Into the Breach surprised the CS:GO community during BLAST.tv Paris Major by going all the way to the quarterfinals. After this historical achievement, Karol “rallen” Rodowicz revealed he’d love to see one groundbreaking change in Counter-Strike 2 esports scene.
The Polish veteran didn’t hide the fact he wishes to see more tournaments with open circuits like Majors in CS2 once the game finally comes out, he told Dot Esports on May 19. In his eyes, having the biggest tournaments around the globe filled with the same teams over and over again hurts the scene, and Valve should do something about it.
“In my opinion, the CS:GO scene is currently divided between partnership and non-partnership teams. In tournaments that have 16 teams, 15 of them are partnered with the organizer,” rallen explained. “That’s absurd. It shouldn’t be like this, because it’s killing esports.”
“This should be balanced somehow. It shouldn’t be that the more money you have in your wallet, the more tournaments you attend. […] We have to fight this—maybe it changes with CS2,” the 28-year-old added.
In CS:GO, the biggest tournaments around the world are organized either by ESL or BLAST, with their events taking up most of the calendar like IEM Katowice, IEM Cologne, or the BLAST Premier seasonal finals. These events include slots for teams who want to qualify through the qualifiers, but they are usually limited to a single spot. Most of the competitors are often invited since they’re partnered with the organizer.
When it comes to Valve-sponsored Majors, however, each of the participants must earn their spot via RMR qualifiers. Tier-two teams, like ITB, have higher chances of advancing to the RMRs themselves. For example, Europe RMR A, which featured rallen and his crew, had 16 teams, with 9 of them coming out of closed qualifiers.
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And the Major in Paris showcased the strength of the tier-two squads who make it to the Valve-sponsored tournaments, with teams like GamerLegion, ITB, Monte, and Apeks making it to the playoffs. None of these four teams are partnered with either ESL or BLAST, and therefore have rarely been seen in tournaments hosted by them. “We practically had to play open qualifier, closed qualifier, RMR, and then Major, so we were constantly playing. And we did it [qualify for the playoffs,]” rallen said.
CS2 is scheduled to release this Summer, though, the exact date remains unknown. The first Major in the new game will take place next March in Copenhagen and is set to be organized by PGL.
