Valve closes CS2 Major loophole, grants BC.Game exception

Valve has barred rosters that appeared in multiple regional Valve Regional Standings (VRS) invitation lists during the previous three months from receiving a regional Major invite. The rule was introduced before the PGL Singapore Major invitation deadline, after WW, BC.Game and Sashi moved from Europe to Asia.

The teams sought qualification through Asia, where competition for Major places was less intense. Their moves raised concerns that organizations competing mainly in Europe could take Asian spots. Asia had five places available, meaning the three teams could have claimed most of the region’s allocation.

Under the new rule, a roster is eligible for a regional assignment only if it did not appear in another region’s VRS list during the previous three calendar months. Valve defines a roster as the final lineup shown on the monthly ranking overview. If any lineup in a team’s match history appeared in invitation lists for more than one region, the team cannot receive a regional invite.

BC.Game was treated differently from WW and Sashi. The organization did not change a player’s nationality during its regional switch and had already played enough matches with Tyson “asap” Paterson to appear in Asia’s VRS. That meant the team was technically ineligible under the new rule.

BC.Game also signed Mongolian players Azbayar “Senzu” Munkhbold and Ayush “mzinho” Batbold, who had recently played for the region’s strongest team. The organization’s CEO described the Asian players as being on “the longest contracts,” indicating that BC.Game intended to remain in Asia.

Valve initially considered allowing BC.Game to remove the lineup that included asap and return to Europe. The organization was instead granted an exception and allowed to continue pursuing a Major place through Asia. WW and Sashi did not receive the same treatment.

The rule followed earlier regional qualification cases. During the previous Major cycle, Liquid changed regions from Europe to the Americas after adding Mario “malbsMd” Samayoa in place of Guy “NertZ” Iluz. Valve later closed the DRILLAS loophole, which allowed teams to qualify from one region and change their regional assignment through a roster substitution before or during a Major.

The current rule may be difficult to enforce. A team could change its lineup before the monthly rankings are published, causing the final roster displayed in the rankings to differ from the lineup that earned earlier results. That could prevent the same roster from appearing in two regional invitation lists.

The rule can also affect teams that change regions for legitimate reasons. Valve’s regional rankings do not separate points earned before and after a move. One proposed alternative would leave global ranking points unchanged while counting regional results only from matches featuring at least three players from the relevant region. Players who change nationalities could be treated as new players for ranking purposes.

Under that system, a team with a predominantly Asian lineup could compete in Asia but would need to build a new regional record instead of carrying European results into the Asian ranking.

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