Blackline Championship Series

BLCS Season 15 Rules

Section 1: General Information

Info: BLCS Season 15 consists of 5 different divisions within BLCS.

• The BLCS Masters Series will contain 10 teams who will compete across a 7 week regular season.
• The BLCS Premier Series will contain 20 teams that will be split into 2 groups of 10 who will compete across a 8 week regular season.
• The BLCS Champions Series will contain 20 teams that will be split into 2 groups of 10 who will compete across a 8 week regular season.
• The BLCS Contenders Series will contain 48 teams that will be split into 6 groups of 8 who will compete across a 7 week regular season.
• All BLCS S14 returning teams will be guaranteed their teams' spots back in the upcoming season as well as any season returning teams will keep their spots.
• Regular Season Matches will be best of 5 and playoffs will begin at best of 5 and move into Best of 7.
• At the conclusion of the regular season, eligible teams will enter into a Double Elimination Playoff Tournament to decide the season winner and prize pool earnings.
• BLCS Season 15 Week 1 will begin Sunday, June 2nd 2024.
• Any players ranked in B+ or above are ineligible to compete in BLCS.

Section 1.5: Game Lobby & Match Settings

Cross platform play MUST BE enabled as all platforms are welcome to play.

All Regular Season series will be Best of 5. Playoffs Will be Best of 7.

Game Lobby Info:

• Gamemode: Soccer
• Arena: see Arenas below
• Team Size: 3v3
• Bot Difficulty: No Bots

Arenas: Aquadome, Champions Field (Standard, Day), Deadeye Canyon, DFH Stadium (Standard, Day, Stormy), Forbidden Temple (Standard, Day), Mannfield (Standard, Night, Stormy, Snow), Neo Tokyo, Salty Shores (Day, Night), Starbase ARC, (Standard, Dawn, Night), Utopia Coliseum (Standard, Dusk, Snowy), Wasteland (Standard, Night)

Team Settings:

• Team Names should be in accordance with the sides chosen by The google spreadsheets season schedule or default.
• Primary and accent colors should be set to Default.

Mutator Settings:

• Mutators must be set to default.

Region:

• All games must be played on US East unless both teams agree beforehand. *May be asked to provide screenshot*.

Spectators:

• Any and all spectators must be approved by the opposing team before allowed in the game lobby.
• Spectators are allowed as long as the following conditions are met: Both teams agree that it is ok to have spectators in the lobby.
• Spectators cannot be in voice comms with the players in the match. This is to avoid people scouting other players' boost, positioning, etc.

Section 2: BLCS Masters Series

Info:

• BLCS Masters Series will remain at 10 total teams in a single round robin group.
• 7 Week Regular Season - 3 week playoffs.
• Top 6 Teams will qualify for a double elimination playoff tournament.
• 10th place will automatically relegate to the BLCS Premier Series for Season 16.
• 7th Place will hold a BLCS Masters Series Position for BLCS Season 16.
• 8th-9th Place will be placed into the BLCS Masters Series Promotion/Relegation tournament ahead of BLCS Season 16.
• The BLCS Season 15 Masters Series Prize Pool will be 100 Dollars.

Section 3: BLCS Premier Series

Info:

• BLCS Premier Series will consist of 20 teams who will compete in a single round robin regular season split into 2 groups of 10 teams.
• 8 Week Regular Season - 2 Week Playoff Group Stage - 3 Week Double Elimination Bracket.
• Top 8 Teams in each group will qualify for the Playoff Group Stage.
• 16 Teams will be split into 4 team double elimination group stages with 2 teams advancing to the 8 team Double Elimination Championship Bracket.
• 1st Place will automatically Promote up to the BLCS Masters Series for Season 16.
• 2nd-3rd will be placed into the BLCS Masters Series Promotion/Relegation Tournament.
• 20th place will automatically relegate to the BLCS Champions Series for Season 16.
• 17th Place will hold a BLCS Premier Series Position for BLCS Season 16.
• 18th-19th Place will be placed into the BLCS Premier Series Promotion/Relegation tournament ahead of BLCS Season 16.

Section 4: BLCS Champions Series

Info:

• BLCS Champions Series will consist of 20 teams who will compete in a single round robin regular season split into 2 groups of 10 teams.
• 8 Week Regular Season - 4 Week Double Elimination Bracket.
• Top 8 Teams in each group will qualify for the 16 Team Champions Series Double Elimination Playoffs.
• 1st Place will automatically promote up to the BLCS Premier Series for Season 16.
• 2nd-3rd will be placed into the BLCS Premier Series Promotion/Relegation Tournament.
• 20th place will automatically relegate to the BLCS Contenders Series for Season 16.
• 17th Place will hold a BLCS Champions Series Position for BLCS Season 16.
• 18th-19th Place will be placed into the BLCS Champions Series Promotion/Relegation tournament ahead of BLCS Season 16.

Subsection 4 - BLCS Challengers Series

Info:

• BLCS Challengers Series will consist of 20 teams who will compete in a single round robin regular season split into 2 groups of 10 teams.
• 8 Week Regular Season - 3 Week Stage 2 Double Elimination Bracket - 3 Week Championship Double Elimination Bracket.
• Top 8 Teams in each group will qualify for the 16 Team Challengers Series Double Elimination Playoffs.
• 1st Place will automatically promote up to the BLCS Champions Series for Season 16.
• 2nd-3rd will be placed into the BLCS Champions Series Promotion/Relegation Tournament.
• 20th place will automatically relegate to the BLCS Contenders Series for Season 16.
• 17th Place will hold a BLCS Challengers Series Position for BLCS Season 16.
• 18th-19th Place will be placed into the BLCS Contenders Series Promotion/Relegation tournament ahead of BLCS Season 16.

Section 5: BLCS Contenders Series

Info:

• BLCS Contenders Series will consist of 48 teams who will compete in a single round robin regular season split into 6 groups of 8 teams.
• 7 Week Regular Season - 4 Week Double Elimination Bracket.
• Top 4 Teams in each group will qualify for the Double Elimination Championship bracket.
• 1st Place will automatically promote up to the BLCS Challengers Series for Season 16.
• 2nd-3rd will be placed into the BLCS Champions Series Promotion/Relegation Tournament.

Section 6: BLCS Academy Series

Info:

• BLCS Academy Series will consist of 20 teams who will compete in 2 different divisions.
• The Academy League will consist of 20 teams ranging from Champion I to Champion III.
• 8 Week Regular Season - 4 Week Double Elimination Bracket.
• Top 8 Teams in each group will qualify for the Double Elimination Championship bracket.

Section 7: Season Rosters & Substitutions

Season Rosters:

• Rosters will be put forward by a Team Captain before the beginning of the BLCS Season. These rosters will include 3 starters, 2 subs, a manager if needed and a coach if wanted. Teams will also designate 1 player to be the Captain.
• All players' names must match on Discord and in-game. Names must abide by community standards and not allude to Gang Affiliation, Sexual Manner, Drugs (including tobacco and alcohol usage), Political charged symbols/images and/or sexually or racially insensitive material.
• Rosters will lock at the end of week 6.

Roster Substitutions:

• A player becomes officially roster locked by participating in an official BLCS league match.
• The change must be approved by a BLCS Admin.
• Roster locked players are not eligible to switch from one team to another mid-season.
• Roster changes must be completed before the official end of Week 6. This does not include the emergency slot which will be handled on a case to case basis.

Section 8: Scheduling & Forfeits

Scheduling Chats:

• The Team Captain will be responsible for scheduling their teams matches each week inside of the designated match chat channel in the official BLCS Discord.
• Match Scheduling Chats will be made available Saturday Nights of the prior week during the regular season and are expected to be used by each team throughout the scheduling process.
• Each Team Captain is expected to be fully responsible for scheduling their teams matches throughout the season and able to comply with the opposing team.
• Should the Team Captain be unresponsive for 48 hours, teams will be authorized to reach out to another player listed on the BLCS Roster Sheet.

Scheduling Deadlines:

• Failing to schedule and play matches by the end of each week (Saturday @ 11:59pm EST) may result in a forfeit at staff discretion and will be a 'Warning'. At the discretion of the BLCS Admins and Organizers, a 'win', 'lose', or 'double forfeit' will be assigned for the standings.

Rescheduling:

• In the event of any outside circumstance, ie: Natural Disasters, Power Outages, Family Emergencies, etc. a match reschedule may be ruled at staff discretion.
• In the event of a team not being able to attend an agreed-upon match time, if ample time is given in advance, it is recommended both teams exhaust all opportunities to reschedule the match rather than force a forfeit. Everyone is here to play and match forfeits take away from the integrity and fairness of the league.
• Extensions may be granted to a series to accommodate unforeseen circumstances and ensure the series is completed. However, if an extension is not feasible or practical, a double forfeit may be declared, depending on the specific situation.
• All rescheduling circumstances will be reviewed at the discretion of the staff on a case by case basis.

Section 9: Team Requirements & Forfeits

• Both teams participating in a match must provide 3 players for the duration of each series. If a team is not able to field the required number of players for a series, then they will forfeit the series.
• Players are prohibited from joining a team or leaving a team during play. Substitutes are allowed to join between games. Failure to uphold this rule will be considered a series forfeit.
• If you manually forfeit one match in a series, you must forfeit the entire series.

Failure to Schedule:

• Failure for teams to schedule and complete their weekly match in accordance to [Section4], BLCS admins will have full discretion to assign a forfeit to one or both teams.

DQ Timers:

• The DQ timer is 15 minutes for all matches starting at the scheduled series start time.

Section 10: Disconnects

• Should a player disconnect from the game less than 30 seconds into the match or before the first goal is scored the game will be restarted with the same players. If either of these events have occurred, the game will continue. Screenshots or another form of proof must be provided to an admin.
• If a player disconnects from the match after the 30-second mark or after a goal is scored, the remaining 2 players from a team must continue to play the match. If a team is not able to field the required number of players for additional games in the series, then they will forfeit the remainder of the match.

Section 11: Reporting Results

• To report a result of an Official BLCS Match will be done through the chat used to schedule the match in the official BLCS Discord by posting each in-game screenshot in the channel provided for verification of the scores.
• If nothing is submitted, teams will be required to replay the series. Stats are being tracked for the league and no exceptions to this will be made.
• At the end of each in-game match, teams will take a screenshot of each endgame scoreboard that shows the stats for each game and upload them into the match scheduling channel that they used to schedule the match and communicate lobby information to.

Section 12: Cheating & Collusion

• Leaving and Rejoining Teams: Players are not allowed to leave their team and then rejoin to put them on the other side of the arena and will be considered cheating and will result in a series forfeit.
• At the discretion of the admins, if teams are believed to be colluding to control the outcome of matches including but not limited to:
• Purposely throwing games.
• Colluding with other players and/or organizations to control the outcome.

Section 13: Rank Eligibility

• Masters / Premier Series - Rank B+ or above is ineligible.
• Champions Series - 1950.
• Challengers Series - 1850.
• Contenders Series - 1750.
• Academy Series - GC1.

Section 14: Prizing & Payments

• All prizing will be paid to the players. The amount paid will be in accordance with a teams standings at the end of the postseason.

Payments are to be made by one of the following options:

• Paypal.

Section 15: Conduct & Enforcement

• Any form of Toxicity, Unsportsmanlike Conduct, Disrespect towards another player, caster, or staff member, and hate speech can result in match suspensions, mute in the discord, or a warning.
• All situations will be investigated by the BLCS Staff Team on case-by-case basis and once a verdict has been reached said team or player will be made aware of their consequence of their actions.

BLCS STAFF RESERVES THE RIGHT TO EDIT THIS RULEBOOK AT ANY GIVEN TIME