Welcome to Smogon! Take a moment to read the Introduction to Smogon for a run-down on everything Smogon, and make sure you take some time to read the global rules.
Welcome to this year's Official Smogon Tournament, the eleventh installment of one of Smogon's most prestigious tournaments. The OST is one of Smogon's longest standing traditions in tournaments and has crowned many great Pokemon players as its champions across three generations. Over the next few months, hundreds of players will compete to the best of their ability as they attempt to join the exclusive ranks of the OST trophy holders. Only one of those players will succeed in their journey and earn the recognition that comes with their victory, along with the iconic OST trophy.
Given the fact that this tournament is so large, we want to ensure that everything progresses quickly and without problems, and for that reason there are some extra joining criteria.
Joining Rules
You must have a good standing title on Smogon. This means you cannot have the "I Could Be Banned!" status under your username.
If you have just registered at Smogon, you cannot join this tournament. This requirement may be avoided if you have made a sufficient number of quality posts, which will be determined by the Tournament Directors. The reasoning for this rule is that we are trying to make sure nobody will be inactive over the course of the tournament. If you aren't sure whether you have been registered long enough, there are no penalties for signing up even if you are rejected from joining.
The tournament will have a best of three format. This means that players will play until one of them wins two games. Players are allowed to switch teams completely between games, or use the same team, it is completely up to the player. If players only partially complete a series before the deadline, it will be considered an uncompleted match and action will be taken accordingly (either an activity win or a coin flip). The number of participants will hopefully be 256 or 512, though if there are between 384 and 512 entrants then the tournament will proceed with 384 participants and have a round robin final.
Specific Rules
This is a standard ORAS OU tournament.
The tournament will be single elimination.
Players will play a best of three series of games each round.
Matches are to be played on Pokemon Showdown! If both players agree, matches may also be played on Pokemon Online 2.
Standard Rules and Clauses
Sleep Clause: A player cannot put two or more different opposing Pokémon to sleep using attacks that induce sleep to opposing Pokémon.
Species Clause: A player cannot have two of the same Pokémon on their team. For example, a player cannot have two Koffing on his or her team.
Evasion Clause: A player cannot use the moves Double Team or Minimize in their Pokémon's movesets.
OHKO Clause: Players cannot use Horn Drill, Guillotine, Sheer Cold, or Fissure in any of their Pokémon's movesets.
Team Preview: Players must turn on the Team Preview feature where players can view the opposing team's Pokémon and choose their lead Pokémon.
Timer Clause: If a player exhausts the timer, he/she loses.
Endless Battle Clause: Any moveset on any pokemon that is capable of intentionally causing an endless battle is banned from competitive play. Check this thread for more informations.
Uber Clause: Players may not use any items, moves, abilities, or Pokemon that appear on Smogon's OU Ban List. If the tiers change or new items, abilities, moves, or Pokemon become available in the middle of a round, the changes will take effect in the following round. There will be an announcement in the relevant round if this occurs.
About Activity Decisions
Activity Decisions / Coin Flips: We are changing the rules for activity / coin flip decisions for this tournament. In the event that there is an uncompleted match at the deadline, it will be coin flipped unless one or both of the players involved in the match specifically request an activity win and explain sufficiently why they deserve to win over their opponent. Attempting to schedule a battle is required in order to receive the win by activity. To make it clear that you are requesting an activity win when you post, you must open your post with "Activity Win Request" in bold.
Activity Win Request
I contacted my opponent on the 27th, one day after the round was posted and told him my timezone. He responded on the 30th but did not indicate his timezone. I replied back asking for a timezone on the 1st of December, and he never replied. On the 7th, I VMed him again asking whether he could battle on the weekend, and yet again he didn't respond. I deserve the activity win because my opponent ignored my attempts to schedule our battles.
If you believe your opponent is making an unfair request and that they don't deserve the activity win over you, you can either make your own request or quote their post and explain why they don't deserve it. You should try to make your activity win request posts at least 24 hours before the deadline to give your opponent a reasonable opportunity to contest it with their own activity win request.
Timer Clause will be strictly enforced for this tournament. This means that the normal disconnection rules found in the Tournament Rules, Guidelines, and Information thread do not apply. If a player disconnects and does not reconnect to their battle before the timer expires, they lose that particular game. This doesn't necessarily mean they lose the entire best-of-three set.
There may also be tightening of timer / disconnection rules coming before Round 1.
Questions and Answers
Q: Should I save a log of my match as proof of my victory?
A: Yes. While it is not mandatory to show us the log of your victory, it is the only proof you have in the case of a dispute and it is always a good practice to keep the logs of your tournament matches.
Q: Will there be a Predictions Tournament like last year?
A: Yes. You can expect the first thread to appear sometime soon.
Q: How long will each round last?
A: The first round will last for three weeks. The rest will last between one and two weeks.
Signups will stay open for 5 days, closing at 3:59 PM EST on Friday, January 16th, 2015.
If you have any questions, please PM them to a Tournament Director. If they aren't answered by this thread, then I will add it to the Questions and Answers section.