Rules

These rules apply to every OSA league match, in every region, from registration to the end of the season.

By registering a team, the captain accepts the rulebook version in force at that time on behalf of the whole team.

Rule changes are published as a new rulebook version with:

• A change summary
• An effective date

During a season, changes are announced at least 7 days before they take effect. The exception is emergency fixes (for example a game patch that breaks a map).

League staff interpret these rules.

• Where a situation isn’t covered, staff decide in the spirit of fair competition
• They record that decision with a reason
• Staff never rule on a match involving a team they currently play for
• Decisions brought before the moderation board are voted on by staff and the team Refs (3.4)

• All times on the site are stored in UTC
• They are shown in your own time zone
• Deadlines in these rules are in the region’s time zone
• EU: Europe/Paris
• OCE: Australia/Sydney
• NA: America/New_York

Each person plays on one OSA account, linked to one Discord account and one in-game identity. Alternate accounts are not allowed.

Before playing, every player adds to their OSA profile:

1. a)Their Onward name
2. b)Their platform

• On Meta (Quest), the Onward name is the Meta account name
• On Steam, the Steam ID is added too
• Staff may check any identity at any time
• Playing under someone else’s identity is a breach of 2.1
• During a season, name changes need staff approval

Players must be at least 13. Everyone also follows the age rules of Onward, their headset platform and Discord.

A player is on one team’s roster per game at a time and can’t play for two teams in the same competition.

Team names and tags:

1. a)Names are 3–32 characters
2. b)Tags are 2–5 capital letters or digits
3. c)Names and tags must be unique in the league
4. d)Names and tags must not be offensive
5. e)Names and tags must not impersonate another team or organisation

Every team has one captain and up to two co-captains.

• The captain and co-captains schedule matches and report results
• Only the captain registers the team, changes roles or hands over the captaincy
• The captain must be in the league Discord server for as long as they are captain, so staff and other teams can reach them

Every team also names one player as its Ref, or chooses No Ref (3.4).

Teams register for each season separately.

• The captain signs the team up and accepts the current rulebook on its behalf
• Before signing up, the team must pick its Ref, or choose to have none (3.4)
• A team can sign up with fewer than 5 players and appears as signed up
• Staff approve it to play once it has at least 5 players on its roster
• Staff announce sign-up dates, the season start and any breaks on the calendar

We don’t think the same small group of people should run everything, so every team has a Referee (Ref).

Choosing the Ref:

• Each team names one roster player as its Ref
• The Ref can’t be the captain
• The Ref gets the Team Ref role in the league Discord
• If the Ref leaves the team or becomes captain, the team names a new one

Having no Ref:

• A team can choose to have no Ref
• It then has no seat on the moderation board

Either way, the captain or a co-captain must make the choice before the team can sign up for a season (3.3).

What Refs do:

• Refs sit on the moderation board with staff
• They have a vote on the decisions brought before it

A Ref never handles, votes on or tries to influence a ticket, dispute or decision involving their own team.

The goal is a fairer, more transparent moderation system where decisions aren’t made by the same few people every time.

A roster holds at most 8 players: 5 starters and up to 3 substitutes.

Matches are 5v5.

Rosters lock when the regular season starts. After the lock, players can only be added:

• During the transfer window
• As a staff-approved emergency substitute

Each map’s lineup is recorded with the result. Every player in a lineup must:

1. a)Be on the team’s season roster (or an approved reservist call-up)
2. b)Have an Onward name on their profile
3. c)Not be suspended

Each region plays in one table. Pairings are published every Monday at 18:00 region time.

Every week, teams are paired by team MMR:

• The highest-rated unpaired team plays the closest-rated team it hasn’t played yet
• There are no rematches in the regular season
• Exception: small regions where staff allow rematches (for example OCE)
• There, every team first plays all the others
• Only then do the longest-ago meetings repeat

The final week of the regular season is a table week, paired by the standings instead of MMR:

• From the top of the table down, each team plays the closest-placed team it hasn’t played yet
• So 1st plays 2nd if they haven’t met
• There are no rematches in the table week either
• It is paired once every earlier result is official

With an odd number of teams:

• The lowest-rated team that hasn’t had a bye gets one
• A bye doesn’t change MMR

How a time is agreed:

• Either captain proposes up to three start times inside the match week
• The other captain accepts one, rejects them, or proposes their own

If no time is agreed by Thursday 23:59 region time, the match is played at the default slot: Sunday 20:00 region time.

Changing an agreed time:

• Both captains must agree
• It must stay inside the match week, unless staff move the match to the buffer week
• Within the match week, a match can move to any time both captains agree on

Postponing, once per season:

• Each team may postpone one regular-season match to the following week
• Use the Postpone button on the match page before the match starts

Limits on postponing:

1. a)It can’t be used in the last week of the regular season
2. b)A match can’t be postponed twice
3. c)It can’t be undone

After a postponement:

• The other team and the league staff are notified
• The captains agree a new time in that week
• If they don’t, the default slot applies

Taking the team out of a week:

• A captain or co-captain does it on the My team page
• It can be done any time before that week is paired
• The team is then not paired that week

What it costs:

• The first week a team sits out in a season is free
• Every week sat out after that counts as a full loss in MMR, as if the team lost 0–2 to a team of its own rating

Sitting out the final week rules a team out of the playoffs (17.1).

Besides its league match, a team can challenge another team to a match at a set time.

• The challenged team accepts or declines
• Teams from any region can challenge each other
• You can challenge any team within 150 MMR of your own; if there is none, you can challenge the 2 closest teams above you and the 2 closest below
• Each team can send one challenge a week; a team with a bye that week gets one extra

A challenge match is played under the same rules as a league match (6). Its result moves both teams’ MMR, but it isn’t a league match: it doesn’t count towards Snake Cup qualification (17.1).

Matches are best of 3 maps: the first team to win 2 maps wins the match.

The grand final is best of 5.

Scoring:

• A round win is worth 1 point
• Capturing the objective is worth 2 points
• A map ends as soon as a team reaches 4 points, or 5 when it captures while on 3
• The losing team never has more than 3

The mode is Uplink with 6-minute rounds.

Season 1 map pool:

• Abandoned (day / night)
• Arctic (day / night)
• Bazaar (day / night)
• Cargo (day / night)
• Downfall (day / night)
• Egress (day / night)
• Quarantine (day / night)
• Shipyard (day / night)
• Snowpeak (day / night)
• Suburbia (day / night)
• Subway
• USS Quest (day / night)

Day and night count as one map:

• The team picking the map chooses day or night
• Once a map has been played, in either version, it can’t be picked again in the same match (Bazaar day and then Bazaar night isn’t allowed)

Bans are made on the match page:

• Bans open 30 minutes before the start and close 5 minutes before it
• The teams take turns banning up to 2 maps each, home team first (home, away, home, away)
• Each turn lasts up to 5 minutes
• A team that doesn’t ban in time loses that ban, and the turn passes to the other team
• Banning a map bans all its variants
• A team may skip a ban

Maps are then picked in the lobby:

• Maps are picked one at a time, so only the current map is known
• The home team picks the first map and the away team picks its starting side (MARSOC or VOLK)
• Or the home team may hand the map pick to the away team and take the side pick instead
• Map/side priority alternates after every map

Check-in opens 30 minutes before the start time. A team that hasn’t checked in 15 minutes after the start time can be reported as a no-show (see 15.3).

After the match:

• Each captain (or co-captain) reports their own team’s stats for every map: caps, kills, deaths and revives for every player
• Any reservist used must be named in the report (7.1)
• The map scores are reported on the match page, with an evidence link if available
• The other team confirms or disputes the result
• A confirmed result is official and updates the standings and team MMR

Missing or wrong stats can lead to a penalty (15). The stats set each player’s hidden MMR, which decides reservist eligibility (7.1).

When a league caster covers the match, the caster may enter both teams’ scores and stats and make the result official. Any league caster on the match’s broadcast desk can do this, not only the one who opened it, unless they play for either team.

If a result becomes official without a team’s stats (for example when nobody answers and it is confirmed after 24 hours), that team has 48 hours to add its own stats on the match page. After that it receives a warning (15.1).

MMR counts how close each map really was, from the score and the reported kills. A 4–3 map, or a 4–0 that was close in kills, moves MMR far less than a one-sided map.

Every team out of placement (3 matches) carries a division: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Diamond or Master.

• Divisions come from team MMR, inside each region
• The teams are split best first, in about these shares: Master 15%, Diamond 20%, Gold 30%, Silver 20%, Bronze 15%
• Divisions are a badge only: they don’t change pairings or the playoffs

To hack an enemy’s tablet:

• The enemy must be tased first; downing them isn’t enough
• A tased player can’t give up

Teams use their own substitutes first. Every player has a hidden MMR: everyone starts at 1500 and it moves with their reported stats (6.5).

A team can use a registered reservist when:

1. a)The team can’t field a full lineup
2. b)The team uses no other reservist in that match (at most one per match)
3. c)That reservist hasn’t already played for the team twice this season
4. d)The reservist is eligible for the team by MMR

• No staff approval is needed
• Check who is eligible on the My team page or with /eligible in Discord
• The reservist must be named in the result report (6.5)
• If an ineligible reservist plays, the other team can open a ticket (13.5), and every round that reservist played is lost (15.4)

Once the season has started in the team’s region, a player who leaves a team, or is removed from it:

• Can’t join any team for 14 days
• Can play as a reservist during those 14 days, but not for the team they left

This applies automatically, whether the player left or was removed. Leaving or being removed before the season starts (pre-season or registration) starts no cooldown.

Hosting:

• The team that picked the current map hosts the lobby, unless it hands hosting to the other team
• Servers are hosted in the league region of the match

Lobby checks and rehosting:

• Both teams check the lobby settings in the first round of each map
• If something is wrong, reset the round and rehost
• Rehosting without the other team’s consent is not allowed
• If the server fails mid-map, rehost and continue from the score at the moment of failure

Every player runs a ping monitor (the VRML ping monitor or VRML Ninjas, same as in VRML) for the whole match.

It must be visible in recordings:

• PCVR: shown on screen the whole time (overlay)
• Quest: shown at the start and the end of every map, and right after any laggy fight, so the lag spike is on record

Clips used as evidence (tickets, disputes, round overturns) without a visible ping monitor may not be accepted.

Timeouts:

• Each team has 2 timeouts of up to 10 minutes per match
• Timeouts are called between rounds
• At least one round must be played between them
• A team holding up a round for more than 2 minutes can be made to use a timeout

Round resets:

• A round may be reset for a technical problem by downing the whole team within 10 seconds of the round start
• On maps where the team has more than one spawn, each team has 2 resets per match
• On maps with one spawn there is no limit
• Every reset needs a real reason; abusing resets can cost the round or lead to a penalty

A player who crashes out of rounds 3 times in one match may be refused re-entry if the other team asks.

Deliberately using a bug or exploit to gain an advantage is not allowed. If you’re unsure whether something counts, ask staff before the match.

Not allowed:

1. a)Leaving the map boundaries
2. b)Clipping or hiding part of your body inside objects
3. c)Body glitches
4. d)Peeking through walls or floors
5. e)Player boosting (standing on a teammate)
6. f)Downing yourself on purpose
7. g)Kicking a teammate to gain an advantage
8. h)Muting your microphone or using push-to-talk to hide communication
9. i)Outside voice chat during play (except to report a bug)
10. j)VPNs or network manipulation
11. k)Reaching places by crawling in your real playspace or by recentering
12. l)Snap-turn or other speed exploits
13. m)Detonating C4 that is more than half inside an object
14. n)Using spectate or a live stream of your own match
15. o)Killing a teammate to stop the objective

Staff keep a list of banned map spots and equipment limits for the season and announce changes in #rulings.

Not allowed:

• The angled sight

Allowed:

• Digital goggles and every night-vision variant
• M203 smoke on every map
• M203 HE grenades only on the big maps: Abandoned, Downfall, Quarantine and Snowpeak

Drones are allowed only where listed:

• Both sides (MARSOC and VOLK): Arctic, Shipyard
• MARSOC drone only: Abandoned, Bazaar, Cargo, Quarantine, Subway
• No drones: Downfall, Egress, Snowpeak, Suburbia

The VOLK drone on Abandoned will be decided by a captains’ vote. Using a drone where it isn’t allowed breaks 10.1.

Staff announce any other equipment rulings in #rulings.

These lead to removal and a ban (see 15.1):

1. a)Cheating software
2. b)Account sharing
3. c)Playing on someone else’s account
4. d)Match fixing

Not allowed in matches, on the league Discord, or on the site:

1. a)Harassment
2. b)Hate speech
3. c)Threats
4. d)Deliberate disruption

This applies to players, substitutes and staff.

The first time a player is toxic in a season:

• The player gets a warning
• Their captain gets a warning

If it happens again in the same season:

• The player is suspended (staff set the length)
• The player is muted in the league Discord for that time
• The captain gets a captain strike

A team that disagrees with a reported result disputes it on the match page within 24 hours. The dispute must:

1. a)Say what is wrong
2. b)Link evidence (clips, screenshots, a referee report)

How a dispute is reviewed:

• The other team has 48 hours to respond
• The moderation board (staff and team Refs, 3.4) aims to rule within 72 hours of the dispute being opened
• The ruling is published with the rule it is based on
• Refs of the teams involved take no part

Only major decisions can be appealed:

1. a)Temporary suspensions
2. b)Season bans
3. c)Permanent bans

• All other decisions are final (warnings, captain strikes, map or match losses, MMR deductions, round overturns)
• An appeal is made once, within 14 days of the decision
• A staff member who wasn’t involved in the original ruling reviews it
• A ticket’s Discord channels stay readable for those 14 days (13.5), so the evidence and discussion can be checked

Asking for an overturn:

• Up to 72 hours after the start, a captain or co-captain can ask on the match page for a round to be overturned
• The request includes a clip and the map score as it should be

The vote:

• The Team Refs (3.4) of the teams not involved vote for 48 hours
• A majority of all those refs decides at once
• Otherwise, when the vote closes, the side with more votes wins
• A tie keeps the result
• If no Team Ref can vote, staff decide

An upheld overturn changes the map score, and the standings and MMR follow.

Any player on a team can open a ticket against another team, about a match, a rule, or both, on the Tickets page.

• The ticket is filed for the player’s team, and their captain is told
• It goes to the Team Refs (3.4) of every region (EU, OCE and NA share one Ref pool) and the league admins, in a private Discord channel where they discuss it
• The Refs of the two teams involved, and anyone playing for either team, never see it
• No team member is in that channel, not even the player who opened the ticket; the reported team doesn’t see the ticket at all

A ticket goes through four stages:

1. a)Evidence: the reporting team adds details and evidence on the ticket page, then presses “I’ve submitted everything”
2. b)Review: the refs go through it in the private channel; each ref presses “I reviewed it all”, and the vote opens once at least half of the eligible refs have (an admin can open it directly)
3. c)Vote: each eligible Team Ref votes for one action: no action, warning, rounds lost, map loss, match loss, MMR deduction, suspension or round overturn
4. d)Decision: a league admin closes the ticket with the outcome, which the reporting team sees on the site

If every league admin is on one of the two teams, a league owner may close the ticket as a last resort, only after the refs’ vote has opened; this is logged and said in the channel.

• Any penalty is issued and published under 15
• When the ticket closes, both channels are saved as a transcript (on the site, and by DM to the refs and admins); the channels stay readable but locked for 14 days, for appeals, and are then deleted

A ticket about a match opened more than 72 hours after the match started can’t lead to a round overturn (13.4). Other rulings are still possible.

Streaming and spectating:

• Teams may stream their own point of view with a delay of at least 6 minutes
• League casters may spectate and broadcast any match, and teams must let them in
• Anyone else spectating or casting needs both teams’ agreement in writing
• They must also stream publicly with a 6-minute delay
• Players may not use the chat of a live cast of their own match

Penalties, from lightest to heaviest:

• Warning (private)
• Captain strike (private: on the captain’s record)
• Rounds lost for an illegal player (15.4, public)
• Map or match loss (public on the match page)
• MMR deduction (public: 25 MMR for each point of a deduction)
• Temporary suspension (public: name, length and rule)
• Season ban or permanent ban (public: name, length and rule)

Evidence and private messages are never published.

A forfeit counts as a 2–0 win in maps for the other team, with no rounds counted.

• In MMR it counts as the heaviest possible loss: both maps 4–0
• An unexcused forfeit costs the forfeiting team another 25 MMR
• A forfeit with at least 24 hours’ notice is excused: no extra 25 MMR
• So forfeiting always costs at least as much as playing and losing

A team that doesn’t check in within 15 minutes of the start time forfeits the match. Two unexcused forfeits in a season lead to a staff review and possible removal.

A team that fields a player who isn’t allowed to play loses every round that player took part in. Those rounds go to the other team.

A player isn’t allowed to play if they are:

1. a)Not on the team’s season roster
2. b)Suspended
3. c)A reservist who wasn’t eligible (7.1)

Afterwards:

• Staff check the recordings and correct the map scores
• Standings and MMR follow the corrected result
• The penalty is published

While a suspension or ban lasts:

• The player gets the Suspended role
• The player is muted (timed out) in the league Discord
• Discord limits a timeout to 28 days, so staff renew it for longer suspensions

Joining a season roster:

• Until the season starts, a team’s season roster follows its team roster
• After that, new players can join a season roster only while the transfer window is open
• Staff set the window’s dates, and they appear on the calendar
• Outside the window, a team that is short uses reservists (7.1)

Also:

• Leaving a team is possible at any time
• A roster never holds more than 8 players

A player’s past matches always stay with the team they played for at the time.

The playoffs are the Snake Cup, a knockout for every qualifying team in the region:

• Teams are seeded by their final league position (1 = top of the table)
• Every match is single elimination: win it to go through
• The bracket has 16 places; when fewer teams qualify, the top seeds get a bye in round 1 (12 teams: seeds 1–4)
• It takes 4 weeks: round 1, round 2, semi-finals, then the final weekend
• The higher seed chooses side or bans first
• With more than 16 teams, staff add a play-in round before round 1
• The cup can carry a sponsor’s name (for example “[Sponsor] Snake Cup”)

To qualify, a team must have:

1. a)Played at least 6 regular-season matches
2. b)Played at least one of them in the final week

• A win by forfeit counts as played
• A forfeit loss or a week sat out doesn’t count
• A team that falls short is skipped; the next team by MMR takes its place

After qualification, only staff-approved emergency substitutes can be added. Playoff matches have a referee and a fixed time published a week in advance.

The Snake Cup ends with a final weekend:

• Day 1: the regional finals (EU, OCE and NA)
• Day 2: the regional champions play a round robin (everyone plays everyone once), and the top two meet in the international final
• Round-robin ranking: most wins, then map difference, then round difference

Finals are best of 5. Staff announce the dates on the calendar and say before each match whether it is broadcast.

The table is ranked by team MMR.

• MMR moves after every official result, and how close each map was counts (6.5)
• Forfeits, sat-out weeks and MMR deductions move it too (15.1, 15.2, 5.4)
• A bye doesn’t change MMR
• Teams in placement (fewer than 3 matches) are listed below the ranked teams until their MMR shows

Teams on exactly the same MMR are separated, in order, by:

• Map difference
• Round-point difference

A tie that survives both is settled by:

• A tie-break match, if it decides a playoff place
• Otherwise, a staff draw