Got to my computer, so I'm now responding regarding the substitutions. What's the difference between the substitutions Bishop made and Cobra's substitution? Diabler. Bishop chose the very first player from the second group and selected Diabler (the strongest in his opinion). Unfortunately, Diabler is currently in the hospital after an operation, so he cannot continue the tournament, even if he wants to. And before the New Year, he was actively trying to play against his opponents. I believe replacing Diabler with Joker is adequate and equivalent. SP_SkyLine. Back in early November, Bishop wrote that SkyLine had disappeared and wasn't showing up on the forum or in ICQ. In early December, he appeared, said he would finish everything, but on December 17th (his last visit to the forum), he disappeared again and hasn't shown up since. He also didn't play a single game in his group in "Favorites," meaning he really disappeared. I also think replacing him with Bowser is quite reasonable. So, both substitutions weren't made because things were going well; they were made out of necessity. Regarding Cobra's situation. Yesterday, Cobra messaged me on ICQ, saying that Identity wasn't responding at all and that a replacement was needed, and he had found Vanya. I didn't respond immediately because I was playing a tournament with Graf Bananov. And I needed to weigh everything. It turns out Identity didn't disappear anywhere; he's actually playing, and he's even playing in "Favorites." Moreover, they were trying to play against JustObserver and had even drafted templates (meaning the game had practically started). In fact, he didn't disappear and is playing. This substitution looks like an attempt to replace a player (who showed a weak result) with a stronger one to win the last matches and, at the same time, strengthen the team's lineup in the playoffs. The substitution is not forced, so I cannot allow it. I'm not even going to mention that replacing a player who scored 0 points with a top player and winner of many tournaments looks like disrespect towards the other teams. If it were a classic team-based tournament where lineups are assembled initially, it would be a completely different conversation, but here we're playing a tournament where weak and strong players are combined in one team, and the weaknesses of some are compensated for by the strengths of others, which means the substitutions should be commensurate. P.S. Perhaps I was wrong to allow the substitution for Bishop's team, but there the substitutions were forced and equal. In Cobra's case, it's just blatant manipulation, which is disgusting. P.P.S.: It's also possible that I'm not objective because I'm somewhat of an interested party. I would like to hear the opinions of other organizers/judges on this issue (preferably on ICQ)