How a match works — Wiki

Teams and sides, the knife round, two halves of MR12, MR3 overtime, timeouts and the end of the match.

Getting into a match

1. Queue on the website, alone or with your party.

2. Accept the match when it's found. Everyone has 20 seconds to accept. If anyone doesn't, the match is cancelled, and everyone who accepted goes straight back into the queue, unless someone in their party didn't accept. How the matchmaker picks the teams is on Matchmaking and Elo.

3. Veto the maps in the match room, down to the one you'll play (see Maps).

4. Join the server with the connect button, or the connect line in the game's console, within 5 minutes. Anyone who isn't on the server by then is a no-show: the match is called off and the others queue again.

Missing a ready check or not showing up never costs Elo. The first time is free; after that you get a matchmaking cooldown that grows each time:

Each week without an offence takes one off your count, so two misses months apart are both free. If the server itself fails, nobody is penalised.

Nothing starts until all ten players are in. Then there's a 10-second countdown.

Teams and sides

Two teams of five. One team plays the Allies (US weapons), the other the Axis (German weapons).

• The Allies always attack. They carry the bomb and try to plant it at site A or B.

• The Axis always defend the two sites.

So your nation decides both your side and your weapons. At halftime the teams trade nations, so you play both.

Friendly fire is off: you can't hurt your teammates. Your own frag can still hurt you.

The knife round

The match opens with a knife-only round, lasting at most two minutes. The winning team gets a vote, Pick Starting Nation: ALLIES (F2) to attack first, or AXIS (F3) to defend first. The vote lasts 25 seconds. If the knife round times out with nobody winning, there's no vote and the teams keep their sides.

Two halves: MR12

• A match is at most 24 rounds, and the first team to 13 wins.

• After round 12 the teams switch nations: the attackers become the defenders, with the other nation's weapons.

• Wallets reset at the switch, back to the 1 token everyone starts a half with (see Economy).

Overtime

At 12-12 the match goes to overtime:

• 6 rounds (MR3), and the first team to 4 wins.

• It starts with the same sides as the first half and switches after 3 rounds.

• Everyone starts overtime with a full wallet (14 tokens).

• A tied overtime (3-3) is followed by another, until one team wins.

During the match

• Timeouts: each team has one tactical timeout (30 seconds) and one technical timeout (60 seconds) a half, and gets both back at every side switch: halftime and each half of overtime. Call one from the pause menu. Once the vote passes, its time is added to the next buy phase.

• Surrender: a team can vote to surrender from the pause menu. The match ends at once, and the team that surrendered loses.

• Votes need a yes from every player on the team, and a single "no" ends them. A vote lasts 30 seconds. Each team can start one timeout vote and one surrender vote a round, and none before the knife round's winners have picked their side. There's no vote-kick.

• After you die you watch your teammates, never an enemy.

• If you drop out, rejoin within 5 minutes and you get your score and your tokens back. Your kills, deaths and assists on the in-game scoreboard start again from zero, your weapons are gone, and you go back to your own team.

• Stay active: alive in a live round without moving or looking around, you get a warning after 60 seconds and are kicked after 90. The buy phase doesn't count.

• Medals pop up as you play (see Medals); the big ones are announced in chat.

The scoreboard

The Score column adds up:

• An assist goes to the player, other than the killer, who did the most damage to the victim: any amount counts. Once the victim's health has come back, the earlier damage no longer counts.

• At the end of the match everyone gets 500 points for a win, 400 for a draw or 250 for a loss.

The end of the match

The end screen shows the match's top three players, by Score, then kills, then assists, then fewest deaths. The scoreboard stays up for 60 seconds. Then everyone goes back to the main menu and the server closes. The result goes to the website, which updates your rating and level.

Ranks

Your rank is a level from 1 to 10, set by your Elo:

Everyone starts at 750 Elo and plays 10 placement matches, where Elo moves three times as fast. Your level shows after the tenth. Your rating depends on who you beat: a win against a stronger team gains more. The details are on Matchmaking and Elo. Your level shows on the in-game scoreboard too.