One last storytime…

One last time boys. One last story. One last fairytale. Beautiful, isn’t it?

The desk pre-game called Passion UA’s 2-2 game vs Astralis a game between good and evil, and we tend to agree. Astralis were a team that most people always disliked even before it was cool to dislike them. Or maybe that’s just us.

You know when you see an influencer, and you hate them even though there’s no reason to, and then it turns out that your instincts were right and they actually sucked the whole time?

That’s how we feel about Astralis. And Robbie Williams. Though we haven’t been proven right on that one just yet, we will be.

Passion UA went 2-0, but losses to BIG and then HEROIC in three-mappers led to them needing a win to qualify, and if you weren’t already on their side, they were up against Astralis. The whole world wanted them to win.

It was by no means dominant, but they won 2-0, meaning Astralis missed their fourth Major in a row, Passion UA made their first, and good, once more, won out over evil.

And then the party began.

For us, though, it was bittersweet. Yes, it’s a beautiful moment, seeing Astralis lo- erm, seeing a bunch of new players make the Major, their dreams realised and their lives changed, but it might be the last time we get anything like this.

Next year, the RMRs go away; they’ve already done away with the open qualifiers, and now the whole Major will be invite only, which to us defeats the original purpose of the Major. It has always been an open tournament, where you and four friends could rock up and go as far as you can.

Careers have been built on Major qualifications. Boombl4, Major winner, was part of QBF’s unlikely run through qualification. chopper and mir from that famous Vega Squadron team. volt and Cypher have ITB’s miracle run to thank for their advancements.

We wouldn’t have stories like Bad News Eagles, Into The Breach, QBF. We wouldn’t have chances for unknown talent, for life-changing stories or for the chaos that the Major cycle brings, and we think that’s a shame.

Passion UA are maybe the last great Major qualification underdog story.

On the flipside, DRILLAS won’t be getting any invites. Swings and roundabouts.

Oh, there’s the upsets

If no one got me, at least RMR B got me.

The CS gods heard our prayers and gave us some bloody upsets. For one, none of us expected 3DMAX to go 3-0, and we especially didn’t expect them to beat G2 in a best-of-3. We’ll happily admit that. BIG going 3-0 is mildly more sensible, but we wouldn’t have bet on it, especially not with them playing our new favourite team, Passion UA. Who we won’t mention in this article for obvious reasons.

The 3-1 teams were a little more predictable, assuming you didn’t have them going 3-0.

G2, VP, and Heroic all went through 3-1, which is unsurprising. Though they’ll probably be letting out a sigh of relief that they didn’t end up like Astralis. 2-3 with no hope in sight. Especially Spirit will be elated, it looked a little dicey when they lost to G2 and went 2-2, as they were suddenly in the hands of VRS to qualify. Thanks to some timely rule changes.

Fortunately, they beat Sashi to go 3-2, putting them in a ranking duel with NIP. Not a high bar to clear.

We should be thanking Eternal Fire and Astralis for flopping at this RMR. We couldn’t have gotten here without their hard work and failure. Every fairytale needs a fairy godmother to beat, and in this case, the fairy godmother was an inconsistent Turkish team and an already mid-Astralis team lacking their best player.

Seems about right for CS.

RMR B Results:

3-0: 3DMAX, BIG
3-1: Virtus.Pro, G2, HEROIC
3-2: Passion.UA, Spirit*

*qualified over NIP due to VRS

It all starts here

Now that the most exciting part of the Major cycle is over – and gone for good - we (partially) know the lineup of teams set to kick off their Major journey in the Opening Stage, on November 30th.

Unfortunately, due to a mid-RMR rule change by Valve, we’ll have to wait for today’s ranking update to get the full picture of the teams in the first stage – and, consequently, those assigned to the Elimination Stage.

That said, we can still take a look at the teams confirmed for the Opening Stage, all vying for one of the 8 spots in the next stage.

Considering their RMR performances, our safest bets to make it through are Liquid and The MongolZ, with perhaps a little faith in BIG and Cloud9 as well.

Honestly, predicting this Opening Stage is tough. Some teams had an easier path to securing their Major spot than others, so it’s hard to know exactly what to expect. We’re looking at you, BIG and Cloud9.

Now, there’s a group of teams we’re particularly curious about, as we’ll see how they fare against opponents from regions they’re not as accustomed to facing. We’re talking about Wildcard, FlyQuest, fnatic, GamerLegion, and, of course, the revelation of the RMR, Passion UA.

As for the Brazilian teams – FURIA, Imperial, paiN, and MIBR – this Opening Stage is looking promising. There's a real chance we could see one or even two teams from the region make it through to the next stage.

Disclaimer: In no event shall TLDR be held liable for any frustrated attempts to reach the Diamond Coin. Follow these predictions strictly at your own risk.

🦅🥇 That one Obama meme where he gives himself the medal

🤔 Tin foil hat s1mple, or onto something?

🟠 FPL cleanup

This TL;DR was written by aizyesque, shoko, Horizzon and napz.
Crash_ coded the email.

How did you like this edition?
Help us improve by clicking a smiley below.

Give your friend the tl;dr