Perfect World has announced the initial matchups for the Opening Stage of the Shanghai Major. These pairings were determined by the updated Valve Regional Standings (VRS) on November 25, which also finalized the eight teams advancing directly to the Elimination Stage.
The Opening Stage, starting November 30, will employ a five-round Swiss format. Matches will follow a best-of-one structure, with advancement and elimination games played as best-of-threes. At the end of this stage, eight teams will progress to the Elimination Stage, while the remaining eight will exit the tournament.
The seeding system used for this Major stems from the results of the previous event in Copenhagen. Each region was allocated specific seeds based on its teams’ performances, with the participating squads then ranked by their VRS standings. This system explains some unexpected placements, such as The MongolZ holding the 15th seed despite being ranked fifth globally by Valve, and Virtus.pro being seeded 10th ahead of Liquid and Complexity, despite being ranked below the two North American teams.
The first round includes three notable intra-regional matchups. BIG will face Passion UA in a rematch from their Europe RMR pool game. Meanwhile, The MongolZ will take on Rare Atom, and paiN is set to square off against Imperial, promising an exciting start to the competition.
The opening matchups for the Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 Opening Stage include FURIA facing GamerLegion, Virtus.pro going up against MIBR, and Liquid competing against Cloud9. Complexity will take on FlyQuest, while BIG will meet Passion UA. Fnatic will clash with Wildcard, The MongolZ will face Rare Atom, and paiN will go head-to-head with Imperial.
