​ It is time for the current ​CS:GO Major Legend system to go. Winstrike, a team that can’t even win online against bottom tier competition, owns a spot in the Legends stage of the FACEIT London Major while Astralis will have to fight from further down in the bracket. Originally, the top eight teams from the previous Valve-sponsored Major tournament automatically qualified for the next Major. That still applies, though now that the Major circuit has expanded to 24 teams, the top 16 are now automatically invited. The current system is outdated and unfair through the entire Major qualification process.





It can be argued that Astralis should have out-performed Winstrike (then Quantum Bellator Fire) at the ELEAGUE Major: Boston in January, and that's true. But that one tournament run shouldn’t trump the nearly eight months of Counter-Strike that have transpired since then. Eight months ago, Cloud9 won that Major and is now left ​scraping a roster together that includes one loaned player and one newly-signed player, a great example of how much can change in that time. Winstrike is the most glaring and recent example, but there are others in the past like Virtus.pro and BIG that didn’t deserve their respective invites to the Legends stage.





Inversely, many teams have performed well enough against international competition to constitute a direct invite or start higher up in the qualification process. NRG Esports reached the finals of StarSeries Season 5, the semifinals at the ECS Season 5 Finals and just won IEM Shanghai. Does that team not deserve a spot at this event? The number of times Ninjas in Pyjamas had to play online minor qualifiers while simultaneously winning back-to-back IEM Oakland events is another disgusting example. Don’t get it twisted, underdog runs are fascinating and deserved. But they shouldn’t mean an automatic qualification to the most prominent tournaments of the year. Likewise, a team shouldn't be penalized for a singular suboptimal performance in a Major (or qualifier, in NRG's case).





Majors are a celebration of Counter-Strike that should display the 24 best teams from around the world in the most prestigious fashion. The game has become increasingly optimized, tournament formats have improved, and prize pools have ballooned. The Legends system should be next to change. Employ a points system (much like the Dota 2 circuit) that includes finishes from the top events in between Majors to decide the top eight or 16 teams, and leave the rest for qualification. This is just one of the many possibilities that would help ensure only the best and most deserving teams get to play CS:GO Majors.





Photo courtesy of Turner Sports/ELEAGUE