More tournament structure changes announced

Valve has rolled out significant changes to its Regional Standings system (VRS), introducing new rules for tournaments, invitations, and regional divisions. These updates affect everything from how teams qualify to how tournaments are structured.

The most notable change is Valve's new definition of a tournament's Main Stage, which is now simply described as "the stage past which no rosters enter, where teams are only eliminated." This clearer definition helps tournament organizers better structure their events.

The update brings strict rules for team invitations. VRS teams must be invited in ranking order, and their tournament starting positions must match their VRS ranking. This means higher-ranked teams can't start at a later stage than lower-ranked ones. For seeding within stages, tournament organizers will use Global VRS rankings when available.

Valve has also revamped the Wildcard invitation system. For every eight VRS-invited teams, organizers can invite two Wildcard teams. These Wildcard teams must meet specific criteria: either have three players who were in top-8 VRS teams within the last six months, or have finished first or second in a similar-tier tournament during that period.

Regional divisions have been refined for the Americas and Asia. The Americas is now split into North and South American subregions, while Asia is divided into East Asia, West Asia, and Oceania. Tournament organizers can split invites equally among these subregions, but teams must have a core of players from their respective sub-region to qualify.

Another key change affects tournament entry points. Wildcard teams and those from Open Qualifiers must enter tournaments at or before the first stage that includes VRS invites. The system now requires a minimum of two teams from any single VRS list when using VRS invites.