NiKo on future without partner teams: You’re not safe anymore
We have asked ZywOo, NiKo and Magisk about the imminent future of Counter-Strike with a more open circuit and without permanent invites and shared revenue from tournaments.
“It will create a lot of chaos in the beginning”
“Everyone has to prove themselves all over again”
What Emil “Magisk” Reif and Nikola “NiKo” Kovac are referring to here is the upcoming reality in Counter-Strike without closed partner leagues and tournaments.
The decision to put an end to ESL and BLAST’s partner formats was announced by Valve in August last year, but will first be effective from 2025.
What do the pros think?
In that regard, we sat down with three of the most profiled figures in the scene to hear their take on the significant change in the competitive tournament structure.
Starting off things, G2’s Bosnian star Nikola “NiKo” Kovac explains that he's pleased with the decision in one specific aspect.
- I think it’s positive that teams and organizations will have to prove themselves all over again, starting next year. If they want to play at the biggest and best events, they have to perform the best. If you need to perform the best, then you need to have the best players. That’s the good thing. You’re not safe anymore, and you’re really depending on the results.
- Obviously, I’m not sure how everything will work out without the partner format – like without the money coming into the organizations from the events. That’s questionable, but as I said there are pros and cons.
Valve’s future requirements for running large-scale events:
Tournament organisers will no longer have unique business relationships or other conflicts of interest with teams that participate in their events.
Invitations to all tournaments will use our ranking system (detailed here), or otherwise be determined by open qualifiers.
Any compensation for participating teams—prize pool or otherwise—will be made public and will be driven by objective criteria that can be inspected by the community.
Chaos and people working around it
When speaking with Emil “Magisk” Reif from Falcons about the new and more open tournament circuit, the Dane touches on the planning aspect of it, stating that it could become chaotic in the start.
- I think, it will create a lot of chaos in the beginning.
- Right now, we have a structure as a team, where we in a sense knew the calendar beforehand and we could prepare the whole season. But now obviously, I think no one really knows exactly what's going to happen with that.
Magisk then states that he could see a world where people in the industry found a way around Valve’s rulebook and that he doesn’t believe everything will be completely open.
- I could imagine someone finding a way around the “partner team format” and trying and figure out a way how they can invite the same teams to the same tournaments in some way. I have no idea honestly, but I don't believe that it's going to be 100% left open in the sense that everyone can make it to a tournament.
- I think some people out there probably find a way to make it some kind of this “partner teams format” but without calling it “partner teams”. I have not heard anything about it, but I could imagine there is some way around it and that people will find out and then it's going to be similar in some way, Magisk says.
Magisk has - alongside NiKo and ZywOo - been on teams which have been a part of ESL and BLAST's partner league format
“Good for the lower-tier scene”
For the French superstar and Vitality AWPer, Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut, he sees the removal of the partner team format as a positive change and an advantage for the lower-tier teams.
- I see it as a good thing for the lower-tier scene, for them to get a better opportunity to qualify for big tournaments without these partner teams. We can see five friends [without a team], who are playing really well together, being able to qualify for BLAST or ESL events, so for me, it’s a good thing for lower-tier teams.
BLAST and ESL has posted the following statements about Valve's decision to put an end to partner leagues and tournaments.
