Madden Champs Rules

Rule Inheritance

• These rules are based off of and should inherit from the Madden NFL 21 Championship Series Official Rules which can be found at: ea.com. These Rules have been designed to ensure the integrity of competitive play of Madden NFL 21 (the “Game”) in connection with the Tournament, and are intended to promote vigorous competition and to help ensure that all competitive play of the Game is fun, fair, and free from Toxic Behavior (as defined below).

Rule Modifications

• Rules may be changed leading up to the event at the discretion of appointed tournament officials and/or Nerd Street Gamers. Players are responsible for keeping up-to-date with the latest rules and at no point are tournament officials or Nerd Street Gamers responsible for announcing or notifying players of rule changes.
• In the event a rule modification needs to occur after matches have begun, players will be notified during the event by tournament admins to the best of their ability.
  

Introduction

All players are expected to understand and follow the rules outlined in this document and those inherited. In the event of a disagreement or discrepancy in the rules, tournament officials will make the final ruling on a case-by-case basis. Furthermore, all players are expected to complete and sign a Player Waiver (provided in a separate document) to be handed in on the day of the event.

• Map Pool

  • No map pool for Madden NFL 22

• Controllers

  • All standard controllers are legal. Macro functions (e.g. turbo buttons) are not permitted. Note: at Madden NFL 22 Championship, all controllers must be reviewed and approved by Event Officials

• Sportmasnship

  • Any hostile actions, including those physical and/or verbal, during the event is grounds for disqualification and removal of a player or team.

• Team and Player Names

  • In the desire to keep demo content and broadcasts respectful, players or teams may be required to change their in-game name if it is found offensive or inappropriate.

• Team captains

  • Each Team must declare one member of their roster to be the “Team Captain” who represents the Team for all official decisions and serves as the main point of contact for the Team.

• Communications

  • Teams will communicate with their opponents and Tournament Administrators via Discord and Battlefy chatbox during all online stages of the Tournament. For live events, once a Match has officially begun, communication with anyone not designated as playing within the current Match is strictly prohibited and may result in immediate disqualification of the Player(s) or Team.

• Game Client

  • During the event no third-party clients are to be used unless otherwise instructed by tournament officials.

• Use of Bugs and Glitches

  • It is up to the tournament administration discretion whether or not the use of said bugs had an effect on the match, and whether or not he will award rounds, or the match to the opposing team, or to force a rematch. In extreme cases, the penalty for abusing bugs may be even higher. In the event of a bug or glitch that affects gameplay, the full Match should be played out. If a Team calls for a rematch due to the bug or glitch, they must save the replay and submit it to the Tournament Administrator for review.

• Spectators and Interference

  • At no point during match play may players or spectators stand near players currently in an official match for any reason, including to spectate.
    

Matches and Scheduling

It is critical that all scheduled matches are started promptly in order for the event to complete on time. Teams must be present 30 minutes before their scheduled match time. Teams that fail to start their match within 15 minutes of their scheduled match time will forfeit the map. In a Best of 3, each map is allotted 10-15 minutes: if a team forfeits their first map, the 2nd map must start within 15 minutes of the scheduled Bo3 start time.

Game Specifric Rules and Lobby Setup

• Game Hosting
  • Only the Administrator / Observer / Commentator / Team Captain is allowed to create a server. The game must be hosted on a local Server with the correct Settings.

Double Elimination Bracket

• Rounds required to win a game
  • Two (2) Rounds

Upper Bracket

• Matches: Bo3
• Semi-Finals: Bo5
• Finals: Bo5

Lower Bracket

• Matches: Bo3
• Semi-Finals: Bo5
• Finals: Bo5

Grand Finals

• Best of 5 with Upper bracket winner with +1 map advantage

Game Settings

• Default Arena: DFH Stadium
• Team Size: 3v3
• Bot Difficulty: No Bots
• Mutators: None
• Match Time: 5 Minutes
• Joinable By: Name/Password
• Platform: PS4, Nintendo Switch, Steam, or Xbox One

Game Mode Win Conditions

• If the timer runs out, whoever has more points (goals scored) will win the match. If both teams are tied, the game will then go into overtime.

Schedule Announcements

• Players will be notified 24 hours before their first match for the event through official channels (Twitter, NSG Discord, and/or Messages sent directly to a Team Captain). As it is impossible for tournament officials to predict the outcome of matches, teams will be expected to stay on site after their first match for the event to receive further scheduling updates.

Schedule Modifications

• At no point will changes be made to the match schedule to accommodate for player schedules, lack of punctuality, or a lack of preparedness. Players are expected to be in their seat, ready to play at the scheduled match time.
• During a series (Best of 3, Best of 5, etc.) players will be given a five minute break between maps.

Schedule Conflicts

• In the event of unexpected delays caused by the venue, tournament schedule, or another non-team entity, schedules may change. In no scenario will tournament officials move a scheduled match to be earlier than previously announced unless both Team Captains agree with the arrangement.

Absent Players and Substitutions

• Teams must have at least 2 players to start a map. Failure to produce two players within ten minutes of the scheduled match time will result in a forfeit of the map.
• A “Substitution” is defined as changing the Player line-up after a Match has started. Substitutions may only occur in between Games in a Match, and Teams are limited to one Player change per Match. Substitutions are not allowed during the Open Qualifier except in the event of a disconnect.
• Players who are found to be consistently disruptful to the flow of tournament play, causing delays, and/or hindering tournament progress will be subject to disqualification.

Timeouts

• No Timeouts

Forfeits

• Teams may not voluntarily forfeit a Match without prior authorization from Tournament Administrators and, even with authorization, are subject to further penalties for forfeiting.

Disconnects

• If a disconnect occurs during an online event, the shorthanded Team will continue to play out the single Game within the Match series. The disconnected Player may rejoin during the Game that the disconnect occurred in or in between Games of a Match series but may not join in the middle of subsequent Games in the series. After a disconnect, if the Player cannot rejoin during the same Game, the Player will have five minutes to rejoin before the next Game of the Match series begins. If the disconnected Player is unable to join the Game prior to the next Game in the series, the Player’s Team may substitute another Player from their roster if this is the first disconnect for the Team during the series.

Stoppage of Play

• Tournament Administrators may pause a Game or Match at any time and for any reason. In the event of a stoppage of play, Players must remain at their devices and may not communicate with other Players until the Game or Match is resumed.

Restarts

• Tournament Administrators may order a Game or Match restart due to exceptional circumstances, such as if a bug significantly affects a Player’s ability to play or the Game or Match is disrupted by a Force Majeure or other event.

Log Submission

• If a Player or Team makes a complaint that results in a Game or Match restart, they will be expected to provide Tournament Administrators with log files from the Game or Match. These log files will be subject to investigation, and Tournament Administrators will issue penalties if they determine that the restart was requested in error.

Score Reporting

• During any Nerd Street Madden tournament online, after a Match is completed, the winning Team must submit the Match result to Tournament Administrators in a designated chatroom. The losing Team must also confirm the Match result. Taking a screenshot of the results screen or replay of the Match is strongly recommended in case of disputed results. If a Team disputes a Match claiming a win and submits proof of their claim, the other Team must submit proof of their claim to avoid an automatic forfeit of the Match. Any Teams or Players found to be submitting false or doctored results will be permanently banned from the Tournament and future tournaments.

Guest Accounts

• Players may not compete using guest accounts. All participants must have a unique and valid Steam, Microsoft® Account, Nintendo Account, or PlayStationTM Network ID, and appropriate access levels to Steam, Xbox LiveTM, NintendoTM Network, or the PlayStationTM Network as applicable.

Rehost

• In case conditions are met, players should instantly request a rehost by writing in the ingame chat “rehost”, followed by the reason. Players should continue playing until the rehost is confirmed by an admin. Once confirmed, everyone should instantly leave the game.

Settings and Configurations

Game Configurations

• Settings for Individual Club Championships and Club Championship
  • Quarter Length: 5 minutes
  • Play Clock: 40 seconds
  • Skill Level: All-Madden
  • Weather: Clear
  • Injuries: 0
  • Accelerated Clock: Off
  • Game Speed: Normal
  • Game Style: Competitive
  • Event Type: Quick Presentation
• Other Adjustable Settings
  Competitors can adjust the following settings provided there are no bugs or game imbalances caused within the Competition mode.
  • Auto Sprint: Default On
  • Auto Strafe: Default On
  • Heat Seeker: Default On
  • Ball Hawk: Default On
  • Switch Assist: Default Off
  • Auto Play Flip: Off
  • Camera Setting: Standard
• Lineup and Depth Chart Requirements
  • Lineups in Head to Head are managed through the Game’s lineup screen.
• Additional Gameplay Rules (Online Elimination through Finals)
  • Onside Kicks: Onside kicks are not allowed in the first half. A Competitor may attempt an onside kick at any time in the 2nd half.
  • Excessive Offsides: Neither the offense nor the defense should purposefully go offsides with the intent of delaying the game nor exhibiting unsportsmanlike conduct. Intent is at the sole discretion of the Event Officials.
  • Improper Audibles: Competitors may not audible out of the QB Kneel, Wildcat, Field Goal, or Punt formations.
• Glitches
  • Any attempt to glitch the game in order to gain an advantage is prohibited and subject to the penalties outlined in Section 6 of the Official Rules. This includes, but is not limited to the following situations:
    • Any offsides glitch
    • Audibles that cause an unresponsive defense
    • Intentionally slowing down a defense at the line of scrimmage to cause an offsides penalty.
  • Procedure After a Glitch Penalty: In the event that an Event Official determines that a penalty was caused by an unauthorized glitch, one or more the following actions will be taken to return the game to a fair state depending on the result of the play. All Competitors will be given guidance on how to handle penalties once they have advanced to the Online Elimination phases of the tournament.
    • If the ball wasn’t advanced by the offense OR the result of the play was in favor of the defense (turnover, sack, defensive TD), then the offense will be forced to decline the penalty (in the end, the penalty for a glitch is a loss of down).
    • If the ball was advanced by the offense, then the offense will be forced to take penalties until they are equal or behind the line of scrimmage at the start of the play where they intentionally glitched (in the end, the penalty for a glitch is a loss of down).

Prizes

The prize money will be given to each player individually unless arrangements are made otherwise. Players will be required to sign a W-9 Tax Form before receiving any prize distribution.

For Schools/University

• The prize money will be sent to each school to be redistributed to the players. The prizes are to be split evenly among the people who played in the respective semifinals and finals matches.