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iCTF Draft Cup Fall 2025

1. General

  1. The iCTF Draft Cup Fall 2025 is an Unreal Tournament league organized by PassionateGaming.
  2. We reserve the right to broadcast every match. The recording of such broadcasts can't be refused by the players.


2. Sanction Cards

  1. Any player or team who violates the PassionateGaming code of conduct - the cup rules - may be given a Sanction Card on the website. In extreme cases, the admin staff will have a consultation and may decide to impose a temporary or permanent ban from all future competitions.
  2. A player or team may be given one of two types of cards:
    •  Yellow Card - This card is given out for minor rule violations. When a Yellow card is given, the map result could be changed in favor of the opposing team, but is unlikely. It is mostly used as a warning. A second Yellow card will be converted into one red card.
    •  Red Card - The map in which a player received a Red card will more than likely be changed into a forfeit loss. Receiving this card signifies a major rule infraction during a map, or the result of multiple minor infractions. If the violation is severe enough, a temporary ban may be handed out. If a player receives two Red cards, they are suspended from the event and could be henceforth forbidden from competing in future events organized by PassionateGaming.
  3. Only one card can be given for each match, per player / team. The most severe card will be the one given if there are multiple infractions.
  4. Captains are responsible for their players knowing and following the rules. If a captain has seemingly allowed or instructed their players to break the rules, punishment may be distributed amongst the team. If the abuse is extreme, it may warrant removal from the event.
  5. To reiterate, 2  Yellow cards = 1  Red card; 2  Red cards = suspension from the tournament.


3. Player requirements

  1. All players must play two iCTF Ranked PUGs  - if we do not have stats for you, you will be rated at the admin team's discretion.
  2. If a player becomes aware that they will be unavailable for a match, they are obliged to let their captain know via whatever means of contact they have available to them in a timely manner.
  3. A player may not play for two different teams in the same calendar week.
  4. Players must play with a nickname that matches or closely resembles the nickname that they signed up with.
  5. Every player must record and save demos of every map during the entire cup. Uploads may be requested at any time by an admin. We strongly recommend taking advantage of auto-demo options.
  6. Violation of the rules above may be sanctioned with a  Yellow card.


4. Openness about availability

  1. Players are expected to be open about their availability to captains at all times prior to the draft. The information that you give to all captains should be consistent. Do not tell one captain not to draft you because you're playing badly or unavailable and then try to sell yourself to another captain. It is not permitted to refuse to acknowledge or respond to a captain because you do not wish to play for them - players who do this will be removed from the cup.
  2. During the draft, if you are around, you must be open and honest to all players who message you to inquire about your availability. Even if a captain is trying to ascertain your availability during the draft, you should be open up until the point that you are drafted - even if another captain has promised to pick you in a later round.
  3. If at any point during the season you find yourself on the free agent list, the same rules apply. You are required to be honest to all captains who inquire as to your availability. Telling one captain that you can't play only to show for another is severely frowned upon.
  4. Players who lie about their availability to captains are liable to receive punishment for this in the current or future seasons at the admins' discretion, depending on when the information comes to light. Sanction:  Yellow card.
  5. A player cannot refuse to play for a captain. If there is an issue from either party that cannot be resolved, please contact an admin for help in mediation as soon as possible.


5. Map List - General

  1. Listed below are the maps that will be used in this cup. The versions used will be the same as those in the ranked pug rotation.
    • CTF-Acrony-RE2
    • CTF-Anfractuous-RE2
    • CTF-Command-S6
    • CTF-Duku-RE4
    • CTF-Entropic-RE5
    • CTF-Grudge-RE1
    • CTF-IztacB14
    • CTF-Klondike-RE3
    • CTF-Nuance99-RE4
    • CTF-Overflow-RE3
    • CTF-PryXon-RE2
    • CTF-Rune-RTE4
    • CTF-Sprinta-S6


6. Match Rules - Group Stage

  1. Matches are played 5v5, each team can pick one map from the map list to play. Maps are, by default, 15 minutes long. We play with overtime and spawn delay enabled, so there are no draws.
  2. Matches will be best two out of three maps. 
  3. Each match in the group stage will consist of two chosen maps, the first map to be played is the first one picked. The coin-toss loser will assume position A. The toss winner assumes position B, in addition to team color choice.
  4. Veto system for group stage: A - Ban, B - Ban, A - Pick, B - Pick.
  5. In the event there is a tie after two maps are played, a tie-breaker will be required. Both team captains will return to Discord and proceed with map bans; the team who capped the least in both maps combined will start the banning phase. If that is equal, the team who capped the least on the opponent's map will begin bans. If that is also equal, a coin-toss will be used and the loser will start bans.
  6. Captains are permitted to reach an agreement to proceed with tie-break bans before the match takes place, saving the process of going back to Discord to choose the tie-break map choice. Simply proceed with map bans in the A, B, A, B, order as described above until there is a single map remaining.
  7. Each team will only be able to pick a specific map once during the group stage (example, a team picks Duku in week 1, for the rest of the group stage, they can't pick it again. This does not include decider maps, only chosen maps.). When the group stage is concluded, this restriction is no longer enforced afterwards. Picking a map you have already chosen to play in the group stage will result in map forfeiture. Sanction:  Yellow card.
  8. Each team will only be able to ban a specific map once during the group stage. This rule is functionally identical to #7 in this section.


7. Match rules - Playoffs / Knock-out stages

  1. The quarter and semi finals are played over a maximum of three maps, one point per map win is awarded and the first team to reach two points wins the match. Veto system for playoffs: A - Ban, B - Ban, A - Pick, B - Pick. The team with the highest seed in the group stage will choose which order they want to begin in.
  2. The decider map is selected by eliminating the remaining maps on the list. The team with the most caps will choose who will start elimination. If that is equal, the team with the most caps on the opponents map chooses. If that is equal a coin-toss will decide. We play with overtime and spawn delay enabled, so there are no draws.
  3. The final will be decided over a maximum of five maps, this time a team needs three points to win the match. Coin-toss decides which team goes first. Veto system for grand finals: A - Pick, B - Pick, B - Ban, A - Ban, A - Pick, B - Pick.
  4. The decider map is selected by eliminating the remaining maps on the map list.
  5. The team who has made the most flag captures in the previous four maps will decide which team eliminates the first map from the remaining maps.
    1. If this is a tie then whichever team has the most captures on the opposing team’s map picks will decide who eliminates the first map.
    2. If this is still a tie, then a coin toss will decide who gets to chose who removes the first map.


8. Rankings

  1. Three teams from each group will advance to the playoffs.
  2. Rankings will be based on the number of total points for each team. If two teams are tied on points, the team that advances is decided by the winner of the match between the two teams.
  3. If more than two teams are tied, then these steps will be used to break the tie:
    1. The lowest number of map losses in the matches between the teams in the tie.
    2. The highest number of captures in the matches between the teams in the tie.
    3. The lowest number of captures against in the matches between teams in the tie.


9. Draft and Teams

  1. The draft will take place on Sunday, Sept. 14th at 21:00 CEST.
  2. The draft will consist of five rounds. Each captain will pick one player in each round. In the first round of the draft each captain must draft themselves - this will be 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 time-frame, 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 five players. At no point during the cup will a team be allowed to have more or less than five 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: 3700.
  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 €
    1 1000
    2 680
    3 670
    4 670
    5 680
    * Round base rates 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 (€ 500), making a total of € 700.
    3. The following rounds use the same logic.


10. 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 during the first week of the Group stage.
    • Captains cannot trade players at the end of the Group stage when only one match is remaining. 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. Temporary substitutions are allowed ONLY in case of availability issues, i.e. the outgoing player is unable to play for whatever reason. Using a substitute to strengthen the team will never be a valid excuse to replace a full-time team member. Sanction:  Yellow card.
  4. 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.
    • A substitute-only player may not play for the same team for more than 3 out of 5 of that team's overall group matches.
  5. Captains themselves cannot be traded but can be substituted. A substituted captain is required to designate a co-captain from their roster (not the sub) to act as their proxy while they are gone.
  6. In the Group stage, each team is eligible for a maximum of 5 mutations (roster transactions) total, with no more than 2 mutations per match.
  7. In the Playoffs (including Grand Final), each team is eligible for a maximum of 2 team mutations total, with no more than 1 per match.


11. 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 wish.
  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.
  4. All players can only play for one team each match week.


12. 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, South America, or Oceanic regions then the match may be played across two servers (a UK and an NA based server. No GER.) if either team requests it. If this isn't an option, refer to rule 4.
  6. A decider map including NA vs EU teams will be picked by determining the ping difference. Considering previous experiences, expect them to be played on servers located in the UK.
  7. In the case of a split server match, Team A's map will be played on Team B's server and vice-versa.


13. Server Settings

  1. Matches will be played with the following settings:
    • NewCTF, the newest version of IG+ and the latest ACE installed and enabled.
    • Overtime with spawn delay enabled.
    • Trading disabled.
    • Fifteen minute maps, no cap limit or mercy rule.


14. Server Crashes

  1. 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, if this should mean the map is a draw but the second part is not a draw then the map will be restarted again for a third time to play the overtime.
  2. If a server goes down with two minutes or less left to play, then the game will be restarted with two minutes on the clock.


15. Scheduling matches

  1. The group stage of this event will be an 'open scheduling' format. This means you can schedule a group match outside of the given match week (e.g. playing the Week 3 team in Week 1).
  2. All group matches must be played by the end of day Sunday, Oct. 19th. Any matches that remain unscheduled by 22:00 CEST, Friday Oct. 17th, will be forced to the 19th between 20:00 CEST and 22:00 CEST.
    • A neutral admin will decide the final match time to ensure a free server is available.
  3. Playoffs and Finals matches will have one running match week to schedule each match.
  4. If two captains cannot reach an agreement before Friday 22:00 CEST in the running match week, the match will be forced to Sunday of the given week between 20:00 CEST and 22:00 CEST.
    • A neutral admin will decide the final match time to ensure a free server is available.
  5. 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.


16. 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. Traditionally, the captain of the winning team enters the match result.
  2. 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.


17. 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. Sanction:  Yellow card.
  2. If a player cannot join their team's voice channel, DO NOT use a private server. Delay the match and contact an admin / staff member immediately. Do not play until the player can be moved manually or given access.


18. 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. They can be requested from any match by an admin 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. The opposing team captain may request demos no later than seven days after the match.
  7. 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.
    Sanction:  Red card.


19. Cheating

  1. Any player caught cheating will be permanently banned from the Discord server and all competitions organized by PassionateGaming.
    Sanction:  Red card.


20. Match punctuality

  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 ten 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 click in, the timer will begin for the second map, to which the other team has another ten 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 where possible and not look for easy map wins / forfeits.


21. Sportsmanship 

  1. 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 receiving a Yellow card.
  2. Racism will not be tolerated. If a player makes racist remarks in game or on Discord, the player in question will be warned and given a Yellow card; they may be suspended or, if severe enough, banned outright from PassionateGaming.
  3. Abusive behavior towards other captains, players, admins, or streaming staff will not be tolerated. Sanction: Yellow card.


22. 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. Sanction:  Yellow card.


23. prize Pool

  1. The team that wins the Grand Final of this cup will receive 50% of the total prize fund, to be shared equally among the five victorious players. Second and Third place will be rewarded with 35% and 15%, respectively.
    • The prize pool and overall distribution is subject to change depending on the amount donated by the community.
  2. The substitutes will not be eligible for the prize by default, unless otherwise agreed upon between the player and the substitute.


24. Precedent

  1. The admin staff will abide by this ruleset 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 ruleset 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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