With the release of Counter-Strike 2, we’ve updated a number of our rules to action differences from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, as well as our total move away from the ESEA platform. In addition to this, we’ve identified penalties for various rule infringements, and made amendments to our Multiple teams rules to allow for academy teams to participate in the EPT CS ecosystem more clearly. Additionally, we would like to highlight the new Timeout (2.8.22 Timeout) system we will be using going forward, as well as our new Pixel Walks living document (where you can submit your own pixel walks to be reviewed for competitive legality!). Finally, we’d like to bring attention to the removal of coaching slots within the game (2.7.1 Online tournaments) and what we’re doing to allow coaches to continue to have impact in online matches.
CHangelog
Generic changelog
- Removed mentions of ESEA
General Rules changelog
- Adjusted 2.7.3 Home country/region to describe what would happen in cases where a team’s home region is misrepresented
- Established a penalty for non-submission in 2.10.1 Standards
- Clarified in 2.10.2 Team names about teams whose names are that of a brand or company
- Clarified in 2.11.3 Team licence that a team/org may only compete with 1 team in each event
- Added provisions for Academy Teams to compete within the EPT ecosystem in 2.11.3.1 Multiple teams
- Added definition of a local hero slot with 2.22 Local Hero Slots
Game specific rules changelog
- Removed map file names in 2.3.1 Map pool
- Added steps to take when experience bugs with VetoBot in 2.3.3 Offline tournaments
- Updated 2.4 Match settings with the introduction of MR12
- Removed directions for the use of coach slots online since they no longer exist in 2.7.1 Online tournaments
- Updated 2.8.1.1 FACEIT servers to be in line with the CS2 system
- Updated 2.8.1.2 ESL servers to be in line with the CS2 system
- Updated 2.8.2.2 Timeout to be in line with the CS2 system
- Introduced the Pixel Walks sheet in 2.10.4.1 New positions
ESL Pro Tour - CS General Rules 2023
- 2.7.3 Home country/region
A participant’s home country is the country where their main place of residence for a significant portion of the calendar year is, or the country they hold a valid passport from. When a participant is residing in a country they do not hold a valid passport from, they must have a valid visa of at least 120 days. This decision can be made anew at any time, but once made it cannot be changed for 120 days from the first date of participation within that event or its qualifiers. The home region is the region that this country belongs to (see Appendix 1). This is determined by the residence of the majority of the used lineup. If there is no such majority, a team may have no home country or even no home region. In that case, the team cannot take part in qualifiers restricted to a country or region without consulting with the tournament administration. ESL reserves the right to deny the request to allow a team to play in a certain region, as well as the right to allow exceptions based on other Tournament Organiser regional restrictions. Participants who are found to have violated this rule, or to have misrepresented their residence eligibility, may invoke the removal of event slots for the region where they have illegally participated and other illegally gained benefits, as well as the transfer of the team to their default region (the region for which they hold valid passports).
- 2.10.1 Standards
Roster submissions must include the following information:
Team name & shorthandle
Team logo (when requested)
Contact person and details
Starting lineup
Substitute players, if applicable
ESL reserves the right to request additional team information as required. Failure to provide any of this information may render the participant ineligible to compete in the tournament.
- 2.10.2 Team names
Team names may not have any extensions such as “CS team”. They may only consist of the team name and, if allowed, a title sponsor. ESL reserves the right to shorten team names where necessary or appropriate. All team names must be in line with the ESL Pro Tour CS Code of Conduct. ESL may reject team names that include political, religious or offensive matters or sentiments, as judged by ESL. Teams whose names are shared with that of a brand, company or website must follow the same guidelines as listed in 2.10.2.1 Title Sponsors.
- 2.11.3 Team licence
Event licences will be awarded to a legal entity (registered association/organisation, Ltd company, and so on). Any legal entity is only allowed to hold one licence in the same competition. No other legal entity controlled by the same person/people is allowed to hold more than one licence. An organisation or team may only hold a licence for 1 roster throughout the entirety of an event. It is strictly forbidden for an org to change which lineup represents them during an event.
If no such entity exists for the team in question, or the existing entity has never been reported to and accepted by the tournament administration, a restricted licence may be awarded to the team where the team leader or organiser will be the designated contact person. This person will be responsible for keeping the team information up to date. For restrictive licences, the right to the licence can only be sustained for as long as the majority of the players that actively played in the last stage(s) of the event or its qualifiers stay together as a team.
The licence holder or representative is responsible for all actions and commitments of the team. Any changes in the team licence must be reported to and accepted by the tournament administration before they can be implemented. The licence holder decides who the recipient of any prize money won under its licence will be.
Any participant surrendering their event licence by choice may be precluded from being granted another licence in the same competition.
- 2.11.3.1 Multiple teams
It is not allowed for a team to participate in an ESL tournament if:
- Another team of the same organisation has been invited or qualified to the main event.
It is also not allowed for a team to participate in an ESL tournament’s qualifier if:
- Another team of the same organisation has been invited or qualified to the closed qualifier.
- Another team of the same organisation has signed up for the same qualifier.
ESL Pro Tour CS competitions that offer a slot in other ESL Pro Tour CS competitions are not considered to be qualifiers.
A special exception to this can only be made if the organisation in question provides a written confirmation that, at least four weeks before the part of the competition including the first team, one of the two teams will no longer be part of that organisation, and its players will no longer be under contract with them. This confirmation must be provided no later than 48 hours before the second team’s first match in the competition.
Similarly, an academy team may participate in and win an event that awards a slot in a further competition (for example, an ESL Challenger tournament that awards a slot in an upcoming season of ESL Pro League) if written confirmation is provided by the organisation no later than 48 hours before the academy team's first participation in that event's structure (i.e., open qualifier, closed qualifier or main event) that the academy team will replace the main team in said further competition, should they qualify. For academy teams competing in ESL Challenger League, if no written confirmation is given no later than 48 hours before the academy team's first participation in that season's structure, the academy team will not be able to progress from the group stage to the playoffs stage, where the next eligible team in line will replace them.
This separation must be permanent and independent of the results of the teams in the qualifiers.
- 2.22 Local Hero Slots
Local Hero slots are awarded to one of the best-performing teams where the majority of their players are of the nationality of the tournament's host country or region. This slot will be filled before ESL World Ranking slots.
ESL Pro Tour - CS Game Specific Rules 2023
- 2.3.1 Map pool
The competition will be played on the current competitive map pool (Valve Active Duty Map Group) which consists of the following maps:
- Anubis
- Inferno
- Mirage
- Nuke
- Overpass
- Ancient
- Vertigo
- 2.3.3 Offline tournaments
The offline map selection process has to start 60 minutes before the scheduled match start. If a participant is 5 minutes late for the announced map selection process time, their remaining picks and/or bans will be randomised by the tournament administration. In all instances, the time at which the map selection process is completed does not necessarily indicate the exact start time of the match. The map selection process may be completed (potentially significantly) earlier if ordered so by the tournament administration. Completed map vetoes must not be made public before ESL has done so.
Each participant has a total of 150 seconds to make all of their picks and bans, which can be split up on the single steps as they prefer. When the time expires, the remaining picks and/or bans will be randomised by the tournament administration.
When done in person, only two members of each team can participate in the map selection process. Otherwise the whole team can be part of the map selection process. During the map selection process, the first statement coming from the participant towards the tournament administration will count as their ban or pick and it cannot be reverted.
Participants will be given access to the veto platform on their arrival and should make note of the password they are given. This password should never be shared with anyone outside of their team.
If a participant experiences a bug or issue with the vetobot system during the process of completing a match veto, they must make it known to the tournament administration immediately. The veto will be restarted and the bans and picks must be identical to any made in the original veto, up until the point of the issue occurring. If the tournament administration is not made aware of any issues with the veto until the process has fully concluded, the result will stand and the veto will not be remade.
- 2.4 Match settings
The following match settings will be used for tournament matches:
- Rounds: Best out of 24 (mp_maxrounds 24)
- Round time: 1 minute 55 seconds (mp_roundtime 1.92)
- Start money: $800 (mp_startmoney 800)
- Freeze time: 20 seconds (mp_freezetime 20)
- Buy time: 20 seconds (mp_buytime 20)
- Bomb timer: 40 seconds (mp_c4timer 40)
- Overtime rounds: Best out of 6 (mp_overtime_maxrounds 6)
- Overtime start money: $12,500 (mp_overtime_startmoney 12500)
- Round restart delay: 5 seconds (mp_round_restart_delay 5)
- Break during half time for Challenger level tournaments and above: 3 - 4 minutes
- Break during half time in overtimes: disabled
- Prohibited items: none (mp_items_prohibited "")
- 2.7.1 Online tournaments
Coach slots do not currently exist in Counter-Strike 2. Therefore, it is not allowed for coaches to connect to the server during online tournaments. Privately streaming the match to a coach (via screensharing capabilities) is allowed.
- 2.8.1.1 FACEIT servers
A maximum total pause time of 10 minutes will be set by the tournament administration prior to the match start. Teams can pause as many times as they like for technical issues, but they will not be able to exceed the set maximum pause time. For example, each team may have 10 minutes of total technical pause time per match. They may pause as many times as they like, up to the total duration of 10 minutes for the match. After the maximum time has been reached, the match will unpause and will not be pausable again by that team. To call a technical pause, participants have to type “!tech” on the server and then announce the reason for a pause immediately after they paused the match. To call a timeout, participants have to use the in-game vote system (ESC → Call Vote → Call Tactical Timeout). A timeout lasts thirty (30) seconds. Participants are allowed to take all three timeouts at once by calling them all individually once the previous timeout expires.
If a map reaches overtime (OT), all remaining timeouts will be removed and each team will receive one (1) timeout to be used in that OT (OT1) period. If the map progresses to another OT (OT2), the same process will happen - any remaining timeouts will be removed and each team will receive one (1) more timeout. Banked timeouts cannot be stacked higher than one (1) in overtime.
- 2.8.1.2 ESL servers
If a participant has a problem that prevents them from playing on, they are allowed to use the pause function. Participants are limited to four timeouts, but there are no limits on the amount of technical pauses, but the total time spent technical paused per team, per map, must not exceed ten (10) minutes. To call a technical pause, participants have to type “.tech” on the server and then announce the reason for the pause immediately after they paused the match. To call a timeout, participants have to use the in-game vote system (ESC → Call Vote → Call Tactical Timeout). A timeout lasts thirty (30) seconds. Participants are allowed to take all three timeouts at once by calling them all individually once the previous timeout expires.
If a map reaches overtime (OT), all remaining timeouts will be removed and each team will receive one (1) timeout to be used in that OT (OT1) period. If the map progresses to another OT (OT2), the same process will happen - any remaining timeouts will be removed and each team will receive one (1) more timeout. Banked timeouts cannot be stacked higher than one (1) in overtime.
- 2.8.2.2 Timeout
Each participant is allowed to invoke a timeout of thirty (30) seconds up to three (3) times in regulation rounds per map. Timeouts can be called by participants via the in-game vote system (ESC → Call Vote → Call Tactical Timeout). Participants are allowed to take all three timeouts at once by calling them all individually once the previous timeout expires.
If a map reaches overtime (OT), all remaining timeouts will be removed and each team will receive one (1) timeout to be used in that OT (OT1) period. If the map progresses to another OT (OT2), the same process will happen - any remaining timeouts will be removed and each team will receive one (1) more timeout. Banked timeouts cannot be stacked higher than one (1) in overtime.
- 2.10.4.1 New positions
If any participant wants to use a new position which is not commonly known, it is strongly recommended to contact the tournament administration to check if that position is allowed before using it in any official match. Participants have to consider that it takes time to check new positions and therefore they have to contact tournament administration in a reasonable timeframe before an official match. An exhaustive list of allowed bugs & pixel walks will be maintained here.
