Valve adds MENA as a EU sub-region to VRS model; Wildcard becomes an Americas team again

Valve has introduced Middle East and North Africa (MENA) as a sub-region in Europe to the Valve Ranking Standings (VRS) model last night, June 25th. With this, a total of 21 countries have been assigned to the MENA sub-region.

Additionally, players from African countries that are not in the MENA sub-region will count towards the lowest priority region on a roster. With this change, Wildcard are now considered a team from the Americas again as their South African rifler Aran "⁠Sonic⁠" Groesbeek counts towards America rather than EU.

As pointed out by Dust2.us' Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey "Mnmzzz" Moore on X, this update also benefits Complexity, in a way. If COL replaces one of their American players with an EU import, Johnny "JT" Theodosiou should ensure they remain an Americas team.

Liquid, on the other hand, will remain considered an EU team following this update, as Israel is one of the 21 countries assigned to the MENA sub-region. They currently have two EU players in the form of Kamil "siuhy" Szkaradek and Roland "ultimate" Tomkowiak, and one MENA player in the form of Guy "NertZ" Iluz.

These are all the countries that were assigned to the MENA sub-region: