How CS2 teams cheat the region-system in RMR qualifiers

In keeping up with regional qualifiers within the CS2 esports space, you’ve probably realized that a lot of the time the teams involved aren’t even from that specific region. If this question has crossed your mind before, then you’ve come to the right place because we’re here to help make sense of the convoluted rules behind the Regional Major Ranking and how they apply.

There are a myriad of reasons for a team to compete in a region outside of their own, with organizational decisions and competitive advantages being just a few of them. The latter is always viewed as a cheat that teams may use to evade heavy competition in their own regions, and although sounding unfair, isn’t a breach of rules in any way shape or form.

RMR events explained

The Regional Major Rankings are events that act as precursors to CS2 majors and are held to determine eligibility for a tournament through merit. The events are held independently in the following major regions:

• Europe
• Commonwealth Independent States
• North America
• South America
• Asia
• Oceania

Each region is allocated a number of slots based on the region’s CS2 strength, with Europe usually having the most slots based on the heavy presence of highly ranked CS2 teams. This heavy competition is unsurprisingly the main reason for this “cheat” being exploited in the first place.

How are teams allowed to switch regions?

Relocation

The confusion around RMR eligibility largely stems from the fact that many people are unaware that teams are only loosely tied to the region of their organization’s origin. The rules are super flexible, and something as simple as physically relocating your residence to a certain desired region is more than enough to qualify, granted that the majority of the team does so, that is. This is how teams like Team Liquid skirt around the issue of being based in the Netherlands although often participating in North American Qualifiers.

Majority number of players from a certain region

Another way for teams to become eligible is by having more players from a desired region outside of their own. By doing this, teams based in Europe, for example, are eligible to play in North American qualifiers if they have multiple members from the region. A team like ATK consistently participates in North American RMRs despite being originally from South Africa through this method. The team frequently has a majority of North American players, making them eligible.

Why do teams do this?

It’s no secret that regions like North America are less competitive in CS2, especially when compared to regions like Europe that have a lot of top-quality teams all fighting for limited slots in competitions. A European team can opt to switch regions so as to take advantage of this competitive gap and secure a highly coveted spot in a major tournament.