What is the underdog status in Brawl Stars?

Brawl Stars is a mobile multiplayer battle arena game where you choose from a variety of different competitors to fight against an enemy team. Sometimes you’re working by yourself, and other times you will find yourself facing down enemies by yourself. A term used in the game is known as the underdog, and it has a direct meaning to it, along with a feature associated with it.

The term underdog in Brawl Stars is a way to balance out the game’s three versus three matchmaking system. When you sign up for a match, the game automatically compares your statistics against others to see who would be the best match for you, both as allies and as an opponent. However, the game allows you to play with a friend, and if the two of you have vastly different statistics, the third player’s trophies and rank may vary based on it.

Developer Supercell wanted to ensure friends could still play with one another, regardless of their trophy level. Thus, the underdog system was introduced. It means that whe two friends play together and join a match, their third player could have more than a 200 trophy difference than the friend’s average trophy score, triggering the underdog status. Alternatively, it could pop up if the team with the two friends has a 200 trophy average total less than the enemy they’re about to fight.

The underdog status goes away if the player hits the “Play again” option, though to choose to continue to play with the same two players.

When the underdog status happens, the player with it receives additional trophies when they win, and has reduced trophies lost when they lose. It will never pop up for solo or duo matches, unfortunately.