Passion UA stole the spotlight by defeating Virtus.pro 16-14 on Mirage and following it up with a 13-11 victory over Spirit on Anubis.

#ShanghaiMajor2024 Europe RMR Group B
1-0 Bracket: Spirit 11-13 PUA
0-1 Bracket: NiP 16-12 PVISION

More Moments here: https://t.co/ng05IqwNa8 pic.twitter.com/VWaaKIP4go

— CS_PerfectWorld (@CS_PerfectWorld) November 21, 2024

Against Virtus.pro, the Ukrainian Counter-Strike squad displayed composure beyond their years.

Despite Virtus.pro dominating openers (10-2 on their counter-terrorist side), their inability to close mid-round advantages proved costly.

Passion UA exploited these lapses with standout performances from Eduard “?zeRRoFIX?” Petrovskyi and Nikita “?jackasmo?” Skyba, along with clutch mid-round calls from Rodion “?fear?” Smyk.

Their momentum carried into the match against Team Spirit, where they recovered from a 1-5 deficit and secured key clutches, including a 1v3 ninja defuse from Dmytro “?jambo?” Semera.

Passion UA��s ability to capitalise on Spirit’s mistakes, combined with zeRRoFIX��s late-game heroics, sealed their second upset win.

Astralis endured a nightmare start, losing 13-9 to 9Pandas on Nuke and 13-11 to Sashi Esports on Inferno, leaving them in the 0-2 pool.

#ShanghaiMajor2024 Europe RMR Group B
1-0 Bracket: 3DMAX 19-16 Eternal Fire
0-1 Bracket: Astralis 11-13 Sashi

More Moments here: https://t.co/ng05IqwNa8 pic.twitter.com/XWmB84gjdi

— CS_PerfectWorld (@CS_PerfectWorld) November 21, 2024

Missing star AWPer Nicolai “?device?” Reedtz, Astralis struggled to find cohesion.

Against 9Pandas, their counter-terrorist side was repeatedly exploited, and they lacked ideas on their terrorist side, relying heavily on individual plays by Jakob “?jabbi?” Nygaard.

The loss to Sashi was a more hard-fought affair, with Astralis narrowly leading after the first half, but Sashi’s creative counter-terrorist side and key plays in critical rounds pushed Astralis to the brink of elimination.

BIG have emerged as early favourites, securing wins over Sashi and HEROIC to reach the 2-0 pool.

Their victories included ending HEROIC��s eight-game winning streak on Ancient, setting the stage for a showdown against Passion UA for a direct spot in the elimination stage.

#ShanghaiMajor2024 Europe RMR Group B
1-0 Bracket: BIG 13-8 HEROIC
0-1 Bracket: VP 13-10 TSM

More Moments here: https://t.co/ng05IqwNa8 pic.twitter.com/EXpRZMGOHC

— CS_PerfectWorld (@CS_PerfectWorld) November 21, 2024

BIG��s Jon “?JDC?” de Castro emphasised the need to respect their Ukrainian opponents, noting their convincing RMR qualifier victory over BIG.

G2 Esports remained the only top-seeded team to live up to expectations, defeating Ninjas in Pyjamas (13-7) and then 9Pandas in overtime (16-13).

They will face 3DMAX for a spot in the elimination stage on Friday.

HEROIC will face Ninjas in Pyjamas in the 1-1 pool after their unexpected loss to BIG and NiP’s overtime victory over PARIVISION.

Team Spirit will face Aurora Gaming while Virtus.pro takes on 9Pandas in the 1-1 pool, setting up must-watch clashes.

TSM will battle PARIVISION, and Astralis will face B8 in do-or-die matchups.

#ShanghaiMajor2024 Check out the Europe RMR Group B Day One results and tomorrow's match schedule. Stay tuned~ pic.twitter.com/QaebUOS9vt

— CS_PerfectWorld (@CS_PerfectWorld) November 21, 2024

The unpredictability of the Europe B RMR has made it a thrilling spectacle, with underdogs like Passion UA challenging the status quo.

As Astralis fights to avoid missing another Major and favourites like Virtus.pro look to recover, the competition remains wide open.

Friday’s Europe B RMR matches

• Team Spirit ($1.12) vs Aurora Gaming ($5.50) @ 12pm CST
• Virtus.pro ($1.72) vs 9Pandas ($2.00) @ 12pm CST
• Eternal Fire ($1.22) vs Sashi Esports ($4.00) @ 1pm CST
• HEROIC ($1.28) vs Ninjas in Pyjamas ($3.50) @ 1pm CST
• Passion UA ($2.20) vs BIG ($1.61) @ 2pm CST
• TSM ($2.50) vs PARIVISION ($1.50) @ 2pm CST
• Astralis ($1.53) vs B8 ($2.37) @ 5pm CST
• G2 Esports ($1.16) vs 3DMAX ($4.50) @ 5pm CST

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G2 Esports are short-priced favourites to make it through Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 European RMR B, paying $1.14 on the best Counter-Strike betting sites. Ninjas in Pyjamas are listed at $5.00 in the outright markets, which shows how one-sided this affair should be.

A best-of-one game does not help make a case for G2 Esports, especially considering how inconsistent they can be. However, Ninjas in Pyjamas have not beaten a top-10 squad in months and are 2-4 from their last six outings, with losses against Metizport, BetBoom Team, Imperial Esports, and HEROIC.

This is G2 Esports’ game to lose.

Team Spirit have played just five games since the end of September, but they have done well, with wins against Team Vitality, FaZe Clan, and Astralis. Their only two losses over that stretch came against G2 Esports.

B8 are also 3-2 in their last five outings, albeit against weaker opponents. B8 have not had a chance to face off against elite teams, making it tough to say how they will do in this contest.

Since Spirit have not been too active of late, it is fair to question how prepared they are for the RMR. But this is still one of the world’s most stacked Counter-Strike teams, while B8 only recently broke into the top 20.

Eternal Fire are priced as favourites for this match, mainly because Aurora Gaming aren’t that good. However, as seen in their results from the start of October, Eternal Fire are very up-and-down.

Aurora Gaming are 2-7 from their last nine, with just two victories against 9INE and 9Pandas. That said, they did play a close game against Eternal Fire in August and have the tools needed to upset the Turkish side in a best-of-one.

As the latest esports betting odds suggest, Virtus.pro should not struggle to beat lower-ranked teams like Passion UA. However, their recent results are not that great.

The Russian squad lost to OG twice at the end of October during Thunderpick World Championship 2024 and have since not played a single match. Passion UA, on the other side, recently lost to BC.Game Esports, ex-Soul’s Heart Esports, and 500.

Both teams have looked shaky of late, and while Virtus.pro have a higher ceiling, their lack of consistency makes it easy to expect a close affair.

HEROIC have a better win rate than PARIVISION on five maps in the rotation. However, this match will likely play out on Nuke or Anubis, where the two teams hold similar win rates.

This should not benefit PARIVISION, who have recently dropped games against the likes of Nemiga, Fnatic, and Sashi Esports. HEROIC have not been perfect either, but they’ve been gaining momentum and are 7-2 from their last nine outings.

Damjan “kyxsan” Stoilkovski and co. should not be losing games like this.

Astralis will not be able to count on Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz, who decided to skip the RMR due to stress-related health issues. This is a blow for the Danish Counter-Strike squad, but with the core available and Alexander “br0” Bro stepping in, Astralis should do just fine.

9Pandas can hope to take advantage of Astralis’ issues, and they seem to be in a fine spot to do so, having dropped just two of their last 17 games. On the other side, 9Pandas have faced mostly weaker teams over that stretch.

While weakened, Astralis are the more appealing pick at this price.

BIG have done well for their standards, with a runner-up finish at the ESL Challenger at DreamHack Atlanta 2024 and a top-eight result at Thunderpick World Championship 2024 in October.

Sashi Esports have also shown signs of life, but only in lower-rated events — namely the Winline Insight Season 6 at the start of the month, when they reached the final four.

BIG have dropped maps against GUN5 Esports and XPERION NXT over the last month, so they are not immune to slipping on Thursday. But the Germans rarely underperform against weaker teams, and it is unlikely that will change this week.

TSM have faced 3DMAX twice since July and lost both series, 0-2 and 1-2. Over the five maps played, TSM won one, forced overtime once, and took 11 rounds on Dust2 in October, suggesting they can hang with 3DMAX.

These numbers, however, do not show that TSM are 0-5 ahead of their first fixture at the RMR and haven’t played a match in three weeks. In contrast, 3DMAX are 4-1 over the same stretch and in good shape.

Taking the French squad to win with three rounds to spare is an obvious choice.

Esports betting tips