Rules
VALORANT RULES
This competition is not affiliated with or sponsored by Riot Games, Inc. or VALORANT Esports.
For general ruleset on Nationals format, reschedules, and no shows, see rules here.
1. Player and Team Eligibility
1.1. Player eligibility
1.1.1. To be eligible to compete in the British Esports Student Champs, each player must have satisfied all of the following conditions:
1.1.1.1. Be registered in full-time education at an Institution of Secondary or Further Education as defined in sections 1.1 and 1.2 within the General Rules.
1.1.1.2. They must have a EU account on VALORANT.
1.1.1.3. A Player must be aged 16+.
1.1.1.4 Refer to ‘Overall Rules’ for general eligibility also.
1.2. Team eligibility
1.2.1. Each team must have a designated Leader that satisfies the following conditions:
1.2.1.1. A registered staff member at the Institution that the team represents. In exceptional circumstances, a student with written permission from their school or college may be designated leader, subject to British Esports approval.
1.2.1.2. Able to act as representative and point of contact for British Esports.
1.2.1.3. Able to supervise all online interaction between Players at that Institution. This must include before and after games as well as during.
1.2.1.4. The leader cannot participate, only supervise.
1.2.2. A team must consist of at least 5 but no more than 7 players that must be from the same Institution.
1.2.3. A team may request a name change at any point during a season. To change a team’s name, an admin must be contacted with desired change.
1.2.4. A Teams name should not be explicitly offensive and if the British Esports Student Champs considers this to be the case that team will be required to change their name.
2. Match Rules
2.1. Match Setup and Agent Select
2.1.1. All matches are to be played on the London server.
2.1.2. Players must use the VALORANT account associated to their British Esports Student Champs account. If this account information is not up to date it will lead to a rule strike (please see section 2.6 or 3.6 in General Rules for more information on Rule Strikes based on Nationals or Open).
2.1.3. The school/college shown on the left of the match page is the “home team” and should host the lobby.
2.1.4. Game Settings
The home team will create and host the lobby and invite the away team. The lobby must be setup as follows:
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Lobby: Custom (closed)
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Mode: Standard
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Server: London
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Map: Chosen Map as determined by the pick/ban phase
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Allow Cheats: Off
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Tournament Mode: On
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Overtime Win by Two: On
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Blood: Disabled
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Play All Rounds: Off
2.1.4.1. The maps should be chosen from the current map pool:
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Sunset
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Ascent
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Bind
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Haven
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Lotus
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Icebox
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Abyss
2.1.4.2 The higher seeded team chooses whether they are Team A or Team B, before starting the map veto process, as this will determine who begins the veto. The team displayed on the left (the “home” team is the higher seeded team.
2.1.4.3. BO1 Map Selection Process
All matches:
The higher seeded team (team on the left hand side) chooses whether they are Team A or Team B.
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Home team (team on left) bans a map from the map pool.
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Away team (team on the right) bans a map from the map pool.
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Home team (team on left) bans a map from the map pool.
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Away team (team on the right) picks one of the remaining maps.
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Home team (team on left) picks a side (Attackers/Defenders) to start on.
2.1.4.4. BO3 Map Selection Process
All matches:
The higher seeded team (team on the left hand side) chooses whether they are Team A or Team B.
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Team A bans one Map
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Team B bans one Map
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Team A picks Map 1
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Team B picks the side for Map 1
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Team B picks Map 2
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Team A picks the side for Map 2
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Team A bans one Map
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Team B choses map 3
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Team A picks the side for Map 3
The choice of side will go to the team that did not choose the map in which they will play on.
2.1.5. Team size must be 5. Max 7 with subs.
2.1.5.1 If a Team has a coach, then that coach may be present for every Match in which the Team participates. Coaches are only allowed to communicate with their respective teams during agent select, timeouts, halftime, prior to entering overtime, and in between maps (if applicable). If a coach is in the lobby, we ask you to record full game communications (including game chat) to ensure teams and coaches are following the rules. This is to ensure there are no accusations of foul play.
2.1.6 Once both teams have joined the lobby and stated they are ready, they may start the pick/ban phase.
2.1.7 New agents may not be used until they have been available in Ranked for at least one week.
2.1.8 Agents which have been majorly reworked may not be used until a week has passed since patch date.
2.1.9 All skins and cosmetics are allowed to be used.
2.2. Tactical Timeouts
2.2.1. Each team can call a tactical timeout a maximum of once per half (twice per map in total). Each timeout lasts 60 seconds and will freeze all player movements.
2.2.2. Use of a tactical timeout does not count towards the maximum of 15 minutes that teams are allowed for technical pauses.
2.3. Casting of Games
2.3.1 Champs matches can only be streamed if agreed by both teams. Those wishing to stream should reach out to the opposing staff leader and team ahead of the match to gain permission. If one of the teams in a fixture does not agree to be streamed, then the match must not be streamed.
2.3.2. Tournament admins and people that are explicitly permitted to spectate by British Esports Student Champs (e.g. shoutcasters or streamers) may ask to spectate. You cannot refuse to invite a tournament admin.
2.3.3. Players must wait for casters to declare they are ready before starting.
2.3.4. Coaches, managers or anyone not explicitly permitted to spectate may spectate with permission from both teams.
2.3.5. These spectators must be locked to the side of their affiliation e.g. a coach for the attackers team must be “locked to the attacking side”.
2.3.6. Stream delay of at least 180 seconds must be enabled in the streaming software to prevent cheating.
3. Penalties
3.1. Any person found to have engaged in or attempted to engage in any act that British Esports Student Champs believes, in its sole and absolute discretion, constitutes unfair play, will be subject to penalty. The nature and extent of the penalties imposed due to such acts shall be in the sole and absolute discretion of the British Esports Student Champs.
3.2. If any team or player is suspected of breaking any rules, admins should be informed by the Leader. At this point they may ask for screenshots or other evidence of misconduct.
3.3. Upon discovery of any team member committing any violations of the rules listed above, the British Esports Student Champs may, without limitation issue the following penalties:
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Loss of a ban. In this instance, the offending team must select “None” in place of their first ban.
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Issue of a warning on the record of that team.
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Forfeit of a match.
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Temporary suspension of a player. If this results in <5 players on the team, the team will become ineligible (according to 1.2.2) unless a substitute is brought in.
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Permanent ban of a player.
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Deduction of points or seeding for the current or next tournament. Penalties are carried over with the majority of the offending team for the full academic year.
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Disqualification of team from a tournament
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Disqualification of team from the British Esports Student Champs
4. Spirit of the rules
4.1. These rules may be amended, modified or supplemented by the British Esports Student Champs, from time to time, in order to ensure fair play and integrity of the British Esports Student Champs.
4.2. All decisions regarding the interpretation of these rules lie solely with the British Esports Student Champs, the decisions of which are final.
This competition is not affiliated with or sponsored by Riot Games, Inc. or VALORANT Esports.
