Data Methodology

Coverage and selection

Competitive covers selected Deadlock tournaments, teams, players, series, games and related analysis. Events are selected for relevance and the availability of evidence; coverage is not a complete record of every competition.

Sources and confidence

Organizer announcements, brackets and rules are preferred for event details. Team and player statements, game records and replays can establish facts within their scope. Independent databases and reports are useful for corroboration, but remain secondary sources. A source may be incomplete or inaccessible. We distinguish confirmed primary evidence, corroborated secondary evidence, attributed secondary claims, unknown values and unresolved conflicts. A missing value is not zero.

Events, series and games

A tournament is an event containing stages and participants. A series is a contest between teams, often decided across several games. A game is one individual match. Series scores count game wins; game scores may describe kills and are not interchangeable with the series result.

Rosters and identity

A roster is tied to an event or date. A lineup observed in a game does not necessarily include every registered substitute or coach, and a historical roster should not be treated as current. Player names and aliases can change or coincide. Account IDs are linked only when identity is supported by reliable evidence; a matching nickname or a list of possible IDs is insufficient.

Dates and result states

Times are presented with a timezone when the source supports one; UTC is used for normalized timestamps. A date without a timezone remains a source date, not a precise UTC time. Postponed and cancelled events are distinguished from completed events. A technical result or forfeit is identified as such when supported, rather than represented as a played game.

Leaderboards and rank distribution

Leaderboard position is a place in a table; an in-game rank badge is a separate field and cannot be inferred from position alone. Players and Matches are different units: a player may contribute more than one match. Interpret distributions with their source, period, sample size and coverage, where available. A limited or stale sample may not represent the full player population.

Pro Builds and aggregates

A Pro Build requires evidence connecting a player, hero, game or series, date and patch where available, together with the observed items or build. A build from one game is an example, not proof of a universal best build. Aggregated statistics describe a defined set of games and are kept distinct from individual builds; small samples and missing games limit conclusions.

Updates and corrections

Records are reviewed manually against available sources. An update date describes the record, not a guarantee that all underlying sources are current. Partial or stale information should be identified, and unresolved disagreements or unavailable fields retained as such. When evidence supports a correction, the affected record and its source attribution should be updated.