Tiebreakers

TIEBREAKERS

• If a round ends in a deadlock, with neither team having gained territory and an equal number of players in the ring, the winner of the round must be decided in a tiebreaker  ”face off”.
• The referee tosses a coin, and the team that wins the coin toss gets to choose which player/which element will go into the face off. (Players always face their same element in the face off, such as Earthbender versus Earthbender.)
• The face off takes place in a raised circle in the center of the ring. The players can use their respective elements, as well as grappling (but no “empty hand” striking, i.e. a punch to the face, or a kick in the stomach), to try knock or throw each other off the circle.
• If a player falls off the circle, he or she loses the tiebreaker. The opposing team wins that round.
• If both players fall off the circle simultaneously, the player who lands first (hitting either the ring, ropes, or water below the ring) loses the tiebreaker. The player who lands second wins the tiebreaker, and his or hear team wins that round.
• In the above scenario, if the referees cannot determine which player landed first, there will be a second tiebreaker between two other opposing team members, using a different element.
• If each team has won a round, and the third round ends in a tie, a tiebreaker is used to determine who wins the third round and the match.

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