BLAST Open London’s group stages have formally been granted a VRS exemption from Valve, meaning the online group stage will count towards the global VRS ranking system.
The news comes following BLAST’s decision to move the group stage of the event from the LAN studio in Copenhagen to online qualifiers, which put the VRS status of the group stage in doubt as it effectively became a qualifier for the playoff section of the event.
In Valve’s GitHub update for July 9th, they have added the following exception to the event, allowing the group stage to change its status to online:
“May change Season 2 group stage matches online status after the additional information deadline.”
Until this update, the only VRS exception granted to the event allowed four regional qualifiers for the event, as opposed to inviting the 13th-16th ranked teams directly through VRS.
Despite the update being announced on June 17th, it took until this news to clarify whether the event had been granted the exception, which would formally guarantee VRS status for the group stage.
Why is the BLAST Open London group stage online?
BLAST somewhat swept the announcement under the rug, putting only a sentence regarding BLAST London’s group stage in a blog post regarding BLAST Bounty 2025 Season 2.
“The first part of BLAST Bounty – and Open – tournaments will be held online. In the second week of BLAST Bounty, teams will play in front of an audience in BLAST’s brand-new studio in Malta.”
The move seems related to the strategic decision to move Counter-Strike events to BLAST’s new Malta studio, which is yet to be completed, moving CS away from Copenhagen indefinitely, though BLAST have not confirmed this directly.
On the matter, BLAST told HLTV, “Our recent partnership with GamingMalta enables us to operate a second studio dedicated to select Valve events. This added capacity gives us greater flexibility in how we utilise the Copenhagen studio across our ecosystems.”
VRS implications remain
Despite the announcement confirming VRS status for the group stages, the event’s VRS value is still greatly devalued due to the “LAN factor,” a binary modifier in the VRS regulations which gives greater value to LAN wins.
Essentially, as the group stage is now fully online, teams can no longer get the benefit of LAN wins unless they qualify for the BLAST Open London finals, the six-team playoff section of the event, set to be hosted by London’s Ovo Arena Wembley.
Teams will still be able to earn VRS through victories over other teams, especially if their rank is significantly lower than the opposition they defeat, but the overall effect on VRS will be minimal unless teams reach the playoffs and can get those lucrative LAN victories.
Have a feeling about how BLAST Open London will go? Check out our Esports Betting Sites for odds and offers.
Darragh Harbinson is an esports writer specialising in Counter-Strike. He has written for Esports News UK, Esports Insider, UKCSGO, Dexerto, and Rush B Media.
