Tournament Rules

Your VALIS display name is how staff and opponents identify you. Accurate, current names protect the integrity of match records and let staff verify rosters before play.

• Your VALIS display name must match your Xbox or PlayStation gamertag exactly. Capitalization, spacing, special characters, and numerals all matter — staff use your VALIS name to verify you in matches.
• If your gamertag changes (rebrand, platform switch, etc.), update your VALIS display name to match.
• Name changes are allowed once every 14 days from your Account page.
• If you need to change your name before the 14-day window is up — for example, because your gamertag changed mid-season — contact staff at competitive@valis.gg or on our Discord.
• Impersonation — using a name that resembles another player's or staff member's identity — is grounds for sanction.

Tournament teams are separate entities from Crucible teams. Membership on a Crucible team does not imply membership on a tournament team, and vice versa.

• Tournament teams are region-locked. An NA team competes only in NA tournaments; an EU team only in EU tournaments.
• Minimum roster size is 5 approved members for sign-up to any qualifier week.
• Maximum roster size is 20 approved members, with up to 3 captains per team.
• A player may be on more than one tournament team across regions, but only one per region.
• Joining a team requires the team captain (or staff) to approve the request.
• A team's roster locks during active competition windows. Joins, leaves, captain promotions, and kicks are blocked while the team is signed up for the current stage of an open tournament.

Captains (or staff) sign their team up for individual qualifier weeks of an active minor tournament. Teams cannot sign themselves up for playoffs or the year-end major — those are seeded by staff based on points and roster gates.

• Sign-ups for each qualifier week stay open until staff advances the tournament to that week's stage and generates the bracket.
• Once the bracket exists for a week, that week's participating teams are locked.
• A team can sign up for any combination of the 5 qualifier weeks. Each week is independent — missing one doesn't penalize you in the others.
• Withdrawing from a qualifier week is allowed only while sign-ups are still open. Once the bracket is generated, withdrawals require staff intervention.

Joining or creating a tournament team is request-based. These limits keep the request queue manageable and prevent users from spamming captains.

• Each user may have up to 3 pending requests at a time across all teams. Includes both join requests and create-team requests.
• If a join request is rejected, you must wait 5 minutes before submitting another request to the same team.
• When you're approved into a team, your other pending requests for the same region are automatically rejected. Pending requests in the other region stay alive.
• Create-team requests with a region preference of "Both" become "the other region only" if you join a team in one region — the team can still be created in the still-open region without a re-submission.
• Only the team captain (or staff) can approve join requests. Captains can also reject pending requests.
• Captains can request to disband their team. Only one disband request can be pending per team at a time. Staff review and approve disband requests; approval permanently removes the team and all its history is preserved for league records.

Each qualifier week runs as a single-elimination bracket. Teams that fail to show up for a scheduled match are subject to a forfeit and a no-show notation that may affect future seeding considerations.

• Match times are scheduled by staff and posted in the tournament Discord channel.
• A team must field at least 5 of its approved members to play a match.
• Substitutions during a match are not permitted except in cases of disconnect or hardware failure, subject to staff approval.
• Forfeit grace period: a team is granted up to 15 minutes past scheduled start time before a no-show is declared.

After each qualifier week's bracket completes, staff awards Qualifier Points (QP) and snapshots the participating teams' rosters. The roster snapshot is used to evaluate the playoff roster gate. Players who join the team after the points-award snapshot will not count toward that week's participation.

Each qualifier week awards Qualifier Points (QP) to the top 12 placements. QP determines minor playoff seeding. After playoffs, top 8 placements earn Tournament Points (TP), which accumulate across all minors and determine seeding for the year-end major. The major itself awards no points — it is the championship event.

Placements outside the top 12 (qualifier) or top 8 (minor playoffs) earn 0 points. QP resets to 0 when its minor completes; TP carries across all minors in the season and resets when the major is marked completed.

After all 5 qualifier weeks complete, staff seeds the minor playoffs. To be eligible, a team must clear both of these gates:

• Weeks gate — must have played in at least 3 of the 5 qualifier weeks of this minor.
• Roster gate — at least 75% of the team's current approved roster must have played in 2 or more qualifier weeks with this team (rounded up). Only currently-rostered members count; players who left the team after participating do not contribute to the percentage.

Among eligible teams, the top 8 by QP are seeded into the double-elimination playoff bracket. Ties are broken in this order: higher QP wins, more weeks played wins, older team (creation date) wins, alphabetical by team name (final fallback).

After all three minors of the year have completed, staff seeds the year-end major. To be eligible, a team must clear both gates:

• Points gate — at least 1 Tournament Point (TP), meaning the team finished top 8 in the playoff bracket of at least one minor.
• Roster gate — at least 50% of the team's current approved roster must have played in at least 1 minor with this team (rounded up). Same rule as the minor: only currently-rostered members count.

Among eligible teams, the top 8 by total TP across all three minors are seeded into the major's double-elimination bracket. Ties are broken: higher TP wins, more total tournaments played wins, older team wins, alphabetical (final fallback).

If fewer than 8 teams clear both gates, the bracket runs short — empty seeds are filled with byes. The major never delays for additional qualification.

No Tournament Points are awarded for the major. It's the championship event — TP earned across the year's three minors decides who gets in; the major itself determines the regional season champion. After the major completes, all season points reset for the next year.

• Match format and game count are determined per tournament and posted in the tournament Discord channel before the bracket begins.
• Both teams are responsible for verifying that all players are present and ready before the match starts.
• Disconnects: a player who disconnects mid-game may be given a brief grace period to reconnect, at the discretion of the match observer or staff.
• Map / mode picks (where applicable) follow the format published for that tournament.
• Streaming your own match is permitted but a stream delay is required to prevent stream-sniping. The recommended delay is at least 2 minutes.
• Final scores must be reported in the match chat for staff to record. See Section 10 for the details and Section 11 if the result is disputed.

Each bracket match unlocks a private chat the moment both teams are seeded into it. The chat is visible only to players on either team's current roster and to staff. Use it to coordinate the match, report the final score, ask quick questions, or call for staff help.

• Who can see it: only players currently approved on either competing team's roster, plus staff. Spectators and players from other teams cannot view the chat.
• When it's open: from the moment both teams are seeded until a winner is reported. Once the match is completed, the chat becomes read-only.
• Score reporting: the match chat is the required channel for reporting tournament match results. After a match concludes, a captain from each team posts the final score in the chat for confirmation, and staff record the result from there. This applies to tournament matches only — Crucible ladder matches continue to use the Discord /match command per the Crucible rules.
• Message length: 500 characters maximum per message. Posting is throttled to prevent spam.
• Edits and deletes: you can edit or delete your own messages while the chat is active. Staff may delete any message for moderation.
• Need Staff button: raises a help flag visible to staff anywhere in the bracket. Use it for disputes, opponent misconduct, technical issues, or anything that needs admin intervention. Staff dismiss the flag when they've handled it.
• Chats are ephemeral: all match chat history is automatically purged when staff awards qualifier or tournament points for the relevant stage, and when a major is marked completed. Do not treat match chat as a permanent record — including the scores reported in it, which staff will have already captured into the official bracket record before the chat is purged.

Conduct in match chat is held to the same standards as the rest of VALIS. Harassment, slurs, and any conduct that would get you sanctioned elsewhere will get you sanctioned here too. Staff retain message-delete and chat-wipe authority at their discretion.

Disputes about a tournament match must be filed by a team captain through the staff support channel within 30 minutes of the match concluding. Late disputes will not be considered absent extraordinary circumstances.

• Disputes should include: match ID or round, the specific issue, and supporting evidence (screenshots, VOD timestamps, or recorded clips).
• Staff will review and issue a ruling. Where evidence is conclusive, results may be reversed, replays mandated, or sanctions issued.
• Staff rulings on tournament matches are final.

Prize pools, when offered, are announced ahead of each tournament. Distribution is by final placement after the playoff bracket concludes.

• Prizes are paid to a single team representative (typically the team captain) for distribution to roster members. Disputes about internal team payment splits are outside staff jurisdiction.
• Players on any sanction or active investigation at the time of prize awarding may have their share withheld pending resolution.
• Prize amounts shown on the tournament page reflect the announced prize pool. Total payouts may differ slightly due to per-region adjustments or rounding.

Tournament participants are held to the same conduct standards as Crucible competitors, with additional expectations around bracket play:

• No harassment, slurs, hate speech, or targeted personal attacks against opponents, teammates, staff, or observers.
• No throwing matches, no collusion between teams, no result-rigging.
• Captains are responsible for their team's conduct. Repeated rule violations by team members may result in captain-level sanctions.
• Account sharing or roster fraud (playing under another person's account) is grounds for immediate disqualification and may result in a multi-tournament ban.

Penalties for rule violations may include, in order of escalation:

• Warning (logged, no immediate impact).
• Match forfeit (the specific match is awarded to the opponent).
• Point deduction (QP or TP penalty applied to the team's running total).
• Disqualification from the current tournament.
• Multi-tournament suspension (team or individual player level).
• Permanent ban from VALIS competitive events.

Penalties are issued by staff based on severity, history, and context. A team or individual may appeal a sanction by contacting staff, but staff retains final authority.

VALIS competitive staff have full authority over tournament operation, including but not limited to: bracket generation and seeding, match scheduling, result verification, prize distribution, and rule interpretation.

Where these rules are silent or ambiguous, staff make the call. Where these rules conflict with announced per-tournament rulings or format documents, the per-tournament document takes precedence.