Art by Kolohe
Host Team: TBD
Tournament Rules and General Guidelines
GSCPL VI Commencement Thread (Coming Soon)
Spreadsheet (Coming Soon)
How does GSCPL work?
There will be 6 or 8 teams, each with their own manager and assistant manager. Management duos will do a Snake Draft Auction on Pokemon Showdown!, where they will take turns nominating and bidding in an auction for players who signed up to assemble their teams with limited credits available. Then:
- teams will then play one another for 5 or 7 weeks, with a new opponent each week. This will culminate with a Playoffs week consisting of the Top 3 or 4 teams overall from the regular season season.
OR
- teams will play one another for 5 weeks, then the bottom 2 teams will be eliminated, and the remaining 4 teams will play each other for 3 more weeks, then the top 2 teams will play each other for finals. For more info, see: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/on-6-team-pls.3726578/
Note: Format is TBD
How does one signup as a player?
Player signups are projected to begin Sunday, September 29th and will be open until 24 hours before the auction (see below). You should include your name, timezone, metagames you are willing to play, and any expected inactivity. Do not sign up if you cannot commit to the entire tournament. GSCPL VI is expected to run from the beginning of October to the beginning of December.
How does one apply to be a manager / assistant manager?
Manager signups are projected to begin Monday, September 22nd and will be open until Sunday, September 28th at 11:59 PM GMT-4. The GSCPL hosting team will pick managers.
If I am selected as a captain, can I still play for my team?
Yes, managers and assistant managers will be given the option to draft themselves for a set price. You do not have to buy yourself if you don't want to. Double manager self-buy TBD.
When is the GSCPL Auction?
The auction date will occur around Octobher 11th/12th, when at least one representative of each team will be available.
When does GSCPL Week 1 start?
Monday, October 13th.
There will be 6 or 8 teams, each with their own manager and assistant manager. Management duos will do a Snake Draft Auction on Pokemon Showdown!, where they will take turns nominating and bidding in an auction for players who signed up to assemble their teams with limited credits available. Then:
- teams will then play one another for 5 or 7 weeks, with a new opponent each week. This will culminate with a Playoffs week consisting of the Top 3 or 4 teams overall from the regular season season.
OR
- teams will play one another for 5 weeks, then the bottom 2 teams will be eliminated, and the remaining 4 teams will play each other for 3 more weeks, then the top 2 teams will play each other for finals. For more info, see: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/on-6-team-pls.3726578/
Note: Format is TBD
How does one signup as a player?
Player signups are projected to begin Sunday, September 29th and will be open until 24 hours before the auction (see below). You should include your name, timezone, metagames you are willing to play, and any expected inactivity. Do not sign up if you cannot commit to the entire tournament. GSCPL VI is expected to run from the beginning of October to the beginning of December.
How does one apply to be a manager / assistant manager?
Manager signups are projected to begin Monday, September 22nd and will be open until Sunday, September 28th at 11:59 PM GMT-4. The GSCPL hosting team will pick managers.
If I am selected as a captain, can I still play for my team?
Yes, managers and assistant managers will be given the option to draft themselves for a set price. You do not have to buy yourself if you don't want to. Double manager self-buy TBD.
When is the GSCPL Auction?
The auction date will occur around Octobher 11th/12th, when at least one representative of each team will be available.
When does GSCPL Week 1 start?
Monday, October 13th.
The General Manager of a team is essentially the boss of a team. The GM is the final word in all decisions (barring the hosts) regarding their team. The GM decides which players play on the team, who plays in what slot, and even handles the team finances. Managers also make sure that the team keeps running on a day to day basis. If a team fails to complete their matches by the end of the allotted time, the onus is on the manager to inform the hosts as to what happened in order to make sure that proper activity calls are made.
Because of these responsibilities, The General Manager is probably the most important part of the team. As such, the position of GM is not one to be taken lightly.
• General Managers are chosen largely on a subjective opinion of the hosts as well as GSC Moderation Team as to who they believe would be fit for the position. Being fit for the position includes the knowledge of players in the community (for fielding a competent team), having above average activity on the forums, Pokémon Showdown and/or Discord (in order to ensure that you don’t abandon your team), as well as possessing a necessary amount of “gravitas” (If you can’t make a player do what you tell them to, such as play an undesirable metagame, you’re not going to make a good manager).
General Managers are required to acquire one Assistant Manager. The General Manager gets full sovereignty in choosing their assistant manager. The assistant manager is essentially the second in command for the team. They have all of the functions and roles as the General Manager does, the GM just trumps them in head-to-head decisions.
Lastly, the General Manager has the following duties:
• They shall choose one Assistant Manager.
• They shall make the hosts aware of any player retentions by the time player signups close.
• They shall be present at the live auction, or appoint someone (the Assistant Manager) to participate in the live auction in their stead.
• They shall send the hosts weekly rosters.
• They shall ensure to the best of their abilities that their battlers complete their matches on time.
• In the event that a match fails to be completed, they shall inform the hosts as to why the match failed to be completed, and what their battler did in order to finish the match.
• They shall communicate any grievances with the hosts.
Because of these responsibilities, The General Manager is probably the most important part of the team. As such, the position of GM is not one to be taken lightly.
• General Managers are chosen largely on a subjective opinion of the hosts as well as GSC Moderation Team as to who they believe would be fit for the position. Being fit for the position includes the knowledge of players in the community (for fielding a competent team), having above average activity on the forums, Pokémon Showdown and/or Discord (in order to ensure that you don’t abandon your team), as well as possessing a necessary amount of “gravitas” (If you can’t make a player do what you tell them to, such as play an undesirable metagame, you’re not going to make a good manager).
General Managers are required to acquire one Assistant Manager. The General Manager gets full sovereignty in choosing their assistant manager. The assistant manager is essentially the second in command for the team. They have all of the functions and roles as the General Manager does, the GM just trumps them in head-to-head decisions.
Lastly, the General Manager has the following duties:
• They shall choose one Assistant Manager.
• They shall make the hosts aware of any player retentions by the time player signups close.
• They shall be present at the live auction, or appoint someone (the Assistant Manager) to participate in the live auction in their stead.
• They shall send the hosts weekly rosters.
• They shall ensure to the best of their abilities that their battlers complete their matches on time.
• In the event that a match fails to be completed, they shall inform the hosts as to why the match failed to be completed, and what their battler did in order to finish the match.
• They shall communicate any grievances with the hosts.
Total money for teams is the minimum number of players x 10,000 credits.
In the weeks preceding the Live Auction, a time will be chosen where at least 1 Manager or Assistant Manager from each team can meet and perform a live auction in order to choose players. The Manager and/or Assistant Manager present will be expected to remain at the auction for the entire duration, which should take approximately 1-2 hours.
Once a time is set, all attending Managers + Hosts will enter the place where the auction will be held - most likely a group chat for the auction. Spectators are allowed to join in to watch the auction, but will not be able to speak. Discussion on the bidding should be relegated to the GSC Discord.
The hosts will first ask a team to nominate a player. The order by which teams will nominate players will go in a randomized snaking pattern from the first chosen team to the last chosen team, then the last chosen team to the first chosen team. Details of said player will be displayed and bidding will commence, starting at 3000 credits, with the nominating team automatically placing the first bid. The auction will then be in real time. Managers will simply put in their bids in the chat, raising a minimum of 500 credits. If after 15 seconds there are no new bids, the player is sold to the highest bid in the channel. Updated credit totals will be displayed and then the next manager in the rotation will be prompted to nominate a player.
Managers: it is necessary for you to field a roster of 6 to 8 starters and a minimum of (likely) 2 substitutes. Playing Managers and Assistant Managers are included in the roster number.
There is no midseason this year. Therefore, it is highly recommended that all teams spend all of their credits in the auction, as there is no use for them afterwards.
In the weeks preceding the Live Auction, a time will be chosen where at least 1 Manager or Assistant Manager from each team can meet and perform a live auction in order to choose players. The Manager and/or Assistant Manager present will be expected to remain at the auction for the entire duration, which should take approximately 1-2 hours.
Once a time is set, all attending Managers + Hosts will enter the place where the auction will be held - most likely a group chat for the auction. Spectators are allowed to join in to watch the auction, but will not be able to speak. Discussion on the bidding should be relegated to the GSC Discord.
The hosts will first ask a team to nominate a player. The order by which teams will nominate players will go in a randomized snaking pattern from the first chosen team to the last chosen team, then the last chosen team to the first chosen team. Details of said player will be displayed and bidding will commence, starting at 3000 credits, with the nominating team automatically placing the first bid. The auction will then be in real time. Managers will simply put in their bids in the chat, raising a minimum of 500 credits. If after 15 seconds there are no new bids, the player is sold to the highest bid in the channel. Updated credit totals will be displayed and then the next manager in the rotation will be prompted to nominate a player.
Managers: it is necessary for you to field a roster of 6 to 8 starters and a minimum of (likely) 2 substitutes. Playing Managers and Assistant Managers are included in the roster number.
There is no midseason this year. Therefore, it is highly recommended that all teams spend all of their credits in the auction, as there is no use for them afterwards.
It is at this time that the tournament will commence. The league stages consist of a Round Robin tournament. Every team will face every other team once through the regular season. Each manager will submit to the hosts a roster no later than the deadline of the previous week. This roster will list the starting players and what metagames they will play.
When the week starts, teams' players will face off in their respective metagames / tiers. The GSC OU 1 from Team A will face the GSC OU 1 from team B, GSC OU 2 will face GSC OU 2, and so on. Whichever team wins the most battles will be declared the victor for the week. Rather than score based on how many individual battles a team wins, the primary thing that matters is who beat the most teams. As such, points are awarded based only on wins and losses versus teams as a whole, not individual players. Beating a team in a week’s matchups is worth two points, tying with a team is worth one point, and losing is worth none, simple as that. At the end of the round robin, the top three or four teams in the points proceed to the playoffs.
There are a few regulatory things during the league stages that need to be outlined.
1. Substitutes – At any point in time during the week, a team may make a substitution for a currently slotted player. In order to do this a manager must post in the thread, tagging the hosts, the opposing managers and the opposing player stating which player is substituting out, and which player is substituting in. A player that has substituted out for a week cannot be substituted back in. In addition, in order to catch any attempts at garnering favorable matchups in GSC OU (where the lineup you choose affects pairings), all substitutions are subject to veto by the hosts if the substitution is suspected to be attempting to “game” the system.
2. There will be no trades allowed at any point during GSCPL.
3. Activity decisions – There are inevitably times where two players simply fail to complete a match; however, the nature of the tournament system sometimes makes it advantageous to purposely fail to play (such as when a team is up 3-2 in a week). Because of this, it is necessary to make activity decisions on matches. Hosts are required to make thorough investigations regarding each and every potential failed match during a week. If both parties are deemed to be equally apathetic or enthusiastic about getting the match done, but just have not had the opportunity to make it happen, the match will result in a no contest. However, if it is deemed that one party made significantly more effort than the other in attempting to get the match done, then a win will be awarded to that player. Things that will make it very likely that you will lose via activity include: failing to VM your opponent immediately upon the week’s start, scheduling a match and being documented as missing the match time, failing to provide any concrete times for which you can be reached, failing to respond to an opponent’s VM at all. Note that this is a tournament that requires a very high level of activity and diligence, if you don’t think you can get your matches done, quite simply don’t sign up.
4. Rule Breaking – There is no excuse for breaking any of the predetermined rules. If you are caught breaking a rule, you will lose your match. There is no lenience with regards to this. Break a rule, you lose. Period.
5. Reversing Rulings - No ruling will be retroactively overturned once the week following the week that the ruling has been made has ended. This includes: activity rulings / rulings based on rule breaking / anything else under the sun. I'm not going back in time to reevaluate every single decision I've made throughout the tournament on Week 9 because you think you were robbed of 1-2 wins along the way and now they're the difference between you and a playoff spot. Any appeals to a ruling must be made during the week that the ruling is made; beyond that, all rulings are final once the week ends.
When the week starts, teams' players will face off in their respective metagames / tiers. The GSC OU 1 from Team A will face the GSC OU 1 from team B, GSC OU 2 will face GSC OU 2, and so on. Whichever team wins the most battles will be declared the victor for the week. Rather than score based on how many individual battles a team wins, the primary thing that matters is who beat the most teams. As such, points are awarded based only on wins and losses versus teams as a whole, not individual players. Beating a team in a week’s matchups is worth two points, tying with a team is worth one point, and losing is worth none, simple as that. At the end of the round robin, the top three or four teams in the points proceed to the playoffs.
There are a few regulatory things during the league stages that need to be outlined.
1. Substitutes – At any point in time during the week, a team may make a substitution for a currently slotted player. In order to do this a manager must post in the thread, tagging the hosts, the opposing managers and the opposing player stating which player is substituting out, and which player is substituting in. A player that has substituted out for a week cannot be substituted back in. In addition, in order to catch any attempts at garnering favorable matchups in GSC OU (where the lineup you choose affects pairings), all substitutions are subject to veto by the hosts if the substitution is suspected to be attempting to “game” the system.
2. There will be no trades allowed at any point during GSCPL.
3. Activity decisions – There are inevitably times where two players simply fail to complete a match; however, the nature of the tournament system sometimes makes it advantageous to purposely fail to play (such as when a team is up 3-2 in a week). Because of this, it is necessary to make activity decisions on matches. Hosts are required to make thorough investigations regarding each and every potential failed match during a week. If both parties are deemed to be equally apathetic or enthusiastic about getting the match done, but just have not had the opportunity to make it happen, the match will result in a no contest. However, if it is deemed that one party made significantly more effort than the other in attempting to get the match done, then a win will be awarded to that player. Things that will make it very likely that you will lose via activity include: failing to VM your opponent immediately upon the week’s start, scheduling a match and being documented as missing the match time, failing to provide any concrete times for which you can be reached, failing to respond to an opponent’s VM at all. Note that this is a tournament that requires a very high level of activity and diligence, if you don’t think you can get your matches done, quite simply don’t sign up.
4. Rule Breaking – There is no excuse for breaking any of the predetermined rules. If you are caught breaking a rule, you will lose your match. There is no lenience with regards to this. Break a rule, you lose. Period.
5. Reversing Rulings - No ruling will be retroactively overturned once the week following the week that the ruling has been made has ended. This includes: activity rulings / rulings based on rule breaking / anything else under the sun. I'm not going back in time to reevaluate every single decision I've made throughout the tournament on Week 9 because you think you were robbed of 1-2 wins along the way and now they're the difference between you and a playoff spot. Any appeals to a ruling must be made during the week that the ruling is made; beyond that, all rulings are final once the week ends.
Sunday September 7th - Format Discussion Thread
Monday September 22nd - Manager Signups
Monday September 29th - Player Signups
Saturday October 11th / Sunday October 12th - Live Auction
Monday October 13th - Week 1
Monday September 22nd - Manager Signups
Monday September 29th - Player Signups
Saturday October 11th / Sunday October 12th - Live Auction
Monday October 13th - Week 1
In this thread, feel free to discuss anything regarding GSCPL before it begins. This is meant to be a place for players to voice their opinions and help us decide some key things regarding GSCPL. The major point of discussion is the format. Retain prices will be unchanged.
1. Teams and Slots
Last year's format was 6 teams with 8 slots, having 4 OU and Ubers/UU/NU/PU. A 50% OU representation is required.
3 options:
1. Keep 6 teams with 8 slots
2. 8 teams with 6 slots, cut PU. Retains would be disabled
3. 6 teams with 6 slots, cut PU
2. Playoff Format (Only if 6 teams)
Last year's format was Amaranth's Proposal C for 6-team PLs, also known as Belgian Pro.
4 options:
- Keep Belgian Pro
- Modified version of Belgian Pro, such as removing week 8
- 4 team playoffs with a 5 week regular season. Top 4 seeds make playoffs, with 1 seed playing 4 seed and 2 seed playing 3 seed to decide who goes to finals.
- 3 team playoffs with a 5 week regular season. Top seed gets a bye round to finals and 2 and 3 seed play semifinals to decide who goes to finals.
3. Self-Buys
Last year the prices for self-buys were 20k for a single buy and double buy was banned.
2 options:
- Keep self-buys the same
- Allow double buys again with the second self-buy set to 25k, for a total of 45k for two
4. OU1 slot
Some have expressed the desire for one of the OU slots to be a best of 3. This was also an option in last year's format discussion thread, though it garnered little attention.
5. Substitutes (Only if 8 slots)
Last year, there were 8 starter slots and a minimum sub count of 2 with a budget of 100k. We would like to know if there is interest or cause in increasing the minimum substitute count to 3 with a budget of 110k if 6x8 returns.
