Archive 2020 Qualifiers Substitute and Extensions Policy

In our first round of Qualifiers we had several players either ask to be involved in our tours as a substitute or ask for extensions. Due to an oversight on my part while I knew in my mind what I wanted to do I did not have clear rules written out somewhere as to how these situations should be handled. So, to correct that, here we are. These rules will take effect starting with our second wave of Qualifier tournaments.

Regarding Substitutes

I feel we give a more than fair amount of time- two weeks- to sign up for our tours initially so I'd really like to avoid players trying to enter after the fact as a substitute if at all possible. However, in the interest in having as many active and engaged players in our tours as possible, I will allow them. Players may post in the thread for the Qualifier that they'd be interested in subbing in. No later than Friday in the first round of the tournament the tournament host may sub players in on a first come first served basis to replace players who ask to be removed from the tournament, give their opponent the free win or simply do not respond whatsoever to scheduling attempts. No players will be substituted in after this point. And, likewise, there is absolutely no guarantee whatsoever that asking to sign up as a sub will result in you getting to play at all. If the opportunity is there, fine. If it's not, oh well. Your best bet to guarantee you'll get your opportunity to play is to simply sign up during the two week signup period prior to the tour.

Regarding Extensions

Extensions are a tricky topic because on one hand there are situations where it makes sense to grant them, such as neither player being able to play on Sunday due to unforeseen circumstances but both players being able to play the very next day without issue, but we also have to be careful because we need to be neutrally fair across the board. If we set the precedent that one match can ignore the deadline and play the next day, why can't everybody do that? Why is one pair allowed to do that but others aren't? The rules need to be the same for everyone. Likewise, it's very difficult to evaluate each situation on a case by case basis and even if we could it runs into the same problem of if you do something for one player you're obligated to do it for another player. We're also not in the business of getting involved in anyone's personal life. We're not going down the road of investigating as to whether the reason you're giving us as to why you need the extension is true or not or valid or not, nor do we want your personal information. As such, in my mind the only globally fair way to do this is to create a black and white rule that is somewhere in the middle; by in the middle I mean a rule that simultaneously enforces that the deadline is the deadline and players need to follow the rules of the tour but also that sometimes unexpected things, or even expected things, come up and real life needs to take precedence over Pokemon. So, here's the rule we're going to follow for the rest of this year-

Every participant is entitled to, ONCE per Qualifier tournament, a 48 hour extension under the following conditions-

-They notify both the tournament host and their opponent of the need for the extension before Sunday.

-It's not the preliminary round of a tournament. This would not be fair to the player waiting to fight the winner.

-They've not already requested an extension in the same tournament.

Please note these rules are only applicable to Qualifier tournaments, not our team tours.