According to the Step Up program you can only step up to reference clock speed cards. This presents a fair shot at the silicon lotto for the founders edition cards but when it comes to custom cards with EVGA made PCB's where there are OC and non OC versions, is there any safeguard to say the non OC edition of that card is not one that failed to meet the OC condition?
 
This is the case with the FTW over the FTW DT edition cards.
 
http://www.evga.com/products/productlist.aspx?type=0&family=GeForce+10+Series+Family&chipset=GTX+1080+Ti
 
Right now on the 1080 ti page there is only the founders and 3 unreleased OC versions so perhaps the founders is all I can go for. I'd like to wait for one with a better cooler for step up so I feel like I am being forced into getting a liquid cooling system just for this card or waiting on a hybrid kit to release. If I submit for step up am I able to cancel the request if a new 1080ti pops up before mine is sent out?

EVGA does not bin their cards unless to guarantee a minimum base/boost clock speed. Everyone has an equal and fair shot at the silicon lottery.
 
The FTW DT cards are specifically designed for people who would like some of the benefits of the FTW cards (RGB LEDs, power phases, BIOS selector, etc.) but prefer to run at Nvidia recommended reference speeds for longevity.
 
As long as you are still within the 90 days from the purchase date you can cancel and resubmit your Step Up request. Once you are outside of the 90 days you will not be able to reenter the program.