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Tournament Exceptions

A number of events do not exactly follow our tournament operation requirements. We allow events to operate outside of those requirements in some cases, provided the exceptions are known to us and explicitly approved.

The following are exceptions we have explicitly made, because they give the tournament operator some flexibility, tend to produce more sorting data than the minimum requirements of our guidelines, and most importantly, do not go against the spirit of the requirements.

If there are exceptions that we have failed to note here, or are not aware of, please let us know at csgoteamfeedback@valvesoftware.com, subject: "tournament operation exceptions.”

Exceptions for 2025

Event Name Exception
ESL Pro League Season 21 May directly invite some teams based on their performance in previous Pro League Seasons.
ESL Pro League Season 22 May invite additional wildcard rosters to the closed qualifier.
May run a third/fourth place match and divide the fourth place prize pool accordingly.
ESL Challenger League Season 50 May invite the top 4 teams from ESEA Advanced Season 52 and 53.
ESEA Advanced Season 52 NA May directly invite some teams based on their performance in previous ESEA Advanced NA Seasons.
ESEA Advanced Season 52 Europe May directly invite some teams based on their performance in previous ESEA Advanced Europe Seasons.
IEM Dallas May apply NA and SA as VRS filters despite not being official regions.
IEM Chengdu May run a third/fourth place match and divide the fourth place prize pool accordingly.
May update disqualification rules after the additional information deadline.
EWC 2025 May invite the winner of Hero Esports ACL in lieu of one VRS invitation.
May run a third/fourth place match and divide the fourth place prize pool accordingly.
BLAST Rivals May run one Wildcard event after two Tier 1 events instead of three.
BLAST Open May run regional VRS qualifiers to fill four positions in lieu of VRS invitations for position 13-16 in their event. The qualifiers cover Europe, Asia, NA and SA.
  • Each Qualifier covers at least 16 VRS teams beyond those already invited to the event, in the respective region.
  • NA and SA are applied as VRS filters despite not being official regions, provided each receive an equal number of invitations to the main event and 16+ VRS invitations to the qualifier.
May change Season 2 group stage matches online status after the additional information deadline.
BLAST Premier Bounty May consider MRQs as a Tier 2 event for the purpose of wildcard invitations.
PGL Bucharest May run regional VRS qualifiers to fill four positions in lieu of VRS invitations for position 13-16 in their event. The qualifiers cover Europe, Asia, NA and SA.
  • Each Qualifier covers at least 16 VRS teams beyond those already invited to the event, in the respective region.
  • NA and SA are applied as VRS filters despite not being official regions, provided each receive an equal number of invitations to the main event and 16+ VRS invitations to the qualifier.
May split the announced prize pool between prize pool and performance based team award.
PGL Astana May run regional VRS qualifiers to fill four positions in lieu of VRS invitations for position 13-16 in their event. The qualifiers cover Europe, Asia, NA and SA.
  • Each Qualifier covers at least 16 VRS teams beyond those already invited to the event, in the respective region.
  • NA and SA are applied as VRS filters despite not being official regions, provided each receive an equal number of invitations to the main event and 16+ VRS invitations to the qualifier.
May split the announced prize pool between prize pool and performance based team award.
PGL Belgrade May run regional VRS qualifiers to fill four positions in lieu of VRS invitations for position 13-16 in their event. The qualifiers cover Europe, Asia, NA and SA.
  • Each Qualifier covers at least 16 VRS teams beyond those already invited to the event, in the respective region.
  • NA and SA are applied as VRS filters despite not being official regions, provided each receive an equal number of invitations to the main event and 16+ VRS invitations to the qualifier.
May adjust tournament format with shorter timeframe than required for Tier 1 events.
May split the announced prize pool between prize pool and performance based team award.
Hero Esports ACL May run a Tier 1 Asia event announced after the deadline has passed.
Launders LAN May announce/operate with shorter timeframe than required for Tier 2 events.
DFRAG Invitational May announce/operate with shorter timeframe than required for Tier 2 events.
CCT S2 Europe Series 16 May announce/operate with shorter timeframe than required for Tier 2 events.
CCT S2 SA Series 6 May announce/operate with shorter timeframe than required for Tier 2 events.
CCT S2 NA Series 4 May announce/operate with shorter timeframe than required for Tier 2 events.
May invite one team from out of region to the closed qualifier, after having invited all VRS teams within the region.
Skyesports Masters 2025 May reduce previously announced prize pool.
May adjust tournament format with shorter timeframe than required for Tier 1 events.
May adjust the tournament invitation date to September 8th.
ESL Impact 7 May directly invite some teams based on their performance in previous ESL Impact seasons.
Elisa Open Suomi 8 May announce/operate with shorter timeframe than required for Tier 2 events.
May directly invite some teams based on their performance in previous Elisa Open Suomi seasons.
Elisa Open Suomi 9 May directly invite some teams based on their performance in previous Elisa Open Suomi seasons.
Elisa Nordic Championship 2025 May run one Wildcard event after two Tier 2 events instead of three.
May invite the first and second place participants from Dust2.dk Ligaen S28.
Galaxy Battle STARTER May announce/operate with shorter timeframe than required for Tier 2 events.
Galaxy Battle Phase 4 May update tournament format after the additional information deadline.
Galaxy Battle Phase 5 May update tournament format after the additional information deadline.
FISSURE Playground 1 May split the announced prize pool between prize pool and performance based team award.
FISSURE Playground 2 May split the announced prize pool between prize pool and performance based team award.
PrizePicks NA Revival Series May 2 May operate under the January 9th version of the Tournament Operation Requirements
PrizePicks NA Revival Series May 30 May operate under the January 9th version of the Tournament Operation Requirements
YaLLa Compass Qatar 2025 May reduce previously announced prize pool.
May operate the event online.
FiReLEAGUE Buenos Aires 2025 May adjust tournament format with shorter timeframe than required for Tier 2 events.
CAC 2025 May invite two past winners of prior CAC events as Wildcard invitations.
Chennai Esports Global Championship May announce event details according to the August 5th version of the Tournament Operation Requirements.
Nodwin Clutch Series #2 May announce event dates after the additional information deadline.

Exceptions for 2026

Event Name Exception
ACL X CS2 2026 May announce/operate a Tier 1 Asia event with shorter timeframe than required for Tier 1 events.
May invite 16 teams from the VRS instead of 20.
BLAST Rivals May run one Wildcard event after two Tier 1 events instead of three.
IEM Krakow May run a third/fourth place match and divide the fourth place prize pool accordingly.
XPL 2026 May invite 16 teams from the VRS instead of 20.