This is a two-day tournament with the top cut played on Sunday.

Red Bull Untapped теперь и в России!

Правила турнира на русском языке доступны здесь

Red Bull Untapped is back!

With an amazing prize pool at stake, players across the globe will be able to challenge one another, summon their creatures and sling their spells in the immersive digital world of Magic: The Gathering Arena.

16 Qualifiers will lead up to the Red Bull Untapped Finals later on this year.

Registration will open two weeks before the event.

Tournament Rules

First of all, please join us on Discord and check out http://www.redbull.com/untapped for all relevant details.

Read the FAQ documents; they are an integral part of these tournament rules.

Registration and eligibility

Signing up

All Red Bull Untapped qualifiers are free and open to all eligible players. There is no limit to the number of Qualifiers a player may play in, but each individual event may have its own limitations and restrictions. Participants can sign up for Red Bull Untapped qualifiers through mtgmelee.com up until 20:00 CEST on the evening before the tournament(s) of their choice. Late registrations will not be processed.

International Qualifiers

International Qualifier events are open to all players worldwide. These events are not meant to be capped but taking technical limitations into account may necessitate changes to this ideal scenario. If a player cap is introduced to these events, we will attempt to announce this as far ahead of time as possible before we reach it, but we currently do not anticipate needing to limit attendance. These events may end up being run in flights on Day 1 to help with system performance and tournament speed, with players randomly distributed across those flights. If this happens, standings after the swiss rounds for each of these events will be merged to determine the top cut. Individual flights have no guaranteed minimum amount of people qualifying for day 2. (Flights will have enough players each to ensure fairness of your tiebreakers.)

Online Country Qualifiers

Online Country Qualifier events are limited to a specific country; only players residing in that country can participate. This is detected automatically through your IP address when you sign up or play through mtgmelee.com. If you believe that you are incorrectly being denied entry, please contact us at untapped@play-mtg.com and we will try to help you. You are not allowed to use a VPN or similar tools to sign up if you do not reside in the country that the Online Country Qualifier event is serving. Doing so will result in your disqualification from the event. You will also be banned from any future Red Bull Untapped tournaments. Note that you must be able to provide proof of residence upon request by the organizer. This is something we will be doing for all who win prizes and may be doing for other participants if we suspect foul play.

Player cap

Some events have limited attendance. These are generally single-day events, where the player cap was introduced to make the event run smoothly and finish at a reasonable time. Those events will take attendance in a first-come-first-serve manner. We are working with melee.gg to see if a waiting list can be implemented to fill up the tournament in case there are no shows.

Age restrictions

The minimum age to be eligible to play in Red Bull Untapped qualifiers is 18. If you play in the event and are found to be under the age of 18, you will be disqualified from this event. You will be able to play in future Red Bull Untapped events as soon as you reach the age of 18.

Exceptions

The Red Bull Untapped organization reserves the right to make any exceptions and changes to the above rules without prior or public notice.

Decklist submission

You are required to send in your decklist. This can be done via the Player Controller on mtgmelee.com and needs to happen at latest 30 minutes before the event starts. Players who have not submitted their decklist will be automatically dropped from the event, meaning they will not be allowed to participate. Be sure to check that you have correctly submitted your decklist. You will need to both IMPORT and SUBMIT your deck via the player controller on mtgmelee.com. We recommend doing this the day before entering the event, as we cannot make exceptions to this policy – playing with a loss in Round 1 is not an option.

Decklist sharing

Each round, your decklist will be shared with your opponent before your match starts - likewise, you will be given access to your opponent's decklist at this time. This is done through mtgmelee.com in the player controller.

Checking in

To prevent Round 1 from having a high percentage of no-shows, the Red Bull Untapped qualifiers will be using mandatory check-in. Check-in for an event opens 90 minutes before the start of the event. Players should check-in no later than 30 minutes before the start of their event to avoid being dropped from the event. To check into the event, go into your player controller and follow instructions on the prompt on the top of your screen. Like with deck lists, no exceptions can be made to this policy. Re-entering players who missed the check-in deadline is not possible. For events with limited attendance, we are working with melee.gg to see if a waiting list can be implemented to fill up the tournament in case there are no shows.

Player responsibilities

Aside from the abovementioned decklist submission and player registration, there are additional responsibilities.

Hardware, connectivity, and software

Players are required to provide their own system with a working Arena client, connected to the internet. The organization does not provide these means.

Communication

Players are required to maintain communication with the organization at all times. Presence and reactivity on mtgmelee.com as well as Discord is required, as well as reading any official announcements on both platforms. Failure to answer a private message over Discord or mtgmelee.com in a reasonable time may result in your match scores being altered or guessed, or in you being dropped from the event. Players are required to share their screen via Discord's Go Live feature upon request by an admin or stream staff. To clarify: aside from facilitating the stream (see the section on feature matches), these measure mostly exist to ensure the smooth running of the event: verifying software or decklist issues, properly detecting and dealing with tardiness and no-shows, moving forward with the tournament at the end of the round when results are missing, etc. Admins will always try to contact you before making decisions that may negatively impact you, but it is your responsibility to stay be reachable.

Feature matches and screen sharing

Players recognize that they can be put in a feature match at any time. Details are listed in the section on feature matches. Failure to join may result in a loss for that round. We will contact you through Discord as well as mtgmelee.com.

Result submission

Both players are required to submit and/or verify the result of their match on mtgmelee.com and, upon request by an admin verify that result in direct communication.

Match check-in

Unrelated to checking into the tournament, which is mandatory, you are also encouraged to check into your match at the start of each round using the player controller. While that is not mandatory, it helps us know if a match is ongoing. If neither player has checked into a match and we have no result at the end of the round, we will set your result to a draw and drop both players automatically.

Tournament structure

Single day tournaments

Single day qualifiers will use the appropriate amount of swiss rounds (up to 8) and play a top 8 single elimination bracket the same day, as soon as the swiss rounds are over.

Two-day tournaments

Two-day qualifiers will have 8 swiss rounds on Day 1, with an appropriately sized single elimination top cut bracket played on Day 2. Day 1 may be split into several flights, with people randomly seeded into those flights. The top cut size will be announced after Round 1 has started and will be a power of 2. Entry into that top cut will be based on your total points and tiebreakers at the end of the swiss rounds. If the event runs in flights, final standings of all flights will be merged before determining the top cut.

Tournament issues

Disconnections

Players are fully and solely responsible for the presence and stability of an internet connection, which is required to play in the event. Players are also responsible for stability of the system running MTG Arena. Players disconnecting from their game are likely to end up forfeiting the match, but the following procedures will be in place to provide leniency where possible:

• If a player disconnects from an ongoing game and can reconnect before timing out, they can continue playing that game.
• If a player disconnects from an ongoing game and loses that game in MTG Arena, but the match would not have been over with that loss, players should contact an admin (via Discord or mtgmelee.com) as soon as this happens. Admins will try to resolve those situations as best as possible. The ongoing game will be inevitably lost, but it may be possible to continue the rest of the match, at the admin's sole discretion. If players do not contact admins immediately, no attempts will be made by the admins to continue the match.
• If your opponent disconnects from the game or loses a game due to a time-out, you should contact an admin immediately (via Discord or mtgmelee.com). You may not submit a result before having done so and gotten verification by an admin that you may submit your result, even if that game was the last game of your match. Any results submitted this way without prior verification by an admin are subject to being voided and/or changed at their sole discretion.

Software crashes

The organization cannot be held responsible for MTG Arena crashes and any resulting match results. Players' ability to provoke crashes or disconnects make it impossible to apply any exceptions other than those stated above.

Software bugs

The organization cannot be held responsible for any bugs encountered in MTG Arena. Players are encouraged to report bugs to MTG Arena customer service and read the Known Issues List.

Specifically, we want to highlight a bug that can occasionally occur when sideboarding with a deck that contains a companion, where the Magic Arena client may not allow you to sideboard. If that happens, your timer will run out and you will move onto the next game without having sideboarded. We will not be applying any fixes for this during swiss rounds of any qualifiers. If this happens during a single elimination round, please reach out to us (as detailed above) before your timer runs out. You will need a screenshot of the error that includes the current time.

Bribery & wagering

As per the Magic Tournament Rules, bribery and wagering are not allowed. Reach out to us as soon as anything of this nature happens.

Tournament procedures

Connecting to your opponent.

When you receive pairings via mtgmelee.com, you will immediately see a chat box in which you can talk to your opponent. Be sure to say hi! You can also use this function to resolve any issues in making a connection.

Generally, players need to initiate a Direct Challenge with each other in MTG Arena. Both players will also need to use the same game mode for that challenge (see below).

Add your opponent as a friend

Red Bull Untapped recommends adding your opponent as a friend in MTG Arena. This makes challenges easier as only one of two friends need to initiate a challenge, with the other receiving a notification. This reduces the amount of errors significantly and should be tried if directly challenging does not seem to work.

Case sensitivity of Arena IDs

When adding or challenging your opponent, be aware that the Arena ID is case sensitive and has a 5-digit discriminator as well as a handle. For example: MyArenaID#35791 is a valid Arena ID, but MyArenaID is not. Furthermore, there is a different between myarenaid#35791 and MyArenaID#35791. When challenging your opponent, be sure to use the Tournament Match (best-of-3) mode in Arena.

Troubleshooting connections

If, after trying double-checking spelling and having added each other as friends, you still have connection issues, reach out to each other in the chat. Make sure you both cancel ongoing challenges, then have one person add the other as a friend, then have that same person initiate a challenge while the other player waits to receive it. After having tried this, please reach out to us via Discord or mtgmelee.com.

What if you started a Best-Of-1?

If you did everything correctly, you should be playing in a Romano-Greek coliseum setting if all is well. If your playing field is different, you have likely started a best-of-1 game. Play out that game, then initiate another challenge afterwards (this time using the correct mode). The loser of the first game should concede in that match.

Decklist issues

If you notice that you and/or your opponent is playing an illegal deck or a deck that doesn't match the decklist, contact an admin (via Discord or mtgmelee.com) as soon as you discover the problem. If the problem is your opponent's deck, be prepared to provide a screenshot. Playing a deck that does not match the deck list you have submitted before the event may result in penalties, at the sole discretion of the tournament admins. These penalties will depend on the exact situation, and may include a warning, game loss, match loss or disqualification (in case of cheating).

Tardiness

Players are expected to start their games within 5 minutes of pairings being posted, but leniency will be given up to 10 minutes into the round. If you haven't started your game and your opponent has not been in contact with you after 5 minutes, you are encouraged to contact an admin so that we may reach out to them or let you know of any ongoing issues we are aware of. If you still are not playing and have not been in contact with your opponent 10 minutes into the round, contact an admin for verification and resolution. Please be ready to provide screenshots that show you have reached out to your opponent via mtgmelee.com. You may not submit any results without verifying with an admin.

Early start

Should a round end early (due to all matches being done before the round is over), we may start the next round earlier than planned. The earliest moment at which tardiness will apply in that case is at the announced time of the end of the previous round.

Round length

Each round will last 55 minutes. That is the usual 50 minutes given to any match plus an additional 5 minutes to connect to your opponent and resolve any issues you may encounter. This round time is separate from the in-game timer in Arena, which also applies.

Arena Timer

When a player's timer runs out in Arena, they will lose that match and the score should be reported. To ensure that the tournament goes smoothly, the round time limit of 55 minutes will also be enforced in addition to the in-game timer.

End of Round procedure

When the round ends and your match is not finished, reach out to ad admin through Discord or mtgmelee.com, letting them know the status of your match (current score and the time each player has left). At their sole discretion, the admin may decide to let you play out the entire game or decide the match is a draw.

• If you are not in contact with an admin at the end of the round and neither player has checked into the match on mtgmelee.com, your game score will be set to a draw and both players will be dropped from the event.
• If you are not in contact with an admin at the end of the round and we do not receive a result within 5 minutes after the end of the round, your game score will be set manually by an admin and the next round will be paired soon after. To clarify how we intend to operate: if it is reasonably possible to finish the match without impacting the overall tournament speed, we will let you do that. However, what is “reasonable” is at the admin's sole discretion to determine and may vary from match to match.

Streaming and feature matches

Players are encouraged to stream their event. When streaming, we ask that you include #RedBullUntapped2020 to the title of your stream. It helps with the overall event hype… and who knows, you may end up reaching throngs of viewers by being featured in the official Red Bull stream at some point.

Stream sniping

We will not be policing whether your opponent is watching your stream, so you are advised to delay your stream to avoid your opponent from seeing the cards in your hand. If you are featured on the official stream (through the Go Live feature in Discord, upon request by the stream team), we will likewise ensure that your opponent has no real-time access to the cards in your hand.

Feature match procedure

If you are selected for a feature match, we will reach out to you on both Discord and mtgmelee.com. An admin will then give you access to the Feature Match Instructions channel, containing all information on how to go live, guiding you through the process. You will also get access to a private voice channel on Discord where you can use the Go Live feature. Nobody except staff can see this stream.

Note that we will be selecting multiple feature matches each round but will only be streaming one of them at any point. That means you may not end up on stream.

When you are on the livestream, your entire Arena screen will be shared, including the contents of your hand. We will be delaying the stream however, so your opponent will not have access to any real-time information.