The fantasy loop in one sentence

You build a five-man squad (plus coach) from teams drawn out of past Majors, assign roles and preferred maps, then let the game simulate a full tournament path driven by your draft quality and tactics - not by clicking every round manually.

Draft: one player per draw

Each roll shows a Major and a team from that event. You pick exactly one player from that draw, then roll again for the next slot. Repeat until five players and a coach are locked. That constraint is the point: you cannot simply open a free agency list and stack five legends from different eras without trade-offs.

You also get limited rerolls - for example another team in the same Major, or a different tournament - so planning when to spend them matters. Burning a reroll on the first awkward AWPer leaves you helpless when the fifth slot is a disaster.

Roles, playstyles, and map pool

After the roster exists on paper, you assign each player a role: entry, IGL, lurk, support, or sniper. Role fit feeds into how strong the game considers your draft. A star rifler forced into IGL with no supporting pieces will usually underperform a slightly lower-rated five that actually covers the map.

You also set CT and T playstyle leanings and choose exactly two preferred maps. Those maps influence veto tendencies and how comfortable your squad is when a series lands on them. Think of map pool as insurance for playoffs, not a cosmetic badge.

Squad rating vs draft score

While drafting, the UI shows a squad rating based on the players you have so far and how roles are lining up. When you commit to start the Major, the game calculates a draft score from picks and role assignments. That score is what drives match odds in Swiss and playoffs.

In Hard mode, ratings stay hidden until you start - useful if you want to draft on knowledge and vibes instead of living inside the average. Either way, the simulator is entertainment built on curated Major data, not a betting model.

Swiss, playoffs, and saving progress

Once the run begins, you move through Swiss standings, series, and eventually a playoff bracket. Map vetoes and series results unfold according to the engine; your job earlier was to give that engine a coherent roster. Progress saves in the browser, so you can leave mid-Swiss and continue later.

If a run goes sideways, start fresh and try a different draft philosophy: double AWPer experiments, IGL-first builds, or map-specialist stacks. The simulator is most fun when you treat each trophy attempt as a hypothesis about what makes a Major roster work.