Which Pokemon Aren’t Allowed in the Pokemon GO Premier Cup?

This week sees the beginning of the Premier Cup in Pokemon GO, a sort of offshoot of the normal competitive circuit in Pokemon GO’s PvP seasons. It runs alongside the main events, and puts a few restrictions on what Pokemon trainers can use. Specifically, the Premier cup disallows legendary Pokemon, along with a few others that would imbalance the experience for one reason or another.

Pokemon GO Premier Cup Restricted Pokemon

The following Pokemon aren’t allowed currently if you’re looking to compete in the Premier Cup. They’re separated by game generations, and are mostly predictable save for weird ones like Ditto. Some of the Pokemon in the list have also been datamined but aren’t released yet, as they would be banned if they were out.

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Gen 1:

• Ditto
• Articuno
• Zapdos
• Moltres
• Mewtwo
• Mew

Gen 2:

• Raikou
• Entei
• Suicune
• Lugia
• Ho-oh
• Celebi

Gen 3:

• Shedinja
• Regirock
• Regice
• Registeel
• Latias
• Latios
• Kyogre
• Groudon
• Rayquaza
• Jirachi
• Deoxys

Gen 4:

• Uxie
• Mesprit
• Azelf
• Dialga
• Palkia
• Heatran
• Regigigas
• Giratina
• Cresselia
• Phione
• Manaphy
• Darkrai

Gen 5:

• Shaymin
• Victini
• Cobalion
• Terrakion
• Virizion
• Tornadus
• Thundurus
• Reshiram
• Zekrom
• Landorus
• Kyurem
• Keldeo
• Meloetta
• Genesect

Gen 7:

• Meltan
• Melmetal

It’s also important to know that whatever League is running alongside a Premier Cup dictates any further rules or restrictions. For example, right now Pokemon GO is also running the Ultra League, which caps off eligible Pokemon at 2500 CP. These sorts of restrictions are in place in different kinds of Pokemon GO PvP settings, presumably because Niantic is trying to avoid a stale metagame situation. Limiting CP and restricting all the most powerful Pokemon prevents, in theory, everyone from running the same team. Whether or not it works out that way appears to be debatable.

The Premier Cup is set to last two weeks, from August 10 to August 24, 2020. After that, the Season 3 Master League will commence and run into September, then a second Premier Cup with no CP limits will see out the rest of the Season until September 14. Then, Season 4 will begin with new rewards and opportunities.

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Are you participating in the Pokemon GO Battle League? Do you have a 2500CP Premier Cup team ready to roll? Which Pokemon are you using? Let us know what you’re up to in Pokemon GO over at the Prima Games Facebook and Twitter channels!