Smash Rules – Blue Ridge Showdown

Blue Ridge Showdown SSBU Ruleset PDF Download

Set Length

All tournament sets will be best-of-3

Game – A single head to head competition between players/teams ending in a win screen for the winning player/team. There are multiple games in a set.

Set – A tournament set determines advancement through a bracket. The players play each other in a series of games until a winner is determined. Tournament sets are best 2 out of 3 games (best-of-3, Bo3).

Rules below Do Not change

Set Procedure
Players select their characters.
Use Starter Stage Striking to determine the first stage (See Below)
The players play the first game of the set
The winning player of the preceding game must announce their character selection for the next game.
The losing player of the preceding game must announce their character selection for the next game.
Winning player of the preceding game bans 2 stages (See Below). The losing player of the preceding game picks a stage for the next game, adhering to bans and the stage clause.
The next game is played.

Repeat Steps 4 through 7 for all subsequent games until the set is complete.

Stage Agreement Clause

Players may select any LEGAL stage (See Below) if they both agree on it. Players may not play on illegal stages or change the length/terms of a set. If this is violated, both players will be subject to complete disqualification from the event.

Stage Striking

Players play a best-of-1 Rock-Paper-Scissors and the winner may choose to either strike first or strike second. Stages are stuck in a P1-P2-P2-P1 order.

Pausing and the Home Button

Pause setting is to be set to off. However, if it is not, pausing is only legal while either player remains upon their OWN respawn platform, and only for the purpose of summoning a tournament official or in the case of a controller malfunction. All other pauses will incur a stock loss to the player who pauses the game. If the pause causes the opponent to lose their last stock, the pausing player receives a game loss. This rule also applies to controllers which cause the game to revert to the Switch home screen.

Stalling

Stalling, or intentionally making the game unplayable, is banned and at the discretion of tournament staff. Stalling includes, but is not limited to, becoming invisible, continuing infinites past 300%, reaching a position that the player’s character can never be reached by the opposing character, and taking absolutely no action for an unreasonable amount of time. Stalling will result in a forfeit of the game for the player that initiated the action.

Self-Destruct Moves

If a game ends with a self-destruct move, the results screen will determine the winner. If a sudden death occurs as the result of a self-destruct move, a standard sudden death play-off game applies (See Below).

Sudden Death

If a game goes to Sudden Death, the winner is determined by stocks and percentage at the time the game ends. If both players are tied in stocks, the player with the lower percentage is the winner. In the event of a percentage tie, or a game in which both players lose their last stock simultaneously, a 1-stock tiebreaker will be played with a 3-minute time limit on the same stage and with the same characters as the tied game. The results of an in-game 300% Sudden Death do not count. If Sudden Death occurs in a Sudden Death game, this process is repeated.

Steve PMLG

The Steve technique known as PMLG and all variations of this action are banned. If a player believes their opponent used this technique, that player must save the replay data and call the tournament official for a game review midgame. Once you start the next game, you cannot call a game review for a previous one. With the replay saved replay, a quick council of TOs will determine whether PMLG was used or not. Final call is at the discretion of the TOs. Due to the time and attention needed to determine the situation, false reporting of PMLG will also result in the same consequences as below.

1st offenses will result in the loss of the current game being played. All following offenses will result in the loss of the current set being played. Offenses will persist throughout the tournament.

Alting

You will be immediately disqualified from the tournament with no refunds if you are found using an alternate tag/tags and/or hide your identity to manipulate the bracket/seeding. The only exception to this rule is if the player notifies a TO prior to the registration end date.

Color Request Clause

Players may request that their opponent change colors to accommodate colorblindness or if their color is indistinguishable from the other team color or the stage background. The request must be made before the game starts. Example: requesting Cloud to pick green team to be able to distinguish when limit is charged, or having Sonic on blue team to prevent confusion.

Coaching Violations

Coaching is defined as an attempt to give advice to any player during a tournament set. Coaching is not permitted during the duration of a tournament set, whether during a game or in-between games in a set. Tournament staff reserves the right to judge on what is deemed “Coaching” and the severity of the violation. If coaching occurs during this window, the coaching party will receive penalties as outlined below:

1st offense (minor): Verbal warning to the player and the coach. This warning persists for the entire event.

2nd offense (major): Player receives a game loss and/or the coach is removed from the tournament station.

3rd offense (severe): Coaching party receives complete disqualification and removal from the event.

Cheering vs. Coaching

Cheering – Nondescript statements such as “Let’s go!”, “you got this!”, or “mess them up!”. These are not violations. These are not seen as coaching violations, as they do not qualify as advice that can be applied to gameplay.

Coaching violation – Specific statements pointing out habits, specific options, or timings such as “Watch for her neutral getup!,” “Waft is almost ready!” or “he keeps rolling!”

Tardiness Disqualifications

Anyone who is not present for their set by 10 minutes past the scheduled start time of their match is subject to a total disqualification from the event. However, tournament staff may amend the above time due to in-house circumstances. The times will be communicated to all bracket staff.

Collusion

Players suspected of colluding may be immediately disqualified from the tournament. This includes intentionally throwing a game, splitting a payout, or committing any other form of bracket manipulation. The TO reserves the right to deny payout of event winnings to any player suspected of colluding.

Misinterpretation/Misconfiguration

Games or sets are not to be replayed due to a misinterpretation of the rules OR misconfiguration of game settings, excluding player-specific settings. Game settings should be configured according to the section below. It is the players’ responsibility to ask the TO for any clarification of the rule set in the event of a disagreement, and the outcome of a game or set with misconfigured rules will not be changed after the fact.

In the event players begin a game with misconfigured player-specific controls (controller settings, etc.), players may not back out of a game to correct their settings once ten seconds have passed. After this time limit has passed, players must use their misconfigured settings, subject to tournament staff discretion.

Force Majeure Clause

Any game interrupted by external, impartial conditions (e.g. power gets cut, safety concerns arise, AV cords get disconnected, etc.) should be reset and replayed at tournament staff discretion.

Final Rulings

If any unforeseen situations occur, judgment of tournament staff is final. Rules may be altered between phases of a tournament in the best interests of the event. (Example: A game-breaking glitch is discovered on a stage mid-tournament that could be exploited. The stage may need to be removed from legal play for the remainder of the event.)

Game Settings

Stock and time are set to 3 stock and 7 minutes for Singles

Final Smash Meter: Off

Spirits: Off

Damage Handicap: Off

Stage Selection: Anyone

Items: Off and None

First to: 1 Win

Stage Morph: Off

Stage Hazards: Off

Team Attack: On

Launch Rate: 1.0x

Underdog Boost: Off

Pausing: Off

Score Display: Off

% Show Damage: Yes

Custom Balance: Off

Echo Fighters: Separate

Radar: Big

Teammate Highlight: On

Mii Fighters: All moveset combinations are legal

Stage List

The following are the LEGAL stages:

Starter Stages
Battlefield
Small Battlefield
Final Destination
Hollow Bastion
Pokémon Stadium 2

Counterpick Stages

Smashville
Town & City

The following Omega and Battlefield forms of stages will not be allowed in tournament:

Duck Hunt
75m

Additional Rules

Starter Stage Striking

See section above for details on choosing who strikes first. Players may strike from the legal starter stages (each person strikes stages in a P1-P2-P2-P1 format) to determine the starting stage for the first game.

Counterpicking – Character Selection

After each game of the set and before the stage has been selected, the player/team who won the previous game will declare their character(s) for the next game. Once declared, the player/team who lost the previous game will choose their own character(s).

Counterpicking – Stage Banning and Selection

After each game of the set and after characters have been counterpicked, the player/team who won the previous game may ban two stages from the full LEGAL stage list. These bans do not persist throughout the set. The player/team who lost the previous game then chooses from the remaining stages.

Stage Clause

A player cannot pick the last stage they counterpicked and won during the set, assuming it is not banned from stage selection that phase.

Controllers

The recommended controller of choice and what will be provided are Wired Pro Controllers; anything else is BYOC. Turbo functions, macros, and hardware modifications (other than case modifications, such as notches and cosmetic changes) are banned. Exceptions include snapback modifications and PODE fixes. Box styled controllers are permitted provided they are updated to the latest firmware of their producer. Tournament organizers have the right to inspect any controller at any time and determine its legality.

Controller Interference

If your controller is found to be the cause of disruption to the tournament (mid-game or otherwise), you are subject to complete disqualification from the event. Bluetooth controllers must desync from stations or go to the designated desync station at the TO desk after each match to avoid interference.

Glitch Clause

If anything occurs within any game that results in unforeseen consequences (e.g. characters become invisible, sudden teleportation occurs, characters become affixed to other bodies, etc.), gameplay should continue uninterrupted unless the change renders the game unplayable for one or more players. In this situation, players MUST inform their pool captain or tournament staff for resolution.

Mii Fighter Clause

Mii Fighters must use their default costumes (though players may select any color for their Mii in accordance to CB above) and must use a Guest Mii. Any player who intends to use a Mii during a set must declare they are creating Mii Fighters before the set. Mii Fighters should be named after the combination of special moves chosen, listed in the format “XXXX” for “NeutralSideUpDown.” Any combination of moves may be used, but any movesets that any player may want to use during a set must be created before the set begins (up to a limit of three Mii Fighters unless explicitly given permission from the Tournament Director).

Control Setup Clause

No player may create more than three control schemes per set unless explicitly given permission from the Tournament Director.

Patch

Blue Ridge Showdown will use Patch 13.0.3. But if we’re blessed with a new patch with a reasonable amount of time to practice (estimated two weeks before Tournament start date), we’d use that.