game Rules and format


Overwatch Rules and Format 



Match Format: 

1. Teams will compete against each other in a two-day, single elimination online tournament with continuous play. 

a. Saturday will feature the Round of 32, Round of 16, and Round of 8. 

b. Sunday will feature the Semifinals and Finals. 

2. Default tournament start time is 2:00pm Pacific; all subsequent rounds should be played out continuously. 

3. The form of competition is Overwatch, played on the current patch. 

4. Round of 32, Round of 16, and Round of 8 are two-map sets. 

a. Two separate games on two separate maps. 

i. The winner of a coin flip chooses the first map. 

ii. The team who lost the flip chooses the second map. 

b. Winning a map earns the team one point. 

c. If a team ties or loses, they do not earn a point. 

d. After the two maps, the team with the most match points is declared the winner 

e. If both teams have the same number of match points, a third and final map is played. The winner of the tiebreaker is the winner of the set. 

5. Semifinals and Finals are the same as above EXCEPT they are four-map sets. 

6. No map type or specific map may be reused within a match. 


Lobby Settings: 

1. Preset 

a. Competitive 

2. Lobby 

a. Map Rotation - After a Game 

b. Return to Lobby - After a Game 

3. Modes 

a. All - Kill Cam – Disabled 

4. Maps 

a. Select the 'NONE' button on the top right corner 

b. Set the map you are playing on to 'ON' 

5. Heroes 

a. Hero selection limit: 1 per team 

b. All heroes are currently allowed 

c. Role selection limit: 2 

d. Allow Hero Switching: On 

e. Respawn as random hero: Off 

6. All other unmentioned settings will be left as default 


Gameplay Rules: 

1. All games will take place on the North American Battle.net server 

2. A team may request a pause only for technical issues; the team that controls the lobby must still request the pause to give the opposing team a fair warning, and include the 

reason for the pause before or immediately after pausing. Default pause hotkey is CTRL+SHIFT+"=" 

3. Each team has a maximum of 3 pauses per match, up to 5 minutes each; if a team does not unpause in time, they immediately use their next pause and add up to 5 minutes to the current pause timer. If one pause lasts under five minutes, you do not receive "carry-over" time for future pauses. If a team has no pauses left or the pause timer runs out, they are forced to continue to play it out or forfeit the current map. 

Unfair play: 

The following actions will be considered unfair play: 


2. An intentional disconnection without a proper and explicitly stated reason 


4. Intentionally allowing an opponent to win a game. 



7. The use of an ineligible player (aka "ringing"). 

Upon discovery of any player committing any violations regarded as unfair play, the offending player, at the sole discretion of the tournament director or a group of referees, may receive a warning, a forfeit loss, and/or disqualified from the tournament. During the course of the event, the tournament director or group of referees may determine other actions to embody unfair play. 

Player Eligibility: 

1. Each player must be currently enrolled in their university with a valid university email address, taking full time courses, and in good standing. 

a. Players must be registered as current students at their team's school unless approved under a combined team; see section: team eligibility. 

b. Each player must be enrolled as a student with a full-time course load for each academic term the season takes place (generally a minimum of 12 credit hours or 3-4 classes for undergrads, depending on the university's requirements). Graduate students are eligible to participate as long as they meet the full-time status requirements of their university and program (likely less credits/classes required, or possibly even none on a research track!) 

i. One-time exceptions to this rule for part time students are possible for high performing students with an academic history of full time course loads for at least one full school year, and having no prior part time status or other issues (recurring issues are not eligible); please email northamericancollegiateleague@gmail.com with relevant information about your situation to get approved to participate; exception requests should be made BEFORE the player in question plays in a match. 

c. Players graduating during the school year season do not have to meet the full time credit requirement if they need less than required amount to graduate, they only need to be part time status, as long as they have been full time for their entire academic history (and in good standing), and they will also continue to be eligible to participate for the rest of the current season if they graduate in the middle of the 

school year; contact northamericancollegiateleague@gmail.com if clarification is needed. 

d. Players must be in "good standing" as defined by their university/program (generally 2.0 term GPA) for the duration of the season to be eligible to participate; standing at the beginning of the season is based on the previous academic term. Students on academic probation, leave of absence, or any circumstances other than the norm of taking enough classes and passing, are unable to play in NACL. Players found in violation of this rule are subject to penalties. See section: penalties. 

2. Players must be registered with valid User IDs; players must add and verify their Usernames on their NACL profile. 

a. Barcode IDs and any other offensive names are not allowed. If a player’s primary ID happens to be a barcode, that player must choose an appropriate name to use for the competition. Failure to have updated information will result in penalties. See section: penalties. 

3. Players can only play for one school; players on dual enrollment may not play for multiple schools and must be approved by tournament admins. 

a. In the case of a school transfer, if a player has already played in the current season, they must be reviewed and be approved by the tournament admins at their discretion. Players who have not played a match in the current season will be automatically approve. 

b. If a player continues to play under their original school without explicit approval, they will be counted as an illegal player and may be subject to penalties. See section: penalties. 

4. NACL staff may request and check transcripts/academic files of all players at any time during the season. Failure to provide proof of education will result in being unable to participate in events. 


Team Eligibility: 

1. Coordinators/Leaders/Captains are responsible for ensuring that all members of the team follow the guidelines outlined in the section: player eligibility. 

2. Each team must belong to an accredited college or university. The university must offer at least a 2-year degree or certification program. 

3. All teams must have a minimum of 5 players who are all students at the same university. 

4. If a school has a TOTAL population of less than approximately 5,000, a player may request to join a nearby, affiliated university's team, as a combined team. All such requests will be evaluated by NACL administrators on a case-by-case basis and any exceptions must be renewed on an annual basis. All requests must include evidence of the total student population and a direct affiliation between the two institutions. 

a. Examples of direct affiliation include but are not limited to: a community college's direct 1:1 feeder/transfer program, an applicable shared academic degree program, or a shared varsity athletics program. 

i. The type of affiliation will determine the scope of the approved combined team, meaning that full affiliation across the entire school will allow all students to combine, whereas affiliation for one specific academic program will only allow those applicable students to combine. 

b. Regional or satellite campuses of a university are counted as different schools by default, since most act as their own degree-granting institution/legal entity, but may apply for a combined team if the requirements are met. 

c. 2-year schools such as community and technical colleges are more likely to be counted as one entity, since many act as one combined degree-granting institution/legal entity, and as such, combined teams between different campus locations within that 2-year school will have a total combined population limit of approximately 20,000 between the campuses. 

5. Other factors of determination include but are not limited to: the student's level of skill, the possibility of forming a team at his or her university, the average skill of the neighboring university, and the potential of rule-abuse. Please send an email to northamericancollegiateleague@gmail.com with all required relevant information when requesting an exception. 

a. Procedural note: when sending us an email regarding player exceptions, please make sure to include links to your school’s enrollment numbers, any affiliation with the school you’re looking to join, your own in-game profiles, and any additional information you may think is necessary. We will ignore emails that do not present at least the minimum information required here. 

b. Procedural note 2: Having a school-affiliation and a population of less than 5,000 does not mean we will accept your exception request! These benchmarks are simply for us to consider the exception. Please understand that - everything needs to be approved via email by us first! 


1. It is the responsibility of both teams to verify the eligibility of all players playing in the match prior to starting or continuing any match play. A team playing with an ineligible player will forfeit the map the ineligible player participated in. 

2. All gamertags on a team's roster must be valid. The gamertag must be legitimately owned by the user on the roster. 

3. Users are permitted to be listed on only one team on each ladder at any given time. Users are only permitted one gamertag per ladder. 

4. All roster spots must be comprised of only one valid gamertag. Spelling and spaces must be exact but does not need to be case sensitive. 

5. Gamertags may not contain foul language, disparaging remarks, hateful or racist names. 

6. If a team uses an ineligible player in a match, they will forfeit the map the ineligible player participated in. Proof must be shown to support any claims of an ineligible player playing in a match. 


No Shows: 

1. A team has 3 minutes to show for the match with the correct number of eligible players in the match. Failure to do so will result in a forfeit of the match. 

2. Contact a Discord administrator if this happens. Also report the match, with valid proof of the enemy team not showing up, through email and Discord. 


1. All proof submitted in your message needs to be from the match in question. If you submit proof from the wrong match/game or links to inappropriate material, you risk being penalized. 

2. When submitting proof, you must attach the URL to the email and Discord message and YouTube/Twitch videos cannot be set to private. 

3. For proof to be considered valid it must have the full scoreboard with gamertags. It must be large enough for staff to read it. 

4. NACL also has a zero tolerance for submitting fake or old proof. Anyone caught may face removal from NACL. 


1. Teams must report the match immediately after completion. If a team reports within 10 minutes and the other doesn't the outcome will be determined by the reporting team. 

2. If you encounter any issues during the match teams must submit a ticket with valid proof for their claim. For proof to be considered valid it must be clear, show the other teams gamertags along with the scoreboard, and must have proof of the accusation. 


Prize Payout: 

1. All prizes distributed to collegiate players are considered outside scholarships, and with that the money is to only be used for educational-related expenses, such as: tuition, books, other class materials, etc. 

2. Players must fill out any required tax forms/information in order to receive payment. The NACL is not responsibility 

3. Players please allow 2-4 weeks for payouts and checks to be distributed individually to each player AFTER all required documentation is received. 


1. Rules are subject to change at any time. It is the responsibility of all the users participating on this ladder to know and understand the rules before scheduling any matches. 

2. All NACL accounts, teams and roster spots are property of NACL Inc. Any advertising of, or attempts to buy, sell, trade, or exchange any aforementioned item is strictly prohibited. Violators will be removed from all NACL online properties and all related accounts terminated. Furthermore, NACL reserves the right to deactivate, reset or temporarily suspend any account or team, without notice, that violates our Terms of Use. 

3. Users must utilize their own unique username when competing on NACL. This unique username must have been registered on NACL personally by the user. The registered username must contain the correct and complete Name, Address, and Email of the user. If 

a false Name, Address, or Email was entered, the user voids the privilege to participate in the Ladder/Tournament and receive any prizes. 

4. Users are prohibited from sharing NACL account information. This includes, but is not limited to, the following: usernames, passwords, gamertags, email accounts, etc. If another person accesses your account, you may be disqualified from the Ladder/Tournament you are participating in as well as be removed from NACL. As such, you are personally responsible for accepting an invitation to a team. Someone else cannot accept a team invitation for you. If you do not personally accept a team invitation, you may be disqualified from competing. You will also forfeit the ability to receive prizes. 

5. If a user is found to be evading an active penalty, the original account that was banned will be disabled, regardless of the original offense. In addition, users found to be participating on a team with a user that is evading a ban will be subject to penalties including removal from the site. We advise you to report the evading user immediately by utilizing our ticket system. 

6. NACL prohibits users from creating or managing more than one team on a ladder from the same household as well as competing against each other. Multiple people from the same household may compete on NACL; however, only one username can be in a management position on a team. All other usernames from the same household cannot be anything higher than member on any team on the same ladder. 

7. The Coordinators/Leaders/Captains of a team can change the team name, blast message, logos, avatars and website links. The images/information submitted must be appropriate. Attempting to bypass the automatic censor by misspelling, inserting spaces or symbols, transposing letters, using look-alike symbols, or any other method is not allowed. Teams that attempt to bypass the censor will be subject to penalties. 

8. Teams on a ladder must contain the minimum number of eligible players to remain active on a ladder. Teams without the minimum number of eligible players - especially teams that are 'abandoned' - are subject to removal at the Staff's discretion. 

9. As to ensure fair competition, NACL reserves the right to amend all match-related rules listed herein on a case by case basis. Teams who manipulate these rules maliciously and/or at the expense of other members will be penalized for Unsportsmanlike Conduct.

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