Presenting GAME UNDERGROUND RULESET for Smash 4 SEASON 2:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TvzqYntFYf1BD604wHUTiwYryI9vLDefLg5k7X1hNVs/edit?usp=sharing
Notable changes:
1. Custom Moves are now set to OFF
This was not an easy decision to make, I personally still love customs and what they provide to certain mid-low tier characters like Palutena, Ganondorf, and Charizard, but there are a couple of reasons behind the change. First off, the next major tournament after EVO is Smashcon, which is not using customs, and we have a number of players going there to compete. In order to support them we're moving our ruleset to be more in line with their tournament rules so our player can practice. This is the most pertinent reason for the change, but there is another one.
When customs were originally adopted as a format back in February, the smash community was dealing with a young metagame that was showing signs of moving in a bad direction. Diddy Kong had not reached Brawl Meta Knight levels of overuse, but his working advantage over most of the cast in terms of speed, power, and ease-of-use was obvious. At the time we were looking for a way to keep Smash 4 from going down the path of competitive Brawl, and the unique twist of customizable movesets could've provided just that. What we didn't expect however, was that Nintendo would release balance patches that not only fixed the vanilla game, but that the patches would largely NOT fix some of the more degenerate customs. As a result the vanilla metagame has stabilized significantly in the last 6 months while the customs metagame has moved more and more towards using combat strategies that are unfun to play against and not engaging to watch.
As a result of this, custom moves are being removed from our events for the time being. There may come a time where certain problematic custom moves are patched by Nintendo or the menu system to select them is made cleaner and more helpful (which is another factor in their removal), but for the time being we will be advancing without them.
2. Mii Fighters are only playable at 50/50 size and with 1111 moves
This is another change that was brought about after much deliberation. In the short term, we have a number of players preparing for Smashcon and this is the rule that Smashcon is using for Miis. Out of respect to our players that are training to go there we will be following their lead. However, after Smashcon is over we may consider allowing more Mii builds, either 1111, 2222, and 3333, or simply reinstating the EVO sets. I believe that more Mii builds than just 1111 should be allowed, but between the upcoming Smashcon and the popular vote by the community we will be restricting them to 1111 only.
If you don't like this restriction, or feel as though you've lost a character because of this decision, be vocal about it. Post here, or come talk to me at GU. After Smashcon we'll probably take a vote again, and possibly change the rules if that's what the community wants. For the next few weeks though we'll be experimenting with this more limited character.
3. Dreamland replaces Lylat Cruise in the starter stage list
This one is pretty self-explanatory, players have voiced their distaste for Lylat Cruise time and time again, so it is being moved down to the counter-pick stage list and Dreamland is getting its spot. Reminder that Dreamland is actually slightly smaller than Battlefield horizontally, and almost the same vertically, but its top platform is higher than Battlefield's, so it is a good stage to pick if you have the ability to take people off the top vertically (like ZSS)
Also note the new DLC rules, which means that consoles are REQUIRED to have Dreamland downloaded in order to be tournament legal.
These are the rules that we are going to be using going forward starting 7/21/15, including at GUMS2 on August 22nd. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them here or to message me directly.
Bloodcross will update the OP of this thread when he get's back from EVO.
Also, to clarify: If we do decide to change the rules on Mii Fighters as a result of a popular vote, the change will not take place until after GUMS2, so GUMS2 will be using the Mii rules as outlined in this document.