CIL: Da Rulez

No league is complete without rules.  I will do my best to keep this simple and brief as possible without compromising clarity.

Team Rosters  

I. Pokemon on each team's roster must be static except under the following conditions:

• Trades: Each team is allowed three trades with any team in the CIL.
• Trades must be conducted tier-for-tier (i.e. an OU Pokemon can only be traded for another OU Pokemon)
• Trades must be conducted within the beginning of the second and end of the third "weeks" of the season. 
• Trades must be submitted to @CIL_Official on Twitter to be approved by the Kevmissioner (simply to check that all these conditions are met).
• Free Agents: Each team is allowed two free-agent acquisitions per season.
• Acquisitions must be conducted as a trade-off tier-for-tier (i.e. an RU Pokemon can only be acquired by dropping an RU Pokemon from the roster).
• Once a Pokemon has been dropped from a team's roster, any coach may acquire that Pokemon provided he or she has not already used his or her one free-agent acquisition.
• Free agency moves must be submitted to @CIL_Official on Twitter to be approved by the Kevmissioner (simply to check that all these conditions are met).
• A dropped Pokemon will not be considered to be available in free agency until it has been approved (to avoid timing discrepancies).
• An acquired Pokemon will not be considered on a team's roster until it has been approved as well.

II. All roster change requests will be processed in the order they are received through the Twitter account.

Battles 

I. Players have two weeks to complete their matches, constituting one CIL "week" unless extenuating circumstances prevent a match from happening.  In this case, an extension will be granted to both teams if the request is submitted to @CIL_Official on Twitter with 24 hours notice prior to the conclusion of that week.  No notice results in a -3 differential loss for each team.

II. All battles will take place on Pokemon Showdown at an agreed-upon time by both coaches.  If there are any problems finding time, contact your nearest Kevmissioner for help.

III. Rules will follow standard Smogon rules with one exception: all Mega Pokemon must evolve on their first full turn on the field.  If switching out immediately, the Mega Pokemon is not required to Mega Evolve, but if a move is being selected, it must also Mega Evolve.

• To review general rules: http://www.smogon.com/dex/xy/formats/ou/
• To review Smogon-wide clauses: http://www.smogon.com/xy/articles/clauses

IV. The timer should always be turned on except in the event of a disconnection. If a player should disconnect during a battle, the connected coach should turn off the timer to allow the other coach time to return to the battle.  

• Should the disconnected coach be unable to resume, the connected coach may turn on the timer and temporarily claim victory so that he or she may use the replay to send to the disconnected coach so that they may recreate the battle as it was to that point.  If new hax (such as a Critical Hit or status ailment) that did not take place in the original play transpires in the recreation of the battle, coaches are expected to start over in recreating the battle.
• Variable damage rolls are acceptable in the event that it does not lead to a knockout that it did not obtain in the original battle (i.e. if Gliscor survives with 1% in the original battle and get's KO'd by a higher damage roll in the recreation, coaches are expected to start over in recreating the battle).
• The disconnecting coach should also utilize his or her phone to contact their opponent on Twitter immediately to inform them of the disconnect.

V. No forfeits.  Having accurate measures of differential is important for the end of the season.  Forfeiting will result in a 6-0 loss.

VI. No shows--if someone does not show up within 15 minutes after a previously agreed-upon match time without providing advanced notice, they will be considered to be no show.  A no show results in a differential of -3 added to that coach's score regardless of the outcome of the match whenever it does take place.  Any disputes on the matter should be resolved with screenshots. 

The Season 

I. The regular season takes place over five CIL-weeks in which each team must play every other team in their conference once.

II. Playoffs - At the conclusion of the regular season, standings will be evaluated to determine playoff seeding.

• The top two teams from each conference will receive a playoff seed. Two wildcard seeds will be selected regardless of division and based on record.
• In the event of a tie in records, differential will be used to determine which team gets a playoff seed.
• In the event of a tie in differential and record, we will hold a playoff match between the two teams and the winner will receive the remaining playoff seed for his or her conference.
• The number one seed in each conference automatically advances to the semi-finals and CIL Semifinals while the two and three seeds play a quarterfinal match.

III. Pro Bowl - This is a maybe, but we could vote on top performing Pokemon in the league and have a non-playoff coach or someone who wanted in the CIL but couldn't (such as @GeneticInsect) use the teams.

IV. Championship - Players going undefeated in their conference playoff-rounds will have the opportunity to play for the CIL Championship.  If I had a belt, I would totally give it to the winner, but I don't.  Sorry yall.  I would also really like to hold this on stream and pretend it's a televised event (maybe have the Pro Bowl as an opening event?) because I think that would be fun.  It will depend on schedules.  We'll cross that bridge when we get there.

I think that's it.  Let me know if I missed anything.