.@valvesoftware Ordinarily we wouldn't comment on something like this, but we are writing to you today out of an abundance of concern for the professional CS2 scene. We hope that you take our considerations constructively. The new changes to the Valve Ranking System on the surface – seem like an reasonable way to ensure teams that people want to watch are in the biggest tournaments. It was clear that while the Open Qualifiers allowed the “Cinderella” runs to the major (for example) - they may have incurred too much risk – with cheating, competitive integrity, etc liabilities to consider. As an unintended consequence of this well-meaning change, any organization outside of the top rankings have essentially no path to profitability or expansion. As a result, as you may know, much of the most famous organizations not in Tier-1 have left the scene, leaving behind countless talents in smaller organizations or academy teams. This again, Is still fine for the CURRENT Tier 1 rosters… but keep in mind, every single player on a current Tier-1 roster began at some point in the lower tiers. If the lower tiers are eliminated, the pool of eligible players to bring the next wave of talent grows smaller. One of largest concerns though lies with competitive integrity. If the CS2 Tier-2/3 scene is never awarded any VRS ranking points, as mentioned, the teams in that space have virtually no path to profitability(as an Org) or to showcase their level of skill in bigger and bigger tournaments. This leaves teams with little to no incentive to be at their best. And thus, this unintentionally encourages these players and teams to care less about the integrity of the scene in one way or another. We are NOT making any accusations or saying this currently occurs or will occur... but we are saying that in perhaps your effort in trying to isolate the T1 scene from controversy, it is leaving an entire scene of players and teams to fend for themselves. While we don't have a perfect solution in mind, if Valve would consider a pathway for T2/T3+ teams to earn more VRS points we would see much more investment and care in the space. The folks over at HLTV have done a commendable job of providing a system to rank teams effectively... and give a level of "prestige" to tournaments in which give HLTV ranking points. We would also encourage bringing back more open qualifiers. As a starting point - with an expanded event pool of VRS events, you could theoretically limit Open Qualifiers to all VRS ranked teams and still accomplish the goal of "vetting" out teams in these qualifiers. We hope you take a moment to consider the “little guys”, because while our teams may not have the multi million-dollar budgets of other organizations.... We still have a bright passion for the game, talented players, and a base of fans that would love to continue playing, watching, and supporting Counter-Strike at every level for years to come.

Of course it is. Tournaments that would previously offer invites to smaller teams and give them a platform to develop (CCT, Compass, RES etc.) can no longer do this. Current CCT 18 PLAY INS has Aurora, NIP, OG, Amkal etc. FOR THE PLAY-INS?! This was previously an event where academy teams and much lower ranked rosters were given an opportunity to compete, which has now been taken away from them. Tournament organisers now have to choose between complying with the VRS system (therefore not being allowed to offer invites or qualification routes to smaller teams) or not being a VRS ranked event (which as we have seen recently leads to any teams within the top 100 hoping to qualify for the RMRs refusing to compete). As a TO the solution is a no brainer, but this in turn leads to less opportunities for lower ranked teams and 100% hurts the grassroots level of the scene.

It is borderline impossible to grind rank. @CounterStrike you fully closed down the entire system, and you are killing organisations not already ranked top30. We went through 6 open qual games vs multiple paid teams. How is anyone supposed to get up, when almost nothing is ranked

How tier-2 CS descended into chaos in the game's new era