StarLadder reveals invites for second CIS RMR event of 2021, shares thoughts on public open letter from CIS teams

StarLadder has unveiled the list of teams invited to the next Regional Major Ranking (RMR) tournament in the CIS region.

Gambit, Natus Vincere, Virtus Pro, Team Spirit, and Akuma have all been invited to the main event, which is slated to run from June 27 to July 4, while Entropiq, forZe, Nemiga, and K23 will have to participate in the competition’s closed qualifier to secure one of the five remaining spots in the main stage. The invites were handed out based on the CS:GO teams’ current positions in the CIS RMR table, which has Spirit leading in front of Na’Vi by 100 points following the conclusion of the controversial EPIC League CIS, the first RMR event in the region in 2021.

Akuma have been under fire from the community since they surprised just about everyone and defeated Na’Vi and VP in the EPIC League CIS to qualify for the playoffs, raising concerns about whether they were cheating, especially after numerous clips of suspicious plays surfaced. Fourteen of the 16 teams that attended the event organized by Epic Esports Events and the Russian Esports Federation (RESF) released an open letter on June 3, asking Valve to launch a full investigation into the cheating allegations against Akuma and suggesting features to be implemented by future tournament organizers to prevent similar problems from happening.

StarLadder has responded to the open letter and shared the five measures it will take in the upcoming CIS RMR event based on what the teams suggested.

• “We will not provide data to any third-party with a delay of less than 20 seconds.
• We will set at least 110 seconds delay on all of our GOTV.
• Voice communications of all teams will be recorded for every game.
• Webcams of the players will capture what is happening on the player’s screen; this video feed will also be recorded for every game.
• All matches of StarLadder CIS RMR will be played on FACEIT platform using the FACEIT anti-cheat software.”

The closed qualifier for the StarLadder CIS RMR will be played between June 18 and 21. The tournament is offering a $100,000 prize pool, with the winner taking home $40,000. StarLadder will distribute between 1,500 and 2,000 RMR points to the top five teams at the competition.

Aside from Entropic, forZe, Nemiga, and K23, ex-Marlian and EC Kyiv also secured their spots in the closed qualifier following their positive results in the first open qualifier. The second open qualifier will kick off soon, taking place between June 12 and 14.