StarLadder CIS RMR 2021: NAVI and Gambit Seeded to the Same Group

The Ukrainian tournament operator StarLadder has revealed group seeds for the upcoming CIS RMR event. Two strongest teams in the world – Gambit Esports and Natus Vincere – will play in the same group.

The tournament’s group stage will be played on June 27th – July 1st, featuring two round-robin groups of five teams. All matches within the group stage will be best-of-three. The best two teams from each group will advance to the playoffs. The groups are as follows:

• Group A: Akuma, forZe, Gambit Esports, Natus Vincere, Nemiga Gaming
• Group B: 100PingGods, Entropiq, K23, Team Spirit, Virtus.pro

forZe’s CEO Sergey MegioN Ignatko openly expressed his dissatisfaction with the seeds, noting that Group A seems to be more stacked. Indeed, Gambit and NAVI currently take the first two places of the hltv rating and recently faced each other in the finals of BLAST Premier: Spring 2021 Finals. A StarLadder representative Yehor Kolomiets explained that the seeding process was based on the RMR-rating, which is required by VALVE.

The tournament’s playoffs stage will be played on July 2nd – 4th, featuring a double-elimination bracket. Regular matches will be best-of-three, while the grand finals will be best-of-five with 1-map advantage to the upper bracket team. The winner of the event will claim $40,000 and 2000 RMR points.

Earlier StarLadder announced that the event will follow stricter rules compared to the previous RMR event. This was their answer to an open letter of CIS teams asking VALVE to investigate AKUMA, who they believe cheated during official matches.