EU guys and everything, I actually got to build a voice in me because I didn’t have it before” – Mario “malbsMd” Samayoa to HLTV.
Stat: Since IEM Rio, malbsMd has gone from a T side demon and CT absentee to showing up on both sides, with a 1.12 on CT and 1.14 rating on T since October 15. In his new anchor roles, he was previously at a 1.05 on CT.
Fact: G2 are one of the favorites for the Major after lifting two of the last three Big Event trophies, but it is still expected to be the lineup’s ‘Last Dance’ ahead of Nikola “NiKo” Kovač’s expected move to Falcons.
Vitality
Quote: “mezii is winning us a lot of important rounds. Daddy buff or not, keep getting children if we’re going to play like that” – Shahar “flameZ” Shushan to HLTV.
Stat: Vitality have been early adopters of classic French map Dust2, picking it in 50% of their series this season and winning 12 out of 16 maps according to EDGE.
Fact: An ill Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut struggled badly at the Copenhagen Major, ending on a 1.08 rating (0.27 below his 2024 average). Having a strong Shanghai would go a long way to undoing that damage and keep him in the race for No. 1.
Spirit
Quote: “If you want to be the best player in the world, you should be on the best team in the world, I guess. You cannot be a top-one player if you’re not performing well with your team” – Danil “donk” Kryshkovets to HLTV.
Stat: donk’s rookie year will undoubtedly go down in history, but he has shown some frailty against top 10 teams (1.13 rating, vs 1.30 overall) this season.
Fact: Spirit are 0-6 against G2, with NiKo eliminating donk’s side at World Final, Fall Final, IEM Cologne, and Esports World Cup.
MOUZ
Quote: “Some tournaments ago Brollan was pretty harsh on himself that he didn’t perform well, but the way he talks to us and approaches things like this, he knows he’s just going to be better” – Kamil “siuhy” Szkaradek to HLTV.
Stat: MOUZ have four players in the top 27 highest-rated players of 2024 against top 20 opposition, a feat only matched by Natus Vincere.
Fact: MOUZ’s 2024 has been defined by their strong group stage and studio form but struggles against the very best teams in the world in big arenas. Dorian “xertioN” Berman is the primary culprit, dropping from a 1.15 rating overall to 0.98 in arena matches.
FaZe
Quote: “I’ve been putting more hours into focusing on myself and making sure I don’t miss the kills that I should be getting” – Håvard “rain” Nygaard to HLTV.
Stat: In the 119 weeks between winning IEM Katowice in February 2022 and July 2024, FaZe were in the top five for all but 8 weeks. Since July 22, though, they haven’t hit 5th for 19 consecutive weeks.
Fact: Finn “karrigan” Andersen, the oldest player at the Major at 34 years and 7 months, and rain will play their 19th and 18th Majors respectively, two of the three most-experienced players with Dan “apEX” Madesclaire on 19 too.
HEROIC
Quote: “We’ve learned a lot from these officials and also being in these finals, even though they weren’t at big events. We found out what we really need to work on, whether it is adjusting during the games, our emotional level, initiative, confidence, or individual plays” – René “TeSeS” Madsen to HLTV.
Stat: RMR specialist Guy “NertZ” Iluz is the man to watch with a 1.20 LAN rating this season.
Fact: TeSeS and Rasmus “sjuush” Beck made playoffs in their first four Majors with HEROIC, then missed out in Copenhagen, and have made top-eight their goal for Shanghai after breaking into the top seven of the world ranking.
FURIA
Quote: “Since I joined FURIA, it’s something that made me happy and accomplished as a person. Every Brazilian has a dream to play for FURIA” – Felipe “skullz” Medeiros to HLTV.
Stat: Kaike “KSCERATO” Cerato moved to star rotator positions when skullz joined this summer, but has actually declined in CT performance, from a 1.20 rating to 1.10.
Fact: skullz added the Chinese characters ‘玄武’ to his sticker, a humorful nod to Chinese critics who used to call him the ‘Brazilian turtle’ when he was struggling with Liquid.
The MongolZ
Quote: “Every time we qualify for the Major it’s an honor for our home country, our home region” – Sodbayar “Techno” Munkhbold on stream.
Stat: The MongolZ have the best T side win rate this season of any team attending the Major (56.1%).
Fact: Asia’s No. 1 team have earned the seventh highest amount of prize money of any team in Counter-Strike 2, at $1,011,350 over 18 events.
Virtus.pro
Quote: “You see AWPers missing a lot of shots, and Jame missed a lot in the previous tournaments, but I think now he is in really good form” – David “n0rb3r7” Danielyan to HLTV.
Stat: Virtus.pro have never really recovered from losing home map Overpass, and are 3-5 on its replacement of Dust2 since September despite it being their most-picked map.
Fact: Signing Denis “electroNic” Sharipov in April came with a statement of intent from CEO Nikolai Petrossian, who said at the time that “the ambition is to be top 1, at least top 3.” But VP have struggled since, never going higher than No. 7 on the world ranking.
Liquid
Quote: “It’s very different [being an IGL at the RMR], sacrificing sleep and individual playing time to the benefit of everyone around you” – Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken to HLTV.
Stat: Roland “ultimate” Tomkowiak had three poor events in a row (0.90, 0.84, and 0.79 ratings) but bounced back at the RMR against weaker opposition with a 1.30 rating. Making his uber-aggressive style work without overcoaching him is an interesting proposition for Liquid.
Fact: Liquid released their own documentary about Mareks “YEKINDAR” Gaļinskis titled ‘A Counter-Strike prodigy struggling.’
Complexity
Quote: “Last time, I choked the match to make the playoffs versus Vitality. There was a 2v1 that I griefed, and that still haunts me today. We have to make playoffs after I fucked that up, for sure” – Ricky “floppy” Kemery to HLTV.
Stat: Complexity pick Vertigo first in 50% of their series, despite it being the scene’s favorite permaban.
Fact: Complexity are the longest-standing roster at the Major, signing Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski a whopping 527 days ago. The MongolZ are 2nd, at 510 days.
3DMAX
Quote: “I declined some offers in the past to play internationally to stay with the French teams and hope for the best. It never worked before, but now it finally happened” – Bryan “Maka” Canda to HLTV.
Stat: 3DMAX are the year’s big grinders when it comes to matches between top 50 teams, at 242 maps so far.
Fact: 3DMAX are the first full-French lineup at a Major since Vitality at Stockholm 2021.
paiN
Quote: “Halfway through this year, snow got a lot of hate because of a [failed knife] play against AMKAL. The whole community started hating on him. I saw him really sad […] Seeing this, him qualified, he’s crying, it means the hard work paid off” – Lucas “lux” Meneghini on HLTV.
Stat: Online, aggressive rifler lux is paiN’s best player with a 1.24 rating, but he drops all the way to a 1.04 on LAN. Only Lucas “nqz” Soares has a positive K-D on LAN this season in the team.
Fact: João “snow” Vinicius is the fourth-youngest player at the Major (17y, 8m), but joined his first team when he was 13 as a sub for BOOM in July 2020.
BIG
Quote: “I was so scared of not qualifying [at previous RMRs]. I said to myself, you need to embrace the fact that you are not scared. Don’t be scared, just play your game. I worked a lot on my mentality. I don’t care who I’m playing against. I don’t care what is on the line” – Karim “Krimbo” Moussa to HLTV.
Stat: Florian “syrsoN” Rische’s form has been patchy at best since re-joining BIG, but he showed promise with a 1.22 rating at the RMR as the Germans went 3-0.
Fact: Jon “JDC” de Castro has undergone a role transformation since being MOUZ’s support player, taking star rotate roles like Middle on Ancient and being in the map control pack on T side.
MIBR
Quote: “We played three RMRs and lost. Coming to China and going 3-0 [at the RMR], I didn’t expect that” – Raphael “exit” Lacerda to HLTV.
Stat: Lucas “Lucaozy” Neves has averaged a 0.98 rating for MIBR, well below the 1.19 he posted for Fluxo this year. Getting him firing in new roles will be key to MIBR’s Major.
Fact: Lucaozy was a MIBR target as far back as 2022, with a second bid failing in May 2024 too before they finally got their man 67 days before the Major.
FlyQuest
Quote: “The pressure is off us now. I think we play well versus European teams, we’re a lot more composed, it’s just way more slower-paced CS, so that helps” – Christopher “dexter” Nong to HLTV.
Stat: FlyQuest come into the event with winning streaks on three maps: Nuke (5), Ancient (6), and Anubis (6).
Fact: No Australians played at the Copenhagen Major, making FlyQuest’s quintet the first five to make it to a CS2 Major from down under.
GamerLegion
Quote: “I’ve seen ztr’s leadership qualities, he’s willing to tell people to shut the fuck up and step up” – Ashley “ash” Battye to HLTV.
Stat: GamerLegion are the newest lineup at the Major, signing Sebastian “Tauson” Tauson Lindelof 67 days before the first matches kick-off. They beat out MIBR, who announced Lucaozy 67 days ago too — 49 minutes before GL signed Tauson.
Fact: GamerLegion are one of the only teams employing a true seven-map pool at the Major, having banned all seven maps first in a BO3 at least once since July according to Skybox EDGE.
Wildcard
Quote: “I knew I’d be back, I knew I had what it takes, I still had the competitiveness, the motivation to play, and I think that’s all you need” – Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz to HLTV.
Stat: Former Cloud9 man Aran “Sonic” Groesbeek has been in career-best form at 25 for Wildcard, averaging a 1.20 rating in the last three months and 1.15 this year.
Fact: It’s stanislaw’s first Major since Stockholm 2021, but it will be the debut of all four of his teammates and coach Vincent “vinS” Jozefiak.
Imperial
Quote: “After doing a roster change, you kind of doubt yourself because of some worse results. I think we knew what we were doing. I just have good feelings with him” – Vinicius “VINI” Figueiredo on removing Henrique “HEN1” Teles.
Stat: Lucas “decenty” Bacelar has difficult positions on both sides of the map (1.02 expected rating, 4th on his team) but is Imperial’s best rifler with a 1.12 rating (+0.10).
Fact: Since September, Imperial have had the benefit of working with the ultra-successful former Nigma Galaxy and Imperial fe coach Reinis “hyskeee” Grīnbergs as their analyst.
Passion UA
Quote: “We watched around 900 demos, I don’t know, a lot. Every day, we watch three or four demos. Every time. With the team, individually. But they don’t watch my demos. And that’s why they don’t have the advantage — I have the advantage” – Rodion “fear” Smyk to HLTV.
Stat: Across 400 pistol rounds this season, Passion UA have won 200 and lost 200. Perfectly balanced.
Fact: The youngest team at the Major with an average age of 19.8, Passion UA have been on what fear called a “300-day bootcamp” since he signed in February, living together in Poland and playing 362 maps in just 265 days.
fnatic
Quote: “I was always willing to sacrifice for my teams and made sure that someone had to do the bad job, be the soldier, and make sure that everyone around was comfortable. I think this is what I love the most about Counter-Strike and what I’m doing right now” – Alexandre “bodyy” Pianaro to HLTV.
Stat: Benjamin “blameF” Bremer may be a true eco farmer with 149.1 ADR versus full eco rounds (average opponent equipment value below $1000) this season but he is among the top players in weapon rounds too at 82.5 ADR, according to Skybox EDGE.
Fact: It’s fnatic’s 17th Major, the second most of any organization. Making Shanghai let them overtake Ninjas in Pyjamas, who have 16.
Cloud9
Quote: “I can do everything because I’m universal, so whatever the team needs, I will do. I will always try my best and learn everything new that I need” – Nikita “HeavyGod” Martynenko to HLTV.
Stat: Two-time top-five player of the year Sergey “Ax1Le” Rykhtorov has been slowly regaining his form after a torrid time since the end of GO. Having had a 1.03 CS2 rating beforehand, he’s up to a 1.14 in the new C9 lineup..
Fact: Cloud9 reset their ranking points by rebuilding this lineup from scratch and have played just two LANs (Fall Groups and the RMR) with the new squad. Currently ranked No. 39 by Valve, a good Major is necessary for the team to start getting invites to the Big Events of 2025.
Rare Atom
Quote: “I felt quite sad being benched from TYLOO, and not being wanted anymore. Rare Atom found me, so my motivation went up to play for them” – Andrew “kaze” Khong to HLTV.
Stat: YuLun “Summer” Cai and HaoWen “somebody” Xu are China’s most experienced players, racking up 1467 and 1407 official maps respectively.
Fact: Rare Atom were the fourth highest-ranked Chinese team before the RMRs, even behind Bromo, but are the only home team to make it.
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