Logo credit: LifeisDANK
The World Cup of Pokémon 2018 - Semifinals
Hosts: Hogg and Hikari
~Spreadsheet~
~Schedule~
Welcome all to the thirteenth annual World Cup of Pokémon. After five weeks of action and hundreds of games, the top 16 regions have been whittled down to this: four teams, duking it out for the chance to take home the cup. With a stunning opener to round 2 that saw the top two teams eliminated, it all comes down to these next two weeks. Who will prove victorious? Will it be Team US West, who rose from the ashes of the former team US West and put out a dominating performance against the top-seeded Team Brazil? Or the high-flying Team US Northeast, who are doing a very good job of showing just why they were considered the early favorite? Will Team Canada, whose stunning performance in the final days of round 1 clinched them a top 4 slot, bring them further than they have ever gone in the World Cup? Or will this be the year for the return of the Roman Empire in the form of Team Italy?
World Cup of Pokémon 2018 Semifinals are underway!
Deadline:
All battles are to be completed by Sunday, July 8th, 2018 at 11:59 pm EST.
Pairings:
4. Canada (4) vs 8. US West (5)
SM OU: Hayburner v ima
SM OU: suapah v blarghlfarghl
SM OU: FLCL v z0mOG
SM OU: soulgazer v ez
ORAS OU: blunder v psychicmewtwo
BW OU: Tokyo Tom v lax
DPP OU: crayon pop v Philip7086
ADV OU: Jirachee v Valentine
GSC OU: Texas Cloverleaf v Lavos
RBY OU: Genesis7 v Meru
3. Italy (1) vs 7. US Northeast (6)
SM OU: Lopunny Kicks v robjr
SM OU: Empo v bro fist
SM OU: Tricking v ABR
SM OU: Snou v Hiye
ORAS OU: Santu v obii
BW OU: Asuya v Finchinator
DPP OU: Honor v august
ADV OU: smilzo v zf
GSC OU: Bomber. v BKC
RBY OU: marcoasd v teal6
Standard Tournament Rules and Procedures:
On... Sportsmanship
Note the sportsmanship infraction may be used liberally this WCoP, and any unsportsmanlike conduct on the forums, in #wcop / #pokemon / any of the semiofficial tier channels, or in opposing wcop team channels (I won't infract for you being a dick in your own wcop 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.
~ Aldaron
On... Scheduling Matches
I'm sure plenty of you have come across coin flipping / who to 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 and default you to a coin flip, regardless of what you claim is your irc or forum activity. By signing up for this tournament, you are agreeing to this condition, that adhering to what I outline will protect you from coinflips / activity and that not adhering to it will subject you to coinflips / activity regardless of your proposed justification.
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 round'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. 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 round'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 and that more often than not, the TDs will likely force one (or both) sides to sub out.
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 be 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 coin flip. If I look at the situation, I might just determine I'm going to sub both of you out, coin flip you, 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. Note to team captains, if one of your players does not contact all his opponents before 48 hours before the end of the round, I will FORCE a sub, no questions asked. 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 coin flip 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:
Round 1 thread is posted June 7, 2015 at 10:00PM. Its deadline is June 14, 2015 at 11:59PM. User A and User B are matched up. User A contacts User B on his vm wall on June 9, 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.
~ Aldaron
Note the sportsmanship infraction may be used liberally this WCoP, and any unsportsmanlike conduct on the forums, in #wcop / #pokemon / any of the semiofficial tier channels, or in opposing wcop team channels (I won't infract for you being a dick in your own wcop 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.
~ Aldaron
On... Scheduling Matches
I'm sure plenty of you have come across coin flipping / who to 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 and default you to a coin flip, regardless of what you claim is your irc or forum activity. By signing up for this tournament, you are agreeing to this condition, that adhering to what I outline will protect you from coinflips / activity and that not adhering to it will subject you to coinflips / activity regardless of your proposed justification.
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 round'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. 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 round'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 and that more often than not, the TDs will likely force one (or both) sides to sub out.
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 be 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 coin flip. If I look at the situation, I might just determine I'm going to sub both of you out, coin flip you, 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. Note to team captains, if one of your players does not contact all his opponents before 48 hours before the end of the round, I will FORCE a sub, no questions asked. 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 coin flip 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:
Round 1 thread is posted June 7, 2015 at 10:00PM. Its deadline is June 14, 2015 at 11:59PM. User A and User B are matched up. User A contacts User B on his vm wall on June 9, 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.
~ Aldaron
On "Self-KO Clause" and Ties:
Self-KO Clause is an antiquated concept that is not used in Smogon tournaments. The one exception to the rule is if the tournament is live (weekly Smogon Tour, Suspect Tours, etc.). For all standard tournaments here this rule does not exist. It Does Not Exist.
If both Pokemon faint simultaneously in DPP, ADV, GSC, or RBY, the game is ruled as a tie. Tied games do not count as played games in overall standings and will be expected to be replayed within the round's initial deadline. Similarly to this, tied games do not count towards the total number of games played in "best of X" series. In other words, if a tournament includes "Bo3" RBY, what is really being played is "first to two wins" RBY.
However, ties simply don't exist in later generations. The developers removed ties from BW and have not added them back since. There's a lot of inconsistency with the mechanics of their tiebreaking system but Smogon follows them to stay true to the cartridge. The main ones are listed below:
Note: The following list is for SM, XY, and BW, and not for DPP, ADV, GSC, or RBY
Self-KO Moves (Destiny Bond, Explosion, Final Gambit, etc.):
Attacking Pokemon Loses
Offensive Recoil (Life Orb; Double-Edge, Flare Blitz, etc.):
Attacking Pokemon Wins
Defensive Recoil (Rocky Helmet; Iron Barbs, Rough Skin):
Attacking Pokemon Wins (SM)
Attacking Pokemon Loses (XY and BW)
Passive Damage (Status, Weather, etc.):
Faster Pokemon Loses
If both Pokemon faint simultaneously in DPP, ADV, GSC, or RBY, the game is ruled as a tie. Tied games do not count as played games in overall standings and will be expected to be replayed within the round's initial deadline. Similarly to this, tied games do not count towards the total number of games played in "best of X" series. In other words, if a tournament includes "Bo3" RBY, what is really being played is "first to two wins" RBY.
However, ties simply don't exist in later generations. The developers removed ties from BW and have not added them back since. There's a lot of inconsistency with the mechanics of their tiebreaking system but Smogon follows them to stay true to the cartridge. The main ones are listed below:
Note: The following list is for SM, XY, and BW, and not for DPP, ADV, GSC, or RBY
Self-KO Moves (Destiny Bond, Explosion, Final Gambit, etc.):
Attacking Pokemon Loses
Offensive Recoil (Life Orb; Double-Edge, Flare Blitz, etc.):
Attacking Pokemon Wins
Defensive Recoil (Rocky Helmet; Iron Barbs, Rough Skin):
Attacking Pokemon Wins (SM)
Attacking Pokemon Loses (XY and BW)
Passive Damage (Status, Weather, etc.):
Faster Pokemon Loses
Last edited by a moderator:
FORZA ITALIA!!
