Some of the biggest shocks of CS2 in 2024 happened at the Shanghai Major.

There's no more CS2 Tier 1 to watch in 2024 as teams head off for a well-deserved break, but it's the best time for fans to relive some of the year's best shocks.

While most fans want to see the strongest teams make a deep run in competitions, people also like the rise of an underdog. Luckily, we're in for a lot of shocks in 2024 because CS2 is still a new game and veterans have to adapt.

The biggest shocks in CS2 esports in 2024

Wildcard eliminated Virtus.pro from the Shanghai Major

They sure had a crazy race (Photo via Perfect World)

Wildcard, a North American team that no one expected to qualify for the Shanghai Major, ended up doing damage in the event as they defeated the once mighty Virtus.pro.

The team captained by veteran IGL Peter "stanislaw" Jarguz defeated Virtus.pro in a best-of-three elimination series in the Opening Stage when everyone predicted Virtus.pro would easily win.

But instead, Wildcard turned things around, sweeping Virtus.pro with wins on Inferno and Anubis after losing their opening match on Ancient. Even though Swedish AWPer Love "phzy" Smidebrant was the best Wildcard player in the match, statistically stanislaw also had a few big rounds.

The early exit from the Major prompted changes within Virtus.pro for 2025. Just days after the Wildcard loss, Virtus.pro benched long-time IGL and AWPer Dzhami "Jame" Ali.

Rare Atom eliminated Fnatic from the Shanghai Major

The Chinese team won against European opponents (Photo by Perfect World)

Although Fnatic had not yet reached its peak in the early years of CS:GO, they were considered the stronger favorites to survive against Rare Atom at the Shanghai Major.

However, Rare Atom made history at the event and pulled off a comeback just like Wildcard did against Virtus.pro. The Chinese team won easily at Inferno and Nuke thanks to strong performances from Junhao "ChildKing" Peng and Andrew "kaze" Khong.

Until this victory, a Chinese team had not won a three-game series at major tournaments since the FACEIT London tournament in 2018, when TYLOO eliminated Team Spirit from the tournament. Let's see if this gives a boost to Rare Atom and other Chinese teams in 2025.

FaZe Clan created magic against Vitality and G2 in Shanghai

These wins could motivate FaZe to not change any players (Photo by Perfect World)

Even though FaZe has a lot of elite players, they had a difficult season in the second semester of 2024.

And, just as many were speculating about some roster changes, FaZe eliminated Vitality and G2, two of the biggest contenders to win the Shanghai Major, in the playoffs.

Both matches were surprising. FaZe lost to Vitality on the first map only to overwhelm them on both Mirage and Anubis. FaZe almost defeated G2 in the semi-finals when Nikola "NiKo" Kovač and company only responded in the second half of Nuke.

These wins and the form of Robin "ropz" Kool proved to fans that FaZe had a chance against Spirit, but they were unable to force extra time in Dust 2 and see Spirit walked away with the trophy.

NAVI peaked at the right time to win the PGL Copenhagen Major

And then NAVI proved that winning the Major was no fluke (Photo by João Ferreira via PGL)

There are many question marks surrounding NAVI at the time of the PGL Copenhagen Major in the first semester of 2024.

Fans are unsure that NAVI will reach greater heights without Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyljev and question whether Mihai "iM" Ivan deserves a spot on the roster.

And then, suddenly everything became easy for NAVI and they never looked back. They defeated The MongolZ, G2 and paiN Gaming to advance to the playoffs, and defeated Eternal Fire, G2 and FaZe to win the PGL Copenhagen Major.

At the time, FaZe were strong contenders as they had reached seven consecutive finals since CS2 launched while NAVI was still trying to find its form. However, strong performances from Valeriy "b1t" Vakhovskiy and Justinas "jL" Lekavicius were more than enough for NAVI to defeat FaZe.

NAVI will add more titles to their trophy cabinet as the season progresses and prove to etoveryone that winning the Major is not a fluke.

G2 won IEM Dallas with Stewie2K

Stewie2K lifts the IEM Dallas trophy (Photo by Stephanie Lindgren via ESL FACEIT Group)

No other CS2 surprises in the top 2024 G2 wins IEM Dallas with Jake "Stewie2K" Yip as his replacement.

Stewie2K replaced Rasmus "HooXi" Nielsen, G2's IGL at the time, and did very well despite being away from professional Counter-Strike for nearly two years.

The combination of NiKo's basic IGL, Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov's carry performance and the crowd's loud cheers as Stewie2K fueled G2 to defeat Falcons, MOUZ, Team Liquid, FaZe, 9z and Vitality on the road to winning the trophy.