Tournament Manager (TM)

Tournament staff members available to assist with questions, settle disputes, and ensure timely completion of battles.

Game (i.e. Battle)

A single battle between two players, which results in one journal entry in Pokémon GO.

Game Points

Points awarded for a battle win.

Match

A set of five games between two players.

Series

A set of matches between players from two teams.

Series Points

Points awarded based on the results of a series during the Group Stage.

Double Down player

A player nominated by the team captain for each series whose wins are worth double the usual amount of points.

GO Stadium website

https://stadiumgaming.gg

Teammate

A registered member of the team.

The Silph League Arena

Silph official rules are the standard ruleset to be followed unless specifically stated otherwise below.

Team Composition

All Pokémon with a maximum CP of 1500 are permitted with the exception of Pokémon specifically banned from each competition. Teams will cooperatively build four battle teams, one for each player, consisting of 24 unique Pokémon. Each player will register their battle team of six individual Pokémon along with CP, moveset, & shadow status. While you are locked into your moveset selections for the entire tournament, you may alter them for use in other battle formats between games as you deem necessary.

Unique Species Clause

Pokémon with the same Pokédex entry number that differ in either typing or base stats are considered unique Pokémon (i.e. Alolan Muk and Kanto Muk; Defense Deoxys and Attack Deoxys; Sunny Castform and Rainy Castform).

Bans

Randomized Pokémon bans are determined in advance and apply to all battle teams used during the tournament. The current bans can be reviewed on the GO Stadium website.

Communication

In order to communicate effectively, all team members are required to be in the GO Stadium Discord and self-assign the Team Tournament role. To do so, go to the community-roles channel and select the ⚔ emoji.

Appropriate Coordination

To ensure timely completion of battles, your coordination attempts must meet the following guidelines. 1. Tag your opponent in the appropriate channel AND send them a direct message as soon as possible, including both: a. Your time zone if it is not in your nickname on the server; and b. All of the available time you have during the period of the round. 2. If your opponent responds with both (a) and (b), some attempt must be made at finding a time that works for both of you. 3. If you have not coordinated a time to battle or your coordinated time was missed and unable to be rescheduled, send proof of the above to @Match Disputes where a TM will instruct you on how to proceed. If you do not meet these requirements then your attempt will not be considered sufficient.

Slow Play Penalties

If a Team fails to nominate a Double Down player within the designated period, they will continue that series without a Double Down. If two players have not battled by the end of the round, TMs may grant an extension depending on the circumstances. If an extension is requested, players must include a specific time they have both agreed upon to complete the match. Our goal is always to see wins determined by battles and not TM decisions. However, we cannot extend a round by an unreasonable amount of time for one outstanding match out of respect for all participants. Any incomplete battles at the end of the round or extension period (if granted) will have points awarded at the discretion of the TMs. Matches for the Team Tournament are not done in a best-of-5 fashion, and therefore we choose to allow flexibility in how these points are awarded. Game points can either be awarded solely to one player or split between both parties. Decisions will be made factoring in items such as communication and coordination attempts, availability during both the round and extension period, etc. DO NOT submit the current game points when messaging @Match Disputes as all TMs involved in these determinations will not be aware of the current scores.

Technical Disputes

If two players do not agree on a battle outcome, they must message @Match Disputes with a detailed explanation of the issue. Journal entries showing current battle outcomes and video evidence are required for arbitration. It is highly recommended to enable show all touches in device settings and/or record all matches with internal and external sound being captured in the event that the user interface becomes unresponsive. Without these indicators, the TMs will use their discretion to determine what occurred during the battle. This will be based on the state of the battle at the time that the issue occurred. Any rematch granted through these means will be heavily documented and tracked. Awarded rematches will be specified as either same team/same lead or new teams. Several factors will go into this determination, including but not limited to sacrificial swaps, baited charge moves, and percent chance buffs and debuffs. If any of these factors heavily influenced the outcome of the battle, a rematch with new teams will be awarded. In situations where a victory is assured and lag causes a change in the outcome, we may opt to assign win/loss over a rematch. Some examples include a lone 2 shield Skarmory vs. a lone 0 shield Victreebel, a clear knockout charge move that would end the match but does no damage, etc. Please note that these rulings will only be made when the lost victory due to lag cannot be questioned.

Hidden Information

A Team may discuss within their own group any observed movesets or strategies that have been willfully given by an opponent or information obtained by normal tournament play; however, scouting movesets from previous opponents is not allowed. In the result of a tie, you may discuss any observed movesets among your teammates in preparation for the Elimination Stage tiebreaker.

Outside Assistance

As this is a team tournament, discussion amongst teammates about the best approach to an upcoming matchup is allowed and encouraged; however, this must occur only among teammates.. Simulations, while expressly prohibited during both GO Stadium meta tournaments (e.g. Cliffhanger) and Silph ranked tournaments, are allowed during Team Tournaments.

Disqualification

Any participant failing to adhere to the rules of the GO Stadium Discord or the tournament itself, may be disqualified from competition, and their Team may incur additional penalties including disqualification as determined by the Tournament Managers. Any persons formerly removed from the Discord are not permitted entry to this tournament.

Pokémon Registration

It is up to each battler to register their team of 6 Pokémon, including CP and moveset, correctly and accurately. In the event that one or more is incorrect, restrictions and/or penalties may occur:

• Incorrect Pokémon (banned, wrong evolution, incorrect cloak, etc.).
  • A new Pokémon must be selected within 24 hours of the TMs being made aware of the situation.
  • The new Pokémon selection will not be available for use by the battler until the start of the next round.
  • If any battles have occurred, a loss will be issued for the most recent battle completed.

Player Substitutions

We understand that things may happen during a several week tournament that would force a player to no longer compete. In the event that one player from a team needs to drop out, a replacement player may be substituted.

• A substitution may not be a player that is/was registered with another team at any point during the current tournament.

Score Submissions

To verify accuracy of results, it is mandatory that every player submits their match scores within the round timer. Failure to do so will result in a 1 game point penalty applied to the team per late or missing entry. Once a score has been submitted, those will be viewed as finalized games that are not disputable.

The Silph League Arena

Silph official rules are the standard ruleset to be followed unless specifically stated otherwise below.

Team Composition

All Pokémon with a maximum CP of 1500 are permitted with the exception of Pokémon specifically banned from each competition. Teams will cooperatively build four battle teams, one for each player, consisting of 24 unique Pokémon. Each player will register their battle team of six individual Pokémon along with CP, moveset, & shadow status. While you are locked into your moveset selections for the entire tournament, you may alter them for use in other battle formats between games as you deem necessary.

Unique Species Clause

Pokémon with the same Pokédex entry number that differ in either typing or base stats are considered unique Pokémon (i.e. Alolan Muk and Kanto Muk; Defense Deoxys and Attack Deoxys; Sunny Castform and Rainy Castform).

Bans

Randomized Pokémon bans are determined in advance and apply to all battle teams used during the tournament. The current bans can be reviewed on the GO Stadium website.

Communication

In order to communicate effectively, all team members are required to be in the GO Stadium Discord and self-assign the Team Tournament role. To do so, go to the community-roles channel and select the ⚔ emoji.

Appropriate Coordination

To ensure timely completion of battles, your coordination attempts must meet the following guidelines. 1. Tag your opponent in the appropriate channel AND send them a direct message as soon as possible, including both: a. Your time zone if it is not in your nickname on the server; and b. All of the available time you have during the period of the round. 2. If your opponent responds with both (a) and (b), some attempt must be made at finding a time that works for both of you. 3. If you have not coordinated a time to battle or your coordinated time was missed and unable to be rescheduled, send proof of the above to @Match Disputes where a TM will instruct you on how to proceed. If you do not meet these requirements then your attempt will not be considered sufficient.

Slow Play Penalties

If a Team fails to nominate a Double Down player within the designated period, they will continue that series without a Double Down. If two players have not battled by the end of the round, TMs may grant an extension depending on the circumstances. If an extension is requested, players must include a specific time they have both agreed upon to complete the match. Our goal is always to see wins determined by battles and not TM decisions. However, we cannot extend a round by an unreasonable amount of time for one outstanding match out of respect for all participants. Any incomplete battles at the end of the round or extension period (if granted) will have points awarded at the discretion of the TMs. Matches for the Team Tournament are not done in a best-of-5 fashion, and therefore we choose to allow flexibility in how these points are awarded. Game points can either be awarded solely to one player or split between both parties. Decisions will be made factoring in items such as communication and coordination attempts, availability during both the round and extension period, etc. DO NOT submit the current game points when messaging @Match Disputes as all TMs involved in these determinations will not be aware of the current scores.

Technical Disputes

If two players do not agree on a battle outcome, they must message @Match Disputes with a detailed explanation of the issue. Journal entries showing current battle outcomes and video evidence are required for arbitration. It is highly recommended to enable show all touches in device settings and/or record all matches with internal and external sound being captured in the event that the user interface becomes unresponsive. Without these indicators, the TMs will use their discretion to determine what occurred during the battle. This will be based on the state of the battle at the time that the issue occurred. Any rematch granted through these means will be heavily documented and tracked. Awarded rematches will be specified as either same team/same lead or new teams. Several factors will go into this determination, including but not limited to sacrificial swaps, baited charge moves, and percent chance buffs and debuffs. If any of these factors heavily influenced the outcome of the battle, a rematch with new teams will be awarded. In situations where a victory is assured and lag causes a change in the outcome, we may opt to assign win/loss over a rematch. Some examples include a lone 2 shield Skarmory vs. a lone 0 shield Victreebel, a clear knockout charge move that would end the match but does no damage, etc. Please note that these rulings will only be made when the lost victory due to lag cannot be questioned.

Hidden Information

A Team may discuss within their own group any observed movesets or strategies that have been willfully given by an opponent or information obtained by normal tournament play; however, scouting movesets from previous opponents is not allowed. In the result of a tie, you may discuss any observed movesets among your teammates in preparation for the Elimination Stage tiebreaker.

Outside Assistance

As this is a team tournament, discussion amongst teammates about the best approach to an upcoming matchup is allowed and encouraged; however, this must occur only among teammates.. Simulations, while expressly prohibited during both GO Stadium meta tournaments (e.g. Cliffhanger) and Silph ranked tournaments, are allowed during Team Tournaments.

Disqualification

Any participant failing to adhere to the rules of the GO Stadium Discord or the tournament itself, may be disqualified from competition, and their Team may incur additional penalties including disqualification as determined by the Tournament Managers. Any persons formerly removed from the Discord are not permitted entry to this tournament.

Pokémon Registration

It is up to each battler to register their team of 6 Pokémon, including CP and moveset, correctly and accurately. In the event that one or more is incorrect, restrictions and/or penalties may occur:

• Incorrect Pokémon (banned, wrong evolution, incorrect cloak, etc.).
  • A new Pokémon must be selected within 24 hours of the TMs being made aware of the situation.
  • The new Pokémon selection will not be available for use by the battler until the start of the next round.
  • If any battles have occurred, a loss will be issued for the most recent battle completed.

Player Substitutions

We understand that things may happen during a several week tournament that would force a player to no longer compete. In the event that one player from a team needs to drop out, a replacement player may be substituted.

• A substitution may not be a player that is/was registered with another team at any point during the current tournament.

Score Submissions

To verify accuracy of results, it is mandatory that every player submits their match scores within the round timer. Failure to do so will result in a 1 game point penalty applied to the team per late or missing entry. Once a score has been submitted, those will be viewed as finalized games that are not disputable.