How the CS scene got into an arms race for last-minute VRS points

Teams around the world, from all levels, are scrambling to attend as many LANs as possible ahead of the October 6 Major invite cutoff. But is it really worth the hassle?

"Three minutes and 53 seconds, which is absolutely nuts. That's a faster sale than some concerts. I did not think we would ever be in that world, if I'm blunt. I just never thought we would be, and it's really cool."

Stephen "sasquatcH" Csikos was reflecting on the wild turn of events that has put Fragadelphia in a prominent position in the Counter-Strike ecosystem. In the 11 years since he co-founded the tournament series, Fragadelphia has done it all, from small-scale local LANs with as little as $1,000 in prize money to an international competition offering $100,000.

But never have his tournaments been the object of nearly as much attention as the upcoming Blocktober event in Philadelphia. Despite having only $10,000 in prize money, tickets sold out in record time, forcing Fragadelphia to expand the tournament from 32 to 48 teams and add an extra day.

There was also an unprecedented case of a team attempting to resell their tickets to the upcoming event in Knoxville at a profit, resulting in a swift, indefinite ban from future Fragadelphia editions.

The reason for all this furor? Blocktober will be among the last open LANs prior to the October 6 invite cutoff for the Major, providing teams one final chance to earn VRS points before the 32 spots in Budapest are filled.

It is a byproduct of the new world order that Valve created when it ended the partner leagues and made the VRS the sole method for determining invites. It hoped to build a true open system, one where "teams compete on a level playing field and when ability is the only limit to their success" (more on that later).

Philadelphia. Moscow. Riga. Bucharest. Rio de Janeiro. Vila Nova de Gaia. Those are some of the stops on the calendar over the next month. There will even be two tournaments in the Polish city of Gdańsk, organized by two different entities in the same venue, the Kinguin Esports Lounge.

It's a throwback to what many assumed to be a bygone era in the game. Esports in its purest form, some might even say.

"I think it's good for the scene to have open systems," sasquatcH argued. "If I were a 14-year-old trying to play Counter-Strike today, the fact that Fragadelphia exists, that Copenhagen Games existed, that Glitch Masters is now coming back to Sweden, that's actually great for the scene."

Fragadelphia Blocktober will be the sixth tournament with at least $10,000 run by sasquatcH and his crew in 2025, with a seventh planned for November. And while the event holds a particularly enviable place on the calendar, sasquatcH insisted that the Major invite cutoff is not the reason they're doing it.

"We have an event in September, one in October and one in November," he said. "And then we're going to go on a month-and-a-half hiatus because Fragadelphia is run by five people," he explained. "This is not a full-time job. None of us makes a dollar off of it."

Fragadelphia existed long before VRS was conceived. And, sasquatcH asserted, it will continue to exist even if its tournaments stop being ranked or Valve decides to implement a completely different circuit model.

That is something, he believes, that sets Fragadelphia apart from some of the open tournaments that have sprung up in recent weeks. Hosting an event at the last minute often results in increased costs; however, a worrying trend is that some tournament organizers appear to be taking advantage of this situation by pushing through high registration fees.

In mid-August, some teams were contacted regarding the Crossfire Cup, an upcoming tournament scheduled for September 20-21 at the Kinguin Esports Lounge in Gdańsk. It's a fully open 16-team tournament with a €2,000 participation fee and a $10,000 prize pool. Notice the currency difference?

Contacted by HLTV, Bartosz Borkowski, Head of the Kinguin Esports Lounge, clarified that the event will not be held at his venue.

"The organizers of the CrossFire Cup initially wanted to hold the event at our venue, but since we already have two major events on September 12–14 and 26–28 [Betclic Clash Summer and Birch Cup], it was difficult to commit," Borkowski explained.

"There were also issues with clarifying who would handle the actual logistics and operations, as we mainly rent out our venue for such events.

"Since then, we've had no further contact with them, so yesterday [September 2] we sent a clear message that we cannot keep the September 19–21 reservation, asked them to stop presenting Kinguin Esports Lounge as the venue for this tournament, and to remove any outdated or misleading CrossFire Cup materials mentioning Kinguin Esports Lounge.

"As we care about the good reputation of our venue, we are also informing the teams that reach out to us that this event will not take place."

Adventure X, the tournament operator behind the event, did not respond to a request for comment. It has not posted anything on X or Instagram since August 18, and its website still mentions the Kinguin Esports Lounge as the venue of the event. It's unclear whether it will ever take place.

"You can shear a sheep for wool, but when you skin it, it dies," sasquatcH said. "And I think a lot of the bad actors are skinning their sheep.

"They're skinning the community. They're trying to make as much profit as they can right now and get out as fast as they can. It's not a good long-term plan. It's not a good precedent to set."

Last month, Mongolian organizer MESA found itself in the spotlight after its Nomadic Masters Fall event was stripped of its ranked status over a violation of Valve's tournament operation requirements.

Documents obtained by HLTV revealed that MESA attempted to move its Nomadic Masters Fall event forward a month to September 23-28. The tournament would feature a 32-team open LAN qualifier, from which the top eight teams would progress to the main event.

MESA set a $10,000 non-refundable registration fee per team while lowering the prize money from $250,000 to $100,000. It would not cover international flights, offering teams a hospitality package that included "hotel accommodation, local transportation, access to a practice room, dedicated warm-up zone access, and complimentary snacks."

What ended up being MESA's undoing, however, was that it reached out to some teams offering advanced access to the sign-up process, violating the principles of an open event. Once Valve learned of this, it deemed that the tournament could not be ranked.

In a statement issued on August 20, MESA said that it planned to run "two separate LAN qualifiers: one for eight European teams, and another for twenty-four Mongolian teams with free registration." However, the document sent to teams only mentions a "32-team open qualifier on LAN," with a "single-elimination, best-of-three" format, with eight teams qualifying for the main event.

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Contacted by HLTV, MESA Managing Director Ganbaatar Erdenee explained that the reason for changing the dates was a schedule overlap with the CS Asia Championships, the Roobet Cup (which ended up being cancelled) and the Thunderpick World Championship. This made the week of September 23-28 "the most ideal option."

He added: "The reason for the prize pool reduction is that 1xBet was our main partner for all events, but the Mongolian government banned betting sites in Mongolia starting July 1, 2025.

"This forced us to cut down the prize pool and other operational costs, as there are no other sponsors in Asian CS and limited local sponsorship."

Erdenee reiterated that MESA's plan was to have between eight and 12 European teams in the qualifier, depending on the level of interest, and that the $10,000 fee was not in reality a registration fee, despite being announced as such.

"We decided to offer hotel and practice PC coverage in exchange for that fee," he said. "Initially, we weren't planning to cover anything, and teams would have to handle logistics themselves.

"Also, it's worth mentioning that the costs of hotels and PC rentals for seven team members exceed $10,000 per team. We have no intention of profiting from these fees. It was only for local accommodation."

Erdenee added that MESA intends to return to the semi-open format it used for Masters Spring, with a number of VRS invites supplemented by qualifier slots.

"That said, VRS requires a two-month lead time, and there’s no available calendar slot this season," he said. "So we’re more likely to host the next Nomadic Masters in the spring season."

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It seems that MESA's punishment was not severe enough to deter others from engaging in similar practices.

In recent days, HLTV has learned that a tournament organizer for an upcoming event created a WhatsApp group with teams from its region. The group has been used to share details about the event, discuss the dates on which it should be held, and provide advanced info about the registration time. It is effectively acting as a gatekeeper for what is supposed to be an open event.

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The roots of the CS scene's sudden craze for open LAN competitions can be traced back to Fragadelphia's earlier events, particularly the March stop in Philadelphia. In topping a field mostly made up of either unranked or sub-100-ranked teams, BLUEJAYS earned 101 VRS points and moved up 22 places to 32nd in the world. Marsborne, the tournament's runner-up, accrued 142 points — enough to see them soar 43 places to 54th.

That was when teams outside the tier-one circuit started to recognize the importance of securing LAN victories, regardless of the event's location or the caliber of opposition.

A month later, Ninjas in Pyjamas, starving for points, travelled to the United States for Fragadelphia's next event, in Las Vegas. Ranked 89th in the global VRS at the time, they beat Vagrants (97th), GameHunters (181st), NRG (31st) and Sharks (66th), amassing 162 VRS points and jumping almost 40 places in the ranking to 50th.

And this is how we've ended up in our current predicament, with a wide array of events catering to all tastes and preferences scheduled for next month as teams scramble to secure last-minute VRS points in a bid to qualify for the Major (and claim valuable sticker money).

That target is so crucial that teams are willing to spend thousands on international travel to compete in these LANs, despite often having only slim chances of qualifying.

Although LAN victories play a significant role in the ranking model, there is a cap on both the number of wins that are considered and of points teams can earn strictly from them. Other coefficients, such as prize money earned, opponents' net worth, event importance, and bounty collected, are also weighed heavily, and farming lower-tier events, with small prize pools and lower-ranked opponents, can only get you so far.

In other words, the impact of getting LAN wins is practically nullified because so many teams can get them. These results become not something that differentiates teams, but the bare minimum that every team must achieve to even have a chance to make the Major.

For many teams, the LAN grind might only lead to invites to qualifiers or, at best, other, smaller tournaments. And because of the VRS's recency bias, teams will be pressured to attend every open LAN they can, big or small, to keep refreshing their LAN win record and remain in the invite range.

According to a prediction model developed by EPIC.LAN tournament lead admin Finn "Mischief" Farrer, only four of the 16 European spots at the Budapest Major are realistically up for grabs.

Contacted by HLTV, Mischief said that he believes there is a general misunderstanding in the CS scene about how the VRS works. "I suspect quite a few teams have never properly delved into the VRS," he said.

The LAN opportunities in front of teams are abundant, which is not to say the situation is without challenges. There are cases of teams that have signed up for DraculaN Season 2 and Birch Cup (which will run simultaneously) and paid the registration fee for both tournaments. They will make a last-minute decision on which of the two events they will attend.

And things may be about to get even messier: HLTV knows that a LAN event in Europe with over $50,000 in prize money is in the works. It is expected to be held during the first week of October, which could see teams withdraw from other tournaments with smaller purses.

"Tournaments keep popping up with less than 24 hours' notice, so you need to be checking X or similar constantly so that you're not missing out on potential tournaments," a director for a European organization told HLTV.

"Esports is already a lifestyle, but this is not the shit we need. People need their days off, too. The easy way to solve this would be to make it mandatory for tournaments to be announced like a week before the actual sign-up happens.

"But even with this comes the next problem: you need to be fast buying in or you are not getting a place. It has nothing to do with the competitiveness of your squad, just how fast you get tickets for your org."

It's the wild, wild west, and not even online Counter-Strike is safe. On September 1, CCT announced that CCT Season 3 NA2 would be held on its original dates, after attempting to reschedule the tournament to accommodate recently announced LAN events.

With Valve's tournament requirements stating that tier-2 events without VRS invites can be announced only two weeks in advance, further disruptions might occur.

"We have seen an increase in dropped teams, leading to a decrease in average team ranks in instances where tournaments were announced with only a few weeks to go," Fabian Logemann, VP of Tournaments & Content at CCT, told HLTV in a statement. "This has recently happened, only days out from the competition, which can lead to operational challenges.

"LAN events are great and we're in support of more of them being hosted. The recent format in which they have appeared can be disruptive, however, as mentioned. Tier-2 tournaments typically work within a two-month announcement cycle, applying this to all tier-2 tournaments could help alleviate the current challenges. It's unreasonable to expect teams not to take opportunities to gain more VRS points via LANs when they're presented to them, but it does then affect online competitions.

"There is also possibly a disbalance, where teams may drop out on short notice, but organisers are unable to find a replacement of equivalent rank based on TOR - replacements must start at the bottom of the VRS for that particular tournament.

"Finding the right balance that allows teams to participate, while also giving TOs the ability to uphold integrity and quality, is something we would be very supportive of."

It is undeniable that the VRS has contributed to the revitalisation of the LAN scene, a dying breed, across the globe. But it was supposed to be the great equalizer, a merit-based qualification system. Instead, it benefits teams that have the financial means to attend international LANs and those fortunate enough to be in a region with an active LAN scene. Just look at the disparity in LAN opportunities between Australian teams and some of their Asian counterparts, for example.

At the same time, it's a system with loopholes that can be easily exploited by running open LAN events with a country requirement and high prize pools. A best-of-one round-robin format can even be used to maximize the teams' chances of hitting the LAN win cap. And without Valve checking whether these prize pools are artificially inflated, that leaves it to HLTV and the community to police the scene.

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sasquatcH suspects that Ninjas in Pyjamas did not have a good time at Fragadelphia Las Vegas.

"It's like playing professional sports and being sent down to the minor leagues," he said. "It kind of sucks."

For most of the elite-level teams, the conditions they find at these open events are a change from what they've become accustomed to. There is no catering, private shuttle, dedicated team handler, player lounge or practice room. It's unfamiliar territory for most of the younger generation of players and even team managers.

Fragadelphia received so many inquiries from teams about Blocktober that it was forced to set up a ticketing system on Discord.

"We're at 115 tickets in six days since we set it up," sasquatcH said. "We get so many messages.

"What's interesting is that a lot of team leadership and ownership want to add us to private groups. It's like their manager, the coach, the owners, they want to have a Discord group.

"And we're independent and non-biased. So I tell them instantly, 'We can't join a Discord call with you and your team. I can't do any of that stuff. I can't give you preferential treatment. You just have to put stuff in the ticket. You have to follow the process like everybody else.'"

It's a process designed to stop gray areas, such as the loophole Ohio Meat Wagon tried to exploit by reselling their tickets to Fragadelphia Fragville. According to Dust2.us, OMW decided to prioritize the ESEA Main playoffs over the LAN event. That was when they were approached by a "big CS team" willing to purchase their tickets.

OMW were allegedly offered approximately $1,400, which covered the ticket costs, the non-refundable hotel and travel expenses the team would have incurred if they attended the event. Plus, they were offered 20% of the prize money from the tournament as the team purchasing the tickets would be competing under OWM.

"When it becomes a scalping scenario where a team is able to charge three times the ticket value and then have a stake in prize money performance, that's too much," sasquatcH explained.

"We're an open tournament, and that sounds really nefarious and wrong."

It's the sort of headaches that arise from running a VRS event, but there are positives, too. Fragadelphia has garnered significant interest from potential sponsors interested in being involved with the event.

And for those who complain that Fragadelphia is taking away opportunities from North American sides by welcoming teams from other regions, sasquatcH stated: "I want to be very clear: this has been our model from day one."

He added: "Everybody has got the same rules and restrictions."

sasquatcH predicts that, unless Valve changes the rules of the game, there will be a renewed obsession with open LANs in six months, before the invite cutoff for the Cologne Major. Fragadelphia's March event should be taking place two weeks before that deadline.

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Even with the challenges of the open system, he is a firm believer that it fosters a healthier scene.

"I'm hopeful that the barrier to entry for new TOs isn't difficult," he said. "I'm hopeful that somebody who wants to throw a tournament can just do it. Counter-Strike is one of three esports that still have that in-person culture. It's Counter-Strike, Halo and Call of Duty.

"One of the reasons I still run events is that my best friends were found through playing Counter-Strike in the New Jersey and New York area. The community aspect will always drag me back.

"We, as Counter-Strike, became very commercial. And it's not a bad thing. People have to eat. We want to sustain livelihoods from the game that we love. And I get that.

"But playing Counter-Strike professionally is not a right. It's a privilege. And you have to earn it, either through hours and hours of playing online on FACEIT or hours and hours of getting in a car and going to a LAN center, or, like The MongolZ player [910], taking trains without a ride home.

" And until the ecosystem can figure out the path to pro, we're not going to be any further along. At the end of the day, it's a communion. It's supposed to be fun."