Spirit and NAVI top the CIS Regional Major Rankings; forZe qualification in doubt

Natus Vincere jumped up to the second place in the CIS RMR standing after winning WePlay! Clutch Island, sitting behind Spirit, while the third-highest ranked CIS side, FORZE, are lagging behind significantly.

Results from a total of four events will be counted towards the CIS Regional Major Rankings: the Berlin Major, ESL One: Road to Rio - CIS, WePlay! Clutch Island, and a yet-unannounced Autumn RMR event. With three of the events already played out, we are getting closer to the final list of five CIS teams that will qualify for the ESL One Rio Major.

Five spots at the Major are reserved for CIS teams, with the top two qualifying as Legends, the third as Challenger, and fourth and fifth as Contenders - the different titles deciding where the team starts the event and their seed.

As of now, Spirit, Natus Vincere, Virtus.pro, Nemiga, and Hard Legion sit in the top five spots:

1. Spirit - 3475 (Legend spot)
2. Natus Vincere - 3430 (Legend spot)
3. Virtus.pro - 3270 (Challenger spot)
4. Nemiga - 2825 (Contender spot)
5. Hard Legion - 2765 (Contender spot)
6. Winstrike - 2750
7. Gambit Youngsters - 2325
8. Espada - 2250
9. Syman - 1755
10. FORZE - 1750
11. pro100 - 440
12. Unknown flag cis Kaban (ex-Unique) - 330

Spirit's victory in ESL One: Road to Rio - CIS combined with the second place in the WePlay! Clutch Island earned them 3475 points, as they keep the lead ahead of Natus Vincere who, unlike Spirit, have 480 points from the Berlin Major, but suffered a group-stage exit in the Road to Rio before winning the latest RMR event.

Virtus.pro follows in third after collecting points in all three events, with Hard Legion and Nemiga following as teams that would be Contenders if the ranking stays the same. The Belarusian squad is one of the positive surprises of the CIS qualification process, as they started it as an outsider, ranked 49th in the world, but have been able to put up good performances consistently.

Winstrike is currently just 15 points "below the line", with Gambit Youngsters and Espada following and all three teams having strong chances to make the jump at the final event. The times are more worrying for Syman and especially FORZE. Andrey "⁠Jerry⁠" Mekhryakov's squad is the third-highest ranked CIS team according to the world rankings, but are sitting in tenth place of the CIS RMR, lagging 1015 points behind fifth-placed Hard Legion.

FORZE are not out yet, as the final, Autumn RMR event will give out significantly more points than the previous two, but they would need a lot of things going their way to secure a top five spot and a slot at the Major.

The Autumn RMR event will award the following number of points, based on the placing:

1. 2500 RMR Points
2. 2344 RMR Points
3. 2188 RMR Points
4. 2031 RMR Points
5. 1875 RMR Points
6. 1719 RMR Points
7. 1563 RMR Points
8. 1406 RMR Points
9. 1250 RMR Points
10. 1094 RMR Points
11. 938 RMR Points
12. 781 RMR Points
13. 625 RMR Points
14. 469 RMR Points
15. 313 RMR Points
16. 156 RMR Points