General Rules

• Register on the website with nine to fourteen players, including at least two captains. Teams may have one primary and up to two secondary captains.
• Out-of-region players are unrestricted. Rosters lock when registration closes.
• Invite teams may add up to two players during the transfer window after qualifiers, through website transfers with administrator approval.

• Use the league's map pool and whitelist. The server provider must load the appropriate AsiaFortress Highlander configuration.
• Stopwatch: BO1 in qualifiers; BO3 in the regular season and playoffs.
• KOTH: first to three rounds.
• Pause to remove prohibited items promptly. This does not use the normal pause allowance.

Qualifiers

Eight rounds across two weekends, two games per day. Rating-based pairings and fixed times; no rescheduling. The highest-rated six teams enter Invite; the rest enter Open. The home team chooses its starting colour.

Regular season

Six rounds, with two scheduled maps per round. Teams play within their division. The home team chooses map order and its starting colour on the first map; the away team chooses its colour on the second. Swap colours each stopwatch round.

Playoffs and ratings

• The highest-rated four teams in each division advance to double-elimination playoffs.
• All playoff series, including the grand final, are BO3, with no bracket reset.
• Main-season standings reset; ratings carry over. Earlier results remain in the stage tabs.
• Ratings use confirmed results with verified logs. Byes, forfeits, and tied series do not count.

• Use the match thread on the website for scheduling, server details, map choices, mercenary approvals, and disputes. Reply within 24 hours.
• Regular-season time changes require mutual agreement within the published weekly window. Playoff matches may move earlier, but not later, than their scheduled date.
• The home team picks the first playoff map at least 24 hours before the match. The previous map's loser chooses the next map from the pool.

Attendance

• At least eight players are required to ready up.
• The initial grace period is 15 minutes. Once one team is ready, the opponent has five minutes to ready, subject to that grace period. A team not ready 20 minutes after the scheduled start forfeits.
• Breaks are ten minutes between halves and 15 minutes between maps, unless both teams agree to extend them. Attendance rules apply when the break ends.

Pauses

• Any player may pause. Each team has two pauses per map, up to five minutes each. Repauses for reconnecting players do not count.
• Explain pauses immediately in all-chat. Do not spam chat.
• The pausing team announces readiness; the opponent must unpause within one minute. For disputes, request administrator review in the website's match thread. Do not force an unpause or restart.

Compare Singapore, Hong Kong, and Korea using:

abs(average team 1 ping - average team 2 ping)

Use the server's dedicated ping-test command when available.

Other locations require administrator approval. Servers must support the current AsiaFortress Highlander configuration.

A mercenary is a player outside the registered roster. Identify both the mercenary and replaced player in the website's match thread. Mercenaries must be eligible and not league-banned; the requesting team is responsible for violations, including cheating and alternate accounts. Abuse may lead to withdrawn privileges or overturned results.

• No mercenaries in qualifiers.
• Free mercenaries are not allowed.
• In other stages, opponent approval is required. After up to three proposals, either team may ask an administrator to intervene. Administrators may review unreasonable requests or refusals.

• The winning captain submits scores and logs through the match page's results form.
• Include logs.tf links for every played map and every half. Combined logs may cover multiple halves.
• The opponent uses Confirm Score or Challenge Score on the match page. Request administrator review in the match thread if needed.
• Record POV demos and provide them for administrator checks when requested.
• For disputes during play, pause and request administrator review in the website's match thread. Dispute pauses do not use the normal allowance. Do not force an unpause or restart.

• Teams may forfeit up to twice across qualifiers and the regular season. A playoff forfeit or more than two forfeits overall means disqualification without medals.
• Medal recipients must remain rostered at season end, complete the competition, and follow the rules.
• Invite and Open award first-, second-, and third-place medals, plus participant medals for eligible finishers.