The Atomic Masters situation.
I'm looking for unbiased opinions (not from Masters or Atomic members) on the situation, I'll try to explain it clearly.
The following spoiler is a screenshot of my chatlog with Jorge, I was given permission to post it and can pm a ss of him giving permission to anyone that doubts me.
In the logs we schedule the match after I state that I will cancel the match if something doesn't work out. Jorge responds "Alright" making me think that he is acknowledging what I have said and is okay with it. Apparently I wasn't clear because Jorge claims that's not what he meant but doesn't say I can't cancel it. Numerous times other teams have canceled on Atomic with Jorges consent so I figured it was no big deal seeing as we still had 5 days until the deadline. Where I was wrong I guess is that a new rule was added saying that you cannot cancel a scheduled match unless both teams agree, though we were not alerted of this and it's not explicitly stated anywhere in the rules.
So, in the end Atomic was forced into a forfeit which I find extremely unfair, of course I am biased towards my team though. Looking for other opinions on the matter as I hope maybe this can be changed since it really puts Atomic in a tough spot and the deadline isn't for another few days yet.
Not trying to start shit, just looking for input, I'll answer any questions to the best of my ability.
My thoughts are that if the rule prior to this was only rule #9
9. If your team can not manage to bring 5 members to a match then you may play with 4 but not any less then 4. A team with less then 4 players will be forced to forfeit if they can not field a 4th for 5th player 5 minutes after the scheduled match start time.
In no way in that rule does it state if there is fair notice that one cannot cancel a match. Nor is it even implied. The absolute most that can be implied from this rule is that if a team misses their scheduled match time without notice they be forced to forfeit.
While it is the player's job to know and adhere to the rules of a tournament, if a rule is added during the tournament it is the job of the staff to alert the competitors. If that did not happen, the forfeit should be cancelled out.
Also, on another note, not being allowed to cancel matches if you give advance notice is absolutely bonkers, especially if the only thing preventing it from being a forfeit is the other teams decision. No team is not going to force their opponents into a forfeit, it's all to their gain. You are putting powers that should belong solely to the administration in the arms of the players.
Lastly, if you did not cancel until very shortly before the match only in that case do I believe a forfeit may be in order. There should be an added point in the rules for how far in advance you can cancel a match before it would be considered forfeiting, but seeing as there currently isn't... I think the forfeit should be cancelled out and some rules rewritten.
