Smash Bros Ultimate Dominicana Ruleset

I. Tournament Rules

1. Set Length
   

   All tournament sets will be a best of 3 matches (First to 2). Top 8 will be best of 5 (First to 3). For major events, Top 32 will be a best of 5.

2. Double-Blind 
   

   Either player may request that a double-blind selection occur. In this situation, a 3rd party should be told, in secret, each of player’s choices for the first round. Both players are to then select their first round character, with the 3rd party validating that the character selected is the same as their word.

3. Stage (MDSR) Clause 
   

   A player/team may not pick any stage they previously won on during the set.

4. Stage-Ban Clause
   

   • The winner of the previous match gets to eliminate 3 stages from the legal stage list only for the next game. • Each Ban is temporary and resets after a game is played

5. Gentleman’s Clause
   

   Any legal stage may be played on if both players agree to it. This rule takes priority over MDSR. Players may NOT agree to change the number of matches to be played or play on an illegal stage. Violating this will result in a complete DQ for both players.

6. Stage Striking
   

   To start a match, players may enact a best of 1 game of Rock Paper Scissors. Winner may select if he’d like to strike first or second. First striker gets to strike 1 stage, the other player strikes 2 and the first player chooses from the 2 remaining stage where to play the first match (1-2-1).

7. Pause Clause
   

   Pause setting should be off. However, if they are not, pausing is only legal while either player remains upon their OWN respawn platform, and only for the purpose of summoning a tournament official or in the case of a controller malfunction. All other pauses will incur a stock loss to the player who pauses the game. If the pause causes the opponent to lose a stock, the player who pauses forfeits 2 stocks. • This rule also applies for players abusing the screenshot button and a stock loss will be enforced.

8. Stalling
   

   Stalling, or intentionally making the game unplayable, is banned and at the discretion of tournament staff. Stalling includes but is not limited to becoming invisible, continuing infinites past 300%, and reaching a position that your opponent can never reach you. Stalling will result in a forfeit of the match for the player that initiated the action.

9. Self-destruct Moves
   

   If a game ends with a self-destruct move, the result screen decides the outcome of the match.

10. Sudden Death
    

    If a match goes to Sudden Death, the winner is determined by stocks and percentage at the time the match ends. When the timer hits 0:00 player with the higher stock count is the winner. If both players are tied in stocks the player with the lower percentage is the winner. In the event of a percentage tie, or a match in which both players lose their last stock simultaneously, a 1 stock tiebreaker will be played with a 3-minute time limit. The results of Sudden Death do not count. If Sudden Death occurs in a Sudden Death match, this process is repeated.

11. Color Request Clause
    

    Players may request that their opponent change colors to accommodate color blindness or if their color is indistinguishable from either the other team color or the stage background. The request must be made before the match starts. Example: Request Cloud to pick green team to be able to distinguish if limit is charged, or having sonic on blue team to prevent confusion.

12. Character Color/Team Color Selection
    

    If there is a dispute in character colors or team colors (i.e. both players want to use green Fox), the players will play one RPS game to determine who gets the color.

13. Alting
    

    You will be immediately disqualified from the tournament with no refunds if you are found using an alternate tag/tags and/or hide your identity specifically to manipulate the bracket/seeding. The only exception to this rule is if the player notifies a TO before prior to the registration end date.

14. Warm-ups
    

    Warm-up periods, button checks, and “handwarmers” may not exceed 30 seconds on the game clock. Violation of this rule may result in an automatic forfeit of the current match at the discretion of the TO.

15. Selection
    

    After the first game, each player is designated 30 seconds for each selection to notify their opponent of their preferred ban, stage or character. If no selection is chosen in this time frame, the opponent is allowed to make the selection for the player.

16. Coaching Clause
    

• Coaching is not permitted during the duration of a tournament set. If coaching occurs during this window, they will receive penalties as outlined below:

• Cheering - Nondescript statements such as “Lets Go!”, “You got this!”, or “Mess them up!”. These are not violations.

• Minor violation - General statements such as “Play Slow”, “Take your time”, or “Hit him!”  This will result in a warning. If the behavior is continued after the warning it will be considered a Medium violation.

• Medium violation – More specific statements about a player’s playstyle such as “Play him like you play against me”, “He has to approach you”, “He is playing nervous”  This will result in a warning. If the behavior is continued after the warning the coach will be banned from spectating matches for the rest of the event.

• Major violation – Very specific statements pointing out habits, specific options, or timings such as “Watch for his neutral getup!”, “His waft is almost ready!” or “He keeps rolling!”.  The coach can be DQed (disqualified) and booted (removed) from the event at the TO’s discretion.

• Severe violation - Physical interference to either player.  The coach can be temporarily banned from all future events at the discretion of the TO

• Tournament Staff reserve the right to judge on what is deemed “coaching” and the severity of the violation.

1. Lateness Clause
   

 If you are going to be late to a match, you must inform a TO about your tardiness prior to your name being called.  If informed, the TO will hold off on calling your match until the very end of the current round (a round is defined as Winner’s Round 1, Loser’s Round 2, etc).  If you have not informed, a TO your match will be called in the order it is scheduled.  Players must approach the TO less than 30 seconds after their name is called.

Once the 30 seconds are up, the following rules will be applied based on the amount of time: • If you are 5 minutes late: Results in one game loss • If you are 10 minutes late: Results in 2 games loss (a set loss for a best of 3) • If you are 15 minutes late: Results in a set loss for a best of 5. • These times will be strictly enforced to ensure each player enjoy the event on a timely manner.

1. Collusion
   

   Players suspected of colluding may be immediately disqualified from the tournament. This includes intentionally throwing a match, splitting a payout, or committing any other form of bracket manipulation. The TO reserves the right to deny payout of event winnings to any player suspected of colluding.

2. Misinterpretation/Misconfiguration (Settings Check)
   

   Games or sets are not to be replayed due to a misinterpretation of the rules OR misconfiguration of game settings. Game settings should be configured according to section I. Game Rules. It is the players’ responsibility to ask the TO for any clarification of the ruleset in the event of a disagreement, and the outcome of a game or set will not be changed after the fact unless under extreme circumstances, judgment reserved for tournament staff.

3. Controller Interference
   

   If your controller is found to be the cause of disruption to the tournament (mid-match or otherwise), you are subject to complete disqualification from the event.

4. Updates Clause
   

   If the game receives an update, depending on what includes, will proceed as follows: • Balance Patch: will be implemented as soon as it launches • New Character: will be banned from 2 weeks prior to the event • New Stage: will be banned from 2 weeks prior to the event. Omega and Battlefield forms are legal as soon as it launches

5. Final Rulings
   

   If any unforeseen situations occur, judgment of Tournament Staff is final. Rules may be altered between phases of a tournament in the best interests of the event. (Example: A game breaking glitch is discovered on a stage, mid tournament, that could be exploited. Thus, the stage may need to be removed from legal play for the remainder of the event.) • Any unknown Glitch/Bug (i.e. Freeze Glitches, Stalling Glitches, Invincibility, etc.) that may damage the progression of the Tournament is banned and will result in a DQ from the event if abused. If you encounter a glitch by accident, call a TO immediately to resolve the issue.

 Steve has been Banned due to Glitch/bug that removes hitstun and knockback.

II. Teams Rules

1. Set Length
   

   3 Stock and 7 Stock Time

2. Teams Settings 
   

   Team attack is on and life stealing is allowed

3. Grab and Go
   

   Players may not switch controllers with their teammate.

4. Missing Teammate
   

   If a player’s teammate is not present for a match, that player may continue the tournament in 2v1 handicap matches or be subject to the Lateness Clause. If the designated teammate arrives during a match, the teammate may rejoin the team starting in the next game.

5. Team Color
   

   When in Doubles play, players must choose character costumes that are similar to their team color. Example: 2 ROB players on red team would use the Red Rob and the Rob with red arms. In the case of a character that doesn’t have a color option (Example: there is no blue fox color), we recommend those teams use a color that is available to that character.

6. Team Color Request Clause
   

   Players may request that their opponents change their team colors to accommodate color blindness or if their team color is not present on any of one of the opponent’s character’s costumes.

III. Stages Rules

1. Starter Stages
   

   • Battlefield (or any¹ Battlefield Form) • Final Destination (or any¹ Omega Form) • Smashville • Pokémon Stadium 2 • Small Battlefield

2. Counter-pick Stages
   

   • Hollow Bastion • Kalos Pokémon League • Town & City

3. Banned Stages
   

   • Any other stage not mentioned above is banned

4. *Omega and Battlefield Stages
   

• When Stage Striking, any Omega/Battlefield form stage can be picked as long as both players agree to it. • During Counterpicking, any Omega/Battlefield form can be picked by the player who lost the last match as long as Final Destination/Battlefield was not banned. • Due to changes in the Z-Axis for some Omega and Battlefield form 2D stages, the following are banned: • Dream Land GB • Flatzone X • Hanenbow • Mario Maker • Mute City SNES • Pac-Land • Duck Hunt

1. Music Clause
   

• A player that is counterpicking is allowed to choose the music that will play during the game on the stage he has chosen.

IV. How to Play a Set

When playing a tournament set, please follow the next steps:

1. Players announce the character they will play to their opponent. Either player may elect to Double Blind*.
   

   *If a Double Blind is elected, players must call forth an objective 3rd party and both announce in secret which character they will be playing to said 3rd party. That person will then announce out loud what character each player has chosen.

2. Play one game of Rock, Paper Scissors
   

3. The winner of the Rock, Paper, Scissors game then selects who will start the Stage Strike*
   

4.  Use Stage Striking* (1-2-1)* to determine the first stage
   

   *Stage Striking refers to the act of both players taking turns banning stages from the currently available pool of stages until only 1 stage remains. This stage would then be chosen to be played on it. *(1-2-1) refers to the order/amount of bans per player during the Stage Strike phase. The first player to ban eliminates 1 stage. The second player then eliminates 2 stages in a row. And finally, the first player eliminates 1 more stage at the end. Thus, both eliminating a total of 2 stages each.

5.  The players play the first match of the set
   

6.  Winner of the preceding match then proceeds to ban 2 stages from the list of legal stages
   

7. The loser of the preceding match picks a stage from the reduced list of stages for the next match making sure to not violate the DSR clause (explained on the next page).
   

8. The winner of the preceding match may choose to change characters.
   

9.  The loser of the preceding match may choose to change characters.
   

10.  The next match is played.
    

11.  Repeat Steps 6 through 11 for all subsequent matches until the set is complete.
    

    VI. Game Rules (short version print friendly)

Smash Bros Dominicana current Tournament Ruleset is as follows:

● Patch Version: Lastest Version ● Damage Ratio: 1.0x ● 3 Stock and 7 Stock Time ● Double Blind: If elected ● Stage Hazards: Off ● Stage Striking: On ● Banned Characters: Steve ● Gentleman’s Clause: On ● Sudden Death: Off ● Lateness Clause: On ● Items: Off and None ● Stage-Ban Clause: 3 Bans ● Smash Radar: Default ● Stage (DSR) Clause: On ● Final Smash Meter: Off ● Pause: Off ● Handicap: Off ● Coaching: Off ● Custom Balance: Off ● Miis: All moves allowed