Global Knockout City League

Season 0 competition rules

These rules govern Season 0: free play from September 3, 2026, the three free prizes, and the Season 0 sweepstakes. The three free prizes close October 31, 2026 at 7:59 PM Eastern (23:59 UTC) and are awarded by November 15, 2026. Paid league play and the Championship in January 2027 are Season 1, a separate competition with its own entry, its own prize pool and its own rules. Free play itself continues to January 31, 2027. Read section 3 before paying for anything.

This page covers two separate things. Sections 1 to 10 are the competition: you pay to enter, you play, and you win on results. Section 11 is the Season 0 sweepstakes: a prize draw with no purchase necessary, decided by chance rather than by skill. Nothing in one carries over to the other.

Changes are recorded at the foot of this page.

1. Season structure and dates

Registration is free and is required to appear on any leaderboard. Registering does not commit you to paying for anything.

2. Divisions and eligibility

Free division players compete and are ranked on the leaderboard all season. They fund no Season 1 prize pool and receive no payout from it, and they compete for the three Season 0 prizes on exactly the same terms as everybody else. The payout exclusion is enforced in the software, not by policy alone: a prize resolution requested for the free division is refused outright.

You must be registered, and your in-game name must match the one on your registration, for your matches to count toward anything.

3. Entry fees and refunds

Entry is $9.99 per competing player. This is the only place the entry price is set, and every other money figure in these rules follows from it. Pricing is per seat, not per team.

Every team is three players. Three is both the minimum and the maximum: the league is played in trios, and a team cannot be registered at any other size. A full team is therefore three seats, or $29.97. The captain may pay for the whole roster in one transaction.

Roster changes after payment

Every competing player pays. Entry is $9.99 per seat whether a seat is bought at the start of the season or added later.

If a team pays for its roster and later adds a player, that player’s seat is not yet covered and they cannot enter a paid bracket until it is. The captain can pay for the additional seat at any time from the team page, and the new player becomes eligible as soon as that payment settles.

This is not a penalty and it is not a second fee for anyone already paid for. It is the same $9.99 every other competitor paid, applied to the person who joined after the first payment was taken. A roster that grew from three to four has four competing players, and the prize pool is funded by four seats rather than three.

Replacing a player is the same arithmetic. A substitute who takes the place of someone who has left plays on the seat already paid for and owes nothing further; a substitute who is an addition to the roster is a new seat.

When entry opens

Entry for the Season 1 division competition opens November 3, 2026. The bracket is played January 12–25, 2027. Entry is open for ten weeks before the bracket so that teams can form and pay when they are ready, rather than everyone deciding on the day the bracket starts.

This buys a seat in Season 1. It buys nothing in Season 0. Every Season 0 prize is free to compete for, and no payment taken here affects any of them.

Entry opening is not the bracket starting. Nothing is played for money until January 12, 2027, and no payment is taken before November 3, 2026.

3 November is deliberately after the three free prizes close on 31 October, so that no paid entry can be open while the free prizes are still being decided. Those three prizes are free to compete for and nothing about them changes if you pay or do not.

4. Prize pool

This is the Season 1 division prize pool. It is funded by Season 1 entry fees, taken from 3 November 2026, and it is not connected to any Season 0 prize. No Season 0 prize is funded by a payment from anybody.

70% of every entry fee goes into the prize pool. 30% covers platform operations and support. On the $9.99 entry set in section 3, that is $6.99 into the pool and $3.00 to operations.

Pools are computed per division and are never combined. 70% of the WDBF division's fees funds the WDBF pool. 70% of the Open division's fees funds the Open pool. The two never cross-subsidise, and a division's winners are paid only from what that division's entrants contributed.

There is no guaranteed minimum and the pool is not underwritten. It grows with every entry, so there is no figure to quote until entries close. You are competing for a pool the entrants collectively fund.

5. Prizes

Cash from the prize pool described in section 4, plus in-kind prizes.

In-kind: TWT Audio gaming headsets.

Three headsets are awarded in Season 0, one in each of the three categories below. All three are decided on play up to October 31, 2026 at 7:59 PM Eastern and awarded by November 15, 2026. This is the only count. Any other number anywhere else is out of date and this list governs.

• Most skill. One headset. To the top performer. Free to take part in. Governed by section 12.
• Most growth. One headset. To the most improved player, across the whole league rather than once per division. Free to take part in. Governed by section 12.
• Random draw. One headset. Drawn at random among players who complete the Season 0 challenges, which are the six Compound Score goals, together with anyone who enters on the free entry form. No purchase necessary and equal odds for both routes. Governed by section 11.

League matches played through cloud play count towards the Season 0 challenges exactly the same as matches played on a PC. The same match, the same credit, whichever way you connected to it.

Season 1. The WDBF division and Open division prizes, and the cash prize pool in section 4, belong to the Season 1 competition played in January 2027. Those categories still exist; they are not Season 0 prizes and are not decided here. Their quantities are published in the Season 1 rules.

The Compound Score is six independent goals: combat, style, teamwork, defense, mastery and consistency. Each clears on its own. Winning matches is not required to make progress on it.

6. Seeding

Free play is the qualification period. Seeding is computed from matches played between September 3, 2026, the first match recorded by a league player, and January 11, 2027 at 23:59 UTC – the day before paid bracket play begins. Free play itself continues to January 31, 2027; it is the seeding window that closes on the 11th, not free play. How you play inside that window determines your seed going into the brackets.

This start date replaces the 15 September previously published here. It was moved earlier, not later, so that no match a player has already played falls outside the season. Widening the window can only ever add a player's own matches back; it can never remove one, and nobody's progress is reduced by this change.

• Seeding is by KOs per match.
• A player must have played at least three matches to be seeded. Below that gate a player is placed in the bracket, but their position carries no claim.
• Seeds are tiered rather than a strict 1 to N ordering.
• A team's seed pools its members' free-play KOs. A rostered member with no qualifying matches contributes nothing and does not block the team from being seeded on the members who do qualify.

A player or team who skips free play entirely is seeded on nothing.

Brackets are single elimination, seeded so that the top seeds meet as late as the draw allows. A field that is not a power of two is padded with byes, and byes are given to the highest seeds.

7. Match format

Every bracket matchup is a best-of-three series. The series winner is the side that wins two legs. It is not decided on aggregate score: Knockout City resolves win or loss per match, so there is no points total to aggregate.

The neutral server is chosen by rule, not by agreement. It is the server with the lowest maximum ping across all players in the match, measured before the leg starts. It is not the geographic midpoint: routing does not follow distance, and an equal-but-high ping favours aggressive throwing over reactive catching, which would change the game rather than balance it.

Ping is recorded per player per leg.

Bracket matches are private matches, not street play. You schedule a window with your opponent, invite each other in game, and play it out directly. Free play continues to count toward the leaderboard and does not count as a bracket result.

8. Forfeits and no-shows

Each leg must be played within seven days of becoming available. A side that has not played within that window forfeits the leg.

A forfeited leg counts toward the two legs needed to win the series, exactly as a played leg would. A forfeit is recorded as a forfeit rather than as a played result, so it is distinguishable in the record.

9. Conduct and results

Every registrant agrees to the Community Conduct Pledge at registration. It applies for the whole season.

Results are recorded automatically. Match data is captured from the league server, normally within about a minute of the match ending. There is no self-reporting of scores, and no honour system to abuse.

Attempting to manipulate results, including deliberately losing to affect seeding or a bracket, is grounds for removal from the season without refund.

9.1 Deliberately playing below your level

Playing badly on purpose to make a later improvement look larger is a conduct breach. It is the same thing as deliberately losing to affect seeding, applied to a different prize, and it is treated the same way.

This is stated plainly because section 12.3 publishes how Most growth is measured, and anything measured can be played towards. The floor in 12.3 limits how much such an attempt could ever be worth. This section covers the attempt itself.

What is reviewable: a run of consecutive matches with near-zero output followed by a marked jump, in a player who had not yet set a baseline. That pattern is visible in the match data and does not require anyone to report it.

What is not: being new, being beaten, having a bad night, or improving quickly. Genuine improvement is the thing this prize exists to reward, and a large jump is not by itself evidence of anything. Players learn fast, and most of the biggest improvements on this board are real.

A person decides, not an algorithm. The organiser reviews the matches and makes the call, and will say so openly to the player concerned rather than adjusting a board silently. There is no automatic disqualification, no threshold that triggers on its own, and no score that removes anyone by arithmetic. If a decision is made it will be recorded here in the change log with the date.

10. Still being decided

• Solo entrants in a 3v3 game. Knockout City is 3v3 and the Open division is individuals. Whether solo entrants get a 1v1 bracket, pool into ad-hoc teams, or remain leaderboard only, is not decided.
• Roster lock. When a roster locks for the season, after which no additions are accepted, is not decided. How an addition is paid for is settled and is in section 3.
• A free team division. Under consideration for community crews and WDBF members not selected for a national team. Not currently available.

11. Season 0 sweepstakes

11.1 No purchase necessary

No purchase or payment is necessary to enter or to win. A purchase does not improve your chances of winning. Paid league entrants and free players are drawn from the same pool at the same odds.

11.2 The two ways to enter

There are two routes in, and they lead to one pool with one draw:

• Free play. Complete all six Season 0 challenges, which are the six Compound Score goals, then choose to enter. Completing the challenges makes you eligible; it does not enter you. Entering is a separate step you take yourself. League matches played through cloud play count towards the challenges exactly the same as matches played on a PC, so a player with no gaming PC has the same route in as anyone else.
• Free entry by form. Submit the entry form on the sweepstakes entry page. No gameplay, no goals, no registration and no payment are required.

Both routes are free and both carry exactly one entry. An entry made through the form is worth precisely as much as an entry earned across a season of play. That is the point of it.

One entry per person. Entries are matched on email address. A second entry from the same person is rejected rather than silently ignored, and does not create a second chance.

11.3 Who can enter

• Open to legal residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia. Entries from anywhere else cannot be accepted, and an entry from outside that area is void. We are sorry to draw a line here; it is where the prize can actually be posted.
• Open to entrants aged 13 and over. See the age note in section 2.
• Your year of birth is self declared. We do not ask for proof at entry, and we collect nothing about a parent or guardian at entry.
• A false age declaration forfeits the prize. If a winner turns out to have been under 13 at the time of entry, the entry is void and the prize is redrawn.

11.4 Entry period and the draw

• Entry closes October 31, 2026 at 7:59 PM Eastern (23:59 UTC), the same day the three free prizes close. This deadline is not being extended.
• The draw is held after entry closes, and on or before November 15, 2026.
• One TWT Audio gaming headset is drawn in this sweepstakes, with a retail value of approximately $100. It is one of the three Season 0 headsets listed in section 5; the other two are the Most skill and Most growth awards, which are decided on play rather than drawn and are governed by section 12.
• Winners are drawn at random from the single pool. The draw does not read which route an entry came from.
• Odds depend on the number of entries received, which is not known in advance.

11.5 Claiming a prize

Winners are notified by email at the address on their entry. We do not ask for a postal address until someone has actually won. Nobody hands over their address for a chance at something.

• The notification carries a private claim link. It is single use, it stops working the moment an address is submitted, and it expires with the claim window below.
• You have 14 days from the date the notification is sent to complete the claim.
• Reminders are sent on day 7 and day 12 if the claim is still open.
• If the claim is not completed within 14 days, the prize is forfeited automatically. A forfeited prize may be redrawn among entrants who have not already won. Any redraw is made by hand, not automatically, and only for the specific prize that was forfeited.

11.6 Winners under 18

A winner aged 13 to 17 does not give us a postal address. The claim form asks that winner for a parent or legal guardian email address instead.

• The guardian receives the claim link, confirms consent, and provides the shipping address.
• The prize is shipped to the parent or legal guardian, never directly to the minor.
• The same 14 day window and the same day 7 and day 12 reminders apply, and they run against whoever holds the open step. If the guardian has not completed the claim by day 14, the prize is forfeited on the same terms as any other claim.

11.7 What we do with your entry, and with the address

An entry holds your name, your email address and your year of birth, and nothing else. The email address is there for two reasons only: to reach you if you win, and to make sure nobody holds two entries. It is not sold, it is not used for marketing, and it is not shared with TWT Audio. Our full privacy policy covers entry data along with everything else we hold.

A shipping address is collected for one purpose, which is posting a prize to the person who won it. It is deleted once the prize has shipped. It is not used for marketing, and it is not shared with a sponsor.

11.8 Odds, sponsors, tax and the rest

• The prize is supplied by TWT Audio. TWT Audio does not administer the draw and does not receive entrant details.
• This sweepstakes is administered by Trophy Platform. Questions, disputes and claims go to marcus@trophyplatform.com, and a real person answers them.
• Any tax on a prize is the winner's responsibility. We do not pay it for you and we cannot advise you on it. The prize value we publish, approximately $100, is the figure to use if you need one.
• This sweepstakes is not sponsored, endorsed or administered by Reddit, and it is not sponsored, endorsed or administered by Velan Studios. Neither has any involvement in it, and neither holds any entrant details. Knockout City is Velan Studios' game and we are grateful for it, which is a different thing from their being behind this draw.
• There is no cash alternative and prizes are not transferable.
• An entry that is duplicated, automated, or made through an account created to game the draw is void.
• Entries earned through free play are subject to the same competitive integrity checks as the leaderboard, including the weighting applied to matches played against bots.
• Void where prohibited by law.

Questions about the sweepstakes go to the address in the Questions section below, the same as anything else on this page.

12. Season prizes won on skill

12.1 Free to compete for

Both prizes in this section are open to every registered player. No entry fee, no season seat and no purchase of any kind is required, and paying for one confers no advantage of any kind here.

Every Season 0 prize is free to compete for. No payment is taken before 3 November 2026, which is after all three Season 0 prizes have closed. Nobody can buy an advantage in any Season 0 prize.

12.2 Most skill

One TWT Audio headset to the top performer, meaning the highest-ranked eligible player on the Champion Board at the close of the Season 0 prize window on October 31, 2026 at 7:59 PM Eastern (23:59 UTC). This is one of the three headsets listed in section 5.

• The board ranks on KOs per match, the same metric section 6 uses for seeding.
• A player needs at least ten recorded matches to be ranked. Below that they appear on the board but hold no position for this prize.
• The metric and the minimum are published here before the season closes and will not change during it.

12.3 Most growth

One TWT Audio headset to the most improved player, meaning the player who improves most across Season 0. This is one of the three headsets listed in section 5.

• Improvement is the change between a player's baseline and the average of their last five recorded matches, expressed as a percentage of the baseline.
• A player's baseline is the average of their first five recorded matches, fixed once those five are recorded and never recalculated afterwards.
• The baseline has a floor of 30. A first-five average below 30 is treated as 30 for this calculation. A player whose genuine baseline is already above 30 is unaffected, and no player's position changes because of the floor alone.
• Matches played after 7:59 PM Eastern on October 31, 2026 do not count towards this prize. Free play continues to January 31, 2027, but this prize closes with the other two.

12.4 One prize per person

No player wins more than one Season 0 prize. The three Season 0 prizes are decided after they close on October 31, 2026 at 7:59 PM Eastern, in a fixed order, and the order is published in advance so nobody has to take it on trust:

1. Most skill is decided first.
2. Most growth is decided second. A player who has already won Most skill is passed over, and the prize goes to the next eligible player.
3. The sweepstakes in section 11 is drawn last, and anyone who has already won either of the above is removed from the pool before the draw is made.

The Season 1 division prizes are not in this order and are not decided here. They are awarded at the Season 1 championship in January 2027, two months after these three are settled, so they cannot sit in a sequence that resolves by November 15, 2026.

Being passed over costs nobody anything they earned: the prize moves down to the next eligible player, and the player who was passed over keeps the prize they already won. Their name still stands at the top of the board they topped.

12.5 Ties

Broken by the earlier of the two qualifying performances. If they remain tied, both prizes are awarded and the next prize in that category is not.

12.6 Who cannot win

The organiser plays and appears on every board, and cannot win any prize in these rules. He is ranked honestly where he actually places; the prize passes to the highest-placed player who is eligible.

12.7 One prize per person holds within a season, not across seasons

The rule in 12.4 applies to the three Season 0 prizes. Winning one of them does not bar anybody from a Season 1 division prize in January 2027.

They are different competitions three months apart with different entry conditions, and barring somebody in January for having won a free prize in October would be wrong. A player who tops the Champion Board in Season 0 and then wins their division in Season 1 keeps both.

A free player cannot win the Season 1 division prizes, which are won by paid division teams and funded by Season 1 entry fees. Every Season 0 prize is free to take part in, and every registered player competes for all three, whether or not they ever pay for anything.

Changes to these rules

This page is versioned and dated at the top. Material changes before the bracket is seeded will be listed here with the date. After brackets are seeded, changes will be limited to correcting errors, and any correction that affects a result will be stated openly rather than edited in silently.

Questions

Anything not covered here, email marcus@trophyplatform.com. If a rule is unclear, that is a problem with the rule and worth telling us about.

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