CIL Season 5 Rules

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:

• Each team is allowed four (4) total roster transactions to alter their team between weeks 2-5.  Week two is the first week transactions may occur and no transactions can be completed once week five 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 @CIL_Official or @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 @CIL_Official or @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.
• Mega Pokemon: Previously, Mega Pokemon could not be traded, however Megas can now be exchanged one time through the course of the season.  This exchange counts towards the allotted roster transactions in a season.
• 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.

III. Some Pokemon with multiple forms are eligible for a multi-pick in the draft: Silvally (all types),  Oricorio (all forms), Gourgeist (all sizes), and Wormadam (all forms) count as one pick.

IV. Banned Pokemon: Refer to the GBA's ban list for a list of Pokemon and items not eligible for draft in the CIL.  These Pokemon will not be present on the CIL draft board spreadsheet.

• New bans that were not banned in the previous season include: Magearna and Pheromosa.
• Some Pokemon have specific bans:
• Greninja (Protean and Battle Bond are banned on this Pokemon)
• Blaziken (Speed Boost is banned on this Pokemon)
• Landorus-I (Sheer Force is banned on this Pokemon)
• In the event that someone who has one of the above in lieu of a permitted ability (for instance, if a coach brings Protean Greninja instead of Torrent), they will be allowed to play out the match for fun but will receive a loss regardless of outcome.  If they win, they will get a -3 differential and a loss.  If they lose by a margin less than three, they will automatically be reduced to -3 and their opponent will receive a +3 win.

V. Before a new season, teams will enter a lottery like that used in the NBA to determine draft-order for the next season.  Also like the NBA, playoff teams are exempt from the lottery and placed in reverse-seeding order at the end of the draft.  New teams will be placed at the top of seeding in the lottery.

VI. Z-Crystals:

• Every team will have one designated Z-Captain to be determined at the end of the draft, but before the start of the first week.
• Any Z-Crystal may be used with that Pokemon.
• Z-Captains can be changed one time during the course of the season.
• In the event that the second Z-Captain is dropped from the roster, that coach will no longer have a Z-Captain and will not be permitted to use Z-Moves.
• Bans and Restrictions
• All omni-boosting moves like Clangorus Soulblaze, Z-Conversion, Z-Celebrate, etc, are banned, consistent with the GBA.  
• All evasion Z-moves like Z-Magnet Rise, Z-Kineses, etc are banned consistent with both the GBA and the Evasion Clause of Smogon.  
• Mewnium Z is banned, consistent with the GBA ban.

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 or @KevinVGC 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 in either OU or Anything Goes (important for teams with Torrent Greninja, Blaze Blaziken, etc) 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.  Megas no longer need to Mega Evolve on their first turn staying in.  Designated Mega Pokemon can only hold their Mega Stone, no other items are permitted.

• To review general rules: http://www.smogon.com/dex/xy/formats/ou/
• To review Smogon-wide clauses: http://www.smogon.com/xy/articles/clauses
• Baton Pass is allowed provided speed is not being passed.

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.  A substitute may step in to play out the match to determine the other coach's differential.

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.
• Effort Rule:
• If a CIL week passes and one of the coaches was completely unreachable and made no demonstrable effort to coordinate with their opponent, they will be given a loss and a -3 differential. 
• The coach NOT being penalized will play against a sub to assess their differential for potential playoff seeding purposes.  They will be awarded a win, even if losing against the sub, and cannot have a negative differential from the match.
• If a CIL week passes and neither coach can demonstrate that they made an effort to have their match, both coaches will be given a loss on their record with a -3 differential.
• If any coach does this twice in a season, they will be replaced by another coach for the remainder of the season, and will not be guaranteed a spot in the next season.
• If this takes place in a playoff game, any team not making a demonstrable effort will be eliminated from playoff contention and the bracket will progress normally, even if both teams are dropped.

VII. Substitutions: any coach may have anyone of their choosing substitute a match in the event that they would be unable to complete a battle even with a reasonable time extension.

The Season 

I. The regular season takes place over 6 CIL-weeks (or 12 real weeks)

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

• The top four teams make the playoffs.
• Seeding is determined by record, ties in record will be addressed with differential.
• In the event of a tied record and differential we will hold a wild card game to determine who gets the last seed.
• 1 vs 4, 2 vs 3

IV. Championship - Once only two teams remain, they will play for the CIL Championship.  Once completed, the season will be official over :(

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