Official tournament rulebook
These rules apply to every PCPN tournament: Weekly Cups, qualifier cups and the grand tournament. They add to the server rules, which still apply.
Version of 8 November 2026. The version published when a tournament starts is the one that applies to it.
1. Eligibility and registration
- Free entry: no payment and no tokens are ever needed to play.
- Open to verified members only: accepted on the whitelist and trial period over (7 days).
- One account per person. Registering or playing with someone else's account is forbidden.
- In 2v2, register as a team: your teammate gets an invitation and must accept it before registration closes.
- A player in a 2v2 team can only register for 2v2 tournaments with his teammate, and only be invited by him. To play with someone else, he must leave or disband the team first.
- Cash prizes require you to tick "I am 18 or older and can legally receive a cash prize" when registering. Without it you can still play, but any cash prize you win is reinvested into the next prize pools.
- Every registration is validated by the staff after an anticheat scan (Ocean) done in game by a staff member: stay available on the server. Only validated registrations enter the bracket.
- Up to 32 players (1v1) or teams (2v2) per cup.
2. Format
- Single elimination. Every match is a Bo3, the final is a Bo5.
- The third place is decided by a third-place match in Bo3, played right after the final.
- Weekly Cups, Paris time: Saturday 21:00 and 22:30 in 1v1, Sunday 21:00 and 22:30 in 2v2. NoDebuff and Build UHC in turn, the order is swapped every weekend.
- Semi-finals and final are played in the Colosseum when it is free. Kits, arenas and settings are the same for everyone.
- Anti-camping: after 4 minutes of a round in NoDebuff and 6 minutes in Build UHC, a red border appears at the arena walls and closes in progressively to a 9×9 area in the center; standing outside it deals heavy damage (about 2 hearts per second). In Build UHC, building is limited to 8 blocks above the arena floor for the whole match (no towers or sky bases).
- Safety limit: a tournament match that reaches 20 minutes in total is stopped and replayed (never a draw in a tournament).
3. Check-in
- Registration closes 30 minutes before the start.
- Check in between 30 and 10 minutes before the start. A player or team that has not checked in is left out of the bracket.
- Playing both cups of the evening? The second check-in opens with the first one, so you can do both before your first match. Your second cup's matches start once your first cup is over for you.
4. No-show and forfeit
- When your match is called, join it within 3 minutes (reminders are sent). After that, the absent side loses by forfeit.
- If both sides are absent, the better seed goes through.
- A player or team that leaves the tournament after the check-in forfeits all their remaining matches.
- The staff can record a forfeit when a player can't play (for example, banned or unreachable).
5. Disconnections and server problems
- A player who disconnects during a fight loses immediately: the opponent wins the match. There is no time to come back, whatever the cause (game crash, internet cut...).
- A server crash or restart never eliminates anyone: the match resumes with the score already won.
- Disconnecting on purpose to arrange a result is unsportsmanlike: disqualification and strikes.
6. Ping and lag
- There is no maximum ping. Your ping is shown to everyone.
- Each player is responsible for their own connection: lag on your side is not a reason to replay a round.
- If the server itself lags for everyone, the staff on duty can pause the match and have the round replayed.
- Spectator mode (PCPN menu > Spectate) is forbidden in tournaments, except for the staff. The public watches from the stands or the live, which is delayed by 2 minutes against stream sniping.
7. Allowed client and mods
- Lunar Client only: it is the only client accepted on the server.
- Lunar's built-in mods are allowed (keystrokes, CPS display, armor and potion HUD, zoom, crosshair…), with no setting that gives an automatic advantage.
- Forbidden: any hacked, injected or modified client and any third-party mod; killaura, reach, velocity or anti-knockback, x-ray, auto-pot, timer, hitbox changes, minimaps or anything showing hidden information.
- Macros and autoclickers are forbidden, including mouse software or settings that send more clicks than you press (macros, double-click, click assist). Cheating is 3 strikes at once: banned for life.
- When in doubt about a mod, ask the staff before the tournament.
9. Fair play and integrity
- Forbidden: collusion, win trading, match fixing, splitting prizes to change a result, losing on purpose, and boosting.
- Forbidden: account sharing (playing on someone else's account or letting someone play yours).
- Forbidden: ghosting. No one may pass information to a player during a match, in game or anywhere else.
- Every tournament match is recorded and can be reviewed. A breach found later still cancels the result and the prize.
10. Staff in competition
- Staff members (owner, admin, moderator) may compete in ranked, cups and the grand tournament like any player, with no advantage: same rules, same anticheat, replays recorded.
- A staff member never referees a match they play in, or a match of their teammate: another staff member handles it.
- Abuse by a staff member is sanctioned more severely.
- Money won by staff is never paid: it is reinvested into future cash prizes (in 2v2, only the staff player's half). A staff third place gets 200 tokens instead of a cosmetic.
11. Prizes and payment
- Weekly Cups: 1st €20, 2nd €10, per player in 1v1 and shared by the team in 2v2. 3rd: a shop cosmetic of their choice for each player (200 tokens if they already own everything).
- Grand tournament, per format: 1st €100, 2nd €50 (shared in 2v2), 3rd 500 tokens for each player.
- Cash prizes are only paid to players aged 18 or over, with no exception (no parental consent). Under 18, no cash prize.
- Payment by PayPal only. Enter your PayPal address in your player area. An owner checks age and identity before paying.
- Prizes are paid within 14 days after the results are validated.
- Cheating, a refused screenshare or a breach of these rules cancels the prize.
12. Qualifier cups
- The cups of the weekend of 9-10 January 2027 are qualifier cups, one per format.
- They give places in the grand tournament only: no cash prize and no cosmetic.
- All the rules of this page apply to them.
13. Grand tournament qualification
- Grand tournament: 16-17 January 2027, the 4 formats. 32 places per format (players in 1v1, teams in 2v2).
- 16 places from the season ELO ladder, frozen on 8 January 2027 at 20:00 (1v1: ranked of the mode; 2v2: team ladder).
- 16 places from the qualifier cup of the same format.
- Qualified players confirm by registering before 14 January 2027 at 20:00. Otherwise the place goes to the next reserve of the same list (16 reserves per list). A promoted reserve has 12 hours to register.
- Matches in Bo3, final in Bo5, third-place match in Bo3.
14. Disputes and appeals
- Report a problem right away to the staff on duty, in game or with a support ticket. After the tournament, open a support ticket before the prizes are paid.
- The staff on duty decides with the replays, the anticheat data and the screenshare results. A staff member involved in the match never decides.
- The staff decision is final for the tournament in progress.
- Appeal: a sanction (strike or ban) can be contested on the appeal page or with a support ticket. A result can be reviewed by an owner through a support ticket. The owner's decision is final.
15. Changes
- PCPN may postpone or cancel a tournament (technical issue, too few players).
- These rules can be updated. The version on this page is the one that counts.
Staff code of conduct · PCPN is not affiliated with Mojang Studios or Microsoft. Minecraft is a trademark of Mojang Synergies AB.
