SPL VI - Administrative Decisions

[jake]

Like in SPLs past, this thread will contain all administrative decisions. All decisions will have justification posted and vetted via neutral TDs - there will be no manager veto. I'm also going to reiterate what Aldaron posted in the last Administrative Decisions thread:

This apparently needs to be spelled out for the idiots amongst us, so here we go.

[Zebraiken] and I are also hosting this for free...meaning we have no obligation to take shit from anyone. If anyone wants to act like an idiot because he is yet another petulant child, he can (and his team can) and should fully expect to be banned and not be given any benefit of the doubt if you flame / disrespect in official venues.

I'm not sure if it is because LonelyNess is the community pincushion and took so much relentless shit as SPL host or if it is because Bloo and Iconic voluntarily took so much shit as hosts of wcop 2 years ago, but too many of you have this idea you can get away with whatever you want to say to the hosts...

Personally, I could not care less how much shit you talk about me and the decisions that have been made in your team channels and in private conversations (being mad at the host with the rest of the team is part of the fun yo), but don't be lil whiny bitches on the forums, on smogtours, or even on #spl.

To overturn official decisions made by me, a consensus decision must be reached within the TD team.

 

[jake]

And it begins.

RE: Nas

Situation: Nas was bought by the Ever Grande Bigs in the auction for 15.5k. Post-auction, the Bigs manager Funkasaurus was notified that Nas only wanted to play for a particular team, which made minuscule trade offers for Nas (slightly above sellback price at midseason). Nas displayed cancerous behavior and made it clear he had no intention of playing for any other team.​

Nas's behavior clearly orchestrated his intentions to play for only one team, which that team could use as an advantage by picking up a player bought for 15.5k for much less (slightly above sellback price) and forcing another team to take the hit. It unfairly allows players to manipulate the system by forcing their current managers to decide between taking a poor trade and giving other teams a major advantage, or selling them back for even less at midseason.

To circumvent these long-standing issues, the Bigs will be allowed to take one player of their choosing for 3k from the remaining pool of players. The precedent for this has been set with both the Sharks and the Tigers receiving picks from the remaining pool in SPL 4 prior to the start of the season. The Ever Grande Bigs will also receive the remainder of credits spent on Nas (12.5k) in the form of sellback credits, to be used during the midseason week.

Result: Nas will be permanently banned from SPL, and banned from tournaments for a currently undetermined length of time. The Ever Grande Bigs will receive one pick from the remaining player pool for 3k, and the remainder (12.5k) will be treated as sellback credits. Please remember, sellback credits are used after the remaining auction credits during the midseason week.

The Ever Grande Bigs' selection from the remaining player pool is During Summer.

Additionally: Signing up for SPL and not being retained means agreeing to play for any team that buys you, and will be amended into future sign-ups. Acting like a cancer and requesting to be traded is breaking that agreement.​

In the future, any similar situations will be determined on a case-by-case basis.

 

[jake]

RE: Bo3 RBY implementation this year

Upon discovery of a glitch in RBY with the moves Dig and Fly, they will be banned from being used in SPL until an official decision is made on the moves. If you use either move in RBY, the match will be forfeited.

TO ALL RBY PLAYERS: Because this is the first instance of a Bo3 match in SPL (not counting VGC), a player must notify their opponent at first contact if they do not wish to play all games in the same sitting. Please attempt to be as flexible with your scheduling as possible. Activity decisions will be made as normal.

Joim has been working his tail off on fixing up PS!'s older gens, and as such PS! will be treated as the primary simulator for RBY & GSC (PO will remain the primary simulator for ADV). As always, if both players agree then they can play on a different simulator, but if they disagree we will default to PS!. Both generations should be bug-free and up to date, including Crystal_'s recent discoveries. If you guys do find bugs in practice, please let us know ASAP.

We will follow the ruling made in this thread as far as any future discoveries go.​

I think that's all. Please let me know if I've forgotten anything. Week 1 we come!

 

[jake]

RE: Bouffalant

Situation: Bouffalant helped Calloflochie build his team for Week 1, which wasn't finished when he left for the night. Later on in the week, he told Hot N Cold that Calloflochie would use Mesprit (no set, no other Pokemon) after being asked for help and initially declining. Bouffalant then admitted to a public chat that he had leaked part of Calloflochie's team, and proceeded to talk to me about the situation afterwards.​

Because a) Bouffalant leaked just the name of a single Pokemon, which gives Hot N Cold very little information to go off of, b) the match hadn't happened prior to both the leak and admittance of doing so, and c) Bouffalant came clean and immediately told myself and others the truth, I have determined that there is minimal harm done. Calloflochie has had plenty of time to adapt or change his team if he felt it was necessary as a result of the leak, and Hot N Cold has virtually the same chance of seeing a Mesprit as he did before he knew anything.

Last year, Dice was banned from SPL for three weeks for posting a pastebin of reyscarface's exact team in a public chat during the match. Bouffalant's leak comes nowhere near the severity of that leak or the maliciousness of the mostwanted leak in SPL 4.

Result: Bouffalant will not be banned from SPL for any length of time as a result of this incident, and this decision is meant to be a stern warning. Should Bouffalant be involved in any future leaking during this SPL after this warning, the length of his determined SPL ban will be doubled. Don't leak and drive, kids.​

 

[jake]

RE: Greninja and Serperior

Greninja will be banned in ORAS OU for Week 2 in SPL 6.

Contrary Serperior will be banned in ORAS RU and ORAS NU for Week 2 in SPL 6. Regular Serperior is still usable.​

 

[jake]

RE: Aqualouis

Situation: After Thatsjustpeachy lost and noted luck in her defeat post, Aqualouis and several others posted pictures of salt, which were subsequently deleted. Aqualouis posted it again, and it was deleted and infracted. Aqualouis proceeded to post it five more times in a row and was banned, with infractions of Unsportsmanlike Conduct, Trolling, and Repeated Offense.
​

While it was not a good idea to keep provoking the problem by continuing to post after the first infraction, the action itself was not banworthy, and the Trolling and Repeated Offense infractions were reversed.

Result: Aqualouis will retain his Unsportsmanlike Conduct infraction, but will otherwise be unaffected. Even if you disagree with a deletion reason or a decision by anyone, please don't keep pushing buttons - if it has anything to do with SPL, you can contact me and I'll do my best to make a quick and fair decision.​

 

[jake]

RE: Tiba vs Bedschibaer

here we goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

Apologies for any potential inaccuracies with my understanding of the situation.

Situation: Bedschibaer has a Zapdos with 0 PP remaining, and a Curse Snorlax in the back with one unrevealed move at full HP. Tiba has 5 Pokemon remaining: Skarmory, Suicune, Raikou, Starmie, and Tyranitar. Bedschibaer's win condition boils down to his Zapdos dying to Struggle recoil, then setting up with Snorlax. This is not a guaranteed win scenario because Snorlax can still be lucked out, but it favors Bedschibaer. Bedschibaer cannot simply switch to Snorlax, because Skarmory wins 1v1 and PP stalls Snorlax. Tiba can switch between all of his Pokemon while Zapdos cannot faint to its own Struggle damage (Leftovers outrecovers the damage). PO ends matches at 1024 turns. Both players refused to tie and rematch at separate points prior to the ADV game.​

Should the two of them continue making optimal plays, it will unfortunately boil down to a draw. We don't have the time or ability to have infinite turns to play out the matches, and we are stuck with simulator limitations. Asking Tiba to attack and KO Bedschibaer's Zapdos is unfair because it's forcing one player to make sub-optimal plays and gives him a chance to lose. It's not abuse of a sim limitation because Tiba is making his optimal plays - should the simulator continue indefinitely, Tiba would make the same plays (as would Bedschibaer).

Look, as un-fucking-fortunate as it is, the advantage of this game would go to whoever won the ADV game. Both players refused to tie and rematch prior to that, so whichever team won would have the advantage of playing to simulator limits. We cannot play beyond them. A tie game is unfair to the Raiders now, but also would have been unfair to the Ruiners had they lost the ADV game.

Result: The game is a tie. There will not be a rematch. You may proceed to bitch in all of your private team channels.​

 

[jake]

RE: Reckless Emboar

Reckless Emboar was released this week, and will not be allowed in ORAS RU matches during Week 3. Regular Emboar is still fine.

 

[jake]

RE: KratosMana

Situation: KratosMana found Destiny Device playing on a known alt on a Brazilian PO server. He noted the Pokemon on four different teams that Destiny Device was using and shared them with his opponent for the week, Toxzn. Destiny Device was informed that the teams he was practicing with were leaked, and used a different team in his match (he planned to use one of the teams that was leaked).​

Leaking teams to opponents to any degree is a terribly unsportsmanlike thing to do. The fact that Destiny Device was using a known alt does not marginalize the decision that KratosMana made, but it is important to note that this situation would likely have not even happened if Destiny Device took steps to make sure his testing methods were secure. Scouting and building for particular opponents has become an integral part of preparation before a match, and all players should be aware of that and consider their options when practicing before their matches. For example, you could play on an unknown alt in a busy server, or use the simulator features to disallow spectators.

Since this is the second time already in two weeks that team revealing has become an issue, we're going to introduce a blanket ban on team revealing of any degree prior to or during the match, with punishments pending on a case-by-case basis for severity and determined maliciousness. This rule is actively targeting "live" scouting and sharing of teams - that is, hunting down your opponent while they are practicing or otherwise leaking logs of the team they are building for the upcoming match. Looking up replays, looking up pastebins of old teams, general knowledge ("he likes Calm Mind Celebi"), and other such information will not be included in this ruling.

Result: KratosMana will receive a one-point infraction for Unsportsmanlike Conduct and a two-week ban from SPL. He will be able to play in Week 5.​

Conclusion: Just don't be jerks to each other, and genuinely prepare without having to sneak around and try to figure out exactly what your opponent might bring to your match. You guys all have the power within you to be great sports, so please exercise that power.​

 

[jake]

RE: the Tiba vs Bedschibaer decision

In an attempt to keep the tournament running smoothly time-wise and not force either player to continue playing for probably six more hours, I made the decision last night to call the GSC game a tie rather than waiting for other TDs to come online. Partly thanks to a lack of GSC knowledge and understanding of the situation, I refrained from making any sort of a decision until I knew exactly what such a decision would result in. As a result, I'd like to apologize for the mistake of not calling it earlier, when the matchup was 5-5 and calling it a tie or rematch would not immediately favor the team that won the ADV game.

I made my decision by adhering to the simulator limitations, which would have drawn the game at 1024 turns. Further, to correct a previous statement in the last post: Tiba made the plays to give his team the best position by playing to the forced PO draw and not risking the loss. Given infinite turns as on the cartridge, Tiba likely would have played against the Zapdos differently to conserve his necessary PP, and both players would still have had the chance to win (with Bedschibaer having the advantage). There would not have been a tie - one player would have won. This scenario is unlike other GSC ties in SPL, where both players are unable to break the other team and attacking means wasting PP and thus losing.

Because this is a situation where a game can be finished but is otherwise prevented by simulator limitations, the previous decision is overturned. There will be a forced rematch (no recreation, different teams) between Tiba and Bedschibaer. Both players have until Wednesday at 11:59 PM to find a time and rematch. I want an agreed upon time as quickly as possible. Substitutes are allowed, if necessary, and will be treated as if they were subbed in during Week 2 of SPL (people who played in Week 2 cannot be subbed in, etc).

 

[jake]

RE: Kevin Garrett vs Living So Zambian

Situation: Kevin Garrett and Living So Zambian were scheduled to begin their match sometime between 6 and 7 PM EST. Living So Zambian left at roughly 7:30 PM EST, and Kevin Garrett arrived shortly afterwards.​

Kevin Garrett and Living So Zambian did not follow scheduling protocol as specified when determining a time for their match, and therefore the match is open to a judgment call based on the context of the situation. Protect yourself by following the protocol EXACTLY. Provide three different time ranges, contact via VM, leave a message within ten minutes before the game is scheduled to begin - these are all specified in the OP of every SPL round, so be sure to double check that you're following them.

The match between the two has been extended because of the scheduling & timing circumstances, and a general consensus among the TDs to push for completed matches.

Result: Kevin Garrett missed the scheduled time, so the Cryonicles have been given the option to force a substitute from the Sharks for the extended match, but have elected not to. Living So Zambian and Kevin Garrett are granted an extension until Tuesday at 11:59 PM EST.​

 

[jake]

RE: Tiba

Situation: During Week 4, in august vs Bad Ass (DPP), the match was only a couple of turns in when august realized he had no EVs on one of his Pokemon. Bad Ass allowed him to fix the mistake and rematch, leaving the battle to do so. Tiba joined the battle in Bad Ass's stead, which is explicitly against the rules.

Result: Tiba will be banned from playing in SPL for 3 weeks. The ban will begin Week 5. To quote Oglemi:

If a player that is playing on PS has disconnected, DO NOT JOIN THE BATTLE IN THEIR PLACE

DO NOT


DO

NOT

!

DOn't

doN'T

This can lead very very very quickly to an infraction, tournament ban, or forum ban and team disqualification of the match (depending on who exactly joined) as it is very easy to then team reveal to the other team.

If the big JOIN button pops up in your window, DON'T JUST CLICK IT, look to make sure it's not because one of the players disconnected. This is your final and only warning.

 

[jake]

RE: Donkey

Situation: Donkey has played two SPL games in each of the past two seasons before proceeding to quit and be sold back.​

Quoting the OP of the Player Sign-Ups thread:

It is important to note that the Smogon Premier League is an 11 week event and that the activity level of a player is significant. Do not sign up to play for a team if you do not intend to see the tournament through to the end. This includes maintaining a competitive attitude if your team is already eliminated from playoff contention. You never know whether or not winning your end-season matches will make you a more valued player next season, so even if your team isn’t necessarily in the playoff picture anymore, there’s always value in playing your best. Failure to complete matches in a timely manner consistently may result in being barred from entering the Smogon Premier League in future seasons.

Guidelines for Players:

- DO NOT sign up if you cannot commit to the entire season, which will run from January until the end of March. If you know in advance that you will be gone for a significant period of time (such as for exams, vacation, etc.) then PLEASE make note of it in your post so managers can plan accordingly. If I hear that any player knew in advance they would be gone for a significant period of time and did not notify the League in advance then action WILL be taken in future SPLs and potentially all tournaments.

Result: Donkey is barred from signing up for Smogon Premier League 7.​

 

[jake]

To clarify, all ORAS tiers will use the post-shift tiers for Week 5 and beyond. o_o

 

[jake]

RE: Braverius vs SnakesOnAPlane

Situation: On turn 6 of their match, SnakesOnAPlane's timer showed 60 seconds remaining, and SnakesOnAPlane lost to timeout prior to turn 8 with no further timer messages. Neither player sent in teams.​

This scenario is exactly what happened a year ago with Bad Ass vs fatty, located here. Rolling through the options that Aldaron put out last time:

There are 4 options here:

1.) Give Braverius the win if he had it 100% - he did not absolutely 100% have it, so cannot do this
2.) Give SnakesOnAPlane the win if he had it 100% - he did not absolutely 100% have it, so cannot do this
3.) See it is a timeout, and give Braverius the option to take the win or replay the match
4.) See it is a timeout, notice the lack of notification, and declare a recreation of the battle at that point - explanation follows

Since neither 1 nor 2 is definitive, can't do either. This leaves 3 and 4. There is enough haziness in the fact that Showdown did not show the 30 / 20 / 10 second remaining messages to not immediately default to 3, so, for the moment, we'll move on to 4. If we go with 4, we have to recreate the match. To recreate the match...I need both teams. I don't have both teams.​

This leaves literally 1 option left...#3. Again, this decision is simply a matter of the dominoes of the logical puzzle falling...no judgment call here. Can't do 1; can't do 2; can't do 4 because no teams. Default to 3.

Result: Braverius gets win due to timeout loss for SnakesOnAPlane.
​

SUBMIT YOUR FUCKING TEAMS. The team submission is not only for disconnections... it is a general catch all to save you guys from acts of God as this apparently was... so SUBMIT YOUR FUCKING TEAMS.

 

[jake]

RE: sebixxl vs Inflikted

Situation: In the closing turns of their game, sebixxl posted 'gg' and exited the room a few seconds afterwards. A third party joined in lieu of sebixxl and forfeited the match.​

It is clear without a doubt that sebixxl exited initially with the intention of forfeiting the match, despite the simulator not treating it as such. Absolutely nobody should have joined the match to forfeit for him, however, and those who did will be punished harshly. Don't join other people's games. Don't even think it.

No precedent is set by this decision.

Result: Match result stands as-is. Joining party is given an infraction. Don't join other people's games or face the wrath of Oglemi.

 

[jake]

RE: Sheer Force Feraligatr

Sheer Force Feraligatr will be banned in ORAS NU for Week 8. Regular Feraligatr is still usable.​

 

[jake]

RE: Tesung vs Adam

Tesung and Adam scheduled for Sunday night in Week 8. Adam did not show for the battle. Tesung wins by activity.​

 

[jake]

RE: Feraligatr

The RU council quickbanned Feraligatr prior to the beginning of Week 9. It is not allowed in ORAS RU (or ORAS NU, where it was already banned).

edit: Sorry, worded poorly. It is Feraligatr itself that is banned.​

 

[jake]

RE: Laurel vs Emvee

Laurel disconnected from his battle with Emvee at turn 37, and could not reconnect. Laurel submitted his team, Emvee did not. At point of disconnection, Laurel had: 100% Aromatisse, 100% Blissey, 100% Mega Aggron, 100% Salamence, 67% Roserade, 84% Spiritomb. Emvee had: 91% Belly Drum Slurpuff (Berry burned) / 64% Mienshao that did 30% to Aromatisse with Poison Jab / Toxic'd 50% Mega Pidgeot / TW Psychic Moonlight Cresselia, also Toxic'd. No hazards.

Emvee has no winning scenario. Mega Aggron took 50% from +6 Slurpuff's Drain Punch earlier in the battle, so Mega Aggron could always take on Slurpuff even if it crit. Pidgeot cannot crit + confuse its way through the pairing of Blissey (Hurricane did 20%) and any other teammate because it is Toxic'd, and Cresselia and Mienshao have no means of being able to break through Laurel's team.

Laurel is given the win.​

 

[jake]

incoming activity decisions

RE: Adam vs BLINGAS

Adam and BLINGAS scheduled for 9 PM EST on Sunday. Adam missed the time. Activity win goes to BLINGAS.​

RE: During Summer vs Colchonero

During Summer sent a VM immediately. Colchonero hasn't even logged into the forums since last Sunday, and no attempt to sub has been made. Activity win goes to During Summer.​

RE: TheFourthChaser vs kingofmars

TFC and kingofmars scheduled to play on Sunday. No game happened. Dead game.​

RE: Veteran In Love vs gene

No visible attempts to set up a match time by either party, and no match happened. Dead game.​