The purpose of brackets in the National Cyber League (NCL) Games is to give every player the opportunity to do well in the Games by competing against players of a similar skill set. This is done so that everyone can succeed at their current skill level.

What are the brackets?

There are four brackets used in the NCL Games. The first three (Gold, Silver, and Bronze) are considered ranked brackets. That means that players in these brackets will appear in the final overall leaderboard, receive scouting reports at the end of the season, and be eligible for prizes!

Your bracket placement is determined by your rank in the mandatory Preseason Game.

“But, Kait,” you might say, “does that mean that players who don’t participate in the mandatory Preseason Game won’t appear on the final leaderboard, receive scouting reports, or be eligible to receive those super cool, exclusive, season-specific challenge coins?”

In short, that’s exactly what I’m saying. So…

DO THE PRESEASON GAME!

Now that we have that out of the way. *cracks knuckles dramatically*

The top 15% of players (who participated in the Preseason Game) will be placed in the Gold bracket. The rest of the top 50% of players (who participated in the Preseason Game) will be placed in the Silver bracket. All other players (who participated in the Preseason Game) will be placed in Bronze.

“But what happens to the players who forgot about Preseason?”

Players who don’t participate in the *mAnDaToRy* Preseason Game, coaches, and any other unranked individuals all end up in the Pewter bracket. This means that, while we may appear on the live leaderboard during the Games, all Pewter players will be unranked on the final leaderboard.

“How do I know what bracket I placed in?“

Officially, you will get an email when final review has been completed. This can take a day or two sometimes. Unofficially, I highly recommend that you join the season’s Slack channel run by Cyber Skyline. As soon as results are ready, one of the Cyber Skyline officials will share the bracket cut-offs in Slack, and you can use your rank to get an ESTIMATE. Again, the only official method is the email you will receive.

The Cyber Skyline info page on the brackets has this one very important disclaimer:

All brackets get access to the same content but have a separate leaderboard for players in the same bracket. This is in addition to the global overall leaderboard. All brackets are otherwise equivalent except for the unranked Pewter bracket. Anyone in Pewter bracket will not receive an official rank, will not receive a Scouting Report or Certificate of Participation, is not eligible for prizes, and will not represent their school in the Cyber Power Rankings.

Cyber Skyline, NCL Brackets Info Page

And with that, you know everything you need to know about brackets! Happy Hacking!