Just days after announcing the dates and causing chaos across the Tier 2 scene, Valve has made the decision to cancel the MRQs for the upcoming StarLadder Budapest Major 2025. The dates previously scheduled had caused some controversy among other teams, who believed conflicts with other events would result in invites being declined.

Valve cancels MRQs for StarLadder Budapest Major 2025

StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 invites decided by VRS

Rather than teams competing in the MRQs to decide their places in the Major, all 32 teams will be invited based on the Valve Regional Standings. This will ensure that, in theory, the 32 best CS2 teams in the world will be in attendance, which will be great news for teams like Astralis who, despite their high placings, have consistently missed out due to the high-stakes nature of MRQs and RMRs of the past.

All invites will be sent out on October 8th. The concern now becomes the fact that lower-ranked teams have no route into the Major, which has been a big boost for Tier 2 teams in recent years. On the flipside, it gives these same teams a specific goal to aim for, rather than trying to fluke their way through the brutal Qualifier system. There are swings and roundabouts to all of this, so it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out in practice.