The map veto

Slot 01What the veto is

The veto is a structured negotiation over maps. Each tournament publishes an order in which the teams alternate removing maps (bans) and choosing maps (picks) until the number of maps required by the format is settled. It runs before any play. The maps that survive are the maps the series will be played on; the maps that are banned simply do not exist for that fixture.

Because the veto is a decision by the two teams rather than a random draw, it carries information. A team bans the maps it fears and picks the maps it favours, so the surviving map pool is a signal about how each side reads the matchup. For a market, that is not a hint about who will win; it is the definition of what the bet is about.

• Bans — maps removed from the pool
• Picks — maps a team chose to play
• Decider — the map left over, chosen by neither side

Slot 02The order of bans and picks

A typical best-of-three veto alternates bans first, then picks, then final bans, leaving one map. The exact order and the size of the pool are set by each tournament, which is why the veto is described here as a structure rather than a fixed script: the principle is that teams take turns, and each turn is either a removal or a choice.

Two slots in this structure behave differently for a market. A picked map is certain to be played, so a map market on it is unconditional. A decider map is played only if the series goes the full distance, so a market on the decider carries an extra condition stacked on top of the veto itself.

Slot 03The decider nobody chose

The final map left after the bans is played only if the series reaches its last game — in a best-of-three, only if the first two maps are split. Neither team picked it, and its identity is the residue of the bans. This gives the decider a distinctive role in markets: it is a map whose relevance depends on a separate condition, so a market that names it settles only where the series goes the distance and the map is played.

Slot 04Why the veto matters to a market

Because a team can be strong across a wide map pool and weak on the specific maps that survive the veto, the veto changes the shape of the fixture that any market is priced on. A series market prices the whole format, so it must price the veto implicit in it; a map market prices one named map, so it is priced once the veto makes that map certain. The veto is the mechanism that turns a general fixture into a specific, nameable bet.

Slot 05A map market is a conditional market

When a market names a map, it is a bet on that map being played and on the outcome within it. If the veto removes the map, the condition in the name fails and the market has nothing to settle on; the usual result is a void and a returned stake. This is not an operator failing to pay — it is the market declining to settle a bet whose named subject did not occur.

The practical consequence is that a map market is best read alongside the veto it depends on. Before the veto, a map market is a bet on two things at once; after it, on one. The voids page covers the return-of-stake outcome and the other conditions that produce it.

Slot 06Reading a veto-dependent market

To read a market that depends on the veto, work through it in order: what map pool does the tournament use? what does the format require? which maps does the market name, and are they picks or the decider? and what does the market say happens if a named map is not played? Answering these turns the market name into a sentence you can evaluate before the veto even happens.

• Identify the pool The maps available to the veto are set by the tournament, not by the market.
• Identify certainty A picked map is certain to be played; a decider map is conditional on the series reaching it.
• Identify the void clause Every map market should state what happens when its named map is not played.
• Identify the order The veto happens before play, so a map market resolves its condition early.