With over 2500 teams competing in 18 open and closed qualifiers, we finally have the names of the 56 teams that will be battling it out at the RMR events for a spot at the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023.
More than 3500 matches were played - which is just under 3 times all the games played in BLAST events before this point - as teams from all across the globe fought to have their names written into Counter-Strike history.
We’ll take you through those names that qualified for the events shortly, but what about the teams who guaranteed their spot thanks to their performances in the previous Major, IEM Rio 2022?
In group A of the European RMR, we’ll be seeing reigning champions Outsiders, as well as Fnatic, MOUZ, and NAVI, who also made playoffs in Brazil. Joining them will be FaZe, Bad News Eagles, and Sprout.
None of these teams qualified for playoffs in Rio, but making the Legends stage is enough to guarantee you a place in the RMR for the next Major.
Group B will feature defeated finalists, Heroic, and defeated quarter-finalists Spirit and Cloud9. They will face off against NIP, BIG, ENCE, and Vitality, who all missed out on playoffs during their time in South America.
Teams from the Americas weren’t so successful in Rio, although that didn’t stop FURIA from reaching the semi-finals in their home country and securing their spot in the Americas RMR for Paris. The only other team from the region that secured their spot is North American heroes Team Liquid, who will be looking to go all the way this time around.
Going back to group A of the European RMR, there perhaps were some surprise inclusions once the qualifiers rounded out.
The UK and Irish scenes made history in the qualifiers, as not one but two teams managed to qualify for the event. The longstanding core of Viperio was the first to qualify after seeing off the Portuguese roster of SAW in their 2-2 match. They were followed by the newly formed Into The Breach team, who had to overcome HAVU in their own last-chance game. Both teams will hope to become the first teams with UK cores to make a Major come April.
Fortunately for SAW, they later qualified for the RMR through the Last Chance Qualifier. They’ll be hoping to not have to face off against Falcons, the only team with a French core to have made it to the RMR. Led by French legends Alexandre “bodyy” Pianaro, Nathan “NBK-” Schmitt, and Kenny “kennyS” Schrub, the team will be keen to fly their flag on their home turf.
Rounding out the group is OG, Apeks, 1WIN, B8, and the giant-killing heroes of the previous RMR, GamerLegion.
The complete team list for the European RMR A is as follows:
●Outsiders
●Fnatic
●MOUZ
●NAVI
●FaZe
●Sprout
●Bad News Eagles
●B8
●Into the Breach
●Viperio
●1WIN
●GamerLegion
●Apeks
●Falcons
●SAW
The giant slew by GamerLegion, G2, will be the opponent everyone hopes not to face in Group B. As the current number one team in the world, they will be determined to cement their name in legend in Paris.
Astralis will also feature in Group B, who, like G2, failed to make the Rio Major after a disappointing RMR campaign. Now featuring the prodigal son of Danish CS Nicolai “device” Reedtz once again, the most successful organization in CS history will surely be a force to be reckoned with in Copenhagen.
Just like Falcons with the French scene in Group A, 91NE will be looking to restore some pride in the Polish scene in their time in Copenhagen. National pride is also at stake for teams like Eternal Fire and 500, who will be representing Turkey and Bulgaria, respectively.
Similarly, Viktor “sdy” Orudzhev will be looking to restore individual pride and prove a point with Monte following the end of his tenure with NAVI. ENCE will also have a point to prove following their recent addition of Guy “NertZ” Iluz.
The final teams in Group B are Forze, Aurora, and iNation, the latter of which features Filip “DEPRESHN” Jarkic. Let’s hope for his sake that he leaves Copenhagen with something to smile about.
The complete team list for the European RMR B is as follows:
●Heroic
●Cloud9
●BIG
●ENCE
●Vitality
●Spirit
●NIP
●9INE
●G2
●Eternal Fire
●Astralis
●Monte
●iNation
●Forze
●500
Over in the Americas RMR, the stage is set in Mexico for Complexity to continue their ascension as North American heroes. The team narrowly missed out on IEM Rio, something they will be looking to ensure doesn’t happen again for Paris.
Brazilian legends Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo and Marcelo “coldzera” David will both be keen to represent Brazil in France with their teams Imperial and 00NATION. They each had difficult times in their home country and will seek to rectify their shortcomings in this Major.
Their former SK Gaming teammate felps will also be looking to qualify for the BLAST.tv Major in Paris with his team Fluxo, for whom Rio contention came too soon when they had just formed their roster.
MIBR, paiN, TeamOne, Paqueta, Flamengo, and Fuscao 1500 will all want to join them in cooking up a samba storm in Mexico, but first, they’ll have to win the battle of the Americas and deny the Argentinean squad of BESTIA.
Finalizing the teams for the Americas RMR are Nouns, who feature the only Mexican at the event, Edgar “MarkE” Maldonado, as well as Detonate and yur, who captured the hearts of many when they beat Evil Geniuses in the qualifier.
The complete team list for the Americas RMR is as follows:
●Liquid
●FURIA
●Complexity
●Imperial
●MIBR
●paiN
●TeamOne
●00NATION
●Fluxo
●Paqueta
●Flamengo
●Fuscao 1500
●BESTIA
●Nouns
●Detonate
●Yur
The Asian RMR will take place in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, and will feature eight teams this time around, double that of which competed for a spot at IEM Rio.
The most notable team is IHC, who will be playing in their home nation at the RMR. As the region's best team and with some impressive recent results, they’ll be confident of making their third successive Major. They will have to face off against another Mongolian side in Eruption, a team that will be excited by the chance to disrupt the rapid rise of their compatriots.
However, their main threat will come in the face of Grayhound, the team they qualified for Rio with back in October. As Oceania’s best team playing under a fan-favorite organization, failure is not an option for The Boys.
Also representing Oceania is VERTEX, who will be looking to upset their Aussie mates and reach a first Major for their team.
Attending from China are TYLOO and RareAtom. The former are no strangers to playing at Majors, while the latter comprises a host of familiar names, including Zhuo “advent” Liang and Andrew “Kaze” Khong.
The final two teams to qualify did so through the Middle East Qualifier. The first of which, Invictus International, features the greatest-named player of all time, Dmitriy “facecrack” Alekseyev. The second team, Twisted Minds, features everyone's favorite streamer, Nikola “Lobanjica” Mijomanovic.
The completed team list for the Asia RMR is as follows:
●IHC
●Greyhound
●VERTEX
●Eruption
●TYLOO
●RareAtom
●Twisted Minds
●Invictus International
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