BLAST reveals Major Regional Qualifier details
BLAST announced all information pertinent to the online Major Regional Qualifiers (MRQs), which will be taking the place of the RMR events that were previously played to qualify for majors.
In the same announcement, they also laid out the manner in which teams will be invited to the Valve-sanctioned event.
According to the Valve Regional Standings (VRS), the top ten teams from Europe will be invited directly to the Austin Major, with the top six teams going directly into stage three and the other four placed in stage two. The Americas will have five direct invites, with one team in stage three and four in stage two. Just one team from Asia shall be invited from VRS, and they will be placed in stage three.
The European MRQ will feature the 16 top-rated teams from VRS that were not already invited to BLAST.tv Austin. The teams will then face off in a Swiss tournament with the six teams qualifying for the Major.
The Americas will be split into North America and South America MRQs, with three teams qualifying from each of the respective MRQs. The top eight teams from NA and SA will be invited to their own qualifier, with the region the team is considered to be from decided by the players' citizenship.
The eight teams in each tournament will be divided into two groups of four, with the winner of each GSL group advancing to the Major. The teams who place second and third in either group going into a single-elimination playoff stage. The winners of the playoff stage will advance to the Major to make six teams total - three from each region - from the NA and SA MRQs.
Asia will be subdivided into three MRQs, Mongolia & West Asia, China, and Oceania & SEA. Each event will feature a four-team double-elimination bracket.
The citizenship of the players will decide which sub-region they will play in. Four teams will qualify for the Major from Asia, with the subregion of the highest ranked team that was not invited to the Major (number two in the region) sending two teams, while the other two subregions will send a single side.
