The ruleset of Brazilian First Strike changed after a wave of criticism

Right after the announcement of Brazilian qualifiers for the next big tournament on the VALORANT scene, a lot of professionals in the region were very vocal about the provided ruleset. The main problem was the point dictating that only foreign players who have lived in the territory of Brazil for at least one year are allowed to participate in the tournament.

It became a troublesome situation for many of the Latin American players, who were part of mixed squads with Brazilians, or those who have been living in the country for less than the requested time. One of these players was León "leonzhett" Negrini, who, in an emotional way, explained his disappointment via his social media. The player announced his departure from Anuncie Aqui due to the limitations established by Riot Games.

Fortunately for leonzhett, and these in a similar situation to his, Riot Games announced an update of the rules and cancellation of the previously announced point regarding residence in the country. The new rule states that the squad must have at least three players who are legal residents of Brazil. The player is not going back to his old squad though, as earlier today he was announced as a member of the new squad of VINCIT Gaming.

This isn’t the only update Brazil has seen to their First Strike rules, as just a few days ago, the local office released information about the change of the minimal competitive rank from Immortal 1 to Diamond 1. The reasoning behind this decision is the fact that the developers “seek to give a professional experience opportunity to the players who have shown potential, but who have not yet reached the highest ranks”.

While the adjustment regarding residency is surely positive news for those playing in mixed squads, it still doesn’t solve the issue of the lack of the information regarding First Strike in Latin America. Players in the region were expressing their disappointment right after the announcement of First Strike, where the LATAM region was nowhere to be seen among the eight originally revealed territories.

The Content Manager for Latin America, Javier “Riot Maggical” España, responded to some of the comments from members of the community, where he explained the local office is working hard on bringing the First Strike to the domestic scene, but the things are “not as fast as some people would like it to be”.

The situation escalated even more after the details revealed by the VALORANT Esports Strategy Lead, Kasra Jafroodi, during the 22nd episode of Do Not Peek Entertainment’s valoRANTING podcast, where Latin America was highlighted as a major region of the First Strike competition. No news has been released on the matter since that time, but after receiving the news of five new regions from Southeast Asia, and the details coming from various previously announced countries, there still a chance the LATAM players will be allowed to participate in the first VALORANT tournament series operated by Riot Games themselves.

First Strike Brazil : Open Qualifier #1 is starting today, where out of 512 teams, the best top eight squads will advance to the next stage of the tournament. This will be the first of four qualifier tournaments that will open a gate for the best teams in the region to fight for the championship title at the beginning of December in the First Strike Regional Finals.