ESEA to trial MR12 in PUGs
ESEA have announced that they will test a Max Round 12 (MR12) system in their pick-up game lobbies this coming weekend, from May 1-4.
The last time MR12 was widely utilized in competitive Counter-Strike matches dates back to 2004, when the Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) decided to officially transition to the format that is widely adopted in CS:GO today, MR15, for CPL Winter 2004.
The timing of the test comes not long after the closed beta launch of VALORANT, which itself utilizes an MR12 system for its competitive mode. Additionally, if a game reaches a tied scoreline of 12-12, only a single sudden death round of overtime is played — a system which ESEA will emulate in their upcoming test of the MR12 ruleset.
The trial of the reduced max round system will address one glaring issue that some players may have with CS:GO — the time commitment needed for each individual match, which span on average 38 minutes, compared to approximately 20 minutes for MR12. Additionally, it will be interesting to observe the effects that the change has on the flow of the game, which has seen its fair share of changes since the release of CS:GO in 2012.
For those that participate in the MR12 test on ESEA, a commorative profile badge will be offerred, one that pays homage to designs of the classic knife, C4, and green night vision filter from the early stages of CS 1.5 and 1.6 when MR12 was still in use. The trial will commence at 8 AM EDT on May 1st, and will run until the same time on May 4th.
