🏆 Ranking Systems Explained

To ensure high-stakes events (like Nationals) don't unfairly penalize players, the Event Multiplier only affects the Winner's gain. The loser's penalty is always capped at a 1.0x rate.

Triggered when an underdog wins a match where the opponent scores 5 total points or less. You receive 50% of the rating gap between you. Winner gain is uncapped, while loser penalty is capped at -100.

Beating a player ranked 200+ points higher for the second time within 13 months triggers a 3x Multiplier on your base points.

To maintain an active and competitive leaderboard that accurately reflects current player form, the calculation engine runs a systematic decay protocol for players on extended breaks:

• The 13-Month Grace Window: Decay only triggers after a player has gone 13 consecutive months without a recorded match. A normal season off does not count.
• 1% Monthly Reduction: Once the grace window passes, RFI Power is reduced by 1% at the end of each inactive month, for up to 12 months (max 12%).
• 300-point floor: Decay never drops a player below 300. The inactivity clock for the live timeline starts at 30 Mar 2024 if they have not played since the seed.

If a player has played a low number of matches (e.g., 11 matches) and feels their RPI is lower than expected (such as peaking at 3.5), this is a deliberate mathematical feature designed to prevent volatile rating spikes. Here is exactly how match volume limits and anchors progression:

• The 20% Convergence Braking ($K_{rpi} = 0.20$): For any player with fewer than 15 matches, their RPI converges toward their match performance target at a rate of 20% per match. While this is faster than the veteran rate of 6%, it still creates a stabilization drag. If a player starts at the lower floor (RPI 2.0) and wins close matches, the RPI will only move up by a fraction of the distance to the target each time, requiring a larger sample size to reflect their true peak level.
• Opponent Quality Anchoring: Your performance target is limited by the RFI ratings of the opponents you face. If a player with 11 matches is playing against lower or middle-tier opponents, their performance target ($Target_{Winner}$) is mathematically suppressed, preventing their RPI from climbing higher regardless of the match outcome.
• Hard Volume Threshold Guards: The engine enforces strict safety caps to prevent unrated accounts from entering the top tiers prematurely. A player with fewer than 10 matches is physically blocked from crossing an RPI of 5.8, and a player with fewer than 20 matches is strictly blocked from crossing 6.8.

The Rating Performance Index (RPI) tracking pipeline converts chronological match point exchanges directly into localized performance indicators using a four-stage asymptotic convergence process:

To convert raw, high-velocity tournament points into stable front-end tiers, the engine runs a strict linear normalizer calculation: RPI = max(2.0, (RFI Power / 715) + 1.0).

⚠️ 💡 This calculation guarantees that no active player rating gradient can ever breach or drop below the absolute system floor value of 2.0 RPI.

• Tracking: If you beat a higher-ranked player, they become your "Target".
• The Jump: Defeat that specific target again to instantly swap spots on the ladder.
• Third-Party Upsets: If you beat a higher player who isn't your target, you jump to the lower rank involved and begin tracking the higher one.
• Defense: If you are being tracked and you win your match against the tracker, their tracking status is cleared.
• Reset Rule: To keep the ladder fresh, if a target is not defeated or passed within 13 months, the tracking status is automatically reset.