All BLAST.tv Austin Major MRQs will be played online

BLAST.tv has announced that all Austin Major MRQs will be held online, as permitted by Valve’s Major rulebook.

This applies to all regions, including Europe, Americas, and Asia. Before MRQs replaced RMRs, these qualifiers had been conducted offline for over four years.

With this change, BLAST.tv will now split the Americas into separate North American and South American qualifiers. Meanwhile, Asia will be divided into Oceania, China, and the Rest of Asia, which includes Mongolia, Western Asia, and Southeast Asia.

This adjustment eliminates potential ping issues that teams would possibly face while competing and reduces transportation costs that organizations might have otherwise incurred.

The Austin Major MRQs will feature a total of 75 matches across all regions. Six teams from both Europe and the Americas will qualify for Stage 1, while four teams from Asia will advance further. Stage 1 will begin on June 3rd — the tickets for it are already on sale.

The European MRQ will take place from April 14th to 17th, featuring 16 teams invited directly based on the European Regional Rankings, starting from 11th place.

The Americas qualifiers will be held from April 15th to 17th as well, with eight teams invited based on their placement in the Americas rankings. Teams will be selected from 6th place onward in each region (NA and SA), with their sub-region determined by players’ citizenships.

Lastly, the Asian MRQ will also run from April 15th to 17th, with the top four teams from each subregion—Mongolia & Western Asia, China, and Oceania & SEA—earning invitations based on their rankings, starting from 2nd place.

The format of the MRQs will vary across the three regions. As of now, BLAST.tv has not disclosed details regarding the livestreams, but they are expected to be available on BLAST.tv’s official Twitch and YouTube channels, along with their official website.