Rules

PHI MU ALPHA OVERWATCH LEAGUE (PMAOWL) RULES

DRAFTING

• Drafting is done round-robin, with the lowest ranked captain picking first, continuing with the next lowest ranked captain, and so on until ending with the highest ranked captain.

• Subsequent draft rounds will follow the same drafting order.

• Rounds will continue until all players have been drafted.

TRADES

• On a captain’s turn in the draft order, they may initiate a trade offer with another captain.

• After drafting is completed, the floor is opened for trade proposals from any captain.

• From the day after the draft until the first match is played, trades may be completed only if both captains and all players concerned agree.

• No trades shall occur after the first match of the season has been played.

SEASON 7 MATCH FORMAT

• Regular season matches are played in a Best of Three (Bo3) format.

• By default, matches begin at 21:00 Eastern Time.

• Should map draws prevent a team from winning two maps in a three-map set, no more than four maps shall be played. In all cases, a winner can be determined using the following scenarios:

• If there is one drawn map and a winner cannot be determined within three maps, a fourth map will be played on a Control, Push, or Flashpoint map to determine the winner.

• If there are two drawn maps, no more than three maps will be played. The final round determines the match victor.

• Playoff matches are played in a Best of Five (Bo5) format within a Single Elimination bracket of all six (6) teams that participated in the regular season.

• First and Second seed receive a one-game bye.

• Finals are Best of Seven (Bo7).

• Hero Bans reset on the 5th map of a Bo5 or Bo7.

MAP SELECTION & HERO BANS

• The first Map shall be chosen by the winner of the coin flip. The map pool is the same as the standard competitive maps available for play.

• The loser of the coin flip shall proceed with the first hero to ban. From there, teams alternate bans until there are 4 heroes banned. No more than two heroes can be banned per role, and bans reset after each map. The banned heroes will be disabled for that map.

• In the playoffs, the higher-seeded team will receive the map pick.

• After the first map's conclusion, the losing team will choose the next map. The winning team will select the first hero to ban. From there, teams alternate bans until there are 4 heroes banned. A map already played earlier in the series may not be played again.

• Should a map conclude in a Draw, the choice of the next map will go to the last team which won a map in the series, to which the hero ban process will proceed as previously noted.

• For attack/defense type game modes, teams will rotate such that the team who began on attack on the first map will begin on defense on the second map and vice versa.

LOBBY SETTINGS

Competitive ruleset

1-2-2 lock

Kill cams: disabled

Begin Match on Start: enabled

Auto-pause on disconnect: enabled
Skins: up to Captains’ discretion

Spectators may only include PMAOWL Admins, Approved Streamers, Referees, Members of both teams, and others explicitly allowed by the PMAOWL Admin Council.

All spectators affiliated with a team must be set to only spectate the team that brought them.

STANDINGS

Team Standings are calculated in the following order:

1. Match wins

2. Map differential

Any ties are then determined based on head to head record.

GAMETIME RULES

• Matches will be played on the Americas Blizzard server (PC), forced 1-2-2 lock

• Teams shall use the provided PMAOWL discord channels during any league matches or in-game chat should there be a need for it. Players who are sitting out should either mute themselves or move to a separate Discord channel while the game is being played.

• Should a player not be able to play on their account due to a Ban or Suspension by Blizzard, said player will not be allowed to participate in league play until the ban/suspension is lifted. Multiple occurrences of this situation may result in further action from the council. This will be up to the council's discretion.

• All players must play on the account that they used to sign up for the league. No alternate accounts will be permitted during season play.

• Upon match completion, the winning team’s captain (or assigned team rep in case of a captain’s absence) must report the match score to the #score-reporting text channel within the Captains Corner category detailing map outcomes and match score. The score is assumed to be correct unless the losing team’s captain raises the issue. Screenshots are recommended in case of a discrepancy but are not required. Draws will not count as a win or loss for either team.

• A team may request a pause only in the instance of a technical issue or other cases of “emergency”. Unless otherwise required, these duties will be handled by referees or the production staff for each match.

— A pause will only be held for a maximum 5 minutes unless agreed upon by both captains that a longer pause is necessary.

— The default pause configuration is Ctrl+Shift+‘=’

• In the case of a team’s player needing to leave a game mid-match, a sub will fill their spot, prioritizing other members of the team first and outside subs after. The player coming in to fill in the spot will play the same role as the previous player but will be allowed to switch once the map is over. If an outside sub is requested, the sub rules listed above apply.

• Referees will have the final say in all match matters. In cases of elevated issues, the Games Manager will step in. If problems still persist, it will be moved to the elected council.

Any conflict that cannot be resolved within 5 minutes should be escalated to an available council member immediately. If the match is not able to be completed, the ruling will fall to the Games Manager. Any issues needing to be reported will be sent with details and proof of the issue to the Games Manager within 24 hours of it arising.