§ 1 Conduct
(1) Players should respect both the letter and the spirit of the rules.
(2) In order to maintain a serious and professional environment players must be respectful and polite towards their opponents and anyone else on the forum subboard and the tournament servers. If a player shows a poor attitude and displays rudeness or immaturity he or she will be punished by the tournament administration. The range of punishments reaches from a warning to a ban from of the tournament, depending on the weight of the crime.
(3) Any team that uses, incites or benefits from disruption to the matches, practice sessions or organisation of other teams will face disciplinary action at the admins discretion, up to and including disqualification from the tournament.
§ 2 Cheating
(1) It is strictly prohibited to gain an advantage by modifying texture files or using game modifications such as aimbots or autoblock. Every player that is found to have modified texture files or using game modifications in order to gain an advantage will be banned from the tournament and all his or her team forfeits all relevant rounds.
(2) In case you are unsure whether your game modification is allowed, ask the administration for clarification in your specific case.
(3) The modifications listed in Appendix A are allowed.
(4) When requested by the match referee players must take a screenshot of their game view while holding any kind of ranged weapon or, if they have no ranged weapon, their melee weapon, spear or lance. Players should ensure the screenshot contains the referee message, the scoreboard and buildings or players. The players concerned must post their screenshot within 30 minutes of the match ending on the forums or send it to a tournament admin or the match referee. Failing to comply with any part of this rule may result in a one match ban for that player.
Tournament Rules
§ 3 Tournament Format
(1) The tournament will be split into the group stage and the finals.
(2) The 2 top teams from each group will go through to the finals stage.
(3) The winner of the Finals stage will be named Nations' 5-a-Side IV Champion
Group Stage
(5) The group stage will see the 32 teams placed into eight groups. Each group will have the teams play against each other.
(6) Teams competing will be put into different pots. A team from each pot will fill a group, meaning that teams will not be fighting the other teams in their pot until the knockout stage. The selection will be done using a random number generator and each selection will be announced individually. The order of proceedings will begin with pot 1 and work our way upwards to pot 4.
(7) To determine placements within the groups, there will be three stages of matches. In the first stage, the teams within the groups will be randomly organised into two matches. In the second stage, the winners of these matches will play each other and so will the losers. The loser of the losers' match is then placed in 4th and the winner of the winners' match is placed in first. In the third stage, the loser of the winners' match and the winner of the losers' match play off to determine who will be placed 2nd and 3rd.
(8 ) Each group's 2 top teams (placed 1st and 2nd) will progress to the Nations' 5-a-Side Knockout stage
Finals Stage
(9) The Finals Stage will see the remaining 16 teams placed into a single elimination bracket, the winner of which will be named Nations' 5-a-Side Champion.
(10) For the Single Elimination Bracket teams will be organised such that the 1st and 2nd teams from each group do not meet each other again until the final. Therefore the top 16, Quaterfinals and Semifinals are determined as follows.
- Top 16:
- Top 16 1: Winner Group A versus Runner Up Group H
- Top 16 2: Winner Group B versus Runner Up Group G
- Top 16 3: Winner Group C versus Runner Up Group F
- Top 16 4: Winner Group D versus Runner Up Group E
- Top 16 5: Winner Group E versus Runner Up Group D
- Top 16 6: Winner Group F versus Runner Up Group C
- Top 16 7: Winner Group G versus Runner Up Group B
- Top 16 8: Winner Group H versus Runner Up Group A
- Quarterfinals:
- Quarterfinal 1: Top 16 1 versus Winner Top 16 2
- Quarterfinal 2: Top 16 3 versus Winner Top 16 4
- Quarterfinal 3: Top 16 5 versus Winner Top 16 6
- Quarterfinal 4: Top 16 7 versus Winner Top 16 8
- Semifinals:
- Semifinal 1: Winner Quarterfinal 1 versus Winner Quarterfinal 2
- Semifinal 2: Winner Quarterfinal 3 versus Winner Quarterfinal 4
- Finals:
- Winner Semifinal 1 versus Winner Semifinal 2
§ 4 Scheduling
(1) Team A must post in the fixture thread, at least 2 dates with a default time of 19:30 GMT at least 72 hours before the match deadline. If Team A fails to do this on time Team B may post their preferred time/date.
(2) Team B must select one of those two times/dates (by posting in the fixtures thread) at least 24 hours before the match deadline. If Team B fails to do this Team A may select their preferred time/date.
(3) Teams may agree on a time by posting in the fixtures thread.
§ 5 Maps & Factions
(1) Maps and factions will be selected by the administration using a random number generator through the group and knockout stages.
(2) The list of the maps and factions used can be found in Appendix B.
Roster Rules
§ 6 Team Regulations
(1) Every team has to provide the tournament administration with a roster consisting of at least five players, all of whom must own valid, legally bought copies of Mount & Blade: Warband.
(2) Each team must be made up of players from one nation. Alliances of any kind are NOT allowed.
(3) Players, who legitimately represented a certain National team in the past Nation Cups may only play for that team. If a player has played for teams from different nations in the past, admins will make the determination which team they can play for, taking into account previous Nations Cups.
(4) Any player who has played in a tournament match for a team may not be removed from that roster.
(5) Should a player not be on a roster and play for a team, that player (if eligible) will be deemed to be added to that teams roster. If that player is not eligible that team will be banned from the tournament.
§ 7 Transfers
(1) No roster changes are allowed after the Group Stage.
(2) During the Group Stage any player who has not yet played for a team may be added to a team subject to § 6.1
§ 8 Player Names and ID's
(1) Each team member may be listed by one name only in the team roster. During matches, players should play with that name, including a team tag.
(2) Any game ID listed to a player in a team roster must be unique to that player. Players using a game ID that has been used by any other player at any other point are not eligible to play.
(3) Players must use the ID(s) associated with them on the rosters.
§ 9 Multiteaming
(1) It is strictly prohibited for a player to play for more than one team during this tournament. If a player is found to have played for more than one team at any point he or she will be banned for the rest of the tournament.
(2) In that instance, the second team that player played for (as determined by the admins) will also be banned from the tournament.
Match Rules
§ 10 Match Server
(1) All matches must be played on dedicated tournament servers.
(2) Tournament officials will determine which server teams play their matches on and inform captains of the decision. This may be changed by agreement of both teams if a suitable server is available. Any change of server must be announced in the fixture thread before the match.
(3) Captains should post their preferred server locations in the sign ups thread.
(4) The server should be running certain server settings that can be found in Appendix D.
§ 11 Spectators
(1) Spectators from both teams are allowed by default. However, if one team requests to have no spectators their request must be granted and all spectators have to leave the server. Should a player refuse to leave the server, he will be suspended for 1 match.
(2) External spectators (i.e. players that do not belong to either team) have to ask for permission from both team captains to spectate the match. Should an external spectator join with the tag of either team trying to appear as one of their players, or pretend to stream a match while not doing so, he will be suspended for 1 match given he or she is playing in the tournament. If the person is not playing in the tournament he will be banned from all tournament servers. If the person is participating in the tournament and has violated this rule for the second time - he will be banned from the tournament and from all the servers consequently.
(3) Tournament administrators and referees do not need permission to spectate a match.
(4) Spectating the match from team members view by joining either team is not allowed at any given point. Is a player found spectating from team members view by joining a team, he or she will be suspended for 1 match.
§ 12 Gathering Players
(1) Both teams have 10 minutes to gather their players on the agreed match server. If a team fails to turn up with at least 5 players 10 minutes after the scheduled start for the match, the other team must contact a tournament administrator immediately and will be awarded a default win. A team that fails to turn up with at least 5 players for the first time will be given a warning, the second time they will be suspended from the tournament.
(2) Teams are not obligated to wait more than 5 minutes between maps and sets and are allowed to enforce a restart after these periods of waiting.
§ 13 Match Format
(1) Each match consists of 2 sets played on each of 2 maps, thus 4 sets in total. After the first set on each map the teams will swap spawns and factions. Each set will be won by the team that is the first to win 3 rounds. Each match will be won by the team with the higher number of rounds won at the end of the 4 sets.
(2) Both team captains are responsible for ensuring that a screenshot is made of each set result. Team captains must be able to produce such screenshots should they be requested to do so by a tournament administrator. In the case of a dispute the team that cannot produce a screenshot will forfeit the disputed rounds.
(3) The team shown on the left side of the fixture is 'Team A', the map shown on the left side of the fixture is 'Map A' and the faction shown on the left side of the fixture is 'Faction A'. Team A starts on Factions A on Map A and Faction B on Map B.
(4) Each team may field up to 5. In case if one team is unable to field 5 players the other team is under no obligation to match the other team's numbers.
(5) Matches between EU and NA must be played using Home-Away system. Meaning:
- Sets 1-4 must be played on the home server of team A.
- Sets 2-3 must be played on the away server of team A.
- Server "Whaleism" must be used as a home server for NA and away server for EU.
§ 14 Substitutions
(1) Substitutions are only allowed between each set without restrictions. If a team substitutes a player during a set for the first time, the relevant rounds count as lost, for the second time the relevant rounds count as lost and they will be deducted 3 points, and for the third time they will be suspended from the tournament.
(2) If a player crashes on game, substitutions can be made after the round has ended though this is limited to 1 substitution per round. A player counts as crashed once he drops out of the server. If a player crashed on game and the team substitues him or her in the same round or two players crashed on game and the team substitues both of them in the same round, for the first time the relevant rounds will count as lost, for the second time the relevant rounds will count as lost and the team will be deducted 3 points, and for the third time they will be suspended from the tournament.
§ 15 Referees
Referees are available on request but are not mandatory. Requests for a referee can be made towards the administration by either team's captain or a potential streamer.
§ 16 Streamers
(1) Accredited streamers do not need permission from teams to stream matches, but they must notify them beforehand. A list of accredited streamers can be found in Appendix C.
(2) Any other streaming channels are welcome to stream matches, but should the relevant teams refuse to be streamed, they may not stream the match and must leave the server.
(3) Streamers are required to make their recordings of matches public within 48 hours after their streamed or recorded match, otherwise § 11 II applies.
§ 17 Tie Breaker
(1) Due to the nature of the tournament, no match may end in a draw. Should a match end in a tie after regular time, the teams must play a tie breaker.
(2) The tiebreaker is a first to 3, meaning the first team that wins 3 rounds wins the tiebreaker and thus the match.
(3) The tiebreaker has to be played on Winterburg. Each team will choose their faction from the factions listed in Appendix B.
(4) The match size for tiebreakers is 5v5.
