The best CS2 players and teams missing the Shanghai Major

The Perfect World Shanghai Major approaches! The biggest celebration of the Counter-Strike 2 competitive calendar is just days away and qualified players and teams are hard at work preparing, while others are missing out altogether.

For every team that did make it, there were plenty of others that fell along the way. While the time will surely come for some of them, for others, qualifying for the Shanghai Major was supposed to be a given.

Here's a look at the biggest names who won't be competing at the CS2 Shanghai Major in 2024.

Counter-Strike master Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev will arguably be the most-missed big name in Shanghai this Major with the Ukrainian sniper out of action following Falcons' embarrassing loss in the EU RMR.

The 27-year-old, who hasn't been seen at a CS2 Major yet, will be licking his wounds alongside the Falcons squad — most of whom are now jobhunting after the organization released them following their 1-2 loss to GamerLegion.

The writing was on the wall for Falcons. The Saudi-backed CS2 squad failed to turn heads since acquiring s1mple on loan from Na'Vi. They were skittled out of the Thunderpick World Championship and ESL Challenger Katowice, and while expectations were low for the EU RMR, there was hope among some that s1mple would carry them to the major.

Not to be forgotten is Peter "dupreeh" Rasmussen. The Danish rifler was the only player in CS:GO history to attend every major, but he hasn't appeared at a pinnacle event in CS2 either. A poor performance at the RMR saw him also cast out from the squad, who is reportedly set to acquire G2's Nikola "NiKo" Kovac.

Dupreeh, alongside the rest of the Falcons squad, will be awaiting the conclusion of the Major before getting their chance to seek new opportunities.

It'll be four-straight majors without the almighty Danish brand in attendance after Astralis met their end at the EU RMR B last week.

Like Falcons, expectations were quite low for the squad after Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz announced he wouldn't be able to attend the qualifier, meaning Alexander "br0" Bro was awkwardly brought back as a substitute.

The Danes were on the ropes immediately. Losses to 9Pandas and Sashi Esport had them facing an almost impossible task — they'd need to win their next four best-of-threes to qualify for the big event. They'd only win two; a 2-1 win over minnows B8 and a shock three-map victory against Eternal Fire had them at 2-2 but they couldn't bring down Passion UA.

Astralis have been brought back to earth with their failure to qualify for the main event in Shanghai, but Casper "cadiaN" Møller remains optimistic. The squad has had limited time as a five and device, who exceeded expectations at the BLAST World Final just three weeks ago, was a huge out heading into the RMR.

That said, how long can Astralis commit to a roster failing to qualify for the major?

At least Astralis made it to the RMR stage.

ENCE, once known for punching above their weight at big events, were dispatched in the competitive EU RMR qualifier. Even worse, Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander's men went down to KOI, UNiTY, and Monte — none of which went on to qualify for the RMR.

The Finnish-backed org have fought it out in numerous qualifiers and tier-two tournaments over the course of 2024, but after the mostly-Polish team was picked apart after the Copenhagen Major, ENCE has struggled where it matters most.

Nevertheless, their performances had them just outside the top 20 heading into the RMR qualifiers, and a win over HEROIC at the Elisa Masters Espoo will keep them relevant heading into the 2025 calendar.

Eternal Fire's exit from the RMR came as quite a shock.

The Turkish squad had been on the up-and-up throughout 2024, starting with a quarterfinal appearance at the Copenhagen Major in March. Since then it's been one extreme to the other; either instant exits like at IEM Cologne, or grand final appearances like at ESL Pro League Season 20.

Eternal Fire still rely on legendary rifler İsmailcan "XANTARES" Dörtkardeş, especially when competing on LAN, but it was basically a given the Turkish team was going to be present in December at the Major.

Not so. Eternal Fire took down Aurora but then fell to 3DMAX, Sashi, and finally Astralis — all three of which were ranked below them. Alongside Astralis, they're the only squads from the top 10 that won't have a sticker for this major.

TYLOO has been synonymous with Chinese Counter-Strike since the beginnings of CS:GO, and their domestic form leading up to the RMR qualifier was astounding, leading many to believe we'd be seeing the Red Dragons fly the flag for the home crowd.

However, due to roster changes and a few TYLOO members not having the Valve ranking points needed to secure a direct invite, so they had to fight through the Chinese qualifier for the RMR. There, they were making it look easy, making the final and dropping 11 rounds over three maps on the way.

But, for the fourth time this year, they would fall at the final hurdle to Rare Atom. The 2-1 loss to their bitter rivals ended TYLOO's hopes of representing China in the first major this side of the Pacific.

Where do TYLOO go from here? The org remains committed and the squad they've built is more than capable of maintaining their upward trajectory, but in the meantime they have lost a key piece in Yang "JamYoung" Yi who is reportedly transitioning to VALORANT.

The Perfect World Shanghai Major approaches, with the Opening Stage beginning Nov. 30. Stay tuned to esports.gg for the latest in CS2 news and coverage!