Credit for our awesome custom eSports logo goes to Sara Stevenson. If you’d like to contact her for your next graphic design project, you can contact her at stevenson.e.sara@gmail.com, or check out her website at sarastevenson.me

We’re always looking for new and creative ways to not only deliver you classic WRNL content, but to connect with our readers and other Cyclone fans. Given their recent popularity boom, and my own interest in gaming, I got the idea to start our very own eSports leagues.

After some careful behind-scenes-deliberation, and a few Twitter polls, we’ve finally made our decision. Iowa State kicker-turned-WRNL contributor Cole Netten will be running a 2v2 Fortnite league on PS4, while I will be running a similar Fortnite league on Xbox One, as well as a Madden 18 Connected Franchise on Xbox One. Below are the rules and guidelines for each league.

**NOTE**

Since this is our first try at an eLeague, league rules and format may be altered as needed, or by popular demand of participants. For instance, if enough Madden players want to bump the difficulty up to All-Madden, the adjustment will be made.

Fortnite - Xbox One/PS4

Rules:

1. Finding a Match: For a 2v2 tournament, all four (4) players will invite each other to a party and search for a squad game.

2. Win Condition: The winning team will be determined by the team with the largest number of total kills. If their is a tie, the tiebreaker will be determined by the team that had a player survive the longest. If that is still a tie then the winner will be decided by the team that got the final kill.

3. Grieving: Teams are permitted to work together, however, you may not intentionally cause the death of your opponent. This includes sabotaging structures, causing fall damage, or any other negative interference in your opponents gameplay. Doing so will result in a forfeit of the map.

Bracket Play:

1. Single Elimination: After losing a match, teams will be eliminated from the bracket.

2. Default Start Time: All round one (1) matches have the same default start time. After round one (1), all Matches have a unique default start time that is dependent upon the time at which the teams’ previous round results were submitted. Matches must be started by their default start time and played until completion. Postponing matches is only at the discretion of WRNL staff.

3. Double Forfeit: If a match is not played and neither team submits a ticket requesting the forfeit win, or both teams otherwise forfeit a game/match, the game/match win will be awarded to the higher seeded team.

4. Seeding: Teams will be randomly seeded at of the close of registration. Seeds are done in ascending order. The higher seed is determined by the team with the seed closest to zero (0).

◦ Example: Seed four (4) is a higher seed than seed ten (10).

All Matches:

1. Warm-up: No warm-up or practice games are permitted once the match’s first game has begun. If a match is played before the scheduled time, it will not be considered a warm-up and will count as the official results.

2. Delays: Teams may not delay the start of a match beyond its scheduled start time, without the approval of a tournament official. Teams may delay a match between games for up to five minutes. Teams can request that a tournament official enforce this five minute time limit. After five minutes of a tournament official enforced delay, if the delaying team does not have the minimum required players, they will forfeit the match.

3. Minimum Required Players: Teams may be short handed by one player in order to start a game. A Team will Forfeit the Match if they are missing all of their players 15 minutes after a Match’s default start time (Grace Period). Teams will be forced to start a Game at the end of a Grace Period as outlined in the No Show procedure.

4. Disconnections: If a player does not get into the game lobby before the start of the game, all players should back out and re-form the party.

◦ If a player disconnects/leaves the game after the game has launched, their kills at the time of the disconnection (proof must be provided in the case of a disagreement) will be added to the kills of their teammate and the remainder of the game will continue.

Reporting:

1. No Shows: All no shows must be verified by a WRNL official. The No Show grace period time is 15 minutes after the match’s original start time. For example, if a match is scheduled for 10:00 PM, the no show time for this match would be 10:15 PM. In order to contact a WRNL official via email.

2. Time Limit: Both teams must report the match results within 10 minutes of its completion. Failure to report the match results on time or respond to any messages that you receive from a tournament official may result in your team receiving the loss.

Any disputes, scheduling conflicts, rules conflicts/change suggestions, etc. should be directed to Cole (PS4) or Levi (Xbox One). Any decision made will be fair and final.

3. Reporting Results: Results will be reported

Xbox One Registration:

PS4 Registration:

Madden Connected Franchise - Xbox One

Format:

• All-Pro difficulty (unless league unanimously votes to switch to All-Madden)
• Injury frequency and severity will be reduced. Nobody wants someone to get hosed because their star quarterback went down with a torn ACL in Week 1.
• Weeks will be advanced every Thursday and Sunday at 10:00 PM (2 Madden weeks per calendar week). Any unplayed games will be simulated.
• Each player will create an owner from scratch. No coaches or individual players will be allowed.
• League rosters will be generated via most current roster update. If more than half of players propose a fantasy draft format, the league will use a fantasy draft.
• After 32 players have registered (one for each team), the master Google Doc spreadsheet containing gamertags and contact info will be sent to all players.
• Players will use the spreadsheet to sign up for which team they will use.
• Players should contact their opponent to set up a time to play via the email listed, or by direct message on Xbox.

***Please look ahead to your next few opponents and begin scheduling games as early as possible to avoid last-minute headaches.***

Rules:

• If a game is unplayed prior to the deadline, and a player provides proof of a legitimate attempt to contact other the player in their matchup to set up at a game time, a win may be afforded to that the player, depending on circumstances.
• Any player caught cheating or tampering in any way will be immediately dismissed from the league.
• Any disputes, scheduling conflicts, rules conflicts/change suggestions, etc. should be directed to Levi. Any decision made will be fair and final.

Registration:

**NOTE** Obviously, there are only 32 teams in the NFL to pick from, so we can only accept the first 32 registrants. Write in which team you’d like to use in the registration form below. If two people want to use the same team, priority will be given to the person who registered first.