Valve removes VRS status from MESA Nomadic Masters following rule breach

Valve has removed MESA Nomadic Masters Fall 2025‘s ranked VRS status following a breach of the Tournament Operation Requirements (TOR).

The Mongolian tournament organiser contacted esports organisations ahead of the Counter-Strike 2 event’s open qualifier, requesting a $10,000 (~£7,422) registration fee.

MESA says that it takes “full responsibility for this oversight,” after breaching Section 3.5 of the TOR, which offers tournament organisers the framework to host events on a level playing field while integrating the Valve Regional Standings (VRS).

Losing VRS status isn’t the first time MESA has come under the spotlight regarding its event, which is set to take place from October 15th to 19th. According to an HLTV report, the organiser was attempting to host the tournament from September 23rd to 28th to move it ahead of the VRS cut-off for the StarLadder Budapest Major.

“Our original plan involved two separate LAN qualifiers, one for eight European teams, and another for 24 Mongolian teams, with free registration,” said MESA on social media.

“MESA is actively revising the structure and timeline of Nomadic Masters Fall 2025 to ensure full compliance with Valve’s Tournament Operation Requirements. Our commitment to integrity, transparency, and international best practices remains unchanged.”

With the event organiser looking to revise the structure of Nomadic Masters Fall 2025, it’s unclear if the event will take place before the invites to the Budapest Major are distributed.

Smaller tournament organisers have come into the spotlight in recent weeks thanks to Valve making the VRS the sole determining factor when deciding the teams that compete at Counter-Strike’s tentpole events.

The likes of Fragadelphia and Birch Cup have seen an influx of notable European and North American teams attend Tier 2 tournaments to earn enough points to secure a place in the Major’s top 32.