2015 World Championship rules

A rundown of important policies in the 2015 Worlds ruleset.

With the 2015 World Championship Format announcement, we shared some changes coming to Worlds, including a live Group Draw Show and the introduction of randomization elements to setting the bracket for the Knockout Stage. Many of the additional changes for Worlds were already successfully implemented at the 2015 Mid-Season Invitational. Read on for some context around the major policy updates to the 2015 Worlds ruleset:

Regional Residency Requirement (Section 1.2) 

Implemented in the 2015 Season, this policy reflects the Interregional Movement Policy that exists in all of the major and participating regions for Worlds.

Roster Requirements (Section 3.2) 

As with the 2015 MSI ruleset, all teams are required to bring one substitute in case of an emergency in which a player is unable to play. We have this policy in place so that competitive play can continue without a forfeit in an emergency/unforeseen circumstances.

Teams with multiple substitutes will only be allowed to use one at Worlds. This policy is designed to be a middle ground solution for participating regions where substitutes are used for a backup plan and regions where substitutes can be used as a strategic advantage - ensuring that everyone has a fallback plan, but teams with deeper sub benches aren’t at an automatic advantage.

All starters are required to have written agreements with their organization.  

Coach (Section 3.4) 

With the progression of competitive play and many regions officially recognizing coaches, coaches will be mandatory for all competing teams at Worlds. Coaches are required to be on-site for their team’s games at Worlds and need to be designated before Worlds begins. Coaches cannot be a starting player, substitute player, active player on a Challenger Series team, owner and/or manager for a professional team or Challenger team. Regional teams that don’t have coaches will be allowed to designate their team managers as coaches.

Single-Day Substitutions (Section 3.5) 

As seen at the 2015 MSI, teams can substitute in a new player prior to the start of the next game of a series so long as the coach notifies the Worlds officials immediately after the most recent game has ended and no later than five minutes after the explosion of the nexus.

Player-Owned or Team-Owned Equipment (Section 4.2)  

Similar to 2014 Worlds, we’ll continue to manage the process of player equipment and peripherals to ensure competitive integrity of the devices used on stage.

Upon arrival at 2015 Worlds, players will now be required to submit one set of peripherals to Worlds officials. All peripherals will be submitted to Worlds officials for security review and Worlds officials will maintain possession of them throughout the event. This set of peripherals will be strictly for competitive use only.  Unapproved equipment or equipment that is suspected of providing an unfair competitive advantage will not be permitted for use, and players will be required to use the event-provided equipment instead.

Player and Coach Apparel (Section 4.4) 

All players are required to have matching apparel including shirts/jerseys, jackets, and pants. All players are required to wear closed-toe shoes and wear visible team-branded apparel on their upper body during Worlds.

Coaches will wear appropriate and professional attire. Appropriate attire does not include athletic wear, pajama pants, sneakers, sandals, team branded apparel (like jerseys), etc.

The Knockout Stage (Section 6.3.2) 

As outlined in the format recap, we will be adding randomized elements when determining the Knockout Stage bracket instead of a preset bracket. We’re introducing these elements to focus teams to win their group and eliminate the potential for teams being incentivized not to win a group in order to draw a perceived better matchup in the next round. The Knockout Stage bracket will be determined live on-air after the conclusion of the Group Stage.

Competitive Patch (Section 7.4)

2015 Worlds will be played on the 5.18 patch. In only extreme circumstances, changes to the competitive patch can be made at the discretion of Worlds officials.

Tahm Kench will be the most recent champion to be permitted for play at any stage during Worlds.

Start of Pick/Ban Process (Section 7.6.1)

We’ve seen the impact of a strong Pick/Ban phase throughout the season and the success of coaches being part of the strategic phase in many regions. Therefore, coaches will be allowed on-stage and will be able to communicate with players during the Pick/Ban phase. The coach will exit the stage with five seconds remaining in the Trading Phase.

Side Selection (Section 7.7.3) 

Teams’ sides will be pre-selected randomly for the Group Stage. During the Group Stage, each team will play every other team twice, once on blue side, once on red side. In the Quarterfinals, the higher seed will have side selection for all odd games. The lower seed will have side selection for all even games.  For example, the higher seed may choose to play game 1 on blue side, but game 3 and 5 on red side and the lower seed may choose to play game 2 on red side and game 4 on blue side.

For Quarterfinals, all side selections will submit their final selection by 11:59pm local time on Tuesday following each stage to give teams enough time to prepare for their next opponents with full knowledge of their selection. If a team does not submit a side selection before the deadline, their selection will default to blue side.

After Quarterfinals, we will not hold the group placement ranking, meaning side selection will be determined by coin flip. The coin flip will take place the night the matchup is decided.

Player Communication During Stoppage of Play (Section 8.3.5) 

For the fairness of all competing teams, players are not allowed to communicate in any fashion with each other during a game pause. Players can communicate to the Worlds referee, but only when directed in order to identify and remedy the cause for the stoppage. If a pause extends long enough, referees may allow teams to talk before the game is unpaused to discuss the game conditions.

Best Interests of Worlds (Section 10.3) 

Similar to a clause we introduced to the LCS in the Summer Split, new issues can emerge at Worlds that are not covered by the official rules. Some extreme situations can emerge that require immediate action and cannot wait until the ruleset is updated the following year. To address this, we’re adding a policy that would allow us to rule on emergent matters in areas not directly covered in our ruleset. This policy would only be used in extreme circumstances to protect the integrity of the tournament and ensure the tournament can proceed. We’ll always give full context into how we weighed our decisions with any major actions are taken.

Conclusion 

Many of our Worlds policies are consistent with what we used at the 2015 Mid-Season Invitational ruleset and currently active in many competitive Leagues. We’ve been working closely with all the regional leagues in advance of Worlds to give them time to understand and comply with the ruleset.

If you’d like to review the official language in the ruleset, read the 2015 World Championship rules here.