Russia sits in an odd spot on the Counter-Strike map. It once had its own Major region in the form of CIS, but since that region was scrapped, Russian teams fall under Europe – even though the country stretches across two continents. At the same time, several post-Soviet countries whose players feel far closer to Europe and regularly attend Russian events are officially counted as Asia. Put those two facts together and you get something unusual: a roster fighting for a Major slot in Asia without ever showing up at Asian tournaments.
That roster is WW Team, led by one of Russia’s biggest streamers, Ivan „StRoGo” Shurpatov, whose watchparties during major events are among the most-watched broadcasts in the world. Until recently he had only Russian players around him. Now, after three fairly simple steps, a squad of five content creators has turned itself into a Major hopeful.
How the region switch actually works
The inspiration came from BC.Game, whose management added an Australian player alongside two Mongolian stars. Even though Oleksandr „s1mple” Kostyliev and company operate out of Europe, moving to Asia handed them a far better shot at reaching a Major.
Valve’s rules do not punish a region change in any way, and you can do it whenever you like. The requirements are minimal: play five matches with at least three players from the region you want to move into. That is the entire barrier.
StRoGo showed how serious he is about the Major by making use of his dual citizenship – the flag next to his name is now Tajikistan. He then recruited Ermek „enzero” Kartanbaev from Kyrgyzstan and Boris „Ryujin” Kim from Uzbekistan, and just like that a new Asian challenger exists. Ryujin was originally on BC.Game’s radar too, but they went a different way with their fifth player because of the complicated visa process out of Uzbekistan.
What it means for the Major race
WW Team currently sit 84th in the live VRS rankings. In Europe that would leave them nowhere near the Major conversation. In Asia they are only a few dozen points behind qualifying positions – points they could pick up in the coming days at the Russian LAN event 1xBet FRAG.
Asia has five slots at the upcoming PGL Major. Thanks to the moves made by BC.Game and WW Team, traditional names like Lynn Vision or FlyQuest now have reason to look over their shoulder. If you want to follow how the rest of the qualification picture is shaping up, we cover it in our Counter-Strike 2 news section, and we also wrote about how the SINNERS Major run came to an end.
Will Valve close the loophole?
History suggests Valve tends to leave a loophole alone as long as nobody abuses it too blatantly. A great example is ohnePixel’s team DRILLAS, which competed for a Major in a different region than the one most of its roster belonged to after a stand-in was used.
Sudden moves into weaker regions are a hot topic right now, and the more teams try to squeeze through before the deadline, the higher the chance some restriction arrives down the line.
If the idea of streamers stepping into a competitive environment interests you, we also covered the story of HEROIC signing Týnka.
FAQ
The roster is led by Russian streamer Ivan „StRoGo” Shurpatov and now includes Ermek „enzero” Kartanbaev from Kyrgyzstan and Boris „Ryujin” Kim from Uzbekistan. It is a lineup built out of content creators.
Valve’s rules do not penalize a region change and allow it at any time. A team simply needs to play five matches with at least three players from the region it wants to move into.
He holds dual citizenship, so he was able to change the flag displayed next to his name to Tajikistan, which helps the roster meet the requirements for the Asian region.
They are 84th in the live VRS ranking. In Europe that would be far from Major contention, but in Asia they sit only a few dozen points behind qualifying spots.
Asia has five slots at the upcoming PGL Major, which is why the arrival of BC.Game and WW Team puts pressure on established teams like Lynn Vision and FlyQuest.