Thorin Defends Valve Amid Criticism of the VRS System in Counter-Strike 2

Duncan “Thorin” Shields considers the VRS system in professional Counter-Strike 2 to be the most effective in the history of the esports discipline.

The analyst shared this opinion on X.

“VRS is way better than all previous qualification systems in CS history. Look at this sorting for stage 2 and 3.”

According to Duncan “Thorin” Shields, the current approach to slot allocation at major esports events is far more effective than the previously used qualification system.

Although Valve has not yet officially announced the participants for the IEM Cologne Major 2026, Duncan “Thorin” Shields believes that Vitality, Team Falcons, NAVI, Mouz, PARIVISION, Aurora, The Mongolz, and Furia will advance directly to the third stage of the tournament, while Team Spirit, Astralis, and G2 will receive direct invitations to the second stage.

As a reminder, Alexey “OverDrive” Biryukov previously criticized the VRS system in Counter-Strike 2 due to the ability to earn points by playing a large number of matches in Tier 3 tournaments.