13.10.2016, Europe

European CS:GO Teams protest against EU Minor invitations and qualifier policy Dear Valve Corporation and PGL Esports, A core value when it comes to CS:GO Majors and qualifiers is that all teams should have an equal chance. There have never in the history of CS:GO Minor events been any direct invitations. Remember that the challenger teams already have a long way to go to get to the Major, starting from online qualifications, followed by the Minor events and finishing with the main Major qualifier. Inviting four teams to an eight team Minor, and forcing all the other teams to compete against one another does not seem fair. Valve teaches to play fair, e.g. via banning coaches mid-round, because "​the goal of [their] events is to identify the best five-player ​ CS teams". That includes each team having the same conditions to play. So why are there teams who are not equals but something more, deserving of direct invitations for the Minor? By inviting four teams directly, it means under no circumstance can five of the teams who were not invited qualify. There is no definitive and agreed to CS:GO team ranking system, and as such there should not be any direct invitations for Minor events. Alternatively, if e.g. the HLTV.org ranking were to be used, it should be made clear to all teams, so they would know of a way to make their qualification route for the Major easier in advance. All teams should qualify on the same conditions. A closed online qualifier with seeded teams based on actual team ranking could be an agreed solution, but that is far away from the current system we perceive as unfair. Moreover, future information about Minor qualifiers and Minor events itself should be announced at least a month prior to the start of online qualifications, to make sure teams can plan their schedules in advance. Some events are bound to collide in today’s climate, but at least it will allow teams to choose early on. The Major’s date is known a couple of months in advance, so it should not be a problem to set dates for the online qualifiers at least a month before they begin. We understand fnatic and HellRaisers have a scheduling conflict with EPICENTER, but while it is unfortunate, other teams who have signed this letter have similar conflicts with other events. Had the minor and the qualification system been announced earlier, perhaps more of them could have been avoided. From the next Minor qualifiers on, we highly recommend combining the European and CIS qualifiers. The main idea behind geographical divisions has always been to avoid high pings and guarantee all teams fair conditions to compete in. That is not a valid concern for CIS region teams, who are playing in European online tournaments on a daily basis. At present, the geographic division is also unclear for certain teams. Essentially hosting a separate qualification for CIS teams that the rest of Europe cannot participate in discriminates against the European teams. We believe the only valid reason for separating qualifiers is ping, and for CIS it is not an issue. The qualifiers should be combined to ensure the best European teams – a region most of CIS is considered a part of – qualify for the Minor, and then the Major.

At first, in the next 48 hours, we expect Valve and PGL to change the 'direct invitations' to 'closed qualifer invitations' for directly invited teams for European Minor - fnatic, Heroic,

HellRaisers and Space Soldiers. Two online qualifiers should allow through four teams each, instead of two, to determine the eight teams at the Minor. We also hope that the next Minor qualifier will be announced at least a month in advance, and that combined qualifiers for Europe and CIS would be at least discussed prior to the next Major. We hope to get feedback and discuss these points together to make a good system even better. We are representing ​all of the affected top 50 teams from Europe (as of October 12, 2016 per the HLTV.org team ranking – excluding teams already invited to the Minor, and those who have a spot at the main Major qualifier or the Major itself). If our voice does not get listened to, then whose does? Valve and PGL - we are waiting for your move.

European CS:GO Teams

Signed by teams’ representatives: Stephan Barth,​ ALTERNATE aTTaX Dimitar Slavkov, ​Bpro Gaming Mattias Rosbäck​, ​Crowns Esports Club Tomi Kovanen, ​ENCE eSports Christian Lindberg, ​Epsilon eSports Nemanja Boskovic, ​Guerilla Method eSports Slaava Räsänen​, ​iGame.com Andreas Pullitzky​, ​PENTA Sports

Hampus Johansson​, ​Rogue Jaroslaw Smietana, ​Team Kinguin Nicolai Petersen​, ​Tricked-esport

With full support of currently the best European Team: Jakub ‘Kuben’ Gurczyński, ​Virtus.pro