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Rulings on Sudden Death/Tiebreakers in League Challenges & Cups
Hi,
In testing for LC's I stumbled upon the following scenario:
It is the first match of the day, game 1. I use Roaring Moon EX's Frenzied Gouging attack to KO my opponents active pokemon.
We both take our final prize cards and the game ends with both of us winning simultaneously.
What happens in an official tournament?
In case of a League Cup (Bo3):
- Do we play a tiebreaker game here? With the winner of the tiebreaker being declared the winner of game 1 —> we proceed to game 2
- Do we consider game 1 a tie and proceed to play Game 2
- What happens if all 3 games end this way? Do we then play a tiebreaker game or do we sign the match slip as a tie?
In case of a League Challenge (Bo1):
- Do we play a tiebreaker game? Or do we sign the match slip as a tie?
The answer of this ruling significantly alters the way the Roaring Moon EX player can optimize his match wins, and the Tournament Rules Handbook does not provide a satisfactory answer imo.
Thanks in advance!
Answers
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That’s a tricky question. This is from
“5.8.3.1 Tiebreaker Games“If time elapses on an incomplete game that requires a winner, or if both players take their last Prize card (or Knock Out their opponent's last Pokémon) at the same time and no other win conditions have been met, players must determine the winner of that game by engaging in a Tiebreaker Game.”
That paragraph makes it sound like you would play a Tiebreaker Game, given that it says “players must.” That is just my opinion though; I am not a certified judge or anything.
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I believe a tiebreaker game is just a regular game except that each player starts with only one prize card.
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This link has a breakdown on all 5 various reasons for a tiebreaker match and examples. I hope this helps
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A tiebreaker game is six prize cards, and you win if you take even one, while sudden death is only one prize card even on the field. Official tournaments almost never use sudden death anymore, likely because of an incident at the finals of the 2015 US nationals regarding the supporter N that makes it extremely powerful in sudden death due to the single prize card causing the opponent to only have a single card hand.
They are consistent, because a tiebreaker and sudden death are two different games and the core difference is how many prize cards are set aside.0
