Season Guide to CSL Fall 2018 - Spring 2019

Starcraft II

General Information

CSL is an intercollegiate gaming league open to all accredited colleges and universities in North America. We will be running a year-long season with weekly matches. There will be one unified division for all teams. Teams will play Team-League Best of Fives (two 1v1s, one 2v2, another 1v1, and one ACE 1v1 set) in two round robin conferences. The first half of the season will feature roughly geographic conferences with the ranking used to seed and redistribute teams for the second half of the season with mixed conferences. The top teams of the second round robin will then advance to a Best of Five single-elimination playoff bracket.

Summary of Key Points

• Regular season format is round robin group play, with the first round robin being roughly regional with the standings used to seed and redistribute teams into the second round robin that will be mixed
• Match format is Team-League Best of Five (1v1, 1v1, 2v2, 1v1, ACE 1v1)
• Playoffs will be a single elimination bracket using the same team-league format
• Teams need (1) a coordinator and (2) a minimum of four unique players; a coordinator may also be a player if eligible

Schedule - First Half

• October 13: Match 1
• October 20: Match 2
• October 27: Match 3
• November 3: Match 4
• November 10: Match 5
• November 17: Extra/Reschedule Week
• November 24: Extra/Reschedule Week
• December 1: Extra/Reschedule Week
• **BREAK**

Schedule - Second Half

• January 12: Match 1
• January 19: Match 2
• January 26: Match 3
• February 2: Match 4
• February 9: Match 5
• February 16: Extra/Reschedule Week
• February 23: Extra/Reschedule Week
• March 2: Extra/Reschedule Week
• **BREAK**

Schedule - Playoffs

• March 16: Ro12
• March 23: Ro8
• March 30: Ro4
• April 6: Ro2

Prize Pool

• Total: $5,000
• 1st: $2,000
• 2nd: $1,000
• 3rd-4th: $500
• 5th-8th: $250

Tips for New Coordinators and Teams

Running a CSL team can be daunting, fun, or both! Here are some tips that we've gathered over the years to make the best of your experience:

1. Read the rules

Carefully. Rules are very important for creating a smooth experience!

2. Pick a responsible coordinator

This is the person who will submit lineups/reports on time, file disputes for forfeits or cheating accusations, and communicate with CSL admins on your behalf on a weekly basis; coordinators will also be responsible for making sure all team members are eligible under the rules. You don't want to incur penalties because your coordinator is disorganized or forgetful!

3. Know that not all players are flexible

The default time for CSL matches is set for Saturday 12:00pm Pacific. Most of the time our teams are friendly and can reschedule, but you may run up against a team that also has other obligations and cannot. Sign your team up for this league knowing that you will have to set aside time on Saturday afternoons.

Official Rules

The following are the official rules of the CSL Starcraft II league. Rules cover eligibility, format, match procedures, reporting, penalties, and more. Any issues that arise which are not covered within the current rules will be settled at the discretion of CSL admins on a case-by-case basis, and when applicable, penalties set when deemed appropriate. Rules may be added or modified if deemed necessary.

Team Eligibility

• Coordinators are responsible for ensuring that all members of the team follow the guidelines outlined in the section: player eligibility
• Each team must belong to an accredited college or university with a physical address (online universities are ineligible). The university must offer at least a 2-year degree program
• All teams must have a minimum of 4 players who are all students at the same university. There is no maximum number of players per team
• If a school has a TOTAL population of less than approximately 5,000, a player may request to join a nearby, affiliated university's team, as a combined team. All such requests will be evaluated by CSL administrators on a case-by-case basis and any exceptions must be renewed on an annual basis. All requests must include evidence of the total student population and a direct affiliation between the two institutions
  • Examples of direct affiliation include but are not limited to: a community college's direct 1:1 feeder/transfer program, an applicable shared academic degree program, or a shared varsity athletics program
    • The type of affiliation will determine the scope of the approved combined team, meaning that full affiliation across the entire school will allow all students to combine, whereas affilation for one specific academic program will only allow those applicable students to combine
  • Regional or satellite campuses of a university are counted as different schools by default, since most act as their own degree-granting institution/legal entity, but may apply for a combined team if the requirements are met
  • 2-year schools such as community and technical colleges are more likely to be counted as one entity, since many act as one combined degree-granting institution/legal entity, and as such, combined teams between different campus locations within that 2-year school will have a total combined population limit of approximately 20,000 between the campuses
• Other factors of determination include, but are not limited to: the student's level of skill, the possibility of forming a team at his or her university, the average skill of the neighboring university, and the potential of rule-abuse. Please send an email to [email protected] with all required relevant information when requesting an exception
  • Procedural note: when sending us an email regarding player exceptions, please make sure to include links to your school’s enrollment numbers, any affiliation with the school you’re looking to join, your own in-game profiles, and any additional information you may think is necessary. We will ignore emails that do not present at least the minimum information required here
  • Procedural note 2: Having a school-affiliation and a population of less than 5,000 does not mean we will accept your exception request! These benchmarks are simply for us to consider the exception. Please understand that - everything needs to be approved via email by us first!

Player Eligibility

• Each player must be currently enrolled in their university with a valid university email address, taking full time courses, and in good standing
  
  • Players must be registered as current students at their team's school unless approved under a combined team; see section: team eligibility
  • Each player must be enrolled as a student with a full time course load for each academic term the season takes place (generally a minimum of 12 credit hours or 3-4 classes for undergrads, depending on the university's requirements). Graduate students are eligible to participate as long as they meet the full time status requirements of their university and program (likely less credits/classes required, or possibly even none on a research track!).
    • One-time exceptions to this rule for part time students are possible for high performing students with an academic history of full time course loads for at least one full school year, and having no prior part time status or other issues (recurring issues are not eligible); please email [email protected] with relevant information about your situation to get approved to participate; exception requests should be made BEFORE the player in question plays in a match
    • Players graduating during the school year season do not have to meet the full time credit requirement if they need less than required amount to graduate, they only need to be part time status, as long as they have been full time for their entire academic history (and in good standing), and they will also continue to be eligible to participate for the rest of the current season if they graduate in the middle of the school year; contact [email protected] if clarification is needed
  • Players must be in "good standing" as defined by their university/program (generally 2.0 term GPA) for the duration of the season to be eligible to participate; standing at the beginning of the season is based on the previous academic term. Students on academic probation, leave of absence, or any circumstances other than the norm of taking enough classes and passing, are unable to play in CSL. Players found in violation of this rule are subject to penalties. See section: penalties
• Players must be registered with a valid Battle Tag and In-game Name (may be different from Battle Tag name)
• Barcode IDs and any other offensive names are not allowed. If a player’s primary ID happens to be a barcode, that player must choose an appropriate name to use for the competition. Failure to have updated information will result in penalties. See section: penalties
• Player registration is open through the regular season. At the end of the last weekend of regular season play, rosters will officially LOCK and no new players may be added
• Players can only play for one school; players on dual enrollment may not play for multiple schools and must be approved by tournament admins
  • In the case of a school transfer, if a player has already played in the current season, they must be reviewed and be approved by the tournament admins at their discretion. Players who have not played a match in the current season will be automatically approved
    
    • If a player continues to play under their original school without explicit approval, they will be counted as an illegal player and may be subject to penalties. See section: penalties
• Players cannot switch schools during the season, even in the case of a transfer of schools. This means that if players transfer schools mid-season, they should still play for the team they registered for at the start of the season
• Players cannot be suspended by CSL for previous infractions outside of the CSL
• CSL staff may request and check transcripts/academic files of all players any time during the season. Failure to provide proof of education will result in penalties. See section: penalties

Regular Season Format

• There will be a single unified division for all teams
• There is no limit to the number of teams registered per school. Participants may only play for one SC2 team for the duration of the season; once they participate in a match, that player will be locked onto that roster for the duration of the season
• CSL will organize teams into (roughly) geographical first round robin conferences with the rankings deciding how teams will be distributed for the mixed second round robin conferences

Playoffs and Tie Breakers

• Seeding for playoffs is based on performance during the second round robin. Bracket setup is systematic and there is no inter-group seeding to skew the positions and forcing teams from the same groups to play each other early on (e.g. 1st place in group A = 1st place in group B)
• In the playoffs, the same rules and procedures as during the regular season will apply
• To determine the top performing regular season teams we rank the following criteria:
  • Match record (defined by total matches won - total matches lost)
  • Set differential, if applicable (defined by taking the total number of sets won - total number of sets lost). A set is defined as a single game or map within a match or series
  • Head-to-head matchup, if applicable
  • Number of forfeits and infractions
• In the case of teams being tied in both match score and differentials with no head-to-head result available and no difference in infractions, the teams will play in a tiebreaker round which will be a series of matches between the tied teams, played with the regular season CSL format to determine final rankings
  • Tiebreaker games are ONLY played if the result will impact priority seeding positions (defined as a seed which grants a first round BYE vs not receiving a BYE, or a seed granting a playoff spot versus not granting a playoff spot)
  • Ties that DO NOT affect priority seeding positions (e.g. if two teams are tied for the 12th and 13th seed) will be decided by coin toss rather than a tiebreaker match

Match Format

• Teams will compete against each other in weekly matches throughout the season.
• Default times for matches are Saturdays 12:00pm Pacific
• The form of competition is Starcraft II: Legacy of the Void, played on the current patch
• Match format is two 1v1s, one 2v2, another 1v1, and one 1v1 closing ACE set with unannounced players. The match goes to the team that first gets to three wins in order by lineup
  • Set 1: 1v1
  • Set 2: 1v1
  • Set 3: 2v2
  • Set 4: 1v1
  • Set 5: 1v1 (ACE)
• Players MUST be fielded according to the submitted lineup (unless a substitution is used)
• Random racing is allowed
• A player must play the race they specify during lineup submission
• A player can play at most twice in one match: the 2v2 set may reuse a single player along with the ACE set, however a player can only play in two sets (e.g. cannot play 1v1/2v2/Ace). In the 2v2 and Ace sets, a player may play a different race than the race chosen for the normal 1v1 sets; e.g. Player A plays Protoss in set 1 and chooses Terran in the Ace set
  • To expand further: the 2v2 may reuse a single player in one of the other three normal sets, meaning that the first four sets must use (4) unique players
• Maps will be determined at the start of the season, with a revision period between the end of the regular season and the start of the playoffs. At that time, the map pool may be changed or adjusted based on current trends

Map Order

Ro16 - 3/16	Ro8 - 3/23	Ro4 - 3/30	Ro2 - 4/6
Year Zero LE	Kairos Junction LE	King's Cove LE	Port Aleksander LE
Port Aleksander LE	Cyber Forest LE	Year Zero LE	New Repugnancy LE
Dusty Gorge	Overgrown Facility	Dusty Gorge	Overgrown Facility
King's Cove LE	Year Zero LE	Automaton LE	King's Cove LE
New Repugnancy LE	Automaton LE	Kairos Junction LE	Cyber Forest LE

Gameplay Rules

• All matches will take place on the North American Battle.net server
• Each game is to be played in the specified format (1v1 or 2v2) and game speed "Faster"
• CSL prefers matches to be played simultaneously, minus sets with reused players, to ensure a smoother match and prevent possible cheating. However, both teams may agree to play out the match in sequential fashion to allow their own observers/casters, but by doing so they will also waive their right to contest the match results due to observer ghosting or stream cheating. **NOTE: If CSL is broadcasting your match, expect it to be played SEQUENTIALLY
• All live streamed matches must have at least a 3 minute delay, with both teams consenting. PLEASE NOTE: any time a game is streamed there is the potential for cheating
  • CSL admins or streamers are the only observers allowed in each game by default. Players, however, have a right to request no observers in a game with the exception of official CSL administrators or casters
  • Teams who wish to have additional observers in-game may do so only with the approval of the opposing coordinator. Teams who wish to stream their own games must likewise first get the approval of the opposing coordinator. Teams who allow observers or their own streamers, however, understand the possibility of cheating and will subsequently waive their right to complain about observer cheating or stream cheating
  • A match officially broadcast by CSL may not have any other observers, superseding the above mentioned observer rules
• Disconnected players have 5 minutes to reconnect before the coordinator must sub or forfeit the set. 3 disconnections become an automatic set forfeit. Note: this sub counts as one of the 3 allowed substitutions for the season
• In the case that a player is unintentionally dropped, we will use the resume from replay function and continue playing the match once the player has reconnected. If the player continues to disconnect, or does not reconnect in the 5 minute timeframe, the team who suffered the disconnect has the choice to sub the player out (starting a new game), or submit the replay to an administrator to judge the outcome. Once this happens all decisions made by the administrator are final
• For 2v2 disconnected games, random players must pick the race they rolled the first time if scouted/engaged
• Resource transferring is established as legal, however, teams are not allowed to intentionally drop a player in the 2v2 set to "mineral feed" their teammate before mineral feeding is allowed at the 5:00 minute mark. Doing so will result in a forfeit for the violating team
• Interactions should be limited to glhf or related (for STARTING the game), gg, good game or related (for ENDING the game), and general game set up, technical problems, or other game-relevant issues. Excessive or bad mannered interactions may result in penalties for the offending player and team. See section: penalties
  • All interactions, including but not limited to, chat, PM, emotes, emails, or any other interactions, whether in-game or outside the game, will fall under this rule; to put it simply, if a team tells you to stop interacting with them, your team must cease all interactions, other than for necessary technical-related issues
  • Procedural note: To claim a set win, please request politely: "please stop interacting with us or I am reporting you for an interaction violation," and then do not respond to further provocations by other players. If the other player continues to interact with your team, it would be perfectly acceptable to, at that point, leave the game and send us the replay, VOD, or other evidence to claim a win
    • Note that violation forfeit requests will be denied if your team does not follow the proper procedures, your team also uses bad manners yourselves, or if your team is goading the opponents into it
• IMPORTANT NOTE: Remember, results will stand if you play through the game. If there are problems or issues (lag, chat violations, etc) that call for a regame or forfeit, please pause the game and speak to a CSL admin. If you play through the game, you CANNOT retroactively request regames or forfeits (unless both teams agree on a regame)

Substitutions

• Teams will be allowed 3 substitutions for the entire season; substitutes must come from their CSL team roster
• Coordinators may make just 1 substitution per match (subbing out a 2v2 pair counts as a single substitution), and substitutes must be the same race as the original player specified in the lineup. Additional subs may only be made with the express permission of the opposing team. This permission must be documented and submitted as proof for substitution
• Substitutes cannot be chosen from the lineup of the match for which they are substituting
• No set swapping is allowed (e.g. subbing player out of Set 1 and into Set 2)

Administrative Rules

• Each team will have a coordinator that is responsible for organizing his or her team, submitting lineups and results, taking accurate screenshots as evidence for forfeits and other issues, and serving as a point of contact with CSL staff and other coordinators. The coordinator is also responsible for making sure all team members are eligible under the rules.
  • Lineups are due Thursday at 11:59pm Pacific, but may be submitted and/or changed by the team coordinator at any point before the deadline
• The pre-set time for all matches is Saturday at 12:00pm Pacific. Matches must be played at the default time unless both teams agree to play at a different time. Normal non-broadcasted regular season matches may be rescheduled to any date before or after the default date, through the last week of that group stage; there is also a Reschedule Week specifically set aside to accommodate reschedules if no other date can be agreed upon due to holidays. No playoff matches may be postponed past the default weekend except for CSL broadcast purposes (exceptions may be granted on a case-by-case basis upon detailed review by CSL administrative staff)
  • Procedural note: When agreeing to reschedule a match, both teams must email [email protected] with the agreed upon date and time to confirm or provide applicable evidence of the reschedule. Once this date and time is agreed on it will be considered the new official match time, and forfeit rules will apply to it
• A team that does not show up for a match 15 minutes after the default start time will forfeit the match. Players are given a 3 minute grace period in between sets; a player who is not ready for his specific set within 3 minutes of the previous game ending auto-forfeits
  • Procedural note: in order to claim a forfeit win, please click the “request forfeit” button on the match page ON THE CSL WEBSITE, submit your screenshot (if you have multiple, please combine them into one image) and write a brief description to explain the situation. An administrator will then review your request and accept or deny it. If your request is denied, you likely did not show the proper evidence or timestamp in your screenshot; check with the tournament admins if clarification is needed
• Teams can not intentionally drop a player in the 2v2 set to "mineral feed" their teammate. Players who drop before 5:00 minutes will be considered intentional droppers, and the game will be remade. If you continue to play after 5:00 minutes with the intention to attack using shared resources, the feeding team will forfeit the match
• Match results must be uploaded to the website as soon as possible; even if your match is broadcasted, all teams must still report their matches. All unreported or unfinished/pending matches will result in a loss for BOTH teams after the reporting deadline on the last weekend of each group stage. Unreported playoff matches will result in BOTH teams being removed
  • In order to report your match, the coordinator of the winning team MUST: (1) select the winner of each set, and (2) submit the replay of each set. Failure to accurately report games will result in the penalties. See section; penalties
  • Teams found to upload incorrect or fake replays will be subject to a penalty. See section: penalties
• Coordinators are allowed two grace periods for late lineup submissions, so long as they are submitted within 24 hours of the due date. Subsequent late submissions result in automatic ascending set forfeits, starting from the ACE set, by day. If the lineup has not been submitted by the time of the match, it is an automatic match loss
  • Because lineups are locked after their deadline, please submit late lineups via email to [email protected]. Include player handles and races as well as set numbers
• If assistance is needed, please email [email protected]. For live assistance, there will be an admin available on CSL's official DISCORD CHANNEL during the default match time. Click HERE! to download the app and join the CSL channel!
  • During the week, CSL will have open "office hours" on our official DISCORD CHANNEL. Mondays 8pm-9pm PST you'll be able to hop on our DISCORD and receive assistance from our admins

Broadcast Rules

1. If your team has been selected for a broadcast your coordinator will be notified via email
2. The match will be moved from the default time to a broadcasted time slot. Please check your individual team pages to confirm these changes
3. Yes, this is mandatory
4. Once you're scheduled for a broadcast you may not move or reschedule the match without the approval of the production director. Doing so or playing ahead of your broadcasted time will result in a forfeit for both teams
5. This year we will allow teams to notify us no later than 7 days prior to their broadcast date if they have an issue with the time presented. Any team that cancels later than that 7 day period will be automatically forfeited.(Certain times there will be exceptions, e.x. first couple weeks of the fall, as it's very sudden for those team to prepare/adjust schedules for match times.)
6. This year we will be a lot more stricter on the 4pmPT and 7pmPT start times. Same goes with rules in regards to showing up late. Please keep this in mind as you register for spring classes
7. If your team is planning on dropping out or going inactive please let the production director or one of the admins know asap. Going dark and not saying anything leaves us vulnerable and creates a bad impression of your team/school
8. You can view the publicly available broadcast schedule HERE (TBD)

Penalties and Bannable Offenses

• Player verification: a player who fails academic verification by CSL (e.g. on probation, fails to send in files, etc...) will have all of his or her CSL matches overturned. That player will also be banned for the remainder of the CSL season and the following season. If it is found that the coordinator knowingly used an ineligible player upon investigation, the coordinator may be removed from his or her position, or harsher penalties may be levied on the team, on a case by case basis. The team will also forfeit a minimum of 20% of all prizes, but may be higher, depending on the severity of the case as determined by CSL admins
  • Addendum: a student who starts the season eligible to play, but ends up on academic probation mid-way through the year will not be allowed to play in any future matches, but his or her previous games will stand as valid. Any such case should be pointed out immediately to CSL administrators. Failure to do so will result in the penalty listed above for any game a player plays after going on probation. Failure to notify CSL administration of such cases will again, result in penalties
• Falsifying records: a player or coordinator found falsifying records, including but not limited to a student's enrollment or transcript information, will be immediately removed from the league and banned for 1 year. Furthermore, any and all matches played by the player in question will be overturned and all prize money earned by the entire team will be forfeit
• Incorrect Battle.net IDs: We will send one warning to the COORDINATOR of the team if his or her players are found with incorrect Battle.net IDs in their profile. The errors must be corrected before the team's next match. If the error is not fixed by the time of the team's next match, said team will receive one game loss, and will continue receiving one loss each week the player's information is not correctly updated
• False or incorrect result reporting: Teams who upload false or incorrect results will receive one warning. A 2nd warning will result in the reversal of the game(s) in question. A 3rd warning will result in the entire match score being reversed. Any further infractions will result in removal from the league
• Illegal Players: Players can only be an active player on ONE SC2 team for their school. Illegally using a player from another SC2 team in the school will result in a match forfeit penalty, and potentially having the player suspended from ALL activities in CSL and the team removed from the season, depending on the circumstances; CSL admins will determine the adequate punishment for repeat offenders at their discretion. If your opponent is using an illegal player, notify an admin immediately
• Bad manner: Players who use excessive bad manner, insults, or other such related behavior towards another player or admin as determined by CSL staff will be given a single warning. Another instance of excessive bad manner will result in the offending player being banned from the current season. In more extreme cases, a player may be banned without warning, permanently, at CSL tournament admin discretion
• Hacking, Ghosting, Stream Cheating: Any type of use of an illegal 3rd party program or map hack, stream cheating, or other activity that leads to one player gaining an unfair advantage will be immediately banned from the current season and 1 year thereafter. Furthermore, any and all prize money earned by that player will be forfeit, and all his or her matches reversed. For documentation purposes, prize money earned by an individual will be calculated by taking the team's winnings divided by the amount of players total (e.g. $10,000 / 6 players)
• If a team that is selected to play a LIVE BROADCAST game fails to show up for its match on schedule, and did not notify us of any scheduling conflicts during the registration period will be subject to ONE warning. A second instance of a team not showing up to a live broadcast slot will result in a forfeit of $150 in any prize money the team wins. This amount will double for each subsequent violation
• If a team qualifies for the live Grand Final and can not attend -- the team will forfeit 2/5 of its total prize money for every member who cannot attend

For any Starcraft related questions - please feel free to email us at [email protected] or speak to an admin live during office hours on DISCORD in the Starcraft Tournament chat every Monday 8pm-9pm PST