Valve tightens invites timeframe

In a recent addition to Valve's supplemental rulebook, a new clause has been added to the Tournament Operational Requirements section that cracks down on the timeframe during which a tournament organizer (TO) can hand out invites.

As per the new rule, a tournament organizer is allowed to send out invites based on Valve's Regional Standings only up to eight weeks before the start of the tournament's main event. The new clause reads as follows:

On the Invite Date (no earlier than 8 weeks prior to the start of the Tournament's Main Event), Licensee invites a number of Rosters that equals 1.5 times the number of Qualified Rosters that are to appear in the Main Event in order of their Qualifying Rank. If the Invite Date occurs in the last week of a month, Licensee will base the Qualifying Ranks on the VRS from the 1st of that month. Otherwise, Licensee will use the VRS from the 1st of the month preceding the Invite Date.

While the new change aims to provide a better reflection of the Valve Regional Standings towards tournament and qualifier invites, it comes at a time when a considerable number of teams have pulled out of various events at the last moment due to issues related to travel, particularly visas.

Due to it's timing, the change has been received with a grain of salt with the community emphasizing on how a team or the organizer should squeeze in all preparations in under eight weeks.