The Pokemon VGC, or Video Game Championships, is the in-game mechanism that The Pokemon Company uses for both ranked online battles, and for official tournaments such as this weekend’s Players Cup. As the finals are wrapping up this weekend, Pokemon video game developer GameFreak has started promoting the next season, in this case known as Series 6. This includes an updated ban list, one that has proved particularly controversial due to its focus on popular Pokemon.
Pokemon Sword and Shield Series 6 Ban List
While VGC competition is generally held in doubles format for various logistical reasons, the data that fed this ban list (according to Serebii) was based on a combination of the most used Pokemon in both Singles and Doubles ranked matches online. This is part of the community’s consternation, as some of these Pokemon are, arguably, not the best. Either way, the list of banned Pokemon for VGC Series 6 is as follows:
- Venusaur
- Gyarados
- Porygon2
- Tyranitar
- Torkoal
- Hippowdon
- Magnezone
- Togekiss
- Excadrill
- Whimsicott
- Incineroar
- Mimikyu
- Rillaboom
- Cinderace
- Indeedee
- Dragapult
The irony of this ban list is especially thick, because while the finals are airing this weekend the people running it will be showing a special passcode that can be redeemed in Sword and Shield for… a competition-ready Porygon2. Less than a day before the giveaway, that Pokemon is now banned from competition, at least for the time being.
Related: How to get a Mystery Gift Battle-Ready Porygon2 in Pokemon Sword and Shield
Again according to Serebii, this ban list will come into effect on September 1, 2020. It will reportedly last all the way through to October 31 before any more changes are established. So if you’re a competitive Pokemon player and some or all of your crew is on this list, your work is cut out for you between now and September.
The community is quite split on this decision, some upset because of the time they’ve just sunk into getting one of the banned creatures ready (which can take dozens of hours depending on the build), and others upset because they feel GameFreak has bigger fish to fry for this metagame. On the other hand, some Pokemon fans are eager to see some new matchups and team compositions as a direct result of this list.
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Are you a newly-frustrated Pokemon VGC hopeful who now has to rethink their entire team, or are you a member of the audience looking forward to some fresh competition? Are you going to bother tuning in to this weekend’s tournament finals for a now-banned Porygon2? Let us know what you think about this spicy Poke-drama over at the Prima Games Facebook and Twitter channels!
