Valve has announced that they are not using the Major Regional Qualifier (MRQs) as the basis for teams to make the Major in Budapest. Instead, Valve have decided to use their own VRS (Valve Regional Standing) as a substitute, with the 32 highest teams being eligible for their Major run in December.

On a post provided on StarLadder’s website, they reveal Valve’s decision to do this:

“One of the goals of the VRS is to standardize community events so that they can be integrated with the Majors. At this point we believe that a separate qualification process for the Major is both unnecessary and disruptive. Therefore, we’ve made the decision to cancel the Fall 2025 MRQs. Instead, the 32 teams participating in the Budapest Major will be invited directly from the VRS.”

Quote from article by themselves about the VRS change linked here.

After the results of the first two stages of the BLAST Austin Major, Asia was supposed to acquire an extra slot for an Asian team to attend the Budapest Major, but how this will transpire due to the change is unclear.

According to StarLadder, further updates about the invite distribution for Budapest will be provided after the Austin Major. The invite date for these teams remains the same, for the second Major of 2025, being October 8th 2025.

This change comes after StarLadder announces it’s return to the CS2 circuit with an incredible Major held in Budapest during December. The top 32 teams will attend, with 16 days of pure Counter-Strike action. $1.25M prize pool, with the playoffs being played during the 11th to the 14th of December. The long rumoured and anticipated tournament will take place at the MVM Dome, that has a capacity of 20,000 people!