Legend spot deciders added in Americas and Europe RMRs

Deciding matches will be played to break some of the important ties between placings where a Legend spot at the PGL Major is on the line.

PGL has announced that it has updated the Regional Major Ranking format with the introduction of an additional match played in the Americas and each of the two European events. Extra best-of-three series will help break ties between multiple teams vying for Legend status, awarding a direct ticket to the PGL Major Antwerp top 16 stage.

In the Americas, the teams who finish the Swiss stage undefeated will play a match for the single Legend spot on offer in the region. In Europe A, a decider will be played between the two bottom-seeded 3-1 teams, while in Europe B it will be the two top-seeded teams facing off for a Legend spot.

PGL and Valve adjusted the format after the original version had been met with disapproval from various known figures and team representatives, with FURIA CEO Jaime Padua being the first to bring the issue to the public.

The Brazilian chief and several others, such as Complexity General Manager Graham "messioso" Pitt and Astralis in-game leader Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander, took to the public domain to share their concerns over the fact that important spots would be determined by something that is out of the teams' hands.

The much-criticized Buchholz score — a value that ranks teams based on their path through the Swiss stage (a combined win-loss score of their previous opponents) will however still play an important part in determining the key placings. In Europe A the top seed based on Buchholz out of the teams who finish with a 3-1 record will be automatically awarded a Legend spot, and in Europe B the bottom seed from the three 3-1 teams will be left with a Challenger spot.

PGL has previously added deciding matches for the teams who finish 3-2 in the Americas in order to find the team who claims the sixth PGL Major Antwerp spot on offer in the region.

PGL Major Antwerp RMRs will determine all 24 teams participating at the Major itself. These events, which also include the Asia-Pacific region, will be played consecutively in Bucharest, Romania, starting with the Americas on April 11-15 and ending with the second European RMR event on April 21-24.