GS Cup Announced as Pokémon’s 2016 Ruleset
Today, Pokémon announced the ruleset we’ll see in place for the 2016 World Championships as well as all events after January 1st, 2016. The GS Cup ruleset is one that should be familiar to anyone who played in 2010 as well as those who played in the Generation Showdown tournament late last year.
If you’d like an analysis on the format, make sure you check out the first part of this great guide at Pokémon’s strategy site. Don’t forget to also check out the stats from the Generation Showdown for ideas or cool teams from 2010 for inspiration.
Simplified Ruleset – 2016
- All matches are played in the Doubles format.
- Time Limit: 90 seconds for Team Preview, 45 seconds for each turn, 15 minutes for the match for all tournaments at Regionals-level or higher.
- Players choose 4 of their 6 registered Pokémon after team preview.
- Pentagon Rule: All Pokémon must have the blue pentagon on their stats page indicating they were caught, bred, or received as an official gift in Pokémon X, Y, Omega Ruby, or Alpha Sapphire.
- Species Clause: No two Pokémon on your team can share the same Pokédex number.
- Item Clause: No two Pokémon on your team can hold the same held item.
- The following items are banned:
- Soul Dew
- The following Pokémon are banned (all forms):
- Mew
- Celebi
- Jirachi
- Deoxys
- Phione
- Manaphy
- Darkrai
- Shaymin
- Arceus
- Victini
- Keldeo
- Meloetta
- Genesect
- Diancie
- Hoopa
- You may have up to two of the following Pokémon in your Battle Box:
- Mewtwo
- Lugia
- Ho-oh
- Kyogre
- Groudon
- Rayquaza
- Dialga
- Palkia
- Giratina
- Reshiram
- Zekrom
- Kyurem
- Xerneas
- Yveltal
- Zygarde
About the Author
Firestorm is one of the co-founders of Nugget Bridge and the Community Manager for eSports Tournament Platform Battlefy. He has been playing Pokémon since 1999, competitively since 2007, and attending tournaments since 2010. He lives in Vancouver, Canada with a degree in Interactive Art & Technology + Communications. You can follow him on Twitter at @rushanshekar.
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Well, it’s been nice knowing you, Charizard, Politoed, Abomasnow and Tyranitar.
I liked this format as a battlespot tournament, but I’m not especially happy about having a whole year of it. Will be interesting to see what happens when the meta settles down, at least it’ll be something different for a lot of us.
Bye Bye Japanese Sand. Nice knowing ya
Forget Mega Rayquaza, how the heck are you supposed to take down a Primal Kyogre?!?
Primal Groudon IIRC. ;P
Oh snap, it’s 2010 all over again or should I say in most recent history, the battle of legends with primals and Mega Ray Charles….I mean Rayquaza thrown into the mix!
This is actually going to take a lot of thought on how to prepare for these new threats.
A good starting point for people wanting to have an idea how the metagame might shape up, at least initially, will be to look at the usage stats and battle videos from the Generation Showdown tournament held earlier this year, which had the same ruleset.
I also made a team report for that tournament, so even though that team is probably bad, it might give people some ideas of what works, and what to expect, from a practical rather than theoretical environment.
Still not sure I’m playing in the circuit due to life restrictions, but I’m happy to see a revisit to 2010. I started in 2009, so 2010 is still a cool memory for me. I remember using Rain Dance Giratina, that was pretty special. Excited to see what everyone can come up with and if makiri will come up with something game-changing.
I’ve been waiting for five years to use Palkia on a team again, so I guess I’ll at least have to make something…
Suddenly the time i decided to breed an anti-Xerneas Bronzong doesnt seem quite as absurd.
Edit: Whelp, this is gonna be an interesting format, guess i better RNG a Lugia.
PC’s adapt to the new format on Jan 1. 2016. Yours follows the same rules from Regionals
Santa gave me my Christmas wish early this year <3. The GS was very interesting to me as I was getting bored of getting RS flinched to death in a majority of my 15 games, its a nice change of pace. My only gripe is how we can use flat battle for online matches with this ruleset, Im hoping for a patch in the coming weeks to fix this issue. Also, Im not sure why Deoxys is still banned as it is allot easier to obtain now…
They still classify it as a mythical pokemon, hence the ban.
Oh grimer…
Here we go again.
So they’re finally here, performing for you
If you know the words, you can join in too
Put your hands together, if you want to clap
As we take you through this Ubers rap
GS! GS Cup!
He’s the leader of the bunch, you know him well
He’s finally back, to kick some tail
His Dragon Ascent can fire in spurts
If he shoots ya, it’s gonna hurt
He’s bigger, faster, and stronger too
He’s the first member of the GS crew
GS! GS Cup!
GS! GS Cup is here!
… That’s enough of that.
I think we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves, we’re talking about doubles, and the fact that Mega Rayquaza and Primal Groudon are broken in singles, doesn’t mean they’re broken in Doubles.
I’ll wait until the metagame settles a bit before I start trading and soft resetting for legends. I don’t want to make mistakes with natures and IVs and end up picking up something ineffective for the metagame.
I am kinda excited about the format though. Can’t be more boring than seeing CHALK in 9 out of 10 teams.
I am really hyped for this format as I play those generation showdown challenge things and have studied the 2010 format intensely.
So as someone who totally DID expect this….like for last year.. I might have a few things to say about it.
1. Mega Ray is like my fifth favorite Pokémon of all time and quite honestly the best Pokémon ever in singles (it got its green butt banned from Smogon ubers if you didn’t know), but it will be completely washed out in favor of Primal Groudon that thing is a beast its bulky and compliments Xerneas well, and might even destroy steels as a possibility for team building as they can’t really stand to be on the same field as Primal Groudon.
2. Kangaskhan will still reign as the top dog among megas as if anything its power being similar to that of a legendary would greatly encourage its use.
3. Put 252 Hp on your Cresses there will be no sand in this format.
4. Primal Kyogre is a thing as well and Groudon’s only real reason to be excluded from a game.
I can’t wait for team reports and events about this format I was really hoping this would happen last year, I even had the foresight to SR my Groudon from OR so I will be excitedly awaiting January 1st 2016.
Looking at the new rules scared me at first as a newbie, loads of options..
Could Zygarde and Mega Gengar be used to defeat the Mega Ray + Xerneas combo people are talking about? Probably better options then Zygarde, but aura break could be useful
100% happy about this change of pace.
CHALK, Japan Sand, the whole ’15 metagame was just getting so freaking boring.
Me and my daughter are SO hyped about this!
Thank you TPCI.
Thank you.
I have calmed…
If I’m honest, I like either Primal Groudon + Dialga Trick Room, or Primal Groudon + Mega Venusaur + Xerneas.
Frantically scurries to find X and locks away in bedroom
Seeing as how 2010 was probably my favorite year (far from a mess if you ask me), I guess it’s time to chime in.
Even though legendaries are allowed, it does not necessarily mean that the game is going to become overcentralized. Yes, there are going to be some legendaries that are better than others but that doesn’t count out the others. The finals of 2010, where TopOgre was everywhere throughout the year, featured Cherrim and Ho-Oh in the Junior Finals and then the Masters featured Lugia in the Finals (along with Rotom/Lanturn and Parasect/TRICK ROOM MEWTWO in other Top 8 teams). A lot of Pokemon that we often do not even look at begin finding their niche roles in formats like this. Toxicroak can rise yet again. Golduck can play an amazing support role in weather wars. Cherrim can give Groudon the assist it needs. Give a dragon a Choice Specs to see that amazing damage output. How sure am I of all this happening? Not sure, because the metagame can develop in any direction right now. Rayquaza may have ridiculous stats, but it takes up your mega slot and one of your restricted Pokemon slots. It does not have the best spread options, so it can knock out one Pokemon on your side with Dragon Ascent, but that may leave it vulnerable to get knocked out by your partner Pokemon. The game becomes a lot more towards managing your resources, because you want to keep up the advantage in restricted Pokemon count over your opponent. There are a lot more weather options instead of just Charizard, Ninetales, and Politoed. I’m ecstatic to both play and commentate this format.
To everyone that is scared of this format, don’t knock it until you try it and don’t be afraid to be experimental.
Here’s my two cents…every team will carry varied counters to mega-ray, thus making mega-ray unbroken. viola. It’s not broken like singles…even m-kang’s actual viability fluctuates with the metagame.
Well then, I guess I need to start getting a crap ton of master balls to get all these Pokemon. But I think Double Primal could be interesting. What do you guys think?
I’m wondering if Pokemon Z is going to come out in the middle of VGC 2016 and throw a wrench into the metagame with Zygarde-Complete
As if they haven’t shaken the format up enough already. Still, quite excited to see how the meta develops.
Has anyone thought about this happening?
AND NOW PEOPLE ARE GONNA HACK IN SO MANY LEGENDS ITS NOT EVEN GONNA BE FUNNY.
Thank god I soft-reset for my Shiny Mega Raquaza… No Mega Diancie?
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Really? Have you guys never played in any of the ORAS battle spot formats that allowed legendaries?
Primal groudon + gravity cresselia is ridiculously strong. Every team should be thoroughly prepared for it.
100% happy.
At least I’ll get to see some new stuff. I never play rules with Legendaries and Pseudo-legendaries I’ve seen enough since VGC2015.
For latecomers like me who have never seen VGC2010 which apparently had the same rule, this will be a fun experience.
I loved it.
Double screen lugia <3
Sejun Park’s reaction is priceless lmao