HOTU's VRS heist explained

Valve's ranking system makes its scheduled monthly appearance in the controversy column and this time its HOTU at the other end of the stick. HOTU drew massive attention at the ESL Pro League, putting up an impressive 3-0 run in Stage 1, taking down FURIA, B8 and ENCE in the process. The underdogs started the main event with a massive upset over The MongolZ, currently ranked #1 in the world but flunked out of the tournament 1-3. HOTU's impressive Stage 1 performance and MongolZ upset has now been overshadowed by a VRS discrepancy pointed out by a user on X.

A loophole in Valve's ranking system seems to have allowed HOTU to avoid losing points while skipping tournaments they allegedly didn't want to play. The scheme was first spotted by X user @enry_epg and later analyzed in detail by @JesperLarsen222, revealing a sophisticated manipulation of the Valve Regional Standings system that no one had documented before. @JesperLarsen222 gained popularity for his takes on the Valve Regional Standings and analyses of the same.

When HOTU's matches at ESL Challenger League and ESL Pro League overlapped on October 6th and 7th, the organization fielded two different lineups. Their main roster featuring mizu and n0rb3r7 alongside dukefissura, frontales, and kade0 competed at ESL Pro League. Meanwhile, a secondary roster with their coach mou and substitute duprice alongside dukefissura, frontales and kade0 played at the ESL Challenger League S50 Europe Cup 3. HOTU took on Sangal in ECL S50 Europe Cup 3's Ro32. Instead of outright abandoning the game, HOTU played the first map with their secondary roster and then forfeited the next map. Both lineups shared three common players: dukefissura, frontales, and kade0, which becomes important for understanding how the exploit works.

The key to the exploit lies in VRS rules about roster composition. When two rosters share at least three players, the system assigns past match results to whichever roster played most recently. By carefully rotating rosters, HOTU could shift negative points (roughly -60) between their two lineups. When the secondary roster played, it temporarily claimed HOTU's match history, including all the negative results and forfeits. When the main roster played next, it reclaimed only the positive matches while leaving the negative points with the secondary lineup until the completion of the event. The result was that HOTU's main roster, currently ranked 36th globally, avoided the ranking penalties that normally come with forfeiting matches.

While HOTU's actions meet the technical VRS requirements with both rosters sharing the required three players from their September invitation roster, the tactic has drawn sharp criticism. No official response has been issued by HOTU, Valve or ESL yet. The CS2 community remains divided on the incident. Some argue that if it's within the rules, it's fair game while others condemn HOTU for unsportsmanlike conduct. Most of the community, however, has sided against HOTU, calling out the organization for what they see as unethical behavior that undermines competitive integrity.

This is a developing story. Updates shall follow as and when they surface from any of the parties involved. Stay tuned!