Regular season: best of 2. Playoffs: best of 3. Grand final: best of 5.
Bo2 = two separate lobbies.
Bo3 = one lobby per game, first to 2 wins.
Bo5 = one lobby per game, first to 3 wins.
If the admins change a series length during the season, only series that haven't kicked off change.
Standings and tiebreakers
A series win is worth 3 points, a draw 1 and a loss 0. Only regular-season series count toward the table.
A regular-season series that ends level is a draw (a best of 2 that ends 1–1). Tiebreaker and playoff series can't end in a draw.
Teams level on points are split by game difference, then series wins, then head-to-head: points, then game difference, in the series between the tied teams.
Teams still level where it decides a playoff place or seed play tiebreakers before the playoffs start.
Tiebreakers: Best of 1 · One loss ends your run · Up to 3 games per team.
Normal standings rules come first. Remaining ties use BO1 brackets. Qualification uses one bracket per available place; seeding brackets decide order. If more than eight teams are tied per place, the published draw selects the entrants before play; the rest are eliminated. Byes and equal finishes use draw order. Ready games run in parallel. No extra deciders.
Playoffs
The playoffs are a single-elimination bracket of the top teams, as big as the teams that haven't withdrawn allow: 2–3 teams send 2, 4–7 send 4, 8–15 send 8, 16–31 send 16.
Round one pairs the top seed with the lowest, the second with the second lowest, and so on; the higher seed hosts.
Winners stay on their side of the bracket: there is no reseeding.
Round one is played on the match night after the regular season and any tiebreakers, and each later round on the next match night once the round before it is done.
Forfeits and withdrawals
Only admins record forfeits. A forfeit is a ruled score: it can end a series early, but it can't hold more games than the series allows or erase games already played.
Ruled scores count in the table like played ones, game difference included.
A team that withdraws during the regular season forfeits every series it hasn't finished, one under way included: each opponent wins 2–0 in a best of 2, whatever was already played.
The results it already played still count for everyone else, and it can't enter the playoffs.
Once the playoffs start, an admin rules each affected series instead.
Rosters and standins
Teams have 5 players, the captain included.
After the auction, admins can sign undrafted players into open seats and release players, until the season ends.
Anyone with an active signup who isn't on a roster can stand in: standins and undrafted players alike.
Captains book standins for their own team on the match page, and admins can book for any team. One standin per seat.
A standin can't be booked for two matches within 4 hours of each other.
Cover can be booked from the end of the auction until the series is over, and removed until the series' first game is in.
Booking a standin 500 or more MMR above the player they cover shows a warning to check with the other captain. It never blocks the booking.
Match night and rescheduling
Match night: Saturday. Kickoff times show in your own time zone.
Once your match has a kickoff time, answer its check-in (I'm in, or Can't make it) so your captain can find cover. It stays open until 48 hours after kickoff.
A new kickoff time clears every check-in, so everyone answers again.
Captains move a match together: one proposes a new time on the match page, and the other accepts or declines it. Admins can also move a match or a whole week.
A proposed time can't be more than an hour in the past, more than 180 days ahead, or within 4 hours of either team's other league matches or booked scrims.
A regular-season match has to be played before the playoffs start.
A series that has started can't be moved.
Hosting the lobby
The home team's captain hosts the lobby; the match page names them.
Lobbies are Captains Mode on Europe West servers.
Signups and eligibility
Players up to 5,000 MMR can join; Divine 3 and higher medals and Immortal players can't. Above 5,000 MMR, an admin looks over your signup before the draft.
Signups are uncapped; the season's target is at least 8 teams.
Players sign up while the season is taking signups. After that, new players can sign up as standins until the playoffs end.
You can withdraw your own signup unless you're on a roster or booked to stand in for a match not yet played: an admin has to release you, or the booking has to come off, first.
The auction draft
Captains are on their own teams and buy their other 4 players in a live auction. Only player signups are in it, not standins.
Each captain has $100 to spend.
Budgets are weighted by captain MMR: the lowest-rated captain gets up to 20% more and the highest up to 20% less, in full once the captains are 1,000 MMR apart.
Captains take turns nominating in draft order: a simple rotation, not a snake. Teams that are full, or can't afford the minimum bid, are skipped.
Bids are whole dollars from $1. Each bid resets the clock to 30 seconds, or 5 seconds when no other team can top it.
A bid must leave $1 for each seat still to fill, so every team can finish its roster.
A captain who doesn't nominate within 90 seconds has the highest-MMR player left nominated for them at $1.
If the player pool runs out first, the auction ends and teams still short fill their open seats with standins.
Results and game imports
Follow the lobby setup on your match page. This season has no league ticket yet, so your result may not appear on its own. If it doesn't, your captain adds it on the match page by its Dota match ID, and if the game can't be found, sends an admin the score.
A game counts for a match when at least 3 of each team's players (its roster, or standins booked for that match) are on opposite sides, and it started between 3 days before and 6 days after the scheduled kickoff. Admins can add a game from outside that window.
Only admins enter a score by hand.
Results are corrected only in their own phase: regular-season and tiebreaker results before the playoffs, playoff results during them.
