
HOTU coach Rustem “mou” Telepov spoke to OFFSTAGE about Valve’s decision to allow BC.Game Esports to compete for a spot at the PGL Major Singapore 2026 from the Asian region, assessed Alexander “s1mple” Kostylev in this situation, and commented on the rules for determining VRS regions.
As far as we know, Valve is a corporation that runs a business, so depriving s1mple of a Major spot will hurt the streamers and the community as a whole. And esports kind of needed s1mple, especially since there are such renowned players there, whereas in Asia right now there aren’t any—well, there aren’t even any players, so to speak. Even, to put it bluntly, mzinho and Senzu—yes, definitely Senzu—are the best players in Asia. And it makes perfect sense that they’re at the Major.
Do they deserve this Major? That’s an interesting question. For me, for example, no, because it’s a loophole that everyone got around, and a very strange decision by Valve. But, as far as we know, even in that HLTV post they wrote—where they said we’re implementing new rules—they added that if someone reaches out to us, we might reconsider it. In other words, there was originally a specific clause—a note that made me realize right away that BC.Game would clearly negotiate with Valve to play in the Major.
I have another question for Valve. Is it possible to negotiate so that the Yakuts get the Asian region back, or so that the Kazakhs finally get assigned to Asia? Because I don’t understand why Kazakhstan is considered Europe, while Georgia is considered Asia.
Earlier, Valve updated the list of exceptions to the VRS region determination rules, allowing BC.Game Esports to compete for an invitation to the PGL Major Singapore 2026 from Asia. The roster featuring asap, Magisk, mzinho, s1mple, and Senzu was granted Asian regional status, despite the previously imposed three-month restriction on changing VRS regions.
Photo: Roman Imperium Cup.