Playing in a Tournament
Once you have signed up and the host posts Round 1, it is strongly recommended that you contact your opponent immediately by sending them a VM on their profile, or a PM if you prefer (though this makes it more difficult for the host to track who is more active). Let them know when you think you will be ready to play, your timezone (assuming you set it when you joined, it should appear at the bottom of every page on the forums), and maybe your availability if you know what that will be. For a more detailed description of what is recommended, there is a guide that details
How to schedule a battle. Try to respond in a timely fashion whenever your opponent contacts you. If someone misses a scheduled time and the match is in danger of going uncompleted by the deadline, the host will nearly always award the win to the player that showed up, so scheduling a battle is a sure way to avoid being eliminated by inactivity. Don't be lazy!
Here are some rules we enforce for players in tournaments. There is a good chance you will receive a Warning or potentially be banned from tournaments if you fail to adhere to these:
- If your user name undergoes a change, it is your obligation to report the change to the hosts of any tournaments you are participating in, as well as your opponents in those tournaments.
- Avoid dropping out of a tournament midway through unless you have a good reason for doing so. People that repeatedly drop out of tournaments without good reason may be punished.
- If you do have to drop out, you must notify the host and your opponent.
- Endeavor to complete your battles before the deadline of each round. If we notice a pattern of laziness, we may decide to punish you.
Pre- and In-Battle Rules
These rules explain what you aren't allowed to do before and during a battle, and what standard rules must be followed.
Definitions of Standard Clauses: (these clauses apply across all Smogon tiers)
- Sleep Clause: If a player has already put an opposing Pokémon to sleep using a sleep inducing move and that Pokémon is still sleeping due to that sleep inducing move, the player cannot put another opposing Pokémon to sleep using a sleep inducing move.
- Species Clause: A player cannot have two of the same species of Pokémon on their team, based on the National Pokedex Number. For example, a player cannot have two Koffing on his or her team.
- Evasion Clause: Players cannot use Double Team or Minimize in any of their Pokémon's movesets. In fifth generation (BW) Smogon tiers, the items BrightPowder and Lax Incense also may not be held by any Pokémon on a player's team. In other generations, these items do not break this clause.
- OHKO Clause: Players cannot use Horn Drill, Guillotine, Sheer Cold, or Fissure in any of their Pokémon's movesets.
- Timer Clause: If a player exhausts the timer, he/she loses.
Definitions of Other Clauses- (Standard only in Smogon's fifth generation tiers) Moody Clause: A player may not use a Pokémon with the ability Moody..
Disconnections and Timer Clause: In live tournaments with short time constraints such as the Smogon Tour, if a player disconnects or times out, the opponent may take the win. In other tournaments, if a player disconnects and contends that they could still win, the optimal solution is to recreate the exact situation the disconnection occurred at during the battle. If this is not feasible due to unreasonable battle length, highly improbable circumstances, or some other reason, the player who did not disconnect may choose to rematch with either the same teams or (the option to use) new teams. Timing out is still classified as a loss, unless the reason for timing out is a disconnection. If there is any suspicion that a disconnect was carried out deliberately to take advantage of this rule in any way, we reserve the right to exercise a harsh punishment.
Simulator Glitches: Any battle mechanics not properly implemented in the simulator used for a tournament battle are fair game, unless explicitly banned by that tournament's rules. Illegal movesets that are not restricted by the simulator fall into this category as well. However, this does not include faulty tier scripts; for example, if there was a bug in the BW OU tier script that allowed you to use Drizzle and Swift Swim on the same team, taking advantage of this would result in disqualification in that battle. If a game breaking glitch is discovered, we will make a blanket tournament ban on that glitch via an announcement in the Tournaments forum until it is fixed.
Ghosting: The player in a tournament battle should be the one making their own decisions. Do not tell a player what move to make in a tournament battle (i.e. do not "ghost" them), and do not make your moves based on another person's suggestions. If we are made aware that someone playing a tournament battle is making some of their moves based mainly on the suggestions of someone else, punishments may be handed out to both parties involved.
Identity: Pretending to be another player in relation to a tournament battle is strictly prohibited. Do not try to impersonate or play as another player.
Rule Breaking: If a player breaks a rule during a battle, they are disqualified from that particular battle. If it was a single battle in a series, they will still have the opportunity to play the rest of the series.
Draws: If a battle ends in a draw in an elimination tournament or another tournament format that is unable to handle draws, there should be a rematch between the players with the option for both players to change teams.
Forfeiting: A player may forfeit their battle during or after the battle, as long as the result has not been confirmed by the host. If a player forfeits before a battle commences in the first round of a tournament, they are eligible for substitution if appropriate. We highly recommend that you do not forfeit your tournament battles just because you got lucky, but we do not enforce this.
Host / Tournament Director Decisions: The host may make a judgment call on the outcome of a battle with a disputed result, even if one player has broken the rules. If you believe the host has made an unjust decision, you may inform the Tournament Director responsible for the tournament of the situation and request that they make a final call on it.
Sportsmanship: If a player displays exceedingly poor sportsmanship before, during, or after a tournament battle, they may be disqualified or otherwise punished.