Playing a Team League Round

Every round of a team league works the same way. Your club meets one other club in a fixture of six one-game boards, and the round moves through the same steps each time. This page walks through them, for captains (who do most of the work) and for players (who play a board).

"Captain" here means anyone who runs the club: its owner and its captains. Any of them can do every captain step below.

The round at a glance

The draft phase is a number of days the organizer sets (three by default), counted from the round's scheduled start. The round's end date is the play deadline.

Rounds open by themselves at their start time, and an organizer can also open one early. Nothing on this page can be done until your round is open.

The fixture page

Each fixture has its own page. Open the League tab, find your fixture under the round, and press Lineups on its card. The round's opening notice, and the ones about a late lineup or assignment, link straight to it. The round's opening notice and the lineup and assignment reminders go one step further: they open the page at the form you owe and put the focus on it, so you don't have to scroll to find it.

At the top of the page a bar tells you where the fixture stands, and it stays in view as you scroll:

• When you owe something, it says what and when, with one button that takes you to the form: Submit lineup, Record the draft or Assign fighters. The due time is shown in your own time zone, and turns into Overdue · was due … once the deadline has passed.
• When your board is ready to play, a seated player sees their board and opponent, for example Board 2 · A vs Alex, and an Open your board button that opens the board's match page.
• Otherwise it shows the same status line everyone sees, such as Waiting on Stars' lineup, Lineups are in · waiting on the draft record, or Boards in play: 3/6 done.

Captains are only asked to act while the round is open.

The page updates by itself. When the other club submits its lineup or its fighter assignment, both appear on your open page without a reload. Your own board is marked You in the board list, and each board in the list opens that board's match page. Every board's match page has a link back to its fixture at the top, such as Round 3 · Stars vs Comets.

1. Submit your lineup

A lineup puts six of your players into six places: 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b. The forms show these as Board 1 · A to Board 3 · B. Your 1a plays their 1a, and so on.

The form only offers players who can legally take each place, given what you've picked already. The rules it follows:

• six different players, all on your club's season roster;
• a Board 1 player plays only 1a or 1b, and a Board 3 player only 3a or 3b;
• at most one Board 2 player may play outside 2a and 2b in a round;
• substitutes can play. Being a sub is about the roster, not about who's allowed in a lineup.

A player whose season entry is still waiting for the organizer's approval can't be fielded.

When all six places are filled and legal, the form says Legal lineup — ready to submit. Press Submit lineup. If the other club has already submitted, the button reads Submit and reveal both lineups instead, with a note beside it: both lineups open the moment you submit, and neither club can change theirs after.

Your lineup is sealed. The other club can't see it, and you can't see theirs, until both clubs have submitted. Until then you can change yours with Update lineup as often as you like. The moment the second lineup lands, both open together and everyone can see them. From then on only the organizer can change a lineup, and they have to record a reason.

Occasionally the league refuses a lineup the form thought was fine, under the heading The league refused this lineup. That usually means your roster changed while the page was open. Reload and pick again.

The lineup deadline

The deadline is shown on the fixture page. For new seasons it's 23:59 on the round's first day, in the season's time zone. Your organizer can move it to a later day of the round, or switch the season to a number of hours after the round opens instead; seasons created before the end-of-day rule existed use hours (24 by default) until their organizer changes it.

The deadline counts from the round's scheduled start, even if the organizer opened the round early. If the organizer moves a round, its deadline moves with it, and you're told the new one.

Captains who still owe a lineup get a reminder a few hours before the deadline (six by default). The reminder is about one fixture and links to its lineup form; a captain of two clubs playing in different fixtures gets one for each.

If a lineup is late

Nothing is filled in for anyone. When the deadline passes with a lineup missing:

• the club that did submit stays sealed: its lineup is not revealed;
• the late club's captains, and the organizer, are notified;
• the fixture shows A lineup is overdue.

The organizer can enter the late lineup themselves, or approve one you send them. While the round is still open, the late club can also still submit its own lineup from the fixture page, and that opens both lineups as usual. Either way, nothing moves until someone acts, so chase it.

2. Draft your fighters and maps

The draft doesn't happen on the website. Your two clubs hold it however your league runs it, usually live with one drafter from each club. Once lineups are revealed you know who plays whom, which is the point of doing lineups first.

The Bans section at the bottom of the League tab shows the fighters and maps that can't be drafted this round. Open your division's row to see them, and check it before you draft.

3. Record the draft

Once the draft is done, either club's captain writes it down on the fixture page under Record the draft:

• twelve fighter picks, in draft order. Picks alternate between the clubs, starting with the club listed first on the fixture. Each club ends up with six different fighters;
• one map for each of the six places.

The pickers are searchable. Fighters and maps that can't be picked stay in the list but are greyed out, with the reason underneath: Banned through round 4, Picked at #3 or On board 1a, for example. If the season has a fighter or map pool, the record can only use what's in it.

The record is public as soon as it's saved. The other club's captain is told it's in, along with the assignment deadline.

Fixing a mistake. Until either club has sealed its fighter assignment, either captain can press Re-record the draft. The old record is kept in the fixture's history. Once a club has sealed its assignment, only the organizer can re-record it. If you think the recorded draft is wrong, press Dispute this record, say what's wrong, and press Send to the organizer. Your organizer is told; nothing on the fixture changes until they act.

If the organizer re-records the draft before the assignments are revealed, any sealed assignments are cleared and both clubs assign again.

4. Assign your fighters

Now each captain decides which of your six drafted fighters each of your six players will use. In your club's fighter assignment form, pick a fighter for each place. Each of your six drafted fighters plays exactly once, and only your own six are offered.

Press Seal assignment. Like the lineup, it is sealed until both clubs have sealed theirs, you can change it until then with Update assignment, and the moment the second one lands, every board's fighters become public. If the other club has already sealed, the button reads Seal and reveal both assignments, with the same note as the lineup. After that only the organizer can change one.

The assignment is due at the end of the draft phase: that many days after the round's scheduled start, at the same time of day. Captains who haven't sealed theirs get a reminder before the deadline, and if the draft isn't recorded yet, both captains get a nudge too. A late assignment works like a late lineup: nothing is filled in, the club that did seal stays sealed, the fixture shows An assignment is overdue, the organizer is notified, and either the organizer or the late club can still enter it while the round is open.

5. Play your board

When both lineups open, the six boards are set up and each seated player is notified: Board 2a: you vs Alex. When both fighter assignments open, you're told your fighter and map.

Each board is one game, with the fighter your captain assigned you and the map recorded for your place. Arrange a time with your opponent and play it before the round's end date. Players with an unplayed board, and their captains, get a reminder halfway through the round and again 24 hours before it ends.

6. Report and confirm the result

Report the result on your board's match page, the one the Open your board button opens, the same way as any match. See Match Reporting for the screens.

• The result must use your board's assigned fighters and recorded map. The board refuses a report that names a different fighter or map. If something really was different, ask your organizer.
• The other club's player on that board confirms it. Not their captain, and not you: a result is never confirmed by the player who reported it.
• A board can't be drawn. Every board needs exactly one winner. If it can't be played, forfeit it or ask the organizer to cancel it.
• Once submitted, you can't change it yourself. Your opponent confirms it or sends it back for correction. If a finished result needs fixing, ask a captain of either club or your organizer to reopen the board. Then report it again, and the other club's player confirms it.

Disputes. If the two of you reject each other's result three times, the board becomes Disputed and goes to your organizer, who is notified and settles it. The two players are told too.

Forfeits. A player can forfeit their own board from its match page (Forfeit match), and the win goes to their opponent. A captain can also forfeit their own club's seat on a board, with Forfeit Board 2a on that board's match page, but only after the fighter assignments are revealed, and never over a result the other club has already reported. Either way the other club's player confirms it.

How the fixture is decided

Each board won is one game point. The first club to win four boards (the league's default) takes the fixture, and it's marked decided straight away. Boards not yet played still count: their results go into game wins, which break ties in the standings, so play them.

If every board has a result and neither club reached four, the fixture is a draw, 3–3.

A fixture win is worth 2 points in the standings, a draw 1 and a loss 0, unless your organizer changed them. See Team Leagues for how the standings are ordered.

Walkovers

If a club withdraws from the season, every fixture it hasn't finished goes to its opponent as a walkover. The fixture page's header says Walkover, the page says who withdrew and who got the fixture, and its card on the League tab shows W/O instead of a score. A walkover takes no lineup, draft or assignment: those forms disappear. Boards nobody had reported are cancelled. A board that already had a reported result stays open, so it can still be confirmed, and results the withdrawn club already played stand.

In the standings, a board that was already finished keeps its result, and every other place goes to the club awarded the walkover. A walkover with no boards played counts as a 6–0 win.

When the round closes

The organizer closes each round once the results they're going to get are in. Closing doesn't wait for unfinished fixtures. After a round closes:

• lineups, draft records and fighter assignments are no longer taken for its fixtures. A fixture that was mid-loop says so, for example Round 3 is complete · no draft was recorded;
• the standings refresh;
• the next round's fighter and map bans are worked out from its results;
• every captain is told their result, where their club sits, any new bans in their division, and when the next round opens. Players get a shorter version.

A board result confirmed after the round closed still counts, and that round's bans are recomputed from it.

Bans

Bans are public and every one carries a reason. The Bans section on the League tab shows what is in force now, and each division's page keeps the full history. A ban applies to one division or to the whole league.

• Fighters that won. By default a fighter that won at least one board in a division is banned in that division for the next round, one round per win. Your organizer can change these numbers.
• Most-played maps. By default the three most-played maps in a division are banned there for the next two rounds. Ties are all banned.
• Hand-picked bans. The organizer adds permanent bans, bans the captains voted for, and any other they need.

Notifications you'll get

These arrive in the app, as push notifications if you've turned those on, and the action ones as Discord messages if your Discord is linked. They aren't emailed. Times are given in the season's time zone; Discord shows them in yours. Manage them in Notification Preferences.

Captains:

Players on a club's roster:

Related

• Team Leagues: following a season, standings and tiebreaks
• Running a Team: your club, roster and season entry
• Match Reporting: reporting and confirming a board's result
• Notification Preferences: choosing how these reach you