Rulebook

[Narolf]

Basic Rules
-You cannot join more than one team.
-A team must involve a minimum of three players with a maximum of six players
-Teams that drop under the minimum of three players will be declared inactive until they can produce an active third member of the team.
-Each active team has to create a thread in this section.
-Please include a spoiler in your Team threads that include your current record, points earned, and record of challenges. These will be used to help keep track of everything in an organized fashion.

Creating a Team
In the event a team idea is created and the group size fits the three player minimum, players may create a team thread in the Training Grounds section. The thread will be approved by a moderator and you may begin Team activity immediately.

Becoming a Mercenary
If you feel that you can't meet the requirements of being on a team, but would still like to participate, the option of becoming a Mercenary exists. For more information, visit the Mercenary System thread.

Dissolving a Team
In the event a leader dissolves a team for a reason other than too few players, the following restrictions apply to the leader:

-They cannot become the leader of any team unless there is a special circumstance.
-They must wait a week before joining a new team and participating in Team Wars or becoming a Mercenary.

The team members are free to pursue other paths as they see fit.

Joining a Team
Team recruitment is done via their main thread (one exists for each team). Players who are looking to join express interest in joining a team can either do so with the team of their choice or may use the Recruitment thread to show their interest.

Players who have recently left a team and join up with another must wait a week after leaving the previous team before they may participate in team related activities. This goes into effect once the announcement of their departure is made. Players from teams that have dissolved will be excluded from this restriction.

Challenges and Challenge Acceptance
To create challenges and see all the rules regarding challenge creation and accepting challenges, please use the appropriate challenge thread in the Arena.

-Both teams must have the same amount of representatives for the challenge: 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, or 4v4.
-Challenges will begin with the following standards: No Feral Chaos, no Infinites/Reset Abuse, no hacks/cheats, no Jobs.
-A mod from the forum or #DDFFCasual can serve as an organizer for challenges where counter-picking is necessary.

Currency System and Challenge Rules
The currency system will govern over the use of custom rules within challenges. The standard ruleset listed above may be changed through the use of currency, allowing for additional rules such as no summons, no omega stages, etc. Check out the Currency System Thread for details.

When issuing the challenge, please purchase your additional rules from the Currency Thread before issuing challenges with these rules included.

Restrictions
-Each team may only play a total of 5 challenges each week. This can be any combination of issued and accepted challenges, but it may not exceed 5.
-Teams may only play an individual team ONE time per week (7 days, not each Team Wars week [Monday-Monday]).
-Teams must play each of the opposing teams at least one time by the end of each month. For any teams not meeting this requirement, you will be docked a challenge per week for the remainder of the season.
-When challenging a team, you may only call out ONE specific player.
-Teams also have an option of declining a challenge from a team that has played them twice in the last 3 weeks (21 days) if they feel like a team is targeting them on purpose.
-[Round Robin Rule]Teams MUST play at least 3 other teams before playing a team a second time, regardless of time elapsed. Those who play each other without meeting this requirement will be penalized 20% of their individual reward of the match (win or loss), which can stack up to 5 times for each repeat offense. An example is below:

Team A and Team B play a challenge. Team A follows up that challenge with the following teams:

vs. Team C, Team D, Team E, Team B

while Team B does the following:

vs Team E, Team C, Team A

Team A will be safe from penalty, while Team B will be docked 20% of their winnings due to the "farming" rule.

-Teams must participate in one challenge per week or will suffer a penalty for inactivity (-1 maximum challenges for the next week as well as a 10 point penalty).

Blind and Counterpick Procedure
Stages used for blind pick stage striking are: The stages are: World of Darkness, Lunar Subterrane, Crystal World, Pandaemonium, Edge of Madness

Procedure included below in the spoiler.

Spoiler:

All parties involved from both teams should be gathered together in order to make the striking and selection process as smooth as possible.

Set 1

Step 1: One of the team leaders/representatives is selected to call a coin flip. The winner of the coin flip will begin the striking in match 1. The stages are: World of Darkness, Lunar Subterrane, Crystal World, Pandaemonium, Edge of Madness.

Step 2: Teams alternate striking stages until one remains for the battle. The striking order is then reversed for all subsequent matches that need striking. Repeat until stages have been selected for all the matches.

Step 3: Teams contact the organizer or a neutral party with character selections and player order. This person will relay the matchups to the teams who will proceed with the scheduled matches.

Set 2

Based on the results of Set 1, matches for Set 2 will be set up in the following fashion (if necessary):

Step 1: The team who won the original coin toss will shift down (Player in slot 1 plays in slot 2, etc) and the team who lost the original coin toss will shift up (Player in slot 1 plays in slot 3, etc).

Step 2: Teams are assigned counter-pick privileges based on team performance in the previous set. For example:

Teh Ninjas vs Knights of the Dusk

Set 1:
M1: Winner (Teh Ninjas)
M2: Winner (KotD)
M3: Winner (Teh Ninjas)

Set 2:
M4: Counterpick (KotD)
M5: Counterpick (Teh Ninjas)
M6: Counterpick (KotD)

The match from the previous set that corresponds to the current set determines the counterpick privileges. Counterpicks take place in the following order:

Loser selects stage -> Winner selects character -> Loser selects character.

Subsequent sets that are not tiebreakers will follow this pattern.

Tiebreakers

In the event a tiebreaker is necessary teams blindly select their player to the organizer/neutral party. These two players selected by the teams are announced, and then follow the procedure from Set 1 (stage strike, blind character selection). Players who have won all of their matches in a set are not eligible for play in a tiebreaker set.

Substitution

Teams who wish to have a substitution may do so ONE TIME per match, and this must be done in Round 2 or later and BEFORE a potential tiebreaker. This must be done during the counterpick phase. In the event a substitution is made, the player who has counterpick privileges for the affected match may restart the process.

Challenge Form
Please use the following style in order to challenge another team to a Team War:

Proposed Opponent: Opponent team name
Conditions for Victory: Challenge type. In other words, number of wins to claim victory
Participating Members: Team members that you expect will be participating for your team
Requested date: Provide a date for the other team to negotiate
Point(s) bet: Number of points you bet (only if you have enough points) [This amount cannot exceed 10 points]
Streamed: Requested/No

If you wish to accept a challenge, state that your team agrees to the challenge (and whether or not you accept any bets placed). When challenges are accepted, one of the Team Wars mods will mark it as official and indicate the number of points up for grabs.

#DFTeamWars was created for team challenges. Please use this channel as you see fit for Team Wars related events and challenges.

Continued in the next post.

[Khell]

Challenge Sizes and Scoring
Challenges are scored based on the number of wins necessary for victory as well as the size of the challenge. Teams who participate in challenges are guaranteed at minimum 10% of what the winning team earns (This will be rounded up or down depending on the value). Points will be distributed in the following fashion to promote Team related play, while still enabling the use of 1v1 challenges:

1v1
Winning Team - Earns 2 points per victory
Losing Team - Earns 1 point per victory + 10% of Winning Team spoils

2v2
Winning Team - Earns 4 points per victory
Losing Team - Earns 2 points per victory + 10% of Winning Team spoils

3v3
Winning Team - Earns 6 points per victory
Losing Team - Earns 3 points per victory + 10% of Winning Team spoils

4v4
Winning Team - Earns 8 points per victory
Losing Team - Earns 4 points per victory + 10% of Winning Team spoils

Challenge caps will be placed on the following two items:
Challenge Size - Teams may not play any challenges larger than 4v4. In the event a team wishes to play a 4v4 round, they must hire a mercenary to do so. (This is in fairness to teams who are forced to hire a mercenary due to the minimum team size being 3 players.) For discussion, a standard team challenge is considered to be 3v3.

Victory conditions - Teams may not play challenges with a victory condition larger than 10 wins. You are free to issue challenges with conditions lower than 10 wins, but never higher.

Keep in mind that teams still stand to gain ground by playing 4v4s even by hiring a mercenary, and this applies to any other situation where hiring a mercenary would bump you up to earn more points per win. Plan your matches strategically and take some risks, and you may find yourself raking in the points sooner than expected.

No-Shows or Cancelled Challenges
If for some reason you need to reschedule or cancel a challenge, you must do so AT LEAST 1 hour before the proposed challenge time. If you fail to do so, the team will be penalized (covered below). Likewise, if a team fails to show up before 15 minutes pass for the designated time of the challenge, they will also be penalized with the following:

-Loss of challenge
-Loss of 10% of the potential points (if Team A would earn at least 5 points from the challenge, it is docked from their point total instead).
-If a team (mercenaries not included) is a no-show, the team will be docked 20% of the points instead of the 10%.
-In the event a mercenary is contracted for the challenge, the contract is nullified and they are still paid their base amount in the contract. (The mercenary may be approached by other players that same night in this case.)

In the event a challenged team shows up but does not possess the number of members necessary to participate, the team should make up the difference with a mercenary (if the difference is 1 and provided this is possible). If the number of missing participants is greater than 1, they may petition the challenger to change the challenge to a smaller one. If the challenging team agrees, there are no penalties. Otherwise, the 10% penalty will be assessed.

Issues Not Covered
In the event an issue arises that cannot be solved or is not covered by the rules listed above, a council of the leaders of teams not directly involved in the issue and myself will come to a decision regarding the issue. If the issue warrants a new rule in the book, it will be added as a new clause.

Inactivity and Ineligibility
Teams who are in active through consecutive weeks will experience stacking penalties. The -10 points is a flat rate, but the reduced challenges will increase until a team is reduced to one challenge per week until they show activity. In the event a team plays their challenge during the week, they will receive half of their lost challenges back (rounded up).

In addition, teams who are declared inactive 2 different times per season or are inactive for a period of 21 days will be declared ineligible for end of season awards and the end of season tournament.

Last Updated:
6/26/12 - Adjusted point distribution, limit on challenge size, new challenge restrictions, anti-farming rules.
5/8/12 - Penalties for no show and cancellation
5/4/12 - FTX additional scoring rules

[Khell]

Updated the first post for situations regarding dissolved teams and restrictions on the leader in those situations.

[Khell]

This is an announcement for all teams.

In light of recent events regarding late teams and no-shows, a set of penalties will now be enforced to teams who fail to show up promptly or have to cancel a challenge within 1 hour of the challenge start time. Please check the second post for a complete recap of all of these penalties. These will be enforced starting 5/9/12.

[Khell]

Starting Monday May 14th, all teams will be allowed to issue 5 challenges per week (increased from 3). In addition, you may play against a team TWICE per week as long as you ISSUE one challenge and ACCEPT the other. (In other words, Team A challenges Team B, then Team B challenges Team A).

[Khell]

Teams should take care to go back over the Rulebook before the start of the Exhibition season. In particular, I would like to highlight the following sections:

Restrictions
Blind Pick and Counterpick Procedure
Challenge Size and Scoring

[Khell]

Added the Currency Section, please check out the Currency Thread before issuing challenges now.

[Khell]

Restrictions on leaving and joining a new team have been outlined now. These will take effect starting July 19th.

[Khell]

The restriction on a team playing another team twice per week has been changed. You may now only play a given team once per 7 days. (Example: If Anima Redux plays The Black Rose on 9/3/12, they may not play again until 9/10/12).

There is also now a requirement for each team to play EVERY OTHER TEAM at least one time each month.

Teams may also decline a challenge from a team that has played them twice in the last 3 weeks (21 days) for free.

[Khell]

Inactivity and end of season eligibility covered in the second post. Certain penalties from inactivity during the week stack and may affect eligibility for awards during the end of the season and season tournament.