As previously reported, the first Major of 2020, ESL One Rio, originally scheduled for May, has officially been postponed to November due to the complex developments of the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. Thus, there will only be one Major in 2020 with a total prize pool of $2,000,000, and this change will certainly have a significant impact on professional teams as tournament schedules are altered, and most importantly, the tickets to participate in the most prestigious tournament of the year will be affected.
Last night, Valve officially announced a completely new qualifying system to select the teams participating in this year’s Major. Specifically, there will be 2 tournaments under the RMR Series (Regional Major Ranking) held in May and October with a prize pool of $255,000 each sponsored by Valve.
“With the change in the timing of ESL One Rio Major, the gap between the two Majors will be more than a year. This is a long period, and to ensure that Rio Major features the best teams in the world, we need the current Legends and Challengers teams to prove their strength.” – Quoted from the official CS:GO blog.
The first RMR Series tournament will take place in May, called ESL One: Road to Rio, featuring 56 of the world’s top teams divided into 6 regions. The tournament will run from April 22 to May 17 with a round-robin format for the group stage, and all matches will be best-of-three.
In this list, besides the 14 teams that have secured spots at the Major (thanks to their performance at the StarLadder Major Berlin) along with teams that have passed the Minor qualifiers of various regions, 11 other teams will be announced soon. Notably, teams currently holding the Legend and Challenger titles will receive corresponding RMR points.
As for Major ESL One Rio, the familiar Minor system will be abolished, and invitations to participate will entirely depend on the performance of teams in the RMR Series. There will still be 3 titles: Challenger, Legends, and Contender as usual, and the number of invitations for each region will be allocated based on performance at the StarLadder Berlin Major last September.
This is undoubtedly a major change that will have a far-reaching impact on all professional teams as now teams will have to prove they truly deserve a spot at the Major rather than relying on direct invitations based on previous Major performances. Valve also revealed that tournaments closer to the Major will offer higher RMR points, aiming to enhance competitiveness and ensure that the teams present at the Major are those performing at their highest level.
Major ESL One Rio will take place in November with a record total prize pool of $2,000,000 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Final will be held from November 19-22 at the Jeunesse Arena, which has a capacity of up to 18,000 spectators.