Written by Dante Uzel on 17 March 2025 12:42
Valve has announced a set of changes to its "Tournament Operation Requirements" document, including significant updates to the rules surrounding seeding, wildcard invites, and tournament invitations. These revisions aim to streamline the process and clarify requirements for future events.
Wildcard Invitations: New Changes and Restrictions One of the key updates affects wildcard invites. Valve has eased the requirement for a Wildcard invite, which now stipulates that teams must be ranked lower than 12th on the Global VRS list rather than on all VRS lists (including regional ones). This is a relaxation of the previous rule, which required teams to be ranked below 12th on all VRS lists.
More:Valve Announces Changes to Regional Standings
Tier-One and Tier-Two Event Invites Valve has also increased the minimum number of invites for tier-one events from 16 to 20. For tier-two events, the new rules restrict invitations to teams ranked below 12th in the global standings, which is a shift of four places lower than the previous requirement.
Changes to Event Announcements and Deadlines For events taking place in 2027 and beyond, Valve has moved the announcement date up to 22 months before the tournament's main event, reducing the previous 24-month lead time. Additionally, tournament organizers now have a deadline of 10 months before the main event to publish additional information for tier-one and wildcard events, down from the previous 12 months.
Seeding and the VRS System Another significant change involves the seeding process for tournaments. Instead of using the VRS used for invitations to determine seeding, tournaments can now use the version of the VRS specified in the event’s Additional Information announcement. This change is important as event invitations are often distributed months in advance, giving organizers more flexibility in selecting teams based on up-to-date rankings.
More Restrictive Wildcard Eligibility Valve has made the eligibility criteria for wildcard invites more stringent. A roster is only eligible for a wildcard invite if it is ranked lower than 12th on all VRS lists (including regional lists) and meets at least one of the following conditions:
The roster includes at least three players who were members of a top 12 team on an Invite VRS List at any point in the previous six months. The team has placed first or second in any tournament of equal or lower tier than the one issuing the invite in the preceding six months. Visa Region Requirements for Organizers Tournament organizers will now only need to disclose the specific visa region where the event will take place (e.g., USA, Schengen, China), rather than broadly identifying the geographical region (e.g., North America, Southeast Asia).
Tags: Valve
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