Update to Major handbook introduces closed qualifiers for RMRs

13-12-2022 00:38

The game developers reworked the invite system to Regional Major Ranking events.

Valve updated the Major rulebook ahead of the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 cycle, changing the qualification system for the RMRs with a new closed qualifier step and adding regional ranking. Additionally, the Asia RMR will double the number of attending teams from the previous four to eight.

Changes to the qualification structure were announced after the conclusion of the IEM Rio Major in November as Valve confirmed their intentions to rework the RMR invitation system.

Valve reworked the RMR invite system ahead of the BLAST.tv Paris Major

Previously the only way for a team to qualify for the RMRs was to tackle the unforgiving world of open qualifiers. Now, a closed qualifier will be the main road into the regional events, with several teams allowed to start their journey directly from this step, avoiding the unpredictable online brackets.

Invitations to the closed qualifiers will be decided by an official "Regional Standing" which will be determined by the teams' performances at both Valve-sanctioned and third-party tournaments. Valve has not yet revealed details about the new ranking system.

At least half of the teams attending the closed qualifiers must be invited through their positions in the Regional Standing and will join the teams that made it through the open bracket.

Valve release IEM Rio Major champions stickers; announce new RMR invite system

Valve also confirmed that the closed bracket must follow the RMR format, with the number of attending teams being twice the number of RMR spots available from the event:

The closed qualifier format will follow the RMR format for the corresponding number of teams. The number of participating regional teams will be, at minimum, twice the number of teams who will advance to the RMR.

Each region (Europe, America, Asia) must hold one closed qualifier, but could be allowed to split in order to accommodate the ping of participating teams. In the eventuality that the event has to split, the qualifying spots must be evenly divided between the regions.

If invitations cannot be evenly split, the remaining invitation(s) will be granted to the subdivided qualifier featuring the team with the highest Regional Standing.

There were also changes to the format of the smallest RMR, increasing the minimum amount of teams attending the event from four to eight. This change concerns the Asia RMR as it will double the number of teams participating and means that the eight squads will compete in a double-elimination bracket.

POG

2022-12-13 00:39

2 replies

Africa qualifiers where?

2022-12-13 16:15

1 reply

!!! RT

2022-12-14 15:24

Let's go APAC

Ez for asia

2022-12-13 00:40

gr8 4 APAC!!!

Not sure how to feel, but seeing top level tier 2 against tier 1 is always fun

L valve cmon

2022-12-13 00:41

common?

2022-12-13 00:59

come on

2022-12-13 01:02

its not 2 groups for apac its a double elim bracket with only deciders being BO3 (so UB quarter and semi finals BO1) thx for fix

2022-12-13 00:46

double elim bracket is good but bo1s are wack

2022-12-13 00:56

hmmm.. still 50-50 about this..

2022-12-13 00:42

Big L except for Asia

4 replies

In which way?

2022-12-13 00:55

3 replies

It’s literally just pandering to bad teams who mascaraed as tier 1 yet get stomped by tier 3.

2022-12-13 01:41

It isn’t though, no good team went out in opens.

2022-12-13 02:31

It is though, but I agree no good teams went out in opens.

2022-12-13 02:47

2022-12-13 00:47

Maybe next you can remove BO1's from the face of the earth?

5 replies

+1 they add closed qualifiers to make bracket less random yet keep bo1s? hahaha so sad

2022-12-13 01:42

Whats the point in adding bo3s in a round of 256 when most teams would get blown out 2x 16-0? Bo3s could be earlier than they are now, but not the whole open circuit, as it would take giga long to do

2022-12-13 14:12

At least dexter gets to play.

2022-12-13 17:50

Making the open circuit bo3s is far easier to do than to make an entirely new closed circuit

2022-12-13 23:25

Yeah, if they keep only the old system then yeah, it would probably be the same length. This closed circuit probably is good for TOs - more content to milk, because more "relevant" teams would play

2022-12-15 00:49

Slowly but surely Valve is bending the knee to orgs. Invites to closed qualifiers just makes sense with how much these teams invest.

6 replies

bending to viewership* Rio was had 2/3 of the peak viewership from the previous major due to so many underdogs

2022-12-13 01:08

It was unlikely that Rio could have reached the previous major numbers anyway, but yes, that was among other things one factor.

2022-12-13 01:38

and what exactly do u do on the major? Award special retard points to the good teams that lose?

2022-12-13 02:13

nothing, idfc about the viewership. instead of doing nothing valve instead decided to make it easier for these teams to qualify with those changes

Gloryhunting retards with gla1ve flair from India who can't name a team outside of top15 influencing the way the major is run. Sadeg

2022-12-13 10:11

W FOR APAC

buy slot on EPL, win slot on closed qualify?

2022-12-13 00:57

I hope not

2022-12-13 02:19

Honestly I don't like the change with invites for the Closed Qualifiers - previously everyone were equal, if your name was fnatic or TheWomansEnjoyers - you have to go with the same road to RMR's, now there will be a few team invited to the closed qualifiers. Why? They can't go from Open Quali, like the others? Because they can fail? If so, they shouldn't be there. I don't like that change, the previous format was the best and the most fair in my opinion

2022-12-13 01:11

7 replies

+1 but they should’ve just made rmr bo3s

2022-12-13 01:43

I agree. Maybe the bracket was quite harsh that you always had to start from scratch but then again, now its one chance and out. Isn't that even worse if you happen to suck. Also I don't think any harsh bracket is unfair because its same for everyone. Half a year isn't that long to wait for the next major for the next chance. And for the big teams, whose aim is to win the thing (or at least playoffs), I don't think one can be that delusional that one could have made to playoffs if one fails already at qualifiers. Only thing of positive about this is that the schedule can be made easier. Well rather less teams have to have compromises to their schedule. But is that reason enough to make this chance, I don't think so.

2022-12-13 01:45

Wtf you talking about. There hasnt been major without invites. For example IEM Rio 15 teams were invited to rmr tournaments.

2022-12-13 01:53

Yes, the teams which were attending PGL Antwerp Major was invited to RMR, and EVERY OTHER team (like Astralis f.e.) was playing Open Qualifiers, and I think it was beatiful.

2022-12-14 00:18

2022-12-13 06:18

I'd agree if those open qualifiers were held on lan or at least in a bo3 format to avoid "luck", it was one bad map and you were out, so that doesn't make the best team to qualify, at the end aim wise, there's random guys who are top tier in dm but they are bad on a team environment or game sense, giving them just one online map was a bit of a handicap to better teams. Btw, make bo3 or lan for open qualifiers it's "technically impossible", so this change is not bad or good per se, let's see how it goes.

2022-12-13 09:29

2022-12-13 14:05

Volvo btw

2022-12-13 01:20

TheMongolz TheMajor winnerz now.

2022-12-13 01:31

Why is everyone mentioning APAC Haven't been following the scene, can I get a little context

2022-12-13 01:35

no, you cannot.

APAC in the RMR system has had a mere 4 team event to decide the 2 teams that would qualify. The biggest change for the region is doubling the event to 8 teams (but still only 2 qualify for the major).

2022-12-13 02:20

Maybe reworking this RMR BS that gets you lucky Legends Status like Sprout got the last time ???

Nope, in fact they’re making stuff like that more likely.

2022-12-13 01:46

He is still complaining about sprout making legends where they didn't even get 0-3 like everyone expected (fu*k everyones pickems btw). While NIP and Faze the tier 1 teams, orgs with endless money got 0-3 and he still has the balls to complain about sprout, that's how dumb he is.

2022-12-13 11:33

based

2022-12-13 12:46

They deserved that legend spot more than faze and nip who went 0-3 and that is a fact silver coiner

2022-12-13 11:36

seems dumb to many free spots imo.

2022-12-13 02:15

W for ASIA

Let's go

2022-12-13 02:43

asia W

2022-12-13 03:03

its good but wtf x2 wasted spot for Asia? FailFish

2022-12-13 03:33

Asia FTW

Asia huge dub

2022-12-13 04:05

Is closed qualifier going to be a LAN event like RMR?

2022-12-13 04:29

dub this the "G2 Rule" or "Astralis Rule" XD

2022-12-13 04:49

G2 missed 1 major and the entire ruleset changes to help them KEKW

2022-12-13 05:18

Ahem, flair?

2022-12-13 07:10

Ahem, do you really think anyone expected Astralis to make it with 2 stand ins? KEKW

2022-12-14 17:35

yes?

2022-12-14 17:37

KEKW

2022-12-14 17:38

Big W for APAC, love to see it

2022-12-13 05:39

LETS GO !!! APAC

2022-12-13 05:41

Volvo need viewers to be back to normal

2022-12-13 05:57

Volvo is so kind towards Astra and Gii tu

2022-12-13 06:00

This is shit :(

2022-12-13 06:36

more asia teams pog

2022-12-13 06:43

BLAST method

2022-12-13 06:52

Does this mean G2 will be at major? :)

2022-12-13 07:05

You know this system works when they've changed shit about it after each major that's used it

BO1 is the “random” factor. It should stay open to any team who wants to try but BO3. This smells like a bit of favouritism to make it easier for astralis next time.

2022-12-13 07:35

We wont see any AU teams major they cant go major without spot for AU

2022-12-13 07:36

Big L

2022-12-13 08:04

Instead of making open qualifiers more fair and less random they make it more unequal and yet still choose Bo1's to keep it random.

2022-12-13 08:14

2022-12-13 08:24

If I understand this correctly it means that the new closed qualifiers benefit teams that barely hold on to their tier 1/2 ranking?

2022-12-13 08:55

Nice

2022-12-13 09:10

RIP CS:GO. i don't care anymore about pro scene

2022-12-13 09:33

Invitations to the closed qualifiers will be decided by an official "Regional Standing" which will be determined by the teams' performances at both Valve-sanctioned and third-party tournaments ez for closed cycle money league teams who get auto invites

2022-12-13 10:07

tbh I was expecting the article to read something like: Invites AND ALSO still some open qualifier(s) so we get to see some hero stories

RIP CSGO open circuit :(

2022-12-13 10:15

L VALVE

2022-12-13 11:38

Bad change, I could understand if: 1. Open Qualifier -> 2. Closed Qualifier where all low ranking attendees of the previous major are invited to. -> 3. RMR with the high-ranking major teams. -> 4. Major Challenger's Stage -> 5. Major Legend's Stage -> 6. Major Champion's Stage In that case, getting through is still possible for dreamers, but it's extra difficult. With open qualifiers gone, there is no chance for unexpected teams to get through. CR4ZY, ENCE, Copenhagen Flames, Bad News Eagles, ... would simply not happen.

2022-12-13 11:40

Good update

2022-12-13 13:26

The reason the Majors are the pinnacle of the calendar is because it's completely open circuit No franchise or partner teams, the winner does so entirely on merit Can't compare to the almost entirely closed circuit BLAST and ESL tourneys

2022-12-13 13:57

Really bad news !

2022-12-13 15:43

Less place for underdogs with their raw talent, more place for orgs with a lot of money Disgusting

2022-12-13 15:52

money doesnt mean skill every time

2022-12-13 16:03

WWW

2022-12-13 18:16

Asia RMR news are good, the other is really bad. The reason why the major is fun to watch is because of the new matchups. Now we will see the same teams in every event throughout the year,

2022-12-13 23:57

this is a dent to whatever open system Valve has had in place for the Majors that get applauded by everyone. Essentially if this was a thing back in the Major cycle for Rio Major, MR being a top ranked team would have directly got invited to the closed qualifier even though we saw that they shat the bed in Open Qualifier so bad and have been on a freefall downfall since then. Even expanding about the MR example, they are still ranked Top 30 on HLTV yet they have accomplished nothing ever since Sunpayus left them. Valve is just facilitating the big orgs because they missed out on Rio, something that shouldnt be a thing when it comes to open circuit of the Major. Basically you have a spot with Blast and/or ESL and you get to be in rankings automatically since you consistently keep on going against better opposition. The results of Rio and underdogs being the best teams out there is EXACTLY why this is a bad decision, every team can punch above their weight now.

2022-12-14 09:48