Finn

When graphing VRS as a network model, with matches having a gravitational effect, you can visibly identify 5 distinct ecosystems (not counting Tier 1) However, these 5 distinct scenes dont often overlap Should teams that dont interact have to compete for the same major invites?

@jon_winkle How did you get access to the EPICLAN CS format notebook

I even had my notepad ready to take minutes if I got invited to the group.

I'm looking into cases of VRS tournaments, especially LANs, that have failed to pay out prizes. If this has happened to you, my DMs are open.

@MAZM0L @Dom_Sacco none of TLR are eligible

@Dom_Sacco It’s expected they haven’t proven anything yet other than being online in a sense. We might have some players next month on there with TLR going lan, etc, but figures-wise, they need to show they’re worth before chosen to be a prospect.

It's sad to see not a single UK player on here!

@GrimyRannarr @bevvexyz Bring back ruby league

@bevvexyz Last LAN I was at I noticed how there is a big divide between the new gen of UK CS and us oldies… time for the return of UKPL!

Qualified for an international LAN BTW

BLAST Bounty.. 'when invites'? I assume June ranking? 🤔 Why isn't it public yet when the invites go out?? Next major qualification has already started indirectly and this is an important information. Assuming it is June ranking it adds to the importance of this ranking, especially for teams not at the major. It will be like a mini major qualification race for any EU team who is not realistically in play for top 12 on July and August rankings to, at the very least, get the BLAST Bounty invite (top 32 June?) and preferably also the EWC invite (top 21 June). Game is already on in the ongoing CCT Global finals for early positioning, although its a tough battle against all those teams having invites for IEM Atlanta, PGL Astana and especially CAC.

@HLTVorg Tree60 will save UKCS

HLTV Prospects: April 2026 hltv.org/news/44436/hlt…

@dabootv opposite. i more mean that the 5 regions should each have their own path to the major (i.e better regional representation), as outside the major race thats how they exist really. Shouldnt have to fork out a fortune to fly across the world to even have a chance at the major

@MischiefCS2 of you mean that all 5 eco systems should directly compete for the major spots I would disagree, as the additional exposure is better for the overall health of the game, you dont want to end up in a SC2/OW/LoL kind of situation where its basically one region only (roughly!)

When graphing VRS as a network model, with matches having a gravitational effect, you can visibly identify 5 distinct ecosystems (not counting Tier 1) However, these 5 distinct scenes dont often overlap Should teams that dont interact have to compete for the same major invites?

@dabootv @Professeur_CS just wish it wasnt dampened by twitter compression and size limits. when weighting by decay it looks visually better (in my opinion), but then its a worse representation of the point im trying to get across (also ignore all the regions swapping colours)

@MischiefCS2 @Professeur_CS its beautiful

@RCoops1978 This is what force atlas 2 spits out. Teams aren’t positioned

@MischiefCS2 What if you just reduce it to the teams that qualified for the Major and those that were close Also why is OCS in the top right, they'd still have more Asia connection and it makes them feel further away from even their cross border between

Dont understand what youre looking at? An interactive model might explain this better at bit.ly/VRSNetwork You can see each specific team and what connections they have

Yeah I have no issue with the current implementation. There might be a “cleaner” way to reward and recognise lan wins but I think the current situation is fine This post is just to acknowledge the lanw aspect is now more of a barrier to compete, the results ,whether online or on lan, are the determinant. Not really judging if that’s clearly good / bad

@MischiefCS2 Wouldn't it be fair to say that increasing the total number of LAN games provides higher quality overall data though? The tiebreaker being online games seems fine if teams have to be able to perform well, or play a lot, on LAN first.

For the Budapest major, LANW's and local LANs became significantly more important for the final rankings. However, its important to note that this has now essentially reversed. There are currently 69 teams with >0.8 LANW, with over half having >0.95 LANW. Such that teams are practically tied. This tie ends up being decided by teams' online results in cups and open qualifiers. During this major run, alot of teams' fates were decided on LAN, but they could have been as equally decided online. With teams being capped out and equal on LANW, it ends up where Bounty Offered, Bounty Collected and Opponent Network become the difference makers. There is no difference in weighting for these latter 3 components whether a tournament is offline / online, and often they are more plentiful online too.

@GrimyRannarr @ballertheking

@ballertheking @MischiefCS2 Bad day for the colour blind

Has LAN wins gone too far within VRS, or is it a necessary barrier? 🇺🇸Austin 25 - Pretty much exclusive to T1 teams 🇭🇺Budapest 25 - A difference maker for the major 🇩🇪Cologne 26 - Now mandatory to compete within the top 75 More accurate data & improved integrity, but at a cost

2:2 is merited with the current context of teams, but at a scene level overview it’s hard to justify OCE having an equal berth to a scene twice its size. Asia was only really competing for 2/3 potential slots, as OCE realistically had 1 guaranteed. But a theoretical potential 4 to a guaranteed 2 is quite the decline. I think it’s hard to justify equal guaranteed berths for both OCE and Asia and leave nothing in the balance. Maybe give both each a guaranteed one and leave the final 2 spots up to a small organised cup so the final slots are on merit. If the World Cup has LCQs, I can’t see why the Major couldn’t either

I strongly object against taking it from EU at least 😉 Reason for me is the strong economic impact of the major invites in this eco-system. It should be somewhat distributed back mainly to the regions that invests a lot in the scene. 2 for Asia and 2 for OCE seems merited for now for me and if things change its a click of a button to update the distribution from major to major.

.@StrikerHLTVorg: "[Valve] were open to the idea of [VRS] going sub-regional [in Asia] but in the end, they couldn't come up with a way where it would be fair to split Asia in a proper way." 👀 What do you think is the best way to make qualifying to the Major better?

@GoMeZCSGO @JesperLarsen222 @HLTVconfirmed @StrikerHLTVorg yeah i think thats good. Highest VRS could be pretty easily gamed, but not like thats any different to now. Overall its only really a net positive.

@MischiefCS2 @JesperLarsen222 @HLTVconfirmed @StrikerHLTVorg what about a hybrid, 1+1 guaranteed, other 2 is just highest VRS. America's should be the same.

@GoMeZCSGO @JesperLarsen222 @HLTVconfirmed @StrikerHLTVorg if you were to split it into two, OCE either gets off too well or arguably too harshly. Youd either have it be 2/2 or 1/3. Is 1 guaranteed slot for a subregion better than a theoretical 0? 🤷‍♂️

@JesperLarsen222 @MischiefCS2 @HLTVconfirmed @StrikerHLTVorg 4+ merit is fine

Id say take it from EU, cant say thats a popular opinion though. But, the major is an international competition, the berth distribution for the World Cup is pretty diverse as well. Also taking from the world cup, could also allocate a "half slot", in which two teams play in an inter confederation match.

Who loses a spot then, AM or EU? :) If its Americas it will be 5 AM / 5 AS. Lowest ranked Americas is Liquid at 40. If its EU you would swap a top 24 team for one ranked 80-ish realistically, but maybe that 80 is not the real rank if they played EU regularly.. or maybe it actually is.. who knows. But it could of course just be a regional representation choice by Valve in the spirit of the major. But 3 Asia spots seems a bit much for me from a competitive point of view. Why not just 2 each? A region can always get an extra spot by teams qualifying to stage 3.