Update: Valve posts second ranking update of July

On July 17th, Valve posted their second update of the month to Valve's Regional Standings (VRS), the HLTV-powered ranking system used to determine invites to the RMRs and their respective Closed Qualifiers. With the cutoff for invites to the Perfect World Major Shanghai less than a month away on August 7th, the rankings are of the utmost importance as they solely determine which teams will have a chance to qualify for the second Major in CS2 history.

Compared to Valve's July 11th ranking update, not much has changed in the standings as very few matches were played. The only notable change for the Americas ranking is that Elevate has dropped down from 14th place to 18th place, due to a number of teams gaining points while Elevate lost 23 points due to decay and their loss to LAG in ESL Challenger League Season 48.

Outside of that, a few teams shuffled positions towards the bottom of the rankings, while others gained or dropped a few points. With the invite deadline only 20 days away for the RMR and its Closed Qualifiers, this most recent update can give us an early sense of who will be invited to the events, although the list will definitely see some shakeup between then and now with ECL and various international LANs kicking off post-player break.

However, were the invites to the RMR and its Closed Qualifiers go out tomorrow the team lists would look as follows:

RMR Invites:

1. Complexity

2. Liquid

3. 9z

4. FURIA

5. MIBR

6. paiN

7. Imperial

8. M80

Notes: Fluxo Demons skipped due to conflict of interest in playing SA Closed Qualifier with Fluxo, #36 FLUFFY AIMERS skipped due to core not existing, #44 Carpe Diem skipped due to the core not existing.

The full ranking can be found here.

Commentary

As it stands at the moment, three NA squads would garner direct invites to the Americas RMR, Complexity, Liquid, and M80, while the remaining five spots would go to 9z, FURIA, MIBR, paiN, and Imperial, a fairly expected outcome based on the state of the scene at the moment while the NA Closed Qualifier has a smattering of NA's top teams that are currently in ECL. With there still being time for changes in the next 20 days, we'll just have to keep a keen eye on the rankings ahead of August 7th.

Update: The list has been updated to reflect the fact that FlyQuest RED and TSM Shimmer will likely forgo their invites in favor of allowing FlyQuest and TSM to attempt to qualify for the Major.

Update 2: The article has been updated to reflect a better understanding of the roster rules. In the VRS, invites are handed up to cores of three players meaning the final two can be swapped at the time on invite, rendering issues for teams like Homyno moot even if they don't play an HLTV match before August 7th.

Update 3: Thanks to additional insight on Valve's rules from Complexity GM Graham "messioso" Pitt, this article has been updated with multiple changes, including the fact that FlyQuest RED and TSM Shimmer should be able to play the RMR Closed Qualifier, with a potential Conflict of Interest only arising should they and TSM or FlyQuest, respectively, also make the Major.

Update 4: Wildcard has been manually added to the list as the team are currently listed as European on the VRS. Wildcard are working to resolve this and be moved over to the Americas ranking. When this change is actioned Wildcard will claim the 4th CQ invite slot due to having 1022 points, bumping MIGHT off the list.

Update 5: Contrary to an earlier version of this article, Legacy and E-Xolos LAZER should be able to play the NA Closed Qualifier due to the rule in Valve's "The CS Supplemental Rulebook", which explicitly allows for Closed Qualifiers to be divided for ping reasons. As with previous online RMR qualifiers, this means Americas teams can choose whichever CQ they have better ping in, meaning Legacy and E-Xolos LAZER via their home bases in NA will be able to play the NA Closed Qualifier.

The result of this change is that FLUFFY AIMERS and ex-Limitless no longer have invites to the RMR NA CQ as of the July 17th ranking, while W7M and Sharks have gained invites to the SA Closed Qualifier.

Update 6: A second erroneous Sharks roster has ben replaced with Dusty Roots as the next eligible team.