Rules and Regulations

1. Entry

1.1 Player Eligibility

1. Tournament open to any and all ranks.
2. At least 25 ranked solo/duo games in Season 2025. For returning players, there is no ranked requirements.

NOTES:

• Accounts that are deemed likely to be smurfing will be disqualified.
  • Players must play on their main account (as listed in signup). Your main account MUST be your highest-level account.

1. Must be a member of the GCS Discord Server the entire tournament. If a player leaves the server or is banned from the Discord Server, the player is disqualified and replaced.

RIOT Account Suspensions/Bans

If a player receives a temporary suspension from Riot Games, the suspension will extend to the GCS tournament and that player will be placed under mod review. That player is not allowed to play on an alternate account. If a player receives a permanent ban, tournament moderators will review the situation and determine the appropriate course of action.

1.2 Prizes

The Off Season Showdown is free to enter and each member of the winning team will be rewarded with a mystery skin.

2. Program

2.1 Match Scheduling

Sign-ups

Sign-ups close on October 24th.

Draft

The draft will take place on October 25th at 2 PM EST.

Game Time Slots

Saturdays | 8 PM EST

Off Season Showdown

Each team will be placed into a double elimination bracket and will play one best-of-three (Bo3) match each week from approximately November 1st - December 14th. There will be no games scheduled on November 29th for Thanksgiving weekend. Actual matchups and schedules will be released via the GCS Discord server and/or the GCS website.

• Teams may agree to move their games to ANY time, does not have to be an existing time slot, as late as Monday.
• Both captains (2) in the game must approve the time swap the Thursday before the match.
• MUST be sent in applicable chats by both captains and confirmed by a mod. If this does not happen, the reschedule is VOID. Approved rescheduled cannot be reverted.
• Streamed games will be on Saturdays at 8 PM EST and cannot be rescheduled barring extreme circumstances.

Finals

Finals will be:

• Best of Five (Bo5) with the loser's bracket finalist losing 2 bans game 1 and losing 1 ban game 2.
• Finals cannot be rescheduled.
• Date of Losers Bracket and Grand Bracket finals TBA before the draft.

2.2 Format

The tournament game format is Fearless Draft. Fearless Draft as defined in this context means that champions picked in a game cannot be picked again by either team during the rest of the Bo3 or Bo5 series.

This tournament is a draft league, meaning there will be drafters building the teams in a snake draft format. A drafter will be the captain of a drafted team, BUT they may choose to designate another player to fulfill the responsibility. If none of the drafted players want/are willing to be captain, the drafter takes on the responsibility and role as a captain.

Please see section 3.1 for more information on captains and drafters.

Draft Order

Draft order will be start from the lowest ranked drafter to the highest ranked drafter. The draft for off season will not use player values as official seasons. Drafters must be at minimum ranked Gold 4.

3. Player and Team Management

3.1 Captains

Captains will serve as the main point of communication between tournament staff and individual players. Captains are expected to be responsive and helpful.

If you believe that your captain is not fulfilling these requirements, file a report on them. Captains should also familiarize themselves with the full Captain Responsibilities and Expectations.

Captains have the following main responsibilities

• Submit your team roster for both games by the Thursday before game day.
• Upload games to the respective forum within discord. Additionally, submit games to the website as they finish.
• Ensure that your team is communicative and that you are able to plan around them accordingly. Remember, it is your responsibility to ensure that your team shows up on game day and that they reach their game and match requirements before playoffs.
• Communicate with League Staff about any issues your team may have. Being proactive with trouble can avoid headaches and unfortunate consequences down the line.

Drafters

Players who sign up as captain from the start will be in charge of drafting the team; however, these captains can designate the role to a player they draft if a player is willing and wanting to. If no one is willing or wanting to take it, the captain role defaults to the drafter/original captain; this must be decided by three days before your team's first match.

Please see section 2.2 for more information on drafters and drafting.

Captain Vote Kick

Captains are applicable to the vote kick rule, to allow teams to prevent a captain from griefing their season. ALL Vote kicks are 4/5, meaning that if 4 players send in a vote to kick a captain the motion will pass, and the captain will be removed.

Please see section 3.5 for more information on vote kicking.

3.2 Trades and Replacements

Trades

Player trades are allowed from end of draft up until the second week of games. A player threatening their captain into a trade will be properly punished. All trades must be confirmed by the Trade Commissioners.

Captains are in complete control of trades. Players DO NOT need to be informed until a trade is confirmed.

Captains are not allowed to contact other teams players in the middle of a trade. This is to prevent hostility should the trade fall through.

Captains must inform the trade commissioners and the opposing captain about any issues the player may have, be it game-mental, scheduling, or any disruptive issues. Trades will be posted in the applicable chat by a member of the trade commission once they are approved. If a trade is not posted in the chat, then the trade is VOID. Trades and reschedules must be sent in applicable chats, and confirmed by a mod if they aren’t void.

For game day, rosters must be locked in on Thursday preceding the weekend in which games are being played. The following rules are based on this requirement.

Replacements

Players replacing dropouts on a team join must be

• Approved by the Trade Commisioner
• Similar rank or lower to the player being replaced

3.3 Substitutions

Player substitutions within a match (i.e. between games in a best-of-three) are allowed as long as the following conditions are met:

• The opposing captain must be clearly informed about which player is being substituted (in and) out.
• Substitutions must be approved by an admin.

Late/emergency substitutions occur when a substitute from the official roster replaces a scheduled player due to an unanticipated event (such as an emergency, power outage, or connection issue) during the first game of a series. In such a situation, the team must reach out to a tournament organizer or moderator and inform them about the details so that they can determine the best course of action. Teams that attempt to exploit the emergency substitution rules may be forced to forfeit the game.

• For emergency substitutions prior to the draft of a game, an official substitute will be used with a one-ban penalty, or the game will be rescheduled. If neither is possible, the game will be forfeited.
• For emergency substitutions during a game, following a 10-minute (maximum) pause, the team will be forced to play without the affected player or forfeit.
• For emergency substitutions after the draft of a game, a substitute player will take over the missing player's position and the draft will remain as-is. The draft may be redone if both teams agree with the substituting team losing one ban.

3.4 Smurfs

Captains must report possible smurfs to the admin staff. If the admin staff agree there is potential for a smurf, that player will be benched for a week (unless cleared before the week), After that period, the player will be reevaluated and/or removed from the tourney. This does not apply to gameday and must be done by Thursday prior to a match.

Any player who climbs 400 LP or more past their previous listed peak will be subject to automatic review. This may be reported by other players or captains.

3.5 Miscellaneous

Player Reporting

Do not abuse the player reporting system; doing so will result in disciplinary action against you or your team. Report form here.

Vote Kick

A player may be removed from a team by a 4/5 vote of the other players on the team. These votes must be sent directly to the tournament administrator. A replacement player for the removed player must be approved by a tournament organizer or moderator. Replacement players are subject to the rules set forth in the “replacement player” section 3.3.

General Behavior

Members of the GCS community are expected to reasonably follow the guidelines listed here and in the #rules channel of the official GCS Discord, both within and outside of GCS-related spaces. This includes behavior in other tournaments, discords, Twitch chats, and in-game conduct. Once you are part of the community, you represent it. Please strive to be a good ambassador of GCS.

In Game Behavior

Players must be present and in voice call (cannot deafen or mute, under the discretion of the captain) until the end of the series. Those that break the rules will be spoken to by Lord Tubbington (Disciplinary Committee) and punishments will be evaluated.

4. Game Rules

4.1 Pre-Game

When a Team is Late

Less than 10 minutes… no penalty.

Pass 10 minutes… lose first ban for each game in the Bo3 or Bo5 series.

Pass 20 minutes… lose first game of the Bo3 or Bo5 series.

Pass 30 minutes… lose first three bans for each game of the Bo3 or Bo5 series.

Pass 40 minutes… lose the current series.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

• Penalties stack after each threshold.
• Teams that are excessively tardy will be disqualified.
• Captains can handshake the tardy penalties as long as both captains agree.
• If admins are involved in a game, these rules are put into a stasis.
• Captains excessively forfeiting due to lack of oversight will be removed as captain forcefully.
• Further excessive issues results in a team DQ.
• Excessive tardiness from a player may result in player DQ from the team.

Voice Channel

Players must join their team's voice channel during the games in which they play. Teams must use the voice channel that is assigned to them in the GCS Discord server.

Drafting

• Draft must be done out-of-client using Draftlol (or a similar tool if Draftlol is down). Captains cannot handshake this away, as it is required for content and standardization purposes. All 10 players must be present in the lobby in LCS order (Top, Jungle, Mid, ADC, Support) before the draft begins.
• For drafts done outside of the client, if something is not banned or mistakenly chosen, the team has until the opponent’s next pick/ban to fix it. If this is contested with no proof, the mistake will not be allowed to change.
• Role swapping is allowed. Champion roles may be changed but must be selected by their player 30 seconds prior to the end of champion select.
• The entire team is permitted to be in call during champion select, but only the players that are participating in the game may remain in call once the game begins (including players that are muted and deafened).
• Players that are participating in a champion select or a game may not stream snipe.

4.2 In-Game

Pause Timer

Teams are permitted 5 minutes of total pause time per game. Exceeding this limit will result in that team being assigned a loss for that game. Before unpausing, both teams must agree to unpause. If a team unpauses without the permission of their opponent, they will lose one ban in their next game.

Teams may not pause while any player is in combat. If a team pauses while a player is in combat, a tournament moderator must be informed during the pause. If a team pauses while a player is in combat and unpauses before a tournament moderator is contacted, that team will be disqualified for the game. Teams can handshake this away in circumstances where the “combat” would not result in anything meaningful for either team (for example, a skill shot is hit but there was no intention to follow up on it).

In-Game Comms

Use of all in-game communication functions (including chat and emotes) is permitted. Players with excessive toxicity, excessive harassment, hate speech, or unsportsmanlike or mean-spirited conduct will receive a temporary or permanent ban from the tournament.

Please see section 3.5 for more information on player reporting and behavior.

FF-ing Games

Teams are not allowed to forfeit streamed games. Players who forfeit a game that is being streamed on an official GCS broadcast will be disqualified from the tournament, barring an extreme circumstance. Games that are not streamed may be forfeited.

4.3 Post-Game

Players that participate in a streamed game may not publicly discuss the result of that game before it is broadcast.

Do not send a message in the twitch chat or discord before the game ends on stream.

5. Streaming

When on stream or in a stream's chat, do not verbally attack other players or viewers. Violating the Twitch terms of service will result in an immediate ban. Do not advertise without explicit permission from the tournament administrator.

Games that are streamed on the official channel may not be streamed elsewhere. Games that are not streamed on the official channel may be streamed elsewhere, but only on a 3-minute delay and only if a link to the stream is posted in the relevant channel in the official Discord server beforehand.

6. Addendums

Tournament Moderator Clause

Tournament moderators may be required to create, amend, or interpret rules in unforeseen circumstances. In these instances it is expected that whatever the moderator(s) decision is, it is final and respected by all parties.

Amendments (Last Updated 5/1/2025)

1. Newly Released/reworked champions are disabled for 2 weeks following release.
2. All other rule changes/alterations will go into effect on the Mondays following a game weekend
3. Game 1 side select goes to highest seed in playoffs, except for grand finals where the team from the winner's bracket will get game 1 side select regardless of seeding.
   1. Ties in seeding follow tie breaker rules (ALL GAMES RESULT TIE BREAKERS REFERENCE REGULAR SEASON PLAY AND DO NOT INCLUDE PLAYOFFS)
   2. After game 1, the team that lost the previous game will have side selection.
4. When a team is forced to lose bans from a penalty, they will always lose the earliest available bans in the draft order.
5. Captains may be asked to vote on potential rule changes or the addition of new rules during the season in response to unforeseen circumstances. Votes will pass with a simple majority.