Amateur Dota 2 League

For those of us not as good as The Mittenses.

Rules

**AD2L Leagues & Prize Pool**

Entry Fee per team is $10.00

Register at https://dota.playon.gg/seasons

• Contender League - Prize Pool $25.00 (Badge max is Legend 5)

• Intermediate League - Prize Pool $35.00 (Badge max is Ancient 5)

• Divine League - Prize Pool $45.00 (Badge max is Divine 5) 

• Heroic League - Prize Pool $75.00 (No Badge Limits)

*-Badge limits are subject to change as the season progresses. If anything changes an #announcement will be made.

*Badge limits shown are initial caps for registration. Once the rosters are locked 3 weeks in, the rank caps will move up a full medal to allow for growth (Contender badge limit will go from Legend 5 --> Ancient 5) 

This is designed to allow people to feel free to improve and rank up, removing the pressure/incentive to sandbag your rank as you approach the cutoff point. Seeing as there is now ample room for improvement, Sandbagging is now forbidden and will be punishable.

*-Games are scheduled for Thursday night 9pm est. 

Player Account Rules

• The account must be calibrated.

• The account must have public matchmaking data exposed.

• The account must have a minimum of 500 games.

• If a player on your team has multiple accounts, please make sure all have public match making available and provide a dotabuff link to the admins so they can place it in the #approved-players chat. 

• If we suspect a smurf account and suspect cheating we have a right to remove teams or forfeit their matches at any time depending on the severity of cheating.

• If you or a player on your team are on the border line of badge limits, or do not meet the above criteria for a legitimate reason, or simply just want a question answered, please open a ticket in the #admin-request.

Failure to follow these rules will be met with forfeits and possible removal from league play. Any attempts at smurfing will be met with strict punishments and put on the #wall-of-shame. 

Team & Captain Rules

• Team rosters are limited to 5 people max, and should be kept up to date on the website.

• Team Captains must have their team tag in their name on discord.
  Example: [Patriots]Tom Brady
  Players are also encouraged to identify which team they play for. Wave the banner with pride.

• Captains should notify the admins so they can be given the seasons captain role and ticket.

• If you do not have your full roster listed on the site, you will not be allowed to play.
  Contact an admin via ticket if you can not field a full team week 1 or are having an issue that’s preventing you from listing your roster.

As a captain, you are expected to be responsible for the following things:
-Make sure your team can make it to the matches, rescheduling/finding a stand-in if not.
-Ensuring that the match settings are correct.
-Making sure your players are displaying good sportsmanship.
-Making sure your players are compliant with the rules.
-

Roster Lock

• Rosters will be locked 3 weeks into the season. This will be announced in the discord when the third week is scheduled.

• Before roster lock, the badge ceiling is firm at the initial cap.

• After rosters are locked, the badge ceiling is expanded by one full badge.
  This is to allow players room to improve and not feel pressured to sandbag to stay within the badge ceiling. One full badge is a very generous amount of room, so there will be no leniency for people who somehow manage to go over. Players who rise rapidly will also be monitored for sandbagging, which also will be punishable. Obviously the enforcement will be tricky, so please don’t give us any reason to suspect you.

• Replacing a player after roster lock must be handled by an admin via ticket.

Season Structure

• Season will start with 6 weeks of groups. Teams in a division will be split up into groups of 6 and play each other in a round robin fashion.

• Playoffs will be seeded based on the results of the groups stage. 

Approved Players

• In rare situations, AD2L admins will allow a team to register a roster that has a player over the initial rank cap. Feel free to ask for this exemption, but it will be handed out sparingly. The goal is to allow friend stacks to compete without being forced into an uncompetitive division.

• Teams that obtain this exemption will be listed in the #Approved-Player channel.

Exempt teams will be monitored closely to ensure they don’t have an unfair advantage over non-exempt teams.

Stand-ins

• There is a limit of two stand-ins per game. 

• Stand-ins medal must either be under the initial rank cap, or up to the rank of the player absent, whichever is higher.

• Stand-in must meet all the criteria listed in Player Account Rules. 

• You must notify the other captain that you will be using a stand in as soon as possible. 

• You must link the stand-ins dotabuff to the opposing captain.

• If a captain wishes to dispute a stand-in, he/she is encouraged to open a ticket.

• If you need a long term stand-in or a player replacement for your roster, contact an admin via ticket request.

Scheduling

Games are scheduled every week on Thursday night 9pm est. Please do not register if Thursday nights are going to be a problem for you or your team. Reschedules are allowed in AD2L, but they are a courtesy and not mandatory. Teams can expect to play every Thursday night, no communication required.

To propose a reschedule, contact the other team via discord or steam. We will have Captains listed in the #teams channel to aid you in contacting them. Once a reschedule is agreed upon, please update the match time on the website so that other people know. If both captains cannot agree on a new time to reschedule, the DEFAULT time IS the scheduled time. If captains agree to a rescheduled time they cannot later decide to change it back to the default time and catch a team/captain unaware. They must cancel the reschedule 24 hours in advance and provide evidence on contacting the opposing captain.  

Rescheduling is not required, but demonstrates sportsman and is encouraged if possible. Please check your match pages frequently for comments or changes! Each match on the site will have a lobby password generated for it on the match page. The team that is hosting the series is listed on the match page (Home Team), and that team is expected to create the lobby with the team names as the lobby title. 

Forfeits

If all of your team’s players are not in the lobby 15 minutes after the scheduled time, you forfeit your series. If both captains agree to play late, you may no longer claim a forfeit win. Evidence of a no-show should always be captured (screen shot, etc) and submitted via ticket to an Admin in discord. If you forfeit 2 consecutive series then your team will be removed from the league for the season.

Score Reporting

We’ve also empowered captains to report scores on the website. It is the job of the captains to ensure your teams scores are accurate. Please report each match by signing into the website and editing the score on the match page after your game. 

Disagreements Or Issues

Please submit a ticket in the #admin-request and we will help you with any mmr problems on the opposing team or any bad behavior that is reported. Smurf need to be brought to the Admin’s attention so that they can be submitted to the #smurf-court if necessary. 

Contact

Please contact admins via ticket request and not via message.

We have you contact the other captain ahead of time to ensure the time works and to coordinate on finding a caster or whatever else you might need for your games. Team Captains and their rosters will be listed in the #teams channel. However, should you be unable to communicate with the other team, contact AD2L admins via ticket.

Behavior In Games

We are a fun league, but we expect players to treat each other with respect. Unless you know the players on the other team and are good friends, please refrain from all chatting things like GG EZ or anything that would be considered bad mannered. Captains can submit cases to me to review. Admins have the right to issue forfeits and remove teams from the league depending on the severity of the violation.

The only thing that should be discussed in all chat is why a team is pausing. If you have a question of what is appropriate, please reach out to me and I'll discuss it with you. Tipping, and  chat-wheel voice lines are allowed. 

•    No politics/religion chat

•    No telling people to kill or harm themselves.

•    No spam.

•    No bullying.

•    No content which may be pornographic or otherwise unsuitable (nothing NSFW)

•    Doxxing anyone

•    No racist, homophobic, sexist or otherwise hateful speech or material.

Game Settings

All games must be played on the ticket. If a captain doesn’t have a ticket for whatever reason please have the captain with the ticket host the lobby.

2 Game Series for the Group Stage, Best of 3 for the Playoffs, Best of 5 for the Playoff Final.

Game Mode: Captains Mode

Regular Season Side/Pick: Use the flip function in the lobby for the first game. For the second game the team that lost the flip gets choice. 

Playoffs Side/Pick: First Round: Higher seed gets to choose for game 1. Alternates for game two. Coin toss is used if there is a third game.   

Server: US East

Spectators: Allowed

Cheats: Disabled

DotaTV Delay: 5 Minutes

Do not forget to set the AD2L ticket in the lobby settings!

Pauses

Teams are allowed to pause up to three times per match. The opposing team must respect this pause for a minimum of three minutes, but then are free to un-pause whenever they wish.

Casting and Streaming

Casters from the official #casters channel in discord are allowed to cast games. Captains have the right to refuse casters they are not comfortable with. If a captain refuses a caster they must cast the match from the watch tab.

Any streams of matches must be 5 minutes behind the actual game (live game with 5 minute stream delay, or 5 min dotatv delay with no stream delay). 

Please be professional and respectful with the casting and avoid flaming/bullying. A balanced cast that isn’t one sided to one team is the most enjoyable. If a team complains about the cast, punishments may be handed out, including but not limited to loss of the caster role in discord.

Questions?

Please ask questions any time via ticket and we are happy to clarify anything as necessary.