The Major quarter-finals quite often host the most exciting games of the entire tournament, and while we hope that's not the case for the Perfect World Shanghai Major, we'd completely understand if that was the case after what we just witnessed.
On day two of the playoffs, we were treated to two, full BO3s that featured four teams playing peak Counter-Strike and they all tried to fight their way into the semi-finals.
Let's go over the action.
We kicked off the day with G2 vs HEROIC.
We began on Ancient, which ended up being a dominant 13-6 win for HEROIC. They lead at the half thanks to a 7-5 T side, but they completely took over the game in the second half as they went 6-1 on CT to take the win.
degster and NertZ starred, their 18 and 16 kills saw them close out the game with 1.41 and 1.31 ratings respectively.
However, neither player topped the scoreboard. Instead, that spot was held by NiKo. The Bosnian went 22-12 and recorded a monster 1.69 rating to show that he wasn't going down without a fight/
NiKo continued to thrive on Nuke, exceeding his level on Ancient by recording an incredible 2.09 rating as he went 26-13.
Reinforced by m0NESY, the AWPer put up 21 kills of his own as G2 got them back into the series with a 13-9 win.
Starting on the T side, G2 were behind at the half as HEROIC led the map 7-5, but they rallied to put up a solid 8-2 CT side and take us to a third map.
The final map, Mirage, was a bloodbath, and it needed an overtime in order to decide a victor.
16-13 when all was said and done, G2 have malbsMd to thanks for getting them over the line and sending them through to the semi-finals.
The Guatemalan had a strong third map, he went 28-16 to put the hurt to HEROIC and make his mark on the Major playoffs.
The second game of the day featured a storied rivalry, FaZe vs Vitality. Vitality have gotten the best of FaZe on four occasions in 2024, but after this game, they have now suffered their second loss against FaZe in a Major playoffs this year.
The series began with another dominant map win for the losing side, this time a 13-6 on Nuke.
ropz was the highest-rated player on the server as his 22-13 statline gave him a 1.65 rating, but the level to which Vitality dominated the map becomes clear when you look at their ratings.
Every player on the Vitality team recorded a positive rating, ranging from flameZ on a 1.51 to mezii on 1.09. A solid performance from the BLAST.tv Paris Major winners, the Israeli duo of flameZ and Spinx combined for 34 kills to put them in the driving seat.
However, it all began to fall apart for Vitality on Mirage. 7-5 down at the half, they lost the second half pistol round as FaZe extended their lead to 9-5.
Vitality managed to get themselves back into the game by winning three retakes in a row, but a series of fast-paced hits to either site saw FaZe regain their advantage and take the map 13-8.
FaZe carried their momentum into Anubis, despite starting on the less-favoured CT side. Although Vitality won the opening three rounds, FaZe instantly replied by taking seven in a row.
ZywOo stepped up on map three, recording 21 kills and a 1.44 rating, but this paled in comparison to ropz. The Estonian superstar became the second player to record a 2.00 rating today, going 28-10 as he carried FaZe to a 13-7 win.
That said, it's not like the rest of the FaZe team didn't perform, they all also recorded positive ratings as they knocked Vitality out of the competition.
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