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A challenge is a one-on-one match invitation aimed at a specific opponent. Instead of publishing an open match for anyone to accept, you pick the team you want to play and they receive an explicit Accept or Refuse prompt. Challenges run on the same lifecycle as regular matches once accepted (rosters, check-in, scoring), but they have their own creation rules, XP shape, and refusal/cancellation penalties.

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Overview

Any active team captain can create a challenge from the Create Match wizard:
1

Toggle Challenge mode

On step 1 of the match wizard, enable Challenge and pick the opponent team.
2

Configure the match

Choose game mode, maps, series length, and your roster the same way you would for an open match.
3

Submit

The challenged team receives a notification and can Accept or Refuse.
You cannot challenge yourself, the opponent must play the same game as you, and only the captain of the challenged team can respond.

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Regular vs League Challenges

Challenges work in two flavors that differ in XP, points, and refusal behavior.
FeatureRegular challengeLeague challenge
XP on win/lossStandard base XPBase XP, plus a challenger/challenged bonus
League pointsNoneYes, when an active season exists
Refuse penaltyNoneXP penalty (see Refuse Penalty)
Cancel grace period24 hours fixedPer-league override allowed
Season trackingNoneOne challenge per opponent per season
Scrimmage detectionNot applicableTriggers automatically when no active season is configured

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Challenge Limits

ConstraintLimit
Max pending challenges per team5
Max pending challenges per opponent1
Same opponent, same season (league)1 challenge
Cancel grace period (regular)24 hours
Cancel grace period (league)League can override per game
Exceeding either pending cap surfaces MAX_OPEN_CHALLENGES_REACHED or CHALLENGE_ALREADY_PENDING as a toast on submit.

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XP and Points Calculation

Challenges use the same streak-based XP system as regular matches. The breakpoints and bonus percentages are fixed in code.

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Base XP

OutcomeXP Change
Win+10
Draw+3
Loss-3

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Win / Loss Streak Bonus

Streak bonuses apply as an additive percentage of the base XP. Both win streaks and loss streaks use the same breakpoint and bonus tables.
Streak thresholdBonus on base XP
325%
530%
735%
940%
1245%
1550%
2055%
2560%
5065%
10070%
For a 9-win streak, a win awards floor(10 + 10 * 0.40) = 14 XP. For a 9-loss streak, a loss costs floor(3 + 3 * 0.40) = 4 XP.
Streak bonuses cap at 70%. Wins and losses cannot grow indefinitely; the curve flattens past a 100-streak.

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XP Floor

  • Regular teams cannot fall below 0 XP.
  • League teams can go negative.

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Forfeit Mechanics

A captain on either team can forfeit an active match (ACCEPTED, READY, or IN_PROGRESS). The forfeiting team takes the loss and the other team takes the win.
ContextXP penalty
League team, any stageBase loss plus loss-streak bonus
Regular team, match already startedBase loss plus loss-streak bonus
Regular team, before match startsHalf of base loss (no streak bonus)
Scrimmage (league, no active season)No penalty
The pre-match forfeit ratio for regular teams is 0.5, so the half-base penalty is floor(3 * 0.5) = 1 XP.

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Refuse Penalty

Refuse penalties apply only to league challenges. Refusing a regular challenge cancels the match with no XP change. When a league captain refuses, the penalty formula is: 
penalty = -(BASE_LOSS_XP + floor(BASE_LOSS_XP * lossStreakBonus) + floor(BASE_LOSS_XP * 1.5))
With BASE_LOSS_XP = 3 and the refuse multiplier 1.5, the second floor term is floor(3 * 1.5) = 4.
Loss streakStreak bonusStreak addend floor(3 * bonus)Refuse penalty
00%0-7 XP
325%0-7 XP
940%1-8 XP
2560%1-8 XP
10070%2-9 XP
Because BASE_LOSS_XP is small, the streak addend floors to 0 or 1 across the entire bonus curve. Expect refuse penalties to land between -7 and -8 XP in practice.

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Cancel Grace Period

The challenger’s captain can cancel a pending challenge.
  • Regular challenge - A fixed 24-hour grace window after creation. Cancelling inside the window is free; cancelling after applies the standard forfeit penalty to the challenger and credits the win to the challenged team.
  • League challenge - The league can override the grace window per game via leaguePointsConfig.challengeCancelGracePeriodHours. If no override exists, it falls back to 24 hours.
The grace clock starts at match creation, not at acceptance.

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Seasons and Challenges

League seasons scope league challenge tracking and points awards.
  • Each game inside a league can have one active season at a time.
  • League admins create, activate, and end seasons from the league admin panel.
  • League challenges are tracked per season: each pair of teams can only challenge each other once per active season.
  • When no active season exists for the game, league challenges become scrimmages automatically.

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Scrimmage Detection

Scrimmage detection is automatic. A league match becomes a scrimmage when:
  1. The match is a league match (carries leagueId).
  2. No active season exists for the league’s game at challenge time.
Scrimmage matches do not award league points by default. A league may opt into scrimmage point awards by setting scrimmageAwardsPoints: true in its leaguePointsConfig for that game; otherwise both win and loss deltas are skipped with reason scrimmage_no_points.

Creating a Match

Open the match wizard and toggle Challenge mode

XP & Levels

How match XP rolls up into your account level

League Rules

Per-league configuration, including grace overrides

Scores & Disputes

Captain-only score submission once the match is played