January 27’s CSGO update was a huge deal in the game’s esports scene, but players have also gotten a chance to grab 2020’s mission Major tournament stickers. Players can grab three capsules full of the 24 teams that would have been invited to the canceled 2020 ESL One Major tournament after last year’s Regional Ranking tournaments.Â
As Valve announced its ruling on professional CSGO’s biggest scandals, it also released a major update to the game that included stickers, a way to offset its removal of bots from Competitive and Wingman, and a brand new technical timeout.
In a post accompanying the reveal, developers said that even though the Major itself was canceled, the teams deserved to have their hard work rewarded. Each capsule is separated into the tier where each team would have been seeded in 2020’s canceled ESL One Major.
The following teams are available inside CSGO’s newest sticker capsule:
Money that teams make from the sale of souvenir stickers is traditionally given to the players. But since Valve released the stickers nearly two months after the last RMR tournament of 2020, it gets a little complicated.
Some teams featured in the capsule have seen significant changes since fall. Gen.G’s CSGO squad only has Timothy “autimatic” Ta on its roster after the mass departure of its players to Valorant and Hansel “bnTeT” Ferdinand’s move to Cloud9. 100Thieves is another question mark. The organization dissolved its CSGO team to pursue a Valorant roster only a year after originally signing its players from Renegades. It will be up to the individual organizations to divvy up the sale of the new capsules.
But Valve’s done more than just add new stickers. The update brought several other changes to Valve’s first-person shooter, including a change to how CSGO’s economy works.
After Valve nixed the longstanding replacement of AFK and disconnected players with bots earlier this week, many fans were worried that the loss of the bot would lead to unwinnable games. To make up for that, Valve has added a stacking bonus that gives each player on the undermanned team $1000 after every round loss. The bonus kicks in after three rounds under five players.
That means that teams stuck in a five versus fours due to a disconnect or teammate quitting will get a $5000 total bonus after each round they lose. Teams have to wait three rounds after a teammate disconnects for this to kick in, but if the player abandons the match, the bonus starts immediately.
To help limit abuse, Valve has also found a way to stop teams from kicking a player to get the bonus. Teams will get nothing if they kick a player, incentivizing teamwork and cooperation. sThe technical timeout will automatically end when the missing teammate abandons or reconnects, making Valve’s competitive mode exactly like CSGO’s professional server setup.
To make room for players to return to the server after having internet or connection issues, CSGO also added a technical pause option for its competitive games. Now, teams can call a tech pause in addition to the usual once-per-side tactical pause from the game’s main menu.
All in all, it’s a good update for CSGO as the game continues to lead the Steam Charts in breaking records over the course of January. Fans should be pleased.
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