Breaking: Valve release BLAST.tv Austin Major invites

Valve have released the official April 7th Valve Regional Standings (VRS) update today, which means we know which teams have been directly invited to the BLAST.tv Austin Major and what will teams will compete in the Major Regional Qualifiers (MRQs) events in order to earn spots in North America's first Major in seven years.

Overall, the list is unsurprising as we have been able to actively follow Valve's official and HLTV's unofficial ranking updates throughout the year. While Liquid were a shoe-in for Stage 3, all eyes have been on a close race between M80, Complexity, and Wildcard for NA's sole spot in Stage 2 of the Major.

With the dust settled, M80 managed to finish a miniscule 18 points ahead of Complexity; with the news likely being a hard blow to Johnny "JT" Theodosiou and co. after much-improved performances in recent weeks.

The North American and South American teams directly qualified to the BLAST.tv Austin Major based on the April 7th VRS are:

Turning our attention to the MRQs, the field in the NA MRQ is stacked as Complexity, Wildcard, NRG, and BLUEJAYS are some of the top teams ready to battle for three spots in the Austin Major.

Meanwhile, the following teams are set to compete in the North American and South American MRQ events for the final Americas spots in the Austin Major:

With the invites revealed, the NA MRQ is right around the corner, with the online Major qualifier set to run from April 15th to April 17th.