What are tiebreakers?

When two or more participants finish with the same score, a tiebreaker is used to determine the final ranking of players or teams. If the first tiebreaker used isn’t enough to determine a more granular ranking, additional tiebreakers are applied.

Where are tiebreakers used?

All leaderboards, including Leagues & Ladders, Hub leaderboards, and Round-robin and Swiss System tournaments use tiebreakers.

Which tiebreakers are used?

Tiebreakers vary between competitions. Swiss tournaments use the Buchholz Score as the first tiebreaker (explained below).

Competition organizers may specify their own tiebreaker rules in the competition’s rules section. Ties are highlighted on the leaderboard as shown below:

Leaderboards: Hover over any tied scores to view the tiebreakers

Last resort

If no tiebreaker breaks a tie on a leaderboard, the participant that was placed on the leaderboard first will be ranked on top (Leagues & Ladders, Hub leaderboards). If no tiebreaker breaks a tie at the end of a tournament (e.g. Round-robin or Swiss System), the final tiebreaker is selected by chance to determine the final ranking.

The organizer may enforce different tiebreaker rules and specify these in the competition’s rules section.

Buchholz Score (Swiss System)

The Buchholz Score is the sum of a participant’s opponents’ wins. The Buchholz score gives one point for each match the opponents you faced won. Your team’s points are considered more valuable if you achieved them against teams with a better performance in the tournament.