UKIC has announced that Season 7 of UKIC League & Collegiate will bring about the biggest changes yet as they seek VRS eligibility for Division 1.
During the first four seasons of UKIC Division 1, the top flight of UK CS served as the primary route alongside EPIC.LAN for teams to progress into international play. However, since the beginning of 2025 and the updated VRS rules, UKIC Division 1 was marked as an unranked event.
The removal of UKIC’s VRS eligibility disrupts the steady flow of UK CS teams’ climbing their way up the food chain.
Now, in a major shake-up, for the first time in 2025, UKIC will change the construct of its league to allow for UKIC Season 7 Division 1 and future seasons to be a VRS-ranked event.
Division 1 to be filled via Open Qualifier(s)
In order for UKIC to be VRS eligible, they had to change the format of the League to match the “Tournament Operation Requirements” that Valve set for all tournament operators that run VRS events.
The main change is that teams currently competing in Division 2 will not have the chance to qualify for Division 1 in Season 7, and teams currently in Division 1 will not be able to retain their spot.
The reason for this is that under the current TORs, Valve has limited the ability to directly invite teams or allow spot retention in leagues or events. And because the current Division 1 format does not follow the Valve TORs, no team will be able to retain their spot for Season 7.
Therefore, for Season 7, all Division 1 spots will be filled via Open Qualifier(s), which would subsequently qualify UKIC Season 7 Division 1 as a VRS-ranked event.
It is also not possible for UKIC to invite any teams, as a minimum of four rosters must be invited by direct VRS invite. Due to only two UK VRS ranked rosters existing – 8Sins & PERPLEXITY – UKIC are not able to invite any teams for Season 7 if they want to be eligible for the Valve TORs.
UKIC has confirmed that Season 7 will not field more than 10 teams to match similar season timeframes that they’ve operated under. But UKIC has not confirmed the minimum number of teams or the format of the next season.
What does this mean for lower Divisions?
For season 6, Divisions 2, 3 and 4 serve little purpose as there will be no ability to progress in the UK CS ecosystems. Teams currently competing will be playing for prize money.
The big changes for Season 7 are the combination of Divisions 2 and 3 into the ‘Open Division’. UKIC wanted to make sure they didn’t remove the ‘more grass-roots Divisions’, and so forged a way to make sure Division 2 wasn’t obsolete as they go down the VRS route. Therefore, from season 7 onwards qualification to Division 1 will once again be possible for the top teams in the Open Division.
To run a tournament that is eligible for promotion or qualification to a VRS ranked tournament, the tournament must follow the same Valve TORs as the main event. Therefore, as UKIC would not have any VRS ranked teams competing in the Open Division, the tournament would have to be fully open to all teams that wish to compete.
The Open Division, as previously stated, is a combination of two current divisions. The current plan is to keep the Round Robin group format and divide teams into groups that will be seeded by UKIC.
From there, the key difference will be two separate playoff brackets depending on where teams finish in their respective groups. For example:
Team Round Robin Groups
- 1st – 3rd = 12 Team playoff bracket for Division 1 Promotion + Prize Money,
- 4th – 6th = 12 Team playoff bracket for Prize Money,
- All other teams finish season after Group Stage,
A mock graphic of what UKIC Season 7 Open Division could look like
It is good to keep in mind that the number of groups and teams per group will depend on the number of teams that sign up per season. UKIC has also stated they will be more in-depth, seeing rather than solely using ELO, which has been used previously.
Moreover, this is a trial from UKIC’s perspective. The following seasons after the next could see a change if this current plan doesn’t work as intended.
UKIC Division 4
Division 4 is going to act separately from the Open Division and Division 1, catering to lower-skilled teams. Division 4 will give teams the choice to gain competitive experience against teams at their own level rather than being immediately stomped on by someone with their sight set on Division 1. A feature added more recently, which will remain, was the 2000 average team ELO cap on Faceit.
Similarly to the Open Division, depending on the number of teams that sign up for Division 4, there is a potential to split the Division even further to maximise fun and competitive games for all.
The future of UKIC Collegiate
The Collegiate circuit has also been a pivotal part of the UKIC ecosystem. There was even a Collegiate team participating in Season 6 of Division 1, granted, they did have the IGL of Monte on their team.
However, moving forward, Collegiate will most likely not be implemented into the mainstream system. There will still be UKIC Collegiate tournaments, and during the summer, they will be planning to host shorter tournaments or cups that alumni can also play.
But unlike other seasons where the winners of Collegiate qualified for Division 2, there will be no promotion available for Collegiate teams in Season 7 and beyond.
