Three UK CS stories from the Shanghai Major

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Team Spirit defeated Faze Clan 2-1 in an unforgettable Grand Final at the Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 this weekend. Bolstered on by their revolutionary rookie, Danil ‘donk’ Kryshkovets, Spirit claimed their first ever Counter-Strike Major trophy.

But what of the British interest at the major? We’ve got you covered with our major rundown bringing you three top storylines from Shanghai.

Faze end Mezii’s hopes of Shanghai Major victory

Faze defeated Vitality 2-1 in a pulsating encounter in the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Major to end UK player Mezii’s hopes of a first major trophy.

With Vitality cruising into the playoffs with 3-0 elimination stage record, they appeared to be the form team coming into the playoffs. That form seemed to be holding as Vitality comfortably took Faze’s map pick of Nuke. However, Vitality’s momentum unexpectedly stalled on Mirage as Faze levelled the series. Faze dominated the unfavoured CT-side of Anubis to take control of the final map, with Robin ‘ropz’ Kool putting up a vintage performance to defeat a rattled Vitality roster.

Benefiting from the so-called “dad buff”, after becoming a father recently, Mezii garnered praise from teammates and analysts for his performances in the RMR – and that form continued into the major itself.

The Brit’s elimination stage performances were some of his best in a Vitality shirt, averaging a 1.24 HLTV rating over four maps. However, as Vitality’s form disappeared seemingly so did the dad buff as Vitality succumbed to a rampant Faze Clan.

With rumours circulating about multiple players in the Vitality roster, it is unclear what the exact formulation of Vitality will look like in the year to come. It will come then as a bitter regret to lose out to a Faze who had looked bereft of form before the playoffs, even if they were not alone in that particular fate.

After the defeat, Mezii took to X (formerly twitter) to express his disappointment:

keita released from Fnatic after poor major showing

Fnatic UK coach Jamie ‘keita’ Hall has been released by Fnatic following their disastrous showing at the Shanghai major.

Fnatic surprised many people by qualifying to the major with Benjamin ‘BlameF’ Bremer garnering wide praise for his fragging performances that delivered Fnatic to the opening stage. However, Fnatic’s opening stage was nothing short of a disaster. In losing to Wildcard, Cloud9 and Rare Atom, the roster massively underperformed expectations and bombed out of the competition with a 0-3 record.

Appearing on the ‘Geographically Challenged’ podcast, British caster/desk host Neo ‘Ne0kai’ Caine questioned how Fnatic had not built a more carefully considered roster when their Irish GM, Ross ‘RossR’ Rooney, had identified talents like William ‘Mezii’ Merriman, Shahar ‘flameZ’ Shushan and Guy ‘NertZ’ Iluz. As well as questioning the place of some of the players in the roster, NeoKai also reluctantly pointed the finger at keita:

With the British coach under scrutiny, Fnatic announced his departure on December 12th, bringing an end to keita’s three-year spell with the org.

The organisation saw some limited success during keita’s stay, reaching the HLTV top 10 in March of 2023, but never really reaching the heights Fnatic have historically become accustomed to.

keita’s removal is likely simply a first step in what will have to be an extensive rebuild if Fnatic want to recapture their past glories.

keita expressed his appreciation to staff and players he’s worked with, and said he’s excited for what’s next:

GamerLegion prove potential in major showing

GamerLegion surprised the Counter-Strike world by qualifying for the Shanghai Major, with UK coach Ashley ‘ash’ Battye praised, but they were not simply content with qualifying.

Led by ash and featuring British-Romanian player, Sebastian ‘volt’ Maloș, GamerLegion’s underdog run to the elimination stage made them one of the fan-favourites at the event.

Esports News UK asked ash if he felt that support in Shanghai:

GamerLegion justified their spot in the major in abundance as they defeated Furia and Pain in the opening stage best-of-ones. GamerLegion fell to an in-form MongolZ at the first chance to make the elimination stage, but defeated the young Passion UA roster to qualify to the elimination stage at their second time of asking.

In the elimination stage, GamerLegion’s low seeding meant tough competition as they lost best-of-ones to Vitality and Liquid. They survived a thrilling contest against Wildcard, but a contest against defending champions, Navi, proved a bridge too far for the young international roster.

Even with their elimination, GamerLegion emerged from the major having justified the community’s excitement about their young roster. ash and GamerLegion will be hoping to keep ahold of their young stars, as larger organisations circle the waters in what will be an extremely active off-season for roster moves.

Bonus mention: Richard Lewis just can’t catch a break at the Shanghai Major

by Dom Sacco

There was an abundance of UK CS broadcast talent at the Shanghai Major and the RMRs, with the PGL English broadcast featuring desk host Richard Lewis, interviewers James Banks and Pala, and casters Dinko, Hugo, Harry and Machine, who casted his first major Grand Final since the 2022 Rio Major.

The RMRs had other UK names including CodyCasts, Jacky, Vince, Dinko and more.

Richard Lewis seems to be the host that Reddit occasionally loves to hate, and he was caught in the community crossfire once again, but drew plenty of praise on X from personalities and the CS community in the tweet thread below:

Related article: How well is the UKIC filling the hole left by the ESL UK Premiership?

Darragh Harbinson

Darragh Harbinson is a freelance writer specialising in Counter-Strike. He has written for Esports News UK as well as the likes of UKCSGO, Dexerto and Rush B Media.