Counter Strike 2: Valve stipulates that all Counter Strike 2 teams must field their original roster, or they will be automatically forfeited..

Valve announced a major change on its official website on Thursday. Effective immediately, all Counter Strike 2 teams must field their original roster, or they will be automatically forfeited.

According to Valve's official statement, the revised tournament rules stipulate that all invited teams must field at least three players from their original roster, and these players must play the entire match. Failure to fulfill this commitment will result in the tournament organizers' right to immediately forfeit the team.

In addition, Valve also revised Section 3.2.5 of the rules. Directly invited VRS teams may only accept invitations to ranked tournaments if they have three invited players on their roster. Furthermore, the rule stipulates that all teams must ensure that at least three invited players "will participate in each match."

Valve's sudden decision to change the rules appears to be related to the controversy surrounding roster changes that occurred among several teams participating in the CS Asian Championship (CAC).

Of particular concern was the forced recall of Virtus.pro (VP)'s former player.

Despite VP's long-term plans to use their academy team, VP.Prodigy player b1st, VP was forced to recall AWP-er ICY for the CAC.

Since VP had already replaced two players, electroNic and FL4MUS, who were invited to the CAC in July, they were forced to recall ICY to avoid forfeiting.

This change also appears to have been made following a conflict between FaZe and rain.

This conflict directly led to G2's forfeit loss and elimination, forcing FaZe to play rain in the remaining matches as a stand-in.