RMR tournaments to take place in Romania in April; qualifiers start in February

The American, Asian, and two European Regional Major Ranking events will take place on LAN from April 11-24.

PGL will be running the Major-qualifying tournaments for all three regions from their studios in Bucharest, Romania, the company announced on Wednesday. The events will take place offline, consecutively, from April 11-24.

The 16-team Americas RMR will be the first one to take place, spanning four days from April 11-14. Asia will follow next, the four-team event taking place on April 15-16, before the European teams arrive in Romania. The 32-teams competing for 16 slots at the Major are split into two tournaments, Europe RMR A and Europe RMR B, which will happen on April 17-20 and April 21-24, respectively.

According to Valve's new Major rulebook, every team needs to requalify for the Major — even the reigning champions Natus Vincere —, and they all start from the same starting point as the RMR point system has been scrapped. The only thing deciding whether a team will participate in the PGL Antwerp Major are results from the RMR tournaments in April.

This is the schedule for the RMR events:

Americas RMR (16 teams): April 11-14
Asia RMR (4 teams): April 15-16
Europe RMR A (16 teams): April 17-20
Europe RMR B (16 teams): April 21-24

The squads (defined by a three-player core) that did well at PGL Stockholm will be rewarded with an invite to the RMR, though, but that is the only "head start" they will get compared to any other team in CS:GO.

This is how the RMR tournaments will look:

Europe A

Europe B

Americas

Asia

Open qualifiers for everyone - start in February

Another change is that there are no closed qualifiers for RMR tournaments. All of the teams that aren't invited to the RMR for their region will have to earn their spot through the open qualifiers. This means teams such as Liquid and Evil Geniuses in North America or OG and BIG in Europe will have to fight through the gauntlet to secure a spot in Bucharest.

Read more

Valve's Major rulebook takeaways and what they mean for PGL Antwerp

The qualifiers for Europe will start first, just 10 days from the announcement, on February 19-20. Four qualifiers will be held, with five teams qualifying from the first three, and four qualifying from the final open qualifier:

Qualifier 1 - 5 spots
February 22-23
5 teams will qualify for the RMR event
The semifinalists (4 teams) will be directly qualified
The losers from the quarter-finals (4 teams) will play a last-chance qualifier (BO1 Semifinals and BO3 Final) to determine the 5th qualified team

Qualifier 2 - 5 spots
March 1-2
5 teams will qualify for the RMR event
The semifinalists (4 teams) will be directly qualified
The losers from the quarter-finals (4 teams) will play a last-chance qualifier (Bo1 Semifinals and Bo3 Final) to determine the 5th qualified team

Qualifier 3 - 5 spots
March 3-4
5 teams will qualify for the RMR event
The semifinalists (4 teams) will be directly qualified
The losers from the quarter-finals (4 teams) will play a last-chance qualifier (Bo1 Semifinals and Bo3 Final) to determine the 5th qualified team

Qualifier 4 - 4 spots
March 5-6
4 teams will qualify for the RMR event (semi-finalists)

For the Americas RMR, only FURIA has received a direct invite (as Liquid and Evil Geniuses changed more than three players and lost that benefit), while the remaining 15 spots will be filled through four open qualifiers:

Qualifier 1 (NA) - 4 spots
March 10-11 (previously March 3-4)
4 teams will qualify for the RMR event (semi-finalists)

Qualifier 2 (NA) - 3 spots
March 12-13 (previously March 5-6)
The finalists (2 teams) will be directly qualified for the RMR event
The losers from the semi-finals will play the last chance qualifier (BO3) to determine the 3rd qualified team

Qualifier 1 (SA) - 4 spots
March 3-4
4 teams will qualify for the RMR event (semi-finalists)

Qualifier 2 (SA) - 4 spots
March 5-6
4 teams will qualify for the RMR event (semi-finalists)

Upon inquiries, PGL has updated the teams from the Americas can register for North or South American qualifiers depending on their preference, with the location of the team being a priority. If a team with South American players is located in North America, they can play in the North American qualifiers. However, a team will not be able to change their region after playing the first qualifier.

In Asia, the four RMR slots will be distributed equally among four regions: China, Oceania, the Middle East, and Rest of Asia, with more details about the qualifiers to be announced.

Update 11 February: Asia open qualifier dates announced

Rest of Asia - 1 spot
February 19-20

Middle East - 1 spot
February 19-20

China - 1 spot
February 19-20

Oceania - 1 spot
March 5-6