Rules

Short summary

Starting from 1st July we will be introducing a new and improved ranking system. In this system we will distinguish casual teams and competitive teams of 10-25 nonconcurrent players - a player will only be able to represent 1 registered competitive team in official matches. Competitive teams will compete during 6 month long competitive seasons in official matches for a ranking placement within a division of 8 teams. At the end of a competitive season the 2 best teams will be promoted to a higher division, and the 2 worst teams will be relegated to a lower division.

Competitive teams

• Teams will have to register for the competitive ranking to be recognized by the TMNF Competitive Center. Teams not registered for the competitive ranking and competitive teams playing unofficial matches will not be recognized by the TMNF Competitive Center.
• Teams that register before the first season will be put into a division according to their team ranking placement at the end of June. All teams that register later, after the start of the first competitive season, will be placed at the bottom of the competitive ranking in the following season.
• A registered competitive team must have a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 25 players in their official lineup, which cannot overlap with other teams.
• Merged teams: We are aware some teams will suffer because of this new format. To compensate, we will allow teams not capable of creating their own lineup of nonconcurrent players to register as a merged competitive team with another team. A merged competitive team can consist of a maximum of 2 teams. A merged team will be put into a division according to the stronger team at the end of June. All other competitive team rules apply.

Competitive seasons

• A competitive season will last 6 months.
• Competitive teams will be put into divisions consisting of 8 teams.
• The points will be reset at the beginning of every season. The points will be given in the range of 950 to 1000 depending on the team performance in the previous season. Newly promoted teams and the last place team of the last division will start at 950 points, while the relegated teams and the first-place team of the first division will start at 1000 points.
• At the end of every season the 2 best teams will be promoted to a higher division in which they will start with the least points, and the 2 worst teams will be relegated to a lower division, in which they will start with the most points.
• For the first scrim in a season teams receive a 20 point bonus. In other words, teams that have not played a match in the 5-month period will miss out on 20 points.
• Every season will have a randomly drawn match theme. If a team does play a match fulfilling the season theme, they will receive a 20 point bonus.
• On the first day of the season (e.g., 1st January, 1st July) every competitive team has the right to make changes to their lineup, as long as the competitive lineup rules are followed. Such changes must be announced in the private channel for team leaders.
• Additionally, the first day of every second month (e.g., 1st March, 1st May, 1st September, 1st November) teams can make limited changes to their lineup. Limited changes include removing players from the lineup who are then not allowed to play for any other competitive team in that same season, and secondly adding players to the lineup who have not been in any other competitive team's lineup in that same season.
• Transferring from one competitive team to another during a season is not allowed. If a competitive team is caught using an unauthorized player during an official scrim by mistake, this player's contribution will be ignored. If a competitive team is caught using an unauthorized player during a live official match by mistake, the competitive team will be declared as losers of the sub-match, or overall match, or the match will be ignored.
• If a competitive team has purposefully used an unauthorized player or smurf during an official scrim or official live match, or is caught cheating in any other way, the team will be disqualified from the season, therefor will be relegated to a lower division for the next season, in which they will start with the least points.
• Smurfing is strictly prohibited, and will lead to punishment of the team and/or player.

Matchmaking

• All official matches must be announced prior in the private channel for team leaders including match format information.
• Official matches: In the first 5 months competitive teams can play official matches to win or lose points against other teams from the same division for the division ranking. Official matches cannot be played in the last (June and December) month of a competitive season. Every team that has played an official match in the 5-month period will gain 20 points in the division team ranking. If a match format meets the season theme, the team will receive a 20 point bonus. Cutting in official matches is not allowed, unless both teams consent to it. Decisions of an allowed and disallowed shortcut can vary from one map to another. An official match has to be played in one of 3 forms:
  1. Default scrim: 7 days to play 10 tracks on a dedicated server, minimum 8v8, all vs all not allowed (match must be balanced), top10 local records score points, teams choose half of the maps each or play neutral maps, map styles are selected on mutual agreement, map length rules: tech (15s-30s), dirt (15s-30s), mini RPG (20s-35s), fullspeed (20s-35s), lol (10s-20s), mixed (15s-30s), cut (15s-30s), 1 replay allowed, no skip, no juke.
  2. Short scrim: 3 days, 6 maps, other rules remain.
  3. Teams gamemode match: Negotiated match format must be approved by an admin to be accepted as an official match. Map length rules: tech (35s-70s), dirt (35s-70s), fullspeed (35s-70s), mixed (35s-70s), RPG (minimum 50s)
• Bonus match format: 7 day long scrim on 10 maps, 10v10, top10 local records score points, teams choose half of the maps each, or play neutral maps, 1 replay allowed, no skip, no juke. Every team has to choose 3 map styles to form their half of the mappack. Map style options include: tech (15s-30s), dirt (15s-30s), mini RPG (20s-35s), fullspeed (20s-35s), lol (10s-20s), mixed (15s-30s), cut (15s-30s).
  • Survival matches: Only applies to the team in the last (8th) place relegation endangered team in a division, and can only be used by a team once in a season. If the team has failed to organize an official match, they can force a survival match to happen against a team of choice from the same division, and the match must be played in the next 30 days. The deadline for survival match announcement is on the last day of the fourth month of a season. If the challenged team does not offer a match time, they lose. The official match format and match date can be chosen on mutual agreement. A team cannot be challenged to a survival match more than once in a season, unless all teams in the division were already involved in a survival match. If teams fail to agree on a match format, they will play in the bonus match format option.
  • Ultimate matches - Ultimate promotion/winners match & Ultimate relegation match: In the last month of a season teams battling for the title or promotion (1st vs 2nd in division 1 & 3rd vs 2nd in lower divisions) and relegation (7th vs 6th) will face in ultimate season matches to either keep or swap their ranking positions. The official match format and match date can be chosen on mutual agreement. If teams fail to agree on a match format, they will play in the bonus match format option.