Official THL Rules and Regulations

Rules Philosophy

THL's rules philosophy is based heavily on its culture, as linked on the website here. As a reminder, our vision is to play tournament style Hearthstone on a flexible, multi-week schedule that allows players with all lifestyles to compete while forming social connections through teamwork, sporting competition, camaraderie, and love of the game.

The rules below exist to guide players in the case of common issues and aim to correct both negative behaviors and inappropriate competitive advantages gained through failure to follow proper procedures. It is the responsibility of all players to make themselves familiar with these rules and regulations if they wish to participate in THL. All rulings will attempt to influence the match as little as possible so we can play as many games of fair Hearthstone that we can. When a situation comes up that is not explicitly covered by the rules, we will make a judgment in line with this philosophy as well.

Disciplinary action will be brought into play when it becomes clear that a player or captain has attempted to take advantage of any part of the rules against our core values and will be dealt with on a case by case basis. Our organization is based on the honor system first and foremost, and all members of THL should actively work to uphold our values.

THL's culture was created to set the tone for all interactions between the organization's members - we are here to have fun, build camaraderie, and play the game. Poor interpersonal interactions directly counter these goals. We depend on all players to behave themselves in a positive manner, treat each other with respect, and remove themselves from uncomfortable situations and seek outside assistance from their captains and the board when necessary. Our culture and community is our first priority and THL participants who violate that concept will be subject to disciplinary action up to and including removal from the organization.

Weekly Schedule and Deadlines

The THL website will be updated to reflect current match pairings for all series no later than Monday 4:00 AM Pacific Time each week.

Contacting Opponents

Players are expected to reach out to their opponent by Monday 11:59pm Pacific Time and communicate their availability by Tuesday 11:59pm Pacific Time. If there is any risk of a player not being available on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, they must communicate that to their opponent and their captain by Monday 11:59pm Pacific Time. Players are highly encouraged to initiate communication as soon as possible in the week. English is the default language for match scheduling communication unless agreed upon otherwise by both players.

• If your opponent has not responded to a discord message or a match time has not been met by Tuesday 11:59pm Pacific Time, please notify your captain to facilitate the match being played.

• If you are unavailable on the weekend and communicated this to your opponent and captain on Monday, notify the board by Tuesday 11:59pm Pacific Time so that action can be taken if a substitute is required.
• If you are a captain and one of your players escalates scheduling issues to you, please reach out to the opposing captain first to look into options. If this does not resolve the issue, please email the board on Wednesday before the substitution deadline so that action can be taken if a substitute is required.
• To prevent confusion while scheduling, do not edit messages in discord. If you state a time or date in error while scheduling with your opponent, simply send another message correcting it. In the case of a scheduling dispute, editing your own messages in discord may result in the board ruling against you.

• Players are encouraged to use dynamic timestamps to schedule to avoid confusion when player and opponent are from different time zones: Discord Timestamps

• Select date and time agreed upon
• Select “long date with day of week and short time” as Type
• Copy to clipboard
• Send to your opponent

• If a player is unresponsive by Wednesday 11:59pm Pacific Time, a DQ loss will be assessed with appropriate proof sent to the board.

• The board must be notified by Wednesday 3:00pm Pacific Time for a DQ loss to be assessed for lack of communication.

• Players should schedule following this best practice document.
• Duos Series

• Teams are encouraged to create group DMs within Discord to schedule matches. Sending a friend request on discord will be considered making contact as long as there is proof that the request is sent by the communication deadline.
• Teams that do not communicate by Wednesday 11:59pm Pacific Time after communication is initiated by Monday 11:59pm Pacific Time are subject to a DQ loss, just like other series.
• All other Duos scheduling rules follow the rules in the preceding section.

Lineup Submission

Players must submit classes or decklists through the class submission forms for their series by Thursday 11:59 PM Pacific Time each week.

• If the deadline is missed, the player’s most recent classes or decks used by said player will be used.

• If deck rollover occurs as stated above and any of the decks are not legal standard decks (in any series except for Wild Series), the player will not be able to earn a win with any of those decks. See In-match Process and Issue FAQ for more information.

• If two players schedule their match before the submission deadline for the week, they are strongly encouraged to submit classes or decklists at least 12 hours in advance.
• If they do not have any submitted classes or decks in the series for that season, the player will receive a DQ.

• Opponents of players who DQ without any submitted classes or decks will still have their classes or decks visible on the THL site.

• Legacy Submission
• Hero Submission
• Pro Submission
• Wild Submission

Substitute Deadlines

Substitute players or opponents of substitute players will have until Thursday 11:59 PM Pacific Time to communicate their availability to their opponent, although they are highly encouraged to initiate communication as soon as possible.

• Missing this deadline will result in a DQ.

Results Submission

Players must submit the results of their match by Sunday 11:59 PM Pacific Time each week.

• Match results should only be submitted if the match was played in full with no issues. For all other circumstances, do not submit and contact the board. Submitting false match results is punishable up to and including suspension or expulsion.
• Missing this deadline more than once in a season, in any series, will result in a DQ.

• Legacy Results
• Hero Results
• Pro Results
• Wild Results

Weekly Scheduling Table

Normal Week

Double Week

When two weeks are provided to play a match, the only deadline that changes is the deck / class submission deadline. No other deadlines are extended.

Players can agree to communicate, schedule, and play their match on week 2 during the first week. If they do so, then normal week scheduling applies during week 2.

Team Formation

Signed Players

• A player’s position on a team is guaranteed for an entire season once confirmed by the captain. Confirmation occurs when the initial roster is sent to the board. The following exceptions allow a player to leave a team.

• Voluntary resignation
• Disqualification (DQ) in any series
• Board intervention

• The captain is permitted to remove the player up to 7 days after a DQ or board action but may not defer player removal beyond that.
• A player who is a signed player of a team at the beginning of the season, or becomes a signed player as a permanent replacement for a team mid-season, may not sub for a team in that series once playoffs have begun
• Signed players must be a member of the THL discord server to compete

Legacy and Hero Series

A valid Legacy roster is made up of 5 signed players and 1 captain. A valid Hero roster is made up of 3 signed players and 1 captain. The captain of a team may be one of its signed players, but the captain is not required to be a player. Captains are considered a full member of the team and cannot play for another team in the series. The total PR (see the Player Rating (PR) section of the Rules Appendix) of any team may not exceed 1700 upon initial formation in Legacy or 1050 in Hero. Rosters are seeded by PR, with the highest PR player seeded first and the lowest PR player seeded last.

Pro Series

A valid roster is made up of 5 signed players and 1 captain. The captain of a team may be one of its 5 signed players, but the captain is not required to be a player. Captains are considered a full member of the team and cannot play for another team in the series. PR is not used in Pro Series. Rosters are seeded first by wins, followed by losses.

Wild Series

A valid roster is made up of 5 signed players and 1 captain. The captain of a team may be one of its 5 signed players, but the captain is not required to be a player. Captains are considered a full member of the team and cannot play for another team in the series. PR is not used in Wild Series. Rosters are seeded first by wins, followed by losses.

Duos Series

A valid roster is made up of 2 signed players. There are no captains in Duos series. Both players are expected to handle the duties that a captain would of a normal team in another series together. PR is not used in Duos Series.

Substitutions and Permanent Replacements

If a player in a team series is unable to play their match in a given week, a free agent may take the place of a player as a temporary substitute or a permanent replacement. If you think that you will be unable to play a match in a given week, you should contact your captain so they can arrange a substitute or replacement as soon as possible.

Substitutes

• Must be declared by Wednesday 11:59 Pacific Time by submitting a sub form (found in the #captains Discord channel) and notifying the opposing captain.
• Must have PR less than or equal to the PR of the player being subbed out OR

• Must be lower PR than the player in the seed above them, provided that the PR of the substitute player does not cause the team to go over the PR cap

• If the sub request is submitted the week prior, then the sub must only fit the PR cap to be accepted.
• For example, if the PR cap is 1800 and a team has 1750 total PR, their 3 seed is 250 PR and their 4 seed is 200 PR, you may sub in a player up to 249 in the 4 seed.
• Note that if you have multiple subs in one week, we will use the PR of your base roster to determine how far up you can go. You cannot sub out a player to get a higher value in that seed and then get a higher sub for a lower seed.

• A valid substitute player may be declared for multiple weeks through an email to the board. Multi-week subs and their opponents will have until the deadline of Thursday 11:59pm Pacific Time to submit their classes or deck codes in a given week.
• A substitute player in Duos Series will be treated like an Emergency Substitute (see Emergency Substitutes below). Teams will only be allowed one Substitution per week in Duos, unless a scheduled match time is already decided.

Replacements

• Must be declared by Sunday 11:59 Pacific Time the week before by submitting a sub form (found in the #captains Discord channel) and notifying the opposing captain.
• May have PR equal to or less than the player being replaced OR have PR less than or equal to the PR cap minus the PR of the remaining players.
• If a permanent replacement meets the PR requirements for a substitute they may be submitted as a substitute for the current week and then as a permanent replacement for the following week.

Emergency Substitutes

• In the event of a serious life event that prevents a player from making their scheduled match time, a substitute may take their place for the week at any time after the normal substitute deadline. This substitute must follow the same PR restriction rules as a normal sub.
• Player classes or decklists stay the same for the substitute if they have been revealed.
• Emergency substitutes must play at the same confirmed match time that the player they are replacing had scheduled.

• Emergency substitutes are only permitted if there is proof of a scheduled match time. Proof of scheduled match time must be submitted to the board for an emergency sub to be processed.

• Emergency substitutes are limited to one week per player  season, with board discretion for extenuating circumstances.

Captains can find tips on where to find substitutes in the best practice document

Match Format

The match process and solutions to common issues that occur in a match can be found in the In-Match Process and Issue FAQ. It is the responsibility of all players in THL to read and thoroughly understand the THL match format before playing their first match. Everything listed in the In-match Process and Issue FAQ is part of the official THL Rules.

Banned & Limited Cards

• Cards that provide multiple prebuilt decks without allowing the player to select a specific class, like Whizbang the Wonderful and Zayle, Shadowcloak, are banned. Any cards that cannot be crafted and are only obtainable via payment (such as for pre-ordering) are also banned.
• Nozdormu is allowed in Wild Series. However, upon request the opponent of a player with Nozdormu may ask that it be replaced with Nozdormu the Eternal instead.

Legacy, Hero, Pro, & Wild

• Players earn points for their team in THL through winning individual games or matches.

• 1 point is awarded for each game win.
• 1 point is awarded for each match win.

• For example, a player who wins a Legacy match will earn 4 points for their team (1 point for each of the 3 game wins, plus 1 point for the match win).

• Teams can earn bonus points at the end of the week if they win or tie their overall series (set of matches) against the other team.

• 3 points are awarded for winning the week (having more points from game wins and match wins than the other team).
• 1 point is awarded to each team in the event of a tie. Ties can only occur in the regular season.

• In the playoffs, the team with the highest total amount of points for the week will advance.  

• In the event of a tie, the team with more match wins will advance.

• A disqualification (DQ) will result in an 0-3 loss for the player who committed a DQ-able offense.

• At the sole discretion of the board, a player receiving a DQ loss may receive zero, one, or two points, in the event that a valid match takes place before a DQ-able event.

• For example, a player that disconnects for a period of over 10 minutes would receive a DQ loss, but would still earn points equal to the amount of wins they received in the match before the disconnect occurred.

Duos

• Teams play one best-of-5 match each week. Matches are conquest and open decklist.
• Teams should use a designated Duos voice channel in the THL server. Upon request, teams can have a voice channel within the server that can only be accessed by admins and team members. Players must be in their respective channels if they're playing their matches.

• Teams should tell each other who is piloting in their matches to add everyone before the match starts.
• Teams must notify the other team when switching pilots between games.

Regular Season and Playoff Format

Before the start of the season, teams are randomly assigned into conferences. The number of conferences and number of teams per conference are determined by the Regular Season and Playoff Format sheet. linked below. The number of playoff teams and playoff format for a series is also determined by the Regular Season and Playoff Format sheet. For information on how ties are broken for playoff spots, please see the Tiebreakers section of the Rules Appendix.

Regular Season and Playoff Format

Streaming and Misc.

• Having another player spectate your match or receiving any outside assistance during a THL match will result in an immediate DQ, and possibly other consequences including but not limited to suspension or expulsion from THL (this does not apply to Duos players on the same team).

• Players are encouraged to turn their spectate off during matches to prevent this.
• This includes streaming your match on discord, or being in a voice call with other players during your match (except in Duos).
• Authorized casters and stream operators of matches on official THL channels are allowed to spectate players.

• Streaming your own match is allowed, with the following restrictions

• Streamed matches must have a delay of at least 10 minutes OR have chat in emote-only mode.
• Players may stream their matches only if their opponent consents.
• Third parties may stream a match if both players consent.
• Failing to meet these requirements for streaming is punishable with a DQ.

• If your THL match is being streamed, you are not allowed to watch or listen to the stream until the match concludes on your end.

• Failing to meet this requirement is punishable with a DQ.
• If the match concludes and you choose to watch the remainder of the stream, please refrain from commenting in the chat or discord.

• The Board reserves the right to revoke streaming privileges from those who do not comply with the above rules.
• Deck trackers are legal to use in THL matches.

• No Contests

•  Two players can agree to declare their match a no contest if a playoff week has already been decided or circumstances prevent players from being able to complete a match. Players should notify the board via Discord, email, or other means if a no contest is declared. We encourage all players to make their best attempt to proactively communicate and complete games during the regular season. No contesting regular season matches should only occur in situations where playing the match is impossible or unpleasant and other options (substitution, rescheduling etc.) have been explored where possible.
• Teams are limited to a maximum of 2 no contests in a given match. 3 or more uncontested matches will result in a 1 week suspension for the captain of each team at the board’s discretion.

• Probation and Suspension

• If a player receives 2 DQ losses over the combined period of the current and previous season (across all series), they will be issued a written warning from the board and placed on probation for the remainder of the tracking period.
• If a player DQs during the probation period, they will be suspended for the next 6 weeks of play in all series.

• Suspended players may not participate in any THL series play and may not be signed to a team.

• Information Soliciting

• Legacy and Hero Series

• Please do not solicit information regarding your opponent’s decks, lineups, or replays from anyone not signed to your team. Doing so is punishable by a DQ.
• Please refrain from disclosing specific information about an opponent’s decks or card choices in a public THL space unless they have given their consent to do so.

Link to Rules Appendix

Last updated 8/18/2025