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This thread serves as the central place regarding DLWC rules, administrative actions, and announcements. Please reach out to DLWC hosts or subforum staff if there are questions not answered by this post or any resources linked. The format for DLWC will be current gen (SV), and will feature teams of eight starting players and 4 substitutes (manager and co-manager are counted in the final total of 12 players; co-managers are not required). Qualifiers, as they are typically observed in WCoP will not exist in DLWC. Instead of qualifiers dictating which teams will enter the tournament, DLWC qualifiers will be held in battle pools, and accumulated points by each member of a team will combine and determine whether their team progresses to DLWC playoffs. Instead, the tournament will follow this rough series of events:
Sunday 24 March: Manager and Player signups open.
Sunday 31 March: Publicly release managers and teams. (Hosts will allow any country team that appears to have sufficient player eligibility to field a complete team)
Sunday 7 April: Managers must submit a finalized roster of 8 players and 3-4 subs. (This is the time where smaller countries who may be on the verge of not fielding a complete team should communicate with each other to combine/rebrand as necessary)
Monday 8 April - Sunday 14 April: Drafting week (draft creation; team internal which means each team will have one full draft board to create their 10 drafts with no overlapping Pokémon.)
During qualifiers, players will have to pick one draft to use for the duration of their battle pools.
During playoffs, players will be able to rotate which team they will use on a given week.
Monday 15 April - 5 May: Battle pools
Monday 6 May - 19 May: Playoffs
Monday 20 May - Sunday 26 May: Championship
Each player, by signing up for DLWC, volunteers to have their IP history checked by tournament staff for determining national eligibility. General tournament rules can be found here. All players are expected to know and abide by standard tournament rules.
This post serves to outline the circumstances under which any player can verify their eligibility to be selected for and compete in a Draft League World Cup.
There will be two types of player eligibility discussed in this outline: first-time players, and returning players. For the purpose of clarity, all players will be treated as first-time players until they have competed for a Draft League World Cup Team (either National such as Team Brazil, or Continental such as Team Europe). Player eligibility and team obligations do not carry over from one subforum to the next; for example, if a player is locked into playing for Team Germany in WCoP, they are not necessarily locked to play for Team Germany in DLWC. Hosts will not consider any other means of identification for regional eligibility. Please do not submit real-world identifying documents such as passports or birth certificates. DLWC hosts and TDs reserve the right to determine the extent to which any below method of eligibility is accepted or denied.
Players who have not participated in a DLWC season have open eligibility. This means that the only determining factor for which country/continental they want to compete in is the IP history on their Smogon profile. Hosts will primarily use a range of dates in-between IP address logins, however the number of logins will also be used in determining eligibility claims. IP addresses determined to be derived from VPNs or other obfuscation methods will be disregarded when determining eligibility. Once a player decides to play for a region/country/continent in their first DLWC, they are locked to that team for future seasons. Players have three ways of determining which country/continental they wish to play for:
Having a consistent IP history in a country for no shorter than 90 days. This period of time may be cumulative over the course of 12 months, however, the more sparse and infrequent the logins show up on your Smogon profile, the harder it will be to determine your eligibility for that country. The intent is to qualify based on actually residing in that country for a prolonged period of time.
Showing frequent and routine passage between multiple regions (US) or countries. Players who show patterns of routinely logging in from multiple countries will be able to play for any of their eligible countries (or the continental in which their country resides). Common examples of this would be living in one country, and attending university in another. A second example may be living in one Country, and having dual/multiple citizenship in others because of variable living conditions or unaccompanied family members.
The player's Smogon profile may show past IP addresses from a different country in which they reside at the time they choose to participate in DLWC for the first time. Based on the same consistency baseline mentioned earlier (at least 90 days of consistent residency), players are eligible to claim a country in which they have lived previously. So long as IP addresses are on a player's Smogon profile and are not determined to be fabricated, they are able to be considered by the hosts.
Returning players are those who have participated in a DLWC in a previous year. Once a player decides to play for a region/country/continent in their first DLWC, they are locked to that team for future seasons. The only criteria that may allow a player to change the team they are aligned with are:
If a player's life circumstances change and they no longer meet eligibility requirements of their old team (example: moved residence). If a player utilizes this method of transferring their eligibility, their previously used eligibility is permanently forfeited.
If a player chooses to transfer eligibility from a Continental to a Country Team. In the event that a Country Team forms that a player is eligible for, they have the option of transferring eligibility to that Country Team.
In the event that a Country Team participates in a second DLWC, players are forced to play for that Country Team instead of their respective Continental Team.
In the event that an established Country Team dissolves, that player is allowed to return to the Continental Team. If that Country Team reforms in the future, that player is forced to return to their Country Team.
In the event that a Country Team would have the requisite number of players to form, those players must either play for their Country Team or abstain from playing in that season of DLWC. This removes the ability of player(s) from prohibiting their Country Teams from forming, so that they can play for a Continental Team.
If a new player has not participated in DLWC, and has multiple citizenship options, their choice for eligibility is only between the Country Teams they qualify for.
All instances of returning players attempting to change their region must be communicated to the DLWC hosts prior to signing up with the new potential eligibility in mind for IP validation. "Grandfathering" and "cultural eligibility" are not accepted forms of eligibility in DLWC.
The reason that Continental Teams exist are to give a venue for players who are unable to form a full team within their native Country Team. "Continental" team in this instance refers to any combination of two or more regions/countries, not just specifically the likes of Europe or Asia. An example of a non-continental "Continental Team" would be LATAM (Latin America). It is the opinion of the DLWC hosts that the spirit of the competition is to support your Country Team first, Continental Team second, and your friend group last. It is in that spirit that competitors who wish to only play for a Continental Team, but not any of the other countries they may have eligibility for, will be unable to do so.
DLWC 2024 is moving up one week to further deconflict with WCoP schedule, hopefully enabling more players and more teams to participate! The new timeline is reflected in the OP.
Player sign-ups have ended, the teams are formed, and it is now time to start drafting! All teams will draft 10 teams to use during the season. This document will be the only method of submitting teams to DLWC hosts.
Make a copy and ensure no team overlaps by drafting Pokémon multiple times. For the pools stage of DLWC I, the eight starter players for each team will be locked to one team, but players will be able to switch which team they use during playoffs.
Send your team's copy of the document to Tjb145 no later than 13 April at 1700 GMT-4.
Managers must send the lineup of which eight players will be starting and what team they will use (Draft #1-10) no later than 14 April at 1700 GMT-4. Send these lineups to Tjb145
Drafting rules for team creation are as follows:
You have up to 90 points with which to draft 8 Pokémon. Costs are listed on your pool’s tab on the drafting spreadsheet.
If a Pokémon is picked by someone else, you may not pick it.
Declare two Tera Captains equal to or less than 25 points. These are the only Pokémon on your draft that may terastalise.
The following Pokémon may not be Tera-Captains: - Baxcalibur - Blaziken - Chi-Yu - Darkrai - Deoxys-Speed - Dragonite - Enamorus-Incarnate - Garchomp - Gouging Fire - Iron Boulder - Iron Bundle - Iron Valiant - Kingambit - Kyurem - Latios - Ogerpon-Hearthflame - Palafin - Roaring Moon - Sneasler - Terapagos - Ursaluna-Bloodmoon - Volcarona
The following Pokémon have access to all of their forms (although you may only bring up to 1 to each battle): - Pikachu - Basculin - Oricorio - Toxtricity - Indeedee - Basculegion - Oinkologne - Squawkabilly - Tatsugiri - Meowstic
If a Pokémon that is available in SV is untiered, please ask a host.
All games must be played in the [Gen 9] Tera Preview Draft tier on smogtours.psim.us or psim.us. Be aware that each game on smogtours starts a timer automatically and cannot be turned off.
General tournament rules and regulations can be found here.
SV cartridge win conditions are in place; there are no ties.
Each set is a best-of-one set.
The following complex ban is in place:
- No Pokémon may use the move Last Respects
- No Pokémon may use the move Baton Pass.
- No Pokémon may use the move Shed Tail.
The following clauses apply:
- Species Clause: A player cannot have two Pokémon with the same National Pokédex number on a team.
- Sleep Clause: If a player has already put a Pokémon on their opponent's side to sleep and it is still sleeping, another one can't be put to sleep.
- Evasion Clause: A Pokémon may not hold an item, use a move or possess an ability that can increase their evasion stat
- OHKO Clause: A Pokémon may not have the moves Fissure, Guillotine, Horn Drill, or Sheer Cold in its moveset.
- Moody Clause: A team cannot have a Pokémon with the ability Moody.
- Endless Battle Clause: Players cannot intentionally prevent an opponent from being able to end the game without forfeiting.
Quick claw and king's rock are banned.
Any items unreleased in SV are banned.
Replays must be posted to the round thread, please mention the result, your opponent's name and your pool number.
- Baxcalibur 
- Blaziken 
- Chi-Yu 
- Darkrai 
- Deoxys-Speed 
- Dragonite 
- Enamorus-Incarnate 
- Garchomp 
- Gouging Fire 
- Iron Boulder 
- Iron Bundle 
- Iron Valiant 
- Kingambit 
- Kyurem 
- Latios 
- Ogerpon-Hearthflame 
- Palafin 
- Roaring Moon 
- Sneasler 
- Terapagos 
- Ursaluna-Bloodmoon 
- Volcarona 
- Pikachu 
- Basculin 
- Oricorio 
- Toxtricity 
- Indeedee 
- Basculegion 
- Oinkologne 
- Squawkabilly 
- Tatsugiri 
- Meowstic 