FISSURE has moved its October 2028 event from October 3-15 to October 16-22, while SAW won the inaugural LeonBet Masters in Vila Nova de Gaia and several Counter-Strike 2 rosters changed across Europe and North America.
FISSURE only moves the October event after a Valve exception fails
The organizer also announced a change to its February 2028 event, but that adjustment needed a Valve exception because the 22-month Announcement Date deadline had already passed. When HLTV asked about it, FISSURE said it had not received the exception, and that only the October event would be moved.
The update leaves the February event unchanged for now, even though it had been part of the same announcement. FISSURE did not say why the October dates were shifted beyond the new window, but the event now sits two weeks later in the month, from October 16-22 rather than October 3-15.
marie leaves FlyQuest RED after visa issues
Marie “marie” Ellen Toft Sørensen said on X that she is leaving FlyQuest RED and taking a break from competition. She said the decision followed a failed US visa application that made it impossible for her to keep playing.
“Unfortunately, my US visa was declined, which made it impossible for me to continue playing,” she explained.
She also said the conditions of competing from Denmark had become unsustainable over time.
“With the time difference, ping and having to play matches in the middle of the night from Denmark, for 10 months straight, it became too difficult for me to continue under the circumstances.”
FlyQuest RED’s lineup listed in the report included Emma “Emy” Choe, Vivienne “BiBiAhn” Quach, Vanessa “vanessa” Gideon and Lydia “Fawx” Dalton. The post came from marie herself, and the report identified it as a break from competition rather than a permanent retirement.
Vitality Academy, Phantom and NOVAQ all make roster changes
Vitality Academy made its first roster move since signing with the French organization. Kirill “Dafra1D” Polieiko announced on X that he had been moved to the bench, and former HEROIC Academy player Ionuț “Yoghi” Arba has replaced him. The academy lineup now features Ulysse “Katkame” Thiebault, Luca-Adrian “lucaZ” Gavrilut, Aleks “Reqqen” Frolov, Patrik “patrenzo” Hauer and Yoghi.
HLTV also confirmed that Łukasz “mwlky” Pachucki was released from his Phantom contract at the end of September. The Polish AWPer had already been benched since July, when the organization signed Nico “nicoodoz” Tamjidi. After that, mwlky played for INFINITE as a stand-in at Logitech G Play Connect, where he averaged a 1.07 rating.
NOVAQ announced a broader reset, placing Sanzhar “neaLaN” Iskhakov, Alisher “tasman” Marat and Daniyar “Pump” Buldybayev on the transfer list. The Kazakh team said it is heading in a new direction “toward scouting young talent.” With those three available for transfer, only Dauren “AdreN” Kystaubayev and head coach Adlet “keeN” Nyrseytov remain on the team’s active side.
CPH Wolves are also back in Counter-Strike after putting their CS division on hold in January. The organization returned with an international lineup made up of Erikas “MadeInRed” Musnikas, Filip “Dyrod” Ivanković, Adrian “adex” Łukaszewski, Deividas “Uzman” Narutis and Anton “Toshas” Aspin. The comeback adds another team to the European circuit after a long pause.
MASONIC made a change of its own by signing Jonas “Bukhavez” Vestergaard from AaB to replace Magnus “Frøslev” Frøslev, who had been moved to a player position at the end of July. MASONIC said the 29-year-old will work on content creation and coaching development on PRO9, the organization’s own platform. The current roster list also includes Johannes “b0RUP” Borup, Kristian “kralle” Jensen, Niklas “Botman” Vestergaard and Alexander “Slexa” Marrup.
HLTV updates its VRS invite simulator
HLTV’s VRS invite simulator has also received a significant update after launch. The new version uses a strength model built from map results and rosters rather than raw VRS points, and it now accounts for teams entered into multiple events that clash on the calendar. The simulation count has also been raised from 500 to 1000.
The clearest shift so far is Natus Vincere, whose predicted chance of qualifying for the Singapore Major has climbed to 91.2% on the simulator page. HLTV said the updated tool is meant to reflect the invite race more accurately as teams chase places for Singapore.
A separate tool to follow VRS invites is now live as well, with updates on the ranking, teams moving up and the events that will shape the field. The added tracking comes alongside the invite simulator changes, giving teams and fans a way to follow how the qualification picture is developing.
SAW win the first LeonBet Masters season
On the results side, SAW won the inaugural season of the LeonBet Masters in Vila Nova de Gaia on Sunday after beating Fluxo 2-1 in the grand final. The victory earned the Portuguese team 456 Valve points and lifted them 110 places to 51st in the global VRS.
That run gives SAW a notable boost in the ranking system tied to Valve invites, and it also adds another event result to the wider qualification picture now being tracked for Singapore. The title came in front of a home crowd in Vila Nova de Gaia, with SAW closing out the bracket at the end of the event.
moving the event two weeks later feels more like calendar juggling than real planning tbh. if valve exceptions are already involved for february, that whole thing sounds messy as hell
not really. dates move all the time when a lane is blocked, better than forcing a bad window for teams and viewers
sure, and i’m the next major host then?
keep dreaming
nah, i’m just saying the calendar mess is annoying. still looks cleaner to shift one event than shove teams through a bad date.
SAW winning at home and getting a 456 point payday is the kind of script tournament admins dream about. meanwhile FISSURE is out here playing date bingo like it’s a side quest, and the VRS simulator is probably already sweating trying to keep up. honestly the only constant in CS2 is chaos, rosters and spreadsheets.
marie getting denied a visa and still having to play from denmark sounds brutal, 10 months of night matches is wild
rough stuff
yeah, visa diff
when marie says 10 months of middle-of-the-night matches, that is the part people should focus on. a visa denial is bad enough, but the recurring travel workaround from Denmark probably made every practice block and scrim feel upside down. do you think FlyQuest RED try to replace her or wait for her break to end?
better than travel debt tho
i had similar with time difference in ranked. played once for team in evening and next match was 3am for me, after few weeks my aim was dead. if you do that for 10 months i can see why she take break, that is not normal schedule for any player. people always talk about ping but sleep schedule is maybe even worse.
sleep is the real nerf
Yes, the schedule is the hardest part. Ping can be adjusted a little, but the body clock not.
3am queue is one way to uninstall your braincells for free
does the new VRS model help?
91.2% for NAVI?
if the simulator uses map results and roster strength, 91.2% sounds less random than old point snapshots. still, one upset in a clashing event can swing a lot, so i would not treat it as locked.