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Season Guide to CSL Fall 2013-Spring 2014: League of Legends
General Information (see Official Rules for in-depth explanation)
CSL is an intercollegiate gaming league open to all accredited colleges and universities in North America.
We currently organize leagues for StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, League of Legends, and DotA2. This
is a season guide for the League of Legends league.
This coming Fall 2013, we will be running a year-long league with weekly matches. There will be two
divisions: Division 1 for "competitive schools" and Division 2 for "casual schools." The divisions are each
split into two regions: East and West. During the regular season, teams will play Best of Threes in round
robin geographical divisions. The top teams of every division will then advance to a Best of Three singleelimination playoff bracket.
Summary of Key Points:
 CSL is split into East and West Regions with geographical divisions.
 Sub-conferences will be organized by factors such as skill and geographic location.
 Regular season format is round robin divisional play, featuring Best of 3 series for Division 1
and Best of 1 for Division 2.
 Top teams advance to playoffs via seeding based on overall record and match score.
 Playoffs format follows the regular season format.
 Teams need (1) a coordinator and (2) a minimum of five unique players.
Note that CSL has introduced several key changes for the Fall 2013-Spring 2014 season:



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CSL will run a single, year-long season.
CSL will provide two options for participation: the Division 1 or Division 2 league.
There will only be ONE default match time (Saturday 12pm PST).
CSL regional LANs will be played this year for regional titles. Unlike CSL regional LANs in 2012,
these will NOT factor into your seasonal ranking.
Schedule (dates subject to change)
November 2: Registration opens
November 20: Last day of registration
November 23: Season begins
November 23: Week 1
**THANKSGIVING BREAK**
December 7: Week 2
**FINALS/CHRISTMAS BREAK**
January 12: Week 3
January 19: Week 4
January 26: Week 5
February 2: Week 6
February 9: Week 7
February 16: Week 8
February 23: Week 9
March 2: Week 10
March: Playoffs begin
March 16: Ro128
March 23: Ro64
March 30: Ro32
April 13: Ro16
April 20: Ro8
April 27: Semi Finals
May-June: Grand Final
Tips for New Coordinators and Teams
Running a Collegiate Starleague team can be daunting, fun, or both! Here are some tips that we've
gathered over the years to make the best of your experience:
1. Read the rules. Carefully. Did you know that if someone asks you to stop chatting in game, and
you continue to chat, that it counts as a forfeit loss?
2. Pick a responsible coordinator. This is the person who will submit match results, file disputes
for forfeits or cheating accusations, and communicate with CSL admins on your behalf. You don't
want to incur set penalties because your coordinator forgot!
3. Know that not all teams are flexible. The default time for CSL matches is set for Saturday
12:00pm PST. Most of the times our teams are friendly and can reschedule, but you will run up
against a team that also has other obligations and cannot. Sign your team up for this league
knowing that you will have to set aside time on Saturday afternoon.
Official Rules
Returning coordinators, these are some of the changes to this season’s rules:
● Weekly lineups will not have to be submitted; instead, each team will have a roster from which
they can field a combination of five players each week. Coordinators will report which players
were fielded after the match when submitting match results.
●
Schools can have multiple teams: one in Division 1 and a maximum of three in Division 2. A
player can only play for one team.
● Note: playoffs will default to Saturday matches every week, so prepare your schedules ahead of
time for the change if applicable
● Both teams may agree to allow observers/casters, but in doing so they will lose their right to
contest a result based on ghosting or stream cheating.
The following are the official rules of CSL League of Legends. Rules cover eligibility, format, match
procedures, reporting, penalties, and more.
Eligibility
Team Eligibility

Each team must belong to an accredited college or university with a physical address (online
universities are ineligible). The university must offer at least a 2-year degree program.

Each team must have a minimum of 5 players who are all students at the same university.
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SOME exceptions are possible and will be handled on a case-by-case basis by CSL
administrators. For example, if a school or university has a population of less than 5,000, a
player may request to join the team of a nearby, affiliated university.

Factors of determination include, but are not limited to: the student’s level of skill, the possibility
of forming a team at his or university, the average skill of the neighboring university, and the
potential of rule-abuse. Please send an email to admin@cstarleague.com with relevant
information when requesting an exception.

Coordinators are responsible for ensuring that all members of the team follow the guidelines
outlined in the section “PLAYER ELIGIBILITY” below.

Each of the Top 8 teams in the league must submit a letter using his or her universities
letterhead, signed by the dean of the college or university or otherwise appropriate authority
figure, stating that all competing members of the team are valid, full time students.

Failure to submit this letter to CSL administration will result in disqualification and forfeiture of
any and all prize money.
Player Eligibility

Each player must be currently enrolled in a university with a valid university email address.

Players NOT registered as current students can be considered for eligibility under special
circumstances on a case-by-case basis. Exceptions can typically be made for players from
especially small schools, with a total student population of less than 5,000, and that are affiliated
with larger universities, such as a community college with a direct feeder program to a nearby 4year university.

Players cannot be suspended by CSL for previous infractions outside of the CSL.

Players must be registered with valid names, school emails, and Summoner ID.

Offensive player names are not allowed - players must use their primary Summoner ID for
participation in CSL. If a player’s primary ID happens to be offensive or otherwise not allowed,
that player must choose a name to use for the competition.

Player registration is open until playoffs. At the onset of the playoffs, new players may NOT be
added to a team’s roster.

Players can only play for one school, and one team [i.e. UCSD-1]. Players cannot switch schools
or teams during the season, even in the case of a transfer of schools.

Students on academic probation are unable to play in CSL. Players found in violation of this rule
are subject to penalties. See section: penalties.

Each player must be enrolled as a full time student (a minimum of 12 credit hours, or 3-4 classes,
depending on the university’s requirements). Some exceptions to this rule are possible.

Professional gamers are not eligible to participate in CSL. A professional gamer is defined as a
player who meets one or all of the following conditions: (a) Participates or has participated in the
LCS, (b) Has spent a year or longer playing full-time as a pro gamer, (c) has lived for a year or
longer in a pro gaming house, (d) has earned over $100,000 prize money as a team in noncollegiate tournaments.

CSL staff will check the records of all players who qualify for the playoffs and may ask for these
documents at any time during the season

Failure to provide proof of education will result in penalties. See section: penalties.
Season Format

The league will be split into two regions: East and West.

A university can field one team in Division 1 and up to three teams in Division 2. Players cannot
transfer teams once they are registered for a team. Note that in Division 2, it is NOT a guarantee
that same-school teams will be in separate conferences; in fact, it will be more likely that sameschool teams are in the same conference.

Teams will be placed into conferences organized (roughly) geographically, with regular season
play consisting of a round-robin where each team plays every other team in the division.

The top teams in each conference will advance to a single elimination playoff bracket.

Teams with more than two match forfeits or a total of ten set forfeits will be removed from the
league for the remainder of the season.

Only players added on or before the last week of the regular season play are allowed to be
fielded in the playoffs.

In the playoffs, the same rules and procedures as during the regular season will apply.
Match Format

Teams will compete against each other in one weekly match throughout the season.

Default times for matches are Saturday 12:00pm PST.

The form of competition is League of Legends - all patches must be current.

The format of each match is a best of three series, games are to be played as 5v5 Tournament
Draft via Custom Game.

Players can request to do bans/picks in chat prior to the game if both teams agree, in which case
the game will be hosted as a Blind Pick custom game with the agreed upon champions.

The Grand Finals will be a Best of Five.

Players MUST be fielded from the current team roster.

A team can substitute players between games in a series. Teams are limited to one sub per
game (in between sets), two subs per match, and five subs per season.

Bans/Picks: Tournament draft format. The team with the better record takes choice of side
(blue/purple). Subsequent games alternate teams with fb/fp/side. For the first match of the
season bans, picks, and side will be determined via coin toss.

If both teams agree to do picks/bans in chat, all regular tournament draft rules apply: Six (6) bans
must be made per game, three (3) from each team. No time limit.

Bans: 1-1-1-1-1-1
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Picks: 1-2-2-2-2-1
Administrative Rules

Each team will have a coordinator that is responsible for organizing his or her team, submitting
results, and serving as a point of contact with CSL staff and other coordinators.

Matches must be played at the default time (Saturday 12:00pm PST) unless both teams agree to
play their matches beforehand. No matches can be postponed. Exceptions may be granted on a
case by case basis upon detailed review by CSL administrative staff.

Team captains must function as the banning player, which means they must be at the top of the
team's list in the game lobby. They do not have to be the team coordinator. Substitute captains
must be appointed in the event the registered team captain cannot be present

A team who does not show up for a match 15 minutes after the default start time will forfeit the
match.

The winning coordinator must submit match results. A first instance of late reports will cause a
warning, a second instance will result in the late-reported matches being considered null (0-0 for
both teams), and a third instance will result in one loss added to the team's record (0-2 replaces
the match results for both teams). This rule will be strictly enforced this season.

IN ORDER TO CLAIM A FORFEIT WIN: provide details and proof and email to
lol@cstarleague.com, have the opposing coordinator confirm by CCing the other coordinator.

If assistance is needed, please email lol@cstarleague.com. For live assistance, there will be an
admin available on PVP.net, generally in chat channel CSL.
Stoppage of Play

The following events may cause stoppage of play, the list is not exhaustive: unintentional
disconnection (losing connection due to game problems or internet), intentional
disconnection/game leaves (players quitting the game), server crashes.

Stoppage of Play Procedure: A player experiencing technical issues on either team may call for a
restart of the game prior to first blood within the first five (5) minutes of the game, before the timer
displays "5:00".

The player requesting the restart must be experiencing one of the following: a hardware
malfunction (e.g. any equipment malfunction), physical disruption (e.g. breaking furniture), or
game configuration problems (e.g. issues with runes, masteries, and/or summoner spells).
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They must then declare in all-chat for a restart, notify an administrator, and intentionally
disconnect from the current game. After the disconnect, the game is void and must be restarted
unless an administrator determines otherwise.
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Any unintentional disconnection before first blood within 5 minutes OR a client crash prior to
champion selection will require a game restart.

Intentional disconnects without a specified reason will not be considered stoppage of play and
the game will continue as normal.
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In the rare case that a Riot Games server crashes, the Head Administrator will determine the next
course of action.

Unfair Play: Includes, but is not limited to: cheat programs, map hack programs, intentional
disconnection without prior reasoning, intentionally allowing opponents to win,
unsportsmanlike/disruptive behavior and unprofessional actions towards other
players/officials/shoutcasters, use of a game bug determined by the Head Administrator to be
unfair, use of an ineligible player, playing on someone else’s account, or any other
unsportsmanlike behavior.

If unfair play is discovered by any player, the offending player may receive a warning, forfeit/loss,
or disqualification from the tournament at the agreement of at least three (3) administrators on a
case-by-case basis.
Gameplay Rules

All games will take place on North American server

Teams may agree to allow their own observers/casters, but by doing so, they will also waive their
right to contest the match results due to observer ghosting or stream cheating.

CSL admins, streamers, or team coordinators are the only observers allowed in each game.
Players however, have a right to request no observers in a game with the exception of official
CSL administrators or casters.

In-game chat should be limited to pp, ppp, or related (for PAUSING the game) and gg, good
game or related (for ENDING the game). Players can ask to remake the game in the first 5
minutes (prior to first blood) if there are latency issues. Note: This rule is not meant to be strict;
however, if a player asks for chat to stop, his request must be obliged. Continuing to chat will
result in a set loss, the player is not even allowed to acknowledge the stop request; if even one
more chat line is sent, the player can leave and claim a forfeit

PROCEDURAL NOTE: To claim a set win, please request politely: "please stop chatting or I am
reporting you for a chatting violation," and then do not respond to further provocations by other
players. If the other player continues to chat and BM, it would be perfectly acceptable to, at that
point, leave the game and send us the unfinished game replay to claim a win.

Disconnected players have the duration of the League pause timer to reconnect before forced to
sub or forfeit the set, however after 5+ minutes of being paused it is at the discretion of the
opposite team whether they want to allow the pause to continue.

3 Disconnections becomes automatic forfeit.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Remember, results will stand if you play through the game. If there are
problems or issues (lag, chat violations, etc) that call for a regame or forfeit, please pause the
game and ask for a CSL admin. If you play through the game, you CANNOT retroactively request
regames or forfeits (unless both teams agree on a regame).
Penalties & Bannable Offenses

Smurfing, maphacking, observer hacking, in-game coaching, and any type of behavior that gives
an unfair advantage to a player can be grounds for a permanent player ban.

Severe BM both ingame and outside the game will be treated as harassment and may lead to
being suspended or banned, based on severity.

Depending on how far the season has progressed, the player's team will either be given a match
loss or be disqualified from the league (if it is discovered that the player has been using an unfair
advantage throughout the season).

A player found to be on academic probation and still competing in CSL matches will have all of
his matches overturned. The player in question will be banned for the remainder of the season
and will only be re-eligible to play once his probation has ended. Player must provide proof via
letter from a school dean.

Teams or players who do not provide proof of education in a timely manner when asked will
become ineligible to play in the playoffs. If the playoffs have already started, the team or player(s)
in question will have either their next match forfeit, or the specific sets forfeit.