Competitive Rules

1. TOURNAMENT BRACKET

The tournament bracket used (single elimination/double elimination/group stage) will be decided by the Organizer and announced on the Tournament Announcement.

3. PLAYER COMMITMENT

3.1. – By submitting a registration for a Ranked VALORANT tournament, all teams and players acknowledge without limitation to comply with the rules set herein and especially with the decisions made by the Tournament Staff.3.2. – All competitors are expected to know and understand all the rules described here. Not knowing that a rule existed or that it was in place will not be considered as an acceptable reason for breaking said rule.

3.3. – A player or team’s name, icon, profile picture or logo may not contain any of the following: profanities, obscene language, gang affiliation, drugs, sexual material, offensive material, slander of the Organisers or its administration, partners or sponsors.

3.4. – Players must own the Riot account they register with and can only play with the account that they provided during registration.

4. TOURNAMENT FORMAT

4.1. – Team Size
4.1.1. – A Team has to consist of at least FIVE players.
4.1.2. – Upto TWO substitute players can also be registered for each team.
4.1.3. – Each player can be registered and can subsequently play for only one team during the tournament.

4.2. – Substitutions
4.2.1. – The substitute player/s must be registered with the team prior to the tournament starting.
4.2.2. – Use of a substitute player must be informed to the Tournament Staff well before the start of the scheduled match.
4.2.3. – The use of non-registered, suspended, or otherwise ineligible players in a match is not allowed under any circumstances.
4.2.4. – Doing so will result in a suspension or extended suspension of the individual in question, suspension of relevant team management, and may result in match overturn.
4.2.5. – Substitution can only happen BEFORE the match/map starts OR only AFTER a match/map ends. Players cannot be substituted in the middle of a match/map.
4.2.6. – In a best of 1 game series, a substitution can be made before the game starts only.
4.2.7. – In a best of 3 game series, a substitution can be made before the first game starts OR after the first game ends and before second game starts OR after the second game ends and before third game starts.
4.2.8. – In a best of 5 game series, a substitution can be made before the first game starts OR after the first game ends and before second game starts OR after the second game ends and before third game starts OR after the third game ends and before fourth game starts OR after the fourth game ends and before fifth game starts.
4.2.9. – No substitutions can be made in the middle of an ongoing match, regardless of the situation.
4.2.10. – The substituted player will not receive additional time to set up compared to the time it would have taken with the original player.

4.3. – Stand-ins
4.3.1. – By definition, a stand-in here refers to a player who hasn’t been registered to a team on the registration form but wants to play for a team after registrations close/matches commence.
4.3.2. – At LAN tournaments, the use of a stand­-in is allowed but they have to be presented and registered at the Registration Desk before they are used.
4.3.3. – The use of a stand­-in in online tournaments is strictly prohibited and is grounds for disqualification.
4.3.4. – This applies to account sharing as well. The VALORANT account that was used during registration should be the only one used for playing.
4.3.5. – In LAN tournaments which have qualifiers (such as SLCG), no player that played in any other team at any qualifier that was completed can be used as a stand-in.

5. MATCH SCHEDULE

5.1. – For online tournaments, both teams scheduled to play at a certain time should be present online on Discord/TeamSpeak at least 30 minutes before the scheduled start time. For LAN tournaments, teams should be present at the venue well before an hour of their scheduled match time.

5.2. – If by 10 minutes past the scheduled match start time a team doesn’t have enough players to play in the server, the match will be deemed a walkover to the team that is present with its full roster.

5.3. – Matches should be played as 5on5 with 10 players. However, if a team is missing a player the match can commence shorthanded ONLY if the opposing team agrees. Only a maximum of 1 player can be missing (4 players should be present) to commence a game.

5.4. – In a best of 3 or 5 games match, a maximum delay of 10 minutes in between matches will be allowed.

5.5. – Regarding the scheduling of online matches, matches can be played on all days of the week (including public, bank. mercantile holidays, etc) and will be scheduled beforehand and announced on a “Draw/Schedule”. Scheduling will be done at the discretion of the Tournament Staff.

5.6. – Tournament Organisers will make every effort to inform the teams of scheduled match dates and times – but please note it is the responsibility of the teams to check their game time and date. Tournament Organisers will not be responsible to inform matches to teams. Not attending a match due to not being informed of the schedule is NOT an excuse.

6. GAME RULES

6.5. – Competitive patches
Matches will be played on the current patch available on VALORANT’s live service.6.6. – New Agents
New Agents will be automatically restricted for 2 weeks from their release on Competitive queue. Example: Agent A was released on February 5, so Agent A will become eligible to be used in all matches on February 19.6.7. – New Maps
New Maps will be automatically restricted for 4 weeks from their release on Competitive queue. Example: Map A was released on February 5, so Map A will become eligible to be used in all matches on March 5.6.8. – Additional Restrictions
Additional Restrictions (e.g. disabling certain weapons) may be added by Tournament Organisers based on rules enforced by Riot Games in their tournaments, if there are known bugs with any items, Agents, skins, or abilities.6.9. – Determining the Better Seed
6.9.1. – The “better seed” refers to who starts the map-veto/pick process.
6.9.2. – For online tournaments, the “better seed” means the team mentioned first on the match page or bracket list posted. For example: if a match is between Team A vs Team B, Team A will be considered the “better seed”.
6.9.3. – In LAN matches, coin tosses will be used to determine who starts in the map-veto/pick process.6.10. – Map veto process outline
6.10.1. – Map veto process can only be handled by Tournament Staff and only two selected people from each team can take part.
6.10.2. – Map veto process can be done earlier if the Tournament Staff and both teams agree.
6.10.3. – The time at which the map veto process is being done does not warrant the exact start time of the match.
6.10.4. – During the map veto process, statements from the representatives towards the admin will count as a ban or pick and it cannot be reverted.
 6.11. – Map veto system
 6.11.1. – Best-of-One Matches
 – Team A bans one map.
 – Team B bans one map.
 – Team A bans one map.
 – Team B bans one map.
 – Team A bans one map.
 – Team B bans one map.
 – The remaining map will be played.
 – Team A selects the side of the map they will start on. 6.11.2. – Best-of-Three Matches
 – Team A bans one map.
 – Team B bans one map.
 – Team A selects the map for the first match in the best-of-three series.
 – Team B selects the side of the map they will start on in the first match in the best-of-three series.
 – Team B selects the map for the second match in the best-of-three series.
 – Team A selects the side of the map they will start on in the second match in the best-of-three series.
 – Team A bans one Map.
 – Team B bans one Map.
 – The remaining map will be played for the third match in the best-of-three series.
 – Team A selects the side of the map they will start on in the third match in the best-of-three series. 6.11.3. – Best-of-Five Matches
 – Team A bans one Map
 – Team B bans one Map
 – Team A selects the map for the first match in the best-of-five series.
 – Team B selects the side of the map they will start on in the first match in the best-of-five series.
 – Team B selects the map for the second match in the best-of-five series.
 – Team A selects the side of the map they will start on in the second match in the best-of-five series.
 – Team A selects the map for the third match in the best-of-five series.
 – Team B selects the side of the map they will start on in the third match in the best-of-five series.
 – Team B selects the map for the fourth match in the best-of-five series.6.12. – Agent Selection Process
Once Agent Select has started, players will have the time visible on their screen to pick their Agent, with both Teams picking simultaneously. If a Player picks an Agent by mistake during this phase, the Player must notify a Tournament Official of their intended selection before the Agent Select timer expires. In this case the Agent Select process will be restarted with the same Picks up until the mistake occurred, after which the Player must choose their intended Agent. In the case the Player notifies a Tournament Official after the timer has expired, the Agent Select process will not be restarted and the Player will be required to play through.6.13. – Match Start After Agent and Map Selection
A Match will start immediately after the Agent/Map Selection process is complete, unless otherwise stated by a Tournament Official. The Tournament Official may inform of instances where the match must be paused at the start. As the match starts, Teams must remove any printed materials from the Match Area (if applicable), including any notes written by Team Members. Players are not allowed to quit a Map during the time between the completion of picks/bans and Map launch, also known as “Free Time.”6.14. – Controlled Match Start
In the event of an error in Match start or a decision by Tournament Officials to separate the pick/ban process from Match start, a Tournament Official may start the Match in a controlled manner and all maps will be selected in accordance with the previous valid completed pick/ban process.6.15. – Slow Client Load
If a game crash, disconnect, or any other failure occurs which interrupts the loading process and prevents a player from joining a Match upon Match start, the Match must be immediately paused until all ten players are connected to the Match.6.16 – For round robin tie situations (as applicable for certain tournaments)
# 1 – Wins vs Tied Participants
This tie break looks at the match record between tied participants. For example, if Katherine and Dave are tied based on statistics but Katherine won when they played during the tournament, Katherine wins the tie break. When more than 2 participants are tied, they’re ranked by the number of wins each one had against the others.
# 2 – Rounds Won
The total number of rounds a participant won throughout the tournament.
# 3 – Round Difference
Total rounds won minus rounds given up. In a match if Player 1 won 13 rounds and Player 2 won 10, Player 1’s round difference is 3 (13 – 10), and Player 2’s is -3 (10-13).

7. GAMEPLAY RULES

7.1. – Abuses & Exploitation
Exploiting game or map bugs/glitches/flaws (“exploits”) for the purposes of gaining an unfair advantage is prohibited. Exploits that are not specifically named here are still prohibited but will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. Tournament Staff reserve the right to decide what will be deemed as an exploit or abuse.

7.2. – Hacking
Hacking or otherwise modifying the intended behavior of the game client is prohibited.

7.3. – Scripting
The use of scripts are prohibited.

7.4. – Use of Macros
The use of macros are prohibited.

7.5. – Use of Third Party Softwares
The use of any third-party addons, hooks, programs or wrappers that interact with or alter the client, its appearance or behaviour for the purposes of gaining an unfair advantage is prohibited.

7.6. – Impersonations
Impersonating an eligible player by attempting to alias as them, using their account or by any other method is prohibited and will result in the aliasing player and the player they are aliasing as being removed from the tournament.

7.7. – In-game names
Each player must have his/her primary nickname or something very similar as his game name during all matches to be easily identifiable for referees, broadcasters, and viewers. What counts as similar is for the Tournament Staff to decide. The only additional information allowed in a player’s in­game name is clan tags or sponsor names.

7.8. – Collusion
7.8.1. – Collusion, match fixing, bribing a referee or match official, or any other action or agreement to intentionally influence (or attempt to influence) the outcome of any match or Event.
7.8.2. – Other forms of collusion include:
– Teaming: Players working together during the match
– Planned Movement: Agreement between 2 or more opposing players to move through the map in a planned way before the match begins.
– Communication: Sending or receiving signals (both verbal and non-verbal) to communicate with opposing players.
– Item Dumping: Intentionally dropping items for an opposing player to collect.

8. MATCH RULES

 8.1. – Timeouts (Tactical Pauses)
Teams are allowed to call Timeouts of 60 seconds in duration, two times per map. The 60 second clock will begin when the in-game pause timer begins. Timeouts can be called via the in-game pause system. In the event of overtime, each team will be granted an additional Timeout.

 8.2. – Technical Pauses
 8.2.1. – Each Team will have the ability to pause for up to 10 minutes to resolve any technical issues that arise. Teams may pause multiple times throughout a map as long as the total pause time does not exceed the 10 minutes. If a team pauses for a technical issue, they must announce the reason before or immediately after the pause in the match room chat and in-game chat or to the Tournament Staff through Discord or TeamSpeak. A technical pause may be called for the following reasons only:
– Match disconnect
– Power outage
– Computer crash/issue
– Environmental issue (fire, flood, etc)
8.2.2. – Using pauses to gain a competitive advantage will result in disqualification.
8.2.3. – A technical pause may only be enacted during freezetime (the opening duration of the round during which the buy phase takes place).
8.2.4. – Tournament Staff may pause or request to pause a match at any time and for any reason.

8.3. – Technical pauses at LAN tournaments
At LAN tournaments, players should raise their hand and immediately contact Tournament Staff in the event of a Technical Pause. Staff will then assist to rectify the situation and the necessary action. Failure to report issues in a timely manner may cause the issue to be disregarded by the Tournament Staff. During a technical pause, headsets have to stay on. Unless a Tournament Official instructs the player otherwise any form of communication including but not limited to text
and voice communication between players and coaches is forbidden during a technical pause. The Tournament Official can pause the game if for some reason the player pausing does not work.

8.4. – Crashes
8.4.1. – If a match is interrupted for reasons beyond the control of the Players (e.g. server or player crash), the Tournament Official will restore the round using the in-game round restore feature, but in some scenarios may decide to replay the round or even a whole match.
8.4.2. – If the issue takes place during the first minute of the round, before any damage has occurred and the opponent or referee has been immediately notified, the round will be restored.
8.4.3. – If the issue takes place during a round and after the damage has been made and the outcome of the round can still be determined (e.g. a single player has dropped but others remain), then the round will not be replayed or restored. The round will continue to be played and will count. Special exceptions can be made if the damage dealt was ruled insignificant e.g. accidental teammate damage dealt at the start of the round or damage dealt to the opposing side by the team that was affected by the crash.
8.4.4. – If the issue takes place during the round, after damage has occurred and the outcome of the round cannot be determined (e.g. due to server crash), the match will be restored to the beginning of the round.
8.4.5. – If the issue takes place during the round, after damage has occurred and the outcome of the round is obvious (e.g. one team is saving with 10 seconds remaining), but it cannot be continued due to for example a server crash, then the round can be awarded.
8.4.6. – The matches will not be stopped and/or rounds will not be restored or replayed in cases where it is clearly a participant’s fault (e.g. mis-buying a weapon).