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Clutch Up or Shut Up 2025

Clutch up or shut up 2025

1. What is ictf Clutchmode?

  1. The general rules are:
    • 5v5 InstaGib CTF.
    • 1.5s spawn delay at map start.
    • 3 minutes total game time.
    • Overtime (OT) spawn delay kicks in immediately (i.e. 1s into OT).
    • OT spawn delay then increases every minute by 2s.

2. MAPLIST

  1. Listed below are the maps and their versions that will be used in this cup.
    • CTF-Acrony-RE1
    • CTF-Anfractuous-RE2
    • CTF-BrokenLimits-RE3
    • CTF-Command-S6
    • CTF-Duku-S6
    • CTF-Entropic-RE1*
    • CTF-Grudge-RE1
    • CTF-IztacB14
    • CTF-Klondike-S6
    • CTF-Nuance99-RE3
    • CTF-Overflow-RTE2
    • CTF-Rune-RTE4
    • CTF-Sprinta-S6
  2. Download full map pack by clicking here. *** LINK TBA ***


3. Prize Pool

  1. Total prize pool includes Discord Nitro subscriptions for everyone on the teams that place 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in the cup.
  2. Distribution:
    • First place will be rewarded with three months each.
    • Second place will be rewarded two months each.
    • Third place will be rewarded with one month.
    • Everyone else will get a firm online handshake as thanks for playing.


4. Draft and Teams

  1. The draft will take place on 15th of June 2025 21:00 CEST.
  2. The draft will consist of 5 rounds. Each captain will pick one player in each round. In the first round of the draft each captain must draft themselves - this is done automatically.
  3. Before each round the picking order will be decided according to remaining budget of each captain. The captain with the highest remaining budget will pick first, the captain with the lowest remaining budget will pick last in each round. In case two captains have the same remaining budget after the conclusion of a round, the picking order in the next round will be decided by a randomizer.
  4. Each captain will have one minute to pick a player when it's their turn. If the captain has not picked a player within the given timeframe, the highest rated player available within the budget of that team will be picked automatically.
  5. Each captain has the opportunity to ask for ONE timeout during the draft which will give them an additional two minutes to pick a player that round. Under no circumstances are the captains allowed to spend more money than they have available. This applies to each round of the draft as well as the entire duration of the cup. After the draft each team will consist of four players. At no point during the cup will a team be allowed to have more or less than four players on their roster.
  6. A captain is allowed to let someone else do the draft for them.
  7. Players who signed up as substitute-only cannot be drafted and will go directly to the Free Player Pool (FPP).
  8. Each team has a total budget of: € XYZ
  9. Each captain starts round 1 of the draft with € 1000 and buys themselves.
  10. Each round after that the following base rates are added to their remaining budget, composing the budget for the given round*:
    Round #Base Rate €
    1XYZ
    2XYZ
    3XYZ
    4XYZ
    5XYZ
    * Round base rates and team budget are subject to change
    Example:
    1. Captain worth € 800 starts round #1 with a budget of € 1000 and buys themselves.
    2. For round #2, the captain's budget is a sum of their remaining budget after round #1 (€ 200) and the base rate for the given round (€ 450), making a total of € 650.
    3. The following rounds use the same logic.


 5. Trading & Substitutions

  1. Captains are free to trade players from their team for those in the Free Player Pool (FPP) as long as the team has not been eliminated from the cup and the incoming player is within the team's maximum available budget, including the outgoing player's salary.
    • Captains cannot trade players until their first match of the Group stage is played.
    • Captains cannot trade players at the end of the Group stage when only one match is remaining and the team has no chance of qualifying to the playoffs. Should any such trade occur, it will be reverted and changed into a substitution.
  2. Captains can pick up a temporary substitute for a specific match and a player in their team without trading that player out. The substitute must be within the team's maximum available budget, including the outgoing player's salary.
  3. In the Group stage, each team is eligible for a maximum of 2 team mutations per match.
  4. If a substitute is removed because the player they subbed has returned, a team may not reinsert that sub into a future map during that specific match. No take backs.
  5. In the Playoffs, if required (including Grand Final), each team is eligible for a maximum of 1 team mutations (substitutions only).
  6. All trades and substitutions must be reported to a cup admin before the new player plays a game for the team. The admin will need to apply the change on the website:
    • In case of a trade, the incoming player must appear on the team's roster at the starting time of the match.
    • In case of a substitution, the incoming player must appear as a substitute on the match overview page at the starting time of the match.
  7. Captains themselves cannot be traded but can be substituted.


6. Free Player Pool (FPP)

  1. Players who are not initially drafted to a team will go into the Free Player Pool (FPP).
  2. Players who are traded out from a team will return to the FPP and are available for any other team to trade if they so choose.
  3. Players who signed up as substitute-only cannot be traded and can only be picked up as substitutes, provided that they are available for the match.

7. SERVER SELECTION
  1. All matches must be played with cup settings on servers sanctioned by PassionateGaming.
  2. Captains are encouraged to agree on a server before the match - when scheduling the match, before the match day. Once the match is scheduled, team captains have the ability to book their desired server for the match on the My Matches tab of the league page on the website.
  3. If no servers are booked for the match, admins will assign a server based on which ones are available after consulting with the captains involved in the match.
  4. Whilst we will do our best to provide the best and fairest server available for the match, it may not always be possible and a compromise will have to be reached.
  5. If a match involves a team made up mainly of players from North America and South America, the match may be played across two servers (an UK and an NA based server).  To decide which maps are played on what server, the EU team will pick a map that will be played on EU server, then the NA team will pick a map that will be played on NA server, then EU again etc. Once all maps have a server, team will go on EU or NA server and play all their map picks in a row to avoid server changes after every map. 
  6. Games between EU vs. NA are only allowed on NY or UK. (sorry Murder, no GER)
  7. Maps chosen by each team will be played *on the opponents desired server* and vice versa, if a split server is used. Choose wisely.
  8. In the event that a server crashes, the server will be reset and the time will be rounded up to the nearest minute. The scores will be added together from both (all) parts.


8. GROUP STAGE

  1. One division with all teams. If there are at least 12 teams, they will be split 50/50 to create two divisions.
  2. Every team plays against each other in their respective groups in the round-robin format.
  3. No Draws.
  4. Every map win counts as 1 point towards the standings.
  5. Map Selection: Map list is made up of 13 maps. Each match is 7 maps.
  6. Coin toss will be used determine which team begins map picks:
    A-pick map #1, B-pick map #2, A-pick map #3, B-pick map #4, A-pick map #5, B-pick map #6,
  7. For the 7th map, the team that capped LEAST will start banning.
    LeastCappingTeam ban map #7, MostCappingTeam ban map #8, alternating back-and-forth until the MostCappingTeam bans last, so they effectively get to choose the final map that is played from the two left. 
    If both teams are tied in number of overall caps, then determine which team capped more on the opponents' chosen maps - the team that capped less will start bans. If that is also tied, a new coin flip will be used and the loser will start bans.


9. RANKINGS

  1. Rankings will be based on the number of total maps won for each team.
  2. If a single division, the team that won the most maps at the end of the league schedule will be the Clutch*Up Champion.

  3. In case of a draw, the team that has won the most maps in the head2head match-up between the tied teams will be declared the winner.

  4. If a double division, the top two teams in each group will advance for a short playoff series. Teams 1a vs 2b and 2a vs 1b, followed by the winners of each of the previous matches playing in a finale match. Previous match losers will play a consolation match for third place.

10. SCHEDULING MATCHES

  1. This is an open schedule tournament as matches during the summer are notoriously difficult to schedule. Nothing will be forced unless near the planned ending of the cup. (INSERT ENDING DATE)
  2. If anything does get forced, it will be to a Sunday during normal EU match times at PassionateGaming (20:00 - 22:00 CEST)
  3. Team captains are encouraged to schedule their matches on their own using the Challenging functionality on My Matches tab of the League page on the website.
  4. We strongly advise teams to use an online scheduling website or a devised system in Discord to ensure all team members are on the same page for match availability.

11. ENTERING MATCH RESULTS

  1. Team captains are encouraged to enter/confirm results of their matches on their own using the button on My Matches tab of the League page on the website.
  2. The winner of the match will be responsible for entering the match results.
  3. If for some reason the results cannot be entered on the website, screenshots of the match should be provided to the cup admins via Discord.


12. DISCORD

  1. All players are required to be present on the PassionateGaming Discord server. During matches it is mandatory to connect to and use your team’s provided voice channel on the PG Discord server. This helps ensure match integrity is maintained.


13. FIRST-PERSON DEMOS

  1. All players must record a first-person demo on all maps. There is no valid excuse for not recording a demo of your game. If you don't know how to or yours is 'broken', contact an admin or your captain for help.
  2. Players must keep their demos for the duration of the entire cup and can be requested from any match up to two weeks after their team has played their last game.
  3. An admin not participating in the match has the right to request as many demos as they want.
  4. Cheating accusations will be reviewed and ruled on by an anti-cheat team.
  5. Admins may request that a player uploads all demos for the entire duration of the season.
  6. If a player refuses or fails to upload demos when requested, it will result in a forfeit loss of each map a demo is not provided for.
  7. The opposing team may request demos no later than seven days after the match.
  8. If demos have been requested, they have to be provided within 48 hours after the request. If they are not provided within this time limit, it will result in a forfeit loss.


14. MATCH PUNCTUALITY/Sportsmanship

  1. A team must have their entire team in the server and clicked in to be eligible to start the timer to claim a no-show. Once they have done this, the opposing team has two minutes to click in before they default the map.
  2. If the first map is lost in this manner, as soon as the second map is loaded and the team clicked in, a new timer will begin for the second map. The other team has another two minutes to enter the server and click in.
  3. Teams are encouraged to show some tolerance in an effort to get all matches in the cup played, wherever possible, and to not look for easy map wins. Forfeits are frowned upon.
  4. Teams are also encouraged to show up on-time, ready-to-play at the agreed upon match time. Wasting other peoples' time is extremely frowned upon.
  5. Please notify the opposing team of a delay ASAP. If the opposing team captain cannot be found, please let an admin know and we can try to assist.
  6. A player may not spam non-teamsay binds during a match. Players who do this will be warned to cease; players who continue will risk forfeiting the map for their team and/or getting themselves removed from the cup.
  7. Racism will not be tolerated. If a player makes racist remarks in game or on Discord, the player in question will be warned and may be suspended or banned from PassionateGaming.


15. SPECTATORS

  1. The only people allowed to spectate matches are PassionateGaming admins and members of the stream team. It goes without saying that if someone is spectating, they are not allowed to have any communications with the teams that are playing.
  2. Unless commentating on the match during a live stream, it is forbidden for a member of either team involved in said match to join as a spectator. This will result in a forfeit of the map in question.


16. PRECEDENT

  1. The admin staff will abide by this rule-set as closely as possible, however some deviation may be needed if any unpredictable scenarios arise.
  2. In the event that something not covered by this rule-set occurs, the admins reserve the right to use their discretion to solve the issue. This includes, but is not limited to, amending and changing rules if the need arises. Any changes or new rules will apply to those situations from that point on setting a precedent.

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