At the Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024: European RMR A will feature a match between Natus Vincere and Fnatic on Sunday. It will be a BO1 format game, where each team has only one map to win and take the first step towards qualifying for the major. The BO1 format increases the importance of every map choice, and both teams will be looking to play their strongest maps. Bo3.gg together with Olexander “Shoker” Osheka and Arsenii“ceh9” Trynozhenko offer an overview, analysis and forecast for this match.

Current form of the teams

NAVI comes into this match with a good record at major tournaments. They have won the Intel Extreme Masters Rio 2024 and took second place at the BLAST Premier Fall Final 2024, showing a consistent level. From their recent matches, NAVI managed to defeat opponents such as MOUZ and Heroic, although recent losses to FaZe and Astralis indicate possible weaknesses.

Fnatic has been showing mediocre results. Recently, they have lost to Heroic, Nemiga, and The Mongolz, but managed to beat Cloud9 and 9z. Fnatic has not had much success in major tournaments, and their form is questionable. For Fnatic, this match will be an opportunity to demonstrate their ambitions.

Mappool and map selection

The BO1 format requires an accurate selection of the map that will give the greatest advantage.

Natus Vincere

NAVI avoid Vertigo, but show strong results on Mirage (73% win rate in 22 games) and Dust II (81% win rate in 16 games). They also play well on Anubis, with a 78% win rate. They also have good results on Ancient (19 matches, 68% of wins).

Fnatic

Fnatic shows the best results on Vertigo (67% win rate on 11 games) and Inferno (63% win rate on 19 games). However, their poor play on Mirage (15%) makes this map a risky one. Ancient can also be considered a good map for the team (57% win rate in 28 games).

Probable choice of map

Given the statistics, it is most likely that the match will take place on Ancient. This is a map where NAVI has a slight advantage, and for Fnatic it is a chance to fight the “born winners”. NAVI can use their aggressive play on this map to close the match in their favor.

Shoker's prediction:

Honestly, I don't see any options for Fnatic in this matchup. If you look at the map pool, any map that the teams play will be better than NAVI. There are no online results, individual form, macro component - Fnatic still hasn't been pumped up. Nevertheless, I still give them a chance to make it to the major. In my opinion, they will play for the seventh slot. Moreover, the bo1 factor will help them a lot. My bet is that NAVI will win.

  Olexander “Shoker” Osheka  

PREDICTION: NAVI WIN

ceh9's prediction:

Fnatic Tier-1.5 is a team that has not yet reached its optimal lineup. They are still in search of it. On paper, it looks much worse than NAVI. However, there is one “but” here - this is a best-of-1 match. Best-of-1 at this level, and in China, where there is jet lag and not everyone can adapt, can add randomness to this match. I can't say with 100% certainty that NAVI will win the best-of-1 and won't make a mistake. However, the odds are 70 to 30 in favor of NAVI.

   Arsenii“ceh9” Trynozhenko  

PREDICTION: NAVI WIN

The confrontation between NAVI and Fnatic always arouses interest, as they are classic rivals in the CS world. The BO1 format adds to the intrigue, but NAVI looks like a clear favorite due to their strong mapping and recent results. For Fnatic, this match will be a test of strength and a chance to prove that they can compete with the top teams.

On Sunday, the 1st round of matches, Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024: European RMR A. For this prediction, we looked at the exciting match between NAVI and fnatic,who will compete in the bo1 match to get one step closer to reaching the major, while other pairings will feature Vitality/GamerLegion and Faze/Cloud9, and others. Follow the RMR promotion at this link.