W3BL-1 Rules

Please note that these rules may change throughout the season, and all rules are subject to an administrator’s interpretation and may be altered as they see fit. Both managers and players must know the rules and ignorance is not an excuse.


1. Information
1.1 Warcraft 3 Battlegrounds League
1.2 The email address for W3BL is W3BLeague@Gmail.com.
1.3 All participating teams agree and are expected to abide by the league rules for all W3BL related events and communications.
1.4 All stated days and times mentioned on W3BL forums and rules refer to the Eastern Standard Time zone (EST = GMT -04:00), unless stated otherwise.
1.5 Match - A match consists of a series of best out of one (BO1) games where the winner advances to the next match. Players that lose a map are eliminated from the war. A match is won by defeating all four players of the opposing team.
1.6 Regular Season - The W3BL regular Season consists of 10 overall teams.
1.7 Playoffs - Four teams with the highest score from the regular season go on to play single elimination. The winner of the season playoffs is crowned champion of W3BL.
1.8 Manners - All players and team affiliates are required to maintain an adequate standard of conduct at all times. Manners are expected to be upheld at W3BL related events/communication.

2. Definitions
2.1 Teams - A team consisting of a minimum of 5 unique players that collectively apply and compete together as a single unit. Players may only be a part of a single team.
2.2 Team Organizer/Manager - Each team must designate at least one member to represent, manage, and administer the team. Managers coordinate the match time/date and arrangements with league administrators and other team managers.
2.3 Players - Players competing in W3BL must be a member of only one organization at any given time. This includes sole membership in other tournaments and leagues.
2.4 Membership - Team membership is based on the official roster posted in the WGS Team Profiles.
2.5 Joker Card - A Joker card can be used to revive a player that was defeated during the match. The revived player will take the place of a player on the lineup who has not yet played.

3. Scheduling Matches
3.1 Team managers are wholly responsible for the scheduling of matches.
3.2 All team managers must have an MSN Messenger that is displayed in their "Profile".
3.3 The scheduled time must be submitted by both teams on the website by Thursday 11:59pm EST (Friday 5:59 CET) every play week.
3.4 The match can not be scheduled outside of the current play week. The play weeks run from Monday - Sunday.
3.5 If a date cannot be agreed upon by the team managers, then an administrator is to be contacted so that he may decide a preset time for the match.

4. Lineups
4.1 The line-ups are to be submitted by the team manager on the website at least 30 minutes before the match scheduled time.
4.2 Line-ups will be posted 30 minutes before the scheduled time.
4.3 Line-ups cannot be changed once they are posted on the front page.
4.4 Line-ups will not be accepted beyond the match schedule time, and the match will result in a forfeit win in favor of the team that submitted their line up.
4.5 ALL PLAYERS MUST PLAY THEIR SELECTED RACE FOR THEIR FIRST GAME IN THE LINEUP, OTHER THEN THEIR FIRST GAME, YOU CAN SWITCH RACE

5.Roster
5.1 A player may only be on one team roster.
5.2 A roster cannot exceed 15 players.
5.3 Roster additions can be made on any day, however that player must wait until the next play week in order to be eligible for play (e.g. Adding on week 3 will result in week 4 playability).

6. Playing Matches
6.1 A match consist of a series of best out of one (BO1) games where the winner advances to the next match. Players that lose a map are eliminated from the war. A match is won by defeating all four players of the opposing team.
6.1.1 In the event of a no-show or forfeit, the team that showed up will be given four points and the no-show/forfeit clan will be given zero.
6.2 The use of GGC Client (default meeting room: "GGL League Room") is MANDATORY as long as one team prefers GGC, but clans can mutually agree to play on BNet (default meeting channel: "W3BL").
6.2.1 There are special cases where match can be played on Battle.net due to client compatibility issues or server issues.
6.3 A player is allowed to have a 5 minute break after each individual game.
6.4 If a player is not back after 5 minutes, unless otherwise planned, a forfeit win may be in favor of the one who is not away from the keyboard.
6.5 Manner is expected to be upheld at W3BL League Matches.
6.6 A player is never allowed to leave the game intentionally, and will result in an automatic forfeit win for the opposing player.
6.7 If a team is more than twenty minutes late, they forfeit the match, and their opponents will receive the forfeit win.
6.8 If a team's starting player is 10 minutes late, it will result in a forfeit of the first map, and the next player on the lineup will play.
6.9 Players reserve the right to call "No observers" in which only a league administrator and the host may observe the game.
6.10 The map pool is the set of maps each team organizer may draw from when announcing the player and map for the following match. e.g. if Echo Isles is the starting map, it can and will be used a total of three times.
6.11 After a map has been played it is removed from the shared map pool with the exception of the first map.
6.12 If a team is removed from the league, a suitable replacement may be selected to replace the team or else all teams will receive 4 points for the match against the removed team.
6.13 Only 1 Joker or SubCard is allow to use in one Clan war

7. Joker Card
7.1 A team has two Joker Cards for the regular season; no Joker Cards can be used in the playoffs.
7.2 A team may use only one Joker Card during a match.

8. Hosting & Lag
8.1 All teams should bring a mutual host to match.
8.2 The host must be agreed on by both players.
8.3 Matches must be played on GGC unless agreed by both players/teams to play on BNet.
8.4 If a player is experiencing lag, he may save the game for a re-host. Leaving a game without agreement between the other player and after the 2 minute mark constitutes a forfeit.

9. Disconnection
9.1 If a player disconnects before 2 minute mark has been reached, a re-game is in order.
9.1.1 If a player scouts or there is interaction between the 2 players, rule 8.1 is subject to an administrator’s verdict.
9.1.2 If a player disconnects after the 2 minute mark, an administrator will decide if a player wins or if a re-game is in order, unless both players agree to re-game.
9.1.3 If an administrator is not present to judge the replay, the forfeit win will be given to the player who did not disconnect, unless a re-game is agreed to by both players.
9.1.4 Observers are not allowed to leave the game without a legitimate reason due to recent problems with GGC. Leaving prematurely and causing a game crash may result in a loss for the leaving team depending on admin decision.

10. Replays
10.1 All managers must upload THEIR OWN REPLAYS!!!

11. Penalty Points system
11.1 Penalty Points are assigned to a team and are cumulative over the season.
11.2 Penalty points may only be assigned by a W3BL administrator.
11.3 Three penalty points will result in the loss of one point from the team’s standings.
11.4 Five or more penalty points accumulated during the regular season will result in the teams disqualification from the league.
11.5 Penalty points may be issued for the following, but not limited to:
11.5.1 Missing Replays (0.5 per replay)
11.5.2 Late or missing lineups (0.5)
11.5.3 Forfeit map (0.5)
11.5.4 Forfeit match (2.0)
11.5.5 Behavior deemed to be unmannered and inappropriate (0.5PP - 2.0PP, and possible suspension(s) of those involved, depending on the nature of the bad manner)
11.5.6 Use of unapproved 3rd party programs (~3.0 and expulsion from W3BL)
11.5.7 Roster abuse - this includes "double-tagging" and use of invalid players (~3.0 and expulsion from W3BL)
11.5.8 Cheating of any kind (~3.0 and expulsion from W3BL)
11.5.9 Misleading the administrators (~2.0/possible expulsion from W3BL)
11.5.10 Playing outside of a play week (0.5)
11.5.11 Any other misconduct as judged by an administrator can and will be penalized.

12. Etiquette
12.1 Any form of poor player or manager conduct will result in the following actions.
12.1.1 Primary acts of poor player or manager conduct will result in a warning.
12.1.2 If an admin feels that a warning is not enough, they may assign 0.5PP - 2.0PP.
12.1.3 If penalty points is not enough, we will start forfeiting maps.
12.2 Host must provide equal number of spots to each team.
12.2.1 The host, any present administrators, and the players are not included in rule 12.2.
12.2.2 If there are eight free spots total, then four free spots will be given to one team, while the other four will be given to the other team.

13. Points System
13.1 At the end of a match, the score difference is added to the winning team's total, while it is deducted from the losing team’s total.

14. Pre-Game Comments
14.1 Each team is required to post a pre-game comment of adequate quality. Too short or unappropriate statements (Such as any variation of just GL HF!) may result in a penalty.
14.2 When you send lineup to W3BLEAGUE@GMAIL.COM please include pre-game comment.