Basic Info

📣 Discord Is Required!

Aside from Limitless facilitating the tournament pairings and information, a lot of our operations are done through DISCORD and is MANDATORY to get the full extent of our tournament experience

• we have information channels that explain our procedures in more detail
• once you receive Tournament Participant role through onboarding (or self-assignment), you will be able to receive important notification pings about the tournament, be able to submit evidence for judge calls, and use our tournament chat channel for questions
• if your discord name matches your limitless name, it will be easy to set you up for a feature stream (REQUIRED for Day 2) and ping you for prizes at the end of the tournament (if eligible)

📅 Tournament Schedule

The #schedule-info channel on our discord has more detail.

DAY 1

• starts at the time indicated at the top of the page
• Swiss Rounds, Best of 3 Games
• discord streaming is optional, but appreciated for feature streams by our caster team for this day

DAY 2

• starts at the same time as DAY 1 (24 hours after DAY 1's start time)
• Single Elimination Bracket, Best of 3 Games
• discord streaming is REQUIRED for all games

ℹ️ About The Tournament

• these tournaments are run weekly with prizing sponsored by community members and other organizations
• all tournament staff members are VOLUNTEERS who have chosen to dedicate their limited time in this time slot to support PocketMads and the community
• we have a dedicated caster team that will stream on both days of the tournament to showcase players' journeys into the top cut and allow the community to spectate to be part of the action
  • streams are on a significant delay to prevent cheating and allow casters to comment on the game more freely
  • the game does not provide an official spectator mode, so we simply just get point of view streams from our discord
• we value good sportsmanship and fair play, while encouraging opportunities for players to grow in a positive environment

🎙️ Caster Stream Schedule and Info

The #schedule-info page will reflect any changes to Casters on specific days if there are schedule conflicts.

• Saturday (DAY 1): Taj1ma + JayDankest
• Sunday (DAY2): PocketMads + Taj1ma
• Stream Links:
  • PocketMads: Youtube Channel | Twitch Channel
  • Taj1ma (Caster): Twitch Channel
  • JayDankest (Caster): Twitch Channel

📋 Decklist Procedures

📩 Decklist Submission

• your decklist is only final once Day 1 starts, so edit it as many times as you like and/or make sure all information is correct
  • this is the decklist you must play for the ENTIRETY of the tournament (Day 1 AND Day 2), including the ENERGY you select
  • your decklist submission and the deck you use in the tournament are not allowed to have its cards changed after Day 1 has started
• the point of the decklist submission is to declare precisely which exact FUNCTIONAL versions of cards and which energies you will use for the purpose of deck checking players and for sharing lists for data on limitless
  • you will not be penalized if you use an alternate art version of a registered diamond card and vice versa (e.g. shiny Froakie instead of A1 Froakie)
  • if a card is FUNCTIONALLY different (art or not) or you use the wrong energy, it WILL count as an incorrect decklist (e.g. A1 Froakie vs B1 Froakie)

⚠️ Decklist Penalties

• call a judge if you notice your opponent's functional cards not matching their decklist
• if you are in the FIRST game of a match and you accidentally selected the wrong deck:
  • reveal the card to prove the mistake
  • restart the game with the correct deck
  • further mistakes will result in a game loss for the match

✔️ Check-Ins

These are mandatory attendance checks that are tracked by the Limitless system, so please do not miss them if you are ready.

☑️ Tournament Check-In

• these will be opened and announced 1-2 hours before Day 1 starts, and you only need to do this part once
• players who fail to check in will be removed from the tournament but may still register late (with a default loss)

✅Round Check-In

• this applies for Day 1 only as Day 2 has no match check-in
• you have 5 minutes to check-in each round or you will receive an automatic match loss
• if you checked in but your opponent fails to check-in, they will receive an automatic loss
• if your opponent has checked-in, but has not shown signs of being responsive to continue the games, request a judge

⚔️ Match Structure

• DAY 1: play Swiss Round matches to earn the required qualification points for DAY 2 (see Tournament Structure at the bottom)
• DAY 2: play Single Elimination Bracket matches to determine the tournament champion

🗒️ DAY 1: Swiss Rounds

• Swiss Rounds pair you against players of similar records as the rounds progress
• each match is played as Bo3 (Best of 3) games, with 45 minutes allotted for pacing and declaring ties as needed
• the first round will be announced on discord
• next rounds start after ALL matches are completed and pairings are made (discord will have announcement pings to confirm)

👑 DAY 2: Single Elimination Bracket

• you may start your first match when the announcement is made on discord
• each match is still played as Bo3, but if you lose the match, you are out of the tournament
• Rounds are untimed
• Play all your next bracket opponents as they are available
  • we intend to keep the pacing going so we can get through matches at a reasonable time for everyone
  • at top 4 bracket, please wait for instructions
  • if anything changes it will be announced
• for every 5 minutes a player does not show up for a MATCH, they will receive a GAME LOSS

⚖️ Judges and Match Rulings

• call judges using Limitless first if there are any major issues/concerns involving the tournament matches
• If your BO3 match is completed but the result isn’t submitted in time, call a judge and have a screenshot ready to submit as evidence
• for complex situations or disputes, our judge team will quickly collaborate to give the best ruling we can

❌ Incorrect Match Reports

• get in the habit of screenshotting your victory screens, including the opponent's name, so you can quickly call a judge to resolve incorrect match reporting
• if both players in a match cannot provide sufficient evidence to settle a dispute, the match will be marked as a double game loss

Ties

To minimize issues with ties and regulate tournament pacing, we will use the following rules for DAY 1 Swiss Rounds

• a GAME TIE is considered as both players receiving a GAME WIN
• if game 1 is a TIE, the next game's outcome determines the match
• if game 1 had a WINNER, and game 2 is a TIE, the game 1 WINNER gets the MATCH WIN
• if both players reach the time limit in game 3 with 1 GAME WIN each, this is a MATCH TIE

DAY 2 ties are counterproductive to progressing the tournament and will be asked to be replayed. Call a judge if clarification is needed.

📶 Connection Issues and Turn 0 Situations

We have no control over external factors such as ISP issues, device issues, or weather issues, so do the best you can to resolve things on your end. We will enforce the following rules to help pace the tournament

• if the game fails to start, you may restart your game
• if a disconnect happens during the game, the player with the Victory Screen will be awarded the game win

🚫 Player Conduct and Rule Violations

• WARNINGS will be given to players who engage in toxic behavior or unsportsmanlike conduct as an opportunity to correct that behavior
• players continuing to repeat offenses (including those from previous tournaments) will be dropped from the tournament
• severe offenses may warrant a ban from our community and our tournaments (you will be monitored and forcibly dropped if you attempt to join after this fact)
• simply do your best to respect the players and staff, even if there are disagreements

Top Cut Qualifications Scaling

Depending on the size of the active tournament participants, rounds and qualifying points will scale. See Tournament Structure at the bottom for current criteria.

🎁 Prizing Breakdown and Procedures

Prize Pool – $300

Payouts are only made via PayPal. Any transaction fees are not covered.

Claiming Your Prizes

If you are eligible for prizes, shortly after the tournament ends, you will be pinged instructions on how to claim your prize through DISCORD. Please be ready to provide a PayPal payment request link or arrange for an alternate method to receive payment through PayPal.