Here is this years format and general rules:
- There will be 3 cycles - all of which will be standard Double Elimination USUM NU Tournaments
- All sets played will be Best of Three series
- All points gained in the NeverUsed League will count towards the NU Tournament Circuit, and is by far the best shot you have to score lots of points to guarantee a PlayOffs spot
- The NeverUsed League 4 will not have a Playoffs Stage
- I will keep a close look on toxicity and bad sportsmanship in this thread. Shit-talking in battle / this thread is okay to some extent, but know that there will be consequences if you cross the line
- Please take your time to read the general scheduling guidelines below
Note the sportsmanship infraction may be used liberally this SPL, and any unsportsmanlike conduct on the forums, in #spl / #pokemon / any of the semiofficial tier channels, or in opposing SPL team channels (I won't infract for you being a dick in your own SPL team channel unless the situation is so extreme I feel I absolutely have to make an exception (consider basically any masterclass interaction ever)), will be grounds for an infraction. We encourage you to play semi-aggressively, but don't be a Masterclass.
I'm sure plenty of you have come across activity drama while scheduling matches. I'm here to reduce the arbitrary element associated with some of these decisions. It is entirely your decision to adhere to these STRONG RECOMMENDATIONS, but note that if you choose not to, I'll most likely ignore any pleading from your end.
YOU MUST ACTIVATE YOUR VM WALL IF YOU WISH TO PLAY IN THIS TOURNAMENT. THIS IS HOW ALL OFFICIAL SCHEDULING WILL BE HANDLED.
Once that week's thread is posted, you have up to 48 hours to contact your opponent ON HIS VM WALL and mention your timezone and exactly what dates, what time ranges you are available, and where you will battle. Note that the default accepted sim and server is the official server on Showdown/Smogon Tournament Server. You must provide at least 3 different time ranges at least 48 hours from the timestamp of your message, with at least 2 that are 24-hours apart from each other. The minimum and maximum length for 1 time range is 30 minutes, and the minimum difference between the 3 required time ranges is 3 hours. If you give 3 time ranges that stick with this policy, you can give any additional time ranges at any time you please.
NOTE THAT THIS SCENARIO INVOLVES RESPONSE DYNAMICS; THERE IS SOMEONE WHO WILL CONTACT FIRST AND SOMEONE WHO RESPOND...THESE REQUIREMENTS ARE NOT FOR BOTH OF YOU TO ASSUME TO YOU CAN BE FIRST CONTACTS...WHOEVER CONTACTS FIRST IS THE FIRST, AND THE OTHER DEFAULTS TO THE RESPONDER. THIS SHOULD BE OBVIOUS BUT SOME OF YOU ARE DUMB.
Once your opponent has contacted you, you now have up until 72 hours after the week's thread has been posted (NOT after your opponent's message) to respond with times that are good for you. What this means is that if both of you spend the maximum time contacting and responding, you should have back and forth collaboration at a maximum of 72 hours after the round has been posted, with both parties given an additional 24 hours to prepare for the battle should it be scheduled as soon as required. If none of the opponent's proposed time ranges are good for you, you must respond with alternative time ranges.
The first opponent now has X hours to prepare for the battle (if the second opponent agreed to some time) or 24 hours to contact a TD if, for whatever reason, this second set of time ranges does not suit the first opponent. Note this should be an absolute last measure.
Once a time is agreed upon, please make a message on your opponent's VM wall between 10 minutes and 1 second before the agreed upon time and say you are ready to battle and then get to agreed upon location (regardless of whether or not your opponent sends you a response VM). Please protect yourself by making this message, as it makes decisions much easier. You will be required to wait for your opponent for the duration of the time range.
If neither of you contact each other before 48 hours after the thread has been posted, you're both opening yourself up to a potential no contest or substitution. If I look at the situation, I might just determine I'm going to no contest, or whatever based on however I'm feeling at that moment. Don't leave yourself and your team vulnerable to this.
Just because at anytime one of the responders does not respond within the given range does not give you automatic activity win credentials. If they don't contact at all on your VM wall up until 48 hours before the end of the round (note, I'm not going to take irc or sim messages as evidence due to how easily they can be doctored...so if you want to protect yourself, stick to the VM messages), then you obviously have activity win justification. You WILL contact your opponent in a timely manner. However, if they do contact you at all after the suggested response time and before 48 hours before the end of the round, you are required to respond before 24 hours before the end of the round with 2 1-hour time ranges at least 1 hour apart before the end of the round. The opponent, since he did not stick to the proposed response schedule, WILL BE REQUIRED TO PLAY AT ONE OF YOUR NEWLY SUGGESTED TIMES, so you have the advantage here. This obviously puts a bit of an emphasis on the last 48 hours of each round (as is standard operating procedure for most of our official team tournaments anyway), so I will try my best to keep the last 48 hours of the round as close to the majority of the weekend for as much of the world as I can.
If you follow all of these guidelines, you will a.) most likely get your match done with minimal issue or b.) protect yourself and your team from an undue no contest or activity decision. Yes, I hate activity decisions in official tournaments. Yes, I will do my best to prevent activity decisions in the playoffs (the qualifying round is fair game however and I will have no problem issuing an activity call here), but don't push your luck.
Here is an example of how following this would work:
Week 1 thread is posted June 7, 2013 at 12:00 AM. Its deadline is June 14, 2013 at 11:59PM. User A and User B are matched up. User A contacts User B on his VM wall on June 7, at 9:00 PM (47 hours after the thread was posted, so ok), and gives 4 time ranges: June 10, from 7:00-7:30 PM (22 hours after the timestamp of his message, which is only ok so long as at minimum 3 of the other proposed time ranges adhere to the requirements), June 11, from 9:00-9:30 PM (48 hours after the timestamp of his message, which is ok), June 12, from 6:00-6:30 PM (69 hours after timestamp of his message, so ok, but only 21 hours after the earliest time range that is 48 hours after the timestamp), and June 12, from 9:00-9:30 PM (72 hours after the timestamp, so ok, and 24 hours after a legal time range and 3 hours after another legal time range). The June 11 and both June 12 time ranges satisfy the requirements, so User A can propose his first June 10 time range as well. User B responds on June 10, at 8:00 PM (23 hours after User A contacted him, so ok), and picks June 11, at 9:00 PM to battle, which is ok because it is 24 hours after his own response.
You'll note I made most of my response ranges multiples of 24 hours, but also included 24 hours. This means I expect you to be able to check Smogon at least once a day. If that is not feasible, you put yourself at risk.
YOU MUST ACTIVATE YOUR VM WALL IF YOU WISH TO PLAY IN THIS TOURNAMENT. THIS IS HOW ALL OFFICIAL SCHEDULING WILL BE HANDLED.
Once that week's thread is posted, you have up to 48 hours to contact your opponent ON HIS VM WALL and mention your timezone and exactly what dates, what time ranges you are available, and where you will battle. Note that the default accepted sim and server is the official server on Showdown/Smogon Tournament Server. You must provide at least 3 different time ranges at least 48 hours from the timestamp of your message, with at least 2 that are 24-hours apart from each other. The minimum and maximum length for 1 time range is 30 minutes, and the minimum difference between the 3 required time ranges is 3 hours. If you give 3 time ranges that stick with this policy, you can give any additional time ranges at any time you please.
NOTE THAT THIS SCENARIO INVOLVES RESPONSE DYNAMICS; THERE IS SOMEONE WHO WILL CONTACT FIRST AND SOMEONE WHO RESPOND...THESE REQUIREMENTS ARE NOT FOR BOTH OF YOU TO ASSUME TO YOU CAN BE FIRST CONTACTS...WHOEVER CONTACTS FIRST IS THE FIRST, AND THE OTHER DEFAULTS TO THE RESPONDER. THIS SHOULD BE OBVIOUS BUT SOME OF YOU ARE DUMB.
Once your opponent has contacted you, you now have up until 72 hours after the week's thread has been posted (NOT after your opponent's message) to respond with times that are good for you. What this means is that if both of you spend the maximum time contacting and responding, you should have back and forth collaboration at a maximum of 72 hours after the round has been posted, with both parties given an additional 24 hours to prepare for the battle should it be scheduled as soon as required. If none of the opponent's proposed time ranges are good for you, you must respond with alternative time ranges.
The first opponent now has X hours to prepare for the battle (if the second opponent agreed to some time) or 24 hours to contact a TD if, for whatever reason, this second set of time ranges does not suit the first opponent. Note this should be an absolute last measure.
Once a time is agreed upon, please make a message on your opponent's VM wall between 10 minutes and 1 second before the agreed upon time and say you are ready to battle and then get to agreed upon location (regardless of whether or not your opponent sends you a response VM). Please protect yourself by making this message, as it makes decisions much easier. You will be required to wait for your opponent for the duration of the time range.
If neither of you contact each other before 48 hours after the thread has been posted, you're both opening yourself up to a potential no contest or substitution. If I look at the situation, I might just determine I'm going to no contest, or whatever based on however I'm feeling at that moment. Don't leave yourself and your team vulnerable to this.
Just because at anytime one of the responders does not respond within the given range does not give you automatic activity win credentials. If they don't contact at all on your VM wall up until 48 hours before the end of the round (note, I'm not going to take irc or sim messages as evidence due to how easily they can be doctored...so if you want to protect yourself, stick to the VM messages), then you obviously have activity win justification. You WILL contact your opponent in a timely manner. However, if they do contact you at all after the suggested response time and before 48 hours before the end of the round, you are required to respond before 24 hours before the end of the round with 2 1-hour time ranges at least 1 hour apart before the end of the round. The opponent, since he did not stick to the proposed response schedule, WILL BE REQUIRED TO PLAY AT ONE OF YOUR NEWLY SUGGESTED TIMES, so you have the advantage here. This obviously puts a bit of an emphasis on the last 48 hours of each round (as is standard operating procedure for most of our official team tournaments anyway), so I will try my best to keep the last 48 hours of the round as close to the majority of the weekend for as much of the world as I can.
If you follow all of these guidelines, you will a.) most likely get your match done with minimal issue or b.) protect yourself and your team from an undue no contest or activity decision. Yes, I hate activity decisions in official tournaments. Yes, I will do my best to prevent activity decisions in the playoffs (the qualifying round is fair game however and I will have no problem issuing an activity call here), but don't push your luck.
Here is an example of how following this would work:
Week 1 thread is posted June 7, 2013 at 12:00 AM. Its deadline is June 14, 2013 at 11:59PM. User A and User B are matched up. User A contacts User B on his VM wall on June 7, at 9:00 PM (47 hours after the thread was posted, so ok), and gives 4 time ranges: June 10, from 7:00-7:30 PM (22 hours after the timestamp of his message, which is only ok so long as at minimum 3 of the other proposed time ranges adhere to the requirements), June 11, from 9:00-9:30 PM (48 hours after the timestamp of his message, which is ok), June 12, from 6:00-6:30 PM (69 hours after timestamp of his message, so ok, but only 21 hours after the earliest time range that is 48 hours after the timestamp), and June 12, from 9:00-9:30 PM (72 hours after the timestamp, so ok, and 24 hours after a legal time range and 3 hours after another legal time range). The June 11 and both June 12 time ranges satisfy the requirements, so User A can propose his first June 10 time range as well. User B responds on June 10, at 8:00 PM (23 hours after User A contacted him, so ok), and picks June 11, at 9:00 PM to battle, which is ok because it is 24 hours after his own response.
You'll note I made most of my response ranges multiples of 24 hours, but also included 24 hours. This means I expect you to be able to check Smogon at least once a day. If that is not feasible, you put yourself at risk.
Ah, the big beefcake. I'm going to go ahead and put this out there: we reserve the right to judge any individual match on a case by case basis, regardless of assumed precedence set. If you don't like that, you are welcome to not play. Be aware of this.
Also, to protect yourself as much as possible from DCs and timer issues, play on Showdown (because it has an at least semi reliable system of rejoining after a DC) and make a gentleman's agreement to not hit timer and not be hour-a-move dicks.
Also, to protect yourself as much as possible from DCs and timer issues, play on Showdown (because it has an at least semi reliable system of rejoining after a DC) and make a gentleman's agreement to not hit timer and not be hour-a-move dicks.
Losers Bracket:
RedMaxx vs. Chill Shadow
voltix31 vs. Volknaa (extension)
Alfredo_Rivero vs. KingKdot
Twixtry vs. Insult
poh vs. Jarii
Trace vs. Xjckillerx
TheGreninjaWarrior21 vs. Arifeen
BluBirD252 vs. Slide
Frania vs. GenZeon
EternalSnowman vs. byron the bab bab
EviGaro vs. cielbakasan
Hijasu vs. endwich
Evan. vs. Magma
RyLon vs. shiloh
Jrdn vs. nishikino kotori
Dr.Delete vs. Karppi (extension)
Sacri' vs. Go0d (extension)
Shaneghoul vs. snagaa
cb aaron judge vs. carcy
DBW vs. Raseri
Earth vs. Mindnight
DenisTheMenace vs. Stan Soojung
Harpp vs. Holiano
DragonKnightmaster vs. Pohjis
Elias PSY vs. Mikaav
lightning1870 vs. Garay oak
Espeonage. vs. Plas
ilesaural vs. GustavoYAY (extension)
(Moon) Angelo vs. Cdumas
neomon vs. zugubu royale (extension)
A Hero's Destiny vs. lolbro
Bye vs. Kiyo
GenZeon vs. false (Coinflip)
Ajna (Extension) vs. (winner of GustavoYAY vs King Billu) (GustavoYAY gets win over King Billu as he made more of an effort to get the series done)
Hijasu vs. Finchinator (Extension)
Twixtry vs. Akiko Yosano (Coinflip)
BluBirD252 vs. Pokemon65ash (Coinflip)
Mindnight vs. yogi (Activity)
lightning1870 vs. Rapture (Coinflip)
pasy_g vs. @A hero’s destiny (Coinflip)
Raseri vs. matthewc20090 (Raseri gets the win for being more active in scheduling and being online)
StepC ) vs. Volknaa (Extension)
Huston vs. nishikino kotori (Activity)
Acsel vs. Earth (Extension)
(loser of snagaa vs King Wynaut) vs. Cofaiclus (Coinflip)
Blitzburgh vs. Alfredo_Rivero (Coinflip)
Magma vs. Bushtush (Coinflip)
(King Billu) vs. Karppi (Extension)
Drud vs. Evan. (Coinflip)
#eternally: !pick Genzeon, False
We randomly picked: False
#eternally: !pick snagaa, cofailcus
We randomly picked: snagaa
#eternally: !pick bushtush, magma
We randomly picked: magma
#eternally: !pick alfredo, blitzburgh
We randomly picked: alfredo
#eternally: !pick drud, black man deandre
We randomly picked: black man deandre
#eternally: !pick mindnight, yogi
We randomly picked: mindnight
#eternally: !pick lightning1870, rapture
We randomly picked: lightning1870
#eternally: !pick bluebird, pokemon65
We randomly picked: bluebird
#eternally: !pick pasy_g, a hero's destiny
We randomly picked: a hero's destiny
Ajna (Extension) vs. (winner of GustavoYAY vs King Billu) (GustavoYAY gets win over King Billu as he made more of an effort to get the series done)
Hijasu vs. Finchinator (Extension)
Twixtry vs. Akiko Yosano (Coinflip)
BluBirD252 vs. Pokemon65ash (Coinflip)
Mindnight vs. yogi (Activity)
lightning1870 vs. Rapture (Coinflip)
pasy_g vs. @A hero’s destiny (Coinflip)
Raseri vs. matthewc20090 (Raseri gets the win for being more active in scheduling and being online)
StepC ) vs. Volknaa (Extension)
Huston vs. nishikino kotori (Activity)
Acsel vs. Earth (Extension)
(loser of snagaa vs King Wynaut) vs. Cofaiclus (Coinflip)
Blitzburgh vs. Alfredo_Rivero (Coinflip)
Magma vs. Bushtush (Coinflip)
(King Billu) vs. Karppi (Extension)
Drud vs. Evan. (Coinflip)
#eternally: !pick Genzeon, False
We randomly picked: False
#eternally: !pick snagaa, cofailcus
We randomly picked: snagaa
#eternally: !pick bushtush, magma
We randomly picked: magma
#eternally: !pick alfredo, blitzburgh
We randomly picked: alfredo
#eternally: !pick drud, black man deandre
We randomly picked: black man deandre
#eternally: !pick mindnight, yogi
We randomly picked: mindnight
#eternally: !pick lightning1870, rapture
We randomly picked: lightning1870
#eternally: !pick bluebird, pokemon65
We randomly picked: bluebird
#eternally: !pick pasy_g, a hero's destiny
We randomly picked: a hero's destiny
Extension Deadline: 2nd of June, 11:59pm PST
Round 3 Deadline: 6th of June, 11:59pm PST[/USER]
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