Ever since their inception, the Major RMRs have been a hotbed of underdog victories and major upsets that have seen some big organisations miss out on spaces in Majors.
In recent years we’ve seen Astralis, Cloud9, G2, and Liquid all fail to make Majors as a result of poor RMR runs, and given the seeding coming into the RMRs for the Perfect World Shanghai Major, we’re likely to see that trend of upsets continue.
The result of those upsets is always that some surprising teams end up making the Major, so let’s take a look at the teams who could end up surprising and getting their stickers in the game.
Falcons
Let’s start off with the one that will without a doubt be the most controversial: Falcons.
We understand this seems completely insane to suggest, especially because of the presence of s1mple and the combined ten CS:GO Majors won by the members of the team, but be honest: do you really expect Falcons to make the Major?
If your answer is yes, we’re willing to say that’s cope. With all the poor results Falcon have had, all the terrible CS they’ve played throughout the year, their average age of 29.2, how can you trust them to make the Major?
We’d be more surprised if they made the Major than if they fail again, and that really says a lot about how poor they’ve been in 2024.
Nemiga
Nemiga come into the RMRs in a surprisingly high ranking in the Valve Global Rankings, sitting pretty at 20th.
They’ve enjoyed some recent success that somewhat went under the radar, beating the likes of fnatic and the former BLEED roster on their way to winning the RES LAN in Serbia.
With a strong squad that includes names like xant3r, kahn, and zweih who are all worth looking out for, their main reason why Nemiga could pull off some upsets and make it to the Major is their map pool. In recent Majors we’ve seen teams like 9INE and Monte capitalise on strengths within their map pool to make the Major, and Nemiga could just be the next team to do so.
So, it might be a little surprising given some of the other teams in RMR A alongside Nemiga and their difficult opening game against MOUZ, but if MOUZ aren’t careful, they could easily be the team that finds themselves in the 0-1 bracket after that game.
PARIVISION
Speaking of teams who could make waves due to a strength in their map pool, we have PARIVISION. PARIVISION are one of the most dangerous teams in the world on Dust2, and any team that plays them on the map would be making a grave mistake.
They also have a strong team with some well-known faces. ArtFr0st looked set to have a big 2024 with Spirit before sh1ro became available, but that hasn’t exactly slowed him down as he still has a 1.14 rating in the past 3 months.
They also have a young fragging IGL in alpha and another heavy hitter in BELCHONOKK, but it’s Patsi rediscovering his form and adding another source of frags that could leave to PARIVISION pulling off some unexpected success.
It would still be a surprise if they were to make it, the European RMRs are infamously a bloodbath, but they’re in a no way a team you should consider to be without a chance at all.
9Pandas
9Pandas and their visa issues were one of the biggest stories of the previous Major, and they’re ready to try again in the RMR for the Shanghai Major.
They’ve been somewhat inconsistent since the removal of seized following the PGL Major Copenhagen, but they do now have r3salt, one of the best players within the Russian scene, as well as d1Ledez, another up and comer who can also prove to have massive impact for them during their Major bid.
The question mark that would still make them a surprise feature in the Major is one of their most experienced players, iDISBALANCE. Never one to be a consistent player, he’s currently their lowest rated player, which is a worrying sign considering he’s also their AWPer.
No one is expecting them to make the Major this time around, it was a surprise when they did it last time, but it’s not outside of the realm of possibility.
Cloud9
This one might also be controversial, but do people actually realise how bad this Cloud9 team is?
Ax1Le has been off the boil for a long time, and this roster hasn’t reinvigorated him in the slightest. Meanwhile, ICY also fails to set the world on fire despite playing a reasonable amount of purely mediocre opposition. And don’t even get us started on interz.
They do, at least, have HeavyGod, who gives us some amount of faith in their ability to not miss out on the Major, but given that they’re likely going to have to come back from an 0-1 start against FaZe, we really doubt their chances of pulling it off.
