League Rules and Regulations

While more specific rules are set on a per competition basis, there are also several general Citrus League rules that apply across all competitions. These are explained in detail below. Please ask the commissioner if you need any further clarification.

1] Preparation and In-Game Resources: Before any given match, teams are allowed to review all publicly available film of their opponents, prepare their own notes, and run damage calculations and permutations. During a match, teams are allowed to consult their notes, including a type chart, but are not allowed to review film, run damage calculations, or browse websites such as Smogon that may contain moveset/and or strategy data. The only exception to this rule would be to use a digital type chart, which is permitted.

2] Practice Games: Teams are allotted an agreed upon amount of preseason practice time at the beginning of each season. Once the preseason is over and regular season play has begun, teams should no longer play practice games against one another, though they may informally strategize with each other and discuss ideas, scenarios, etc. During the preseason and regular season, please refrain from playing practice matches against random people. You are welcome to watch other matches from the current format and are also welcome to play matches in any other format, including formats from past and potentially future Citrus Leagues.

3] Voice Chat: You are welcome to play your match in voice chat, and spectators are allowed to join the call as well, but this is by no means required and any player that chooses to not participate in a voice call is allowed to do so.

4] Rule Changes: During the offseason, players are free to raise questions or concerns about any rule that they feel should be changed, and team owners will discuss and vote on any possible changes with a majority ruling leading to a change. In the event that any midseason rule changes are proposed, they will require a unanimous agreement in order to be passed.

5] Have Fun: Don’t forget the most important rule of all =]

Rules Regarding the New League Format for Season 6 and Beyond

1] The league will no longer have a double round-robin schedule, but will instead take inspiration from international soccer/cricket/rugby.

2] The schedule will be replaced by an international sports inspired system, where teams are free to schedule series against each other on their own time. Series can be between 2-5 games long and are between two teams.

3] Winning percentage will be kept during each “season” (also called "cycle") and will be used as seeding for the new “World Cup” style Orange Bowl. The team with the highest winning percentage at the end of the cycle will be awarded the Lemon-Lime Trophy.

4] All teams will qualify for the Orange Bowl, which will be hosted by a different city each cycle. The host city may choose the format of the tournament, within a set of pre-approved formats. Hosts can choose if they want the tournament to be straight knockout, double elimination, page style, stepladder style, or can propose their own format for appoval.

5] The Yuzu Cup will still be played as normal, at the start of the season, and will not count as part of the Lemon-Lime standings.

6] Teams may play each other in 0, 1, or 2 series per cycle. Teams may schedule additional games beyond this limit but they will not be counted in the standings.

7] In order to be eligible for the Orange Bowl, teams must play at least nine games during the regular season phase, and must face at least three unique opponents during that same timeframe. Three 3-game series against different opponents (9 games total) will make a team eligible; two 5-game series against the same opponent (10 games total) will not. Teams do NOT have to play a series against every opponent during every single cycle; they only need to meet the minimum threshold.

8] The league will still only play one format during the entire regular season and subsequent Orange Bowl tournament.

9] Team winning percentages for the Lemon-Lime Trophy will be reset at the end of every Orange Bowl before the new cycle starts.

10] Similar to Season 5, in the Orange Bowl tournament teams can only use Pokemon that have already made at least one appearance during the preceding regular season.