Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 European RMR B kicks off on Thursday, November 21, with 16 teams duking it out in best-of-one fixtures to open the Swiss Stage. Check out our Counter-Strike 2 betting picks for all Round 1 games, with esports odds courtesy of the top bookmakers in Seychelles.

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