Every player has a single ELO rating that updates after each ranked match. Beating a higher-rated opponent moves you further up than beating a lower-rated one — and the same is true in reverse.

In short: the rating reflects the strength of the players you've beaten, not just how many wins you racked up.

• Initial placement after 5 calibration matches.
• K-factor scales with rating volatility — newer players move faster.
• No flat ladders, no pay-to-rank, no boost trades.

Stop playing and your rating decays — sit out long enough and you'll drop a few hundred ELO. See Decay over time below for the specifics.

If you stop playing, your ELO slowly drifts back toward the average. The longer you're away, the further it drifts. Show up again, win a few matches, and you'll climb back fast — but the top of the leaderboard stays in the hands of people who are actually playing this week.

Decay starts after about two weeks of inactivity and is gentle at first, accelerating slowly. Active players don't lose points to decay.

A season runs roughly one year. At the end:

• End-of-season snapshot — your final rank is recorded for the season's archive.
• The season's #1 gets a unique Discord role for the next season. No other cosmetic rewards.
• A soft reset compresses ratings back toward the mean rather than wiping to zero — your progress isn't lost, just compressed for the new season.

The Hall of Fame is reserved for genuinely dominant players — finishing #1 doesn't guarantee induction. You earn a spot by winning two seasons in a row. Other extraordinary feats may also qualify at staff discretion.

Anti-cheat is on, accounts must be premium Mojang/Microsoft accounts, and any boost-trading patterns are detected and rolled back.

• Server-side movement and combat verification.
• Account-share detection — single account per player.
• Match recordings retained for review.

Suspect cheating? Tell us with the player's name and the match time.

By playing, you agree to:

• No client-side cheating, third-party assistance, or autoclickers.
• No harassment, slurs, or doxxing — across game chat, voice, and Discord.
• No advertising other servers.
• No exploiting bugs — report them; we reward good-faith reports.
• Staff decisions on edge cases are final, but appealable through Discord ticket.

Penalty length scales with severity and prior history.