Why are CS2 teams withdrawing from Fragadelphia Blocktober?

Counter-Strike 2 LAN event Fragadelphia Blocktober is officially underway, with teams from Europe and North America competing in the Tier 2 tournament to earn crucial Valve Regional Standings (VRS) points before the Major cut-off date on October 6th, 2025.

However, leading up to the event, several teams have announced their withdrawal from the tournament, lowering the number of participants and sparking frustration within the community. Esports Insider’s explains why this has happened by looking at its high-profile absentees.

On September 29th, Counter-Strike publication HLTV revealed Team Liquid had withdrawn from the event taking place from October 2nd to 5th in Philadelphia, resulting in the multinational esports organisation forfeiting its group stage matches.

Despite forfeiting the matches, Team Liquid’s VRS position won’t be affected. This is due to the fact that HLTV is only covering the 48-team event from the round of 16.

Currently ranked 27th in the September VRS, the team is close to receiving a direct invitation to Stage 2 of the StarLadder Budapest Major taking place in November.

Valve, the developer and publisher of Counter-Strike 2, uses HLTV to track VRS points, which determine the teams that qualify for the title’s Majors. As a result of HLTV choosing to cover the tournament from the round of 16, it has sparked integrity concerns and raised criticisms over how Valve tracks the VRS system.

It is worth noting that Team Liquid has cited health concerns and limited practice as reasons for its withdrawal.

The second high-profile withdrawal from Fragadelphia Blocktober is Ninjas in Pyjamas, which broke the news on the same day as the tournament’s first group stage matches.

“After carefully monitoring results and VRS outcomes, we believe this is the best decision for our team, allowing our players to fully focus on the Major,” said the Swedish esports organisation on social media.

In addition to potential VRS ramifications, the organisation also cited visa issues for Artem ‘r1nkle‘ Moroz as another factor behind its decision not to compete in Philadelphia.

Although AaB Esport isn’t in contention to qualify for the Budapest Major, the Danish organisation also announced its withdrawal from Fragadelphia, citing HLTV’s coverage of the tournament as its reasoning.

“When HLTV chose to downgrade coverage of the LAN, we felt our funds would simply be better spent elsewhere,” said the organisation. “Having to beat teams like BIG, ECSTATIC, Wildcard, or Fnatic three times just to secure a single VRS Match seemed like a poor allocation of resources.”