Tournament Rules

Key Dates

Each Qualifier round (Round 1, Round 2, Round 3/LCQ) is run on its own day — one round per day, in order, across August 14–16.

Qualifiers

• Round 1 (Day 1 — August 14): 192 teams split across 4 lobbies of 48 teams each. Top half of each lobby (Top 24) advances — 96 teams total advance to Round 2.
• Round 2 (Day 2 — August 15): 96 teams split across 2 lobbies of 48 teams each. Top 24 teams from each lobby (48 teams total) qualify directly to the Play-In Stage. Bottom 24 teams from each lobby (48 teams total) move to Round 3 (Last Chance Qualifier).
• Round 3 — Last Chance Qualifier / LCQ (Day 3 — August 16): 1 lobby of 48 teams. Top 24 teams qualify to the Play-In Stage, joining the 48 direct qualifiers from Round 2.
• Total advancing to Play-In Stage: 48 (Round 2 direct) + 24 (LCQ) = 72 teams.

Play-In Stage — Week 1 (September 2, 3, 4)

72 teams are split into three groups of 24: Group A, Group B, Group C. Each group plays a total of 2 days during Week 1 (one day off each).

Every group plays exactly 2 of the 3 days. Points from both of a team's played days are combined into a single cumulative Week 1 leaderboard across all 72 teams — this is a straightforward point total. The bottom 24 teams on the cumulative Week 1 leaderboard are eliminated. The remaining 48 teams advance to Week 2.

Play-In Stage — Week 2 (September 7, 8)

48 remaining teams compete over 2 days. Each day, the Top 10 teams earn Advantage Points applied to their starting score in Finals.

Daily Prize Payout (from the $20,000 Week 2 prize pool):

Total Week 2 prize pool: $6,000 + $3,000 + $1,000 = $10,000 paid per day × 2 days = $20,000.

Finals (September 9)

• 48 teams compete. Format: Call of Duty Match Point.
• Advantage Points earned in Week 2 are applied to each team's starting score.
• Prize Pool: $40,000.
• Note on scoring during Finals: standard kill + placement-multiplier scoring is used to track the leaderboard throughout each day. However, once a team reaches the Match Point win threshold, the stage concludes as soon as that team wins a game outright — that team is declared the Finals winner regardless of the cumulative leaderboard at that moment. Because of this, the number of games played on Finals day is not fixed and depends on when (or if) a team above the threshold wins a game.

The following scoring system applies at every stage of the event — Qualifiers, Play-In Week 1, and Play-In Week 2 — and continues to apply as the underlying leaderboard scoring during Finals (see Match Point note above).

Kill Points

Each confirmed kill is worth 1 point.

Placement Multiplier

A team's total kill points for a game are multiplied by the placement multiplier corresponding to their finishing position:

Tiebreakers

In the event of a tied score, ties are broken in the following order:

1. Total Kills (higher wins)
2. Average Placement (better/lower average wins)
3. Map Wins (more wins prevails)

Games Per Day

Total: $60,000

• Team Size: Trios (3 players per roster).
• Platform: PC and Console crossplay is permitted in all lobbies.
• Region: This is a single global event with no regional lobby splits. All teams compete in the same bracket regardless of location.
• Server Host: All lobbies are hosted on NA East servers for the entirety of the event. By registering, teams acknowledge and accept NA East as the sole host region — no accommodation or compensation will be made for connection quality outside this region.

• Substitutes are permitted at every stage of the event under a single consistent rule: a player may only substitute into a roster for a given stage if that player did not already compete in that same stage (on any roster).
• In practice, this means a player must have been eliminated from — or never advanced to — a stage before they become eligible to sub into it.

• Team registration is only open during the designated signup window.
• The first player to register is designated as the team captain.
• All three team members must have complete profiles at time of registration.
• Teams that register after the max team limit will be placed on the waitlist automatically.
• Registered teams must be approved by an admin before competing.

• Rosters are locked after team registration is submitted.
• Any roster changes, team name changes, or captain transfers after lock require a formal change request.
• Change requests are subject to admin approval and are not guaranteed.
• Unapproved roster changes result in disqualification.

• Scores must be submitted through the official Score Submission page.
• Each submission must include a screenshot as proof.
• Score submissions are reviewed and approved by admins before counting.
• Falsified score submissions will result in immediate disqualification.
• Scores include: map number, placement, and individual kill counts for each player.

• Check-In: Teams must check in 3 hours prior to their scheduled start time each day, confirming they are still competing that day. Failure to check in may result in forfeiture of the team's lobby slot.
• Disconnect Policy: If a disconnect issue affects 3 or more teams during a game, that map will be restarted (redrop).

• All participants must conduct themselves with sportsmanship.
• Cheating, modding, or any form of unfair play is strictly prohibited and will result in a permanent ban.
• Harassment of other players, admins, or stream viewers will not be tolerated.
• Rule violations (including but not limited to integrity issues, stream sniping, or other misconduct) are enforced on an escalating scale — see the penalty table below.
• Decisions made by admins are final.

• EWC 2025, WSOW 2025, and DreamHack Birmingham 2026 LAN qualifications must be declared accurately on your profile.
• Substitutes do not inherit LAN qualification status.
• False LAN qualification claims may affect seeding and eligibility.

Rule violations (including but not limited to integrity issues, stream sniping, or other misconduct) are enforced on an escalating scale: