UCEA CS:GO Fall Season - Rules

GAME

Entry and Prizing

Entry Fees: $125 USD per team Prizing: $2,500 Prize Pool

First Place Overall: $1,250 USD

Second Place Overall: $750 USD

Third Place Overall: $375 USD

Fourth Place Overall: $125 USD

Mode: All games will be five versus five.

Version: The version used will be the most current patch approved for play by Valve.

Player: All players will have a unique SteamID as well as a submitted ESEA rank.

Team Sides: The team coming into the game with the highest seed will be Team A. The lower seed will be Team B. If there is no seeding, the team in the top line of the match up will be Team A with the lower team being Team B.

Account Platform: Teams may compete on PC. Each team is only allowed to play with a mouse and keyboard. No mods or additional programs are allowed to be used throughout the duration of the season. All tournament operators reserve the right to randomly check peripherals being used during competition to ensure competitive integrity.

Overtime: If there is no decisive winner during the regulation time, overtime is to be played to determine the winner of the map.

Disconnects: If either team experiences a player disconnect, the following situations will be carried out:

If the current score is 0-0, then the map lobby will restart.

If a score existed, the tournament operator will make a decision on a case by case basis with communication to both teams impacted.

Disconnects will not affect prior maps won or lost.

If the disconnected player cannot rejoin, a qualifying substitute player may be subbed in. If there are no substitutes available, then the team will move forward with four players.

Map Selection: A map banning system will be in place for the best of three series in the tournament. For best of one matches, preset maps will be in place. During any best of threes, bans will follow the below format:

Team A bans one map

Team B bans one map

Team A chooses the first played map

Team B chooses their side for the first selected map

Team B selects the second played map

Team A chooses their side for the second selected map

Team A bans one map

Team B bans one map

The map left in rotation will be played as the tiebreaker

Sides will be chosen via a one round knife fight

Map Pool: The available maps are: Dust II, Inferno, Mirage, Nuke, Overpass, Train, Vertigo.

REGISTRATION

Eligibility: All teams must be part of a post-secondary institution in the United States or Canada. All teams are required to have a non-player coach or administrator for the team. Main points of contact must be a paid or unpaid official staff member of the respective institution’s esports program. Qualifying institutions may enter up to three different teams with unique names for identification.

Teams: Teams will be made up of five main players plus up to three substitutes. As previously stated, each team is required to also have a coach or admin role aside from active players.

MATCHES

Group Stage: Matches will be best of one. All matches will be played on Tuesday and Friday at 8:00 PM Eastern Time each week. Group Stage will follow a double round robin format. All matches will be played online.

Due to delays in campus openings and the pandemic, Matches 1 through 4 will not count towards seeding or forfeit status. They will be more lenient to allow institutions to organize their teams.

Reschedules and Forfeits: If a reschedule is wished to be made, both teams must agree and inform a tournament operator. All reschedules must start from 8:01 PM to 11:59 PM Eastern Time on the same day as originally scheduled.

Reschedules that are out of the control of the institution such as but not limited to: weather, drills, shutdown, internet outage, power outage, holidays, etc. will be allowed to be played during reschedule week.

All reschedules must be agreed upon by both involved teams more than 24 hours prior to the original start time.

Reschedules not made in time or if a team does not show up to the match within 15 minutes of start time without proper communication, this will be considered a forfeit. If a team reaches two forfeits, they will be eliminated from the tournament.

If both teams agree prior to 24 hours before the original time that a match cannot be played, and neither team has two forfeits, the match may be started anytime from Sunday at 8:00 AM to Friday at 11:59 PM Eastern Time during the Reschedule Week listed below.

*NOTE: Reschedules cannot replace matches scheduled for November 2nd and 5th. All original matches must still be played during reschedule week.

The following schedule will reflect the competition days for group stage:

Match 1: September 22, 2020 (preseason)

Match 2: September 25, 2020 (preseason)

Match 3: September 29, 2020 (preseason)

Match 4: October 2, 2020 (preseason)

Match 5: October 6, 2020

Match 6: October 9, 2020

Match 7: October 13, 2020

Match 8: October 16, 2020

Match 9: October 20, 2020

Match 10: October 23, 2020

Match 11: October 27, 2020

Match 12: October 30, 2020

Match 13: November 3, 2020

Match 14: November 6, 2020

Reschedule Week: November 1-6, 2020

Playoffs: All teams from each group will move to the playoffs. Playoffs will include one single-elimination brackets that is seeded according to final standings from the group stage. All matches will be best of one (1) excluding the Finals which will be best of three (3). Matches for Round 1 through Semifinals will begin at 7:00 PM Eastern. The Third Place Match will begin at 6:00 PM Eastern, and the Finals will begin at 4:00 PM Eastern. Matches in each Round will be produced by UCEA.

The following schedule will reflect the competition days for playoffs:

Round 1: November 9, 2020

Round 2 (Quarterfinals): November 10, 2020

Semifinals: November 13, 2020

Third Place Match: November 21, 2020

Final: November 22, 2020

Tiebreakers: In the event of a tie between one or more teams with respect to either playoff advancement or playoff seeding, the advancing or higher seeding team will be determined using the following tie breaking methods, in the order as it is listed:

Round Differential: A tournament operator will collect the total number of maps lost throughout the relevant games already played. The team with fewer maps lost will be deemed the advancing or higher seeded team. If more than one team is tied, then seeds will correlate to standings based on maps lost.

Group Stage Head to Head: If the teams played each other during the group stage, the winning team of that match will win the tiebreaker.

Best of One Head to Head: If teams are still tied after the round differential has been determined, there will be one map played head to head. Map selection will be random. The winner of this map will be given the higher seed.

Broadcasting: Each school is encouraged to stream their respective matches on their own channels. All streams will need to follow a required five minute delay. Any streams found to not be following this rule will be given a forfeit. The Unified Collegiate Esports Association will stream a “match of the day” each game day for the duration of the season. The UCEA will provide casters, overlays and production. Each team will be able to submit a request form to have their games featured. These matches will be chosen at random by UCEA. All media used by a team may be used by UCEA for promotional and marketing purposes. Media produced by UCEA may also be used for positive promotional materials by the institution in which the media involves.