RE: Luispeikou vs FatFighter2 Scheduling Controversy
Timeline of events
On Tuesday, FatFighter2 agreed tentatively to 5PM +2 Saturday, saying "probably let's do that for now".
He then asked for a reschedule on Friday morning; Luispeikou did not agree, as the other weekend times he had previously offered had now been taken up by other commitments.
FatFighter2 had to figure out whether to sacrifice other IRL commitments to make the 5PM +2, or whether he is in a position to demand the reschedule, since he technically only agreed to 5PM +2 tentatively. Under normal circumstances, given that he did not give nearly enough forewarning, this ruling would have been pretty clear - the game stays at 5PM +2.
However, US Midwest reached out to the hosts at a time when we were unavailable. They then reached out to an uninvolved TD to get any kind of 'official' opinion. That TD lead them to believe that they had enough of a case to force a reschedule to either later Saturday, or Sunday.
I then wake up a couple of hours later and observe that this is not the case; Spain should be able to force 5PM +2 since it was the only time they managed to agree on by Friday. (This reading of the situation is agreed on by multiple other TDs afterwards.)
However, FatFighter2 has now taken other commitments for 5PM +2, following what they were led to believe by the uninvolved TD. He is unable to make the previously scheduled time.
Decision:
FatFighter2 was assured that he would be okay if he missed the 5PM +2 time by a Tournament Director. The Tournament Director's reading of the situation is starkly different from the one of the host team, but given that the original situation landed in a gray area, we do not find either FatFigher2 or the Tournament Director's actions to be clearly contradicting the rules. (Note the time was agreed on with a "probably, for now"; Luispeikou originally offered plenty of alternative weekend times; and it had not been communicated to Midwest that those times were not available anymore despite FatFighter2 implying at multiple times that he may end up needing to shift the schedule. These factors are why we believe this scenario to fall within a gray area.)
As such, we do not deem it appropriate to force US Midwest to provide a substitute for FatFighter2, given that they did not act in direct contradiction of the rules, and as a matter of fact they were made to believe that they could maybe even demand a reschedule; but they would have been able to make the original time, had their situation been communicated to them accurately.
Spain and Luispeikou are also clearly not at fault; they will be able, within reason, to demand a rescheduling that is favorable to them, including - potentially - an extraordinary extension past the Sunday deadline, or a double substitution if no satisfying times can be found.
I apologize on behalf of the WCoP host team and on behalf of the Tournament Director team for the issues caused by (1) the unavailability of the hosting team at a sensitive time when US Midwest reached out, and (2) the dubious reading of the situation that was provided in the moment.
The blame for this situation falls squarely on us and we are now doing our best to reach a sensible, neutral solution that is fair to both sides.