TYLOO, a former leader of the Asian CS:GO region, failed to qualify for the RMR for the first time since 2016. This case inadvertently raised the question about the number of participants at Asia RMR, which is four now. A lot of players, experts, and regular fans turned to Valve with the request to expand this number to eight as we miss a lot of great matches. Also, it’s thought that strong teams like TYLOO (BnTeT, Summer, Attacker, SLOWLY, and DANK1NG) deserve the chance to compete for the Major tickets.
While everyone was talking about saving Northern American CS:GO, not enough was said about the Asian one. However, we could see many new teams formed there that wanted to play at the small local tournaments and tried to show themselves at tier-three European events to gain experience and reach a new level. So, let’s see if there are enough competitive squads to fulfill eight RMR slots.
China
Rare Atom is the IEM Road to Rio 2022 China Closed qualifier winner. The team participated in ESL Challenger Valencia 2022 and was eliminated by Outsiders in the playoffs, placing 3-4th. Their roster: Moseyuh, Mercury, kaze, JamYoung and advent.
Lynn Vision had a good chance to make it to LAN but lost to Rare Atom in the finals. Nevertheless, the team regularly visits European tournaments like Malta Vibes Knockout Series or Elisa Invitational and is showing positive progress in its play. Their roster: westmelon, z4kr, EXPRO, Starry and Nelly.
Wings Up ended third but demonstrated their abilities. They confirmed their strength at the recent ESL Challenger Melbourne 2022, their first international LAN. Wings Up overplayed OG 2:0 in the group but lost to paiN in the playoffs and placed 3-4th. Their roster: gas, lan, B1NGO, Martin and ChildKing.
TYLOO ended fourth in the region, but this result doesn’t really express their level. This is an experienced and strong roster that, to my mind, lacks international practice. TYLOO participates in big events but should regularly visit more tier 2-3 events to play against equal European teams.
Oceania
Ex-Renegades, the dominant Australian roster, is changing their tags, but it hasn’t interfered with winning and gaining spots at big events. The Grayhound’s core has been playing together for more than a year and demonstrates mostly satisfying results enough to qualify for the tier 1 events. Their roster: Sico, Liazz, aliStair, INS and Vexite.
Encore is the main opponent of Grayhound in Oceania. However, despite the limited opportunities, Encore has qualified for ESL Pro League S15 and IEM Dallas 2022 and demonstrated a passion for rising and shining. Their roster: ap0c, sterling, hazr, Liki and SaVage.
Middle East
JiJieHao International is the new mix formed just for the Major qualification. Having qualified, now they need to be better than two other opponents in Melbourne. Their roster: DavCost, facecrack, BluePho3nix, meztal and MOREE.
NASR finished second at the closed qualifier, but wouldn’t lower the average level of teams at the RMR if they got there. You could see NASR at Global Esports Tour Dubai, where they played against NIP. Against the Sweedish team, they won Mirage and imposed a struggle on Overpass. Their roster: Remind, REAL1ZE, almazer, propleh and Bibu
Asia
IHC finished PGL Major Antwerp 2022 with a 1:3 score after a confident win over Renegades and a close loss to Imperial. The team is young but works hard to top the Asian region. Their roster: kabal, sk0R, Annihilation, bLitz and Techno.
NKT would be a great opponent in Melbourne and probably could take one of the Major slots. The team played against Heroic at BLAST Premier Spring Showdown 2022 Europe and made the Danes struggle on Nuke. Their roster: XigN, dobu, Kntz, erkaSt and nin9.
All in all, we have at least ten equal squads able to win over each other. If Valve expands the number of Asia RMR spots to eight, these teams will get a real chance to make it to the major. Then, being on LAN would equalize the conditions, and we would see the best and most deserved participants from Asia. Furthermore, it’s obvious more people watch a LAN RMR than online Closed Qualifiers, so if there were eight teams, it would give more recognition to the players and teams.
