Regional Major Rankings 2022-2023
As the stage does not stand still, Valve makes changes to the qualifying system for their main championships — majors — all the time. Initially the format of RMR tournaments appeared in 2020, but the system started to fully function only at the end of 2021 — as soon as the situation improved after the coronavirus pandemic.
If at the beginning Valve planned to allocate points to teams and sum them up after their performances at several RMR tournaments in each region, after that developers decided to round up the gained experience and stop at only one qualifying championship. Therefore, we have returned to the minor format that existed before the pandemic. In fact, now the structure of qualifiers gives more opportunities for small teams, it has become more honest in terms of the competitive integrity.
In this material we offer you to talk about how an RMR cycle works: we will take a look at the scenario from the previous year and describe the system that will function ahead of the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023.
Format of RMR tournaments in 2022
At the beginning of the previous year, Valve decided to refuse from the system of allocating points and holding several RMR tournaments in one cycle. As a result, the organizers suggested an open scheme with qualifiers and qualifying championships where the best teams from the previous major were invited to.
According to the system, the teams that showed themselves better than others at the previous major (which means they took part in the Legends stage) were invited to the next regional RMR tournament.
Besides, the developers decided to group participants, making three united regions. And if previously the system of division into six different regions was in force, now the overall cycle includes America (North and South America), Europe (Europe and CIS), and also Asia (China, Middle East, Oceania and Central Asia).
The rest of the participants who were left behind of the list of the best at the previous major started their qualifying cycle from scratch — from open qualifiers. Depending on the region, there could be several events. For example, keeping in mind the specific weight of Europe at the major (the number of available slots), there were four open qualifiers where around 20 participants got qualified to the RMR tournament.
RMR tournaments were different from each other with their format. As the number of participants in Europe and AMerica was 32 and 16 respectively, organizers divided the championships into two parts in case with Europe and also held the tournaments themselves in the format of the Swiss system with additional matches for seeding. At the same time, the Asian RMR tournament offered the participants a bracket with double elimination for only four participants.
Alongside, Valve fixed the number of trip to the Contenders stage between the regions to establish the regional representation at the majors. Therefore, a team from Asia, making it to the Top-16 of the next championship would increase the number of slots for its region at the next major.
A similar format existed for the whole season, being applied to the organization of the PGL Major Antwerp 2022 and the Intel Extreme Masters Rio Major 2022, offering distinctions only in the number of trips to regional RMR tournaments.
However, in the new season Valve again decided to change the format of the RMR cycle to correct the current vision of the development of the ecosystem.
Current state of events and upcoming changes to the format ahead of the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023
At the end of the previous year Valve updated their set of rules to correct some points and change the whole structure for improvement. In other words, the developers give teams of different levels more opportunities to qualify for RMR tournaments and majors.
For starters, Valve added mandatory closed qualifiers before RMR tournaments for each region. If teams used to fight at numerous open qualifiers, now there will be mandatory closed qualifiers in each region, and only the best teams according to Valve’s rating will be invited there directly.
To exemplify, Astralis and G2 Esports missed the Intel Extreme Masters Rio Major 2022, so they had to prepare for open qualifiers. However, taking into account their position in the new rating by Valve, they will get direct trips to the closed qualifier, decreasing the load and general risk.
Invitations to the closed qualifiers will be allocated according to the official “regional status” which will depend on the teams’ performances at both Valve’s and external tournaments.
It remains to be seen how many participants will be eligible for invitations, however, Valve have already launched their own rating which updates every two weeks.
As the developers explained in their explanatory note that the rating functions by several rules:
- The lineup of the team (changes and other reshuffles)
- Beaten opponents (including the amount of earned prize money and the number of teams that were beaten by the opponents)
- Results (The amount of earned prize money and the level of the beaten opponents)
The rating will update until the start of open qualifiers when Valve will announce the names of invited participants in the closed qualifiers.
Taking into account the first update, the total number of participants in the qualifiers will be twice as many as the number of slots at RMR tournaments. For instance, in Europe at least 38 teams will be performing. Half of the slots in the closed qualifiers will be allocated by invitations whereas the other slots will be taken by winners of the closed online qualifiers. The format of the closed qualifiers will correspond to the format of an RMR tournament for the same number of teams (Swiss bracket for Europe and America, and also a bracket with double elimination for Asia).
As Europe got one additional slot by the results of the Intel Extreme Masters Rio Major 2022, the organizers held an extra stage called Last Chance where two-three teams participated. This stage will help to define another participant, offsetting the downsides of the Swiss system.
The approved regional distribution for participants in the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023:
- Europe (14 places for getting to Top-16 at the IEM Rio Major 2022 (7 trips to Legends) + 3 Contenders’ slots)
- America (2 places for getting to Top-16 at the IEM Rio Major 2022 (1 trip to Legends) + 3 Contenders’ slots)
- Asia (no place for getting to Top-16 at the IEM Rio Major 2022 + 2 Contenders’ slots)
Also, each region will get a chance to divide closed qualifiers into subgroups at an RMR tournament to avoid different problems related to the connection quality while playing on a remote server.
The next update will be an increase in the number of participants in the RMR tournament in Asia. If four teams used to perform at the championship, now Valve doubled the number.
Recently the tournament operator BLAST who is in charge of holding the next major has introduced the first details about RMR tournaments:
- RMR tournament for America — Monterey, Mexica
- RMR tournament for Europe — Copenhagen, Denmark
- RMR tournament for Asia — Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Timetable of the whole cycle of the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023:
- Open qualifiers for RMR tournaments: 1 February - 31 March 2023
- RMR tournaments: 3-9 April 2023
- Major: 8-21 May 2023 (Challengers — 8-11 May 2023; Legends — 13-16 May 2023; Champions - 18-21 May 2023)
Valve is likely to continue changing the format of the RMR cycle and meet participants halfway. The next update is expected in the summer or spring after the major in Paris and it will define the next venue. And now everyone is preparing for the start of the open qualifiers and RMR tournaments which will anticipate the next BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023.