I'm gonna keep it real simple and paste the normal rules below the post but I'll explain a few changes to save you time and highlight the differences.
-No conferences; everyone is going to play everyone.
-You'll essentially have 3 months to complete all of your games instead of scheduled 2-week increments. I will still put a "weekly" schedule on the spreadsheet for organizational purposes.
-Regular season will end December 24th, 2017 to allow time for playoffs. Any games not played by then will count as 0-3 losses for both teams.
-Specific Pokemon are banned; please review the list below.
-Specific Pokemon from higher tiers are unbanned; please review the list below.
-Specific moves and abilities are also banned; please review the list below.
-Coaches draft 14 Pokemon instead of 11, with one Z-Captain designated after the draft.
-Only 3 roster moves instead of 5, still processed over the course of a week to be fair to upcoming opponents.
Bans
I. Only Pokemon in the Smogon RU tier or below will be allowed in the draft with some exceptions listed below. As this document is coming out much earlier than the season's start, make sure to check back before the draft and view the draft board carefully to ensure you're up-to-date with bans. If there are any questions as to why certain Pokemon are banned, ask your local Kevmissioner for an explanation.
- Necrozma
- Cresselia
- Hoopa
- Feraligatr
- Cloyster
- Tornadus
- Nidoqueen
II. Mega Stones will be banned. Due to the lack of Megas in the tier, it isn't possible for each team to be balanced with a mega.
III. All moves and mechanics banned from the RU tier will not be permitted in the league, such as Baton Pass, Drizzle, and all Smogon-wide Clauses. For more information, see www.smogon.com/dex/sm/formats/ru
IV. Banned Moves:
- Aurora Veil: already banned from RU.
- Baton Pass: already banned from RU.
- Omni-boosting Z-Moves: They are often banned from leagues and will continue to be banned from the CIL due to an unfair advantage this very powerful form of set-up can impose. Often the defensive boosts make it difficult or impossible to revenge KO set up mons and is very restrictive on team building.
- Belly Drum: This might be controversial to some but I feel that because many BD users can adjust their coverage really well that there would be almost no room for counter play once the user has set up. For instance, Slurpuff's best counter, Doublade is only available to one person and it can run Thief to reliably 2HKO at +6. Another example: 252/252+ Chesnaught, one of the best counters to Linoone, is OHKO'd by Gunk Shot as a coverage option.
- While there is obviously still ways for these Pokemon to be dealt with (such as Kebia berry Chesnaught in the above example), the alternatives for dealing with the opponent's Belly Drum user would be extremely limited and predictable, making it unfairly advantageous for the Belly Drum user in preparing for the match.
- With screens, Memento, Parting Shot, Z-Belly Drum etc, to support and/or provide multiple opportunities to utilize it, I feel it would be too easy to set up Belly Drums and diminish the competitive value of this format.
- While it may invalidate something like Linoone in the format, who really can't complete many other roles well, I feel the expense of one Pokemon drastically improves balance and counter play. Additionally, every other viable Belly Drum user in the format is capable of running multiple other sets effectively.
V. UN-Bans: There are some Pokemon I feel exist in higher tiers that could be in an RU draft and not only not disturb the balance, but improve balance within the draft. The Pokemon from higher tiers that will be allowed in the RU draft are:
- Forretress
- Forretress is being allowed in because of limited access to both reliable hazard removal and viable Steel types within the draft.
- It lacks reliable recovery and strong offensive potential making it manageable from both offensive and defensive angles, and has an exploitable 4x weakness.
- Klefki
- Klefki is being allowed in because of limited access to viable steel types within the draft.
- While having a very useful support movepool, good typing, and reasonable bulk, it poses little to no threat offensively. It also lacks reliable recovery making it susceptible to being worn down.
- Tentacruel
- Tentacruel is being allowed in because of limited access to reliable hazard removal.
- It's good speed, ability to spin, access to hazards, and good bulk make it a strong choice in the draft, but it requires Z-Haze for reliable recovery which would limit teambuilding options or accept being worn down more easily. Offensively, it's fairly weak and possesses an exploitable low defense stat if not heavily invested in making even resisted hits do respectable damage.
- Pelipper
- Pelipper is being allowed because of limited access to reliable hazard removal.
- Pelipper is only OU on rain teams for its access to Drizzle. Prior to getting Drizzle, it was PU by usage in Gen VI.
- Drizzle is banned from UU and below so Pelipper is not overpowered for the RU draft meta with only Rain Dish and Keen Eye, and if used as a defogger, it is forced to run Keen Eye.
VI. If banned tech is brought, the match will still be played to completion to assess how to effectively penalize the breach in rules.
- If the team bringing the banned tech loses, no additional penalty will be administered.
- Differential will be applied as normal.
- If the team bringing the banned tech wins, this will be reversed and they will be dealt a loss for the game, while the team playing against banned tech will be awarded a win.
- In this scenario where the outcome is reversed, both teams will have the differential altered to 0, win or lose.
III. All moves and mechanics banned from the RU tier will not be permitted in the league, such as Baton Pass, Drizzle, and all Smogon-wide Clauses. For more information, see www.smogon.com/dex/sm/formats/ru
IV. Banned Moves:
- Aurora Veil: already banned from RU.
- Baton Pass: already banned from RU.
- Omni-boosting Z-Moves: They are often banned from leagues and will continue to be banned from the CIL due to an unfair advantage this very powerful form of set-up can impose. Often the defensive boosts make it difficult or impossible to revenge KO set up mons and is very restrictive on team building.
- Belly Drum: This might be controversial to some but I feel that because many BD users can adjust their coverage really well that there would be almost no room for counter play once the user has set up. For instance, Slurpuff's best counter, Doublade is only available to one person and it can run Thief to reliably 2HKO at +6. Another example: 252/252+ Chesnaught, one of the best counters to Linoone, is OHKO'd by Gunk Shot as a coverage option.
- While there is obviously still ways for these Pokemon to be dealt with (such as Kebia berry Chesnaught in the above example), the alternatives for dealing with the opponent's Belly Drum user would be extremely limited and predictable, making it unfairly advantageous for the Belly Drum user in preparing for the match.
- With screens, Memento, Parting Shot, Z-Belly Drum etc, to support and/or provide multiple opportunities to utilize it, I feel it would be too easy to set up Belly Drums and diminish the competitive value of this format.
- While it may invalidate something like Linoone in the format, who really can't complete many other roles well, I feel the expense of one Pokemon drastically improves balance and counter play. Additionally, every other viable Belly Drum user in the format is capable of running multiple other sets effectively.
V. UN-Bans: There are some Pokemon I feel exist in higher tiers that could be in an RU draft and not only not disturb the balance, but improve balance within the draft. The Pokemon from higher tiers that will be allowed in the RU draft are:
- Forretress
- Forretress is being allowed in because of limited access to both reliable hazard removal and viable Steel types within the draft.
- It lacks reliable recovery and strong offensive potential making it manageable from both offensive and defensive angles, and has an exploitable 4x weakness.
- Klefki
- Klefki is being allowed in because of limited access to viable steel types within the draft.
- While having a very useful support movepool, good typing, and reasonable bulk, it poses little to no threat offensively. It also lacks reliable recovery making it susceptible to being worn down.
- Tentacruel
- Tentacruel is being allowed in because of limited access to reliable hazard removal.
- It's good speed, ability to spin, access to hazards, and good bulk make it a strong choice in the draft, but it requires Z-Haze for reliable recovery which would limit teambuilding options or accept being worn down more easily. Offensively, it's fairly weak and possesses an exploitable low defense stat if not heavily invested in making even resisted hits do respectable damage.
- Pelipper
- Pelipper is being allowed because of limited access to reliable hazard removal.
- Pelipper is only OU on rain teams for its access to Drizzle. Prior to getting Drizzle, it was PU by usage in Gen VI.
- Drizzle is banned from UU and below so Pelipper is not overpowered for the RU draft meta with only Rain Dish and Keen Eye, and if used as a defogger, it is forced to run Keen Eye.
VI. If banned tech is brought, the match will still be played to completion to assess how to effectively penalize the breach in rules.
- If the team bringing the banned tech loses, no additional penalty will be administered.
- Differential will be applied as normal.
- If the team bringing the banned tech wins, this will be reversed and they will be dealt a loss for the game, while the team playing against banned tech will be awarded a win.
- In this scenario where the outcome is reversed, both teams will have the differential altered to 0, win or lose.
Team Rosters
I. Pokemon on each team's roster of 14 Pokemon must be static except under the following conditions:
- Each team is allowed three (3) total roster transactions to alter their team between weeks 2-6. Week two is the first week transactions may occur and no transactions can be completed once week six has ended.
- Trades: Each team is allowed to use any number of their allotted transactions on trades with any team in the CIL.
- Trades must be submitted to @KevinVGC on Twitter to be approved by the Kevmissioner (simply to check that all these conditions are met).
- Free Agents: Each team is allowed to use any number of their allotted transactions on free-agent acquisitions per season.
- 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 @KevinVGC 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.
- Roster changes do not take effect immediately. Approved changes will be visible on the draft board spreadsheet and available the subsequent week as described on the spreadsheet.
II. All roster change requests will be processed in the order they are received through the Twitter account, whether the CIL's official account or the Kevmissioner. No one else may confirm transactions. The CIL operates under that limitation so that if requests are submitted closely together, it will be easy to discern whose was submitted first.
III. Multi-Form Pokemon
- Pokemon with multiple forms are drafted on the individual form. For instance, drafting Rotom-Mow gives me access only to Rotom-Mow, not any other Rotom forms. Other examples where individual forms must be drafted include but are not limited to: Gourgeist, Cosplay Pikachu, Wormadam, Basculin (different colors get different abilities), Oricorio, Lycanroc, etc.
- Coaches will have to designate specifically which form they wish to take in the draft itself. In the event that they have not been clear, the draft will pause and not progress until a distinction has been confirmed.
- If the different form is purely aesthetic (such as Vivillon), no distinction is required; coaches drafting such Pokemon can use whatever sprite they like. Examples include but are not limited to: Unown, Sawsbuck, Gastrodon, Florges, Furfrou, etc.
- Pokemon like Silvally, which require a held item to achieve that form will be drafted broadly, meaning drafting Silvally gives you access to every Silvally form because it has to hold the item to be that form.
- In previous seasons, we required coaches to declare which form they would be bringing. This will not be required this season.
- Pokemon whose forms change in battle (such as Cherrim, Meloetta, Castform, Wishiwashi, Minior, etc) are drafted broadly since they all have their base form and can only change in battle. So drafting Meloetta gives the coach access to both Aria and Pirouette forms.
IV. Z-Crystals:
- After the draft, each coach must declare one Pokemon to be their "Z-Captain".
- The Z-Captain can hold any Z-Crystal.
- Coaches no longer have to declare Z-Crystals.
- No other Pokemon on a roster besides the designated Z-Captain may hold Z-Crystals.
- The Z-Captain cannot change at any point; once declared, it is that team's Z-Captain for the remainder of the season.
- Z-Captains cannot be traded or swapped in free agency.
- Bans and Restrictions
- All omni-boosting moves like Z-Conversion, Z-Celebrate, etc, are banned, consistent with the GBA.
- All evasion Z-moves like Z-Magnet Rise, Z-Kinesis, etc are banned consistent with both the GBA and the Evasion Clause of Smogon.
- Mewnium Z is banned, consistent with the GBA ban as well as the fact that it is banned from UU and all tiers below it.
- Trades must be submitted to @KevinVGC on Twitter to be approved by the Kevmissioner (simply to check that all these conditions are met).
- 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 @KevinVGC 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, whether the CIL's official account or the Kevmissioner. No one else may confirm transactions. The CIL operates under that limitation so that if requests are submitted closely together, it will be easy to discern whose was submitted first.
III. Multi-Form Pokemon
- Pokemon with multiple forms are drafted on the individual form. For instance, drafting Rotom-Mow gives me access only to Rotom-Mow, not any other Rotom forms. Other examples where individual forms must be drafted include but are not limited to: Gourgeist, Cosplay Pikachu, Wormadam, Basculin (different colors get different abilities), Oricorio, Lycanroc, etc.
- Coaches will have to designate specifically which form they wish to take in the draft itself. In the event that they have not been clear, the draft will pause and not progress until a distinction has been confirmed.
- If the different form is purely aesthetic (such as Vivillon), no distinction is required; coaches drafting such Pokemon can use whatever sprite they like. Examples include but are not limited to: Unown, Sawsbuck, Gastrodon, Florges, Furfrou, etc.
- Pokemon like Silvally, which require a held item to achieve that form will be drafted broadly, meaning drafting Silvally gives you access to every Silvally form because it has to hold the item to be that form.
- In previous seasons, we required coaches to declare which form they would be bringing. This will not be required this season.
- Pokemon whose forms change in battle (such as Cherrim, Meloetta, Castform, Wishiwashi, Minior, etc) are drafted broadly since they all have their base form and can only change in battle. So drafting Meloetta gives the coach access to both Aria and Pirouette forms.
IV. Z-Crystals:
- After the draft, each coach must declare one Pokemon to be their "Z-Captain".
- The Z-Captain can hold any Z-Crystal.
- Coaches no longer have to declare Z-Crystals.
- No other Pokemon on a roster besides the designated Z-Captain may hold Z-Crystals.
- The Z-Captain cannot change at any point; once declared, it is that team's Z-Captain for the remainder of the season.
- Z-Captains cannot be traded or swapped in free agency.
- Bans and Restrictions
- All omni-boosting moves like Z-Conversion, Z-Celebrate, etc, are banned, consistent with the GBA.
- All evasion Z-moves like Z-Magnet Rise, Z-Kinesis, etc are banned consistent with both the GBA and the Evasion Clause of Smogon.
- Mewnium Z is banned, consistent with the GBA ban as well as the fact that it is banned from UU and all tiers below it.
Battles
I. Players must battle all their regular season opponents before the end of the year.
II. All battles will take place on Pokemon Showdown in either RU or Anything Goes (you will need to do AG if you have an unbanned Pokemon) 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.
- To review general rules: http://www.smogon.com/dex/sm/formats/ru/
- To review Smogon-wide clauses: http://www.smogon.com/articles/clauses
IV. The timer should always be turned on except in the event of a disconnection. If a player should accidentally 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 re-creation, coaches are expected to start over in re-creating 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 will be permitted. Having accurate measures of differential is important for determining end-of-season standings. Forfeiting will result in a 6-0 loss for the forfeiting team.
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.
- In the event that one of the coaches commits two no-shows for a single opponent, the offender will take a 6-0 loss and -6 differential with no opportunity to make it up. The other coach will play their match against the sub to assess the proper differential to be awarded to them.
- Coaches who have to play against the sub after their original opponent no-showed twice will automatically be awarded a win for the week even if they lose against the sub.
- A loss by any margin will result in +0 differential. Wins will assess differential as normal.
- If any coach commits three no-shows in a season, they will be removed from the CIL.
- If matches from two previous C-weeks do not take place, each coach will be automatically subbed in for by designated CIL subs (most likely the Kevmissioner and the Chasemissioner). For instance, if a week 1 match has not taken place yet, the day week 3 begins, the subs will be in control of that game.
- If one of these coaches has been showing a consistent effort to get the match scheduled, only the non-responsive coach will be subbed in.
- This substitution will be treated just as the no-show, with the coach who made the efforts getting an automatic win, but differential determined exactly the same as the no-show method.
- If coaches are non-responsive and do not complete two consecutive matches, they will be removed from the CIL and replaced.
- Replacement coaches will be determined by the Kevmissioner.
VII. Substitutions: any coach may have anyone of their choosing (except for their opponent for that week) substitute a match in the event that they would be unable to complete a battle even with a reasonable time extension.
- There is no limit to the amount of times a coach can have someone substitute for them, but if that team wins the league, the coach playing the most games will be considered the league champion.
- When determining who is eligible to continue for the next season, the coach who finishes the season will still be considered to have finished the season and automatically have their spot reserved in the subsequent season.
- Coaches leaving the league for the remainder of the season may have the option to select their replacement, to be approved by the Kevmissioner.
- If not, the league will find a suitable replacement at its discretion, to be determined by the Kevmissioner.
- If the substituting coach already has a team active in the CIL and they need to play against themselves, the Kevmissioner will determine who will substitute in for that match.
Battles
I. Players must battle all their regular season opponents before the end of the year.
II. All battles will take place on Pokemon Showdown in either RU or Anything Goes (you will need to do AG if you have an unbanned Pokemon) 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.
- To review general rules: http://www.smogon.com/dex/sm/formats/ru/
- To review Smogon-wide clauses: http://www.smogon.com/articles/clauses
IV. The timer should always be turned on except in the event of a disconnection. If a player should accidentally 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 re-creation, coaches are expected to start over in re-creating 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 will be permitted. Having accurate measures of differential is important for determining end-of-season standings. Forfeiting will result in a 6-0 loss for the forfeiting team.
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.
- In the event that one of the coaches commits two no-shows for a single opponent, the offender will take a 6-0 loss and -6 differential with no opportunity to make it up. The other coach will play their match against the sub to assess the proper differential to be awarded to them.
- Coaches who have to play against the sub after their original opponent no-showed twice will automatically be awarded a win for the week even if they lose against the sub.
- A loss by any margin will result in +0 differential. Wins will assess differential as normal.
- If any coach commits three no-shows in a season, they will be removed from the CIL.
- If matches from two previous C-weeks do not take place, each coach will be automatically subbed in for by designated CIL subs (most likely the Kevmissioner and the Chasemissioner). For instance, if a week 1 match has not taken place yet, the day week 3 begins, the subs will be in control of that game.
- If one of these coaches has been showing a consistent effort to get the match scheduled, only the non-responsive coach will be subbed in.
- This substitution will be treated just as the no-show, with the coach who made the efforts getting an automatic win, but differential determined exactly the same as the no-show method.
- If coaches are non-responsive and do not complete two consecutive matches, they will be removed from the CIL and replaced.
- Replacement coaches will be determined by the Kevmissioner.
VII. Substitutions: any coach may have anyone of their choosing (except for their opponent for that week) substitute a match in the event that they would be unable to complete a battle even with a reasonable time extension.
- There is no limit to the amount of times a coach can have someone substitute for them, but if that team wins the league, the coach playing the most games will be considered the league champion.
- When determining who is eligible to continue for the next season, the coach who finishes the season will still be considered to have finished the season and automatically have their spot reserved in the subsequent season.
- Coaches leaving the league for the remainder of the season may have the option to select their replacement, to be approved by the Kevmissioner.
- If not, the league will find a suitable replacement at its discretion, to be determined by the Kevmissioner.
- If the substituting coach already has a team active in the CIL and they need to play against themselves, the Kevmissioner will determine who will substitute in for that match.
The Season and Post-Season
I. The regular season takes place until December 24th, 2017. I'm having it end before Christmas so that we have plenty of time to do the playoffs afterwards. It also seemed like a nice place to draw the line between regular season and playoffs.
- Any games not played by December 25th will result in an 0-3 loss for both teams unless one of the coaches can demonstrate a consistent effort to schedule the match on their part.
- If both demonstrate a consistent effort, but schedules just don't jive, it will be registered as a 0-0 loss.
II. Playoffs - At the conclusion of the regular season, standings will be evaluated to determine playoff seeding.
- The top four teams will make the playoffs.
- 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.
- No schedule will be put in place for playoffs but we ask that you finish them as quickly as possible.
- The final two teams compete for the CIL RU Minor League Championship.
The Season and Post-Season
I. The regular season takes place until December 24th, 2017. I'm having it end before Christmas so that we have plenty of time to do the playoffs afterwards. It also seemed like a nice place to draw the line between regular season and playoffs.
- Any games not played by December 25th will result in an 0-3 loss for both teams unless one of the coaches can demonstrate a consistent effort to schedule the match on their part.
- If both demonstrate a consistent effort, but schedules just don't jive, it will be registered as a 0-0 loss.
- The top four teams will make the playoffs.
- 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.
- No schedule will be put in place for playoffs but we ask that you finish them as quickly as possible.
- The final two teams compete for the CIL RU Minor League Championship.
