Danish organization Sashi Esport has drawn criticism for adding two Australian players to its Counter-Strike active roster in an attempt to qualify for the PGL Singapore Major.
The news is part of an ongoing debate over the VRS ‘loophole’ that allows rosters to switch regions during the Major qualification cycle, with multiple organizations controversially changing regions to make qualification for the Major easier.
Sashi VRS region swap draws backlash from Counter-Strike community
Sashi have announced the addition of Australian players Tynan ‘TjP’ Purtell and Jordan ‘Hatz’ Bajic to their active roster. TjP moves from the THUNDER dOWNUNDER roster, which qualified for the IEM Cologne 2026 Major; Hatz most-recently played at a pro level for Rooster in 2024.
Combined with Danish/Vietnamese dual-national Anton ‘Anlelele’ Huynh, the move in theory allows for Sashi to qualify for the Asia VRS region, meaning Sashi requires a far lower VRS threshold to qualify from the region.
The move echoes BC.Game’s recent switch to the Asia VRS region upon the addition of Australia’s Tyson ‘asap’ Paterson in favor of the benched Denis ‘electroNic’ Sharipov.
Following Sashi’s decision, VRS expert Finn ‘Mischief’ Farrer gives Sashi a 13.25% probability of making the PGL Singapore Major through the Asia VRS, with BC.Game currently sitting at 83%.
Sashi roster move draws criticism over VRS ‘loophole’
The announcement of the roster moves drew instant criticism on social media, with various commentators calling for the removal of the VRS ‘loophole’ that allows region swaps.
The news prompted Counter-Strike rifling legend Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač to post “It’s not too late to do something about this @CounterStrike.”
Currently, rosters can switch VRS regions with no penalty, and at any time before the VRS cutoff, needing only five matches with the lineup to switch the players’ registered team and therefore region.
Calls have been made to restrict when VRS region swaps can happen or potentially introduce VRS penalties for swapping regions to prevent cynical exploitation of what region a team represents.
Sashi’s roster moves drew additional criticism for the wording of the announcement, which openly admits to aiming for VRS Asian qualification, and emphasizes that the move may be a temporary one. It reads:
“Welcome @TjPG0D & @hatz_csgo
We’re taking a different route this time as we set our sights on the Asian VRS. Let’s see how far we can take it.
For now, MistR and Cabbi will be stepping out of the starting lineup for the coming month.”
The outward acknowledgement of the temporary nature of the move reflects an additional irk with region swaps, where members of the community do not want orgs that have no interest in the region to represent it, with Sashi laying their cards on the table that their interest in Asia is temporary.
As well as criticism, the news brought about the creation of memes by various Counter-Strike orgs, content creators, and even tournament organizers over the cynical nature of the move.
BLAST, Luminosity, and even BC.Game partook in making fun of the roster moves, as the fallout of the decision continues to play out on social media.
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Darragh is an Esports Journalist for Insider Gaming specialising in Counter-Strike. He loves to explore how esports teams work, or why they very often do not.
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