Tiers, Match Ups, Servers, Scheduling and Terms

  1. Match-ups and Tiers
    1. Teams are initially placed into one of three tiers by the Board at the start of each season based off each teams historic performance and future potential. Afterwards, teams shift through tiers according to their MMR and may only be matched up against teams within their tier via random method (current method is using the Zed Match Maker tool).
      1. The tiers are titled Dasher, Sprinter and Walker.
        1. Dasher tier contains the teams with the highest MMR scores, and teams starting in the Dasher tier begin the season with 1300 MMR and 1100 SR.
        2. Sprinter tier contains the middle ranked teams by MMR, and teams starting in the Sprinter tier begin the season with 1150 MMR and 1050 SR.
        3. Walker tier contains the teams with the lowest MMR scores, and teams starting in the Walker tier begin the season with 1000 MMR and 1000 SR.
      2. The number of teams in each tier is equal, as long as the number of teams is divisible by three.
        1. If the total number of teams is one too many to be divisible by three, the extra team will be placed in the Sprinter tier.
        2. If the total number of teams is two too many to be divisible by three, the extra teams will be placed in the Dasher and Walker tiers.
    2. After each cycle, team MMR and SR will be updated, and teams will switch tiers according to their MMR changes.
      1. Teams may only move by one tier at a time.
        1. Teams that gain enough MMR to move from Walker to Dasher tier will have their MMR adjusted to be one MMR point lower than the highest Sprinter team, to limit their tier movement to one tier.
          1. This will result in that top Sprinter team being bumped up to the Dasher tier and the team or teams that would have moved to Dasher tier instead being placed at the top of Sprinter tier.
        2. Teams that lose enough MMR to move from Dasher to Walker tier will have their MMR adjusted to be one MMR point higher than the lowest Sprinter team, to limit that their tier movement to one tier.
          1. This will result in the lowest Sprinter team being bumped down to the Walker tier and the team or teams that would have moved to Walker tier instead being placed at the bottom of Sprinter tier.
            1. Match-ups will be announced on the day before the next Cycle.
    3. Teams will be given two (2) opponents to play per Cycle.
      1. A match not played within the cycle is either a single or double forfeit.
        1. A single forfeit occurs either when one team is unable to schedule a time to bring five (5) players to a match, a time is scheduled but one team does not bring five (5) players at match time, or one team can provide documented effort that they tried to schedule a match but their opponent did not make adequate effort to schedule a match.
        2. A double forfeit occurs when both teams provide equal but insufficient effort to schedule a match.
        3. If a match has been placed on the calendar and a team is no longer able to play on the scheduled date, they may ask for a reschedule. Their opponent is not obligated to reschedule. If the opponent allows a reschedule, they can no longer be held accountable for a forfeit in the case the match does not get played.
      2. A team that forfeits will receive the equivalent of the largest Seed Rank loss in the league that cycle.
      3. A team forfeited against will receive MMR and SR gains equal to their season average up to that point.
      4. Teams forfeiting three times in the course of the season will be removed from competition for that season.
  2. Match Terms
    1. The maps to be played each cycle are predetermined.
      1. (C1) Launchpad/Waterway
        (C2) Canyon/Quarry
        (C3) Abyss/Volcano
        (C4) Canyon/Waterway
        (C5) Launchpad/Volcano
        (C6) Abyss/Quarry
    2. Server passwords may only be up to 4 characters long.
    3. Captains must negotiate
      1. The time and date the match will be played.
      2. Whether to use home servers or a compromise server (see #3 Match-Eligible Servers).
    4. Team colors and home server map choice
      1. When using a single compromise server
        1. The team with the higher seed ranking gets first choice of which color they want for either Payload or Domination, and their opponent gets color choice for the other.
      2. When using home servers
        1. The team with the lower seed ranking gets first choice of which color they want for either Payload or Domination, and their opponent gets color choice for the other.
        2. The team with the higher seed ranking chooses whether to play Payload or Domination on their home server.
  3. Match-Eligible Servers
    1. All teams must declare, on their team account page on the website, two ideal server regions that best fit their team’s need by way of best pings to be their home servers.
    2. A server region may be considered ideal if
      1. A team can field at least 3 of their 5 players in that region during a match.
      2. The region is geographically between and provides as close to an equal ping as is possible to players on the extreme ends of the team’s geographical spread or their most heavily populated East and West regions.
    3. Teams may opt to play a map apiece in each of the teams’ home server of choice or play all maps on a single compromise server the teams determine provides the best pings for the players both teams intend to play in the match.
      1. Teams must use the declared home server region that provides the best overall ping or the best ping compromise for the players they play at game time for the maps they have server choice on.
      2. A team has the right to force their opponent to use their other home server region if that region better accommodates lower pings for the players their opponent brings to the server at game time.
      3. When a tie breaker is necessary and using home servers, one Stadium will be played in each team’s home server (see Match Play and Scrimmages #1.2.), otherwise only one Stadium is necessary when playing on a single compromise server.
    4. Server Abuse Penalties
      1. Teams picking ideal server regions that do not fit the criteria ( see 3.1.1.) will be required to make better selections.
      2. Teams/players attempting to make false declarations of their location in order to manipulate their team’s ideal server region choice will face suspension.
      3. Teams/players lying to their opponent about their player’s locations to avoid changing home servers when their opponent has correctly deemed their other home server region more appropriate will forfeit the map.
  4. The Dash League Bot may be used to facilitate decision making when an agreement can’t be reached.
  5. League matches must be announced on the league calendar at least 24 hours before the match is to take place and must state both team’s names and maps.