BLAST and Valve made a controversial change to the BLAST.tv Paris CS:GO Major RMR tournaments, deciding to only cover costs for five players. However, following major community backlash, the decision has been reverted, and six people will have their costs covered like the two previous Majors.
On Feb. 23, Detonate’s coach Joshua “m1cks” Micks revealed that Valve and BLAST were no longer paying to send six team members to the RMRs, but only covering the expenses of five players.
For both the PGL Antwerp CS:GO Major and IEM Rio CS:GO Major, Valve and the respective Major organizer paid for six team members to attend, with the last officially designated as a substitute. Squads usually placed a coach in that role, so he could be with them during the qualifiers.
With the cut to only cover expenses for five players, smaller organizations or org-less teams had issues bringing in their full roster, alongside the coach, to the tournament.
Luckily for the teams, after a major criticism, the decision to cover six people was made, with m1cks thanking the organizers for the change of heart.
Related: EG’s CS:GO coach takes the blame for failing to qualify for Paris Major amid huge criticism
The original decision from BLAST and Valve was met with huge backlash from numerous CS:GO personalities. Fluxo’s coach, Wilton “zews” Prado, OG’s team manager Vladyslava “Vladyslava_Z” Zakhliebina, and Imperial’s Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo all spoke out against the decision, questioning the benefit of the move.
Former CS:GO coach and now a regular member of multiple analyst desks, Aleksandar “kassad” Trifunovic, also voiced his concerns with a similar opinion to zews. He underlined that if the organizers want teams to do interviews and content during the tournament, they should “pay for their flights and hotels.”
Related: FalleN hints at his plans for CS:GO next year
Blast.tv Paris CS:GO Major will have four RMR tournaments, with two held for European teams. These will be organized in Copenhagen, Denmark, while the ones for the Americas and Asia-Pacific regions will take place in Monterrey, Mexico, and Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, respectively.
