The upcoming Perfect World Counter-Strike 2 Major in Shanghai will be breaking tradition by not featuring open qualifiers for Europe, North America, and South America. This is the first time in the history of the Majors that these regions will not have open qualifiers. The tournament organizer, Perfect World, recently released the schedule for the Shanghai Major, revealing that Europe, North America, and South America will instead have closed qualifiers in August. Smaller regions like Oceania, the Middle East, East Asia, and China will still have a single open qualifier followed by a closed qualifier.
Tournament Format Changes
These changes to the tournament format are a result of updates to Valve’s Major Rulebook. According to the new rules, Major closed qualifier teams will be determined solely based on Valve’s own Regional Standings. This means that teams from Europe, North America, and South America will need to perform well in the Regional Standings to secure a spot in the closed qualifiers. However, if there are not enough teams from the regional standings to fill a closed qualifier in the smaller regions, like Oceania and the Middle East, an open qualifier can still be held.
The decision to eliminate open qualifiers for the three major regions has sparked backlash from the Counter-Strike community. A petition has been started on Change.org, urging Valve to reconsider and not turn the game into a closed circuit. Many fans are concerned that this change will hinder the dreams and opportunities of young players who rely on open qualifiers to make a name for themselves in the competitive scene. While it’s true that open qualifiers can sometimes present issues with anti-cheat measures, the community believes that this outcome is not worth sacrificing the potential for new talent to shine.
The new rules effectively restrict access to the Majors for teams that do not perform well enough in the Regional Standings. In previous Majors, teams that started from open qualifiers have managed to achieve remarkable success. For instance, at the final CS:GO Major at BLAST Paris, Into The Breach began in an open qualifier and made it all the way to the quarterfinals. With the removal of open qualifiers, teams will now have to rely solely on their performance in the Regional Standings, which adds more pressure and competition for these coveted Major spots.