Valve has revamped the majors for CS2 - the seeding system and stage names have changed

The developer studio Valve has introduced changes that will affect the first major for Counter-Strike 2. The new seeding principle is designed to make the Swiss stage of the championship more balanced.

Now teams will be distributed as follows: the team with the best seeding will not play with the one with the worst, but with the 9th place – 1v9, 2v10, 3v11, 4v12, 5v13, 6v14, 7v15, 8v16 instead of 1v16, 2v15 and so on. The seeding itself will be determined based on Valve's ranking table. Previously, it was decided by the factor of which place in the RMR the lineup passed to the major.

READ MORE: The table of the first major reshuffle in CS2 - autumn 2023

The stage names have also been renamed - familiar names like Contenders, Challengers, and Champions will be a thing of the past. Now all three stages have new names, albeit more unremarkable - Opening, Elimination, and Playoffs respectively.

Community opinion

Esports host James Banks, although not thrilled with the new names, believes the seeding system has now improved.

Not a fan of the naming changes for the stages but the seeding with Buchholz system will hopefully be an improvement. Don’t just look at the numbers but think of how the seeding will work.

James Banks

Complexity's General Manager for Counter-Strike Graham "messioso" Pitt also agreed that teams will now be distributed better.

The new method of 1v9, 2v10 should be better in many ways.

Graham “messioso” Pitt

It is worth reminding that the RMR cycle is just around the corner - it will start in the first days of January with the open qualification stage. The main part of the regional RMRs, in turn, will take place in February, and the major itself will start on March 17th.

Source: HLTV