PGL announce additional rule change for Americas RMR
PGL have announced a further change of format for the Americas RMR, the second change to the format in recent days. In the announcement, PGL introduced a tiebreaker BO3 for the two 3-0 teams in the Swiss system in order to determine who will receive the single Legends stage spot available in the Americas RMR.
PGL has faced significant criticism in recent days over format issues surrounding the Americas RMR. Although PGL took an important step by introducing tiebreakers for teams with a 3-2 record just yesterday, the organizer notably did not make any changes in regards to a similar issue that 3-0 teams faced. With only one Legends spot available in the Americas RMR, the determining factor for this spot amongst the two 3-0 teams was set to be the quality of opponents, based on a team's Bucholz rating. This would have disproportionally affected teams like FURIA, whose number-one seed would have guaranteed they only face lower-seeded opposition, something FURIA CEO Jaime Padua made sure to point out when addressing the issue on Twitter.
As mentioned previously, this is not the first major format change made to the Americas RMR by PGL. Yesterday PGL made a similar tweak to the format, introducing tiebreaker matches for the three teams with 3-2 records in the Swiss system, who would be competing for only a single spot in the Challengers stage. Before, the issue would have been resolved the same way the Legends spot was doled out; based on the quality of opposition. After heavy backlash, PGL included tiebreaker matches for the 3-2 games but notably left the 3-0 games untouched until today's follow-up announcement.
Many will be pleased by this decision, which now gives teams more control in how they place in the event, as opposed to solely relying on the seeding of teams and their opposition. Ultimately to make any changes to the format PGL required authorization from Valve, since this is a Valve-sanctioned event. Yesterday's format change was an initial positive sign, but the subsequent addition of tiebreakers for the Legends spot will have both fans and teams relieved.
It is also worth noting that in the same announcement, PGL also introduced similar changes to the two European RMRs, with each RMR now featuring a decider BO3 to better sort out the distribution of Legends spots available.
The Americas RMR in Bucharest, Romania will be kicking off in only a matter of days, with the event set to start on April 11th.
