Cancellation of Open Qualifiers for the CS2 Major: A Tragedy for the CS Community or an Unseen Benefit?
As summer approached, on May 31, 2024, VALVE announced that open qualifiers for the upcoming Major in Shanghai would not be held. Specifically, they will not be held for the European and American regions. Slots for the Major will still be contested in RMR tournaments, which teams can enter through closed qualifiers or direct invitations from the developers. Invitations to the closed qualifiers and the RMR tournaments themselves will be issued based on the VALVE rankings, a system that has not been well-received by the community, who view the points system as neither transparent nor fair. In this article, we will explore the pros and cons of this decision and draw some conclusions.
Cons
Ordinary Users Lost a Dream
The biggest complaint from players is that ordinary users will no longer be able to register for open qualifiers and try to qualify for the main CS
tournament. Undoubtedly, this will hit the morale and motivation of semi-professional players and, as many say, “kill the magic of the Major.” Many professional players and CEOs of tier 2-3 teams expressed their dissatisfaction on social media following this decision:
RachelR (Owner of Insilio): “This is just trash. They already took away the separate CIS qualifier from us, and we accepted that. Now they’re taking the last thing we had.”
Hooch (Cloud9 Coach): “If it’s true that there won’t be open qualifiers in the EU, it’s really sad. Firstly, any ranking (HLTV, ESL, VALVE) is subjective, especially VALVE’s, as it primarily considers prize money. Secondly, it kills the chance for a heroic run through open qualifiers for regular hardworking teams or newly formed teams that haven’t yet earned money for the ranking.”
Official ECSTATIC Twitter: “A disappointing day for the CS2 scene. We made it to the Copenhagen Major thanks to open qualifiers. Now the dream for ordinary players is destroyed, and the Major has become just another tournament.”
NBK (Pro Player): “Open qualifiers were the hallmark of CS Majors. The organizers couldn’t fix problems with cheaters, etc., and just removed these qualifiers. This is such a weak move.”
The backlash was significant, but VALVE did not respond to the situation. It is worth noting that almost no tier-1 organization or player commented on the matter. It is clear that this scheme is more advantageous for them, and now we will not see top teams like G2, Astralis, Virtus.pro, and Falcons missing the Major. But is everything as rosy for them? Let’s delve deeper.
Organizations Could Drown in Tournaments
Currently, VALVE’s main criterion for forming their rankings is the prize pool of the tournament. The larger the prize pool, the more points will be distributed among the participants. More precisely, the more each team earns in prize money, the more ranking points they receive. This clarification is crucial because, in one of the recent tournaments, BetBoom Dacha Belgrade 2024, only playoff participants received money. This means that organizations finishing in 5th-8th place simply wasted their time and earned neither points nor money, whereas they could have played a concurrent online event from home and guaranteed at least some points.
The new system will hardly allow teams to skip tournaments and take a break to avoid burnout or focus on training. Many are also discussing the potential organization of numerous not just new but biased tournaments. For example, BetBoom Dacha Belgrade 2024 included their team as a replacement for Cloud9, even though AMKAL took second place in the qualifiers. This is highly dubious, but it is too early to make definitive statements. We need to see how it will work in practice.
Pros. Yes, They Exist Too
As we mentioned, direct dissatisfaction was expressed mainly by tier 2-3 organizations or players whose careers are nearing an end or have barely begun. This indicates that VALVE is focusing on the strongest teams, which is logical and hard to criticize. Of course, this negative tone will leave an unpleasant mark, but when have developers ever been concerned about that? It’s better to concentrate on the new realities.
The most obvious benefit is that cheaters will no longer have the chance to knock out top teams, and there will be no situations where a team or player is disqualified after the fact. Many have faced such situations, including the former captain of PARIVISION, Jerry:
“Let’s try to abstract from the downsides, which are obviously VERY many…. and focus on the fact that the teams that have been training for a season or two now deservedly get a chance to qualify and not be destroyed by a ‘Hardworker’ who just joined with a cheat to play. Or a ‘Businessman’ who will even earn money from this qualifier.”
It’s a fair point that we will no longer see “upstart teams.” You won’t be able to just form a mix and with one successful match, negate all the efforts of a lineup over a long period. Let’s not forget that open qualifiers are held in a BO1 format, and with the MR12 system, the chance of randomness is very high. Losing two pistol rounds already gives the opponent an almost guaranteed 6-round advantage. We also won’t see “wallet” teams like Falcons, who sign players like s1mple, donk, m0NESY a month before the Major and easily qualify.
Also, it’s worth remembering those “magical” teams that made it to the Major through open qualifiers. Often, they become donors and use this success to sell their talents at a high price. Now, it will be harder to “advertise” through one Major and teams will really need to invest in their organization and players to help them succeed. The aforementioned ECSTATIC, without hesitation, sold their entire roster to Gaimin Gladiators just a few weeks after the Major.
Conclusion
Let’s briefly highlight the main points discussed, but it’s also worth noting that this decision might be related to Perfect World and could apply only to the next Major. Therefore, we shouldn’t assume that this system will be in place for a long time. Open qualifiers in Asia remain, and this is clearly not without reason.
Cons:
- We lost the charm and magic of the Major.
- Motivation for players without organizations will significantly decrease.
- Violation of the open competitive selection principle.
- Creation of biased tournaments for farming ranking points.
- Potential burnout of players due to the necessity of participating in many tournaments.
Pros:
- No more cheaters and rigged matches in the qualifiers.
- Those who have played and worked hard all season get to the qualifiers.
- Business-minded individuals will leave, while enthusiasts and people who love the game will remain.