USL Winter Championship is split into 2 main stages: Stage 1 Qualification (Weeks 1-3) and Stage 2 Swiss/Playoffs (Weeks 4-7)
Stage 1
In Stage 1 teams will be initially seeded into 3 skill groups. In the first round teams will play another team in the same skill group and in the following rounds be matched versus teams with a similar record in the tournament.
Stage 2
In Stage 2 the top 16 teams will start in the Championship bracket (a double elimination bracket) and everyone else will continue playing in a Swiss tournament starting with points based on their finish in stage 1. Teams who do well in the Swiss can qualify for Challenger bracket or Division 3.
Initial Prizes
1st - 5x £100 GAME Credit
2nd - 5x £60 GAME Credit
3rd - 5x £40 GAME Credit
USL Winter Championship is a NSE affiliate tournament so addition to other prizes this tournament awards British University Esports Championship Points.
Banner photos used courtesy of Jon Chia
FULL RULES
Rules Summary
All players must be current students.
Teams may have between 5 and 10 players.
Teams will play in the 6-round Role Swap format, consisting of 6 rounds attack then swapping to 6 rounds of defence with the winning team being the first to win 7 rounds. If the score is 6-6 then a 3-round overtime begins to decide the winner.
The League will also feature the Operator/Map ban phase and 6th pick as seen in ESL with the following maps being in the pool:
Bank
Border
Club House
Consulate
Coastline
Kafe Dostoyevsky
Villa
Goyo and Amaru are banned from play until further notice
Check in deadline is 6:30pm. Teams who don't check in will not get games for that evening.
If teams are more than 20 minutes late they will forfeit a map.
Signups Close Tuesday 15th October
Games will have a normal start time of 7.15pm, however teams in the lower bracket of the Championship Bracket may be expected to play additional game on Wednesday 20th November and Wednesday 27th of November.
All games with the exceptions of the Grand Finals and 2 lower bracket matches will be played on Thursday evening and cannot be rearranged.
| Dates | Tournament Stage |
| 17th Oct | Qualification |
| 24th Oct | Qualification |
| 31st Oct | Qualification |
| 7th Nov |
Week 1 Playoff Brackets |
| 14th Nov |
Week 2 Playoff Brackets |
| 20th Nov |
Additional Championship Lower Bracket Match |
| 21st Nov |
Week 3 Playoff Brackets |
| 27th Nov | Additional Championship Lower Bracket Match |
| 28th Nov |
Week 4 Playoff Brackets |
| 7/8th Dec (Provisional) | Grand Finals at Live Venue (TBD) |
