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Starcraft 2 Rulebook: Collegiate Team League

  • Rulebook

Last Modified: February 13, 2021

These rules are subject to change at the administrator’s discretion. If rules should change, all captains will be notified accordingly.

The handbook’s General Rules apply to all CEA Collegiate Team League Series games, please read them first!

I. Starcraft 2 Collegiate Team League Rule Book

  1. Player Eligibility: All players participating in Starcraft competitions must have an active (Americas) account in good standing.
    1. Collegiate Players
      1. Players must either:
        1. Be actively enrolled in an accredited post-secondary academic institution during the duration of the tournament.
        2. Be a graduate within the last calendar year of the post-secondary academic institution.
    2. Team Roster: A team may start the season with 3-9 participants. Rules for qualifications for rostered members can be found in CEA general rules.
      1. After the beginning of Regular Season play (Week 1 matches), a player rostered on a team may not transfer to another roster within the same College for the same game with out the Game Lead's approval.
        1. The main circumstance permitting a transfer would be a team losing players and falling below the minimum team size.
        2. Colleges with multiple teams playing the same game may have players on multiple rosters as outlined in the general rules under “Team Eligibility.” Being a floater is not considered transferring.
      2. After Week 5, removing players from the roster does not free up additional spots.
      3. At the discretion of the organizers, there may be up to 2 Wildcard Teams for eligible players without sufficient team members from their own school. These teams are subject to the following limitations:
        1. The organizers may remove Wildcard Teams from Playoff contention with prior notice.
        2. Wildcard Teams must be pre-approved and players must have shown best effort in creating a team within their own institutions.
    3. Registration: Registration for the Starcraft 2 Collegiate Team League is free to all eligible players.
    4. Game Version: All players must have their game up to date with the latest patch.

    5. Weekly Structure:

      1. Sunday: Matchups for the week are released (assuming all previous match results have been reported). Additionally, maps will be published alongside matchups.
      2. Wednesday:
        1. Lineups: Teams submit a starting lineup of players for each of the first 4 maps (note: the final “ace” map(s), if necessary, will follow a special selection process on the day of the match; see section II.11).
          1. Player game participation limits:
            1. Collectively a player may only play a total of 2 times per format (1v1, 2v2).
              1. Specifically, a player may play one 1v1 map in the first 4 non-Ace maps, then play again for a 1v1 Ace map. This same player may play in one player combination for one non-Ace 2v2 map, and then again in the same or different combination in one Ace 2v2 map.
            2. No player combination can be repeated during the 2v2.
              1. Example:
                1. Players A and B may play during the Game 3 non-Ace map, but not Game 4 non-Ace 2v2 map because Games 3 and 4 are both non-Ace
                2. Players A and B may play during Game 3 non-Ace 2v2 map as well as Game 6 Ace 2v2 map because Game 3 is non-Ace and Game 6 is Ace.
                3. Players A and B may play during Game 3 non-Ace map, AND Players A and C may play during Game 4 non-Ace 2v2 map because the player combination of Player A and C is not the same as Player A and B.
            3. Minimum 3 player team example:
              1. Best of 5
                1. Game 1 (1v1) - Player A
                  1. Player A may no longer able to play Game 2, they have played their 1v1 non-Ace.
                2. Game 2 (1v1) - Player B
                3. Game 3 (2v2) - Player A + B
                  1. Player combination A + B may no longer play Game 4, they have played their 2v2 non-Ace
                4. Game 4 (2v2) - Player B + C
                5. Game 5 (Ace 1v1) - Player A
                  1. Player A is eligible to play Game 5 since they have not played any 1v1 Ace maps.
              2. Best of 7
                1. Game 1 (1v1) - Player A
                  1. Player A may no longer able to play Game 2, they have played their 1v1 non-Ace.
                2. Game 2 (1v1) - Player B
                3. Game 3 (2v2) - Player A + B
                  1. Player combination A + B may no longer play Game 4, they have played their 2v2 non-Ace
                4. Game 4 (2v2) - Player B + C
                5. Game 5 (1v1) - Player A
                  1. Player A may no longer play in Game 7 since they have played a 1v1 Ace map.
                6. Game 6 (2v2) - Player A + C
                7. Game 7 (1v1) - Player C
          2. Example lineup messages containing relevant information:
            1. "Swapping Steppes of War. Players: Zero (P), +MrNovember (Z), Charlie (P), Mestaman (P)"
            2. "No map swap. Players: Slum (T), DarkZero (P), Taeho (P), Kisa (R)"
      3. Saturday: All matches are played starting at 1pm Pacific (4pm Eastern). Teams submit results after the match.
      4. Thursday to Sunday: Team captains of opposing teams may independently coordinate a different match time for any map of their series to accommodate the players. The captain does not need to be present for each map. Note that the default time is heavily preferred and captains should be looking to field alternate players if their players cannot make the default time. Reschedules must be mutually agreeable. If there is no agreement, all matches will be played at the default time. Failure to show up for a scheduled match will result in an automatic loss and a warning. Sunday 6pm Pacific (9pm Eastern) is the deadline for rescheduled matches to be completed.

      5. See General Rules in the handbook for rescheduling rules and post in the #reschedule-reporting channel if a reschedule is agreed upon.  Forfeits will be reported to the #forfeit-reporting channel in the CEA Discord server by the team captain.

    6. Season Format: Exact season format will be announced before the season begins when we know the exact number of teams. This section will be updated along with an announcement email for all captains. There will be two at minimum two stages: Non-elimination Regular Season (~8 weeks) and Elimination Playoffs.

II. Rules

  1. Players may not look at an opposing player’s monitor or projected screen.
  2. Players may not chat in-game unless they are engaging in pre-game sportsmanship or surrendering the game.
  3. Players who quit out of a game before it has ended, without referee’s permission, will lose the game.
  4. Player Disconnects. If a Player loses their connection to the Host during a game, the game must be resumed from replay. If it is impossible to resume from replay, immediately contact the Game Lead.
  5. Observer Disconnects. If an observer loses their connection to the game, but both players remain in the game, the game must continue.
  6. Hosting. Unless agreed upon by both Captains, the following is to be used for hosting.
    1. Minimum latency difference - Within the preferred server of the SC2 client, there is an indicator providing the current latency to each server. The server with the smallest latency difference between each player to the server will be used.
      1. Example:
        1. Player A latency to USEast is 100ms, Player B to USEast is 200ms. Latency difference is 100ms (200-100=100)
        2. Player A latency to USWest is 50ms, Player B to USWest is 300ms. Latency difference is 250ms (300-50=250)
        3. Player A latency to USCentral is 325ms, Player B to USCentral is 330ms. Latency difference is 5ms (330-325=5)
        4. Should this rule be invoked, players will play on USCentral.
    2. Captains may come to a different agreement as long as it is determined at the beginning of the match and MUST REMAIN CONSISTENT THROUGHOUT THE MATCH. It is recommended to PAUSE THE GAME IMMEDIATELY and reach out to your Game Lead if there are disputes.
  7. Draws. Draws are determined automatically by the game client. If a game results in a draw it should be entirely replayed. A player may propose a draw without needing to wait for the game client, and if both players agree then the game is a draw.
  8. Lobby Settings. Games should be played with the default settings (Category: Melee, Mode: 1v1 or 2v2, Game Speed: Faster), and on the latest SC2 game patch.
    1. WCS Gameheart is an optional mod that may be enabled.
  9. Format. Regular season matches are played in a best-of-5 series. Playoff matches and grand finals are played in a best-of-7 series.
  10. Maps.
    1. Map Pool: Unless otherwise specified, maps will be either from the latest TLMCs (https://liquipedia.net/starcraft2/TeamLiquid_Map_Contest) or the current Ladder Season.
    2. Map Swaps. Every week, the entire map lineup will be released. The Team Captain may optionally submit a Map Swap alongside their lineup.
      1. Captains are granted ONE 1v1 map swap as well as ONE 2v2 map swap.
      2. Map Swaps are optional - a Captain may forfeit their Swap by indicating this in the lineup submission message. Doing so will not incur any penalties.
      3. ACE maps can NOT be swapped
      4. Swapped maps will be put onto the B map. Teams may not swap a B map back to an A map with additional swaps.
        1. Example for Bo5:
          Given current week maps as:
          Map 1 - A: Deathaura LE - B: Golden Wall LE
          Map 2 - A: Eternal Empire LE - B: Ever Dream LE
          Map 3 - A: Arctic Dream LE - B: Divergence LE
          Map 4 - A: Efflorescence LE - B: Emerald City LE
          ACE: Submarine LE

          Map Swaps:
          Team 1 Map Swaps Deatharua LE, but no 2v2 Map Swap
          Team 2 Map Swaps Eternal Empire LE and Efflorescence LE

          The current week for the 2 teams will be:
          Map 1 (1v1): Golden Wall LE
          Map 2 (1v1): Ever Dream LE
          Map 3 (2v2): Arctic Dream LE
          Map 4 (2v2): Emerald City
          Map 5 ACE (1v1): Submarine LE
    3. Ordering. The first 4 maps may be played out of order, or even in parallel, according to player preference (default is serial and in order). Maps played out of order will be scored as though they had been played in the published order.
  11. Ace maps. If neither team has won the match after the first 4 maps, the final map(s) should be played in order until the match winner is determined.
    1. Eligibility. Any player/player combination on the roster can play an ace map, including players/player combination from the first 4 maps. However, no player/player combination may play more than 2 maps total during a match.
    2. Selection process. Before playing an ace map, each team captain privately submits their team’s player and race to the referee (or neutral third party if no referees are available). Once both teams have submitted, the referee reveals the players and races. (Note: an ace player’s race need not match their race on previous maps.
  12. Penalties for Late Lineup and Substitutions. These penalties can be forgiven by Captains should both teams agree.
    1. Day 1 of a late submission: Late team forfeits their Map Swap. If one is submitted alongside their lineup submission, it will be voided.
    2. Subsequent late submission: Game forfeit. Opponent will start by default with 1 map win, series will still be played in order. This rule applies per instance of the penalty being invoked.
    3. Lineup substitutions. Captains may replace a player in their lineup after lineups are revealed with a different player from their roster who was not in the original lineup. This will incur the same penalty as if the lineup were submitted 1 day late as explained above.
      1. If the team submitting a substitution has forfeited their map swap OR have already performed a map swap, then the Subsequent late submission of a Game forfeit will be enforced.
  13. Referee and arbitration. Captains may request Game Lead assistance in acting as a referee for their match, dependent on availability and situation.
  14. Replays. The CEA requires the winning player from each match to save and submit all replays. There will be a form provided for replay submission prior to match day.

III. Stoppage of Play

  1. Player that requested a pause must announce the reason before or immediately after pause.
  2. Each player is granted a total of 5 minutes pause time during the match.
  3. When resuming the game from pause, both players must confirm in chat that they are ready to continue.
  4. If total pause time runs out, the game must be resumed. If one player refuses to resume the game, the opposing player will receive a win for that game.
  5. The Game Lead holds the right to request teams to pause during the match in case of any other issues. This time will not count against either team (regardless of who pauses the game client).

IV. Prizing

While this season is mostly for fun, there will be:

  • Weekly casted games
  • Finals will be casted by professional casters within the SC2 community!

V. Contact Info

  1. Discord Server: discord.gg/cea
  2. Email Contacts:
    1. Game and Rules related: tournaments@cea.gg
    2. Business, money, and sponsorship related: business@cea.gg
    3. Other: administrator@cea.gg