Hello folks and welcome to the Tournament subforum! This thread is about the bare essentials of Tournament Rules. See the sections below for more details.
1) Hosting a Tournament
Any person, in theory, can host a Tournament. Post your idea in the tournament concept thread and, if approved, it will be brought into discussion by the committee. General guidelines are:
a) Remember that matches in ASB take a long time, which means that a tournament can pass the one-year mark quite easily. So don't suggest formats that will take longer to complete (like say a 16-man round robin). Aim at ending it in at most 10 months.
b) You can only host a tourney in pairs. I don't care if it is main host and co-host or if both are co-hosts. There gotta be two people hosting the tournament, in case one of you disappears in the meantime. Like it happened before. Twice.
c) There is no need for your tournament to be funky and with weird mechanics. But usually the bare-bones singles format is restricted to the main ASB Tournament, which is held... like once per 2 years somewhat. Still, any format will do. Of course, more interesting formats will be given precedence in the queue.
d) Be in control of your tournament. Tag people if necessary. Don't be afraid to DQ players if they take way too long. Reward the best players, but also the player most committed to the tournament.
e) If the tournament takes too long and/or if both hosts disappear or go inactive for long periods of time, the Committee reserves the right to hijack the tournament.
f) There is a maximum of 3 tournaments going on at a time. This number may be increased or decreased based on the size of the userbase (aka demand). If 3 tournaments are on, you can apply normally and it will begin as soon as one of those tournaments end, assuming you are next on queue, of course.
g) DQs on the final match are frowned upon. By frowned upon I mean "I would recommend not doing it unless the guy is REALLY gone...or like the DQ is 3 days and 12 days passed with no sign of life and 5 warnings or something stupid like that...or if it is the 6th time the guy passed DQ". If needs be, the next tournament may begin before the final match ends if it is taking too much. But it is highly recommended that the winner of the tournament is the best player of the last two and not the one that sticks around the most, unless the other is a true john.
h) The Tournament Committee may hold your tournament signups a bit so the time between sign-ups is long enough. Ideally, Sign-ups for a tourney should happen after 4 months or so. Not that time necessarily (so suspension will only come if like less than 2 months passed since the last one), but it is a good benchmark.
If you obey those guidelines you should be fine.
People banned from hosting Tournaments
- no one
2) Playing on a Tournament
Well you wait for the sign-up thread and sign-up? It as simple as it gets. Hosts have liberty to decide the method of picking who gets in (first come first serve or random or priority to certain people or handpick the best ones or whatever). Also, in some tournaments you will need to have a trained team and in others the tournament will provide them. If you don't have enough acceptably-trained Pokemon to form a team in a non-rental tournament, the host may deny you entrance. Keep that in mind.
Respect your opponent and post on DQ. Don't hold back a round just because you forgot this tourney. Hosts and refs are (supposed to be) strict with DQ, so don't take risks.
Default DQ rules are as follows:
Strict 72h Disqualification. One warning per player. First warning (any tag after DQ interval is passed) resets the timer. If the player passes DQ interval a second time, DQ can be called, giving the player one hour to post (with full orders/pokemon, just saying "orders coming watch this space" doesn't suffice) after DQ is called to rescind it. If one hour passes, the player is DQ'd regardless of the ref posting or not. User calling DQ must tag DQ'd player. Referees please tag the combatants when you have finished your reffing. Players, if you know you're going to be away you better post a Leave of Absence BEFORE you leave, or give a very good reason in case of an emergency. DQ time won't pass during a valid LoA.
After 30 days (This is fine for AOT's format, but maybe not for other formats. Discuss?), the DQ Interval will go to 48h.
Tournament rules vary. The only rule always up is the Self-KO Rule. If your final Pokemon KOs the final Pokemon of your opponent, but for that it had to KO itself (Energy KO, Explosion, Perish Song, Destiny Bond etc etc etc), your opponent is the winner. Everything else is up to the hosts.
People banned from playing on Tournaments:
- no one
3) Reffing Tournament battles
It falls upon the hosts to decide who will ref each battle. As long as you are alive and breathing and have passed Reffing 101 (already a rule, but wasn't mentioned in the post), you can apply. Sure, it is expected that you don't make many mistakes (you can make some, but not that much) when reffing said matches. When in doubt, ask around (oh wait that rhymed, darn it).
Flavor is highly appreciated and pretty much required, and we will remove the bonus UC from you if you don't flavor your matches. Even a paragraph of simple flavor will do and is far better than nothing. Hosts can make flavor mandatory as in no flavor no UC.
Finally, reffing a tournament battle requires commitment. Don't sign-up if you don't think you will be able to post on DQ during it. Searching for a subref is usually irritating and, in the end, the host will end up having to ref more matches than they should and that is bad.
4) Predictions Tournament
During the sign-up period of a Tournament, any person can apply to the Committee to host a Predictions tournament. The hosting can be done by yourself and its format is rather free. Just talk to them and see what you can wipe out.
The only thing required is that the host must post the predictions after they are done, so we don't have problems in case said person disappears. Everything else is up to the host, pending approval by the Committee.
Participants pay CC to get in and may get CC, UC and/or even special prizes for winning a match, a round, a specific bet or the entire thing.
5) Prizes for Participants
The usual Prize per match is EC, MC, AC, KOC and CC as per usual rules (see Handbook). Hosts can give away special prizes (like some UC, but at most 5) to winners. For matches where the players don't use their Pokemon, the prizes can be given out in CC or UC (standard is the CC you would get normally) and it is HIGHLY recommended (almost mandatory) that you include a prize for the winner of the match. Or else, the 4th place and on will get the short end of the stick, and that is surely not good.
The prizes from the battles should be at minimum:
- Using own Pokemon: Counters normally awarded.
- Using rental Pokemon or Pokemon from someone else: 5UC and the CC from the battle.
For the final prizes, there are 3 prizes usually given out: Legendary Pokemon, Master Ball, UC (usually 30 or 50). Hosts can also propose other kinds of prizes like items or normal Pokemon with X MC or Pokemon you used on tournaments that use rentals. Again, this goes as far as your creativity. Just balance stuff with the Committee and you should be fine.
Regarding Legendary Pokemon, you are free to choose any legendary from this list:
For the list below...it will need some convincing. And in some cases (680 bst and cover legends) approval from the Mod Team. Try those only if they make a lot of sense flavorwise.
Finally, for Predictions Tournaments, you can use CC, UC or other prizes (with committee approval). Usually the host adds up all the CC taken from players and either give them all to the winners or turn them into UC at some conversion rate (usually 1:1, but may be 2:1 if it gets too good) or into items, using similar logic. For bets, it is the overall pool of CC (converted or not into UC) divided by the participants that guessed right.
6) Payment for Refs and Hosts
Refs gets 1.5x the UC correspondent to the match, including bonus length UC. This bonus UC can be taken away if the ref fails to provide adequate flavour. If the match is subreffed the subref will get all the UC unless the original ref not only warned of this impossibility to ref but also recruited their replacement. If the original ref recruits the replacement, UC distribution occurs following handbook rules, with the 1.5 multiplier applied normally. We value time and commitment more than anything considering how much those tournaments take.
Hosts get UC based on the size of the tournament and the time taken to end it. If the host disappears and/or gets demoted, they won't get a thing. It is crucial that the host sticks around, or else its downhill from there.
The formula for giving out UC for hosts is:
For 48-64man tourneys: 90*(([Number of Rounds]*[Time expected per round]+14 days)/[Time taken from Round 1 to the end of Last Round])
For 24-47man tourneys: 60*(([Number of Rounds]*[Time expected per round]+14 days)/[Time taken from Round 1 to the end of Last Round])
For 9-23man tourneys: 30*(([Number of Rounds]*[Time expected per round]+14 days)/[Time taken from Round 1 to the end of Last Round])
(convert everything in days when calcing)
Man =/= team. If Each team has 3 people and 8 teams are playing, then it is a 24man tournament.
Rounds = First Round, Second Round, Quarterfinals, Semifinals, finals etc.
Time from Round 1 to end of Last Round: Time taken from when you posted Round 1 until when you posted the prizes for the winner.
Time expected per round (it includes sending Pokemon, putting up thread setting up next round etc):
Singles:
2vs2: 2 months (60 days)
3vs3: 2 and a half months (75 days)
4vs4: 3 months (90 days)
5vs5: don't
Doubles:
2vs2: 1 and a half months (45 days)
3vs3: 2 months (60 days)
4vs4: 2 and half months (75 days)
5vs5: 3 months (90 days)
6vs6: don't
Triples:
3vs3: 1 and a half months (45 days)
4vs4: 2 months (60 days)
5vs5: 2 and half months (75 days)
6vs6: 3 months (90 days)
7vs7: don't
Other formats:
Pester the committee, k?
Each Host gets full UC (regardless of the position). If there is only one host, it will get the same amount for twice as much work, so get your pairs going pls.
For subhosts the formula is:
For 48-64man tourneys: 90*(Number of Rounds Left including the current one)/(Number of Rounds total)*([Number of Rounds left]*[Time expected per round]/[Time taken from the time subhosting occured to the end of Last Round])
For 24-47man tourneys: 60*(Number of Rounds Left including the current one)/(Number of Rounds total)*([Number of Rounds left]*[Time expected per round]/[Time taken from the time subhosting occured to the end of Last Round])
For 9-23man tourneys: 30*(Number of Rounds Left including the current one)/(Number of Rounds total)*([Number of Rounds left]*[Time expected per round]/[Time taken from the time subhosting occured to the end of Last Round])
So basically, if everything goes as planned, you get 60UC (or 30 or 90 depending on the size of the tourney). If it goes better than planned, you get more. If it goes worse, you get less. Be aware, though, that the Committee will keep a close eye to your hosting and may add or deduct stuff depending on how it goes (so if you move things too fast to get more UC you may end up getting less).
I may adjust the numbers later. Those are tentative somewhat.
The Host Prize is to be claimed only at the end of the tournament.
PSA: This UC prize for Tournaments hosts is valid for ALL tournaments before and after this post. Just calc the prize and claim. But only the UC prize for hosts.
7) On Leaves of Absence
The host of the tournament has the right to make up rules for how Leaves of Absences will be considered. It is advised (but not enforced) that hosts consider the LoAs and give reasonable extensions to the players, as we all have lives outside ASB. But this is entirely up to the discretion of the respective host. The host just must be aware that the tournament must end in a reasonable timeframe (rule of thumb: 10 months. Limit: 12 months), so don't go overboard on tolerance.
Also, if, during a LoA, the player posts on flashes or casual battles, or engage on reffing without being way past DQ on the latter, the LoA is to be disregarded entirely by the tournament host or committee (or another unbiased mod if both are involved in the matter somehow), except if the tourney has specific rules on the matter.
8) Other stuff
Ask the Committee.
1) Hosting a Tournament
Any person, in theory, can host a Tournament. Post your idea in the tournament concept thread and, if approved, it will be brought into discussion by the committee. General guidelines are:
a) Remember that matches in ASB take a long time, which means that a tournament can pass the one-year mark quite easily. So don't suggest formats that will take longer to complete (like say a 16-man round robin). Aim at ending it in at most 10 months.
b) You can only host a tourney in pairs. I don't care if it is main host and co-host or if both are co-hosts. There gotta be two people hosting the tournament, in case one of you disappears in the meantime. Like it happened before. Twice.
c) There is no need for your tournament to be funky and with weird mechanics. But usually the bare-bones singles format is restricted to the main ASB Tournament, which is held... like once per 2 years somewhat. Still, any format will do. Of course, more interesting formats will be given precedence in the queue.
d) Be in control of your tournament. Tag people if necessary. Don't be afraid to DQ players if they take way too long. Reward the best players, but also the player most committed to the tournament.
e) If the tournament takes too long and/or if both hosts disappear or go inactive for long periods of time, the Committee reserves the right to hijack the tournament.
f) There is a maximum of 3 tournaments going on at a time. This number may be increased or decreased based on the size of the userbase (aka demand). If 3 tournaments are on, you can apply normally and it will begin as soon as one of those tournaments end, assuming you are next on queue, of course.
g) DQs on the final match are frowned upon. By frowned upon I mean "I would recommend not doing it unless the guy is REALLY gone...or like the DQ is 3 days and 12 days passed with no sign of life and 5 warnings or something stupid like that...or if it is the 6th time the guy passed DQ". If needs be, the next tournament may begin before the final match ends if it is taking too much. But it is highly recommended that the winner of the tournament is the best player of the last two and not the one that sticks around the most, unless the other is a true john.
h) The Tournament Committee may hold your tournament signups a bit so the time between sign-ups is long enough. Ideally, Sign-ups for a tourney should happen after 4 months or so. Not that time necessarily (so suspension will only come if like less than 2 months passed since the last one), but it is a good benchmark.
If you obey those guidelines you should be fine.
People banned from hosting Tournaments
- no one
2) Playing on a Tournament
Well you wait for the sign-up thread and sign-up? It as simple as it gets. Hosts have liberty to decide the method of picking who gets in (first come first serve or random or priority to certain people or handpick the best ones or whatever). Also, in some tournaments you will need to have a trained team and in others the tournament will provide them. If you don't have enough acceptably-trained Pokemon to form a team in a non-rental tournament, the host may deny you entrance. Keep that in mind.
Respect your opponent and post on DQ. Don't hold back a round just because you forgot this tourney. Hosts and refs are (supposed to be) strict with DQ, so don't take risks.
Default DQ rules are as follows:
Strict 72h Disqualification. One warning per player. First warning (any tag after DQ interval is passed) resets the timer. If the player passes DQ interval a second time, DQ can be called, giving the player one hour to post (with full orders/pokemon, just saying "orders coming watch this space" doesn't suffice) after DQ is called to rescind it. If one hour passes, the player is DQ'd regardless of the ref posting or not. User calling DQ must tag DQ'd player. Referees please tag the combatants when you have finished your reffing. Players, if you know you're going to be away you better post a Leave of Absence BEFORE you leave, or give a very good reason in case of an emergency. DQ time won't pass during a valid LoA.
After 30 days (This is fine for AOT's format, but maybe not for other formats. Discuss?), the DQ Interval will go to 48h.
Tournament rules vary. The only rule always up is the Self-KO Rule. If your final Pokemon KOs the final Pokemon of your opponent, but for that it had to KO itself (Energy KO, Explosion, Perish Song, Destiny Bond etc etc etc), your opponent is the winner. Everything else is up to the hosts.
People banned from playing on Tournaments:
- no one
3) Reffing Tournament battles
It falls upon the hosts to decide who will ref each battle. As long as you are alive and breathing and have passed Reffing 101 (already a rule, but wasn't mentioned in the post), you can apply. Sure, it is expected that you don't make many mistakes (you can make some, but not that much) when reffing said matches. When in doubt, ask around (oh wait that rhymed, darn it).
Flavor is highly appreciated and pretty much required, and we will remove the bonus UC from you if you don't flavor your matches. Even a paragraph of simple flavor will do and is far better than nothing. Hosts can make flavor mandatory as in no flavor no UC.
Finally, reffing a tournament battle requires commitment. Don't sign-up if you don't think you will be able to post on DQ during it. Searching for a subref is usually irritating and, in the end, the host will end up having to ref more matches than they should and that is bad.
4) Predictions Tournament
During the sign-up period of a Tournament, any person can apply to the Committee to host a Predictions tournament. The hosting can be done by yourself and its format is rather free. Just talk to them and see what you can wipe out.
The only thing required is that the host must post the predictions after they are done, so we don't have problems in case said person disappears. Everything else is up to the host, pending approval by the Committee.
Participants pay CC to get in and may get CC, UC and/or even special prizes for winning a match, a round, a specific bet or the entire thing.
5) Prizes for Participants
The usual Prize per match is EC, MC, AC, KOC and CC as per usual rules (see Handbook). Hosts can give away special prizes (like some UC, but at most 5) to winners. For matches where the players don't use their Pokemon, the prizes can be given out in CC or UC (standard is the CC you would get normally) and it is HIGHLY recommended (almost mandatory) that you include a prize for the winner of the match. Or else, the 4th place and on will get the short end of the stick, and that is surely not good.
The prizes from the battles should be at minimum:
- Using own Pokemon: Counters normally awarded.
- Using rental Pokemon or Pokemon from someone else: 5UC and the CC from the battle.
For the final prizes, there are 3 prizes usually given out: Legendary Pokemon, Master Ball, UC (usually 30 or 50). Hosts can also propose other kinds of prizes like items or normal Pokemon with X MC or Pokemon you used on tournaments that use rentals. Again, this goes as far as your creativity. Just balance stuff with the Committee and you should be fine.
Regarding Legendary Pokemon, you are free to choose any legendary from this list:
Articuno
Azelf
Celebi
Cobalion
Cresselia
Darkrai
Deoxys (All Forms)
Diancie (without Diancite)
Entei
Genesect
Heatran
Hoopa (without Prison Bottle)
Jirachi
Keldeo
Kyurem (without Dark Stone / Light Stone)
Landorus
Latias (without Soul Dew)
Latios (without Soul Dew)
Manaphy
Meloetta
Mesprit
Moltres
Phione
Raikou
Regice
Regigigas
Regirock
Registeel
Shaymin
Suicune
Terrakion
Thundurus
Tornadus
Uxie
Virizion
Volcanion
Zapdos
Azelf
Celebi
Cobalion
Cresselia
Darkrai
Deoxys (All Forms)
Diancie (without Diancite)
Entei
Genesect
Heatran
Hoopa (without Prison Bottle)
Jirachi
Keldeo
Kyurem (without Dark Stone / Light Stone)
Landorus
Latias (without Soul Dew)
Latios (without Soul Dew)
Manaphy
Meloetta
Mesprit
Moltres
Phione
Raikou
Regice
Regigigas
Regirock
Registeel
Shaymin
Suicune
Terrakion
Thundurus
Tornadus
Uxie
Virizion
Volcanion
Zapdos
For the list below...it will need some convincing. And in some cases (680 bst and cover legends) approval from the Mod Team. Try those only if they make a lot of sense flavorwise.
Dialga
Diancie (with Diancite)
Giratina
Groudon
Ho-Oh
Hoopa (Unbound)
Kyogre
Kyurem (with Dark Stone)
Kyurem (with Light Stone)
Latias (with Soul Dew)
Latios (with Soul Dew)
Lugia
Mew
Mewtwo
Palkia
Rayquaza (without the move "Dragon Ascent")
Reshiram
Victini
Xerneas
Yveltal
Zekrom
Zygarde
Diancie (with Diancite)
Giratina
Groudon
Ho-Oh
Hoopa (Unbound)
Kyogre
Kyurem (with Dark Stone)
Kyurem (with Light Stone)
Latias (with Soul Dew)
Latios (with Soul Dew)
Lugia
Mew
Mewtwo
Palkia
Rayquaza (without the move "Dragon Ascent")
Reshiram
Victini
Xerneas
Yveltal
Zekrom
Zygarde
Arceus
Rayquaza (with Dragon Ascent aka Mega Rayquaza)
Rayquaza (with Dragon Ascent aka Mega Rayquaza)
Finally, for Predictions Tournaments, you can use CC, UC or other prizes (with committee approval). Usually the host adds up all the CC taken from players and either give them all to the winners or turn them into UC at some conversion rate (usually 1:1, but may be 2:1 if it gets too good) or into items, using similar logic. For bets, it is the overall pool of CC (converted or not into UC) divided by the participants that guessed right.
6) Payment for Refs and Hosts
Refs gets 1.5x the UC correspondent to the match, including bonus length UC. This bonus UC can be taken away if the ref fails to provide adequate flavour. If the match is subreffed the subref will get all the UC unless the original ref not only warned of this impossibility to ref but also recruited their replacement. If the original ref recruits the replacement, UC distribution occurs following handbook rules, with the 1.5 multiplier applied normally. We value time and commitment more than anything considering how much those tournaments take.
Hosts get UC based on the size of the tournament and the time taken to end it. If the host disappears and/or gets demoted, they won't get a thing. It is crucial that the host sticks around, or else its downhill from there.
The formula for giving out UC for hosts is:
For 48-64man tourneys: 90*(([Number of Rounds]*[Time expected per round]+14 days)/[Time taken from Round 1 to the end of Last Round])
For 24-47man tourneys: 60*(([Number of Rounds]*[Time expected per round]+14 days)/[Time taken from Round 1 to the end of Last Round])
For 9-23man tourneys: 30*(([Number of Rounds]*[Time expected per round]+14 days)/[Time taken from Round 1 to the end of Last Round])
(convert everything in days when calcing)
Man =/= team. If Each team has 3 people and 8 teams are playing, then it is a 24man tournament.
Rounds = First Round, Second Round, Quarterfinals, Semifinals, finals etc.
Time from Round 1 to end of Last Round: Time taken from when you posted Round 1 until when you posted the prizes for the winner.
Time expected per round (it includes sending Pokemon, putting up thread setting up next round etc):
Singles:
2vs2: 2 months (60 days)
3vs3: 2 and a half months (75 days)
4vs4: 3 months (90 days)
5vs5: don't
Doubles:
2vs2: 1 and a half months (45 days)
3vs3: 2 months (60 days)
4vs4: 2 and half months (75 days)
5vs5: 3 months (90 days)
6vs6: don't
Triples:
3vs3: 1 and a half months (45 days)
4vs4: 2 months (60 days)
5vs5: 2 and half months (75 days)
6vs6: 3 months (90 days)
7vs7: don't
Other formats:
Pester the committee, k?
Each Host gets full UC (regardless of the position). If there is only one host, it will get the same amount for twice as much work, so get your pairs going pls.
For subhosts the formula is:
For 48-64man tourneys: 90*(Number of Rounds Left including the current one)/(Number of Rounds total)*([Number of Rounds left]*[Time expected per round]/[Time taken from the time subhosting occured to the end of Last Round])
For 24-47man tourneys: 60*(Number of Rounds Left including the current one)/(Number of Rounds total)*([Number of Rounds left]*[Time expected per round]/[Time taken from the time subhosting occured to the end of Last Round])
For 9-23man tourneys: 30*(Number of Rounds Left including the current one)/(Number of Rounds total)*([Number of Rounds left]*[Time expected per round]/[Time taken from the time subhosting occured to the end of Last Round])
So basically, if everything goes as planned, you get 60UC (or 30 or 90 depending on the size of the tourney). If it goes better than planned, you get more. If it goes worse, you get less. Be aware, though, that the Committee will keep a close eye to your hosting and may add or deduct stuff depending on how it goes (so if you move things too fast to get more UC you may end up getting less).
I may adjust the numbers later. Those are tentative somewhat.
The Host Prize is to be claimed only at the end of the tournament.
PSA: This UC prize for Tournaments hosts is valid for ALL tournaments before and after this post. Just calc the prize and claim. But only the UC prize for hosts.
7) On Leaves of Absence
The host of the tournament has the right to make up rules for how Leaves of Absences will be considered. It is advised (but not enforced) that hosts consider the LoAs and give reasonable extensions to the players, as we all have lives outside ASB. But this is entirely up to the discretion of the respective host. The host just must be aware that the tournament must end in a reasonable timeframe (rule of thumb: 10 months. Limit: 12 months), so don't go overboard on tolerance.
Also, if, during a LoA, the player posts on flashes or casual battles, or engage on reffing without being way past DQ on the latter, the LoA is to be disregarded entirely by the tournament host or committee (or another unbiased mod if both are involved in the matter somehow), except if the tourney has specific rules on the matter.
8) Other stuff
Ask the Committee.
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