Valve have introduced a new invite system for ESL One Rio. The major, a first in Brazil, has already been postponed to December, with an increased prize pool.
Now, Valve have chosen to do away with the retention system, which allowed the Playoffs teams from the last Major to have a direct entry into the New Legends Stage.
Instead, a Regional Major Ranking has been introduced, with 8 slots each for Legends, Challengers and Contenders.
The slots will be decided through the RMR, which will be alloted through two Valve sponsored events with a prizepool of 255,000 USD each. The event will be divided into sections based on regions, with slots allotted to each region.
Asia, South America and Oceania have been awarded 1 Contender spot each for the ESL One Rio Major. On the other hand, Europe has been given the most number of slots – 3 Legends, 5 Challengers and 2 Contenders.
North America and CIS have been given 6 and 5 total slots each, with the difference coming in the division of slot classes (3-1-2 for NA and 2-1-2 for CIS).
It will be interesting to see how this format pans out, with TOs encouraged to follow Valve guidelines if they are to host the RMR events.
