Valorant custom game settings for tournaments: lobby, server, veto and side selection

Half of all tournament arguments come from the lobby: wrong server, cheats accidentally on, a map nobody agreed to, a side picked by whoever shouted first. A fixed lobby routine removes all of them. Here is the routine, and the settings behind it.

Who creates the lobby

Pick a rule and keep it: the higher seed (the team in the top slot of the match) creates the lobby. It removes the who-makes-it conversation from every match. The creator posts the party code where both teams can see it: in the match room if you use a tournament tool, otherwise in a match-specific Discord thread. Never in general chat.

Settings for a standard match

• Mode: Standard (13 rounds to win).
• Server: the one written in the rules. In India that is usually Mumbai; Singapore for mixed South-East Asian fields. Do not leave it on auto.
• Allow cheats: off. Check it every time; it defaults on in some lobbies.
• Tournament mode: on for a full 5v5 lobby. It locks the settings and hides player names in the pre-game so nobody dodges based on the enemy roster. It needs all ten slots filled, so for 2v2, 3v3 and 1v1 leave it off and check the settings manually.
• Overtime: win by two.
• Play out all rounds: off.
• Hide match history: on if you do not want scrimmage results in player profiles; off if players want the record.

Deathmatch lobbies

Mode: Deathmatch, cheats off, chosen server. The cap is 12 players. There are no sides or veto; wait until every listed player has joined before starting.

Map veto

For a Bo1, the two sides alternate bans until one map remains from the agreed pool. Coin flip (or the higher seed) bans first. For a Bo3, the usual order is: ban, ban, pick, pick, ban, ban, and the last map remaining is the decider. Write the exact order in the rules and use the same pool for the whole cup.

Choose the pool before registration. The current competitive map pool is the safe choice; a bigger pool makes the veto longer and rewards teams who know the off-maps.

Side selection

The team that did not make the last ban picks attack or defence. In a Bo3 the team that did not pick the map chooses side on that map. Say it in the rules; it comes up every final.

Ready-up and start

Both sides say ready before the creator starts. If a player is missing, wait up to the no-show window (10 minutes is standard), then the present side reports a no-show and the match is forfeited. Do not start short-handed unless both captains agree in writing.

After the game

Both sides take a scoreboard screenshot and report the score. A disagreement is settled by the screenshot. Keep screenshots until the cup is over.

ValoTour gives every match a room with the lobby code, an alternating veto with the play order fixed for a Bo3, a ready-up, a chat line between the sides, a reschedule request, and both-side score reporting that locks the result when the reports match.