Valve has officially updated its CS Major Supplemental Rulebook to reflect a significant expansion of Counter-Strike 2 Majors, increasing the number of competing teams from 24 to 32, as initially reported by HLTV.

This format adjustment introduces a third Swiss stage in addition to the existing Opening and Elimination stages, extending the duration of Majors by approximately four days to accommodate the new structure.

In addition to the expanded tournament format, Valve has restructured slot allocations and introduced new qualifying events called Major Regional Qualifiers (MRQs). The MRQs will replace the Regional Major Rankings (RMR) and involve 16 teams each in the Americas and Europe, and 8 teams in Asia. Notably, MRQs may be held online, and in such cases, regions can be divided into sub-regions (e.g., NA/SA) to minimize ping disparities.

For the Major’s initial stage, the MRQs will allocate six spots each to Americas and Europe and four to Asia. In Stage 2, eight qualified teams from Stage 1 will join eight directly invited squads. Invitations to Stage 2 are region-based, with one spot allocated for each team from a region that reached Stage 3 (top 16) in the previous Major.

Similarly, Stage 3 will include directly invited teams based on their regions’ playoff performance (top 8) in the last Major. For instance, at the BLAST.tv Austin Major, the first Major under this new format, six European teams (Spirit, G2, Vitality, MOUZ, FaZe, HEROIC) will be invited to Stage 3 after making the playoffs in Shanghai. Americas and Asia will each receive one Stage 3 invitation, thanks to Liquid and The MongolZ securing top-eight finishes.

The slot allocation for the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025, based on Valve Regional Standings (VRS), will be distributed as follows:

Europe:

  • 1st to 6th place advance directly to Stage 3.
  • 7th to 10th move into Stage 2.
  • 11th to 26th compete in the MRQ, offering six Stage 1 slots.

Americas:

  • 1st place advances to Stage 3.
  • 2nd to 5th enter Stage 2.
  • 6th to 21st participate in the MRQ, offering six Stage 1 spots.

Asia:

  • 1st place qualifies for Stage 3.
  • No direct Stage 2 slots.
  • 2nd to 9th compete in the MRQ, with four Stage 1 spots available.

 

This expanded format aims to provide a more comprehensive competitive structure and better representation for teams across all regions.