IEM Krakow reshuffles the Valve standings: G2, FUT and Astralis climb

IEM Krakow is over, and its effect on the ranking that decides who gets invited where is now clear. On Wednesday, February 11, HLTV published its account of which teams gained and lost the most places in the Valve Regional Standings during the event. G2, FUT and Astralis climbed; HEROIC, Passion UA and GamerLegion fell, three days after Vitality beat FURIA 3-1 in the grand final on Sunday, February 8.

The movements matter because of when they happened. One of the standings' monthly updates, published on Monday, February 2, landed in the middle of the tournament and fixed the invitations to four spring events. Teams that climbed after that date now carry their gains to the next deadline, March 2, and to the one that decides the Counter-Strike 2 Major in Cologne, April 6.

HLTV, February 2 and February 11, 2026. The 107 invitations add up the four events' lists: 28, 30, 29 and 20.

What the Valve standings are

The Valve Regional Standings, usually shortened to VRS, are the ranking Valve, the publisher of Counter-Strike 2, uses to decide which teams are invited to the stages of its competitions, and which organizers such as BLAST, PGL and ESL use for their own invitations. Valve publishes them for three regions, Europe, the Americas and Asia, alongside a global list.

Valve sets out the method in the public repository where it posts the standings. The model rates teams on results from tournaments run by third-party organizers, through a short list of factors: the prize money a team has earned, the prize money earned by the opponents it has beaten and the number of teams those opponents have beaten, and head-to-head results. Valve's stated goal is a ranking that is accurate, not easily gamed and built through a transparent process. A win therefore counts for more when the beaten team has itself earned prize money and beaten others.

The official list is updated monthly, and organizers announce which update their invitations come from. The February 2 update put FURIA first, ahead of Vitality and PARIVISION, with Falcons fourth and Natus Vincere fifth, according to the table HLTV published that day; the first three were separated by a dozen points.

Four events, one Monday

Four tournaments sent their invitations from that February 2 list, HLTV reported the same day. Each one divides its places between a global ranking and regional ones.

BLAST Open Rotterdam, from March 18 to 29, sends 28 invitations: 12 to the main event from the global ranking and four each to its Rising qualifiers in Europe, North America, South America and Asia. PGL Bucharest, in April, sends 30: 12 global places in the main event, four each to qualifiers in Europe, North America and South America, and two each for East Asia, West Asia and Oceania. IEM Atlanta, from May 11 to 17, sends 29, split between its main event, a global qualifier and an Americas qualifier. The CS Asia Championships, in May, send 20: 14 global places in the main event and six to an Asian qualifier.

The date fell inside IEM Krakow. The tournament was played in two phases, which HLTV calls Stage 1 and Stage 2, and the invitation deadline came after Stage 1. The February 2 list therefore reflects what teams did in Stage 1; what they did in Stage 2 shows only in HLTV's count after the event.

G2: from 17th to 10th

G2 Esports gained seven places. They arrived 17th, by HLTV's count, after having skipped BLAST Bounty, which HLTV says limited their options before February 2. Wins over Liquid and Passion UA in Stage 1 lifted them to 13th, the place they hold on the February 2 list.

That was not quite enough for the first event on the calendar. All twelve teams above G2 took up their places at BLAST Open Rotterdam, so G2 missed an invitation there, HLTV noted. For PGL Bucharest, they are first in line if any team ahead of them declines. For the CS Asia Championships, which take 14 teams from the global ranking, they sit just inside the cut.

Stage 2 went further. G2 beat The MongolZ and FUT, then went out in the quarterfinal. HLTV's count after the event places them tenth. That position does not change the February invitations, but it gives G2 a stronger hand for the March 2 deadline, which decides places at PGL Astana and BLAST Rivals.

FUT and Astralis, the other climbers

FUT made the biggest jump of all, ten places. They came to Krakow as the second-lowest-ranked team in the field, 26th, after losses to EYEBALLERS and BIG Academy in the closed qualifier of IEM Rio had pulled them down, HLTV wrote. Stage 1 turned that around. FUT beat Legacy, then ranked 13th, and Liquid, then 12th, and stood 19th by February 2. In Stage 2 they beat FURIA, the team ranked first, before losing to G2 and to Astralis. HLTV's count after the event has them 16th.

The February 2 list brought FUT one invitation, to IEM Atlanta, which reached them because teams above them declined. HLTV's report of February 9 on the Atlanta invitations showed how many did: only three of the top ten, Vitality, FaZe and Natus Vincere, accepted. The outlet pointed to PGL Astana, which overlaps with Atlanta, and to the difficulty of obtaining visas for the United States, especially for teams with Russian players. FUT and Astralis are both in Atlanta's 13-team main event.

Astralis, with what HLTV calls their new English-speaking lineup, climbed five places, from 16th to 11th. Their Stage 1 began with wins over paiN and GamerLegion, but a loss to NRG, then ranked 21st, ended their chance of moving up before February 2. Besides Atlanta, the update gives them at least a place in the closed qualifier of PGL Bucharest. In Stage 2 they lost to Spirit, then beat PARIVISION, the winners of BLAST Bounty, for a gain of 25 points, HLTV wrote, and beat FUT before FURIA eliminated them. PARIVISION stood third on February 2, and the model rewards wins over teams with prize money and wins of their own.

Three teams that slid

HEROIC had the steepest fall, seven places, from 18th to 25th. They played without their AWPer, the player who uses the AWP sniper rifle, because of visa issues, and called up a substitute from their bench for the second event in a row, HLTV reported. They took a map from PARIVISION but lost the series, then were eliminated by GamerLegion without a series win. HEROIC already hold invitations to PGL Cluj-Napoca and to ESL Pro League Season 23, which do not depend on this update, and HLTV still sees chances for them in the March 2 events and at the Major.

Passion UA came in 24th, the third-lowest-ranked team in Krakow. Defeats by G2 and Ninjas in Pyjamas in Stage 1 left them 29th on February 2. They will not play PGL Cluj-Napoca, HLTV wrote. They keep their places at ESL Pro League and IEM Rio, and the Atlanta list puts them in the event's Americas qualifier.

GamerLegion went from 15th to 18th. They beat HEROIC but lost to Aurora and to Astralis. They hold no invitation to PGL Cluj-Napoca or ESL Pro League. The February update gave them a place in Atlanta's main event, and they then failed in the closed qualifier of BLAST Open Rotterdam. HLTV wrote that they now need to come through the closed qualifier of PGL Bucharest, or to benefit from invitations declined by others.

Why the next deadlines weigh more

Two more updates count before the Major. The calendar of the spring now runs through them.

The March 2 update is the first official list since the event ended. HLTV sees G2 able to push for PGL Astana and BLAST Rivals, depending on how PGL Cluj-Napoca goes for the teams around them; FUT in the running for Astana, Rivals or FISSURE Playground, with a chance at the first Major of their history; and Astralis in position for the events of March 2 and, through ESL Pro League, for a place at the Cologne Major.

The Major's places are shared out by region. HLTV counts ten places in the Cologne Major tentatively reserved for teams from the Americas.

The winners of the event were not part of the story. Vitality, who beat BC.Game, 3DMAX and Aurora, then MOUZ in the semifinal and FURIA in the final, were already second on February 2.

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