Valve adds a new VRS rule to combat region switching

Valve adds a new VRS rule to combat region switching This is a first-of-its-kind VRS change, and it appears to be a clear response to Sashi’s roster move.

Moments before we got ready to publish an opinion piece on Sashi’s VRS abuse, Valve dropped an update that could change everything.

Rosters can no longer be assigned a new region if they appeared on another region’s VRS ranking in the last three months. That means the only way to quickly switch regions is if you throw away all of your VRS points by signing a new three-man core. That is very risky, especially since you can still get normal event invites during the three-month period.

But wow, what a change for BC Game and Sashi.

Both teams made changes ahead of the Singapore Major to improve their chances of qualifying. For BC Game, that just meant signing one Australian player, since they already spent big on two MongolZ players - which is fair enough - but Sashi’s was a bit egregious. Revealing that Anton “Anlelele” Huynh had actually been Vietnamese this whole time, despite playing with a Danish flag on HLTV for years. Then signing two Australians to change region.

We’ll still write our story on that soon, but now Sashi’s move turns out to be in vain.

Valve has confirmed to HLTV that this applies to the Singapore Major, meaning neither team will be allowed to qualify. Unless they reach out and find a solution, which could require them to do anything, even change their region back. This would be awful for the players in this situation.

Frankly, it already is quite cruel to the players. They’re now stuck on teams that don’t really want them, especially on the Sashi side, where they were offered five-month contracts with the clear intent to toss them aside afterward. But the game is the game; they knew what they were signing up to, to play devil's advocate.

For better or worse, it’s nice to see Valve act fast on something for once, even if it had to get pretty blatant first.