Perfect World Shanghai Major betting picks – Thursday, December 5

Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 elimination stage begins on Thursday, December 5, with eight fixtures featuring the world’s top 16 Counter-Strike 2 teams. Here are our betting tips for all Round 1 games, with esports odds courtesy of top bookmakers in United States.

The MongolZ cruised through the opening stage of Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 with dominant victories against Rare Atom, MiBR, and GamerLegion while posting the stage’s highest average performance rating for a team at 1.50.

On Thursday, they will face a much tougher opponent in G2 Esports. But the Mongolian squad are in excellent form and they played a highly competitive game against Nikola “NiKo” Kovač and co. in July, so it is hard to doubt their ability to hold their own.

With momentum on their side, MongolZ have a realistic chance to upset G2 Esports.

Natus Vincere are billed as the team to beat in China, which comes as no surprise as they have posted incredible results over the last two months, including two titles from ESL Pro League Season 20 and Intel Extreme Masters Rio 2024.

Team Liquid made it through the opening stage with wins against Cloud9, Wildcard, and FlyQuest, but they did not look great in either of the three victories – averaging a 1.11 performance rating as a unit. Moreover, TL are known for struggling when facing tougher opponents, which makes it hard to justify taking their side in this fixture.

GamerLegion exceeded expectations in the opening stage by beating FURIA Esports, paiN Gaming, and Passion UA. However, they also suffered a rough loss against The MongolZ, which should be a much better indication of how Erik “ztr” Gustafsson and co will perform when faced with an elite-tier team.

Team Vitality slipped at Intel Extreme Masters Rio 2024, where they placed top six but have otherwise performed well in bigger events. More recently, Vitality made the final four at BLAST Premier: World Final 2024.

GamerLegion took a map off Vitality in July but have since slowed down and are sure to struggle on Thursday.

FURIA Esports did not look great in the first stage of the Major. But it’s not like Team Spirit have shown anything noteworthy or any form of consistency lately.

The Russian squad are 6-4 from their last 10, and recently, they have only performed well against weaker teams such as Aurora Gaming, Sashi Esports, and Ninjas in Pyjamas. Their matches against Passion UA and G2 Esports were not as smooth.

While much stronger on paper, Team Spirt have yet to reach their final form and are vulnerable to upset in a best-of-one.

MOUZ are priced as heavy favourites with the best Counter-Strike betting sites to defeat paiN Gaming, which is not surprising. They beat the Brazilians in October and once before in August.

PaiN Gaming have had their moments in the first stage of the Major, yet they’ve only beaten Imperial Esports, Cloud9, and FlyQuest. Before the RMR, Rodrigo “biguzera” Bittencourt and co. have not found much success against other elite teams, and it is unlikely that will change.

Wildcard reaching the elimination stage of Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 is a massive accomplishment. However, they have had a fairly easy path, beating the disjointed Fnatic and struggling Virtus.pro, to which they added a close 2-1 victory against Passion UA.

Despite their success, Wildcard are not at the level of FaZe Clan, who are objectively better and more experienced. Best-of-one games introduce some volatility, which benefits the underdogs, but Wildcard should never pose a threat to FaZe, who rarely slip as favourites.

BIG will clash with HEROIC for the first time since the European RMR when the German squad won 13-8. According to the latest betting odds, however, HEROIC should get their revenge.

BIG have not shown anything inspiring in the opening stage, posting a 1.00 performance average across the nine maps played. Rigon “rigoN” Gashi, in particular, has been struggling with a 0.89 average, but we can expect some improvement in this stage.

Even though BIG are not in top form, the same can be said for HEROIC who did not perform amazingly well in the RMR. As a clash between two shaky teams, this should be a scrappy affair, making the outsiders a more inviting pick.

3DMAX looked incredible during the European RMR with wins against TSM, Eternal Fire, and G2 Esports. Even before that, the French squad posted promising results at Thunderpick World Championship 2024, proving they belong among the world’s elite.

MiBR have had their moments over the last two months, but looked lacklustre in the opening stage, with rough losses against MongolZ and Passion UA.

While 3DMAX still have a lot to prove at the top level, this should be an easy match for them.

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