League Rules

North American League TagPro (NALTP). This page is the single source of truth for league policies.

Official Rules for North American League TagPro (NALTP) Season 40

Article I - League Overview

Section A - Resources

(1) NALTP signups and announcements will be facilitated via mltp.gg, the NALTP Competitive Discord and TagPro subreddit.
- (a) League Site - mltp.gg
  - (i) Sign up here
- (b) Competitive Discord
- (c) Subreddits
  - (i) MLTP
  - (ii) TagPro

Section B - Leagues

(1) NALTP will be comprised of three leagues, each with its own schedule, rule variations and set of teams.
- (a) Major League TagPro (MLTP)
- (b) Minor League TagPro (mLTP)
- (c) Novice League Tagpro (NLTP)
(2) No team will have a recognized affiliation with any other team in any league.

Section C - Teams

(1) Each team will have a single official captain and up to one single official co-captain.
- (a) Each team may have any number of unofficial co-captains.
(2) The roster limit for teams in each league will be;
- (a) Majors and Minors: 4 player limit.
- (b) Novice: Unlimited roster size.

Section D - Schedule

(1) Each league will begin its season with a draft, in which players are assigned to teams.
(2) Each league will have weekly matches for the duration of its season.
- (a) Any exceptions such as holiday breaks will be listed in the league schedule.
(3) The default game days for each league will be:
- (a) Majors on Sunday;
- (b) Minors on Monday;
- (c) Novice on Wednesday;
(4) League draft dates will be staggered with championships all occurring in the same week by default.

Section E - Servers

(1) All three leagues will be “all-Chicago” leagues.

Section F - Games

(1) Regular season:

Home

(1) CRC Structure Overview:
- (a) The CRC will consist of 5 members with equal voting power and rights.
- (b) At the conclusion of every season, the existing members of the CRC will be retired and eligible for re-election.
(2) Elections:
- (a) At the conclusion of the season, elections will be held to fill the five vacancies on the CRC.
- (b) The election will be conducted by the League Managers.
- (c) The LM will call for election applications and allow reasonable time for people to submit them.
  - (i) Applicants will be made public to allow reasonable time for interpretation prior to the election.
  - (ii) The same list of applicants will be used for all seats.
- (d) The first two seats will be filled by a combined vote of the previous season’s Captains from all three tiers.
  - (i) The election will be a linear scoring borda count, n=1 (last place is 1 point, 2nd to last is 2, etc.) with full ranked ballots (must rank all candidates).
  - (ii) The candidates with the two highest Borda Counts will fill the seats.
  - (iii) Captains with a team in more than one league will still receive a single vote towards the final results.
- (e) The remaining seats will be filled by a vote of the NALTP Community.
  - (i) The NALTP Community is defined as:
    - (1) Players, Non-Playing Captains and General Managers from the previous season of NALTP and
    - (2) Players signed up for the current season’s draft at the time of ballot posting whose last season of play was within the last 5 seasons of NALTP.
  - (ii) The Vote will use a Single Transferable Vote (STV) with partial ranked ballots (voters rank as many candidates as they would like). The counting method will be the Weighted Inclusive Gregory Method.
  - (iii) The winners of the IRV will fill the third, fourth, and fifth seats.
(3) Vacancies:
- (a) In the event of an unexpected vacancy on the CRC midseason (due to a retirement, VONC, or other issue), the remaining CRC members will appoint a replacement for the remainder of the season.
  - (i) At the conclusion of the season, the appointed member is retired, and that seat becomes one of the open seats in the election.
  - (ii) The appointed member does not have any term restrictions and can run for election to the CRC immediately.
(4) Members:
- (a) The Season 40 CRC will consist of FLY, mex, Bam, Spheroid., and fender.

(1) Captaincy and Co-Captaincy structure overview:
- (a) For each team in NALTP there will be a Captain or General Manager (GM).
- (b) The number of captains or GMs will be decided by the CRC prior to the draft of each individual league.
- (c) Captaincy types:
  - (i) Direct Playing Captain (DPC): DPCs are playing members of their rosters. DPCs start on their own roster during the auction draft, and receive TagCoins relative to their perceived skill.
  - (ii) Non-Playing Captain (NPC): NPCs are not playing members of their rosters. Prior to the draft, NPCs will select another player from the draft board who agrees to be their preliminary pick. Preliminary picks start on their captain's roster during the auction draft, and the captain will receive TagCoins relative to the perceived skill of their preliminary pick.
  - (iii) Indirect Playing Captain (IPC): IPCs are captains that wish to be a DPC but are determined by the CRC to be too skilled to skip the draft of the league above their captaincy signup. If an IPC is drafted to a league above their captaincy signup they may elect to become a NPC or forfeit their captaincy role. If an IPC is not drafted to a league above their captaincy signup then they will be accepted as a DPC.
  - (iv) General Manager (GM): GMs are not playing members of their roster. GMs do not receive preliminary picks and each GM receives the same number of TagCoins for the draft.
- (d) Each team in NALTP will be required to have a single official Co-Captain or Co-GM (CCGM). The official CCGM may be changed at any point during the season with the notification of the CRC.
  - (i) Each Captain or GM will be responsible to name their CCGM at least 48 hours prior to the first games.
  - (ii) A CCGM may be named prior to the draft if they are a not signed up to play.
  - (iii) Teams may have as many unofficial CCGMs as desired. However, they will not have official decision making power.
- (e) CCGMs are responsible for assisting the captain in team management, scrimmages, and anything else requested of them by the captain. CCGMs may be responsible for filling out forms on behalf of their captain with fair warning from the CRC.
(2) Captain duties:
- (a) Captains are responsible for the following:
  - (i) Drafting their team,
  - (ii) Managing the team roster,
  - (iii) Declaring a default time for their team,
  - (iv) Representing their team to the CRC,
  - (v) Locating/creating team graphics,
  - (vi) Organizing scrimmages,
  - (vii) Electing two members of the CRC for the following season and
  - (viii) Anything else required or requested of them by both the CRC and their team
(3) Eligibility and restrictions:
- (a) Any player not banned from NALTP or TagPro is eligible to apply for captaincy or CCGM unless otherwise announced by the CRC.
- (b) Applicants for Minors captaincy who are drafted in, and at potential risk of being dropped from, Majors must apply for DEP status or submit a player with DEP status as their prelim else they accept exclusion from Minors upon being dropped.
- (c) CRC members may not serve as captain or CCGM in any circumstances.
- (d) Official CCGMs are not permitted to be members of any team in their league other than the one they are CCGMing. If a CCGM should end up on any other league roster than the one they are CCGMing, they will be removed from their position as official CCGM.
- (e) Official CCGMs may not be decided or announced prior to the draft if there is a possibility of them playing in the same league as their affiliated team as determined by the CRC.
(4) Selection, voting, and announcements:
- (a) Captains and GMs will be approved by a majority vote from the CRC.
- (b) CCGMs do not require CRC approval as long as they are not banned or otherwise ineligible by rule.
  - (i) The CRC reserves the right to deny a CCGM appointment at their discretion.
(5) Terms:
- (a) All forms of captaincy are for a single season only.
(6) Mid-season vacancy.
- (a) If a captain or GM must step down from their position, or is removed by CRC ruling, a replacement will be determined by the CRC.
- (b) Playing captains who step down or are removed from their position may not be traded.

(1) Signup eligibility:
- (a) Players who have signed up for the Major league draft and are not on a Major league roster at the end of the draft will be eligible, and automatically entered into, the Minor league draft. Similarly, players who have signed up for the Minor league draft and are not on a Minor league roster at the end of the draft will be eligible, and automatically entered into, the Novice league draft.
  - (i) Players indicating that they are unavailable to play on a league's default game day (Majors - Sunday, Minors - Monday) will be allowed to bypass a respective draft on a case by case basis as determined by the CRC.
  - (ii) The Talent Evaluation Committee (TEC) will assist the CRC in making these determinations, but the final decision will be by CRC vote.
- (b) Players with fewer than 110 minutes of competitive experience ("Rookies") will be eligible to sign up for the Novice league draft even if they did not enter the Majors or Minors league drafts. Any other signups will be sparingly approved on a case by case basis.
  - (i) Rookie signups may be removed on a case by case basis by the CRC, with assistance from the TEC.
- (c) Players removed from a league draft by the CRC are not eligible to enter the following lower-league drafts.
- (d) Signups indicating zero availability on all game nights will be contacted by the CRC and removed if a conclusion cannot be reached.
- (e) Players determined to be manipulating their value prior to the draft may be removed from the draft and/or subject to punishment in NALTP. See Article IX, Section D for more information on draft stock manipulation.
- (f) Players who are banned from joining the Competitive TagPro Discord Server will not be eligible to sign up for NALTP.
- (g) All other eligibility and restriction cases will be dealt with on a case-by-case measure through the CRC.
(2) Dual Eligibile Players (DEPs):
- (a) Players drafted to Majors or Minors may apply for DEP status during a DEP application window as determined and publicly announced by the CRC.
  - (i) DEP status will be granted by a CRC majority vote.
  - (ii) A player with DEP status is eligible for, and will be automatically enrolled in, the draft of the following tier.
- (b) For information on mid-season DEPs please see Article IV, Section E.
(3) Gross Inactivity and misconduct drops:
- (a) Players dropped in their previous season for Gross Inactivity or misconduct may be barred from NALTP at CRC discretion.
(4) Free agency eligibility and restrictions:
- (a) See Article IV, Section B for eligibility and restrictions.
(5) All players are limited to one (1) name for the season, which they are required to play under in all tiers.
- (a) Players are not allowed to impersonate or play under another player's exact name (including a historical name from past seasons), whether or not they own the reserved name.
(6) All players must disclose their TagPro ranked account name, if it differs from their signup name, to the CRC for ranked ELO display purposes. Ranked account names will not be disclosed to the public. Players who refuse will be removed from the draft.

(1) TagCoins (TC):
- (a) There will be three forms of TagCoins, TCM, TCN, and TCA.
  - (i) TCM = Major league TagCoin.
  - (ii) TCN = Minor league TagCoin.
  - (iii) TCA = Novice league TagCoin.
- (b) Each team will receive a budget of TC determined by the CRC on the following criteria.
  - (i) Leagues with GMs and no playing captains or prelim picks:
    - (1) Each team will receive an equal number of TC no less than 50 and no greater than 200.
  - (ii) Leagues with playing captains and/or prelim picks:
    - (1) Each team will receive a budget of TC determined by the CRC on a case-by-case basis.
      - (aa) Potential budgets will be separated into tiers that each team can be assigned to.
      - (bb) The tier a team is placed into will be determined by the strength of the first player on the roster (i.e. DPC or prelim pick).
      - (cc) Each tier may have any number of teams assigned to it including zero teams.
- (c) Trades, including those involving TC, are allowed during each draft.
  - (i) Trades may not be completed that will put a team over their starting budget when considering their roster and remaining TC.
- (d) TCM, TCN, and TCA are distinct and may not be exchanged for each other.
- (e) Remaining TCM, TCN, and TCA are kept by the team for use in add/drop and free agency periods at the conclusion of each draft, while the value of the coins assigned to players drafted at snauction is also kept.
- (f) TC penalties may be applied by the CRC and/or League Manager at their discretion for captains misbehaving, misusing draft tools, or otherwise impeding the flow of the draft.
- (g) TC may not be spent to remove a player from a roster and replace them on the draft board.
(2) Nominations:
- (a) Captains will be responsible for submitting nominations for their team unless otherwise communicated with the CRC. The CRC reserves the right to decline any non-captain from submitting nominations at their discretion, but will work with captains if they have difficulty finding a replacement.
- (b) Nomination order:
  - (i) For leagues with only GMs, the order will be randomly assigned and snake in reverse order upon completion of each round.
  - (ii) For leagues with non-equal TC budgets, the order will be determined by the TC budget of each team, where the team with the least amount of TC will go first and will snake in reverse order upon completion of each round. Teams with a tied budget will have the order randomly assigned.
- (c) Nomination spots may not be traded.
- (d) Nominations will continue until each team has exactly 4 players.
  - (i) Novice league will transition to a snake draft once each roster contains 4 players.
- (e) If a team already has the maximum number of players and they are at the top of the nomination order, their nomination will instead be skipped and continue to the next eligible team.
- (f) Nominations have a starting bid. The starting bid is chosen by the nominating team and may be anywhere between 0 TC and that team’s remaining TagCoins.
  - (i) Players who are nominated for 0 TC and do not receive bids from any other team will be added back to the draft packet unless the nominating team opts to receive the player for 0 TC.
- (g) If a team takes more than 30 seconds to nominate a player, a player may be automatically nominated for them at a starting bid of 0 TC. The player will be the top undrafted player on the draft board.

(1) TagCoins (TC):
- (a) There will be three forms of TagCoins, TCM, TCN, and TCA.
  - (i) TCM = Major league TagCoin.
  - (ii) TCN = Minor league TagCoin.
  - (iii) TCA = Novice league TagCoin.
- (b) Each team will receive a budget of TC determined by the CRC on the following criteria.
  - (i) Leagues with GMs and no playing captains or prelim picks:
    - (1) Each team will receive an equal number of TC no less than 50 and no greater than 200.
  - (ii) Leagues with playing captains and/or prelim picks:
    - (1) Each team will receive a budget of TC determined by the CRC on a case-by-case basis.
      - (aa) Potential budgets will be separated into tiers that each team can be assigned to.
      - (bb) The tier a team is placed into will be determined by the strength of the first player on the roster (i.e. DPC or prelim pick).
      - (cc) Each tier may have any number of teams assigned to it including zero teams.
- (c) Trades, including those involving TC, are allowed during each draft.
  - (i) Trades may not be completed that will put a team over their starting budget when considering their roster and remaining TC.
- (d) TCM, TCN, and TCA are distinct and may not be exchanged for each other.
- (e) Remaining TCM, TCN, and TCA are kept by the team for use in add/drop and free agency periods at the conclusion of each draft, while the value of the coins assigned to players drafted at snauction is also kept.
- (f) TC penalties may be applied by the CRC and/or League Manager at their discretion for captains misbehaving, misusing draft tools, or otherwise impeding the flow of the draft.
- (g) TC may not be spent to remove a player from a roster and replace them on the draft board.
(2) The Snauction:
- (a) All leagues will conduct their draft as a snauction, with teams bidding on draft picks.
  - (i) The team that wins a pick will select any eligible player from the draft packet to add to their roster, at which point bidding will begin on the next pick.
- (b) Captains will be responsible for submitting bids and selections for their team unless otherwise communicated with the CRC. The CRC reserves the right to decline any non-captain from submitting bids or selections at their discretion, but will work with captains if they have difficulty finding a replacement.
- (c) Bidding:
  - (i) Bidding on a pick will open at 0 TC and any eligible team may raise the current bid at any time.
  - (ii) A pick will be awarded to the team with the highest bid once the bidding timer expires without a new bid being submitted.
  - (iii) Bids must be submitted in whole numbers of TC and may not exceed a team’s remaining TagCoins.
  - (iv) A team whose roster is full is no longer eligible to bid.
  - (v) If no bid is submitted on a pick before the timer expires, the pick will be awarded to the eligible team with the fewest players on their roster. Ties will be broken by a random generator.
- (d) Selection:
  - (i) Teams will have 30 seconds to submit a selection. Failure to select a player before the timer expires will result in the top player on the draft packet being added to their roster.
  - (ii) TC equal to the winning bid will be deducted from the team's total upon selection.
- (e) The snauction will continue until each team has exactly 4 players.
  - (i) Novice league will transition to a snake draft once each roster contains 4 players.
(3) The Co-Captain Round:
- (a) The Major league draft will include a co-captain round, held one or more days in advance of the remainder of the draft as announced by the CRC.
- (b) The co-captain round will follow the snauction procedure and will conclude once each team has exactly 1 player.
- (c) Trades, including those involving TC, are permitted between the conclusion of the co-captain round and the start of the remainder of the draft.

(1) The snake draft will follow the same format for both traditional captaincy and General Manager seasons in Novice league.
- (a) The snake draft will begin shortly after the conclusion of the Novice league snauction unless otherwise announced by the League Manager or CRC. Usually after a 10-15 minute break.
- (b) The snake draft order will be determined by the number of remaining TCA of each team, prorated by their initial balance.
  - (i) Ties will be resolved using a random generator.
  - (ii) Proration example:
    - (1) Captain A begins with 100 TCA and ends with 6 TCA, or 6 pro-rated TCA (100/100*6);
    - (2) Captain B begins with 100 TCA and ends with 0 TCA, or 0 pro-rated TCB;
    - (3) Captain C begins with 80 TCA and ends with 6 TCA, or 7.5 pro-rated TCB (100/80*6); and
    - (4) Captain D begins with 80 TCA and ends with 0 TCA, or 0 pro-rated TCB.
    - (5) The draft order would be: C, A, B/D (coinflip).
- (c) The team with the most prorated TCA will receive the first pick in round 1.
- (d) Teams will have 60 seconds to submit a snake pick. Failure to select a player will result in the top player from the draft packet being added to their roster.
  - (i) Captains may choose to opt-out of participation in the snake draft. Those who do will receive the top player from the draft packet when it is their turn to pick.
- (e) At the conclusion or each round the draft order is reversed. The last pick in round 1 will have the first pick in round 2 while the first pick in round 1 will have the last pick in round 2.
  - (i) In the event of 3+ snake rounds, the final round will always follow the order of the first round, regardless of the previous round's order.
- (f) The snake draft will continue until every eligible signup has been drafted to a team.
- (g) The final snake round will introduce an option to pass on selecting a player, where teams will be allowed to skip their selection until there are mathematically enough picks left to finish the draft.
  - (i) Example: There are 8 teams and the final round has 5 players remaining. At maximum, 3 teams may pass on selecting a player.

(1) Major league:
- (a) Add/drop periods:
  - (i) Regular season:
    - (1) There will be two add/drop periods during the regular season.
      - (aa) The first Majors add/drop period will begin at the conclusion of the draft and conclude 24 hours before the start of the Minors draft or the midnight before week 1 game days, whichever comes first.
      - (bb) The second Majors add/drop period will begin at the conclusion of week 3 games. This period will last approximately 48 hours and the CRC will announce when bidding opens and when bidding closes.
  - (ii) Postseason:
    - (1) There will be no add/drop periods in the postseason.
- (b) Add/drop process:
  - (i) An add/drop will consist of a player on a roster being dropped, followed by a player in a lower league or an unassigned player being called up.
    - (1) Upon being called up, a player receives official DEP status equal to that awarded in preseason.
    - (2) Add/drops may be denied by the CRC due to availability restrictions or by the individual players receiving call-ups.
  - (ii) First add/drop period:
    - (1) Add/drops will be processed by bid amount, as described below in (iii).
      - (aa) Add/drop requests are made through the league site, mltp.gg.
    - (2) The CRC will deny callups on the basis of availability restrictions, intentionally poor call-ups or anything else deemed relevant by the CRC.
      - (aa) Intentionally poor call-ups will be determined case by case and will require a unanimous vote from the CRC.
    - (3) Players may not deny a call-up during the first add/drop period.
  - (iii) Second add/drop period:
    - (1) Majors captains may claim any eligible player.
    - (2) Claims will be made in the form of bids and will be processed in stages.
      - (aa) A bid will be defined as a rostered player who was obtained at auction and any number of TCM.
      - (bb) Starting TCM are equal to the number of TCM remaining at the conclusion of the snauction draft.
      - (cc) Bidding Process:
        
        (I) The value of a bid will be equal to the TCM value of the rostered player being bid added to the value of TCM included in the bid.
        
        (II) All teams will have the opportunity to make a bid on any eligible players in each stage of the the add/drop period. When a stage is complete, the players will be awarded to the team with the highest value bid.
        
        (III) If a team submits multiple bids in one stage, those bids will be processed in descending order of value. If there are multiple bids of the same value on different players, those bids will be processed in order of submission. If multiple bids on a single player are received from a single team, only the most recent submission will be considered.
        
        (IV) If multiple teams have bids of equal value for a single player, the team lower in the standings will obtain the desired player, with tiebreaks being applied as necessary.
        
        (V) If multiple teams have bids of equal value for a single player, but also have played an uneven amount of games, the tiebreaker will be based on the percent of standings points acquired in the games that they have played so far.
        
        (VI) If a player should be awarded to a team, TCM will be deducted from the team's total TCM equal to the number of TCM included in their bid and independent of the value of the rostered player used in the bid. The rostered player used in the bid will be eligible for the next stage of the add/drop period.
        
        (VII) Bids will automatically be reduced to never exceed available TCM. In the event of the same rostered player being used in multiple bids, additional bids will be thrown out upon winning a bid using that player.
        
        (VIII) A bid with a value of zero TCM on a specific player is valid, so long as it is still accompanied by a player drafted at auction. TCM must be used in whole numbers.
- (c) Add/drop player eligibility:
  - (i) First add/drop period:
    - (1) Add/drop pool:
      - (aa) Any player who passed through the Majors draft unclaimed will be considered eligible.
    - (2) Dropped players:
      - (aa) Any dropped player will be eligible for the Minors draft unless called up by another team during the remainder of the first add/drop period.
    - (3) Called up players:
      - (aa) Any called up player will be removed from the Minors draft unless dropped during the remainder of the first add/drop period or awarded DEP status.
  - (ii) Second add/drop period:
    - (1) Add/drop pool:
      - (aa) All rostered players in the leagues below who passed through the Majors draft will be considered eligible.
      - (bb) Any player who passed through the Majors draft unclaimed but declined to play in Minors will be considered eligible after confirmation of interest.
    - (2) Dropped players:
      - (aa) Any dropped player will be eligible to be called up to Majors by a team other than the one dropping them for the remainder of the open add/drop period.
      - (bb) Dropped players who are not called up will be entered into the Minors add/drop pool after confirmation of interest so long as they do not possess DEP status.
        
        (I) Players who decline to drop will remain eligible for loans, but not call-ups, for the remainder of the season.
      - (cc) Players dropped from Majors during the second add/drop period will not be eligible for Novice free agency if they have played any minutes in Majors that season.
    - (3) Called up players:
      - (aa) Called up players may decline a call-up. In doing so they automatically decline any future call-ups or loans for the remainder of the season.
        
        (I) A declined callup is only official if the callup is officially submitted to the CRC and the player declines it.
        
        (II) If a player believes they were called up maliciously for any reason, they may appeal to the CRC to regain call-up and loan eligibility.
- (d) Free agency periods:
  - (i) There will be no free agency periods in the Major league.
(2) Minor league:
- (a) Add/drop periods:
  - (i) Regular season:
    - (1) There will be two add/drop periods during the regular season.
      - (aa) The first Minors add/drop period will begin at the conclusion of the draft and conclude 24 hours before the start of the Novice draft or the midnight before week 1 game days, whichever comes first.
      - (bb) The second add/drop period will begin at the conclusion of the corresponding Majors add/drop period or end of week 3 games, whichever happens later. This period will last approximately 48 hours and the CRC will announce when bidding opens and when bidding closes.
  - (ii) Postseason:
    - (1) There will be no add/drop periods in the postseason.
- (b) Add/drop process:
  - (i) An add/drop will consist of a player on a roster being dropped, followed by a player in a lower league or an unassigned player being called up.
    - (1) Upon being called up, a player receives official DEP status equal to that awarded in preseason.
    - (2) Add/drops may be denied by the CRC due to availability restrictions or by the individual players receiving call-ups.
  - (ii) First add/drop period:
    - (1) Add/drops will be processed by bid amount, as described below in (iii).
      - (aa) Add/drop requests are made through the league site, mltp.gg.
    - (2) The CRC will deny callups on the basis of availability restrictions, intentionally poor call-ups or anything else deemed relevant by the CRC.
      - (aa) Intentionally poor call-ups will be determined case by case and will require a unanimous vote from the CRC.
    - (3) Players may not deny a call-up during the first add/drop period.
  - (iii) Second add/drop period:
    - (1) The second add/drop period will be completed in two phases.
      - (aa) Phase 1
        
        (I) Minors captains with a rostered player possessing Majors to Minors DEP status may claim a player from the pool of eligible Majors drops and replace a player on their roster with DEP status with the Majors drop.
        
        (II) The Majors drop will be awarded to the team with the highest bid, calculated by the value of the DEP being released added with any additional TCN from their budget they choose to spend.
        
        (III) Any player with DEP status who is removed from a roster during phase 1 is ineligible for phase 2 of the add/drop process.
      - (bb) Phase 2
        
        (I) Minors captains may claim any eligible player.
        
        (II) Claims will be made in the form of bids and will be processed in stages.
(3) Novice league:
- (a) Add/drop periods:
  - (i) There will be no add/drop periods in the Novice league.
- (b) Player drop period:
  - (i) At the conclusion of the third week of games, captains will select between zero and one players from their roster as decided by the CRC. Selected players will be removed from their roster at that time and entered into the free agency process.
  - (ii) Any removed players deemed inactive by the CRC will be removed from the free agency process. The CRC may require select captains to remove an additional player from their roster in the event of an inactive player being selected.
- (c) Free agency period:
  - (i) Regular season:
    - (1) There will be a single, primary, free agency period completed live followed by additional asynchronous free agency periods as announced by the CRC.
    - (2) The primary free agency period will begin following the second Minor league add/drop period, or third week of NLTP games, whichever happens later, and be completed in three stages.
      - (aa) The first stage of the primary free agency period will consist of eligible minors drops being bid on.
      - (bb) The second stage of the primary free agency period will consist of players used for bidding being bid on and repeat as needed.
      - (cc) The third stage of the primary free agency period will consist of all remaining free agents being drafted through a second snake draft.
    - (3) Any additional free agency periods will consist of all free agents being drafted through a snake draft, or assigned directly to a roster as decided by the CRC.
  - (ii) Postseason:
    - (1) There will be no free agency periods in the postseason.
- (d) Free agency process
  - (i) Each stage of free agency will consist of teams bidding on eligible free agents.
    - (1) A bid will be defined as a rostered player who was obtained at auction and any number of TCA.
    - (2) Starting TCA are equal to the number of TCA remaining at the conclusion of the snauction draft.
  - (ii) The value of a bid will be equal to the TCA value of the rostered player being bid added to the value of TCA included in the bid.
  - (iii) All teams will have the opportunity to make a bid on any eligible free agent in each stage of free agency. When the stage is complete, the player will be awarded to the team with the highest value bid.
  - (iv) If a team submits multiple bids in one stage, those bids will be processed in descending order of value. If there are multiple bids of the same value on different free agents, those bids will be processed in order of submission. If multiple bids on a single free agent are received from a single team, only the most recent submission will be considered.
(4) Extra-league drops:
- (a) Gross Inactivity (GI):
  - (i) At any point in the regular season, captains may appeal to the CRC to have a player removed from their roster for Gross Inactivity.
    - (1) Gross inactivity is to be determined on a case by case basis by the CRC.
    - (2) Players drafted in the snake draft will not be eligible to be GI dropped.
    - (3) All GI drops and any compensation will be announced together shortly before the add/drop or free agency period of each league.
  - (ii) Following a GI drop request, the player in question will be messaged by the CRC in order to verify the situation and gather any additional information.
  - (iii) After conferring with both the captain and the player to be dropped, the CRC will determine whether the player is to be dropped, held, or forcibly traded.
  - (iv) A player dropped for gross inactivity will be ineligible to be added by any team in any league for the remainder of the season.
    - (1) Exceptions may be made for the team which originally dropped the player if it is determined that there was a miscommunication or otherwise failure by the CRC to properly process the GI drop request.
    - (2) Minutes missed while GI dropped do not count towards minute restrictions.
  - (v) Teams with an approved GI drop may be granted priority in free agency or add/drop periods or receive additional opportunities for call-ups or replacement players not rostered in any league as determined by the CRC.
- (b) Conduct:
  - (i) At any point, captains or players may appeal to the CRC to have a player removed from their roster for conduct violations.
  - (ii) Evidence must be submitted and the CRC will investigate independently to determine if the player threatens the league environment or community as a whole.
  - (iii) Teams with a player forcibly dropped due to conduct may be granted priority in free agency or add/drop periods or receive additional opportunities for call-ups or replacement players not rostered in any league as determined by the CRC.

(1) Majors and Minors leagues:
- (a) Eligibility
  - (i) Any rostered player is eligible to be loaned to a team in any league above their highest rostered league if they passed through the draft of that league.
  - (ii) A player who passed through a league's draft with gameday availability is also eligible to be loaned for that league's games even if they are not currently on a lower league's roster.
  - (iii) A player who has been dropped in an add/drop period but has not yet been called up to any roster may be loaned, so long as they do not play for two teams in the same league in the same week of the regular season.
  - (iv) Players added to a Novice roster via Free Agency will be eligible to be loaned to Minors teams.
- (b) Restrictions
  - (i) Players may only play in one match per league per week.
  - (ii) Players may only be loaned for up to two weeks per team in the regular season for any number of minutes.
  - (iii) Players may be loaned any number of times in the post-season for any number of minutes.
  - (iv) Players who are loaned to a Major league team will be ineligible to play in Novice league for the current week unless otherwise approved by the CRC.
  - (v) Players can only be loaned after the second add/drop period if the loan is being used to cover for another player's availability issues.
  - (vi) If a player rejects the opportunity to be loaned to a team in a week, they forfeit their right to accept any future loan opportunities for other teams in that league for that same week.
- (c) Priority
  - (i) Regular season
    - (1) The first team to submit the loan form for a player has priority for the upcoming week.
    - (2) Teams may not contact players for loan opportunities until after midnight ET following the default time of matches from the previous week.
  - (ii) Post-season
    - (1) The team which has loaned a player for the fewest total minutes (including the regular season) will have loan priority for the upcoming week.
    - (2) If the scheduled game time is less than 24 hours away, the first team to contact a player will have priority to loan them for the upcoming week.
- (d) Hot-subs
  - (i) Hot-subs will not be differentiated from loans and must follow the same procedures as any loan unless prior approval is granted by the CRC.
    - (1) The CRC may retroactively label a loan as a hot-sub for players who play <40% of a match (less than 2 out of 5 games). If labeled as a hot-sub the loan will be disregarded for future loan eligibility.
- (e) Loan requests are made through the league site, mltp.gg.
- (f) Failure to submit a loan request before the player appears in a game may result in a forfeit, standings point deduction or other punishment as determined on a case by case basis by the CRC.
(2) Novice league:
- (a) If a Novice league team cannot field a full team for a week’s game, they may elect to loan a player from another team.
  - (i) In extreme cases, if no player can be found, the CRC may approve a loan for a player not currently rostered to an NALTP team.
- (b) All loans must be approved by the CRC before the player plays.
  - (i) Failure to acquire approval may result in punishments such as--but not limited to: forfeiture, forced replay, and TCA penalties.

(1) Regular Season:
- (a) For each week there will be one match consisting of five games.
- (b) Maps and team colors will follow the schedule posted by the CRC.
- (c) Game settings:
  - (i) Capture limit set to none;
  - (ii) Time limit set to 10 minutes;
  - (iii) Overtime set to on;
    - (1) Overtime respawn increment: Disabled;
    - (2) Overtime bonus Juke Juices: Disabled;
  - (iv) Mercy rule enabled to +8 Capture Mercy;
  - (v) Acceleration set to 100%;
  - (vi) Top speed set to 100%;
  - (vii) Bounciness set to 100%;
  - (viii) Player respawn time set to 3 seconds;
  - (ix) Boost respawn time set to 10 seconds;
  - (x) Bomb respawn time set to 30 seconds;
  - (xi) Powerup respawn time set to 1 minute;
  - (xii) Powerup delay set to 60 seconds;
  - (xiii) Powerup: Tagpro Duration set to 15 seconds;
  - (xiv) Last Possession Clutch Time: Enabled Winnable Only;
  - (xv) Kissing Flag Carriers: Disabled;
  - (xvi) Userscripts: Disabled;
  - (xvii) Respawn Warnings: Disabled; and
  - (xviii) Region set to US Central.
- (d) Server settings:
  - (i) At any point during or before a series, both captains may agree to play any of their games on a server other than the default. Either captain may elect to return to the default servers up until the match begins (or play resumes, if the agreement is mid-match)--at that point the servers are locked with the final agreement reached unless both captains agree to change them again.
  - (ii) All games will be set to Chicago by default. If Chicago is the only server in the central region, games are to be launched with the regional selection "Central". In the event that multiple central locations existing simultaneously, the Chicago server with the lowest associated number will be considered the default (e.g. Chicago1).
- (e) If overtime is unable to be played for any reason including, but not limited to incorrect settings, game crashes, or back to group callouts.
  - (i) The involved teams will play a single ‘golden cap’ game with the following settings:
    - (1) Time limit set to 20 minutes;
    - (2) Overtime set to on;
    - (3) Capture limit set to 1;
    - (4) Mercy rule disabled;
    - (5) Server set to the server used for the previous game;
    - (6) All other game settings like normal.
  - (ii) The CRC may award the overtime point(s) to either team in a follow up review based on at-fault status, player positioning before an abrupt ending, or anything else deemed relevant.
  - (iii) No substitutions may be made out of game.
(2) Playoffs:
- (a) Format:
  - (i) There will be one best-of-seven-games series per week for each playoff team.
  - (ii) Maps and starting color (Pick/bans):
    - (1) In playoff rounds requiring a pick/ban, captains will draft the maps and starting color according to the following:
      - (aa) The team with the higher seed will pick what team they would like to be for the Pick/Ban (Team 1 or Team 2)
      - (bb) Teams will take turns picking from the available maps and assigning them to available games. The first team may choose any map from the pool and assign it to any game from 1-7. The next team may choose any map except the first one and assign it to any remaining game, etc.
        
        (I) At any point during the Pick/Ban either team may choose to select a color order (assign their team to Red or Blue for games 1/3/5/7) instead of selecting a map. After this is done once by either team neither team may use this option again.
        
        (II) At any point during the Pick/Ban, either team may choose to ban one map instead of selecting a map. This can be done as many times as mathematically possible until there are 7 eligible maps.
    - (2) All playoff matches require pick/bans.
    - (3) Pick/bans must be completed prior to the matchup and are due to be submitted to the CRC no later than 10 minutes prior to the default matchup start time, unless otherwise agreed upon with the CRC.
- (b) Game settings:
  - (i) Games 1-7:
    - (1) Capture limit set to none;
    - (2) Time limit set to 10 minutes;
    - (3) Overtime set to on;
      - (aa) Overtime respawn increment: Disabled;
      - (bb) Overtime bonus Juke Juices: Disabled;
    - (4) Mercy rule disabled;
    - (5) Acceleration set to 100%;
    - (6) Top speed set to 100%;
    - (7) Bounciness set to 100%;
    - (8) Player respawn time set to 3 seconds;
    - (9) Boost respawn time set to 10 seconds;
    - (10) Bomb respawn time set to 30 seconds;
    - (11) Powerup respawn time set to 1 minute;
    - (12) Powerup delay set to 60 seconds;
    - (13) Powerup: Tagpro Duration set to 15 seconds;
    - (14) Last Possession Clutch Time: Enabled Winnable Only;
    - (15) Kissing Flag Carriers: Disabled;
    - (16) Userscripts: Disabled;
    - (17) Respawn Warnings: Disabled; and
    - (18) Region set to US Central.
- (c) Server settings:
  - (i) Identical to regular season settings.

(1) Majors and Minors leagues:
- (a) Early game:
  - (i) Timeout may be called if a game is launched but a player who was correctly positioned on the group page is not entered into the game.
  - (ii) Timeout must be called during the initial countdown or within the first five seconds of game clock to be considered early game.
  - (iii) Captains, official co-captains or an approved stand-in, and players in-game are the only group members permitted to call timeout.
- (b) Mid-late game:
  - (i) Timeouts will not be permitted. Teams are encouraged to have subs ready if they are experiencing connectivity issues. Please see Article IV Section C for more information on hot-subs and loans.
- (c) If both captains agree to go back to group for any reason, including lagout, group joiner bugs, etc, the following must happen:
  - (i) The team calling the timeout must return their flag to their base before the timeout takes effect. This does not require a full reset; the timeout will begin upon the return even if the flag is immediately transferred to regrab.
  - (ii) If the team calling the timeout is winning when the timeout is called, the time will be rounded up to the nearest whole minute.
  - (iii) If the team calling the timeout is losing when the timeout is called, the time will be rounded down to the nearest whole minute.
  - (iv) Game settings will remain the same, except remaining time as outlined above.
  - (v) Remember to save .eus from before and after the timeout, as TagPro League can handle timeouts.
(2) Novice league:
- (a) Early game:
  - (i) Timeout may be called if a game is launched but a player who was correctly positioned on the group page is not entered into the game.
  - (ii) Timeout must be called during the initial countdown or within the first five seconds of game clock to be considered early game.
  - (iii) Captains, official co-captains (or an approved stand-in) and players in-game are the only group members permitted to call timeout.
- (b) Mid-late game:
  - (i) Timeout may be called if two or more players from the same team exit the game at the same time. The timeout may only be called by the team missing two players.
  - (ii) Captains, official co-captains (or an approved stand-in) and players in-game are the only group members permitted to call timeout.
  - (iii) Once timeout is called, the following must happen:
    - (1) The team calling the timeout must return their flag to their base before the timeout takes effect. This does not require a full reset; the timeout will begin upon the return even if the flag is immediately transferred to regrab.
    - (2) If the team calling the timeout is winning when the timeout is called, the time will be rounded up to the nearest whole minute.
    - (3) If the team calling the timeout is losing when the timeout is called, the time will be rounded down to the nearest whole minute.
    - (4) Game settings will remain the same, except remaining time as outlined above.
    - (5) Remember to save .eus from before and after the timeout, as TagPro League can handle timeouts.
  - (iv) The CRC may assess caps, standings points, or game penalties in matches where a timeout is believed to have given either team an advantage.
    - (1) A team returning to a 4v4 match is not considered gaining an advantage.
- (c) Inappropriate timeouts:
  - (i) If a team calls for a time out when they are not eligible to, the CRC may enforce forfeits, standings point deductions, or other penalties at their discretion.

(1) Any eligible players may be substituted between games so long as they will not otherwise conflict with the rulebook at the conclusion of the upcoming or in-progress game. Please see Article IV Section C for more information on loans and hot-subs.
(2) Live substitutions, or “hot-subs”, are permitted during league games.
- (a) Teams can make as many substitutions as they like.
- (b) If players are having trouble with lag, they will be permitted up to two refreshes before their captain may demand they substitute out.
- (c) The substitute can be in the "Spectator" slot and can be listening in on Discord, but they must be muted until the substitution is made.
- (d) If a substituting team has more than four active players for an extensive amount of time, the team may be assessed a penalty determined by the CRC.
- (e) If a player is unable to leave the match, an inactive fifth ball may remain in play, provided it is not in a spot that disrupts play. If the inactive ball is in such a location for an extensive amount of time, the four active players must attempt to move the inactive player to a less disruptive spot. Teams with a fifth inactive ball that disrupts play may be assessed a penalty determined by the CRC.
(3) In the Novice league, GMs will substitute players between games equally, to help balance the skill level in each game, when both teams have more than 4 active players for the match.
- (a) There will be two "rotational games" in each five game series.
  - (i) The default rotational games are 2 and 4, unless otherwise agreed upon by the captains.
  - (ii) During rotational games, teams will play all of their "bench players", using as few "starting players" as possible.
- (b) Definitions:
  - (i) "Starting players" are defined at the start of each match as the 4 players with the highest average minutes per series with any number of minutes.
    - (1) Example: Player A has attended 2 out of 4 series and played 80 total minutes, for a 40 minute/series average. Player B has attended 4 out of 4 series and played 90 total minutes, for a 22.5 minute/series average. Player A would be defined as a starting player over Player B.
    - (2) If no series has been completed, starting players are defined as the first 4 players drafted.
    - (3) Captains may submit a request to change their starting players to the CRC, along with their reasoning. The CRC may accept or decline at their discretion.
    - (4) The CRC may ask a captain to redefine their starting players after a trade or free agency period.
      - (aa) Dropped players from the Minor league will be treated as players with maximum minutes. For example, acquiring a Minor league drop after week 3 would give that player 150 minutes and a 50 minute/series average.
    - (5) Minutes played while on loan to another Novice team will not count towards the series average.
  - (ii) "Bench players" are defined as the remaining rostered players that aren't included in (i).
- (c) Teams are not required to go beyond the minute minimums as defined in Article VII Section D, regardless of the other team's substitutions.

(1) Seeding will be determined by the number of points earned during a season after penalties as outlined in Article VII Section C.
(2) Tiebreakers between two teams with an equal number of points will be determined by the following:
- (a) Head-to-head record;
- (b) Points acquired vs. common opponents;
- (c) Cap differential against common opponents;
- (d) Total cap differential;
- (e) Total caps scored;
- (f) A 5-minute OFM with one player from each team selected by the captain of that team.
(3) Tiebreakers between three or more teams with an equal number of points will be determined by the following:
- (a) Points acquired in head-to-head matches; if all tied teams have not played each other, then this rule is skipped;
- (b) Points acquired vs. common opponents;
- (c) Cap differential against common opponents;
- (d) Total cap differential;
- (e) Total caps scored;
- (f) A 5-minute OFM round-robin tournament with one player from each team selected by the captain of that team.
(4) If the seeding of one team is determined in a three-or-more team tiebreaker but other seeds aren't, tiebreak rules continue as they are and do not reset for the remaining teams.
(5) Opponent Selection:
- (a) Teams will have the opportunity to select their opponents for each round of the playoffs that contains more than 2 teams.
- (b) The CRC will announce the deadline to submit selections, with submissions typically due within 24 hours of the conclusion of the previous week's games.
- (c) Selections are submitted directly to a CRC member.
  - (i) Selections should have multiple options, should higher seeds fail to make their selection. For example: Seed 4 submits "Select 8th seed. If not, then 7th seed. If not, then 5th seed."
- (d) Selections are processed in order of highest seed to lowest seed.
- (e) If a team fails to submit a selection, their selection is skipped and the next highest seeded team's selection is used instead.
- (f) If multiple or all teams fail to submit a selection, the matchups will be determined by highest available seed playing against lowest available seed, until all matchups are determined.

(1) Teams are subject to punishment if their players or captains partake in any of the following: violation of the DBAD rule, spam on Discord, spam on Reddit, or any other action that breaks the NALTP rules.
(2) In the event of a forfeit of a match, the wins and losses will count as usual in the standings, with the cap differential for the winning and losing team being the average positive and negative cap differential for all other matches that week, respectively. If only one game is forfeited, the cap differential will be the average differential for that game of the week. (Ex. If Game 2 is a forfeit, the cap diff used for averaging is that of all other Game 2's for that week.)
(3) The NALTP CRC may demand full access to a team's subreddit (including modmail), Discord, or other form of communication without needing to provide a reason, and shall be granted this access with speed.
(4) The CRC agrees that an attack against one or more of them on the subreddit, Discord, or any other public forum shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that, if such an attack occurs, each of them will assist the CRC Member or Members so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other CRC Members, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the CRC.
(5) Any player who becomes banned from playing TagPro will be ineligible to play in NALTP. They may remain on the roster and resume playing when they are no longer banned from TagPro. Playing on an alternate account to avoid the ban will result in league punishment and referral to the TagPro Moderators.
(6) Any player who becomes banned from the Competitive TagPro Discord server will be ineligible to play in NALTP. They may remain on the roster and resume playing when they are no longer banned from the server. Using an alternate Discord account to avoid the ban will result in league punishment and referral to the Competitive TagPro Discord Server Administrators.
(7) The CRC has the right to interpret rules on a case-by-case basis for the sake of the league’s integrity and competitiveness.

(1) A bid will be defined as a rostered player who was obtained at auction and any number of TCN.
(2) Starting TCN are equal to the number of TCN remaining at the conclusion of the snauction draft.
(3) Bidding Process:
- (AA) The value of a bid will be equal to the TCN value of the rostered player being bid added to the value of TCN included in the bid.
- (BB) All teams will have the opportunity to make a bid on any eligible players in each stage of the present phase. When a stage is complete, the players will be awarded to the team with the highest value bid.
- (CC) If a team submits multiple bids in one stage, those bids will be processed in descending order of value. If there are multiple bids of the same value on different players, those bids will be processed in order of submission. If multiple bids on a single player are received from a single team, only the most recent submission will be considered.
- (DD) If multiple teams have bids of equal value for a single player, the team lower in the standings will obtain the desired player, with tiebreaks being applied as necessary.
- (EE) If multiple teams have bids of equal value for a single player, but also have played an uneven amount of games, the tiebreaker will be based on the percent of standings points acquired in the games that they have played so far.
- (FF) If a player should be awarded to a team, TCN will be deducted from the team's total TCN equal to the number of TCN included in their bid and independent of the value of the rostered player used in the bid. The rostered player used in the bid will be eligible for the next stage of phase 2.
- (GG) Bids will automatically be reduced to never exceed available TCN. In the event of the same rostered player being used in multiple bids, additional bids will be thrown out upon winning a bid using that player.
- (HH) A bid with a value of zero TCN on a specific player is valid, so long as it is still accompanied by a player drafted at auction. TCN must be used in whole numbers.

League Rules

Official Rules for North American League TagPro (NALTP) Season 40

Article I - League Overview

Section A - Resources

Section B - Leagues

Section C - Teams

Section D - Schedule

Section E - Servers

Section F - Games

Article II - Leadership Roles, Member Roles & Eligibility

Section A - The Committee for Rules and Coordination (CRC)

Section B - The League Managers (LM)

Section C - Captains and Co-Captains

Section D - Players

Section E - Rookie Integration Officer

Section F - Talent Evaluation Committee

Article III - Drafting

Section A - General Draft Information

Section B - The Auction Draft

Section C - The Snauction Draft

Section D - The Snake Draft

Article IV - Roster changes

Section A - Trades

Section B - Drops, Call-ups, Free Agency

Section C - Loans

Section D - Captain Specific Roster Changes

Section E - Dual Eligible Players (DEPs)

Section F - Out of League Substitutions (OOLs)

Article V - Player Restrictions

Section A - Proper Position Restrictions

Section B - Availability Restrictions

Section C - Microphone Restrictions

Article VI - Maps

Section A - Map Selection

Section B - Playoffs

Article VII - Matches

Section A - Match Scheduling

Section B - Settings

Section C - Points and Scoring

Section D - Minute Minimums and Maximums

Section E - Timeouts

Section F - Substitutions

Section G - Game Start Time Rules, Forfeits

Section H - Voice Channels

Article VIII - Playoffs

Section A - Team Eligibility

Section B - Seeding

Article IX - Cheating

Section A - Cheating

Section B - Scripts

Section C - Whistleblowing

Section D - Stock Manipulation

Article X - Etiquette

Article XI - Statistics

Section A - TagPro League (TPL)

Section B - Stat Normalization for Forfeits or Noncompetitive Games

Article XII - Votes, Vetoes, VONC’s, & Rule Changes

Section A - Votes

Section B - Rule Changes

Section C - Vetoes

Section D - Vote of No Confidence (VONC)

Article XIII - Appendix