Ranks – Opleague

The ladder

Thirteen steps, the same ones the Pro Gaming Tour used. Your rating decides your rank automatically, so nobody is ever placed by hand.

Rank	Rating	What it means	Here now
Best 10	12,000 +	The ten highest rated players in the league. Recalculated every night.	—
A+	11,000 – 12,000	The ceiling. Flawless mechanics, no wasted supply, punishes anything loose.	—
A	10,000 – 11,000	Reads the game before it happens. Would beat most people here nine times in ten.	—
A-	9,000 – 10,000	Sharp builds and clean macro under pressure. The first genuinely hard wall.	—
B+	8,000 – 9,000	Strong club level. Knows every matchup and rarely loses to something basic.	1 player
B	7,000 – 8,000	Reliable. Has a plan, holds the first push, takes a third when it is there.	3 players
B-	6,000 – 7,000	Good habits forming. Macro holds up until the game gets complicated.	3 players
C+	5,000 – 6,000	Comfortable. A build for each matchup, usually executed to the end.	4 players
C	4,000 – 5,000	Solid footing. Scouts, reacts, and no longer loses to the first all-in.	5 players
C-	3,000 – 4,000	Getting there. Knows the openings, still gets caught by timing.	4 players
D+	2,000 – 3,000	Learning fast. Units out, expansion up, some idea of what is coming.	3 players
D	1,000 – 2,000	Finding your feet. Everyone starts here and nobody stays long.	1 player
D-	under 1,000	Your first few games, before the ladder knows anything about you.	—

How the rating moves

Every game is rated on its own, so a two-nil counts for more than a two-one. Beat someone above you and you take a lot. Beat someone below you and you take very little. Lose to someone below you and it hurts, which is the whole point.

The gap decides the prize

Before a game we work out how likely each of you is to win, from the gap between your ratings. The bigger the upset, the bigger the swing.

Every game counts

We rate each game in a series separately. Winning two-nil moves you further than scraping two-one, without us inventing a bonus for it.

Nothing is awarded by hand

No organizer can push you up or hold you down. The only thing that changes your rating is a result with a replay attached.

The math, if you want it

1 · Your chance of winning this game expected = 1 / ( 1 + 10 ^ ( (their rating − your rating) / 2000 ) )

2 · What the game is worth change = K × ( result − expected ) result: 1 for a win, 0 for a loss

The 2,000 is what stretches classic chess rating across a ladder that runs from zero to twelve thousand. It means one full rank above you should beat you about three games in four, and two ranks above you about nine in ten.

How fast you move

K is the most a single game can shift you. New players move quickly so the ladder finds them fast. Once it knows where you belong, it slows down and stops throwing you around.

Where you are	K	What that feels like
Your first 10 games	400	The ladder is still guessing. You can swing three ranks in an evening.
Games 11 to 30	200	Settling. Big moves still happen, but the shape of your rating is set.
Established, under 9,000	120	An even game is worth about 60 points either way. A rank takes real work.
A minus and above	80	The top is deliberately sticky. You do not fall out of A on one bad night.

Three games, three outcomes

Real numbers from the formula above, so you can check our working.

An even game

N0vaW0LF 7,840 vs NOVA-T 7,610

Expected: 51% to N0vaW0LF

N0vaW0LF wins

+59 Winner −59 Loser

Close ratings, modest swing. This is most games.

Beating someone above you

saltmarsh 4,910 vs N0vaW0LF 7,840

Expected: 11% to saltmarsh

saltmarsh wins

+107 Winner −48 Loser

The upset pays. N0vaW0LF drops less because he was expected to win.

Losing to someone below you

N0vaW0LF 7,840 vs fjord 2,180

Expected: 99% to N0vaW0LF

fjord wins

+119 Winner −119 Loser

Almost the whole K. This is the result that actually costs you a rank.

The rules that keep it honest

Where you start: Everyone opens at 2,500, which is D plus. Ten placement games at high K sort you out quickly, and your rank is hidden until they are done so nobody judges you on game one.
Decay: Play nothing for eight weeks and you lose 40 points a week, floored at the bottom of your rank. It never drops you a full rank on its own, so coming back after a break is not a punishment.
The bots are rated too: Nova carries a real rating in each race, earned the same way yours is. Beating Nova counts exactly as much as beating a human on the same number. Nova is marked as a bot so the ladder reads honestly, and the Meet Nova page explains where the name came from.
No farming: Only your first three games against the same opponent in a week move your rating. Play them a fourth time for fun, it just will not count.
Practice rounds do not count: Any game can be flagged as a practice round before it starts: sparring against Nova, or a friendly against another member. Practice rounds are public, they appear in Results and Replays, and the replay downloads like any other. They do not move your rating and they cannot cost you your ladder position. Practice as much as you like, it is free.
No replay, no rating: A result without a replay attached does not move anybody. This is the same rule as the points system, and it is the one we enforce hardest.
Season reset: At the end of a season everyone is pulled a third of the way back toward 2,500. You keep most of what you earned, the top stays reachable, and nobody starts from nothing.

Where everyone sits right now

24 rated players · Season 1 · StarCraft: Brood War

0 D-

1 D

3 D+

4 C-

5 C

4 C+

3 B-

3 B

1 B+

0 A-

0 A

0 A+

A small league, so the top of the ladder is empty on purpose. Nobody is handed an A rank for being first through the door, and the ranks mean the same thing here as they did on the old tour.

Find out where you land

Ten placement games and the ladder will tell you. Most people are not where they think they are.

Enter a bracket See the ladder

Ranks & scoring