by Ciaran Jackman in
eSports Betting News

The opening day of the Perfect World Shanghai Major Europe RMR B was filled with unexpected twists, as underdogs Passion UA stunned the competition with back-to-back upsets while favourites like Virtus.pro and Astralis faltered.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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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