Tournament Rules

UPDATED ON 4/14/2023

ALL tournaments hosted by SWAT Nation have the following rules by default:

  1. MINIMUM TEAMS

    1. The MINIMUM amount of teams for a tournament to be celebrated is 16. We fund prize pools and MVP prizes out of our own pockets, and for that reason, we want them to be accessible to as many participants as possible.
    2. SWAT Nation reserves the right to cancel events wholly or in part in case of an insufficient number of participants, organizational reasons, changes of availability of teams/staff, force majeure or other unforeseeable events that render the execution of the event impossible and/or not worthwhile or that would lead to the organizer incurring unreasonable expenses in executing the event. SWAT Nation shall immediately inform participants of such changes.

  2. TOURNAMENT ELIGIBILITY

    1. Minimum age: You must be at least 13 years old by the tournament start date in order to participate in this tournament.

  3. PRIZING

    1. Disqualified or Ineligible players are not eligible to receive prizes.
    2. Prize distribution is subject to SWAT Nation receiving the information requested of each player at the conclusion of the tournament.
    3. Prize values could increase with crowdfunding, to add to the prize pool consider doing so here!

  4. STREAMING

    1. Streaming for this tournament is allowed.
    2. Players and/or Casters are required to have a 30 second+ delay on their stream.
    3. Replay files are required to be kept for a minimum of 2 days after the event.

  5. SMURFS/ALTERNATE ACCOUNTS

    1. No “smurf” accounts are allowed in ANY SWAT Nation tournaments.
    2. All player accounts and/or Gamertags must be established and show a consistent history of playtime.
    3. Players must play under the gamer tag used to sign up for the tournament. If a player cannot use that Gamertag, the team will be disqualified and removed from the tournament.
    4. SWAT Nation reserves the right to disqualify any teams suspected of having players using a “smurf“ account during our events.

  6. STARTING TIMES

    1. Players will wait a MAXIMUM of 15 minutes for a round to start. If a team is not able to start a game within 15 minutes of the established start time, it will be sent to the LOSERS BRACKET or REMOVED from the tourney.
    2. The ONLY exception to this rule is when a team is waiting for results from any other rounds to learn who their opponent is. When rounds are ready to be played, the 15 minute rules will start.
    3. Players are not allowed to play in other tournaments while playing on a SWAT Nation tournament. Teams that have players infringing this rule will be immediately disqualified and removed from the tournament.

  7. CONTACTING RANDOM TEAMMATES

    1. It is the PLAYERS’ sole responsibility to contact their teammates for “random teammates“ events. SWAT Nation, or any of its team members, WILL NOT contact your teammates on your behalf.
    2. Brackets are released way in advance to provide players with ample time to contact their teammates. Teams that fail to do so before 24 hours of the event start time will be automatically disqualified.

  8. GAME SETTINGS

    1. Use the appropriate Maps and Game Types indicated in the bracket. Failure to do so will result in ref stepping in BEFORE the game starts. If a game is started and played with wrong settings, no replay will be allowed.
    2. The "SN: SWAT" settings and maps are to be used at all times. Exceptions to this will be communicated by SWAT Nation staff.
    3. laying with mouse and keyboard / XIM adapters / or any external not approved device is strictly prohibited in console tournaments. MOUSE AND KEYBOARD ARE PERMITTED IN HALO INFINITE. SWAT Nation reserves the right to disqualify any teams suspected to have players using any type of device that is not a standard game controller. The standard game controller terms includes OEM manufactured game controllers, and tournament approved third-party controllers such as Scuf Gaming, Razer, Cinch, Battle Beaver, and others as along as they are tournament approved. The term tournament approved means that MLG, ESL, CDL, DreamHack, and other major tournament organizers have approved the aforementioned controllers for use during their events.
    4. For Halo Infinite: The HIGHER seed team gets to choose team side for the first map, the choice will alternate for each map in the series. Ex. Map 1: Seed 1 picks Eagle, Map 2: Seed 3 picks Cobra
      For all other Halo Games: The Higher seeded team ALWAYS hosts first map, and the other team chooses color. After the first map, teams alternate host and color choosing.

  9. TIES/DRAWS

    1. If a game ends in a tie, the map must be replayed until a winner is determined.

  10. SCORE REPORTING

    1. Match scores MUST be POSTED on Discord in the #score-report channel. Designated refs will be announced before the tournament, on stream.
    2. Format of score report: Match Number: Top 1 Score - Bottom 2 Score. Example of a valid score report: 27: Top 1 - Bottom 2. Refer to the ADDENDUMS section for more details.
    3. Scores reported on the main Twitch chat will not be taken into consideration. Please help us make this process fast and efficient. Play by the rules.
    4. To access a tournament bracket, type !bracket at any time on SWAT Nation's Twitch channel.

  11. SUBSTITUTE PLAYERS

    1. For Draft Tournaments: Players must contact their teammates within 48 hours of the draft. If players do not respond within that 48 hours, they will be removed from the team and the team may face disqualification if SWAT Nation determines it.
      1. If a player suspects a teammate will fail to show for the draft tournament, all reasonable efforts must be made to contact SWAT Nation 24 hours prior to the tournament start. The only contact method is our Discord server, channel #support under the TOURNAMENTS category
    2. For Non Draft Tourneys: All substitute players must be presented and approved by SWAT Nation
    3. Admins make any decision they feel is fair/correct at their own discretion, if you do not agree with an admin decision you can request it gets reviewed by another admin.
    4. Mid-event substitution of players are allowed but must be approved by Admin and not be a player that is/has already competed in the tournament.
    5. If players forfeit/quit an ongoing event, the team will be automatically disqualified, and a warning will be issued to the offending players. Repeated forfeits will incur in the following penalties:
      1. 1st offense: issue warning with information about these penalties
      2. 2nd offense: timeout from playing on all events scheduled for one month after the event
      3. 3rd offense: permanent ban from all SWAT Nation events
    6. If you forfeit for any reason you also forfeit any earnings that were potentially made.
    7. Not showing up for a tournament you signed up for will get your team automatically disqualified. Repeated offenses will incur in the following penalties:
      1. 1st offense: issue warning with information about these penalties
      2. 2nd offense: timeout from playing on all events scheduled for one month after the event
      3. 3rd offense: permanent ban from all SWAT Nation events
    8. Teams are not allowed to play without a full team. For example “we want to play 3v4 or 2v4.“ All of the above rules apply for this case and the team will be disqualified.

  12. DISCONNECTIONS

    1. If a player(s) disconnect or lag out, the game has to be ended and the map MUST be replayed maintaining the score at the time of the disconnection. If scores cannot be determined, the map must be replayed.
    2. The MAXIMUM number of disconnections is 2. If a disconnection happens after that, the affected team will lose the map.
    3. If the affected player(s) can not reconnect to play, the game will be ended and their team will lose the map.
    4. If the affected player(s) can not reconnect to play their next rounds, their team will be disqualified and removed from the tourney.

  13. PLAYER CODE OF CONDUCT

    1. Participants of SWAT Nation Tournaments will be held to a standard of behavior, communication, and action. Participants are expected to act in a professional and courteous manner and are strictly prohibited from engaging in communication or actions that could be considered vulgar, toxic, antagonistic, inflammatory, threatening, or generally misrepresent SWAT Nation.
    2. Examples of prohibited behavior include:
      1. Hate speech or discriminatory behavior
      2. Violent or physical aggression or behavior
      3. Threats
      4. Sexual harassment of any kind
      5. Racist or sexist words, phrases, or gestures
      6. Extreme profanity
      7. Any "sound-alike" or "look-alike" words or phrases that reference these topics
      8. Any other type of conduct deemed inappropriate at the discretion of Admins or tournament organizer

  14. REPORTING ISSUES

    1. Contacting a Tournament Administrator: To contact a Tournament Administrator use the official Discord.
    2. Disputes: To dispute Game/Match results, Players/Teams must notify a Tournament Administrator that they would like to dispute the results before a new Game/Match has begun.
    3. Dispute Evidence: If a Screenshot(s) is needed in order to resolve a dispute, it should be sent via the Discord to an admin via an image linking site such as imgur. Videos may also be uploaded and linked to a website such as YouTube. The issue must be clearly stated as well as the time in the video in which the issue occurred, and/or what the Tournament Administrators should be looking for in the picture.