Valve VRS Rule Change Blocks s1mple’s BC.Game From Asian Major Route

Update (October 6, 2026): HLTV reports that teams who swapped regions before this rule can still contact Valve to find a solution. So BC.Game, Sashi and WW are not fully ruled out yet. The three-month count starts from Valve’s official monthly VRS update, which comes out on the first Monday of each month. We will update this page when Valve confirms which region these rosters will play in.

Valve has closed the VRS region swap loophole one day after Sashi became the latest team to use it. A new rule says a roster can only take a Regional Assignment if it did not appear in another region’s Valve Regional Standings (VRS) list in the previous three calendar months. That stops Sashi and BC.Game from entering PGL Major Singapore as Asian teams.

The change went live on October 6, 2026. The commit is titled “Updating rules for Regional Assignment for the upcoming Singapore Major.” It is a single sentence, and it undoes two weeks of roster moves.

What the New Valve VRS Rule Says

Valve added one line to the Major Supplemental Rulebook, published in its official Counter-Strike rules repository on GitHub:

The new line sits right under the older rule that decides a team’s region by the majority of its players. That older rule is what made the swaps possible. Three players from Asia-Pacific made a roster Asian, wherever the organization was based and wherever it had played all year.

Why Sashi and BC.Game Can’t Represent Asia at the Singapore Major

Both teams sat in Europe’s VRS list inside the last three months. Neither passes the new test.

BC.Game moved first. On September 22 it signed Australian rifler Tyson “asap” Paterson to replace Denis “electroNic” Sharipov. With asap, Azbayar “Senzu” Munkhbold and Ayush “mzinho” Batbold on the roster, three of five players came from the Asia-Pacific region. A team ranked 36th in Europe with 1,191 points became the fourth-best team in Asia, carrying the exact same points.

Sashi copied the idea on October 5. The Danish organization signed TjP and Hatz on a temporary basis and benched Mikkel “MistR” Thomsen and Casper “Cabbi” Jensen for about a month. Anton “Anlelele” Huynh’s Vietnamese citizenship supplied the third Asian player. The switch would lift Sashi from 54th in Europe to fifth in Asia without a single new win.

Sashi’s plan lasted roughly 24 hours.

Every Team Hit by the Three-Month Rule

BC.Game and Sashi drew the most attention, but WW made the same move in late September. All three rosters appeared in Europe’s VRS list during the lookback window.

Older switches are safe. Team Liquid moved to the Americas in March 2026, well before the window opens. Wildcard and JiJieHao changed regions in 2025. You can see the full history in our list of every CS2 team that has switched VRS region.

How the Three-Month VRS Window Works

Invites for the Singapore Major come from the VRS published on November 2, 2026. Count back three calendar months from that date and you cover August, September and October. Any roster listed under Europe or the Americas in that stretch cannot claim Asia for this Major.

Valve left the majority-of-players rule in place. Teams can still change region. They now need to do it at least three months before the invite date, so a quick swap a few weeks before the cutoff no longer works.

Which Region Do BC.Game and Sashi Represent Now?

Valve has not said yet. The rule only states that these rosters are not eligible for a Regional Assignment. It does not say whether they return to Europe’s list for this Major.

If they do go back to Europe, both teams face a hard climb. BC.Game was 36th there and Sashi was 54th before the swaps, far outside the invite places. We will update this article if Valve or PGL clarifies how these rosters will be ranked.

This hits BC.Game hardest. Its roster includes Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev and is coached by Wiktor “TaZ” Wojtas. The Asian route gave the team strong odds of a Major invite. That route is now closed, and only a deep European run before November 2 could change things.

Why Valve Changed the VRS Rule

Players pushed back hard on the swaps. After Sashi’s move, Nikola “NiKo” Kovač posted: “It’s not too late to do something about this.” Critics said the moves took Major spots away from teams that actually compete in Asia, which already gets the fewest invites of the three regions.

Valve has adjusted regional rules mid-cycle before. In June 2025 it changed how teams with players from several regions were assigned, a fix that moved Wildcard to the Americas. Our explainer on how the VRS region swap loophole worked covers the full mechanics behind the swaps.

Who Benefits in the Asian VRS Race

Teams that compete in Asia full time. Before Sashi’s move, TYLOO, The MongolZ and BC.Game looked close to certain of invites, with FlyQuest and Lynn Vision next in line. With BC.Game, Sashi and WW out of the Asian picture, every team below them gains places.

October tournaments now carry extra weight for those teams. Whoever sits just outside the Asian invite places on November 2 will likely be the team that loses out.

PGL Major Singapore 2026: Key Dates