I'm going to go ahead and take the initiative for organizing the next GAF Pokemon tourney unless someone else really wants the job.
I went ahead and typed up a first draft for the rules. Give this a look and tell me if you think anything should be changed. I figure that I'll post a dedicated thread for sign-ups and further discussion in the Online subforum after HGSS is released, at which point the rules would probably be final.
Anything in red is something that I particularly want some input on, though I'm open for changing around other stuff as well if people want it.
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Any 4th Generation Pokemon game (Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, HeartGold, SoulSilver) is permitted.
Date: Not finalized by any means, but I think a good time to start would be about 1 month after HGSS' western release. April 16th or 23rd would sound about right. Not sure what kind of time limit we should put on individual matches to keep this thing from dragging on for too long.
Bracket format: single elimination, one fight per match. Each match consists of only a single fight (not 2 out of 3 or more), and one loss means elimination from the tournament. I don't really want to make it longer or more compliated than this, as online tournaments tend to have a really high chance of falling apart the longer they drag on due to schedule conflicts, diminishing interest, or other factors. I'd also be willing to swap the position of two or more players mid-tournament to resolve schedule conflicts as long as it doesn't give anyone an extra bye.
Double-Blind style or Sidebar style? In
double-blind style, every player's team is left in complete secrecy between matches. You will simply have to do the best you can in constructing a team of 6 Pokemon that will be ready for any type of opponent, and you are allowed to make as many changes to your team as you want between matches. In
sidebar style, every participant would PM me a roster of up to 9 Pokemon species that they would be using for the entire tournament. Every participant's roster would be made public at the start of the tournament, and each player would choose 6 Pokemon from their submitted roster to use for each match. Essentially, sidebar style is more reliant on counter-picking, as you would have a little bit of information on your opponent before the match starts.
Confidentiality: Regardless of how the tournament is structured, you are not allowed to divulge any information about any of the other participants' teams until the entire tournament has been completed. This includes: Pokemon used, moves used, items used, and any strategy employed.
Single Battle: I'd be willing to put up a vote for Single vs Double format if enough people expressed interest in double battles. I'd actually prefer doubles, but I expect that I'd be in the minority.
Up to 6 Pokemon per team in-battle. You can use fewer if you like, but why would you?
Level 100: The game will auto-level your Pokemon to 100 in wi-fi battles if you pick the corresponding option.
Banned Pokemon: Any Pokemon classified as an
Uber by Smogon as of March 2010:
-Arceus
-Darkrai
-Deoxys (all forms)
-Dialga
-Garchomp
-Giratina (all forms)
-Groudon
-Ho-Oh
-Kyogre
-Latios (with or without Soul Dew)
-Lugia
-Manaphy
-Mew
-Mewtwo
-Palkia
-Rayquaza
-Shaymin-S (Normal Shaymin is permitted, and I'm not sure if sky form can even be used on wi-fi anyway.)
-Wobbuffet
-Wynaut
Banned Moves: Any moves that break
Evasion Clause or
OHKO Clause are banned. These moves are:
-Double Team
-Minimize
-Guillotine
-Horn Drill
-Fissure
-Sheer Cold
Banned Items:
-Soul Dew
Species Clause: You may not use more than one Pokemon of the same species (Pokedex number) in any one battle. The Pokedex number is the
only thing that determines whether Species Clause is broken or not. Having a Pikachu + Raichu or Porygon-2 + Porygon-Z combination would be fine, but Wormadam-G + Wormadam-S would be prohibitted.
Sleep Clause: You may not put more than one of your opponent's Pokemon to sleep at the same time. This does not apply to Pokemon using self-induced moves such as Rest. It only partially applies to abilities such as Effect Spore: If your opponent is put to sleep by Effect Spore, you may not use another sleep-inducing move until that Pokemon wakes up, but if a second (or third, or fourth, etc) Pokemon on your opponent's team is put to sleep by Effect Spore it does not break this clause.
Self KO Clause: This is to resolve ties that occur when the final Pokemon of both teams are KOed at the same time. The user of moves such as Explosion, Perish Song, and Destiny Bond would lose, but any match decided by recoil-inducing moves such as Take Down or Struggle would result in a win for the attacking Pokemon's team.
Voice Chat should be turned OFF. Attentive players can and will make note of the sounds made by your button presses to determine what actions you may be using in any given turn.
Wi-fi communication errors: If you run from battle, either by accident or on purpose, then you forfeit the match. Not sure how to handle disconnects, though any repeat offenders would almost definitely be DQed.
Battle Recorder: You can save and upload videos of matches as the tournament progresses, but don't post the ID numbers publicly until the tournament is over.
Prizes: I will have at least one
very special super-secret Pokemon to distribute to the winner. Other people may add to the prize pool, in which case the winner would have first pick, runner-up would have second pick, and so forth.
