Battle-by-Post League Circuit
At the end of the long road, the proving ground awaits!
( Rewards | Current Ruleset | Hall of Fame | Latest Post )
At the end of the long road, the proving ground awaits!
( Rewards | Current Ruleset | Hall of Fame | Latest Post )
Facility Overview
Trainers in the BBP League spend much of their time growing and improving their team. Evolving and training their Pokemon, collecting items to equip them with, and adding powerful Legendary Pokemon to their roster. Many trainers do this just for the joy of meeting more Pokemon, no doubt. Other trainers hunger to display their skills, wish to earn the recognition of their peers, or even simply crave the exhilaration of challenge. This arena is for the latter: A cathedral to combat where the biggest battles in all of BBP are fought!
Signing Up
Entry into the League Circuit costs 6
JC for per battle. This JC must be paid in advance, by posting in the Prize Claim Tower that you are paying JC to enter the League Circuit.You can pay for an upcoming League Circuit entry any time after the ruleset for that Circuit is revealed and before pairings are for that Circuit drawn.
After paying their entry fee, trainers then sign up for the League Circuit's queue, simply by posting in this thread that they are joining the queue, linking to their entry fee post, and reposting the month's signup queue from the post above them.
Trainers who sign up for the League Circuit should indicate whether or not they would prefer to referee matches. When drawing pairings, referees will be chosen first from volunteers. However, if there are not enough referees to go around, other participants may be volun-told to referee a match. To sign up for the League Circuit is to agree to referee, if necessary.
Your most recent League Circuit wins will be tallied to track your Battle Record: a count of your wins used to reward your efforts with increasingly-exclusive prizing. Once you've earned a prize for a Battle Record of four (4) wins, it will reset, and you'll begin racking up wins from zero again.
Battle Format
The match rules, battle size, and arena of the League Circuit will vary from month to month to ensure that competition stays fresh and to reward players that train a large variety of Pokemon. However, there are some constants:
Battle Level:
The battle level is always 4. The League Circuit is for experienced trainers.
Advanced Techniques:
One or more advanced techniques are typically enabled.
Player DQ Time:
DQ in the League Circuit uses a partial chess clock system – significantly differently from the rest of BBP!
Each player has two pools of hours: 24 Round Hours and 72 Battle Hours. For each whole hour that passes while it's your turn to post, each time it's your turn to post, one hour is deducted from your clock. (So, you technically have 59 minutes of grace, if you're precise.) If you run out of hours in both pools, you lose the battle. (Note that, if you have posted for your ref to correct an error, it is not your turn to post before the error has been corrected.)
Referees will track a player's Battle Hours alongside other per-player resources, such as Technique Control.
Round Hours are spent first, and refill to full at the start of each round's Switching Phase. This means that, if you only take a total of 24 hours (and 59 minutes) to post each round, you'll never touch your Battle Hours at all.
Once your Round Hours are empty, any further hours are deducted from your Battle Hours. This is the pool that will matter for tiebreakers and possible disqualification. When a player has no remaining Round Hours and is starting to use their Battle Hours, it is expected that their opponent or referee will tag them in the thread.
Referee DQ Time:
Each time it is a referee's turn to post, they have 36 hours in which to do so. After the 36 hour mark, either player can also post in this thread requesting a Referee Assist on their referee's behalf. Unlike other venues, this doesn't result in permanent transfer of match control to the new referee. We understand that Circuit matches have a greater pressure to get things right the first time, and can involve very complicated effect interactions, or substitutions written by powerful players.
Time Limit:
League Matches are played under two time limits: a 12-round in-game time limit, and a real-life calendar deadline. If the match reaches either cutoff, tiebreaking procedures are as follows:
- If one player has at least 36 more Battle Hours than their opponent, that player wins. This is the "Hour Gap" tiebreaker rule.
- Then, if that's a tie, the team whose Pokemon are missing the smallest percentage of their HP is declared the winner. This is the "Missing HP" rule.
- Example: If one Pokemon on a team is missing 50% of their HP, and the other Pokemon on that team is missing 80% of their HP, then that team is considered to be missing 130% HP.
- Then, if that's a tie, the player with the most remaining Battle Hours is the winner. This is the "Precise Hour" tiebreaker rule.
- Then, if that's a tie, the player that posted least recently wins. Woe betide us if we should ever make it to this tiebreaker.
The League Circuit Schedule
The League Circuit is played monthly, on a fixed calendar schedule. The UTC Time Zone is used for the purposes of following this schedule.
Reveal (21st):
On or after the 21st of every calendar month, a moderator, referred to as the Host Moderator, will post the upcoming month's ruleset from among a stash of possible rulesets. This ruleset will specify match rules, battle format, and arena that the upcoming month's League Matches will be played under. If the Host Moderator wishes to play in the arena they are hosting, they'll hash their team with this online tool, and post that hash when they announce the arena, right here in the thread.
Signups:
Starting once the ruleset has been posted in this thread, signups and send-ins for that month's League Circuits will open. Players will be able to post in this thread to indicate their participation. During the signup period, players must privately message their team and backpack to the Host Moderator on Smogon only.
Pairings (1st):
Starting on the 1st of every calendar month, signups for that month's League Circuit will close. The Host Moderator will reveal all teams and backpacks for all on-time entrants, including their own if they previously submitted a hashed team. Any entrants failing to send in will be excused from that month's Circuit, and any entry fee they paid will be refunded.
The Host Moderator will then make pairings. If there's an odd number of entrants and the last entrant signed up within 24 hours of signups closing, that player will be given a bye. Otherwise, if there's an odd number of entrants, a bye will go to a random player that did not win their last Circuit match if possible; or otherwise to a random player at all. This player will earn battle (but not victory) rewards, and their entry JC will be refunded. Then, each player that won their last Circuit match will be paired off; then the remaining players will be paired off.
This is also when referees are assigned to battles. Each referee has until midnight UTC on the 3rd of the month to post the thread, as battles start promptly at that time.
If less than four (4) total players signed up, the League Circuit doesn't occur that month. It'll happen eventually—BBP operates in floods and droughts of activity, as real life occupies players' time to varying amounts with school, work, or other obligations. In terms of rewards, this is treated as a Bye being awarded to every entrant in the queue.
Match Start (3rd):
Starting on the 3rd of every calendar month, League Matches begin. The player randomly selected to go first will finally be allowed to send out their first Pokemon, and Round and Battle Hours will begin counting down.
Cutoff (29th):
Any ongoing League Circuit matches will end and be scored on the 29th of every calendar month. As a result, no League Match can last longer than 26 real-life days. Posts made by trainers after the start of the 29th, UTC time will be ignored. However, if all orders from players have been posted within the time limit, the final round should be reffed by the referee. (In February of a non-leap year, the cutoff is instead March 1.)
Last edited by a moderator:
TC and 4 
RC.
Star Piece, and 1 extra 
EXP Record
Sport Ball
Hi-EXP Record
Heatran (Lv2)
Azelf (Lv2)
Mesprit (Lv2)
Uxie (Lv2)
Meltan (Lv0)
Academy Credit
Victini (Lv3)
Manaphy (Lv3)
Jirachi (Lv3)
Celebi (Lv3)
Mew (Lv3)
Aurumoth, 
Braviary-Hisui, 
Chandelure, 
Clefable, 
Decidueye, 
Delibird,
Ditto, 
Dragalge, 
Dragonite, 
Dusknoir, 
Equilibra, 
Excadrill,
Gallade, 
Garchomp, 
Gardevoir, 
Gengar, 
Glimmora, 
Golisopod,
Goodra-Hisui, 
Hydreigon, 
Kingambit, 
Metagross, 
Miasmaw, 
Mimikyu,
Moltres, 
Muk-Alola, 
Necturna, 
Ninetales-Alola, 
Porygon2, 
Primarina,
Pyroak, 
Reuniclus, 
Revenankh, 
Rotom, 
Samurott-Hisui, 
Shedinja,
Snorlax, 
Spectrier, 
Tapu Koko, 
Tatsugiri, 
Togekiss, 
Tomohawk,
Tyranitar, 
Unown, 
Ursaluna, 
Venusaur, 
Zapdos
