Teams must have no less than 7 Members, with a maximum of 12 Members (Members are also known as Players) in order to register for competition (Alternates are optional). One Member must be designated as the Captain. Players may only be a Member of one team at a time.
Format:
Teams will compete against one another, organized by Tier. Weekly play consists of a set of matches, one for each of the 7 active weekly players: One “Great League”, One “Ultra League”, and one “Master League” player, along with 4 “Domain” players. The Ultra & Master League players can also be required to play in a Domain with an altered Combat Points Cap. A Cycle is a collection of “Weekly Play”(Which may also be referred to as Bouts), in which Teams will face others in the same Tier. Team Members that can be assigned as players are locked upon close of registration for a given cycle, and cannot be changed until the cycle ends. All of the following days are listed in eastern standard time. The deadline for player selection is Tuesday at 9:00 PM EST. The deadline for pokemon submission is Wednesday at 9:00 PM EST. The deadline for completion of weekly play is Sunday evening at 9:00 PM EST 2a: Promotion/Relegation: At Cycle end, Teams may be promoted or demoted based on performance. The Cycle may include a final Bout designed explicitly for this purpose. The criteria for relegation/promotion varies by cycle, and will be provided by Staff on the Battle Frontier discord after the completion of the placement cycles.
Hidden Information, Outside Assistance, and Coaching:
Team Members registered in an active Cycle may provide assistance to their teammates – including the use of simulations and active coaching; before, during, and after the course of gameplay. Scrimming may be done with players outside of their respective Team. Team Members may not otherwise receive outside assistance prior to or during their matches.
Battle Teams/Pokémon Registration:
Battle Teams may be changed every bout and must comply with the Domain ruleset in the Player’s position that they have been assigned for the week. Pokémon registration will follow the below rules, with a few exceptions:
-Players are required to register a legal team of 6 eligible, distinct Pokémon for their Domain or League. For the purposes of being “distinct”, two Pokemon with the same Pokedex number may only be registered on the same team if they do not have the same typing (e.g. Kanto and Alolan Ninetales may be registered together, but Altered and Origin Giratina may not be registered together). -Players are not required to register the CP of their Pokémon. -Players are not required to register the movesets of their Pokémon. -Players are free to TM movesets up until the start of the first battle of their Bout, with the exception of certain new-release moves which will be clarified by the Battle Frontier Staff & Referee teams via the Battle Frontier discord. -Players are allowed to use up to one (1) Pokémon on their team of six (6) with an active best buddy status, and in applicable Domains, players are allowed to use up to one (1) Pokémon on their team of six (6) with an active mega evo. -Once a Pokemon has been revealed in battle, no other Pokemon of the same species may be used by the Player for any subsequent battles of that Bout, nor may changes be made to that pokemon (the individual revealed Pokemon may continue to be used).
In the event that a team is registered in a points-based meta that exceeds the available point allotment, the team that did not register the illegal team will be granted the right to ban Pokemon from the illegal team, in line with the following five (5) parameters: (1) The opposing team has the ability to ban Pokemon on the team that exceeds the allowed point totals until the illegal team falls within the legal number of points allowed. Each time a Pokemon is banned in this way, remove its point value minus the cost of an Untiered Pokemon from the illegal team’s point total to determine the illegal team’s updated point total and determine if an additional ban is permitted. (2) Untiered Pokemon cannot be selected as bans. (3) Bans must be submitted from highest to lowest point totals per Pokemon. (see ‘%’ below for an example) (4) If the requested top-priority banned Pokemon does not bring the team’s point total within the legal point threshold, but there are no additional Pokemon on the illegal team of an equal or lesser point value other than Untiered Pokemon (which cannot be banned), the remaining team of Pokemon will be allowed even though the team features a point total over the legal limit (provided that the illegal team is not in violation of the feasibility portion of parameter 5). (see ‘&’ below for an example) (5) No more than three (3) Pokemon from a single team may be selected as bans. If it is not possible to reduce the illegal team’s point total to within the legal limit via any combination of three bans, the player who registered the illegal team will forfeit the week with a 0-2 battle result. % An example (using Cycle 2 OGL point guidelines): If an opponent’s team has 20 total points registered, a B-Tier (2 Point) Pokemon cannot be banned first (-1 points, bringing the total to a still-illegal total of 19 points) followed by an S-Tier (7 Point) Pokemon being banned. In this instance, if the S-Tier Pokemon is the top-priority ban target, that ban would be submitted first (-6 points), bringing the illegal team’s total down to 14 points and concluding the ban phase.
An example (using Cycle 2 OGL point guidelines): A team of S-A-A-B-U-U is submitted, costing 7-5-5-2-1-1 points for 21 total points. Upon review, the opposing team chooses to select the submitted B-tier Pokemon as their top-priority ban target. S-A-A-U-U (+1 for the already-banned B-Tier Pokemon) now costs 7-5-5-1-1 (+1) points for a total of 20 points. However, no other Pokemon of equal or lesser point values to the banned B-Tier Pokemon are available to be banned, and the 1-point Untiered Pokemon cannot be banned. In this event, the new 20-point team of 5 Pokemon will be allowed.
The deadline to file a dispute with the Battle Frontier Referee team regarding a point-based team registration error is 24 hours after Pokemon teams are revealed. Teams making bans will 12 hours following a Referee team ruling permitting such bans to submit their selections to the opposing team’s Captain and the Battle Frontier Referee team. If a significant amount of this 12-hour period is overnight in the competing team’s region, the deadline will be pushed to 5 PM in the easternmost time zone of their region of play (contact Ref staff for clarification, if needed). If there is already an agreed-upon battle time chosen by the two players that is prior to the ban deadline specified in the preceding sentence, bans must be communicated at least one (1) hour prior to battling, as feasible. If bans are not submitted to all relevant parties within the deadline communicated by the Battle Frontier Referee team, the right to make bans is forfeit and the entire illegal team will be allowed.
In the event that a single player of a Team fails to register any team of six (6) Pokemon prior to the deadline for Pokemon team reveals, they will be adjudicated a 0-2 score for the bout. If, however, an entire Team fails to register any team of six (6) Pokemon prior to the deadline for Pokemon team reveals, all matchups of that bout will be adjudicated a 1-2 score for each matchup of the bout. Suspected gamesmanship regarding these rules will be investigated by the Battle Frontier Referee team and punished at the Referee team’s discretion.
Communication and Coordination:
Players are required to join the Battle Frontier discord server, to communicate with the Staff, Referees, and opponents. Communication must be timely – Team Captains must contact the opposing Captain no later than Wednesday at the specified timezone for their Region and Tier in the Region’s specified timezone.. Players must contact their opponent no later than 24 hours after individual pairings are revealed. Communication and coordination must be ongoing: Both Captains and Players must respond to opponents’ queries within a reasonable amount of time until all battles have been successfully completed. Players should inform their Captain of any communication, coordination, or other problems as soon as possible. Captains should promptly contact the opposing Captain, and subsequently the Battle Frontier Referees if necessary, to address these problems. Both Players should strive to have clear, concise communication on battle times, including, but not limited to clear definitions of player’s timezones and expected battle times, along with agreed upon battle times that are considered reasonable for the conference (APAC, EMEA, LATAM, NA) that the team is competing in, not where the player is physically located in. Players may be evaluated for a no-show dispute upon lateness exceeding 15 minutes of a clearly agreed upon battle time. The Referee team will evaluate communication between players to determine if a battle time is clearly agreed upon, and the reasoning for the lateness of the offending player. Players who are determined to have no-show’ed a clearly-defined, mutually-agreed- upon battle time will face increasing penalties per occurrence, decided upon by the Referee team, tracked and scaling from a 0-1, with the steepest penalty being an ejection from competition after multiple occurrences. Following a 1-0 start ruling for an initial no-show, the battlers will be asked to find time to reschedule the remaining two battles of their series prior to the end of the bout. . In the event that the players are not able to find a makeup time to battle following a no-show of the initial clearly-defined, mutually-agreed battle time, the matchup score in that slot will be adjudicated with the following criteria:
If the no-show is for a clearly-defined, mutually-agreed scheduled battle time prior to 24 hours before the end of the bout, a 0-1 score is awarded if the battles cannot be rescheduled.If the no-show is for a clearly-defined, mutually-agreed scheduled battle time within 24 hours of the end of the bout, a 0-3 score is awarded if the battles cannot be rescheduled. Suspected gamesmanship regarding these no-show rules and refusal to reschedule despite stated availability prior to the end of the bout will be investigated by the Battle Frontier Referee team and is punishable by battle losses.
Captain Responsibilities:
In addition to performing the internal administrative tasks of their Team (such as assigning Team Members to Domain and League positions), Captains are the central point of contact with other Teams, Battle Frontier Referees, and Battle Frontier Staff. As such, their duties extend beyond their duties as Players, including, but not limited to:
Managing the interactions between competing Teams.
Ensuring all team members understand and abide by the Battle Frontier Rules.
Assisting all team members in the event of coordination or other issues.
Reviewing potential technical issues brought up by all team members.
Promptly filing a Dispute whenever an issue arises that cannot be resolved by the involved Players or by the Captains (e.g., Battle Team registration errors, coordination failures, emergency substitutions, concessions, technical malfunctions, misreported scores, no shows, and other miscellaneous issues).
Responding to requests by the Battle Frontier Referees for evidence in relation to a Dispute or any other relevant information required.
Disputes:
Team Captains must contact the opposing Captain and attempt to resolve any issues that arise during weekly play. If they cannot reach an agreement or otherwise require an official action or ruling by the Battle Frontier Referees, they should submit a Dispute following the protocol specified in the Battle Frontier server.
The Battle Frontier Referees will strive to communicate their rulings to the relevant Team Captains within 72 hours of evidence submission, however some cases may require additional review. Each Team is allowed one Dispute Appeal per cycle, which may be submitted via the pinned form in the #dispute-requests channel located in the Battle Frontier Discord. Appeals & Technical Disputes must be filed by the relevant Captain before the end of active play time in the bout of weekly play that the issue occurred in. All Referee action requires a vote for that action by no less than five (5) Battle Frontier Referees. In the case of disagreement regarding the significance of a technical malfunction on the outcome of a battle, the players must immediately play a provisional rematch of that battle, followed by the rest of their outstanding battles. For the provisional rematch, the player who did not experience the technical malfunction will choose whether the rematch is to be played either with each player bringing the same exact full teams of three (3) Pokemon (in the same order), or if each player can select a team with the same lead Pokemon but with the option (though not the requirement) to bring two different back-line Pokemon. Completion of any remaining battles after the provisional rematch should not wait until after any outstanding dispute rulings are made. A rematch is considered to be a provisional rematch in this respect, unless the players clearly agree about the significance of the technical malfunction and thus restart that game. If the first provisional rematch encounters another potential technical malfunction, a second provisional rematch must be played. If the outcome(s) of all provisional rematches is(are) the same as the outcome of the initial battle in which the technical malfunction occurred, the outcome of the initial battle will stand unless the disputing Team successfully files for a defwin dispute. If, following the rematch(es), the players still disagree about the outcome of the battle, they must forward the case to their Team Captains for review. If the Captains cannot agree on the outcome of the battle in question, the Captain of the Team which experienced the technical issue must submit a dispute to the Battle Frontier Referees. If, in the course of playing multiple provisional rematches, each Team experiences a relevant technical issue, both Teams’ Captains should submit disputes to the Battle Frontier Referees. If a provisional rematch is requested in good faith and in a timely manner, with the intention of filing a dispute pending the outcome of the provisional rematch, the team that receives the request for a provisional rematch cannot reject it. If you believe that an opponent is requesting a provisional rematch in bad faith or with the intention to harass, please notify the Battle Frontier Referee team. The Battle Frontier Referees may ask for Individual Values (IVs) of Pokémon used in weekly play. Specialists must provide this information if requested in relation to a technical Dispute. This information is to be provided to the Battle Frontier Referee team via DM – not in a publicly-viewable Battle Frontier server channel. The Battle Frontier Referees may adjudicate a win to one of the Specialists (a battle win even though the journal shows a loss, also known as a defwin or definitive win). Players and Captains should consider the possibility of the Battle Frontier Referees adjudicating a win, even if the Player loses the provisional rematch, in their discussions. Teams may be penalized for submitting clearly frivolous Disputes.
Emergency Substitutions:
Teams are allowed three (3) Emergency Substitutions per Cycle, which will be granted to each registered Team. Using an Emergency Substitution allows a Team Member that is a registered member of the Team in the current Cycle to play as a substitute for a teammate who has been assigned to a player position in the current Bout. A single Emergency Substitution cannot be used to change the positions of two players who are active for the current bout (e.g. to swap your Great League and Master League players’ positions). However, a player who is taken out of one active position via an Emergency Substitution can then be placed into a different active position with the use of an additional Emergency Substitution if the removed player has not completed their weekly matchup. In all cases in which an Emergency Substitution is filed after the Pokemon team reveal deadline, the substitute player is restricted to the Battle Team registered by their teammate in every aspect, including proper Shadow and Forme status. A Team must immediately notify the opposing Team’s Captain, then they must immediately notify the Battle Frontier Referees of their intent to use an Emergency Substitution. If a Team submits the same player(s) for two (or more) different battle slots in a given week, they will be required to use an Emergency Substitution(s) to fill any duplicate battle slots with new players until all slots have distinct players for the bout. If the Team either elects not to use an Emergency Substitution(s) or is out of Emergency Substitutions for the Cycle and thus unable to, the opposing Team for the bout will select a slot(s) that is occupied by the duplicate player(s) to receive 2-0 adjudicated results for the bout until all active slots are filled with distinct players. A Team believed to be engaging in gamesmanship with respect to this duplicate-entry policy will be investigated by the Battle Frontier Referee team, with penalties to be determined as deemed appropriate.
Competition Ejection:
Captains and competitors at the Battle Frontier are expected to adhere to a high standard of respect and sportsmanship. Abusive language, harassment or any other unsportsmanlike behavior; whether directed at a fellow competitor, captain, referee, or other Battle Frontier staff, will not be tolerated. Captains are responsible for ensuring their teams conduct themselves in a proper manner. Repeated or heinous offenses could result in punishments up to and including removal from competition, Some examples of this include, but are not limited to:
Breaking of Niantic TOS (Spoofing, route glitches, game exploits etc.)
Harassment, of any form.
Offensive Team names/logos
Repetitive disregard for the time of other competitors, via continual no-show or no-communication disputes being ruled against them.
Sheer examples of unsportsmanlike conduct vs other competitors, Battle Frontier Staff, or Battle Frontier Referees.
Ties:
A tie result for any battle within a series is considered a voided game. The players should play a new game, with the ability to choose entirely different battle teams, until a non-tie result is recorded. In the event that a tie occurs within a provisional rematch, the players should play an additional provisional rematch, but again with the ability to choose entirely different battle teams for the game immediately following the tie.
Rules Updates:
The Battle Frontier Staff & Referee teams will update the Battle Frontier Rules as applicable, as often as needed. These teams will communicate rule changes via the Battle Frontier Discord and website, including changes to the Technical Known Issues Guide.(edited)