The pick’ems for the Shanghai Major playoffs are about to open up, and this is players’ last chance to secure that gorgeous platinum coin.
The Shanghai Major has already delivered on storylines. It cemented The MongolZ as a top-tier team in Counter-Strike after a year of rising star status. It also cast major doubt on Natus Vincere, as the reigning champion failed to make it to the final round. However, fans are most concerned with their free skins. The playoffs are the final chance to rack up qualifying points toward a platinum coin and three free souvenir cases in the process.
After nailing the Shanghai Major group stage, here are our pick’ems for the playoffs.
For our Shanghai Major playoffs pick’ems, we believe that Team Vitality will win its second major with a grand final over The MongolZ.
To get this grand finals prediction, Vitality must win over FaZe in the first round while The MongolZ takes down Mouz. These are two relatively safe predictions, though MongolZ and Mouz went the distance in the group stage.
For the other quarterfinals, we think G2 stands a very good chance of winnings its matchup. Heroic did take a best-of-one over the titan at IEM Rio 2024, but considering its otherwise poor record against G2, we write that map off as a fluke. Spirit versus Liquid may be the single hardest matchup to predict of the entire playoffs. We’re going with Liquid due to its 2-1 win at BLAST Fall Finals in September, but we don’t blame anyone for disagreeing.
Moving on to the semis, we predict that The MongolZ will cap off its Cinderella run with a win over Team Liquid. In the event that Spirit wins that matchup, we still think The MongolZ will come out on top. Azbayar “Senzu” Munkhbold is a beast, and while he doesn’t have the same absurd HLTV rating as Danil “donk” Kryshkovets or the highlights of Keith “NAF” Markovic, the team’s even skill balance should earn the win in a best-of-three.
G2 and Vitality have a history, with the teams facing off five times this year. G2 does have the edge in terms of match history with a 3-2 record, but one team is famous for performing well in major playoffs, and the other not so much. We predict Vitality will take it in the end.
That leaves a grand final between old guard Vitality and rising star MongolZ. Vitality took this matchup three times already this year winning five maps out of five. The most recent win was in October at IEM Rio, though to MongolZ credit, the loss did include double overtime on Inferno. There’s always a chance that the Mongolian squad converts its run into playoffs dominance, but we’re willing to bet our pick’ems the buck stops in the Shanghai Major grand finals.
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