Rules and Regulations

(SUBJECT TO CHANGES, WILL BE FINALIZED BY DRAFT DAY)

1. Entry

1.1 Player Eligibility

Tournament open to any and all ranks.
At least 30 ranked solo/duo games in Season 2026. If less than 30 games were played in Season 2026, Season 2025 may be used if there are 50+ games.

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.
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

There is a $5 USD admission fee. 100% of the money from admission fees will be given back as part of the prize pool.

2. Program

2.1 Match Scheduling (Exact dates subject to change until draft)

Sign-ups

Sign-ups close on May 24th.

Draft

The draft will take place on May 31st at 2 PM EST.

Game Time Slots

Sundays | 7 PM EST

Regular Season

The regular season will consist of two groups of 4. Each team will play every team in the opposite pool in a block of 3 match from June 7th to June 28th. Teams will earn points to determine seeding for the following bracket based on their performance in this round robin as follows:

3 points for winning 3-0
2 points for winning 2-1
1 point for losing 1-2
0 points for losing 0-3

Tie breakers will go in the following order:

Match Score
Average Win Time
Tie Breaker Match (BO1)

Teams will be seeded and placed into a bracket against teams in their pool from July 12th - July 19th. These matches will be BO3. The first seed in each pool will play the second seed. The second seed will play the third seed. The winners of each initial match will play each other, as will the losers. This will determine final seeding for the playoff bracket.

Actual match ups and schedules will be released via the GCS Discord server and/or the GCS website. Game 1 first select goes to Team 1 on the website, Team 2 will choose the side. After game 1, the team that lost the previous game will have first selection.

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.

Playoffs

The teams will be placed into a double elimination bracket with the highest seed from each pool playing the lowest seed from the other pool. The second place seed from each pool will play the third seed from the other pool. Teams will play one best-of-five (Bo5) match each week from July 26th through August 23rd. Game 1 first select goes to highest seed. After game 1, the team that lost the previous game will have first selection.

Finals

Loser's Bracket Finals will be:

Best of Five (Bo5) with upper bracket finalist having first select game 1
Played on Saturday August 22nd 7PM EST.

Finals will be:

Best of Five (Bo5) with the winner's bracket finalist having first select game 1 and game 5 (regardless of game 4 result)
Played on Sunday August 23rd 7PM EST.
Finals can only be rescheduled if both teams agree, stream team is available, and admins approve

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 three-block or Bo5 series. In addition, the tournament will follow the first selection format.

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 determined by allowing lower-ranked drafters to choose their draft position before higher-ranked drafters. The draft will assign players with PV Values based on peak rank within Seasons 2024-2026 and past performances. Teams will have a PV budget of 200 points. Certain ranks will put you into a PV range inherently

Master+ = 0 - 20
Diamond = 21 - 30
Emerald = 31 - 40
Platinum = 41 - 50
Gold = 55 - 60
Silver and below = 61 - 80

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

If a sub must be used, the captain must provide the enemy team with a multi.gg of your team (and if applicable, the substitute).
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.
Communicate with League Staff about any issues your team may have. Being proactive with trouble can avoid headaches and unfortunate consequences down the line. If admin staff is needed, use the given team text channels.
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.

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 3/4, meaning that if the other players send in a majority 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 Substitutions

Trades

Player trades are allowed throughout the regular season. Players may be traded between pools. In trading circumstances, teams must always have exactly 5 players and must always meet the team rank requirements. A player threatening their captain into a trade will be properly punished. All trades must be confirmed by the Trade Commissioners.

CAPTAINS COMPLETE CONTROL IN TRADES, PLAYERS DO NOT NEED TO BE INFORMED UNTIL 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.

Substitutions

Player substitutions for a match 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. SUBS MUST BE SENT IN APPLICABLE SUB-REQUESTS CHANNEL BY BOTH CAPTAINS AND CONFIRMED BY A MOD IF NOT THEY ARE VOID
Substitutes must follow one of the following restrictions:
- Subs not on the sub list must have a peak that is 100 LP lower in the past two seasons
- Subs on the list must be equal or lower in PV value.
- Note that subs are not supposed to be equivalent players akin to replacements.
Mod discretion will be used if the substitute player is close, but not within above guidelines
Opposing captains can waive sub rules, however they still must be approved by both the captain and a mod.
If an eligible sub is not found, or multiple egregious subs are asked for, the team can be forced to use a sub chosen by the admin team.

Late/emergency substitutions occur when a substitute 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.

For emergency substitutions prior to the draft of a game, an official substitute will be used with a three-ban penalty for each game the sub is in or the series will be rescheduled. If neither is possible, the series will be forfeited.
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.
When a team is forced to lose bans from a penalty, they will always lose the earliest available bans in the draft order.
All penalties to substitutions can be waived by opposing captains.

Players that are permanently replaced on a team do not follow the LP rules, and will ideally be roughly equivalent to the player they replace.

3.3 Replacements

Players replacing dropouts on a team join must be

Approved by the Trade Commisioner
Replacement players are subject to the rules set forth in the “replacement player” section of the Trades and Substitutions section

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 at least 24 hours 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 3/4 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 admins and punishments will be evaluated.

New Champions Newly Released/reworked champions are disabled for 2 weeks following release.

Addendums

All other rule changes/alterations will go into effect on the Mondays following a game weekend

4. Game Rules

4.1 Pre-Game

When a Team is Late

Teams that are less than 10 minutes late will face no penalty.
Teams that are between 10 and 20 minutes late will lose first ban for each game in the match.
Teams that are between 20 and 30 minutes late will be assigned a loss for the first game in the match.
Teams that are between 30 and 40 minutes late will lose the first 3 bans for each game in the match.
Teams that are 41 or more minutes late will be assigned a loss for the 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 pre-game decision, 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 Drafter.lol (or a similar tool if Drafter.lol 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.
A maximum of three players may change their roles during the draft. If a team is found to be intentionally selecting roles prior to draft they never intended to play, penalties will be handed at admin discretion
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. This can be handshaked by the opposing captain. 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 2.5-minute delay.

Tournament Admin Clause

Tournament Admins 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.

Full Rulebook The full rulebook can be found at GCS Season 4 Rulebook