Team Dueling League
Season 521


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Rules

Table of Contents

Rules and Regulations

I: Concept

The Team Dueling League is an organization dedicated to the furtherance of the sport of team dueling. In team dueling, teams present five duelers, matched against their opponent, in an attempt to emerge victorious in a given match.

II: Rosters

Each team may carry up to eight duelers on their roster. Which of those duelers is dueling in a particular match is determined under Individual Matchups, below. For the league's purposes, there is no distinction between "starters" and "reserves." A team's entire roster is available for use in any given match.

Eligibility

A team's roster consists of those duelers contracted to the team. Any dueler not under contract to another team, or suspended by the league, is eligible to be included on a team's roster, under the following regulations.

Salary Cap

Each season, the League determined a maximum amount of funds which may be used by a team to sign duelers to contracts. Each dueler is given a minimum value by the league, based on prior performance. The only instance in which a team may exceed this cap is in order, prior to the season, to re-sign one dueler from their season-ending roster. If, at any point including this signing, the team has exceeded the maximum allowable salary value, the team may not sign additional duelers without legally ridding themselves of outstanding salary liability.

Contracts are binding for the duration agreed to by dueler and team. Upon the termination of a contract at the end of its duration, if the dueler remains unsigned for the following season when the re-signing deadline occurs, they become free-agents.

Roster Changes

During the season, no team may make a roster change which causes the team to exceed the maximum salary cap. With that restriction, the following rules govern roster changes:

Teams may, at any time, sign duelers who have spent a period of over seventeen days in the free-agent pool.

Teams may permanently trade duelers at will. Once traded, a team may not re-acquire that dueler for the duration of the season under any means.

Teams may release duelers at will. If a dueler is released for breach of contract, the team's liability for their salary ceases without penalty. If a dueler is released for reasons other than breach of contract, the team remains liable for their salary for the duration of the season, and cannot sign a replacement unless room remains under the salary cap. A dueler who is released due to breach of contract is ineligible to compete either as a free-agent or with another team for the duration of the season.

Duelers may resign from their team at will. If a dueler's contract provides for this eventuality, the team remains liable for their salary for the duration of the season. If the dueler's contract does not provide for this eventuality, it is considered breach of contract, and the team's liability for their salary ceases immediately without penalty. In either event, if a dueler resigns voluntarily from their team, they may not enter the free-agent pool for the remainder of the season, and they may not sign with another team for the remainder of the season. Exception: A dueler may petition the league for release from a contract, and be allowed to compete as a free-agent or sign with another team without penalty, but only for reasons related to the team refusing to grant them opportunity to compete, or in dire cases of personal conflict. The league's ruling on such matters is final, and not subject to appeal.

III: Free Agents

Duelers who competed the previous season, and did not sign with a team for the current season, as well as duelers who request entry into the free-agent pool, are considered free-agents. Additionally, duelers may enter the free-agent pool as mentioned above.

IV: Scheduling

The Team Dueling League schedule is composed of overlapping ten-day "weeks". The weeks run from Monday (Day One) to the FOLLOWING Wednesday (Day Ten).

Captains are expected to comply with deadlines, which are as follows:

Day One (Monday): Captains must have contacted each other and agreed on either the pre-match or at-match method of scheduling. If the pre-match method is chosen, the home team captain must provide their first dueler to the opposing captain at this time.

Day Three (Wednesday): If the pre-match method is being used, the matchups must be complete by the end of Wednesday, and a default time for both teams to meet, no later than the following Monday, must be set. If the at-match method is being used, the match must be scheduled for no later than that Saturday.

Day Five (Friday): If the pre-match method is being used, all duels which will not take place at the default time must be individually scheduled.

Day Six (Saturday): If the at-match method is being used, the match must have commenced. Duels uncompleted at this time must be scheduled individually.

Day Eight (Monday): By the end of this day, all duels should be either completed, or firmly scheduled for completion by Wednesday. At this time, if there are ANY scheduling difficulties, the league MUST have been notified in order to assist captains in completing the match. Also, captains must remember that the FOLLOWING week begins at this point, and must be proceeding toward the following week's schedule.

Day Ten (Wednesday): All duels must be completed.

In all cases, the "scheduled time for a match (or duel)" is the time both parties who are to duel have agreed to meet, either by independent scheduling or by agreement that they will be present at a team's default match time. In all instances, there will be a thirty (30) minute grace period from that time before any penalty is applied.

 Matchups

Each match must proceed based on one of two methods of setting matchups.

Pre-match

If the captains agree on the pre-match method, the following procedure is used.

The "away" team states their dueler for the first match.
The "home" team then states their dueler for the opening match, and then their
selection for the second match.
The "away" team then selects their duelers for the second and third matches.
The "home" team chooses their duelers for the third and fourth matches.
The "away" team selects their duelers for the fourth and fifth matches.
The "home" team chooses their dueler for the fifth match.
The "away" team, followed by the "home" team, then name a substitute dueler, to be used in the event a dueler is unable to schedule or appear for a scheduled duel. The substitutes named MUST fill any vacancies that occurs for these reasons, and inability to do so will result in penalties as stated below.

At-match

If the captains agree on the at-match method, the following procedure is used.

The teams assemble at a stated time, with the away team offering one present dueler to duel immediately, and the home team offering an opponent who is also present. When that duel is complete, they may continue with the home team offering a present dueler, and the away team offering a present opponent. This can continue in the same order as the pre-match template, until the match is complete, or no eligible duelers are present for either team, in which case the remainder of the match shall proceed based on the standard pre-match pairing template.

 Substitution

Teams may substitute under the following conditions:

- If the team has named a substitute at the time the matchups were made; or
- By using a free-agent as outlined below.

The only circumstance in which a team will be allowed to substitute other than as mentioned above is if the opposing captain has no objections. If the captain objects, and a substitute was not named, a free-agent must be utilized. If the team has used its allotment of four free-agent substitutions for the season, the duel is forfeited.

Use of free-agents

Teams may utilize free-agents under the following three circumstances:

- They may sign a contract with a dueler, adding them to their roster, provided said free-agent has spent a minimum of seventeen consecutive days, prior to such signing, as a member of the free-agent pool;
- By naming a selected free-agent as eligible for use prior to the beginning of match scheduling, and informing the league and opposing captain of their intent; or
- When a substitute dueler is required, by requesting that a free-agent be assigned by the league.

A team may not use a free-agent they have already used that season, nor may they use a free-agent who has been used against their opponent. Use of free-agents is limited to four times per season by a given team.

If a free-agent is required as a substitute in an already-scheduled duel, a request must be sent to the league. The league will use two methods to select a free-agent for the team requiring such services. In both methods, the list of free-agents will be sorted based on the number of duels individually fought that season, with free-agents ineligible to duel either for the team or against the opponent eliminated from consideration.

If the duel is in question is to be fought at that particular time, the league will go through the sorted list of free-agents, and locate the first dueler currently available, and request their presence. This will continue until a free-agent is able to appear.

If the duel in question is scheduled for a later time, the league will contact the first ten eligible free-agents on the sorted list, and invite them to accept the matchup, giving them the date and time. A list of the duelers responding in agreement will be sent to the captains. The opposing captain may refuse one of these duelers outright; then, at the appointed time, those duelers will be contacted as above, with preference to their place on the list, to fill in.

Under no circumstances will captains be allowed to unilaterally provide a free-agent to duel on their team's behalf in an already-scheduled match.

 Penalties

The league will assign penalties to teams ad duelers for failing to meet scheduling requirements as follows:

For failing to meet weekly deadlines, penalties will be assessed as follows:

- If the home team captain has failed to contact their opponent by the end of Day One, choosing a home field advantage and putting forth their first duelist where applicable, the team will be assessed 1 (one) match point penalty, and will be assessed 1 (one) additional match point penalty per day thereafter, until contact is made. There is no appeal.

- If a captain has failed to respond, causing a pre-match template to be incomplete, or the date is not set for an at-match meeting, by the end of Day Three, the team will be assessed 1 (one) match point penalty, and will be assessed 1 (one) additional match point penalty per day thereafter, until the template is complete or the date is set. There is no appeal.

- If duels are not scheduled by the end of Day Five, the party or parties responsible (to be considered the dueler who has not responded to requests to schedule) will be penalized 1 (one) DUEL point (and thus one match point to the team), and 1 (one) additional duel point per day the match remains unscheduled. If the cause of the failure to schedule is negligence on the part of the captain, the team will be penalized 1 (one) match point per duel unscheduled, and 1 (one) additional match point per day for each duel that remains unscheduled. In the event legitimate attempts are being made to schedule the duel, and neither party is able to accomodate the other, the league must be notified, and assistance will be given; in this case, penalties will not be levied.

- If the at-match method is being used, and no member of one team is present at the scheduled time and place, the MATCH will be forfeited, 5 (five) duels to none, at a score of fifty (50) to nothing. This may not be appealed - it is unreasonable to suggest that all members of a team could fail to appear, and if this occurs, the league will take the matter with extreme seriousness.

- If a dueler fails to appear for a scheduled duel, and no substitute is immediately available per the rules, a penalty of 2 (two) match points will be assessed to the offending team. The team will have one opportunity to reschedule the duel, which the opposing team must attempt to accomodate. If the rescheduled duel does not occur on schedule, and the fault lies with the originally offending team, the duel will be forfeited, the result recorded as a 5 (five) to nothing shutout in 6 (six) rounds, with the loss charged to the dueler originally scheduled to duel. The dueler who "wins" such a match will not be credited with a victory.

- Regarding duels scheduled for Day Nine or Ten: Any duel scheduled to take place on Day Nine or Ten falls into a special category. As duelers and teams will have had eight days to make arrangements, any duel scheduled for these days that is not fought on schedule, and cannot be dealt with using substitutes, will be ruled a forfeit in favor of the team whose dueler was present as scheduled, without question. Teams should avoid being placed in a position where they are hoping to get a duel complete on the last two days of the ten-day competition week, and should prepare for potential difficulties accordingly.

- Penalties applied to an individual duel are wiped out if the duel itself is forfeited (that is, if a team has accumulated penalty points for failing to schedule properly, and the duel is forfeited, those penalty points are disregarded in favor of the substantial penalty for forfeiture).

- In all cases, teams are expected to keep the league apprised of difficulties. The weight of evidence will necessarily lie toward those who have made the league aware of problems. Division Managers and the Commissioner's Office will make every attempt, if aware of a problem, to facilitate a solution that does not require use of the above penalties, and will seek to avoid issuing penalties where possible. However, issuance of said penalties is at the sole discretion of the league.

V: Rules of Play

Individual duels in the Team Dueling League are contested according to the commonly known rules of the sport of dueling, with some exceptions as outlined below.

Individual Duels

There are no ties.
All duels will continue until a dueler achieves a full-point victory, with at least five points scored.
Duels must be officiated by callers sanctioned by the League Office. The home team retains the right to choose the caller, or reject a caller suggested by the visiting team.
Duels may not be officiated by officials who are, at the time, on duty as officials of another dueling venue.
Duels must be contested at the officially recognized home site of the home team.

 Fancies

Each dueler is restricted to two more fancies than their opponent naturally possesses.

However, the team designated as the "home" team receives two fancies that can be used by any dueler (or any two duelers) in addition to whatever number of fancies they are allowed to use, regardless of the two-fancy rule above, and regardless of the number of fancies that dueler is entitled to. Thus, a single dueler on a team, with only two available fancies, may use up to four, or two duelers may exceed their allotment by one; also, a dueler may use home-team fancies to exceed their opponent's fancy total by more than two.

 Match Scoring

Matches are scored as follows:

Each duel won: 5 points to dueler and team.
Each point scored within a duel: 1 point to dueler and team, to a maximum of 5 points.
Bonus points to dueler and team are awarded as follows:
- Shutout: 3 points to dueler and the team.
- Five-round shutout: 5 points to dueler and to the team.
- Overtime* duel: 2 points to losing dueler and team, with a maximum of 6 points as their final score.
* - overtime duel: A duel which either
(a) lasts over fifteen rounds, or
(b) results in the loser scoring 5+ points.

Thus, the maximum score for the winner of a non-shutout duel is 10 points; for the loser, 6 points (assuming overtime). A shutout is 13-0; a perfect shutout is 15-0.

VI: League Play

The commissioner will maintain both League Standings, and Individual Standings. Each dueler's individual record within League duels is important in terms of their ranking the following season.

 Standings

Teams are ranked based on standings points, awarded as follows:

Each duel won: 1 point
Match win: 4 points
Match sweep (5-0): 1 additional point

Therefore, a Match Sweep results in ten points for the victor (five points for the five duels won, four points for winning the match, and one point for the sweep).

Shutouts are no longer considered for standings purposes.

The points accumulated here reflect in the standings.

The team which, at the end of the season, has accumulated the most points wins the season championship.

Depending on the number of teams involved, at the end of the season, a playoff may be held to determine the league champion.

(519 season: Each of the four division winners, plus two wild-card team from each conference, will advance to the playoffs.)

 Statistics

The league keeps numerous statistics from duels. The key statistic for individual ranking is now Match Point Differential Per Duel (MPDPD). This is calculated by subtracting the number of Match Points (as outlined above) Allowed from the number Scored, and dividing by the number of duels fought. Individual Percentage is no longer the relevant statistic for individual ranking purposes.

 Rankings

Duelers will be ranked by MPDPD, with adjustments made to ranking for those who have competed in less than half the league's schedule, with the commissioner bracketing the ranks into groups at the end of each season, as follows:

MVP (5 fancies) - Individual Champion from previous season
All-star (4 fancies) - roughly 15% of returning duelers
Veteran (3 fancies) - roughly 35 % of returning duelers
Utility player (2 fancies) - roughly 35% of returning duelers
Journeyman (1 fancy) - roughly 15% of returning duelers
Rookie (0 fancies) - remainder, and all new competitors

Ranks will be retained throughout any season, regardless of performance. At the end of the season, statistics are recalculated, and the dueler will carry the newly earned rank through the following season; all duelers will hold the rank of rookie when they enter the league.

At mid-season, the league may, at its option, award a one-rank increase to those whose perfomance would indicate an increase of two or more ranks, and may also, at its option, award rank increases to duelers named to the all-star teams. In no event may a dueler be elevated above the rank of All-Star. The MVP rank is singular (unless awarded to two or more duelers at the end of the previous season), and duelers will not be elevated to that rank in mid-season.

VII: Administration

The League is run by the Commissioner, with assistance from his staff, including the Assistant Commissioner, Division Managers, Supervisor of Officials, News and Information Director, Statistical Director, and Archivist. All decisions of the Commissioner are final. All decisions by other staff, pertaining to their duties, are final, barring overruling by the Commissioner, which will not be a common practice.

Division Managers

Each division in the league is overseen by a manager whose duty it is to assist the teams in that division to complete their matches and mediate disputes. The Division Managers are answerable only to the Commissioner's Office. In cases where disputes and problems arise between teams in different divisions, the Division Manager of the home team's division will be considered the ruling party, and the Division Manager of the visiting team will assist in reaching a resolution.

Assistant Commissioner

The Assistant Commissioner is assumed to speak with the voice of the Commissioner in any instance where the Commissioner is unavailable to rule, or at the direction of the Commissioner. In some instances, the Assistant Commissioner may make a ruling, pending the Commissioner's approval; otherwise, if the Assistant Commissioner issues a ruling, it is binding.

Supervisor of Officials

The Supervisor of Officials is responsible for hiring, training, and supervising the callers without whom the league could not function. Any dispute arising over the conduct of an official must be directed to the Supervisor of Officials; likewise, the Supervisor of Officials will be responsible for complaints from officials regarding the conduct of duelers toward said officials in the course of official league play, and will issue recommendations to the Commissioner's Office in cases of abuse.

Other Staff

Other staff members are responsible for the dissemination of information. Factual errors will be corrected upon notification; matters of opinion will not be altered.

Officials

The League maintains a staff of trained duel officials, answerable to the Supervisor of Officials. They are expected to conduct themselves with the utmost integrity, and it is likewise expected that their integrity not be questioned publicly. Questions regarding possible improper activity by officials is to be directed to the Supervisor of Officials.

VIII: Conduct

Team captains are ultimately responsible for their teams' ability to meet their scheduled obligations. As such, captains of teams which fail to complete scheduled matches may be severely disciplined by the league, up to and including suspension of not less than two seasons. It is the responsibility of the captain to see to it that each match, their lineup is communicated to the Commissioner, and to see to it that the duels are fought within the allotted timeframe.

The Commissioner's Office retains the absolute right to suspend any participant or team indefinitely for conduct detrimental to the league, as well as make any necessary rulings the Commissioner deems to be inadequately covered by these rules.

Rule Amendments and Clarifications

Amendment 1

The act of a team captain threatening to disband a team in protest over a league ruling will result in immediate and permanent suspension of the captain, as well as -- at the discretion of the Commissioner's Office -- any and all members of that team.

Questions or concerns may be directed to the League Office.

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