North and South America lose one Major spot in Paris next year

Before the PGL Antwerp Major kicked off in Belgium, Valve introduced an updated Major rulebook, which laid down the rules for regional RMRs and the number of slots appointed to each region. Because only three American teams moved to the Legends Stage at the IEM Rio Major, we’ll see one less American squad at the next Major in Paris.

The number of teams a region sends to the Major is determined by the number of teams they had in the Top 16 of the previous Major in addition to a few extra contender slots: 3 in the case of the Americas and Europe, and 2 in the case of Asia, as stated in Valve’s Major rulebook.

Once again, we’ll see two Asian teams in Paris because no Asian team made it out of the Challengers Stage this time. However, if we look at the case of American teams, only Team Liquid and FURIA made it into the Legends Stage. There will be a total of five American teams competing at the next Major as a result of the three extra spots that were appointed to the region. The number of slots for European teams will increase from 16 to 17 in Paris.

In addition to the apparent decrease, this situation raises a noteworthy issue concerning the Americas RMR’s format. The three teams that finished 3-2 in the RMR for the IEM Rio Major ended up competing for the last Contender spot. After all, there are two 3-0 teams and three 3-1 teams, making up the five representatives, therefore if the Americas RMR keeps the same Swiss format as before, a team would just need two losses to be eliminated from Major contention.

There will be one fewer American team in Paris six months from now, regardless of whether the format changes or not.