StarCraft II Rules
A real-time strategy game — build a base, an economy and an army, then defeat the opponent's.
Best-of-3 or best-of-5 matches, 1v1, is the standard competitive format.
- •Match win = 3 league points, loss = 0
- •League table ranks by total points across the season
- •Tiebreaker: head-to-head result, then total match wins
- •Agree the map pool before the season — competitive maps are usually rotated in a set
- •Win by destroying every one of the opponent's buildings, or by resignation/GG
- •Agree race restrictions, if any (some leagues require players to stick to one race for the season)
Map pools and matchups
A StarCraft league runs on a fixed map pool, usually five to nine maps, with a veto process per series. Maps affect matchups substantially, and letting players veto one or two keeps a season from being decided by a single unfavourable layout.
Race matters too. A player who plays one race throughout is easier to seed than one who switches, and most leagues ask players to declare a main race for the season, with random players declared as such.
Handling large skill gaps
Few games expose a skill gap as brutally as StarCraft: a mismatch is over in six minutes and neither player gains much. Divisions based on ladder rank, with promotion and relegation between seasons, are close to essential.
Within a division, best-of-three or best-of-five series give the better player time to show it while still letting an upset happen. Single games produce noisy tables and a lot of very short evenings.
Common questions
How long is a match?
A single game runs anywhere from five to twenty-five minutes depending on matchup and style. A best-of-five series typically fits in an hour, which makes StarCraft one of the easier esports to schedule.
How should a league handle race selection?
Ask players to declare a main race at registration. It makes seeding meaningful and matchup statistics readable, which is much of what makes a StarCraft league interesting to follow across a season.
Brood War or StarCraft II?
Pick one. They are different games with different mechanics and separate communities, and a league mixing results from both is not measuring one skill. Both still have active competitive scenes.
How do you keep replays?
Require both players to save and submit replays for every league game. They settle disputes, they let players review, and they are the raw material for any analysis a league wants to publish.
Track a games & others league online
Live standings, scores & head-to-head records
Games & Others rules
Format, scoring & key rules reference
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