Running matches

How a match runs

Veto

Both teams do the map veto on their player pages. See Map veto for the order.

Server

Auto Tournament picks a free server and loads the match. If no server is free, the match waits.

Warmup

Players join with the Connect to Server button on their player page, or the connect command from the match. Each player is put on the right team. Players type .ready in chat.

Live

The match starts when all players are ready. The Matches page shows the score, the round and the phase (live, halftime, overtime, paused).

Result

When the series ends, Auto Tournament saves the result and moves the bracket forward. If demo recording is on, the server uploads the demo. You can download it from the match.

Next match

The server resets and is free for the next match. There is a short wait after a series ends before the server resets, so players can see the result.

Map veto

Veto is used for every best of 1, 3 and 5 match. The map pool must have exactly 7 maps. Team A is the first team in the match.

Best of 1

Team A bans 2 maps.
Team B bans 3 maps.
Team A bans 1 map.
Team B picks the starting side on the last map.

Best of 3

Team A bans 1 map. Team B bans 1 map.
Team A picks map 1. Team B picks the side on map 1.
Team B picks map 2. Team A picks the side on map 2.
Team B bans 1 map. Team A bans 1 map.
Team B picks the side on map 3, the last map.

Best of 5

Team A bans 1 map. Team B bans 1 map.
Team A picks map 1. Team B picks the side.
Team B picks map 2. Team A picks the side.
Team A picks map 3. Team B picks the side.
Team B picks map 4. Team A picks the side.
The last map is map 5.

If a team cannot finish the veto, check that the players are signed in with Steam and are on the team's roster. As a last option, an admin can use Skip veto.

Admin controls

Open a match on the Matches page to see Admin controls:

Action	What it does
Pause match / Unpause match	Admin pause. Players cannot unpause it.
Swap teams	Switch the sides of the teams (CT and T).
Restart round	Restart the current round. The economy is reset.
Restore backup	Go back to the start of a round you choose.
Add round time	Add seconds to the current round.
Broadcast message	Send a chat message to all players on the server.
Skip veto	Skip the veto and load the first map.
End warmup	Start the match without waiting for `.ready`.
End match	End the match now and save the current score.
Restart match	Load the match again from the start. All progress is lost.
Reallocate server	Move a match that is not live yet to another server.
Force cancel match	Cancel the match even if the server is offline, and free the server.

The Admin Tools page has the same kind of actions for one or more servers at once, a server event monitor, and the app logs.

A match needs a decision

In single and double elimination, a series can end level on maps, rounds and damage. The match then shows NEEDS ADMIN DECISION.

Choose the winner

Choose the winning team in the match window. The bracket then continues as normal.

The same action works for a match that is stuck live or loaded. From the API, use POST /api/matches/:slug/winner with an admin token.

After a restart

If the app or a server restarted during a match, the match state can be out of date.

Fix server warnings

Open Servers and fix any warnings first. See Troubleshooting.

Run match recovery

Open Admin Tools and click Run Match Recovery Now.

Check the match

Open the match again and check the state. If players cannot join a match that is not live yet, use Reallocate server to move it to another server.

Auto Tournament also runs recovery once when it starts. To run it from a script, send POST /api/recovery/recover with an admin token. POST /api/recovery/replay/:matchSlug replays the events of one match from the last hour. Send {"sinceTimestamp": 1730000000} in the body to choose another start time.