Ladder rules

Every account starts at 1500 rating. Results are rated with standard Elo using a K-factor of 32, so the rating exchanged depends on the gap between the two players. A win always moves your rating by at least one point.

All rating maths runs on the server. Nothing in your browser can grant, edit or recalculate a rating, and each settled match writes exactly one rating record per player.

Matchmaking is first-available: you are paired with the longest-waiting eligible opponent, not with someone of a similar rating. There are no rating bands, regions or queue dodging protection beyond what is described below.

You may hold one queue ticket and one unresolved rated match at a time. Suspended and banned accounts cannot queue.

Both players have 30 seconds to accept a pairing. If either player declines or lets the timer run out, the match expires with no rating change and the accepting player returns to the queue.

Accepting commits you to the match. Once both players have accepted, leaving after you see the matchup, refusing to play, or abandoning the game can be adjudicated as a loss by a judge.

Games are played off-site on RiftAtlas. Rift Matchpoint has no connection to RiftAtlas and cannot read the board, detect disconnects or verify what happened in a game.

The server randomly assigns one player as host. The host has 3 minutes to submit the private room code, and can replace it until the match is marked as started. Only the two participants can see the code. If the host never submits a code, the match is voided with no rating change — the opponent is not automatically awarded a win.

Each player reports Win or Loss independently. Your opponent's report stays hidden until both exist, and reports cannot be edited after submission.

Two reports that agree settle the match automatically, exactly once. Two reports that disagree freeze the match immediately and open a dispute — no rating moves.

Both players are required to report. After the first report, the other player has 10 minutes to report. If they do not, the match is frozen and a "failure to report" dispute is opened for a judge. No rating is awarded automatically in that situation.

If neither player reports, the match cannot sit unresolved forever: 3 hours after it started the system freezes it as a stale match and sends it to judge review, and both players are recorded as having missed the reporting obligation. Silence never awards a win, never costs rating automatically and never suspends an account on its own.

Either participant can raise a match issue: opponent abandoned, opponent never joined, opponent refuses to report, conflicting result, or something else. Screenshot evidence is optional but strongly encouraged — a judge can only weigh what you show them.

A judge can award the win to either player or void the match, exactly once, with a written note. Because there is no game-state integration, a judge never awards rating purely on one player's claim that the opponent abandoned.

Judge decisions apply only to this community ladder. They carry no weight in official events, on RiftAtlas, or anywhere else.

Deliberately false result reporting, repeated dodging, harassment and attempts to manipulate the ladder can lead to a warning, a queue timeout, a temporary suspension or a permanent ranked ban.

A single dispute does not get you banned. Staff review behaviour over time, and every staff action is written to an audit log.