Every team in the Perfect World Shanghai Major playoffs

The Perfect World Shanghai Major has so far been a banger, with the twists, turns, and underdog victories that we've come to expect from CS Majors delivering on all fronts.

As we gear up for the playoffs to begin, we thought it was a good time to refresh ourselves on the teams that will be competing for the second CS2 Major trophy, as well as how they made it to the playoffs.

The 3-0 teams

The first two teams to make it to the playoffs were Vitality and The MongolZ.

Vitality undoubtedly had the easier run to the final stage, they took down GamerLegion, FURIA, and MIBR on their way to the arena.

Opening with their game against GamerLegion, the match was a simple 13-7, but they were then tested far more by FURIA who forced them to overtime as the BLAST.tv Paris Major winners eventually took Mirage 16-13.

Their final match of the Elimination Stage, MIBR, was their most dominant, a BO3 that ended swiftly after a 13-3 on Mirage and a 13-5 on Anubis. ZywOo continued his strong start to the Major campaign in that series, he closed out the four maps played with a 1.49 rating.

Photo: Michal Konkol

As for The MongolZ, the Opening Stage had made it clear that they were in stellar form heading into the Elimination Stage, but few would've expected them to take down G2 in their first match.

A 13-10 win on Inferno, they followed it up with another impressive result, a 16-13 win over MOUZ on Mirage.

The Mongolians advanced at the first time of asking against HEROIC, a game which featured their first map loss of the Major thus far. HEROIC drew first blood in the series with a 13-8 on Mirage, but The MongolZ turned the tie on it's head with a 19-17 win on Anubis and a 13-6 on Ancient.

Photo: Michal Konkol

The 3-1 teams

The next three teams to qualify for the playoffs were Liquid, G2, and Spirit. Each of these teams were defeated in their opening game, but none of them allowed those losses to affect them as they bounced back to qualify with three straight wins.

In fact, G2's opening loss to The MongolZ may have been a blessing in disguise.

Following on from that loss, the BLAST Premier World Final winners were matched against BIG, a match that they won 13-5 on Mirage. They followed this up with another favourable match up against 3DMAX, which they won 13-8 on Ancient.

Their qualification game was played against FaZe. A series in which G2 dominated, strong performances from both NiKo and m0NESY saw them advance after a 13-4 win on Inferno and a 13-3 win on Mirage.

Photo: Stephanie Lindgren

Liquid lost their opening game against NAVI, the only one of the three teams to not be upset in their opener.

This defeat set them against GamerLegion, a match that was then played on Inferno and ended with a 13-10 scoreline thanks to an impactful showing from YEKINDAR.

Liquid then advanced after two wins against rivals from the Americas, a 13-9 win against FURIA on Inferno, followed by a 2-1 victory over MIBR.

Photo: Michal Konkol

Spirit suffered the biggest loss in their opening game, they were easily pushed aside by FURIA with a 13-6 scoreline on Dust2.

Much like G2, this defeat set Spirit up with a very favourable match up, this time against Wildcard. A game that they won 13-6, their follow up win against NAVI was a far bigger surprise as they dominated Mirage with a 13-2 scoreline.

Spirit then advanced following a banger match against HEROIC, a series that they won 2-1. Their map loss in that series came on Mirage, but donk did pull off one of the rounds of the tournament before they fell.

The 3-2 teams

No one likes being in the 2-2 bracket, well, except maybe the teams that end up 3-2. In the case of the Shanghai Major, those teams were MOUZ, HEROIC, and FaZe.

MOUZ made it through in the most dominant fashion, they blitzed MIBR 13-5 on Mirage and 13-6 on Nuke. A match that will surely give them confidence heading into the playoffs, they face a tough test against one of the most in-form teams at the Major, The MongolZ.

FaZe qualified after disappointing losses against G2 and HEROIC, but they did enjoy reassuring wins against Wildcard, MOUZ, and FURIA. Each of these wins required them to hold their composure and whip out some classic FaZe magic, filling their fans with plenty of hope that we could see another incredible FaZe run in Shanghai.

Finally, we come to HEROIC, the team in the playoffs that had perhaps the hardest run of all. Although they may have lost to Spirit and The MongolZ, HEROIC had to pull off huge wins against both FaZe and the reigning Major champions, NAVI, in order to make the final stage and compete for the trophy.