Official Season 3 Tournament Rules Released!

Ever since the announcement of the path to pro via ranked 5s a little while back, there's been some buzz about how to get there, with secret plans fluttering back and forth...

To aid you with your plans, Riot kindly released the Season Three tournament rules that they're enacting!

1. No cheating
2. GLHF
3. Baylife

Well no...those aren't the rules but they should be! Here are the actual rules:

Below are the initial details of the online qualification process. More details about the next stages of the Play-In Tournament will follow. 

1. Eligibility & Contest Rules 

1.1 Tournament Structure 
The Season Three “Play-In” Consists of 4 components in 2 regions (EU & NA): 
(1) Online Ladder: November 6 (after patch 1.70) through December 27 

Online Ladder will use the PvP.net Ranked Team feature in combination with a manual review process for team eligibility

i. Top 32 teams from NA will be eligible for next round 
ii. Top 16 teams from EUW will be eligible for next round 
iii. Top 16 teams from EUNE will be eligible for next round 

Ladder will conclude at 12:00pm GMT+1 on December 27
i. Central Europe (GMT+1): 12:00pm
ii. NA East (GMT-5): 6:00am
iii. NA West (GTM-8): 3:00am 

(2) Online Tournament: Friday, January 4 through Sunday, January 6

i. 32 teams
ii. Single Elimination
iii. Best-of-3 Matches
iv. The top 16 teams from EUW & EUNE will play in a unified online tournament using the European Tournament Realm (EUTR)
v. The top 6 teams from each region will advance to the live qualifier

(3) Partner Tournaments: Various Dates to be announced

(4) Live Tournament (EU & NA): Dates to be announced 

i. 16 teams
ii. Group Play then Bo3 Single Elimination
iii. Best-of-3 Placement matches for team eliminated in Quarterfinals
iv. The top 5 teams will advance to the Championship Series

1.2 Eligibility for Ranked Teams Ladder
All players with a level 30 account who can join a ranked 5v5 team are eligible. 

1.3 Eligibility for Online Tournament
Teams and their rostered members must meet the following requirements.

1.3.1 Ranked Ladder Placement
Ranked ladder placement will be determined by team Elo.

Europe (EUW):
Teams must place in the top 16 positions of the ranked 5v5 team ladder on the EUW server.

Europe (EUNE):
Teams must place in the top 16 positions of the ranked 5v5 team ladder on the EUNE server.

North America:
Teams must place in the top 32 positions of the ranked 5v5 team ladder on NA server. 

1.3.2 Age
All players must submit proof that they will be 17 years or older as of February 8, 2013. 

1.3.3 Work Eligibility & Residency
All players must submit proof that they are either a resident of the region in which they are attempting to qualify (i.e., NA or EU) and/or eligible to work in that region.

1.3.4 Intent to Participate in Live Qualifier
All players must submit travel information and confirm their availability to participate in the Live Qualifier.

1.4 Teams under the following categories are ineligible for the Online Tournament:

1.4.1 Pre-Qualified Championship Series Teams
All rostered players must not have already pre-qualified for the Championship Series.

Players on the following LoL teams have already qualified for the Championship Series and are ineligible:

Europe: 
Moscow Five 
SK Gaming 
CLG EU 

North America: 
Team Solomid 
Dignitas 
CLG NA 

1.4.2 Employees of Riot Games or its Affiliates 

1.4.3 Teams (& their rostered players) who have already earned and accepted a spot into the Live Qualifier 

1.4.4 Ranked teams created after December 14, 2012 

1.5 Eligibility for Live Qualifier 

1.5.1 Online Tournament placement 

The only teams eligible for the Live Qualifier are those which finish in the top 6 of the Online Tournament*. 

*Additional invitations to the Live Qualifier may be extended in the event that other qualifying teams within the competitive structure are unwilling or unable to participate, for any reason. 

2. Roster Rules 

2.1 Ranked Teams Ladder 

The roster rules will be governed by the ranked team restrictions on PVP.net. 

2.1.1 Roster Size 

A minimum of 5 players are needed on a team roster. A maximum of 9 players are allowed on each roster. After a team is created with 5 players, it is allowed to send out 3 new player invites per week until the maximum roster size has been reached. 

2.1.2 Maximum Teams per Player 

An individual player may join up to 5 ranked teams simultaneously. Players can advance to the Online Tournament only with one team. Teams that do not remove ineligible players by December 14 will be disqualified from the ladder. 

2.2 Roster Lock 

Team rosters must be submitted prior to the advancement of the team into the Online Tournament, after which the rosters will be considered official and cannot be changed. The roster must identify the five starting players and up to four designated substitutes. 

3. Unfair Play & Penalties 

3.1 Unfair play 

The following actions will be considered unfair play and will be subject to penalties at organizer’s discretion. 

3.1.1 The use of any cheat program and/or map hack program 
3.1.2 An intentional disconnection without a proper and explicitly stated reason 
3.1.3 The use of any settings exceeding the standard and permitted settings 
3.1.4 Intentionally allowing an opponent to win a game or colluding with another team to decide a match outcome or split prize money 
3.1.5 Unsportsmanlike conduct or disruptive behavior such as inappropriate and/or unprofessional actions directed towards another player or tournament official 
3.1.6 The use of a game bug 
3.1.7 The use of an ineligible player (e.g. “ringing”) 

3.2 Penalties for Unfair Play 
Upon discovery of any player committing any violations regarded as unfair play, the tournament director may issue any or all the following penalties, at his/her sole discretion. 

3.2.1 Verbal Warning
3.2.2 Prize Money Deduction
3.2.3 Loss of Side Selection 
3.2.4 Game Forfeiture
3.2.5 Tournament Disqualification

Source

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