Today's release makes the soft Elo reset lighter and more personalised by factoring in your FACEIT Rating and win rate. We're adding a new defensive layer to the FACEIT Anti-Cheat, and rebuilding your profile to save your progress, season by season. Alongside the larger features, there are smaller quality-of-life improvements, plus the community has voted in a one-week test enabling voice chat between opponents at half-time.

## TL;DR
- The Soft Elo Reset is lighter than Season 8, targeted at the highest Elos, and personalised to you, reading your last 50 games, win rate, and FACEIT Rating. Most players start close to where they finished, and strong placements are your chance to climb higher than before. - Human Input Detection is a new machine-learning layer of the FACEIT Anti-Cheat that continuously gets better at detecting cheaters by their in-game actions, not by the software they use, and is particularly effective against AI cheats. - Seasonal Stats archive each season separately, so your Elo records and progress are saved and displayed. - Half-Time Voice Chat opens voice between both teams at the half and closes it when the sides switch, running as a one-week test from August 05 to 12 after passing the community vote. - FACEIT Reloaded gives you a look back at your stats in Season 8 before you start your placements. - Plus: new sound alerts so you don't miss the knife round, Vertigo joining as an optional map, match-page commendations, an updated Ban Policy, and new Nickname styles with customisable colours, and effects for subscribers by Loyalty tier.

## Updated Soft Elo Reset & Placements

This season starts with a soft Elo reset and ten placement matches that set your starting point. The Season 9 reset is lighter than Season 8 and targeted at the highest Elos to manage inflation. It's more personalised to you: instead of looking mainly at the Elo you finished on, it factors in your last 50 games and weighs your win rate and FACEIT Rating, so you start closer to your real skill.

Most players start close to where they finished, and the highest levels stay competitive. Placements are where you can climb: win most of your ten, and you can start higher than you finished Season 8. Each match now shows how much it's helping or hurting your final placement, and coming out lower does not mean you fell behind. Your leaderboard rank may be higher than before, because you placed better than others near your old Elo.

## Human Input Detection

Human Input Detection is a new machine-learning layer of the FACEIT Anti-Cheat that detects cheaters by their in-game actions, not by the software they use, continuously getting better as it learns from millions of matches. It works alongside our kernel-level Anti-Cheat and, in testing, proved especially effective against AI cheats, which run separately from a PC without touching game memory. It acts as another signal our team weighs before placing a ban.

Human Input Detection runs within the FACEIT Anti-Cheat with no impact on your FPS or performance, and there is nothing to install or enable.

## Half-Time Voice Chat Test

At half-time, voice chat now opens between both teams, closing again when the sides switch. Wish your opponents luck, say your GGs, or get some gentle trash talk in before the second half begins. This passed the community vote with 79% of 106,647 votes in favour. We are running it as a test for the first week of the season, from August 5 to 12, and monitoring your feedback.

## Seasonal Stats

Your profile now displays each season separately, so your progress and best moments are saved instead of blurring into one lifetime number. Your season-high Elo is locked in the moment you reach it, so you can keep playing and share what you achieved even if your Elo drops later.

Your CS2 and CS:GO match counts are now separated, so you can separate old-school veterans from recent grinders. Your profile also shows your win rate on every map, built from your recent match history. Past seasons are restored as far as the data allows.

## FACEIT Reloaded

Before you jump into Season 9, FACEIT Reloaded gives you a quick look back at your Season 8. Your Elo journey, best maps, and top highlights from the season, in one personal recap ready to look back on and share. Open your Season 8 Reloaded [here](https://www.faceit.com/en/season9).

## Also in Season 9

An updated Ban Policy with longer bans for cheating, smurfing, stream sniping, and repeated abuse, with ban durations now weighing the context of the offence more closely. Read the full policy [here](https://www.faceit.com/en/news/FACEIT-Season-9-Ban-Policy-Update).

New queue sound alerts play for match found, server ready, and knife round live, so you can tab out during the queue and hear when it's time to play.
Vertigo joins matchmaking as an optional map with Elo enabled after winning the community vote with 97,421 votes. You can deselect it without changing your other map bans, and there's nothing to install.

Commendations are now displayed on the match page. Commend the players who stood out after each game, and see when someone commends you.

Nickname styles with custom fonts, colours, and effects for subscribers are now available. Subscribers can customise their nickname, with fonts from any tier and colours and effects unlocking as your Loyalty tier climbs. Enable them by going to edit profile on your profile.

The Challenger Queue. A five-day event for the Top 500 EU players from Season 8 and the Top 50 EU VRS teams, competing for a $15,000 prize pool, open daily from 18:00 to 23:00 CEST until August 09.

Season 9 is live now. Good luck, have fun, and keep your feedback coming to help us shape future Seasons.