Valve’s recent Major rulebook changes have claimed their first victim.

If you are a devoted Tier 2/3 follower who rarely misses a CCT game, you’ve likely heard of iNation. If not, it probably means you have a life.

The Serbian org has announced they are ceasing operations and releasing their roster, who are now open to new offers. iNation cited Valve’s “recent update concerning the Major and RMR” as the reason behind their decision.

Now, if you are out of the loop, here’s the recap: open qualifiers are dead. From now on, if you’re a random 5 stack with Major dreams, you better start grinding Valve’s Standings.

After qualifying for the Paris Major RMRs through the open qualifiers, iNation felt like the uphill journey wasn’t for them, and pulled the plug on the project. According to the org, Valve’s decision “significantly impacted our core objectives and reduced the feasibility of achieving our goals”.

However, they hope “this is a temporary farewell and not a permanent goodbye”, leaving us to wonder if this is just an isolated case or the beginning of a cascading effect that could change the landscape of competitive CS.