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WCoP Administrative Decisions
- Thread starter Luigi
- Start date
- Status
Ruft has decided to step down from his position as Captain of Team Europe. We Three Kings has been promoted to replace him.
RE: Eject Pack + Magician / Pickpocket Interaction
Recent research has revealed that this interaction is currently coded incorrectly on Pokemon Showdown - the abilities are not supposed to trigger on the same attack that triggers the Eject Pack.
To avoid potentially punishing any teams that may have planned and prepared their Round 1 games around this interaction, Round 1 will be brought to completion with the incorrect interaction allowed.
For any round after the end of Round 1 - including any potential tiebreakers - bringing Eject Pack + Magician / Pickpocket will result in an immediate game loss until the interaction is fixed (another announcement will be posted here then).
Recent research has revealed that this interaction is currently coded incorrectly on Pokemon Showdown - the abilities are not supposed to trigger on the same attack that triggers the Eject Pack.
To avoid potentially punishing any teams that may have planned and prepared their Round 1 games around this interaction, Round 1 will be brought to completion with the incorrect interaction allowed.
For any round after the end of Round 1 - including any potential tiebreakers - bringing Eject Pack + Magician / Pickpocket will result in an immediate game loss until the interaction is fixed (another announcement will be posted here then).
RE: Eject Pack + Magician, Part 2
The bug is now fixed on Smogtours - the tournament continues as normal with no further restrictions. Players are allowed to bring the combination again (but probably shouldn't, given how much weaker it is since this bugfix)
(Also, a small note: the interaction with Pickpocket works, but it's different given the nature of Pickpocket only triggering on enemy attacks. My previous post was incorrect in looping it in.)
The bug is now fixed on Smogtours - the tournament continues as normal with no further restrictions. Players are allowed to bring the combination again (but probably shouldn't, given how much weaker it is since this bugfix)
(Also, a small note: the interaction with Pickpocket works, but it's different given the nature of Pickpocket only triggering on enemy attacks. My previous post was incorrect in looping it in.)
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RE: Luispeikou vs FatFighter2 Scheduling Controversy
Timeline of events
On Tuesday, FatFighter2 agreed tentatively to 5PM +2 Saturday, saying "probably let's do that for now".
He then asked for a reschedule on Friday morning; Luispeikou did not agree, as the other weekend times he had previously offered had now been taken up by other commitments.
FatFighter2 had to figure out whether to sacrifice other IRL commitments to make the 5PM +2, or whether he is in a position to demand the reschedule, since he technically only agreed to 5PM +2 tentatively. Under normal circumstances, given that he did not give nearly enough forewarning, this ruling would have been pretty clear - the game stays at 5PM +2.
However, US Midwest reached out to the hosts at a time when we were unavailable. They then reached out to an uninvolved TD to get any kind of 'official' opinion. That TD lead them to believe that they had enough of a case to force a reschedule to either later Saturday, or Sunday.
I then wake up a couple of hours later and observe that this is not the case; Spain should be able to force 5PM +2 since it was the only time they managed to agree on by Friday. (This reading of the situation is agreed on by multiple other TDs afterwards.)
However, FatFighter2 has now taken other commitments for 5PM +2, following what they were led to believe by the uninvolved TD. He is unable to make the previously scheduled time.
Decision:
FatFighter2 was assured that he would be okay if he missed the 5PM +2 time by a Tournament Director. The Tournament Director's reading of the situation is starkly different from the one of the host team, but given that the original situation landed in a gray area, we do not find either FatFigher2 or the Tournament Director's actions to be clearly contradicting the rules. (Note the time was agreed on with a "probably, for now"; Luispeikou originally offered plenty of alternative weekend times; and it had not been communicated to Midwest that those times were not available anymore despite FatFighter2 implying at multiple times that he may end up needing to shift the schedule. These factors are why we believe this scenario to fall within a gray area.)
As such, we do not deem it appropriate to force US Midwest to provide a substitute for FatFighter2, given that they did not act in direct contradiction of the rules, and as a matter of fact they were made to believe that they could maybe even demand a reschedule; but they would have been able to make the original time, had their situation been communicated to them accurately.
Spain and Luispeikou are also clearly not at fault; they will be able, within reason, to demand a rescheduling that is favorable to them, including - potentially - an extraordinary extension past the Sunday deadline, or a double substitution if no satisfying times can be found.
I apologize on behalf of the WCoP host team and on behalf of the Tournament Director team for the issues caused by (1) the unavailability of the hosting team at a sensitive time when US Midwest reached out, and (2) the dubious reading of the situation that was provided in the moment.
The blame for this situation falls squarely on us and we are now doing our best to reach a sensible, neutral solution that is fair to both sides.
Timeline of events
On Tuesday, FatFighter2 agreed tentatively to 5PM +2 Saturday, saying "probably let's do that for now".
He then asked for a reschedule on Friday morning; Luispeikou did not agree, as the other weekend times he had previously offered had now been taken up by other commitments.
FatFighter2 had to figure out whether to sacrifice other IRL commitments to make the 5PM +2, or whether he is in a position to demand the reschedule, since he technically only agreed to 5PM +2 tentatively. Under normal circumstances, given that he did not give nearly enough forewarning, this ruling would have been pretty clear - the game stays at 5PM +2.
However, US Midwest reached out to the hosts at a time when we were unavailable. They then reached out to an uninvolved TD to get any kind of 'official' opinion. That TD lead them to believe that they had enough of a case to force a reschedule to either later Saturday, or Sunday.
I then wake up a couple of hours later and observe that this is not the case; Spain should be able to force 5PM +2 since it was the only time they managed to agree on by Friday. (This reading of the situation is agreed on by multiple other TDs afterwards.)
However, FatFighter2 has now taken other commitments for 5PM +2, following what they were led to believe by the uninvolved TD. He is unable to make the previously scheduled time.
Decision:
FatFighter2 was assured that he would be okay if he missed the 5PM +2 time by a Tournament Director. The Tournament Director's reading of the situation is starkly different from the one of the host team, but given that the original situation landed in a gray area, we do not find either FatFigher2 or the Tournament Director's actions to be clearly contradicting the rules. (Note the time was agreed on with a "probably, for now"; Luispeikou originally offered plenty of alternative weekend times; and it had not been communicated to Midwest that those times were not available anymore despite FatFighter2 implying at multiple times that he may end up needing to shift the schedule. These factors are why we believe this scenario to fall within a gray area.)
As such, we do not deem it appropriate to force US Midwest to provide a substitute for FatFighter2, given that they did not act in direct contradiction of the rules, and as a matter of fact they were made to believe that they could maybe even demand a reschedule; but they would have been able to make the original time, had their situation been communicated to them accurately.
Spain and Luispeikou are also clearly not at fault; they will be able, within reason, to demand a rescheduling that is favorable to them, including - potentially - an extraordinary extension past the Sunday deadline, or a double substitution if no satisfying times can be found.
I apologize on behalf of the WCoP host team and on behalf of the Tournament Director team for the issues caused by (1) the unavailability of the hosting team at a sensitive time when US Midwest reached out, and (2) the dubious reading of the situation that was provided in the moment.
The blame for this situation falls squarely on us and we are now doing our best to reach a sensible, neutral solution that is fair to both sides.
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Re: Charmflash & Team Austria
After Captains had been selected and announced for WCOP 2024, non-captain members of Team Austria reached out to the TD team to inquire why they were not included, which resulted from Charmflash alerting me that Austria had insufficient interest and could not form a team due to multiple players expressing interest in not playing this year and his cocaptain expressing an interest to quit Pokemon altogether.
However, the claim about not being able to field enough players was directly countered by other members of Team Austria, as they provided a full roster of eligible players still interested in participating in the tournament, whereas Charmflash had ignored a ping in Team Austria’s Discord as well as DMs from players questioning why they weren’t selected until he was approached about this by me today. Because he unilaterally withdrew the team without consulting the rest of the players who were still interested in competing, we are hereby banning Charmflash from competing in WCOP 2024, as well as banning him from managing official team tournaments in the future for the impropriety exhibited by neglecting to consult his team prior to saying they’d be withdrawing. Further, Team Austria will be allowed to compete in WCOP 2024.
After Captains had been selected and announced for WCOP 2024, non-captain members of Team Austria reached out to the TD team to inquire why they were not included, which resulted from Charmflash alerting me that Austria had insufficient interest and could not form a team due to multiple players expressing interest in not playing this year and his cocaptain expressing an interest to quit Pokemon altogether.
However, the claim about not being able to field enough players was directly countered by other members of Team Austria, as they provided a full roster of eligible players still interested in participating in the tournament, whereas Charmflash had ignored a ping in Team Austria’s Discord as well as DMs from players questioning why they weren’t selected until he was approached about this by me today. Because he unilaterally withdrew the team without consulting the rest of the players who were still interested in competing, we are hereby banning Charmflash from competing in WCOP 2024, as well as banning him from managing official team tournaments in the future for the impropriety exhibited by neglecting to consult his team prior to saying they’d be withdrawing. Further, Team Austria will be allowed to compete in WCOP 2024.
Re: Drachenkeule vs. the pharoah
Earlier today Drachenkeule and the pharoah were playing their World Cup Qualifier stage game on PS Main as smogtours was down due to the recent server issues. Those issues were also affecting PS Main, and during this game the site went down for long enough that the battle room expired and the game data could not be retrieved.
Decision: Drachenkeule and the pharoah will play again and will not be bound to the teams they brought in today's game.
Earlier today Drachenkeule and the pharoah were playing their World Cup Qualifier stage game on PS Main as smogtours was down due to the recent server issues. Those issues were also affecting PS Main, and during this game the site went down for long enough that the battle room expired and the game data could not be retrieved.
Decision: Drachenkeule and the pharoah will play again and will not be bound to the teams they brought in today's game.
Ruft has decided to step down from their position as captain of Team Europe. We Three Kings and Leni have been promoted to replace them.
Re: Rillaboom
Rillaboom was banned from UU this week but shall remain legal for the duration of Qualifiers Round 1. Please send UU challenges in OU.
Rillaboom was banned from UU this week but shall remain legal for the duration of Qualifiers Round 1. Please send UU challenges in OU.
Re: Posting wins in a timely manner
In order to have accurate standings and substitutions, we need to have games accounted for in a reasonable timeframe. To that end, winposts (with replay included) during pool phases must be made within 24 hours of the game being played in order to be valid. Winposts do not specifically have to be made by the player, they can be made by their captain or teammate if they're unable to do so themselves.
This will go into effect immediately, with a one-time 24 hour grace period for older replays to still be accepted, starting now.
In order to have accurate standings and substitutions, we need to have games accounted for in a reasonable timeframe. To that end, winposts (with replay included) during pool phases must be made within 24 hours of the game being played in order to be valid. Winposts do not specifically have to be made by the player, they can be made by their captain or teammate if they're unable to do so themselves.
This will go into effect immediately, with a one-time 24 hour grace period for older replays to still be accepted, starting now.
Re: 2025 Qualifying Round 1 activity decisions
The following (bolded) players are awarded activity wins for opposing teams not having provided substitutes prior to the old or new activity rules:
Ghostfall22 vs. Ichi1111
Javi vs. Yax
Chiharu vs. Malamardo
Bausparvertrag vs. Rrbrru
Re: 5-way tiebreak for 2nd
Seeing as Argentina, Asia, Mexico, Netherlands, and the United Kingdom are tied for second place coming out of qualifiers round 1, details for the tiebreak will be enumerated below, similar to the 2012 5-way tiebreak:
A 5-way round robin featuring a best-of-1 between each of the teams will be played to determine who moves on and how. The tier will be SVOU, and captains from each of the 5 teams should submit their team's picks to the hosts in their channels in the Captain's Discord ASAP. You can select up to 4 players and who will play against each opposing team. All games must be played.
The following (bolded) players are awarded activity wins for opposing teams not having provided substitutes prior to the old or new activity rules:
Ghostfall22 vs. Ichi1111
Javi vs. Yax
Chiharu vs. Malamardo
Bausparvertrag vs. Rrbrru
Re: 5-way tiebreak for 2nd
Seeing as Argentina, Asia, Mexico, Netherlands, and the United Kingdom are tied for second place coming out of qualifiers round 1, details for the tiebreak will be enumerated below, similar to the 2012 5-way tiebreak:
A 5-way round robin featuring a best-of-1 between each of the teams will be played to determine who moves on and how. The tier will be SVOU, and captains from each of the 5 teams should submit their team's picks to the hosts in their channels in the Captain's Discord ASAP. You can select up to 4 players and who will play against each opposing team. All games must be played.
- The team with the highest number of wins overall, if there is no tie, will move straight to pools while the remaining 4 participate in Qualifying Round 2 - play-ins.
- If two teams tie for first seed in the round robin, they'll play their own 3v3 to determine who moves straight to pools, and the remaining 4 teams will go to play-ins.
If three teams tie, they will all move straight to pools and there won't be a round for play-ins this year.- If all five teams tie, we prepare for a live reset on Sunday at a to be announced later time where teams will continue playing until the tiebreak is resolved. Like 2012, substitutes would be allowed, but we will keep going until one of the above scenarios is achieved.
Captains, send your player choices ASAP, the deadline for the RR is <t:1746939600:F>.
THIS IS A SATURDAY DEADLINE. PLEASE NOTE THIS.
Courtesy pings for captains:
HSBT haxlolo
devin Ahy Wddicted AhmedxWaleed
Mrbanana45 glass shadows Elian
Quinn ojr Chains of Markov
Glue Gingy Clem
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After much feedback and subsequent discussion within the TD team, we're redirecting what would happen in the event of a three-way tiebreak in the current 5-way round robin so as to not eliminate play-ins completely in any scenario. With this change, no team will be eliminated in the Bo1 phase and at least have the opportunity to play in the Bo9 play-ins.
Now if three teams tie, we prepare for a live reset on Sunday at a to-be-announced-later time where teams will continue playing until the tiebreak is resolved. Substitutes would be allowed, but we will keep going until one of the teams wins 2-0. This team advances immediately to pools while the other two participate in play-ins with the two non-live RR teams.
We do not intend to change other aspects of the tiebreak.
We have heard a fair amount of complaints about bo1 and choosing players to be selected any number of times in the tiebreak, so wanted to post a quick clarification on why that is.
1. Bo1 tiebreaks in multi-gen WCoPs are not a new concept. They happened in both 2018 and 2019 (2/3 of the most recent multi-gen WCoPs). In 2018, it was the first phase of deciding 7th/8th/9th where the winner moved on and then 8th and 9th played a bo3 tiebreak. In 2019 there was a bo3 RR tiebreak between 7th/8th/9th where the loser would be eliminated. This reset and the reset was run in bo1 instead. In both cases, it was only even possible to select a single player from each team.
2. Even in recent years bo3 RR tiebreaks you can slot players any number of times (see 2024’s NE Chile South tiebreak and many others)
3. People have been looking at the post from 2012 linked in the original decision and calling out that it required a different player to face each team. While true, that tournament was not 1:1 with this. That was a single-gen WCoP meaning the entire lineup was playing CG OU and putting in 4 different players was still selective from the lineup as opposed to literally all of it as it would be for qualifiers. We also don’t have any recent cases of player selection being limited in tiebreaks.
Obviously a 5 team tiebreaker in a multi-gen WCoP is unprecedented and we came up with a solution that was an amalgam of similar scenarios from the past. Admittedly, it was a mistake on our end to use 2012 as the only reference in the original post as it was not the only thing we were drawing from (2018 is probably the most similar to our solution).
We feel bo1 makes sense given the similar examples we’ve faced before and specifically for this case, where it is not being used to decide elimination and we will have the 9v9 deciders next week for the final slots. Bo1 is the logistically simplest and quickest way to define a second seed and all other teams will have an opportunity to compete in the play-ins. No team will be eliminated from WCoP without the opportunity to play another full bo9.
1. Bo1 tiebreaks in multi-gen WCoPs are not a new concept. They happened in both 2018 and 2019 (2/3 of the most recent multi-gen WCoPs). In 2018, it was the first phase of deciding 7th/8th/9th where the winner moved on and then 8th and 9th played a bo3 tiebreak. In 2019 there was a bo3 RR tiebreak between 7th/8th/9th where the loser would be eliminated. This reset and the reset was run in bo1 instead. In both cases, it was only even possible to select a single player from each team.
2. Even in recent years bo3 RR tiebreaks you can slot players any number of times (see 2024’s NE Chile South tiebreak and many others)
3. People have been looking at the post from 2012 linked in the original decision and calling out that it required a different player to face each team. While true, that tournament was not 1:1 with this. That was a single-gen WCoP meaning the entire lineup was playing CG OU and putting in 4 different players was still selective from the lineup as opposed to literally all of it as it would be for qualifiers. We also don’t have any recent cases of player selection being limited in tiebreaks.
Obviously a 5 team tiebreaker in a multi-gen WCoP is unprecedented and we came up with a solution that was an amalgam of similar scenarios from the past. Admittedly, it was a mistake on our end to use 2012 as the only reference in the original post as it was not the only thing we were drawing from (2018 is probably the most similar to our solution).
We feel bo1 makes sense given the similar examples we’ve faced before and specifically for this case, where it is not being used to decide elimination and we will have the 9v9 deciders next week for the final slots. Bo1 is the logistically simplest and quickest way to define a second seed and all other teams will have an opportunity to compete in the play-ins. No team will be eliminated from WCoP without the opportunity to play another full bo9.
Re: Captaincy shakeups
shiloh and z0mOG have stepped down from their positions as captains of Team US West. Vert and hex have been promoted to replace them.
Tricking has stepped down from their position as captain of Team Italy. Montreal has been promoted to replace them.
Ewin and ict have stepped down from their positions as captains of Team Germany. Emre Mor 9 and Reje have been promoted to replace them.
We Three Kings and Petros have been promoted as cocaptains of Team Europe.
Re: Wait2Seconds' forum ban
Wait2Seconds was forum banned for reasons unrelated to WCoP 2025; Portugal has selected terribleplayer17 to replace them for the main stage due to their roster dropping below minimum size.
shiloh and z0mOG have stepped down from their positions as captains of Team US West. Vert and hex have been promoted to replace them.
Tricking has stepped down from their position as captain of Team Italy. Montreal has been promoted to replace them.
Ewin and ict have stepped down from their positions as captains of Team Germany. Emre Mor 9 and Reje have been promoted to replace them.
We Three Kings and Petros have been promoted as cocaptains of Team Europe.
Re: Wait2Seconds' forum ban
Wait2Seconds was forum banned for reasons unrelated to WCoP 2025; Portugal has selected terribleplayer17 to replace them for the main stage due to their roster dropping below minimum size.
Re: Meowscarada in SV UU
Meowscarada was just banned in SV UU; it will remain legal for all SV UU battles for the remainder of Round 1, including any potential tiebreak series.
You can challenge in Gen 9 OU once SmogTours has been updated Sunday night GMT-4 (June 1st) or with a challenge code per the recent update.
An announcement with the challenge code has been added to SmogTours lobby, though if you prefer you can click the button in the announcement to bring up the rfaq with the same code, or you can copy it from below to send your challenges for SV UU for the remainder of Round 1. You must paste the code directly in your DM with your opponent.
If you'd like to paste the code in the lobby for whatever reason, you can use the code below, but make sure to edit it with your opponent's alt name first:
Meowscarada was just banned in SV UU; it will remain legal for all SV UU battles for the remainder of Round 1, including any potential tiebreak series.
You can challenge in Gen 9 OU once SmogTours has been updated Sunday night GMT-4 (June 1st) or with a challenge code per the recent update.
An announcement with the challenge code has been added to SmogTours lobby, though if you prefer you can click the button in the announcement to bring up the rfaq with the same code, or you can copy it from below to send your challenges for SV UU for the remainder of Round 1. You must paste the code directly in your DM with your opponent.
/challenge gen9uu@@@+MeowscaradaIf you'd like to paste the code in the lobby for whatever reason, you can use the code below, but make sure to edit it with your opponent's alt name first:
/challenge [user], gen9uu@@@+Meowscarada- Status