EGL Season 0 Rulebook

Season 0 · Last updated October 13, 2026. EGL is a community tournament and is not affiliated with Riot Games.

1. About these rules

EGL (Elder Gaming League) is an independent community tournament for Valorant players aged 30 and over, run in North America. Season 0 is a free beta season.

EGL is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Riot Games, VALORANT, or the VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT). Our format borrows ideas from VCT, but EGL is a community tournament and nothing here is official Riot competition. VALORANT is a trademark of Riot Games, Inc.

1. By registering, every player agrees to these rules and to Riot Games' Terms of Service.
2. League staff (admins and moderators) apply and interpret these rules. Where the rules are silent, staff decide based on fair play and the spirit of the league.
3. Staff may update the rules during the season. Changes are posted in Discord #announcements and on playegl.com/rules, and take effect 48 hours after posting unless they fix an urgent integrity issue.
4. Staff decisions are logged. A player or team can appeal once (see section 8).

2. Eligibility

A player is eligible once they meet every requirement below and an admin has approved their registration.

• A player found to be under 30 is removed from the league, and their team's results may be voided (see section 7).
• Changing the linked Riot account mid-season is only allowed with staff approval, for example a banned or hacked account, and the new account is reviewed like a new registration.

3. Teams, rosters and subs

A team is 5 starters plus up to 3 substitutes, so 8 players maximum and 5 minimum.

1. Each team names one captain and may name one co-captain. Captains handle check-in, veto, score reporting and disputes, and speak for the team with staff.
2. Every rostered player must be individually eligible (section 2) and approved before they can play.
3. A player can be on only one EGL roster per season.
4. Roster lock: rosters lock at the end of week 3 of the regular season (the roster-lock date set for the season). Before lock, teams may add or drop players through playegl.com. After lock, changes need staff approval and are only granted for real emergencies (for example a player leaving the league).
5. Playoffs: only players rostered before roster lock may play in playoffs.
6. Subs: a team may swap a sub in between maps of a series, never during a map. A new player can't join a custom game after the map starts, so a player who can't reconnect is replaced from the next map (section 5).
7. Ringers: a player not on the roster may never play. Using one forfeits the series and triggers an integrity review (section 7).
8. If a team drops below 5 eligible players, it has until its next match to add a player or that match is forfeited.

Coaches

1. Each team may register one coach on playegl.com. A coach does not count toward the 8-player roster.
2. Coaches must have a verified EGL account and follow the conduct rules (section 8). They do not need to be 30+ or meet the account-level rule, because they never play.
3. A coach may never play in an EGL match, even as an emergency sub. A coach who wants to play must register and be rostered as a player.
4. During a series the coach joins the custom game lobby in their team's coach slot (tournament mode keeps the coach on their own team's view) and may sit in team voice and talk freely. The coach may not use an open spectator or observer slot, or watch a stream of the match (that counts as ghosting).
5. A team's coach can't also be a player or coach on another EGL team that season.
6. Captains are responsible for their coach's conduct. Coach penalties work like player strikes and can carry over to the team.

4. Season format and scheduling

Season 0 is one Split: a round-robin regular season followed by double-elimination playoffs, ending in the EGL Finals. How matches are scheduled (a fixed league night, or captains booking through the Match Planner) will be decided closer to Season 0.

• Scheduling: the scheduling model will be decided closer to Season 0. The current plan: each match week, the captains or coaches of both teams pick the match time together using the Match Planner on playegl.com, and it must be inside that week's match window. If they don't agree by the deadline, staff assign a default time. Match start time is the time on the schedule, not when both teams feel ready.
• Reschedule window: a match may be moved only if both captains agree and staff approve. The request must be made on the match page at playegl.com or in Discord at least 48 hours before the scheduled start, and the new time must be within 7 days of the original date (before the next match week). If teams cannot agree, the match is played at the original time. These reschedule details may change once scheduling is decided closer to Season 0.
• Playoff matches and the EGL Finals cannot be rescheduled except by staff.
• Standings tiebreakers: series wins, then map differential, then round differential, then head-to-head among the tied teams. If still tied, staff decide by a tiebreaker map or by seed.

5. Match procedure

Check-in

Check-in opens 60 minutes before start and closes 15 minutes before start. The captain checks in on the match page at playegl.com or through the EGL Discord bot and confirms the 5 players starting map 1. A team that has not checked in by close is treated as late (section 6).

Map veto

The veto runs on the match page at playegl.com or in Discord, using the current competitive map pool. The higher seed chooses whether to start the veto or go second; in the regular season that is the home team on the schedule, in playoffs the better seed.

• On a picked map, the team that did not pick it chooses its starting side.
• On the decider, the team that did not make the last ban chooses its starting side.
• Maps are played in pick order, decider last. A series ends as soon as one team has won the majority of maps.
• Each team has 60 seconds per veto step. If a captain does not act in time, the bot picks or bans at random for them.

Lobby and settings

The home team (or higher seed) hosts a custom game with: tournament mode on, cheats off, standard competitive rules (first to 13, overtime win by 2), and the NA server both captains agree on. If they cannot agree, staff pick the server with the most even ping.

Score reporting

1. Both captains report the result on the match page at playegl.com (preferred) or through the EGL Discord bot within 30 minutes of the series ending, with a screenshot of each map's end-of-game scoreboard.
2. If both reports match, the result is final and standings update automatically.
3. If the reports do not match, or only one captain reports, the match goes to staff as a dispute (section 8). A single unopposed report is accepted after 24 hours.

Technical issues

EGL is played online from home, so every player is responsible for their own PC, peripherals, internet and power. The core rule: flag it in the moment or it didn't happen. A problem not raised with a pause during the map cannot be used to challenge a result afterward.

What one VALORANT custom game can and can't do. A custom game cannot restore a score mid-map. That means a single round can never be replayed once it has started for real. The only remedies are a pause, playing on, or restarting the whole map from 0-0. Staff use map restarts only in the cases listed below.

Before the match

1. Every player has the game, Vanguard, Windows and GPU drivers updated before check-in. A pending update is not a technical issue.
2. Each team runs a quick warm-up in the range or a deathmatch before start time to confirm mouse, keyboard, headset and mic work.
3. Wireless mice, keyboards and headsets are allowed but used at the player's own risk. Keep a wired backup mouse within reach. Interference, dead batteries or dongle problems count as player-side failures. (This is the lesson from VCT Champions Shanghai 2026, where wireless mice dropped input on stage and Riot told players to switch to wired mid-event.)
4. Mousepad and surface: a mouse that won't track on the player's desk or pad is a player-side failure. Use a cloth or hard pad you have tested.
5. Patch day: if Riot releases a patch on match day, every match that day gets an extra 30 minutes before lateness penalties start.
6. Riot outage: if Riot servers or login are down at start time (check status.riotgames.com), the match is postponed with no penalty and rescheduled inside the reschedule window.

Pauses

• Only a captain or the affected player may call a pause.
• Play resumes only when both teams type "ready" in all chat. The paused team cannot refuse to unpause once its time runs out.
• Players may not leave their seat, swap PCs or talk to anyone outside the team during a tech pause, except to fix the problem.
• Unused pause time does not carry over to the next map.
• Pause abuse (a fake tech pause to break momentum or get extra strategy time) earns a conduct strike. A second time in a season is a 1-match suspension for the captain.

Player-side failures

This covers a mouse, keyboard, headset, monitor, PC crash or freeze, game crash, internet drop or a power outage at the player's home.

1. Call a tech pause right away. If it happens mid-round and the player is still in, they play the round out as best they can.
2. The team may use its 10 minutes of technical pause time to fix it, including reconnecting or restarting the PC.
3. A player who was in the match when it started can reconnect at any time by relaunching VALORANT and choosing Reconnect; their slot, agent and economy are kept. A new player cannot join a custom game once the map has started. After 10 minutes the match resumes and the team plays 4v5 until the player reconnects or the map ends. A rostered sub can come in from the next map.
4. If a team cannot field at least 4 players after its pause time runs out, it forfeits the map. Another 15 minutes without 4 players forfeits the series.
5. Rounds lost to a player-side failure are never replayed and never restored, even if the failure clearly cost the round.

Game won't let a player reconnect

Sometimes the player's PC and internet are fine, but VALORANT itself blocks the way back. Examples: no Reconnect button, "match no longer exists", an endless loading screen, or a Riot or Vanguard error on reconnect.

1. The player screenshots or clips the failure, including any error code, and the captain posts it in the match ticket.
2. Staff grant an extra 10 minutes of staff pause on top of the team's tech time while the player retries. Restarting the client and the PC counts as retrying.
3. If the player still can't get back in, staff decide based on the map score:
   • Through round 6 of the map: the map restarts from 0-0. The team may use the original player, if they're back, or a rostered sub.
   • After round 6: the team plays the map out 4v5, and the player or a sub comes in from the next map.
4. An error staff judge to be on the player's side (their own internet, Vanguard not running, an outdated client) is a player-side failure, and the normal tech pause rules apply.
5. If it happens to both teams or the whole lobby, it is a server failure, and the map is restarted or the lobby remade.

First-round restart

If a player disconnects or a game-breaking bug happens in round 1 of either half, before any damage is dealt, the map is restarted from 0-0. This is the only automatic restart. Each team can trigger it once per map.

Server and game-side failures

This covers a server crash that ends the map, server-wide lag or packet loss that hits both teams, or a VALORANT bug that breaks the game. Examples are a weapon that won't fire despite input, a spike that can't be planted or defused, an ability that doesn't work as designed, an agent or player stuck in the map, or the round timer or economy breaking.

1. Pause immediately and type the reason in all chat.
2. Clip it. Every player should run an instant-replay recorder (NVIDIA ShadowPlay, AMD ReLive, OBS or Medal). Staff may require POV recordings in playoffs and the EGL Finals.
3. Open a match ticket on the match page at playegl.com or in Discord. Staff aim to respond within 10 minutes during scheduled matches.
4. Staff decide:
   • Play on. This is the default when the bug didn't decide the outcome or can't be verified.
   • Restart the map from 0-0. This happens if the server crashed and the lobby can't be resumed, or if a verified game-side bug is ongoing and can't be avoided.
   • Remake the lobby on another server. This happens if staff confirm server-wide lag for both teams.
5. A verified bug that decided a single round, without breaking the rest of the map, does not trigger a restart. A custom game can't restore the score, and wiping a map punishes the other team for something they didn't cause. Staff log the case.
6. Both captains may instead agree in writing (in the match ticket) to any other fair fix. For example, they might restart and play to a target score that keeps the lead. Staff must approve.
7. Deliberately using a known bug or exploit to gain an advantage is cheating (section 8).

Ping and servers

• Teams play on the NA server both captains agree on. If they can't agree, staff pick the one with the most even average ping, judged from in-game ping on a quick test.
• A player above 80 ms on the agreed server may ask staff to check it before map 1 starts. After map 1 starts, ping is not grounds for a remake unless server-wide lag is confirmed.

If staff can't be reached

If no staff member answers within 10 minutes, the teams play on under these rules. Both captains note the issue in the match ticket, and staff rule afterward. Staff can then order a replay only for a server-side or game-side failure that was paused and flagged during the map.

Allowed hardware and software

• Allowed: any mouse, keyboard, headset or monitor, and manufacturer software for DPI, polling rate, key mapping and lighting.
• Not allowed: macros that do more than one action per key press, scripts, crosshair overlays or anything drawn over the game, aim or recoil assistance, and any tool flagged by Vanguard. Using any of them is cheating.
• Discord, voice software and stream software are fine. A player's own stream must have at least a 2-minute delay.

6. Forfeits, no-shows and lateness

A team that is not in the lobby with 5 eligible players at start time is late, and penalties grow the longer it runs.

• A team may start a map with 4 players if the 5th is late. The late player (or a sub) can only come in from the next map, because a new player can't join a custom game once the map starts.
• If both teams are no-shows, both receive a series loss and no map score.
• A team that forfeits 2 matches in one season, or forfeits any playoff match without notice, may be removed from the league. Its remaining matches become forfeits, and earlier results stand.
• A team that knows it cannot play should tell staff as early as possible. A forfeit announced 24 hours or more ahead counts as a forfeit but not toward the removal rule.

7. Smurfs, alts and borrowed accounts

Every player plays on their own main account, and only that account, for the whole season. This is the league's top integrity rule.

Not allowed:

• Smurfing: playing on an account well below your real skill to land in an easier division.
• Alts: using any Riot account other than the one linked and approved for the season.
• Account sharing or borrowing: playing on someone else's account, or letting someone else play on yours.
• Sandbagging: deliberately lowering your rank or stats to affect division placement.

How flags work: EGL's systems check linked accounts for signs of smurfing or sharing, using rank history, account level and age, match stats compared with the player's rank, and play patterns. A flag is never a ban by itself.

1. A flag (automatic, or reported by a player or captain on playegl.com or in Discord) goes into the staff review queue.
2. A staff member reviews the evidence and may ask the player for more information, such as their main account, rank history or a short screen-shared session.
3. The player gets at least 48 hours to respond before a decision, unless a match is imminent, in which case staff may hold the player out of that match only.
4. Staff decide: cleared (no action, flag noted), division move (the player or team is moved to a fitting division), or violation (penalties below).
5. Every decision is logged and the player can appeal once (section 8).

Penalties for a confirmed violation:

Captains are responsible for their roster. A captain who knowingly fields a smurf or shared account can be removed as captain and penalized with the player.

8. Conduct, disputes and appeals

Conduct

EGL is for adults who want competitive games without the toxicity. Treat opponents, teammates and staff with respect, in game, in Discord and on stream.

Not allowed: harassment, hate speech or slurs, threats, doxxing, cheating or third-party tools that give an advantage, exploiting bugs on purpose, ghosting (watching a stream of the match while playing), match fixing or betting on your own matches, and lying to staff.

Strikes

• Most conduct issues earn 1 strike. Staff can skip straight to suspension or removal for serious offenses such as hate speech, threats, doxxing or cheating.
• Strikes reset at the end of each season, except bans.

Disputes

1. A captain opens a dispute on the match page at playegl.com or in Discord within 24 hours of the series ending, with evidence (screenshots, clips, VODs).
2. The other captain has 24 hours to respond.
3. Staff decide, normally within 48 hours. Staff not involved with either team handle the dispute.

Appeals

A player or team may appeal any staff decision once, within 72 hours, by submitting an appeal on playegl.com, opening an appeal ticket in Discord, or emailing admin@playegl.com. A different staff member or the league admin reviews it. The appeal decision is final for that season.