A. Tournament Rules

Set Length

All tournament sets will be a best-of-3 games, until Top 64 at which point tournament sets will be best-of-5 games. Rules below do not change between these two set formats.

Set Procedure

1. Players select their characters. Either player may elect to do Double Blind Character Selection (see section 1.4)
2. Use Starter Stage Striking to determine the first stage
3. The players play the first game of the set
4. Winning player of the preceding game bans 2 stages (see 2.3.2).
5. The losing player of the preceding game picks a stage for the next game.
6. The winning player of the preceding game must announce their character selection for the next game.
7. The losing player of the preceding game must announce their character selection for the next game.
8. The next game is played.

Repeat Steps 4 through 8 for all subsequent games until the set is complete.

Stage Agreement Clause

Players may select any LEGAL stage if they both agree on it. Players may not play on illegal stages or change the length of a set. If this is violated, both players will be subject to complete disqualification from the event.

Double Blind Character Selection

Either player may request that a double blind selection occur. In this situation, a referee or third party will be told, in secret, of each player’s choices for the first round. Both players are to then select their first round character, with the referee validating the character selections.

Stage Striking

Players play a best-of-1 Rock-Paper-Scissors, and winner may choose to either strike first or strike second. Stages are stuck in a P1-P2-P2-P1 order.

Pausing and the Home Button

Pause setting is to be set to off. However, if it is 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 pausing player receives a game loss. This rule also applies to controllers which cause the game to revert to the Switch home screen.

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 game for the player that initiated the action.

Self-Destruct Moves

If a game ends with a self-destruct move, the results screen will determine the winner. If a sudden death occurs, a standard sudden death play-off game applies (see 1.9).

Sudden Death

If a game goes to Sudden Death, the winner is determined by stocks and percentage at the time the game ends. 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 game 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 an in-game 300% Sudden Death do not count. If Sudden Death occurs in a Sudden Death game, this process is repeated.

Stock Sharing

Taking a partner’s stock is allowed in Doubles.

“Grab and Go” Clause

In Doubles, players may not switch controllers with their teammate.

Missing Teammate Clause

If a player’s teammate is not present for a game, the match may not continue until their teammate arrives. They may not play a 2v1 or play with a CPU.

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 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.

Character Color/Team Color Selection

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

Team Color Clause

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 similar color that is available to that character within reason.

Team Color Request Clause

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

Warm-ups

Warm-up periods, button checks, and “handwarmers” may not exceed 60 seconds on the game clock. Violation of this rule may result in a game loss at the discretion of the TO.

Counterpicking

Each player who lost the previous game is given 30 seconds after bans are selected to notify their opponent of their counterpick. If no counterpick is selected in this time frame, a judge should be engaged and the counterpicking player will receive a game loss.

Coaching Violations

Coaching is defined as an attempt to give advice to any player during a tournament set. Coaching is not permitted during the duration of a tournament set, whether during a game or in-between games in a set. (The only exception to this is when a Grand Finals reset occurs; in this instance, players are given a two-minute break in which coaching may occur.) Tournament staff reserves the right to judge on what is deemed “coaching” and the severity of the violation. If coaching occurs during this window, the coaching party will receive penalties as outlined below:

• 1st offense (minor): Verbal warning to the player and the coach. This warning persists for the entire event.
• 2nd offense (major): Player receives a game loss and/or the coach is removed from the tournament station.
• 3rd offense (severe): Coaching party receive complete disqualification and removal from the event.

Cheering vs. coaching

Cheering - Nondescript statements such as “Let’s go!”, “you got this!”, or “mess them up!”. These are not violations. These are not seen as coaching violations, as they do not qualify as advice that can be applied to gameplay.
Coaching violation - 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!”

Tardiness

Anyone who is not present for their set by 15 minutes past the scheduled start time is subject to a total disqualification from the event.

Collusion

Players suspected of colluding may be immediately disqualified from the tournament. This includes intentionally throwing a game, 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.

Misinterpretation/Misconfiguration

Games or sets are not to be replayed due to a misinterpretation of the rules OR misconfiguration of game settings, excluding player-specific settings. Game settings should be configured according to section 2.1. It is the players’ responsibilities to ask the TO for any clarification of the rule set 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.

In the event players begin a game with misconfigured player-specific controls (controller settings, etc.), players may not back out of a game to correct their settings once ten seconds have passed. After this time limit has passed, players must use their misconfigured settings, subject to tournament staff discretion.

Force Majeure Clause

Any game interrupted by external, impartial conditions (e.g. power gets cut, safety concerns arise, AV cords get disconnected, etc.) should be reset and replayed at tournament staff discretion.

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. The stage may need to be removed from legal play for the remainder of the event.)

B. Game Rules

Game Settings

Stock and time are set to 3 stock and 7 minutes for Singles and Doubles

• Final Smash Meter: Off
• Spirits: Off
• Damage Handicap: Off
• Stage Selection: Anyone
• Items: Off and None
• First to: 1 Win
• Stage Morph: Off
• Stage Hazards: Off
• Team Attack: On
• Launch Rate: 1.0x
• Underdog Boost: Off
• Pausing: Off
• Score Display: Off
• % Show Damage: Yes
• Custom Balance: Off
• Echo Fighters: Separate
• Radar: Big
• Teammate Highlight: On
• Mii Fighters: All moveset combinations are legal

Stage List

• Starter Stages
• Battlefield*
• Final Destination*
• Kalos Pokémon League
• Pokémon Stadium 2
• Smashville
• Counterpick Stages
• Town And City
• Yoshi’s Island (Brawl)
• Yoshi’s Story

* Battlefield and Omega variations of the stages are allowed when a player counterpicks either Battlefield or Final Destination respectively. The Battlefield and Omega forms must be from the list below:

• Arena Ferox
• Battlefield
• Castle Siege
• Corneria
• Delfino Plaza
• Dream Land
• Final Destination
• Frigate Orpheum
• Great Plateau Tower
• Halberd
• Kalos Pokémon League
• Kongo Falls
• Kongo Jungle
• Lylat Cruise
• Moray Towers
• New Donk City Hall
• Peach’s Castle
• Pokémon Stadium
• Pokémon Stadium 2
• Reset Bomb Forest
• Skyworld
• Smashville
• Super Happy Tree
• Suzaku Castle
• Town & City
• Umbra Clock Tower
• Unova Pokémon League
• Venom
• Yoshi’s Island (Brawl)
• Yoshi’s Story

Additional Rules

Starter Stage Striking

See section 1.5 for details on choosing who strikes first. Players may strike from the legal stages (each person strikes stages in a P1-P2-P2-P1 format) to determine the starting stage for the first game. If Battlefield or Final Destination, a mutually-agreed upon variant can be used, though if players do not agree the default is played.

Counterpick Stage Banning

After each game of the set, before counterpicking, the player who won the previous game may ban two stages from the full stage list. These bans do not persist throughout the set. The loser of the previous game then chooses from the remaining stages. You cannot counterpick to the last stage you won on in the set. If Final Destination or Battlefield is chosen as a counterpick, a variant may be chosen by the loser of the previous game, following the list of banned variants listed in 2.2.

Controllers

For ease of access, tournament staff recommends the use of the Nintendo Gamecube controller. However, the Switch Pro controller and Joy Cons are all permitted control options. Turbo/macro options on controllers are banned. Box variants of the GameCube controller are permitted so long as they do not have macros/turbo functions enabled.

Controller Interference

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

Glitch Clause

If anything occurs within any game that results in unforeseen consequences (e.g. characters become invisible, sudden teleportation occurs, characters become affixed to other bodies, etc.), gameplay should continue uninterrupted unless the change renders the game unplayable for one or more players. In this situation, players should inform their pool captain or tournament staff for resolution.

Mii Fighter Clause

Mii Fighters must use their default costumes (though players may select any color for their Mii in accordance 1.14 and 1.15) and must use a Guest Mii. Any player who intends to use a Mii during a set must declare they are creating Mii Fighters before the set. Mii Fighters should be named after the combination of special moves chosen, listed in the format “XXXX.” Any combination of moves may be used, but any movesets that any player may want to use during a set must be created before the set begins (up to a limit of three Mii Fighters unless explicitly given permission from the Tournament Director).

Control Setup Clause

No player may create more than three control schemes per set unless explicitly given permission from the Tournament Director.