1.     Format

1.1    The Tournament is split into two phases: The Preliminary Phase and the Final Tournament.

1.2    The Preliminary phase consists of 8 Qualifier Tournaments, each one being held as a single elimination tournament. The last 2 players of each Qualifier Tournament will be considered the winners and advance to the Final Tournament. All matches in the Preliminary phase are best of 1 matches, except for the semi finals and the grand final, which are best of 3 matches. Depending on the number of participants, additional rounds may be played as a best of 3 as decided on short notice. 

1.3    The Final Tournament contains 32 players. It is a single eliminiation tournament, played over 5 rounds. All matches are best of 3 matches, except for the semi finals, the grand final and the bronze match, which are best of 5 matches.

1.4    In the Final Tournament, the 16 winners of the Qualifier Tournaments in the Preliminary Phase are paired with 16 invited pro players.

2.    Application for the Preliminary Phase and the Final Tournament

Every player applying for the Preliminary Phase of the tournament must:

2.1    be a registered member at www.gaming-insight.de

2.2    own a European or Russian Battle.net account

2.3    be over 14 years old

2.4    disclose his BattleNet 2.0 nickname and character code

2.5    provide a link to his sc2ranks.com profile

2.6    declare a race at the time of application. Once picked, each player will be restricted to using said race through the tournament. Valid races are: Terran, Protoss, Zerg, and Random

2.7    provide the information from points 2.4 to 2.6 using his www.gaming-insight.de account in the application page before the deadline (see Schedule).

2.8    The BattleNet 2.0 nickname and chosen race will be made public, the character code will only be shared with the opponents.

2.9    If you have already won a Qualifer Tournament (i.e. being one of the last 2 in a Qualifier Tournament), you can't register for another Qualifier Tournament.

2b.    Additional requirements for the Application for the Final Tournament (not required for the Preliminary Phase)

2b.1        The player has to be a member of a professional StarCraft 2 clan.

2b.2        In the case that we receive more than 16 applications, the GI Cup Administration will select the 16 best known or best players by BattleNet 2.0 ranking at its discretion.

3.    Schedule

4.    Rules for Gameplay and Technical Difficulties

4.1    Any sign of cheating, misusing the game engine, disrespecting the opponent, administration or audience and any violation of fair play may result in a loss and/or disqualification from the tournament at the discretion of the GI Cup Administration. This includes all behavior in violation of the StarCraft 2 End User License Agreement.

4.2    The win and draw conditions of the StarCraft 2 game engine are active. Two players may agree on a draw via in-game chat. In case of a draw, a rematch on the same map has to be played and the replay of both the rematch and the draw have to be included when reporting the match.

4.3    Typing “gg” or “GG” after 3 in-game minutes means surrendering. If typed, the game might be considered forfeit even if the writer wished to continue playing.

4.4    All tournament matches have to be played on “faster” game speed.

4.5    All players must notify other players before pausing or resuming.

4.6    In the case of a network failure, neither player may click “drop player”.

4.7    In the event of a disconnect or other severe technical difficulties, both players communicate with each other and see if they can agree on a winner or a rematch. If no agreement can be found, a player contacts the GI Cup Administration to analyze the replay and decide the winner or whether a rematch must be played.

4.8    The only observers allowed in a match are members from the GI Cup Administration or persons with express permission from the GI Cup Administration.

4.9    Upon the request of either party, the GI Cup Administration will review replays to look for evidence of unfair play.

4a.    Rules for Matches in the Preliminary Phase (Qualifiers)

4a.1    Before the first match, all players must join the designated StarCraft 2 chat channel for the Qualifier ("gi.cup") with the account that they registered for the tournament with. This channel is used to find your opponent and to communicate with admins. Strictly no spamming is allowed.

4a.2    Once a round begins, one player invites his opponent to a party via the chat channel and they then start the game

4a.3    All matches up to the Quarter Finals are Best of 1. Semi Finals and the Grand Finals are Best of 3s.

4a.4    After the match, the winner immediately reports it at http://www.gaming-insight.de/tournament/report.

4a.5    Before the next round starts, each winner will receive an E-Mail, giving him the name of his next opponent.

4a.6    Players, who aren't reachable via the chat channel in the ten minutes before one of their matches, will generally be designated a loss for that particular match.

4a.7    All players who have won a Qualifier (i.e. being one of the last two players remaining in a Qualifier), may not participate in another Qualifier for that season.

4a.8    Players who have been accepted for a Qualifier are automatically accepted for all following Qualifiers of that season (note rule 4a.6, though).

5.    Map Pool

The MLG Orlando 2011 map pool is used. Thus, this is the list of the maps in the map pool:

MLG Metalopolis MLG Shakuras Plateau MLG Shattered Temple MLG Tal’darim Altar MLG Antiga Shipyard MLG Dual Sight MLG Xel’Naga Caverns.

6.    Annotations

All times are considered CEST, which is GMT+2 when in daylight saving time.

All rules in this document are subject to change and will be enforced at the discretion of the GI Cup Administration.

In case of any problem not determined in the rules the GI Cup Administration decides at their best knowledge and belief.