Factions Match Rules

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Kayle is not mad. Kayle is disappointed.

Factions is a funtime game mode created and run by a bunch of ordinary players. We’re all in this together, to have a good time, explore a story universe, and test our skills. But good walls make good neighbors, and every game needs rules.

Basic Rules

Space Jam. If Darius or Master Yi score a quadra kill or above, you must play Space Jam music.
Tournament Draft. If possible, matches must be made as Tournament Draft.
Pause. In matches made using Tournament Draft mode, each side has up to 5 minutes of pause time, which can be activated by using /pause.
Disconnects. If someone disconnects or afks, generally the best thing to do is to /pause the match. (If it happened within the first 5 minutes of the match, the team that is down a player may instead call a rematch. Please report the disconnection regardless.) If the person doesn’t come back, there are some options. Whatever option is chosen, please report the leaver, even if it was not intentional.
- Chivalry. This is the traditional Factions means of resolving such situations, and is strongly preferred. If both teams agree, a Summoner on the opposing side may voluntarily bench themself at the fountain, taking no further part in the match, to restore the teams to even footing. The match is then played to completion. It will be worth full points and everyone will be happier.
  - Virtue should be its own reward, but if a team is chivalrous in this way, and loses, the final match value will be reduced by 20%. If they win, the match value will be increased by 20%.
- Forfeit. The leaver’s team may choose to forfeit. The match will be worth normal points.
- Play On. The team with the leaver may instead choose to play on as-is. The match will be worth normal points.
- Leavers. Frequent leavers (leaving in a third or more of their matches, approximately) will be deprioritized for Featured Matches. We understand that sometimes disconnections are out of a person’s control. However, even if the blame lies solely with the router, or the cat biting the cables, we want to avoid situations in which a faction loses a major match because of a technical problem.
Bans. By default, there are no bans in Factions. “Burn” bans by banning Champions not on either team’s roster. Note that there are some special rules which may give a faction one or more bans.
Balance. Make every effort to roughly balance the teams. One-sided stomps have led a lot of people to quit Factions after their first game. Relatedly: support and advise your lower-Tier teammates. If you’re not sure how balanced a match is, try the Winrate Calculator.
Subs. If necessary for balance or to get a match started, Summoners from other factions may sub in, so long as they aren’t playing against their own faction. Please make it clear that you’re subbing. The person who submits the results should note the number of subs; the more subs there are, the less impact the match has on the Balance of Power.
- Allies. In a 2v2 arc, Summoners from the same alliance may freely sub for each other in matches with their adversary factions. For example, if the arc is Faction A and Faction B against Faction X and Faction Y, Summoners from B may freely sub for A in a match against X or Y. In intra-alliance matches (e.g. A v. B), Summoners from adversary factions may sub in on either side. However, each sub reduces the match value by 20%.
Attitude. Although not an enforceable rule, Summoners are strongly encouraged to keep Factions matches fun. Beneath the in-universe rivalry, keep things friendly. We’re all here to have a good time. All-chat jokes are a good way to lighten things up.

Scoring Rules

Reporting match results. The obligation to report the results of the match is initially on the member of the winning team who has the most minion kills. That person should either report the match or find someone else to do it before leaving. If you see them leave before they’ve either delegated this task or announced that they’ve done it, the person with the next-most minions killed should pick up the responsibility.
- Names. Matches are scored through a semi-automated process. Please be sure names are typed in correctly. Nicknames or mistyped Summoner names are actually quite troublesome to fix, and can cause errors in scoring.
Rank definition. Rank is defined as the higher of current and last season’s solo queue SR ranks, as stated in the Riot API. You can use the Rank Checker to look up your ranks; that program pulls data from the Riot API, and is our definitive source. If you were unranked last season, and are unranked this season, staff will apply an estimated rank using third-party sites.
Highest-ranked account on a server. For purposes of determining rank on a given server, use your highest ranked account on that server.
Rank on other servers. If you have accounts on multiple servers, compute your rank for each server separately. On any given server, use the highest of these values on all servers. (If you’re unranked on a given server, but ranked on at least one other server, you always use that other rank.) For example, if a person is Gold in NA, Diamond in EUW, and Silver in EUNE, they are treated as Diamond on all servers.
Promotion. For the sake of computational simplicity, we have one rank value for each Summoner, which is used for all matches. This avoids the hassle of, e.g., figuring out when exactly each person reached what rank, and is much easier to code. In other words, promotions have retroactive effect for Balance of Power purposes.
Undeclared Summoners. When an undeclared Summoner declares for a faction, their past matches are recomputed using their new allegiance. Again, this is principally a matter of computational efficiency. It does mean that some matches can end up being retroactively voided.