Valve announces exceptions for some 2025 CS events

As a dedicated gamer, I’ve noticed that some major tournament hosts, like ESL, PGL, and BLAST, have been granted exemptions to carry on their events, even though they haven’t strictly followed Valve’s rulebook to the letter.

Valve has made exceptions for some 2025 tournaments that don’t meet specific requirements. Among these exceptions are tournaments organized by ESL, BLAST, PGL, and others. Here is a comprehensive list of the events, along with the type of exemption they have been granted by Valve in 2025.

Valve has given some leeway to certain 2025 tournaments that don’t adhere to specific rules. Events such as those organized by ESL, BLAST, PGL, and additional organizations have been granted exemptions. The following is a detailed list of the tournaments, along with the type of exception they received from Valve in 2025.

Valve has provided guidelines, known as “Tournament Operation Requirements,” for those who want to organize events in 2025. Not all event organizers are adhering to these guidelines. Some of these non-compliant organizers have been given exemptions by Valve, which they’ve announced on their GitHub page.

Which events have received exceptions for 2025?

Valve has made 12 special exemptions to their Counter-Strike rules and guidelines on GitHub, which are intended for tournaments in 2025. Each exception is unique to the specific event, with some necessitating adjustments to the format and others possibly shortening the event’s duration.

Here are instances where we’ve purposely allowed some leeway due to their potential to provide additional sorting information beyond our minimal guideline standards, and because they don’t contradict the fundamental principles of the rules.

Valve

1. ESL Pro League Season 21: May directly invite some teams based on their performance in previous Pro League Seasons.
2. ESL Pro League Season 22: The event may invite additional wildcard rosters to the closed qualifier.
3. IEM Dallas: NA and SA may be applied as VRS filters despite not being official regions.
4. EWC 2025: May invite the winner of Hero Esports ACL in lieu of one VRS invitation.
5. BLAST Rivals: May run one Wildcard event after two Tier 1 events instead of three.
6. BLAST Open: May run regional VRS qualifiers to fill four positions in lieu of VRS invitations for position 13-16 in their event. The qualifiers cover Europe, Asia, NA, and SA.
   1. Each qualifier covers at least 16 VRS teams beyond those already invited to the event, in the respective region.
   2. NA and SA are applied as VRS filters despite not being official regions, provided each receive an equal number of invitations to the main event and 16+ VRS invitations to the qualifier.
7. PGL Bucharest: May Run regional VRS qualifiers to fill four positions in lieu of VRS invitations for positions 13-16 in their event. The qualifiers cover Europe, Asia, NA and SA.
   1. Each qualifier covers at least 16 VRS teams beyond those already invited to the event, in the respective region.
   2. NA and SA are applied as VRS filters despite not being official regions, provided each receive an equal number of invitations to the main event and 16+ VRS invitations to the qualifier.
8. PGL Astana: May run regional VRS qualifiers to fill four positions in lieu of VRS invitations for positions 13-16 in their event. The qualifiers cover Europe, Asia, NA and SA.
   1. Each qualifier covers at least 16 VRS teams beyond those already invited to the event, in the respective region.
   2. NA and SA are applied as VRS filters despite not being official regions, provided each receive an equal number of invitations to the main event and 16+ VRS invitations to the qualifier.
9. PGL Belgrade: May run regional VRS qualifiers to fill four positions in lieu of VRS invitations for positions 13-16 in their event. The qualifiers cover Europe, Asia, NA, and SA.
   1. Each qualifier covers at least 16 VRS teams beyond those already invited to the event, in the respective region.
   2. NA and SA are applied as VRS filters despite not being official regions, provided each receive an equal number of invitations to the main event and 16+ VRS invitations to the qualifier.
10. Hero Esports ACL: May run a Tier 1 Asia event announced after the deadline has passed.
11. Launders LAN: May announce/operate with shorter timeframe than required for Tier 2 events
12. BrisVegas LAN: May announce/operate with shorter timeframe than required for Tier 2 events.

The list features various major events organized by the top three tournament hosts: BLAST, PGL, and ESL. Notably, ESL Pro League Seasons 21 and 22 have been given special exceptions because of adjustments in their formats. In addition, BLAST and PGL might organize regional VRS qualifiers to complete some of the teams participating in their events. Lastly, Launders and BrisVegas LAN are permitted to run tournaments with a shorter timeframe than usual for Tier 2 events.

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2025-01-08 20:12