1. Season 40

1.1. Tier System

1.2. Playoffs and Tiebreakers

1.3. Mercenary (“merc”) clause: no mercs allowed unless approved by the opponent

1.3.1. “Permanent mercs” are not tolerated

1.3.2. A team can use up to a maximum of one merc in Grand Finals official matches

1.3.3. Default Mercs

1.4. Teams with three Default Losses or two Default Losses in a row will be expelled from the competition

 

2. 6v6 Rules

2.1. Class limits

2.2. Maps

2.3. Rosters must contain a minimum of six players

2.4. Minimum of five players needed to play a match

 

1. Season 40

1.1. Tier System

All teams will be split into different tiers according to their skill level, past season results and stability. In the Premiership and Division tiers teams will be distributed into groups of eight teams where each will play against the others in a Round Robin format. In the remaining tiers, every team will play weekly fixtures against similarly skilled opponents in a Swiss-Style System. All of these matches will be played during the competition’s regular season, which will last seven weeks.

Two maps are played per official match during the regular season. League points are awarded based on the final result of each map:

• Regular wins award 3 points
• Regular losses award 0 points
• “Golden Cap” wins award 2 point
• “Golden Cap” losses award 1 point

A “Golden Cap” is defined as a decider round played on a map to determine its winner. Decider rounds are defined on a per-gamemode basis.

League points are awarded purely by the final result of a map. Aside from the necessity of “Golden Cap” rounds, the number of captures has no effect on league points themselves. Captures only determine which team wins a map.

1.2. Playoffs and Tiebreakers

The playoffs stage will be held after the regular season ends. Its schedule can be found on the competition’s [homepage].

Any playoffs match schedules may be changed to any day before the Grand Finals date, but only if all affected teams agree.

For playoffs official matches, maps will be chosen by the participating teams using the Picks/Bans Map Elimination System, with seeding coming from their relative placement in the regular season. [Explanation]

Teams tied for any playoffs spots in their respective tier will be ordered using the following methods, ordered by priority:

• Head-to-Head (if applicable)
• Sonneborn-Berger Score
• Total Rounds scored

If the first method does not split the teams, the second method will be used. If the second method does not split the teams, the third method will be used.

The Neustadtl Sonneborn-Berger Score is calculated as follows:

1. For each match, calculate the ratio of points the team earned compared to the maximum, and multiply this by the opponent’s total score in the competition. Use only scores and opponents from “valid” matches  (matches that were not default wins and were not against dropped opponents).
2. Calculate the sum of all scores calculated via the above method.
3. Divide the sum by the number of “valid” matches played.

1.3. Mercenary (“merc”) clause: no mercs allowed unless approved by the opponent

“Mercs” or “ringers” are defined as players who are not part of a team’s roster. Players who are listed as “unverified” on a roster also count as mercs if they were listed as such at the time an official was set to start.

Teams may not use a merc at any time during a match unless the player(s) is/are granted explicit written permission to play by the team’s opponents, the team that requested the merc is responsible for making sure that this permission is granted, exceptions to this rule fall under rule 1.3.3 Default Mercs. If a team wants to use a merc, they must contact the opponent before the match starts.

Merc permission grants are player-based and class-based: teams are free to choose whether a player is allowed to play for their opponents as a merc and which classes they are allowed to play. Classes deemed as “off-classes” (i.e. Pyro, Heavy, Engineer, Sniper and Spy) are allowed by default. If no specific classes are stated, a player allowed to play as a merc can play any class of their choice.

All agreements for merc permission grants must be logged and provided in the official match’s respective comments. Those logs must explicitly contain links to each approved mercs’ ETF2L profile. All mercs have to be registered on ETF2L.

A team can use up to a maximum of two mercs, even if the opponent would allow the use of more than two mercs.

Violations of the merc clause will result in the offending team being issued a Minor Warning. Additionally, if the offending team uses an unapproved merc or an unregistered player, the official in question will result in a Default Loss.

1.3.1. “Permanent mercs” are not tolerated

A player can only be used as a merc up to 3 times for one and the same team during the entire competition (regardless of the player being an approved merc). If a player has already played as a merc 3 times for a team, they are not allowed to join the team in question. After the fourth match as a merc for the same team, the player is considered a permanent merc and the team may be
punished. 

All cases of players being caught or reported as permanent merc are reviewed individually, with any decisions being made at the full discretion of the admin team. All circumstances will be taken into account.

Note: In accordance with [General Rule 2.3], two team changes per competition are tolerated.

1.3.2. A team can use up to a maximum of one merc in Grand Final matches

A team can use up to a maximum of one merc in a Grand Finals official match of any tier, even if the opponent would allow the use of more than one merc.

1.3.3. Default mercs

One merc is allowed by default in all divisions:
– For Premiership, D1/High, D2/High, D3/Mid and D4/Mid default mercs cannot be rostered in a team and/or have experience in the tier that the match is being played in, or any other tier above that. Default mercs cannot be class-restricted. Experience in other leagues is also included. (e.g. A high team will only be able to present a default merc from mid.)

– For D5/Low and D6/Open specifically they cannot be more experienced than the tier the match is being played in (in accordance with General Rule 3.7), and they cannot be rostered in a team placed in any tier higher than that of the official match in question. Default mercs cannot be class-restricted. Experience in other leagues is also included.

If you wish to contest the default status of a merc, please contact a League Admin on ETF2L’s Discord server so they may decide whether or not the player is valid for the Default merc clause.

1.4. Teams with three Default Losses or two Default Losses in a row will be expelled from the season

If a team receives a third Default Loss during the competition, or two Default Losses in a row, they will be expelled from the league for the running season.

2. 6v6 Rules

2.1. Classlimits

Class counts are limited as follows:

• 2 Scouts
• 2 Soldiers
• 1 Pyro
• 1 Demoman
• 1 Heavy
• 1 Engineer
• 1 Medic
• 1 Sniper
• 2 Spies 

Players switching to Spectator and/or from Spectator to change classes more quickly is strictly forbidden.

2.2. Maps

In the 6v6 format, 5CP maps (such as Process) and KOTH maps (such as Product) are played.

• 5CP 

The time limit is set to 30 minutes (mp_timelimit 30) and the win difference to 5 rounds (mp_windifference 5). The first team to reach a five point lead over the other, or the team with the highest amount of points once the map timer runs out, wins the map. If the map score is tied once the time limit is reached, a decider round (“Golden Cap”) will have to be played.

• Golden Cap in 5CP

“Golden Cap” rounds have a time limit of 15 minutes (mp_timelimit 15) and a win limit of 1 round (mp_winlimit 1). If neither team manages to win the round within the time limit, they must play a second “Golden Cap” round. Whoever captures the middle point first is then declared the winner.

The winner of a map that ended with a “Golden Cap” round is awarded 2 league points, while the loser is awarded 1 league point.

• KOTH (King Of The Hill)

There is no time limit. A win limit of 3 rounds (mp_winlimit 3) is set. The first team to win three rounds in the map wins. 

If the final score of a KOTH map has a difference of only 1 point (i.e 3-2, 2-3), it is classified as a “Golden Cap” result, with the winner being the team who won 3 rounds. 

When submitting results of any kind, please remember to tick the Golden Cap checkbox if the map’s score was decided by a “Golden Cap”.

2.3. Rosters must contain a minimum of six players

A team’s roster must consist of a minimum of six players to be eligible to sign up for 6v6 competitions.

2.4. Minimum of five players needed to play a match

Teams must field at least five players to play a scheduled 6v6 match. A team can ask their opponent to allow a merc to play for their team, following the rules of the [merc clause]. If you are not able to field six players, you can choose to play 5v6.  

A team that is not able to field five players will receive a Default Loss