Valve makes changes to invites and wildcards, changed definition of Main Stage

Valve redefined the Main Stage of a tournament; it now reads as "the stage of a Tournament past which no Rosters enter (i.e., Rosters are only eliminated past this point)."

Valve also updated how the Valve Regional Standings are used during a tournament. Valve has now stated that tournament organizers are to use the global VRS ranking to seed within a tournament, meaning that no team that is lower than another in VRS can be placed in a later stage. This would pop up when the first-ranked Americas side may be placed in a later stage than the fifth-best European team despite being lower in the global rankings.

Changes were made to the wildcard invite process as well. Eight out of every ten teams invited to a tournament must be from VRS, while the remaining two spots are open for wildcard invites. These requirements have been set for a team to qualify for a wildcard Invitation:

a) It includes at least 3 players who individually were members of a top 8 Roster on an Invite VRS List at any time during the preceding 6 months.
b) It has placed first or second place in any Tournament, of equal or lesser tier than the one issuing the invite, during the preceding 6 months.

Any team qualifying for a tournament via wildcard invite must enter at the same stage or before any team invited using the VRS system.

VRS now has subregions, meaning that the Americas may be split into North and South America, and Asia may be divided into Oceania, East Asia, and West Asia. Invites are to be subdivided by each region if a TO chooses to use them.