VGC 20 Rule Announcement

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VGC 2020 is upon us, and it’s looking like a fun year ahead! Pokemon Sword and Shield has brought about a major shift to the meta game of recent years, so team building and picking your team mates will be more important than ever! Jump in and let’s take a look at what the next year of competitive Pokemon will look like!

The first tournament of the VGC 2020 format has been announced and has confirmed the suspicion that the format will mirror the current settings live for online play in-game.

As such, the rules will be as follows:

VGC 2020

  • All Battles will be Double Battles played in Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield.
  • All Pokemon from Galar Pokedex No. 001 through 400 are allowed, with the following restrictions:
    • Mythical Pokemon are not permitted.
  • Duplicate Pokemon are not allowed.
  • Duplicate held items are not allowed.
  • All Pokemon are set to Lv. 50, including Pokemon below Lv. 50.
  • Players will have 10 minutes of Your Time
  • Dynamax is permitted, Gigantamax is permitted.

These are very similar rules to previous seasons, and should not come as much surprise to any veteran players. The new inclusion of Dynamax this season will encourage creative team building, and new threats not possible in previous generations.

The Galar Dex lends itself very well to competitive doubles format, bringing back a number of previous season all-stars, while leaving some of the powerhouses such as Landorus and Incineroar behind us… thankfully.

Players who have been around a few seasons, and fondly remember VGC 2015 may be pleasantly surprised! In the early stages of the Sword and Shield competitive format, fan favorites such as Tyranitar and Gyarados have been seen tearing up battlefields left right and centre!

With Tyranitar comes some of its companions, like Excadrill and Rotom-Wash. Gyarados joins forces with other familiar faces such as Rotom-Heat and Ferrothorn to cover some of its blind spots.

Of course, with new games come new powerful Pokemon to join the competitive ranks. Dragapult has been the clear winner of the format so far, touting a strong set of Physical moves, as well as accomplishing a very strong Special attacker role with the right sets. Dragapult is commonly acquainted by everyone’s favorite Intimidating pup Arcanine as well as the new addition to the bird family Corviknight.

Where there are sweepers, support Pokemon tend to follow closely behind them, strengthening their assault and mitigating their weaknesses. Scrafty has been seen frequently in this role already in VGC 2020, as has Togekiss for a different kind of backup.

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Whatever your flavour of competitive team building looks like, there is plenty of room for creativity, iteration, and fun times waiting for you in VGC 2020! Be sure to keep a close eye on the Pikalytics Dex. We’ll be sure to have the latest data ready for your viewing pleasure!

Enjoy the year to come, VGC 2020 is upon us!

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