While battling is a big part of the TCoD League, trainers also have the opportunity to try their hand at coordinating with pokémon contests. While contests also include a battling element, the emphasis is more on style and move selection than on pure face-smashing action. Bring your most impressive pokémon, put together a stunning routine, and hope for the favor of the judges as you make your appeal!
Most ASB contests are open to any pokémon in a player's active squad, but that pokémon's items and modifications will have no effect at any point during the contest. All contests are split up into two portions, the appeal stage and the battle stage.
Rules, environment, and number of entrants vary by contest, but they usually have a DQ period of one week and contest battles are usually conducted without any banned moves or damage caps.
The appeal stage is the most creative part of the contest. Usually the player has three actions to put on a show with their pokémon. Unlike contests in the game, ASB contests are not themed--a scary or cool-looking appeal, if executed well, will do as well as a beautiful appeal. The way to succeed in the appeal round is to creatively use attacks to put on a good show. This stage is presided over by three judges: a head judge and two alternates. The head judge acts as the referee for this stage by interpreting each trainer's appeal and writing a description of it, then giving it a score out of 10. These descriptions are then PM'd to the alternate judges, who provide their own scores. In the end, all three scores are added together to determine the trainer's final score for that round, out of 30 possible points.
How many trainers advance from one round to the next is entirely dependent on how many entered the contest to begin with. The standard contest begins with eight entrants and therefore has two appeal rounds, with the four highest scores advancing from the first round and the second round narrowing the field down to the two trainers that will compete in the battle stage. Often, but not always, the trainer will be asked to use different pokémon for each round of appeals.
The battle stage consists of a standard battle between pokémon that participated in the previous appeal rounds, although the exact battle style varies by contest. A contest battle lasts at most five rounds, and in addition to keeping track of health and energy, a pokémon's contest score is recorded. The contest score is determined by the kinds of moves the pokémon uses, as defined in the Attack Guide.
In addition to adding to or subtracting from a pokémon's contest score directly, some attacks instead affect a pokémon's condition, which is represented by up to four stars. For each star a pokémon has, it earns a bonus five appeal points on every attack made. There are also attacks that work to lower the opponent's condition; if these are used when the opponent has no stars, the pokémon gains an X instead, which subtracts five points from every attack they make until they manage to raise their condition to neutral or better.
Because contest battles are still about style over pure force, showmanship in the form of combination attacks is also rewarded. Whenever a pokémon successfully executes a combo, it earns a bonus fifteen points for each attack used in that single action, in addition to whatever points it would earn for each individual attack. At the same time, repeated use of the same attack is liable to bore both the crowd and the judges. With the exception of some special kinds of attacks, attacks that are used several times in a row are penalized for twenty points times the number of successive uses the attack has had. For example, if a trainer orders two ice beams and then a third attack, the second ice beam will have twenty points knocked off its score. If the trainer instead commands a full round of ice beams, the second ice beam will lose twenty points and the third one will lose forty.
Finally, each pokémon's nervousness is tracked and represented as a percentage. At the beginning of each round, the pokémon has a chance equal to its nervousness rating of being too distressed to carry out orders. If it fails this check, the pokémon spends its first action doing nothing but working to regain its composure, which resets its nervousness to 0% but also earns it no points. There are also some attacks that affect nervousness, either increasing the opponent's or reducing the user's own, and some that force additional nervousness checks that, again, leave pokémon temporarily immobilized if they fail. At the end of each round, the pokémon with the fewest points becomes 10% more nervous. If two or more pokémon are tied in terms of points, they all become 5% more nervous.
At the end of the battle, all pokémon's health and energy is added to its contest score, and the trainer with the highest score overall is the final winner. It is therefore necessary to balance the interest of gaining points against damaging your opponent and protecting your own health and energy scores. Because points are calculated even if a pokémon has been knocked out, it is possible to win a contest battle even if all of your pokémon have fainted, provided that you have managed to amass an overwhelmingly larger contest score.
Most contests have prizes for first, second, and third-place finishers. Typically first-place winners receive $50, second place receives $30, and third place, $15. All pokémon on the winning trainer's team that participated in the contest battle stage also receive a ribbon; this ribbon has no effect, save to commemorate the pokémon's victory.
First- and second-place prizes are distributed at the end of the battle stage, while the third-place winner may take his or her prize at the end of the appeal stage.
All contests require three judges. The first is the head judge, who not only writes the descriptions of appeals but also referees the battle stage. The head referee must be an approved ASB referee, but his or her job can be split between two people if desired--one to handle the appeal stage and one to handle the battle stage, although only the referee of the battle stage will be able to claim the contest towards his or her free capture. The head judge's reward is twice the usual amount of pay per appeal round reffed, standard pay for each round of the battle stage, and the usual prize when the battle comes to a conclusion.
The other two referees have work to do only during the appeal stage, where it is their responsibility to grade the appeals sent to them by the head referee. The alternate referee position requires no qualifications, save that the applicant is not competing in the contest, of course. This job pays $10, which can be collected as soon as a contest's appeal stage is through.
The winning pokémon in each contest is awarded a unique ribbon. Whether participating in the contest or not, any member of the League may submit a ribbon sprite to be given as a contest award, for which they will be paid $10. If no ribbon is provided in this fashion, the head referee will provide one. However, given her lack of spriting skills, it is not likely to be of high quality. Therefore, submitting a ribbon can not only get you money but also saves the contest winner for having to settle for a crappy ribbon with which to commemorate his or her achievement.
If you don't want to wait for the League's next official contest, you can opt to run your own instead. To do so, you'll need to get together a head judge and two alternate judges and come up with a proposal stating the rules you'll be using for the contest to send to the head referee (Negrek). If you wish to provide prizes, you must also earn the funds to do so yourself; you may impose an entry fee to aid in this pursuit if you desire, however. Ribbons are on you as well.
Official TCoD League Contest Rules
Most ASB contests are open to any pokémon in a player's active squad, but that pokémon's items and modifications will have no effect at any point during the contest. All contests are split up into two portions, the appeal stage and the battle stage.
Rules, environment, and number of entrants vary by contest, but they usually have a DQ period of one week and contest battles are usually conducted without any banned moves or damage caps.
Appeal Stage
The appeal stage is the most creative part of the contest. Usually the player has three actions to put on a show with their pokémon. Unlike contests in the game, ASB contests are not themed--a scary or cool-looking appeal, if executed well, will do as well as a beautiful appeal. The way to succeed in the appeal round is to creatively use attacks to put on a good show. This stage is presided over by three judges: a head judge and two alternates. The head judge acts as the referee for this stage by interpreting each trainer's appeal and writing a description of it, then giving it a score out of 10. These descriptions are then PM'd to the alternate judges, who provide their own scores. In the end, all three scores are added together to determine the trainer's final score for that round, out of 30 possible points.
How many trainers advance from one round to the next is entirely dependent on how many entered the contest to begin with. The standard contest begins with eight entrants and therefore has two appeal rounds, with the four highest scores advancing from the first round and the second round narrowing the field down to the two trainers that will compete in the battle stage. Often, but not always, the trainer will be asked to use different pokémon for each round of appeals.
Battle Stage
The battle stage consists of a standard battle between pokémon that participated in the previous appeal rounds, although the exact battle style varies by contest. A contest battle lasts at most five rounds, and in addition to keeping track of health and energy, a pokémon's contest score is recorded. The contest score is determined by the kinds of moves the pokémon uses, as defined in the Attack Guide.
In addition to adding to or subtracting from a pokémon's contest score directly, some attacks instead affect a pokémon's condition, which is represented by up to four stars. For each star a pokémon has, it earns a bonus five appeal points on every attack made. There are also attacks that work to lower the opponent's condition; if these are used when the opponent has no stars, the pokémon gains an X instead, which subtracts five points from every attack they make until they manage to raise their condition to neutral or better.
Because contest battles are still about style over pure force, showmanship in the form of combination attacks is also rewarded. Whenever a pokémon successfully executes a combo, it earns a bonus fifteen points for each attack used in that single action, in addition to whatever points it would earn for each individual attack. At the same time, repeated use of the same attack is liable to bore both the crowd and the judges. With the exception of some special kinds of attacks, attacks that are used several times in a row are penalized for twenty points times the number of successive uses the attack has had. For example, if a trainer orders two ice beams and then a third attack, the second ice beam will have twenty points knocked off its score. If the trainer instead commands a full round of ice beams, the second ice beam will lose twenty points and the third one will lose forty.
Finally, each pokémon's nervousness is tracked and represented as a percentage. At the beginning of each round, the pokémon has a chance equal to its nervousness rating of being too distressed to carry out orders. If it fails this check, the pokémon spends its first action doing nothing but working to regain its composure, which resets its nervousness to 0% but also earns it no points. There are also some attacks that affect nervousness, either increasing the opponent's or reducing the user's own, and some that force additional nervousness checks that, again, leave pokémon temporarily immobilized if they fail. At the end of each round, the pokémon with the fewest points becomes 10% more nervous. If two or more pokémon are tied in terms of points, they all become 5% more nervous.
At the end of the battle, all pokémon's health and energy is added to its contest score, and the trainer with the highest score overall is the final winner. It is therefore necessary to balance the interest of gaining points against damaging your opponent and protecting your own health and energy scores. Because points are calculated even if a pokémon has been knocked out, it is possible to win a contest battle even if all of your pokémon have fainted, provided that you have managed to amass an overwhelmingly larger contest score.
Prizes
Most contests have prizes for first, second, and third-place finishers. Typically first-place winners receive $50, second place receives $30, and third place, $15. All pokémon on the winning trainer's team that participated in the contest battle stage also receive a ribbon; this ribbon has no effect, save to commemorate the pokémon's victory.
First- and second-place prizes are distributed at the end of the battle stage, while the third-place winner may take his or her prize at the end of the appeal stage.
Judging
All contests require three judges. The first is the head judge, who not only writes the descriptions of appeals but also referees the battle stage. The head referee must be an approved ASB referee, but his or her job can be split between two people if desired--one to handle the appeal stage and one to handle the battle stage, although only the referee of the battle stage will be able to claim the contest towards his or her free capture. The head judge's reward is twice the usual amount of pay per appeal round reffed, standard pay for each round of the battle stage, and the usual prize when the battle comes to a conclusion.
The other two referees have work to do only during the appeal stage, where it is their responsibility to grade the appeals sent to them by the head referee. The alternate referee position requires no qualifications, save that the applicant is not competing in the contest, of course. This job pays $10, which can be collected as soon as a contest's appeal stage is through.
Ribbons
The winning pokémon in each contest is awarded a unique ribbon. Whether participating in the contest or not, any member of the League may submit a ribbon sprite to be given as a contest award, for which they will be paid $10. If no ribbon is provided in this fashion, the head referee will provide one. However, given her lack of spriting skills, it is not likely to be of high quality. Therefore, submitting a ribbon can not only get you money but also saves the contest winner for having to settle for a crappy ribbon with which to commemorate his or her achievement.
Creating a Contest
If you don't want to wait for the League's next official contest, you can opt to run your own instead. To do so, you'll need to get together a head judge and two alternate judges and come up with a proposal stating the rules you'll be using for the contest to send to the head referee (Negrek). If you wish to provide prizes, you must also earn the funds to do so yourself; you may impose an entry fee to aid in this pursuit if you desire, however. Ribbons are on you as well.
Last edited:
