We have brought back the old-school Pro Gaming Tour ladder. D-minus at the bottom, A-plus at the top, and a rating that moves every time you play an official match.
For now, this ranking system will only apply to StarCraft, but will eventually carry over to every competitive game that our league evolves to support over time. 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. | — |
| B | 7,000 – 8,000 | Reliable. Has a plan, holds the first push, takes a third when it is there. | 2 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. | 2 players |
| C | 4,000 – 5,000 | Solid footing. Scouts, reacts, and no longer loses to the first all-in. | 2 players |
| C- | 3,000 – 4,000 | Getting there. Knows the openings, still gets caught by timing. | 1 player |
| D+ | 2,000 – 3,000 | Learning fast. Units out, expansion up, some idea of what is coming. | 1 player |
| D | 1,000 – 2,000 | Finding your feet. Everyone starts here and nobody stays long. | — |
| D- | under 1,000 | Your first few games, before the ladder knows anything about you. | — |
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.
Before any 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.
Same player, same day, one rank either side.
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.
The dropped game is rated too. Nothing is added for a clean sweep.
No organizer can push you up or hold you down. The OPLeague desktop launcher automates everything. You may only manually dispute results with attached replays.
The only two ways a rating can change, in full.
The math, if you want it
expected = 1 / ( 1 + 10 ^ ( (their rating − your rating) / 2000 ) )change = K × ( result − expected ) result: 1 for a win, 0 for a lossThe 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.
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. |
Real numbers from the formula above, so you can check our working.
An even game
N0vaW0LF 7,840 vs NOVA-T 7,610
Expected: 57% to N0vaW0LF · K 120
N0vaW0LF wins
Close ratings, modest swing. This is most games.
Beating someone above you
saltmarsh 4,910 vs N0vaW0LF 7,840
Expected: 3% to saltmarsh · K 120
saltmarsh wins
The upset pays. saltmarsh was given a 3% chance, so the win is worth almost the whole K, and it costs N0vaW0LF the same.
Losing to someone below you
N0vaW0LF 7,840 vs fjord 2,180
Expected: over 99% to N0vaW0LF · K 120
fjord wins
Almost the whole K. This is the result that actually costs you a rank.
11 rated players · Season 1 · StarCraft: Brood War
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.
Ten placement games and the ladder will tell you. Most people are not where they think they are.