During the 2-week-long Qualifying Round, teams will be responsible for playing 2 or 3 matches per week with other teams from their pool. MWC99 staff will email the Primary and Alternate Contacts of each team with information on their opponents for that week (including email addresses) and the scheduled deadline for each match. This information will also be accessible from each team's page. Due to the large number of matches involved and associated difficulties in scheduling, teams are strongly encouraged to contact each other to schedule and play their matches independently.

If the match has not been played by the fallback time, then it will be played on bungie.net at the assigned time. A MWC99 Judge or Assistant Judge will be on hand at this time and place to verify that both teams show up for the scheduled match, if results have not been submitted prior to the deadline. If one team is not present, the match will be forfeited to their opponent. If neither team is present, the match will be forfeited to the higher-seeded team. There will be NO GRACE PERIOD after the assigned time before a forfeit is declared; teams should ensure they arrive early to avoid forfeiting their match. All games in a match must be played in one session; if a team leaves with a match partially completed they will forfeit any uncompleted games.

Each round of the DE ladder will take one week, beginning on Monday and ending on the following Sunday. During this time, each team will be responsible for playing 1 or 2 matches per week with other teams. The Triumvirate will email the Primary and Alternate Contacts of each team with information on their opponents for each round (including email addresses) and the scheduled match deadlines as soon as the pairings are completed. Each match will have an assigned fallback time and place on bungie.net; however, due to the large number of matches involved and associated difficulties in scheduling, teams are strongly encouraged to schedule and play their matches independently.

The fallback routine is identical to that for QR scheduling.

Because the results of matches are needed to determine the pairings for future rounds, and due to the necessity of reviewing match reports and game films, the match deadlines will be strictly enforced. Teams encountering exceptional circumstances may appeal to the Triumvirate for a brief extension, but there is no guarantee that the Triumvirate will be able to accomodate your request. In no event will such an extension exceed 24 hours.

Teams that have no defeats play in the "Top Bracket" of the DE ladder against other teams with no defeats. These teams will be matched together and will have one week to play a match of 5 games. The winner of the match advances to the next round of the top bracket, while the loser moves to the "Bottom Bracket" to face other teams with one loss. All of a week's Top Bracket matches must be completed AND SUBMITTED by Sunday 10:30pm Central Time.

Teams that have one defeat play in the "Bottom Bracket" of the DE ladder against other teams with one defeat. Teams in the Bottom Bracket must complete 2 matches per week, each match consisting of 3 games. A loss in a Bottom Bracket match means elimination from the tournament. Bottom Bracket matches are of two types: Elimination and Winnowing. Elimination matches pair survivors from the last round of the Bottom Bracket against the losers of the last round of the Top Bracket. Winnowing matches pit survivors of the Elimination against each other to reduce their numbers. All of a week's Elimination matches must be completed AND SUBMITTED by Friday 10:30pm Central Time. All of a week's Winnowing matches must be completed AND SUBMITTED by Sunday 10:30pm Central Time.