UT2004 iCTF 3v3 Tournament

The Silly Hats Only community brings Unreal Tournament 2004 Instagib Capture the Flag back to the arena: 6 teams of 3, a full round-robin, and a championship final. This is a community event — run for fun, competition, and the love of UT. Maps and details may be refined by the admin team as the season fills.

Official Ruleset

1. Tournament at a Glance

• Game / Mode: Unreal Tournament 2004 — Instagib Capture the Flag (iCTF)
• Format: 3v3 · 6 teams of 3 players
• Structure: Round-robin → top 2 teams (by record) play a championship final
• Match Format: Best-of-3 maps — each team picks one map, third map is the tie-breaker
• Map Win Condition: First team to 8 flag captures wins the map
• Match Win Condition: First team to win 2 maps wins the match
• Tie-breaker Map: Amped
• Prize: $150 cash to the winning team (Venmo / PayPal / CashApp)
• Disputes: Handled by the admin team on the Silly Hats Discord

2. Round-Robin

Each team plays every other team once. Once all teams have completed their matches, each team's record is assessed to determine the top two teams, who advance to the final.

If a tie exists, it is broken by the Tie-Breaker Protocol below.

3. Match Format

• Each match is best of 3 maps, with each team choosing one map.
• The tie-breaker (third) map is always Amped.
• A map is won by the first team to score 8 flag captures.
• The first team to win 2 maps is declared the victor of the match.

4. Map Selection (Round-Robin)

During the round-robin, each team may only choose a given map once — once your team has played a map you picked, you cannot pick it again until the Finals. Each team may also ban a map.

Selection order for a match between Team A and Team B (Team A acts first):

1. Team A bans a map from the pool.
2. Team B bans a map — both bans are now out for this match.
3. Team A picks the first map to play (not a banned map; Team A cannot pick this map again until the Finals).
4. Team B picks the second map from the remaining list (Team B cannot pick this map again until the Finals).
5. If the match goes to a third map, the tie-breaker map Amped is used.

Bans apply to that match only and reset for the next round — a banned map is available again in your future matchups. Within a match, a banned map cannot be picked. The pick-once rule is what persists across the whole round-robin: once your team plays a map it picked, you can't pick it again until the Finals, where everything resets.

5. Tie-Breaker Protocol

If two or more teams finish the round-robin with an identical Win/Loss match record, the following hierarchy is applied in descending order to determine the top two teams advancing to the Finals:

1. Head-to-Head Record — ranking is determined by match results only between the tied teams. (If Team A beat Team B, Team A takes the higher seed.)
2. Overall Map Differential — if three or more teams are locked in a head-to-head circle (e.g. A beats B, B beats C, C beats A), the tie is broken by Total Maps Won − Total Maps Lost across the entire tournament. Dominant 2–0 match wins are rewarded heavily here.
3. Overall Cap Differential — if still tied on map differential, the tie is broken by Total Flags Captured − Total Flags Conceded across all matches played. Every flag cap counts.
4. The "Amped" Sudden Death — in the astronomically unlikely event teams remain perfectly deadlocked after steps 1–3, the tied teams enter the server for a first-to-1-cap sudden death match on Amped to lock in the final bracket.

6. Finals

The two highest-ranked teams (by Win/Loss record or by the Tie-Breaker Protocol) play each other again for the championship. All maps are available for vote/ban in the final, with the tie-breaker map (Amped) still in effect. The winning team is declared the 2026 3v3 Round-Robin Tournament Champions.

7. Team Formation

To keep things fun and fair, teams are created by the admin team based on known player skill sets. There will be no complaining about teams once they are decided — we are all adults here for fun, competition, and the love of UT. Whining about teams or making other players feel inferior will not be tolerated. Keep the ego in check, dawg.

7.1 Substitutes

We prefer all round-robin matches to be completed with existing teams/lineups; however, extenuating circumstances may arise. If a player cannot make it to a match:

• Both teams must agree to an available sub to complete the match.
• If a suitable sub is not available, the team with the unavailable player may have to forfeit if the match cannot be played within the tournament timeframe.

8. Map Pool

Tie-breaker map: Amped

9. Prize

A cash prize of $150 will be awarded to the winning team, payable via Venmo / PayPal / CashApp.

10. Disputes & Support

All disputes are handled by the Silly Hats admin team on the Silly Hats Discord. Open a ticket through the support channel and provide clear evidence (screenshots or short video clips). All administrative decisions are final and binding.

11. Score Reporting

Captains can report their team's match score through the competition page.