Welcome to 6WC Minor League - 2024

1. 6 Digit World Cup Minor League (6WC ML) is a country-based, OWC inspired tournament
2. Rank range: 100k - 999k
3. Mode: 4v4 || Teamsize 4-8
4. 6WC 2024 Mappools will be used
5. Score v2 + No Fail will be enforced throughout the tournament
6. After Qualifiers, the Top 48 Teams will qualify for Group Stage 1
7. The bracket stage will be Double Elimination
8. All times listed are in UTC format

Registration Process

1. Registrations are done through the 6WC Major League Forum Post, but will be added here as well
2. Signups are individual
3. Any country with at least 4 players registered will be allowed to participate
4. Countries with less than 4 registered players, but at least 4 players registered from their region will be allowed to compete in the tournament as a Regional, or "Country-less" team
   - Examples of this are: Continents - Eroupe, Asia, etc || Geographical Regions - Middle East, South-East Asia, etc
   - Countries that fall into one of these categories will be contacted to discuss specifics privately by a Host/Admin
5. Registered players will play their respective country’s tryouts
6. Playing in your country’s tryouts is mandatory to be eligible to play in the tournament
   - Only needed for countries with more than 8 signed-up players
7. Staff is not allowed to play, with the exception of streamers and commentators
8. All registrants are required to be in the Discord Server until tryouts are over
   - Players are required to stay until their team is eliminated

Flag Changes

1. Players are allowed to request a flag-change by messaging a Host/Admin
2. Players must send a photo of a valid identification document to prove their relationship to the country they want to switch to
   - Examples: Passport, Driver’s License, Permanent Residence Document, Tax Form, Student ID, etc
3. Players are expected to blur personal information when they send in their documents
   - Examples: Legal Name, Photo, ID Numbers, Date of Birth, etc
4. Photo of each document will only be shared with Host/Admin
5. All the photos of documents will be deleted/removed once confirmed by Host/Admin

Team Submissions

1. Tryout Organizers for 6WC 2024 are the only individuals allowed to submit rosters for their country
   - This will be a private process
2. Countries with at least 24 signups may submit a B team to play in the Minor League
   - Countries with at least 48 signups may submit a C team
   - Countries with at least 96 signups may submit a D team
3. Countries within 4 players from each team requirement (20/44/92 signups) are able to request an additional team by messaging one of the Hosts
   - Tryout Organizers must provide proof that the team will be somewhat competitive, acceptance/denial will be decided by the Host/Admins
4. Countries that are eligible to submit teams are recommended to submit additional players as substitutes
   - Countries that submit a B team may include up to 16 players || For C team, up to 24 players || For D team, up to 32 players
   - These additional players will be allowed to replace individuals that get screened
5. Additionally, countries who do not qualify for 6WC - Major League are able to qualify for the Minor League

Screening

1. Players may be “screened” (not allowed to play) if:
   - Out of the rank range at any point during the 6WC registration period
   - Abuse of rank range
   - Suspicious behavior
   - Suspicious profile statistics
   - Past history of toxic behavior
   - Having been restricted in the past 6 months prior to the end of the registration period
   - Having been apart of a top 3 team in any previous 6WC
2. Screened players will be allowed to appeal if they are screened out for a short period of time after the release of screening results
   - An appeals must contain a short explanation of why the player thinks they should be allowed to play in 6WC, Host/Admins will decide to accept/deny the appeal
   - Any insults targeted at the staff team or other players during the appeal process will result in immediate denial of appeal

Qualifiers

1. Each team will sign up for a lobby of their choice
2. If none of the premade lobbies works for a team, Captains may request a custom lobby
   - Custom lobbies will be accepted depending on refs’ availability
3. Your referee will send a reminder ping roughly 15 minutes before the lobby's start time, and invite the captain(s) 5 minutes before the lobby's start time
4. All maps will be played in the predetermined order from NM1 to DT2
5. A 90 second timer will be enforced between every map
6. Teams are free to substitute in any player they want between each map without restriction
7. After all maps in the mappool have been played, the teams will get an optional second chance to play through the entire mappool
   - The second playthrough must be played immediately after the first playthrough
   - Team captain(s) will inform the referee if they want a second playthrough as well as which maps they want to replay
   - A 30 second timer will be enforced between every map of the second playthrough
   - If a team in a lobby with other teams does not want to replay a certain map, they will be required to wait outside the lobby for the map to finish
   - Not necessary if there is only one team in a lobby
8. If a player disconnects during the first 30 seconds of a map, the map will be aborted
   - If a disconnect occurs a second time, the team score is counted as is and will be recommended to play the map again during the second playthroughs
9. For teams that utilize their second playthrough, the higher team score will be used for seeding calculations
10. Team seeding will be calculated using the sum of percentiles assuming a normal curve (also known as Z-Sum)
    - TLDR: Scores are calculated by comparing each map’s average score rather than the best score. For a more detailed explanation, see here
11. The date and time of the qualifier results reveal will be announced in the discord server
12. The top 48 teams will proceed to the Group Stage 1

Group Stage 1

1. All qualified teams will be distributed into 4 seeding tiers: Top, High, Middle, and Low
   - Each tier will have 4 countries
2. Groups will be distributed through a serpentine order
   - No group will have two teams from the same seeding tier
3. Each group will have 4 teams
   - Teams will play every team in their group once, totaling 3 matches during Group Stage 1
4. Group results will be sorted in the following order:
   - Match wins
   - Map win/loss difference
   - Head-to-head results between the tied teams
5. The Top 2 teams in each group will advance to Group Stage 2
6. Teams will be distributed into the 2nd group stage using a predetermined format:

Group Stage 2

1. All qualified teams will be distributed into 3 seeding tiers: High, Middle, and Low
   - Each tier will have 3 countries
2. Groups will be distributed through a predetermined format
   - No group will have two teams from the same seeding tier
3. Each group will have 3 teams
   - Teams will play every team in their group once, totaling 2 matches during Group Stage 1
4. Group results will be sorted in the following order:
   - Match wins
   - Map win/loss difference
   - Head-to-head results between the tied teams
5. The Top 2 teams in each group will advance to the Double-Elimination Bracket
6. Teams will be distributed into the Double-Elimination bracket using a predetermined bracket:
   - 1st seeded teams will be placed into Winner's Bracket
   - 2nd seeded teams will be placed into Loser's Bracket

Match Procedure

1. The order of matches will be: Warmups → Rolls → Protects → Bans → Picks
2. Match invites will be sent 5 to 10 minutes before the match time
   - Players are allowed to ping the Hosts in the discord server ONLY IF their matches' referee is missing 15 minutes before the match time
3. If a team doesn’t have at least 4 players present after the warmups, that team will lose by default
   - If both teams don’t have at least 4 players present after warmups, both teams will lose by default
4. The first team in the lobby name is Team Red and will be in slots 1 to 4 || The other is Team Blue and will be in slots 5 to 8
5. Teams are free to choose a warmup map
   - Warmups must be shorter than 4 minutes, played with Free Mod on, and cannot be in the mappool
   - Teams can also skip their warmups
   - If match is streamed, Captains must send their team’s warmup map to the referee at least 10 minutes prior to the match time
6. Rolls are to be made by the captains of each team using the command “!roll”
   - Rolls made by non-captains will not be considered
   - In situations where the captain is not available, the team will designate a substitute captain to make the roll
7. The winner of the roll will Protect Second, Ban Second, and Pick First
8. The loser of the roll will Protect First, Ban First, and Pick Second
9. Protects are used to make a map impossible to ban
   - Protected maps can be picked at any point of the match by either team
10. Bans are used to make a map impossible to pick, removing them from the mappool
    - The number of bans will depend on the round (elaborated more in "Pick/Ban Format")
11. Picks decide what map gets played next
    - Double picks and double bans are allowed
12. A 90 second timer will be enforced on each Protect, Ban, and Pick
    - An additional 2 minute timer will be given after each pick to prepare rosters and ready up
13. If a team fails to pick a map after 90 seconds, the referee will give that team a warning
    - If further infringements happen, that team will forfeit their pick to the other team
    - Pick order will stay the same after the missed pick
14. If a team has repeatedly and maliciously gone over the timer, the referee is allowed to award that point to the opposing team
15. Picks are in an alternate order (ABAB…)
16. Teams are free to substitute in any player they want between each map without restriction
17. In the rare event of a tie, the result will be nullified and the map will be replayed
18. If a player disconnects within the first 30 seconds of a map, the map will be aborted and replayed. Disconnects after 30 seconds will not be aborted
    - Aborts are only allowed once per team, per match
    - The disconnected player may be substituted out, but all other players must remain in the lobby
19. If another disconnect occurs, then only submitted scores will be counted

Free Mod Rules

1. The following are the mod options/restrictions for each player:
   - Player 1 - HD
   - Player 2 - HR
   - Player 3 - Any combination of HD, HR, EZ, or FL
   - Player 4 - NM or any other valid mod combination
2. EZ multiplier will be variable and may change depending on the pool
   - Each round's multiplier will be posted in Announcements and on the Mappool page of the main sheet

Pick/Ban Format

1. The amount of bans will depend on the round
2. After 4 maps have been played, there will be a second ban phase
   - Both teams will ban a map, with the losing team banning second
   - If the score is tied after 4 maps, the team that lost the 4th map will ban second
3. In Finals and Grand Finals matches, after 8 maps have been played, there will be a third ban phase
   - The same rules will be applied as the second banning phase
   - Losing team will ban second || If tied, loser of the 8th map will ban second
   
   

Complete Timeline

1. Registration: July 1st - July 21st (23:59 UTC)
2. Tryouts: July 22nd - August 4th
   - Initial Roster Submissions: August 18th (23:59 UTC)
3. Screening: August 19th - August 25th (by 23:59 UTC)
   - Finalized Roster Submissions: August 29th (23:59 UTC)
   - Roster Reveal Submissions: August 22nd (23:59 UTC) Optional (TBA)
4. Qualifiers: August 26th - September 8th (2 weeks)
5. Group Stage 1: September 9th - September 22nd (2 weeks)
6. Group Stage 2: September 23rd - September 29th
7. Quarterfinals: September 30th - October 6th
8. Semifinals: October 7th - October 13th
9. Finals: October 14th - October 20th
10. Grand Finals: October 21st - October 27th

Pool Structure

Staff Lineup

1. Co-Hosts: MantenJD, WheelsWaz
2. Admin: Aoi Hinami, Flare_Drake,
3. GFX: Aoi Hinami, starlightof,
4. Sheeter: foxy1919191919, Kurami_San, Flare_Drake,
5. Referees: AbbeyChan6203, ChaosEater, foxy1919191919, Hi therere, Khavid, kimi321, Kurami_San, niiii_san, Ninjajuju, Pexxo, Rav_, Sk1lyn, Staori, Stinkster, Xiaysa, Yui_,
6. Streamers: AbbeyChan6203, Joryan, Ninjajuju, NotLeonel, smh_annie, Staori, Yui_,
7. Commentators: AbbeyChan6203, corrot, Flare_Drake, foxy1919191919, Hi therere, Joryan, kaselyx, NotLeonel, Pexxo, someone here, Staori, WoodenPickaxe, Zetsu-,
   
   New staff members will be added periodically (will delete this once staff lineup has been finalized)