The TPM Battling League - Glossary

[mr_pikachu]

The TPM Battling League
Glossary


Admin Approved by Chris
Commissioner: mr_pikachu



Thanks to Razola for helping with the Glossary.

Note: There are a variety of terms listed here, most of which you will never have to know. Look in the Tournament Types, Lineup Clauses and Limits, and Battling Clauses sections if you see something unfamiliar in a tournament announcement. The rest of the terms are available for Tournament Directors and just in case you have questions about how the league works or what something means, but you probably don’t need to read them otherwise.

I would advise you to not even read the list unless you see something that you don’t recognize, as it may be easy to become frustrated or confused. But it’s available for you to examine if you’d like.

Staff Members

Commissioner
The TPMBL manager. Responsible for hiring and promoting Tournament Directors, making appropriate changes and updates to league rules, scheduling tournaments, selecting tournament rules, and handling complaints about league procedures.


Tournament Director (TD)
Managers of individual tournaments. Assigns pairings for each round and makes rulings when there are disputes regarding battles.


Assistant Tournament Director (Assistant TD)
Makes certain rulings as directed by the Head TD. Judgments made by an Assistant TD may be appealed to the Head TD.


Head Tournament Director (Head TD)
Assigns pairings, makes rulings regarding disputes, and reports results to the commissioner. Any appeals of rulings made Assistant TDs should be directed to the Head TD. The Head TD’s judgment may not be appealed.

Tournament Types

Standard Tournament
Periodic tournaments in which any member of the TPMBL may participate. Ties in the standings will be broken by tiebreak calculations.


Championship Tournament
Special tournaments that are each held once per season. Registration is limited to TPMBL members who fulfill certain requirements, such as having won a Standard Tournament during the current season. Ties for first place will be broken by playoff battle(s).


Single-Battle Style
Trainers will send out one Pokémon at a time.


Double-Battle Style
Trainers will send out two Pokémon at a time.

Lineup Clauses and Limits

Level Limit
No Pokémon above the listed level may be used.


Sum Level Limit
The sum all your Pokémon’s levels must not exceed the listed number.


Pokémon Limit
No team may have more than the specified number of Pokémon.


Legendary Clause
No legendary Pokémon may be used.


Partial Legendary Clause
A maximum number of legendaries for each team is listed. This is usually one.


Legendary Pokémon
Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, Mewtwo, Mew, Raikou, Entei, Suicune, Lugia, Ho-oh, Celebi, Regirock, Regice, Registeel, Latias, Latios, Kyogre, Groudon, Rayquaza, Jirachi, Deoxys, Uxie, Mesprit, Azelf, Dialga, Palkia, Heatran, Regigigas, Giratina, Cresselia, Phione, Manaphy, Darkrai, Shaymin, and Arceus are all classified as legendary Pokémon.


Species Clause
No two Pokémon from the same evolutionary line may be on the same team.

Exception: Different ends of a branched evolution are legal. For instance, a trainer could use a Bellossom and a Vileplume, because neither one can evolve into the other. But no team may include a Vileplume and an Oddish, since Oddish can eventually evolve into Vileplume.


Full Species Clause
No two Pokémon from the same evolutionary line may be on the same team. This includes branched evolutionary lines.


Item Clause
No two Pokémon on one team may begin the battle holding the same item.


Soul Dew Clause
Any Latias and Latios cannot begin the battle holding a Soul Dew.


Wobbuffet/Wynaut Clause
Neither Wobbuffet nor Wynaut may be used.


Wobbuffet Clause
Wobbuffet may not be used.


Wobbuffet/Leftovers Clause
No Wobbuffet may begin battle holding Leftovers.


Double Team Clause
No Pokémon may have Double Team in its moveset.

Exception: Double Team may be used if caused accidentally by other moves, such as Metronome.


Evasion Clause
No Pokémon may have moves that increase evasion. This includes Double Team, Minimize, etc.

Exception: Evasion moves may be used if caused accidentally by other moves, such as Metronome.


Baton Pass Clause
No more than the specified number of Pokémon may have Baton Pass.

Exception: Baton Pass may be used by additional Pokémon if caused accidentally by other moves, such as Metronome.


Type Clause
All Pokémon must be of the specified type.


DS Style
All battles must be conducted using the Nintendo DS.


Revolution Style
All battles must be conducted using Pokémon Battle Revolution.

Battling Clauses

Sleep Clause
If a Pokémon on the other team is asleep, you may not put any other Pokémon on the opponent’s team to sleep.

Exception: This rule only includes moves that always result in sleep if they are successful, such as Spore, Sleep Powder, Yawn, Hypnosis, etc. It does not include automatic abilities like Effect Spore, moves that have odds below 100% to induce sleep, opponent’s moves such as Rest, or anything else that does not willfully induce sleep in the opponent.


Full Sleep Clause
Neither trainer can take any willful action to put the opponent’s Pokémon to sleep. This is treated like Sleep Clause would be if one opposing Pokémon was already asleep.


OHKO Clause
No one-hit knockout moves (such as Fissure, Sheer Cold, etc.) may be used.


Self-Destruct Clause
If both trainers lose their last Pokémon simultaneously, whichever trainer caused the double knockout loses. This applies to abilities such as Rough Skin, moves like Explosion, Take Down, and Destiny Bond, Sandstorm, Hail and any other effects caused by one Pokémon.

Exception: If each Pokémon is knocked out by an effect caused by the opponent, or if they are each knocked out by their own trainer’s effect, the battle is a draw. For instance, if one Pokémon faints from poisoning caused by the opponent and the other faints from the opponent’s Curse, the battle is a draw. This is judged at the discretion of the TD.

Tournament Procedures

Tournament Score
Points earned from wins, draws, and byes in tournaments. These are only used to determine standings in each tournament.


Win
Victory in a battle. A trainer who wins in a tournament gets 1 point.


Loss
Defeat in a battle. A trainer who loses in a tournament gets 0 points.


Draw
A tie in a battle. A trainer who draws in a tournament gets ½ point.


Double Forfeit
Awarded only in certain circumstances, such as when neither trainer makes an attempt to schedule a battle. Both battlers are given a loss.


Round
A stage of a tournament in which each competitor participates in one battle, as shown by the pairings.


Pairings
The assigned battle matchups for each round in a tournament. These are determined and announced by the Head TD.


Bye
When a competitor is not assigned an opponent during a round of the tournament. A competitor may sometimes request these for specific rounds before the start of a tournament. A requested bye grants the competitor ½ point. If a bye not requested but is given because there are an odd number of competitors, it results in 1 point.


Maximum Players
The maximum number of players that can participate in any tournament. This is used to help limit the possible number of rounds. Once registrations reach the maximum number of players, no further registrations will be permitted unless a competitor withdraws before the tournament begins.


Maximum Round Duration
The amount of time allowed for a battle to be completed and reported. This is used to limit the duration of a tournament. If a result is not reported before the time limit expires, that battle will be considered a double forfeit.


Game System
Each matchup will consist of one battle.


Match System
Each matchup will consist of a best-of-three set. The winner will be the competitor who first wins two battles (or wins one and draws two). If either trainer earns two wins in the first two battles, the third does not need to be played. If all three battles are draws or if they result in a win, a loss, and a draw for each player, the matchup as a whole will be judged a draw.


Solkoff Tiebreak
This tiebreak adds the tournament scores of all opponents. For instance, if a player's opponents finished with 2 wins, 3 wins, 0 wins, 1 win, and 3 wins, respectively, the player's Solkoff score would be 2 + 3 + 0 + 1 + 3 = 9.


Cumulative Tiebreak
This tiebreaks add the player's tournament score after each round of the tournament. For instance, if a player won the first game, lost the second, drew the third, and won the fourth, that player's tournament score would be 1, 1, 1.5, and 2.5 after each round. So the cumulative score would be 1 + 1 + 1.5 + 2.5 = 6.


Median Tiebreak
This tiebreak is identical to the Solkoff tiebreak, except that the highest score and the lowest score are discarded. Using the earlier example, the median score would be 2 + 1 + 3 = 6. (The 0 and one of the 3 scores would not be added.)

Standing Systems

Ratings
Points that are earned by winning battles and lost by losing battles, and which help determine pairings for tournaments. Ratings are calculated for each season and throughout membership in the TPMBL. These use an Elo system, with K-values of 48 for ratings below 1800, 36 for ratings 1800-2099, and 24 for ratings 2100 and higher.


Title Count
The number of tournaments that each member of the TPMBL has won. The Title Count is calculated for each season.


Grand Prix
Uses points that are awarded based on performance in tournaments.


Grand Prix Points
Awarded based on the number of entrants and the competitor's final placement. Grand Prix standings are calculated for each season. Points to be awarded are calculated using the following formula: P = C * M, where P is the number of points earned, C is the number of competitors, and M is the multiplier determined by a player's rank in the tournament. The multiplier is determined using the following chart:

1st Place: 3
2nd Place: 2.25
3rd Place: 2
4th Place: 1.75
5th Place: 1.65
6th Place: 1.55
7th Place: 1.45
8th Place: 1.35
9th Place: 1.3
10th Place: 1.25
11th Place: 1.2
12th Place: 1.15
13th Place: 1.1
14th Place: 1.05
15th Place: 1
16th Place: 0.95
17th Place: 0.925
18th Place: 0.9
19th Place: 0.875
20th Place: 0.85
21st Place: 0.825
22nd Place: 0.8
23rd Place: 0.775
24th Place: 0.75
25th Place: 0.725
26th Place: 0.7
27th Place: 0.675
28th Place: 0.65
29th Place: 0.625
30th Place: 0.6
31st Place: 0.575
32nd Place: 0.55
33rd Place: 0.5375
34th Place: 0.525
35th Place: 0.5125
36th Place: 0.5
37th Place: 0.4875
38th Place: 0.475
39th Place: 0.4625
40th Place: 0.45
41st Place: 0.4375
42nd Place: 0.425
43rd Place: 0.4125
44th Place: 0.4
45th Place: 0.3875
46th Place: 0.375
47th Place: 0.3625
48th Place: 0.35
49th Place: 0.3375
50th Place: 0.325
51st Place: 0.3125
52nd Place: 0.3
53rd Place: 0.2875
54th Place: 0.275
55th Place: 0.2625
56th Place: 0.25
57th Place: 0.2375
58th Place: 0.225
59th Place: 0.2125
60th Place: 0.2
61st Place: 0.1875
62nd Place: 0.175
63rd Place: 0.1625
64th Place: 0.15

[Perfect Chaos]

I'm not really taking part in this (spectator if anything), but I feel that all the TPM Battling League topics should be stickied for easier access

Just a suggestion, of course...

-Sean

[mr_pikachu]

Once the league gets started (tomorrow), I'll probably propose that to the s-mods and admins. Either that, or adding a subforum for league competition.

Thanks for the suggestion, PC!

[Razola]

Uh, what about Wobbuffet/Wynaut?

[mr_pikachu]

Knew there was something I was missing! Thanks, Raz.

If you or anyone else thinks of anything that should be added to the list, please post here or PM me. After all, my memory's anything but perfect.

[Perfect Chaos]

Yeah, due to my lack of battling knowledge...

Why does Wobbuffet/Wynaut have their own clause of not being used at all?

[Razola]

Yeah, due to my lack of battling knowledge...

Why does Wobbuffet/Wynaut have their own clause of not being used at all?

They are incredibly good and very boring. They also had a habit of causing ties in R/S. This is fixed in D/P (Struggle does 25% of your HP as recoil) and the clauses might not be needed anymore.

[mr_pikachu]

Because if two Wobbuffet were to go head-to-head, the battle would last forever, because neither one could be swithced... it would be kinda stupid. Wynaut is usually included as well, because it can learn the same moves if it stays unevolved through level 20.

And even if they are allowed, they generally can't use Leftovers... after all, the only way two Wobbuffet can damage each other is with Struggle, and Leftovers would make the battle continue forever.

[Razola]

There is also a Double Team clause and an Evasion Clause. The different being the former forbids Double Team but allows Minimize, etc. and the latter forbids all forms of evasion buffs.

[Razola]

You can no longer have draws with Wobbuffet in Diamond/Pearl. Struggle has been changed so it deals far more damage than leftovers heals.

I feel that a Wobbuffet/Leftovers clause isn't even worth mentioning.

[mr_pikachu]

Hmm. I'll leave it there just in case we decide to use it for whatever reason, but you do make a good point about the damage calculations.

And thanks again for your help with the clauses. I've listed you in the glossary credits, and I'll do the same for anyone else who gives legitimate help.

[Razola]

One more: Baton Pass Clause forbids having more than X Pokemon with Baton Pass. Keep in mind that these clauses are based on the Advanced generation and might not be needed for D/P.

[Phoenixsong]

...Is there going to be a Freeze Clause? Like, the same as the sleep clause but with freezing instead? I know that freezing has far worse odds of occurring than sleep, but still... eh, only if you feel it's necessary. Or what about a "Hax" clause that bans luck items like Brightpowder, King's Rock, Scope Lens, Quick Claw, etc.? I personally am willing to take my chances facing/using those items, but other people might not want to. And, out of curiosity, will there be matches that further restrict the Pokémon you can use? For example, a monochrome-only or metal-only challenge or something?

The league starts today? Who's going to be ready for it? Are we going to have a starter tourney or something o.O?

[mr_pikachu]

I considered a Freeze Clause, and that will be added if we decide to use it. We'll see what everyone wants. I'm not sure about a "Hax" clause, because that would really limit some moveset options. As for specialty tournaments... monocrome ones might be tricky, but those that all use one type of Pokemon would fall under the Type Clause. It's hard to say whether or not we'll actually hold such specialty tournaments, but the clause is there if we do.

And when I said the league starts today, I meant registration for the first tournament starts today. I'm not that crazy. ^_^;

[Razola]

The "luck item" clause is such overkill.

Freeze is too unreliable to be worthy of a clause. And what would you do? Stop using Blizzard?

[Phoenixsong]

Well, yeah. I personally don't find either one necessary, either. "Quick Claw-shmick claw, my slow Pokémon went first, cry about it why don't you," I say. Still, there are people who do care about such things, so I figured I'd throw them out there for consideration.