Perfect World Shanghai Major Americas RMR Preview

Perfect World will play host for the first ever Counter-Strike Major to be held in China, as well as just the second Major following the release of Counter-Strike 2 last year.

For the Americas teams, their journey starts in the Americas RMR beginning in the late hours of November 11. The 16 teams in attendance will battle it out for seven spots at the Major, the most the region has seen in years, though none of those spots guarantee a spot in the Elimination Stage.

Format

The RMR will utilize the familiar Swiss System, with the opening and second round matches using the best-of-one format, while advancement and elimination matches use best-of-three. Matches between 1-1 teams in the third round will be best-of-one this time around thanks to the Americas having seven spots, meaning we won't have teams sent home after two losses.

Because seven teams will qualify for the Major, the Americas RMR will feature a tiebreaker match following the fifth round between the 7th and 8th place teams.

Day 1 Matches and Schedule

For viewers in the Americas regions, the day one matches will begin very late on November 11th and continue into the early hours of November 12th.

The round two best-of-one matches will take place immediately after the conclusion of round one.

Meet the North American teams

Liquid enters the RMR as the highest ranked North American team on the HLTV Global Rankings. The primary firepower will come from the Canadian duo in in-game leader Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken and Keith "NAF" Markovic, but the international members of the roster will need to step up.

Complexity has had some impressive wins at international events in recent months, but have also fallen in their most recent matches against Liquid and M80. Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski is still the primary focus of this team, but the other players have been playing well as of late.

M80 has risen up the NA rankings and made a strong international impression at ESL Pro League Season 20 back in September. After losing Mario "malbsMd" Samayoa to a G2 transfer, the young rising star Mason "Lake" Sanderson has stepped up tremendously, and a big event from him should cement a spot in the Major.

Wildcard looks to make a name for themselves internationally, after managing only a win versus KOI at Pro League. They're coming off a stinging loss to NRG that's kept them out of the next season of Pro League, and are led by a savvy veteran in-game leader in Peter "stanislaw" Jarguz.

Nouns along with Wildcard went 3-0 in the North American qualifier, cementing their RMR spot with a 2-1 victory over NRG. Like Wildcard, Nouns has their own veteran presence in William "RUSH" Wierzba, who is the only member of the Cloud9 roster that won the 2018 Boston Major competing at the Perfect World Shanghai Major Americas RMR.

BOSS enters the RMR with the same core they competed with at the Copenhagen RMR, but with a couple new additions in Keller "SLIGHT" Nilan and Gavin "Fruitcupx" Norman. They have a long road ahead of them to make the Major as the sole orgless team in the event.