Master League

TOURNAMENT STRUCTURE

  • Master League follows a 2-stage double elimination bracket, followed by a last stage single elimination bracket (13 total matches for 8 teams).
  • In most circumstances, no teams will participate in matches 2 nights in a row. Exceptions to this rule may apply to some matches in the lower (elimination) bracket or a change in schedule due to holidays and other related events.
  • All matches (except for the SemiFinals and Finals) will consist of up to 3 games between the competing teams. The team that wins 2 out of the 3 games will win the match and move on in the bracket.
  • Teams that lose their match will move to the lower/elimination bracket. Once an elimination match is lost, that team will be eliminated from the rest of Master League.
  • The SemiFinals and Finals matches will consist of a best of 5 series (the first team to win 3 out of 5 games will claim the match)
  • Visual depiction of the bracket can be found at the bottom of this page
     

MAP SELECTION VS FIRST PICK/BAN

  • Prior to a match's games, one of the referees or commentators will flip a coin to determine which team will choose between deciding the first map or selecting the first ban and first hero.
  • Regardless of what the coin toss winner decides, the coin toss loser will first ban a map. The coin toss winner will then ban a different map.
  • The privilege of selecting the map will alternate with each match's games, as well as which team will first pick/ban.
  • Map picks cannot be repeated within any match set.
     

MAPS

  • Competing teams may not repeat a map choice within any matchup throughout the course of the tournament.
  • Map options follow the HGC (Heroes Global Championship) rotation


HEROES AND HERO SELECTION

  • Only heroes that have been released for at least 3 weeks will be allowed for tournament gameplay.
  • Heroes must be above level 5 in order to be used in tournament games.
  • Within any given draft, mirror hero picks will not be allowed.
  • In all tournament games, both teams will be allowed to ban 2 heroes in accordance with the mid-ban rule. The exception is if a team violates any registration or regulation rules (see Penalties section below).


DISCONNECTION OR HARDWARE MALFUNCTION

Should any tournament participant disconnect from a game or experience hardware issues, he or she or another team member must type "pp" (player pause) into the game's All Chat to notify the host, who will pause the game until the issue is resolved. When both teams are ready to resume, the host will give a 5 second countdown and resume the game.


PENALTIES

Teams or players exhibiting any of the below actions will result in a loss of ban privileges for the affected tournament games (loss of 1 ban per offense).

  • Participating with an unregistered member.
  • Being 15 or more minutes late to a tournament game.
  • Harassment in the game chat.
  • Should a team member not have enough available heroes for a tournament game, the team will be given up to 10 minutes to find a replacement, or else will surrender all of the match's games to the other team. This is why we recommend all teams to have 1 registered substitute in order to avoid this issue or to sub in should an emergency arise.
  • Teams that do not submit all required materials by the application deadline will lose their bracket reservation should another team register and submit all the required materials on-time.
     

Qualifications

  • Teams must earn at least 5 points from Casual League games to be considered for Master League.
  • The 8 teams with the most points from Casual League by the start of Week 5 will qualify for placement in Master League (unless a team chooses to allow a different team outside of the top 8 to take its place).