Meta-PokéBase Q&A
5 votes
11,500 views

Introduction

We run competitive battling tournaments on PokeBase. Using this thread, you can post ideas for future tournaments! When the next tournament comes near, the top-voted suggestions on this thread will appear on a poll, where players will make a final vote for which tournament will run.

PokeBase tournaments traditionally give creative twists to existing battle formats, or create entirely new metagames. However, if you'd rather play a "standard format" (OU, VGC, etc.) then there is a separate option for this on the poll. More details below. Standard current-generation AG, Ubers, OU, UU, and VGC should not be posted as suggestions on this thread, as they already appear regularly on the poll.

For inspiration, try reading the tournament winners page, which has a list of previous tourneys that were selected. Make sure to read the existing suggestions below before writing yours, in case your idea is already there.

Please only vote if you intend on playing in PokeBase tourneys!

Format

You must include the following information in your suggestion:

  • The name of the tournament.
  • A brief introduction to the concept. Sell your idea so people vote for it!
  • A full and proper rules list. For example, if your tournament is monotype, then you should include the rule "all Pokemon on a player's team must share at least one type". Mention any bans. Usually, Smogon clauses and rules will be included.
  • Make a suggestion for the bracket arrangement: single elim, double elim, etc.
  • Make a suggestion for matchup format: Bo3, Bo1, first-to-two (i.e. the third match is not played if one player goes 2-0), etc.
  • If the tournament is seasonal (e.g. to be played on Christmas, or when the next generation of Pokemon is released, etc.) please mention it. The idea can be added to the poll at the correct time.

Please make sure to post suggestions as answers, not comments.

Topics like player limits, changing teams between games, seeding, length of sign-ups, disqualifications etc. can be mentioned here, but can also be handled by the eventual host of the tournament and/or its players.

Resources

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31 Answers

3 votes
 
Best answer

(Please tell me if you think these rules should be different!)

Poll qualification

Which tournament will be run is ultimately decided by a poll, which occurs some time before sign-ups for the tournament begin. This tournament suggestion thread is used to decide which tournaments appear on the poll.

Qualification for the poll works in the following way:

  • By default, the top five voted suggestions on this thread are placed onto the poll.
  • After each poll finishes, the bottom-placed suggestion is recorded. This suggestion will be absent from the next poll, making room for a new/fresh suggestion to possibly get voted in.
  • If there is a draw for the winner of the poll, the newer suggestion will be chosen. If there is a draw for the bottom-placed suggestion, the newer suggestion qualifies.

We also run "standard format" tournaments, if that is preferable according to the poll voters. In that case, there is a similar process for choosing exactly which format to have a tourney for:

  • By default, the "standard" options will include current-generation Ubers, NDOU, OU, UU, and VGC. (These formats cannot be suggested on the main suggestion thread.)
  • After each poll finishes, the bottom-placed format is recorded. This format will be absent from the next poll, in favour of one of the following formats: AG, UU, RU, NU, PU, and Monotype. Which of these formats is added is decided by the tour host, player demand, etc.
  • If there is a draw for the winner of the poll, the most statistically popular format will be chosen. If there is a draw for the lowest-placed format, the least popular one will drop off.

If the host can't find which formats/suggestions were least popular, they can pick a format/suggestion to include on the poll, as a little thankyou for being host.

All other formats, including past-generation formats, can be suggested on the main suggestion thread. AG, UU, RU, NU, PU, and Monotype can also be suggested on the main suggestion thread (to help them get placement on the poll more frequently).

Source for play-rate stats.

Poll structure

The person setting up the poll should follow these instructions to make sure the poll is structured the same way each time.

Setup

  • Polls are hosted using Google Forms.
  • The poll should be posted (using a meta question) approximately one month after the previous tournament has finished.
  • The meta thread linking the poll should link to each of the tournament suggestions in the poll, so people know what they are voting on.
  • The poll should be open for one week.
  • Poll results should not be made public until the poll closes, to prevent bias.
  • All questions should be set to "Required".
  • Please test that the poll is working by opening it in an incognito window. If you're using an organisation account, it may require a sign-in which will block us from using the poll. (In general, avoid using an organisation account for your private activities, as it presents a privacy concern.)

Question 1 (short answer): What is your PokeBase username? (Include as a link.)

  • Prevents vote manipulation. For extra security, voters should comment on the Meta thread for the poll saying that they voted.
  • To ensure links are given: expand the question's menu, then click "Response validation". Now, choose "Regular expression", then "Contains", then paste in the regular expression below. The error text can be "Must contain PokeBase account link".
    https:\/\/pokemondb.net\/pokebase\/(rmt\/|meta\/|)user\/[^\s+$]

Question 2 (checkboxes): Which tournaments would you be willing to play? (Select all that apply.)

  • Give each of the five tournaments that qualified for the poll as options.
  • Add "Response validation" that makes it so voters can select a maximum of four options. Selecting all five options has no impact on the outcome of the vote.
  • Add the description: "Answers to this question will not decide whether a standard format will be played instead."

Question 3 (multiple choice): Would you prefer to play a "standard format" (e.g. OU, UU, VGC, etc.)?

  • The options should be "yes" and "no".

Question 4 (checkboxes): In the event a standard format is chosen, which formats would you be willing to play? (Select all that apply.)

  • Give each of the five tournaments that qualify for the "standard" category as options.
  • Add "Response validation" that makes it so voters can select a maximum of four options. Selecting all five options has no impact on the outcome of the vote.

Example

See here for an example of how to set up the poll! (I can't put this into the post itself because Cloudflare thinks it's a SQL injection attack, lol.)

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I think that changing the format each tour may make the tours interesting, and building teams for different formats is intriguing always. And playing the same tier (like OU) over and over again might make them stale (especially to the non-native people of the tier, who play some other tier and find the said tier “boring” or anything), and it’d also give the people who play the non-standard tiers (RU etc), a better chance in winning (I meant in the context that they might not play the standard tiers so they *might* have problems building, etc).
Since it's september 1st, are the polls going to be started soon?
I think the tournament host makes the poll. Then you’ll just need to ask a mod to make an announcement.
If you would prefer me to make the first poll, I can do that.
Ok, I can make the poll, was just a tad confused.
7 votes

Pokémon DB Super Staff Bros

Note: This tournament won't necessarily be "ready" until Fizz, Ty, and other new/active Staff Members are added. (And people properly update their sets to Gen 8 + DLC, if desired).

Super Staff Bros is a concept originally a format thought up by Smogon where members of Smogon Staff are represented by Pokémon with cool custom sets that you can use. As this concept is endearing, I thought we should do this but with members of the Pokémon DB. Since it was based off of staff members of Smogon, Staff members of the DB are basically Pokemaster, Mods, Editors, Experts, and some Users that have contributed much to this community.

This thread is where the Roster and General rules have been decided. If the community is able to, it may make a randomized format for it (no promises, but IF we do, we can also add custom moves/abilities/items). If we can't do so, this will be played in custom games, with these restrictions:

  • You must use the exact sets from the Roster, including names and shininess
  • You may only bring 6 Pokémon (as custom games allows more)
  • You may not bring more than one Poémon with the same set (For example: you may bring a Scizor named "Sciz" and a shiny Scizor named "X-Scizor", but you can't bring more than one Farfetch'd named "sumwun")

This should be a bracket tourney, either Double Elim or Bo3.

Final note: this could probably be a “seasonal” tour, to be played near DB’s birthday or some relevant staff event (like promotions, maybe?). :P

As always, Good luck, and have fun!

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I *love* this +1
Are the movesets for old staff members, like Speed Freak and Sciz, really made by them? Also we should probably have movesets for people who are staff on our Showdown! or Discord servers regardless of whether they're staff on Pokebase.
Sciz doesn’t currently have a set, I was using 2 users who that I knew of that could’ve had the same Pokémon.

I got a DM from Speedfreak a while back and he said to use something like his Rock Polish Torterra set he used to use back in the day- so I just tried to make it a little more viable. Pokemaster didn’t make his set either, but I have the current as a “placeholder” of sorts since he made the site and doesn’t seem to have enough time to notice this tour idea or make a set. :P
In that case, I would prefer taking out Pokemaster unless he/she/they/it sends a moveset to us. I don't really like trying to make up movesets for other people.
I agree with sumwun. Making sets for other people would be really sus and not good tbh.
@sUmwun @Assault fair enough. I’m busy right now, but when I have time, I’ll remove PM’s set. They’ll still have a placeholder on the roster, though: when you click on it, it will just say something like “Sorry, I’m too busy handling actual site problems to make a set” or something else creative and slightly funny. :P
7 votes

OU Level Up Moves ONLY

Yeah, I think it needs a better name too...

This tournament bans all moves learnt by TMs/TRs, Egg Moves, Event Moves, as well as Move Tutors, meaning only moves learnt by Level-Up and upon evolution can be used. This'll greatly affect the metagame, as most Pokemon don't get any good coverage, pivot moves, and etc. Though, Pokemon like Regieleki retain most of their moves. The brackets and matchups can be entirely decided by the host of the tournament, or chosen by the people participating in the tournament.

Rules:

  • All OU Clauses apply to this tournament, and of course, the battle format is OU. The format can also be changed to spice things up if the tournament has already been done before, and will use the clauses of that exact format.
  • The moves learnt by level up and moves learnt upon evolution are only for the learnsets of the generation being played ONLY. By this I mean BDSP OU only uses BDSP learnsets, SwSh OU uses SwSh learnsets, etc.
  • Moves learnt only by a pre-evolution through level up are allowed for their evolutions, such as Steelix being allowed to use Rock Polish as Onix can learn it through level up.
  • If a move can be learnt by both level up/upon evolution and TM/TR/Egg Moves/Move Tutors, they are still allowed, such as Quagsire learning Muddy Water through both level up as well as TR in Sword/Shield.
  • Abilities, items, and everything else isn't altered by this in any way.

If I need to clarify anything else, please tell me if I need to do so. I'm often bad at explaining things, so if you need me to address anything else, I don't mind doing so.

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6 votes

The Points Tournament

Gen 8 Ubers, or the most recent generation. Basically EvilTwinNeedle™️'s suggestion on the older thread, with minor changes. Probably needs a catchier name.

NFE and ZU = 0
PU = 1
NU = 3
RU = 5
UU = 7
OU = 9

Each Pokemon in on your team costs a given amount of points, depending on the tier it's in. You can have under the amount of points, but not over. Any BL (UUBL, RUBL, etc.) costs 1 point less than the tier above it. You get 20 points to spend. Ubers Pokemon seem way too overpowered in a tournament with primarily lower tier Pokemon, but if enough people think otherwise they can be unbanned.

Single elimination, so a loss means you are knocked out of the tournament. This can be best of three or double elimination if enough people want it.

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It seems that if you use an Uber the rest of the team must be pu so just ban ubers.
You can use 1 Ubers, 1 RU, and 4 empty slots.
Well the slots wouldn't be empty, they would be either ZU or NFE Pokemon.
oops I cannot math.
Ubers would be 20 points so you can't use them + any good pokemon.
6 votes

The Haunted Guessing Game:

Both teams have 6 Haunters. All Haunters must have this moveset:

Haunter @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
Tera Type: Banned
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Lonely Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Sucker Punch
- Perish Song

Let’s show you how the moves work here:

252+ Atk Life Orb Haunter Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 0- Def Haunter: 252-299 (109 - 129.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO

0 SpA Life Orb Haunter Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Haunter: 408-484 (176.6 - 209.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO

You know how Perish Song works.


This here is a guessing game. You and your opponent can both Shadow Ball. 50/50 chance for OHKO for either side. You could Sucker Punch and your opponent Shadow Ball. 100% OHKO for you. You could use Shadow Ball and your opponent could use Sucker Punch. You dead. You could both Sucker Punch and nothing happens. Perish Song is so opponents won’t spam Sucker Punch. How will you play with the Perish Song if you instantly perish to Shadow Ball by switching out? Of course your opponent could use Sucker Punch and give you a window to switch. Or maybe not. Or maybe…. MIND GAMES! Tell me if any explanation is still needed.

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Genius
you could predict a Sucker Punch and use Perish Song, and then spam Sucker Punch yourself
Well, your opponent could swap out to avoid the Perish Song if you spam Sucker Punch, and then you have to predict when they’ll use Sucker Punch to avoid your own Perish Song.
I just realized a little problem. If you’re down to your last Haunter and your opponent has at least two, your opponent can set up Perish Song and then spam Sucker Punch till you lose. The only way to beat it is if you win the speed tie with Shadow Ball before the opposing Haunter can set up Perish Song. Depending on how many Haunters your opponent has left, you’d have to win the speed tie multiple times. And of course, your opponent could simply spam Sucker Punch and PP stall you. Suggestions about dealing with this?
5 votes

Left out tournament :(

Introduction

Hey, It's me, Dank Muffin, back with another bad post. Have you ever been bullied on the school playground? With no one to comfort you, you sit in silence on the swingset? Well, lucky for you, some pokemon have gone through that too in the sword and shield playground. Luckily, I am making a tournament where you can use only them! This will revitalize some of the pokemon that have been neglected by game freak, such as breloom and gliscor. This metagame will be MUCH more hyper offensive, as some of the only viable walls are Alomomola and Chesnaught. The link for the left out pokemon.

Rules

  • Standard National Dex OverUsed rules
  • Dynamax is banned, as because of the lack of walls and in general bulky pokemon, I think the mechanic is overpowered (I don't think it's allowed in National Dex OverUsed anyways)
  • Only using Pokemon that were cut from Sword and Shield
  • Even after sword and shield, if this tournament is selected, the list will remain the same
  • Speaking of, the qualifiers are a round where you will play one person, and based on that, you will be matched up in a "losers" bracket and a "winners" bracket. In these brackets, it will run like a normal tournament, until the winner of the winner's bracket and the winner of the loser's bracket face off in the finals
  • There will be one match with the matchups

Predictions for the top pokemon

  • Gliscor
  • Greninja
  • Hoopa
  • Serperior
  • Manaphy
  • Staraptor
  • Infernape
  • Mega Medicham
  • Breloom
  • Smeargle
  • Alolan Muk
  • Mega Beedrill
  • Alomomola
  • Chesnaught

So, please consider this idea!

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Noice.
Wait one thing

>  For example, if Gliscor, Infernape and Hoopa were the top pokemon in round 1 (which probably will get the ban hammer lmao), *you couldn't use them for the rest of the tournament.*

So for every round the top three mons will get banned?
Yeah the post says two different things: "Each week, other than the qualifiers/seeding rounds, the top three pokemon are banned in the next round"
I agree that rule isn't very good to begin with, though.
Oh didn't read that, alr.
Oh shoot, I left the first draft in, honestly thanks for bumping it. I am going to change this rq
4 votes

Mix and Mega Tournament

Mix and Mega is a cool Showdown format that revives and re-imagines Mega Evolution, letting you mix-and-match various Mega Stones to create an interesting teambuilding experience. Smogon explains it best:

Mix and Mega is an Other Metagame where players can put a Mega Stone on almost any one of their Pokémon to give it the typing, stats, and ability that the Mega Stone would give a Mega Evolution, with the limit of one Mega Evolution per team removed. For example, Sablenite Corviknight would have Magic Bounce for its ability, and it would get +10 Attack, +50 Defense, +20 Special Attack, +50 Special Defense, and -30 Speed.

Rules:

  • The tournament will be played using the official Mix and Mega format
  • Current-gen Uber clauses apply
  • Dynamax is disabled
  • You can only use one of each mega stone per team
  • Most Uber Pokemon can't mega evolve
  • Beedrillite, Blazikenite, Gengarite, Kangashkanite, Mawilite, Medichamite, and Pidgeotite are banned
  • Calyrex-Shadow, Kyogre, and all Zacian forms are banned
  • Moody and Shadow Tag are banned
  • Electrify and Baton Pass are banned

For the full list of rules and mechanics, as well as a list of commonly used Pokemon, go here. For usage statistics, go here. For more information about the metagame, such as the viability rankings and speed tiers, go here.

Miscellaneous:

  • Double elimination bracket
  • Matchups will be played as best of 3 sets
  • Seeding will be determined based on the participant's Elo in Mix and Mega. People that are unranked in Mix and Mega will be seeded below randomly. Participants need to use the Showdown account they send for seeding in tournament matches for verification that it's them.
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You should be able to challenge other people to Mix and Mega via command if they remove it from the list of OM. If Showdown! removes it/doesn’t host it directly anymore, servers like Dragon Heaven/the OM server will probably have it as they workshop and host OMs and their code there. :P

This links to all resources for Gen 8 M&M, including viability rankings: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/mix-and-mega-resources.3659028/
Is this simply the MnM format or do you have some changes..?
3 votes

The Noobs vs Pros

Do all of you remember the time we were beginners to competitive battling? When we used to use goddamn RU Pokemon in Ubers, because they were our "favorites". Well, this is tournament is made to celebrate just that.

Players will be divided into two teams, so this tournament has to have an even number of players. The two teams will be the "Pros" and the "Noobs" (or the the "Amateurs", if you want to be civil). Both teams will have equal number of players, and each player will play a match against a member of the opposing team. After each participant has played a match, whichever team's players has won more matched, that teams will win the tournament. There will be no individual winners. In case of a tie, there will be 3 tiebreaker matches, and whichever team wins two wins the tourney. This tournament HAS to be played in a Smogon format, and all the rules and clauses of that format apply. Now, here's the twist. Players in Team Amateur can only use Pokemon from a tier below the tier the tournament is being played in. For example, if the tier is being played in OU, members from Team Amateur can only use Pokemon from UU and below. To balance things up, members of Team Professionals can only use five Pokemon. BL Pokemon are shifted to the tier above them, so UUBL Pokemon are considered OU Pokemon.

You can change the team names if you want, and the one match each player plays can be changed to First to Two. Hope you like it!

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So I'm guessing that it can't be played in ZU? Also, what if there's an odd number of people who sign up?
Can the professionals use 5 Pokemon? I think 4 is too unbalanced.
We can have a poll or something if this idea is selected as the tour idea, but I guess having five Pokemon shouldn't be a problem
NFE and LC are lower tiers that ZU
Is the title supposed to be 'Noob vs Proa' or 'Noob vs Pros'?
3 votes

The Ban Happy Tournament

The rules for this tournament are simple. When you win a game, you can ban any Pokemon. You can also ban something on sign up. The bans come into effect the round after the current one. So if you ban something after a game of Round 1, it can't be used Round 2. Of course, you can't use any of the banned Pokemon for the remainder of the tournament, and if you do, you're disqualified. You can ban a Pokemon, item, or ability. The format should be Gen 8 OU (or the most recent generation). It should probably be single elimination due to the nature of this tournament, but if enough people want it double elimination is an option.

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What about the players choosing their ban when they sign-up, so that the r1 match also has some bans? And ig allowing to ban items would be pretty nice too, some items are a pain lole.
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/anything-goes-ban-happy-tournament-round-4-see-post-98.3691589/

If you're posting this idea from a Smogon tour post then wouldn't the rules be same? Also being able to ban items and abilities is much better, and is done same in the original same tour.
I haven't actually looked at the rules for that, I just saw the title and thought this would be an interesting idea.

To specify, the bans come into effect the next round, so if you ban something when you win Round 1, it gets banned Round 2.

For items, I figured that since there's not a ton items that are viable, so it could get really restricting after a few rounds. While restriction is the point of the tournament, I feel like banning items might be too much. Now that I think of it it's not that big of a deal, and is probably fine.

As for banning on sign up, that makes sense.
Can we also ban moves?
No, just Pokemon. Banning moves seem a bit too powerful.
Banning moves would make the tournament more interesting. A lot of standard OU strategies would still work if we ban only Pokemon and nothing else.
I agree -- banning moves wouldn't be much of an issue and would make the tournament more engaging. With items + moves banned (in the latter rounds), the metagame would change significantly making it a fun experience to teambuild for the tour.
In that case, okay.
3 votes

Rainbow Tournament

Basically, the opposite of Staka~’s Color Clash Tournament. No two Pokémon on a team can share a Pokedex color.

OU with a few bans.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ban List

I think it's time to edit this.

Shinies (they are too confusing, and I stand by it)

Castform

Cherrim

Zen Mode Darmanitan (not Galarian)

Standard OU Bans

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Credits to NebbyY for helping me with the bans. Thank you! :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now, for the rest of the rules.

16 people may participate, though more or less can work.

Colors should be decided by looking at the [Bulbapedia page][1], not as a guess.

There will be standard elimination rounds, nothing fancy like teams.

Have fun! :D

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So this is my first tournament suggestion.... hope it’s good! :D

side note - this was directly copied and pasted from my original suggestion, so I apologize if some parts are out of context.

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3 votes

SS Monothreat

Monothreat is the moniker for a Monotype format when two players intentionally bring the same type against each other. Given that both players are using the same type, they can build around very specific threats and run Pokémon that counter their own type. Essentially, you can think of it as regular Monotype, but both players agree to bring the same type beforehand. The premise is quite simple, but the amount of innovation and trickery involved is not.

Each Monothreat type forms a metagame within itself, so the format can be daunting to begin playing. Due to how teams are built, it is common to see Pokémon in Monothreat that you would otherwise not see in regular Monotype, such as Tsareena on Grass or Galarian Rapidash on Fairy. Building for Monothreat tests the boundaries of a Pokémon's movepool and rewards Pokémon that can fulfil a particular niche, even if it is otherwise subpar in regular formats. An example is Tauros, which is A rank in Monothreat but unranked in Monotype because it is the fastest Normal-type that has Close Combat and a relatively high Attack. Ultimately, Monothreat revolves around creative problem solving and resourcefulness to gain an advantage against your opponent because, as many players say, a Monothreat game can be won or lost in the teambuilder, so being detailed-oriented is key!

On the whole, I feel divided about what generation this would be best in. SS brought many new prominent Pokémon, items, and mechanics that differentiate it from SM, but, arguably, we lost just as much, if not more, along the way. Monotype was hit hard by the loss of certain threats and mechanics, but Monothreat specifically feeds off a plethora of Pokémon options and their movepools to respond to centralizing threats through creative avenues. For SS, it is the most popular generation at the moment and the playerbase is relatively more into SS than SM or even NatDex.

NatDex in itself has a lot of arguments and notable benefits. Pokémon and moves that are not transferrable between SM and SS would only benefit the metagame because a lot of important Pokémon play significant roles that aren't fulfilled by any other Pokémon. Nearly every type in SM had an S-ranked Mega Evolution, further epitomising their impact and usability.

The loss of moves also plays an important role because Monothreat feeds off movepool depth and versatility. Hidden Power single-handedly keeps Pokémon such as Ferrothorn and Scizor, two notable SS defensive walls in Grass and Bug, respectively, at bay. Even lesser-seen moves such as Signal Beam will only strengthen the possibilities available. When two same types are facing each other, it becomes crucial to have coverage to hit the opponent as hard as possible.

Regular Monotype rules would apply. To decide a type beforehand, players would either converse through wall posts or by commenting on the tournament threat. Each player would have to list three of their preferable types, which would make the process of choosing a type smooth.

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3 votes

The Database's Draft League
I've heard telltale of Pokemon Draft Leagues and seeing this here thread and the fact that the database hosts tourneys, it gave me an idea. Draft Leagues in definition, ask you to draft a certain number of Pokemon, while staying within the points range that everyone is given. The catch for this particular one does not come in the drafting, but in the builds for each mon. For example, you could draft an Azumarill for let's say 16 points of however many you would get to begin with. But you have to use any current movesets provided in the pokebase I actually have one for Azumarill among others so I'll also point out that none of the chosen mons can use your own posted answer. You can use any of the others, just not one with your name plastered on it. Usually alloted 120 points to draft 9-11 Pokemon but I do not remember the battle format whether it's singles 3v3, doubles 4v4 or a full 6v6 battle (unlikely to be the last one). The best format is 16 player draft pool and single or double elimination could work depending on the devs decision. Bo3 for sure because it's more fun that way. That concludes my idea. Let's see this happen

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That could definitely be fun. What about if we made a upvote threshold, where any movesets above a certain number of upvotes are banned, to make the games a bit funnier?
The most up-to-date movesets are often the ones with 0 or 1 votes.
2 votes

Types (Japanese: タイプ Type) are properties for Pokémon and their moves.

This can mean only one thing.
Monotype Tournament (but with moves)
Each team used in this tournament must have a designated type, and every member of that team must know at least one attack move of the designated type. If a Pokemon knows more than 2 attack moves, then at least 2 of them must be of the designated type.

Random technicalities:
The tournament is subject to OU rules.
Hidden power is treated as the Pokemon's hidden power type rather than normal type.
Judgement and multi attack are treated as the user's type if used by Arceus* or Silvally while holding a plate or memory.
Nothing else (not even abilities like aerilate) have any effect on the legality of a move, because those effects can be nullified during battle. You can take advantage of this, for example, by using Pinsir on a normal team (assuming Pinsir doesn't get banned anytime soon).
After each battle, the winner must enter "!showteam" (debatable).

*This rule has a tiny chance of becoming relevant someday if Arceus is ever un-banned.

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How will you prevent the players from "cheating", as in loading less than one/two attack of the designated type? Also what Gen OU, and Arceus isn't going to get unbanned from any 3DS OU Gen.
I unfortunately can't think of a way to prevent players from putting 3 different types of attacks on a Pokemon and using only 2 of them. However, the chance of gaining any real advantage from this kind of cheating is not very likely, so I don't think we need to worry too much about it.
Also all tournaments are played using the newest generation unless specified otherwise.
You can make it a rule for both the players to use the "!showteam" command at the end of each match so that the "cheating" is prevented.
2 votes

The Rental Tourney

I don't know much about competitive battling so I've added no rules or anything. The public can debate that.

At the end of each round, the victor of each pairing copies their losing opponent's team exactly for the next round. They are given no tips on how to use the team, and they are not allowed to edit the team in anyway to suit themselves.

I hope it doesn't screw up the DB. :D

originally suggested by Indigo

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So you're supposed to make your own team r1, and after that copy your opponent's team if they lost? And how would this be implemented in double elimination?
If we decide to do double elimination, I think we should make players switch teams after each battle. So if you move to the loser's bracket, you take the team used by the person who just defeated you.
2 votes

Monotype + Monoitem Tourney

All the Pokemon on your team must hold the same held item as well as share the same type.

Additional Rules:
Standard Gen 9 Monotype rules
Best of Three/First to Two wins
Preferably double elimination
Save replays of battles (please provide replays publicly if possible)
Any number of players
Allowed to edit team between tournament rounds

Bans:
Trick, Switcheroo, Thief, Covet, Bestow, Bug Bite, Pickpocket, Magician (forbidden from getting a different item in any way)

Taken from legacy tournament thread

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Is Knock Off also banned or no?
no, that just removes the item, while all the other bans either swap items or take an opposing mons item and gives it to your pokemon. anything that removes an item without taking it for yourself is fair game
I don't see why you need to ban item changes when Monotype doesn't ban type changes.
2 votes

Mono-Gen Tournament

Gen 1

Vs.
Gen 7

Welcome all to Mono-Gen Tournament, where your team can only be Pokémon introduced in the Gen you choose. This should greatly change team building. This will be played in NatDex OU. The members of your team, however, can learn any moves and abilities that they can learn in later Gens. They also can hold items from later generations. This helps give older Gens a better advantage.

Rules:

  • NatDex OU clauses

Bans:

  • Terastillizing
  • Mega-Evolving
  • Z-Moves
  • NatDex Uber Pokémon

That’s it from me. I’m open to suggestions. I’m especially suspicious of Gen 7 and all their Ultra Beasts. An Ultra Beast ban or limit to one Ultra Beast clause maybe.

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Call it "only Gen 8/9" so we can have a Gen 9 OU tournament.
When I release the poll you can vote for a standard OU tournament.
the gen 2 hate is gonna be crazy
1 vote

Doubles Hackmons
I was wondering how it would be like to play hackmons in a doubles format. It would be nice for all of us to see how all of this will work out. You can switch teams between battles. If someone disconnects the battle must be redone but if this happens twice the opponent may take the win. It will work EXACTLY like balanced hackmons but it is doubles not singles. Any number of participants. Double elimination.

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1 vote

After hearing about things like monotype, monocolor/monochrome, and mono-generation, I decided to make a total rip-off of these ideas and post this answer.

Mono-egg group
It'll be a latest generation OU singles tournament, except all Pokemon on a team must share at least one egg group. Undiscovered counts as one egg group.

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This seems like the perfect excuse to use a team entirely made up of Ditto.
Species clause is still a thing.
1 vote

ORAS OU Theorymons

"Man, Moltres would be so good in OU if it weren't for Stealth Rock. Can you imagine how good it would be if it got Magic Guard?"

"Empoleon's my favourite, but it's too bad it's not so useful. Wouldn't it be cool if it had a good ability?"

We've all had those thoughts at one point or another. Sometimes certain Pokémon aren't viable no matter how hard you try. However, some just need a slight push in the right direction. This is where the OU theorymon meta comes in! OU theorymon is a metagame which allows the usage of Pokémon with little to zero viability in OU by giving them extra moves, abilities or typing that they didn't have. This would make them roughly more viable in OU and would allow them to compete with other titans in the metagame.

Currently, the SS OU theorymon project is underway and not finished. It's unstable, and one of the worst spin-offs of the OU metagame. USM did not have a theorymon pet mod, and so the only generation left is ORAS. I feel that the ORAS OU theorymon is the most balanced, if we compare it with the other generations, so the gen which I'm leaning towards for this is Gen 6 OU.

Please note that we wouldn't be theorymoning! We would be using the slate set by the theorymon council members already. The archive along with a few sample teams can be found here. We can either use regular ORAS OU Pokémon and these buffed Pokémon. Any edits/suggestions outside of these would not be entertained.

re: changing types
To apply custom types to any Pokémon (outside the coded typings), a custom server is required. Would the Pokébase server count? I do not know. Without it, the types can be changed through camomons. (It would require a custom code. I've tried and tested it before, and it does work like it is intended to.) But it would put some restrictions in place, as the Pokémon outside the archive can't change their types. Wouldn't be too heavy, outside perhaps Heatran and Landorus-T.

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edited by
1 vote

Name: ADV OU Ladder tournament

Rules
1.This is a ladder tournament that will be held on the regular PS! Gen 3 OU Ladder.
2. You must make an fresh account on PS! starting with a prefix followed by your name on Pokemon DB(or an abbreviation of it). If the prefix is ALT, I could for example make an account and sign up with the prefix ALT Cdijk21. The prefix for the tournament will be declared if/when the tour starts.
3. You have a week to ladder. The top 8 players on Gen 3 OU Ladder with the Prefix will be selected for Playoffs.
4. The Playoffs will be single elimination, first to 2 wins.
5. If there are any questions about this tournament, feel free to send me a wall post.
6. All standard Gen 3 OU rules apply to this tournament.
7. You are allowed to change teams between games during a Playoffs.

If you're new to Gen 3, I reccomend one of these teams for ladderring: https://www.smogon.com/roa/?format=gen3ou.
The Top 3 are best suited for beginners.
This article is a great resource for ADV Teambuilding: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/adv-ou-teambuilding-strategy-archetypes-and-cores-a-data-driven-approach.3654874/.

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edited by
Not really into the idea of forcing participants to ladder to have a chance of playing. It would heavily decrease participation as many participants don't have the time for ladder matches.
Playing on the ladder is easier than scheduling for people who have minor issues with playing or a bigger issue with timezones. This offers a new perspective on how we're going about tournaments right now, not a bad idea per se. I don't think this'll decrease participation heavily.

Laddering is too easy for most OU formats anyways.
ADV OU has a pretty good ladder once you get past the 1200s. It'd be cool to see more activity on it, and I think it'd be more friendly to newcomers to play on the ladder. Low ladder has a ton on Ninjask pass and BP stuff last I checked, make sure to carry a phazer.
I do agree that playing on ladder is easier than scheduling, but issues arise when either the format is too non-famous and has a dead ladder (eg. a RBY OU tour); or is too famous, ending up with a lot of participants, and requiring participants to play a lot of ladder to get to top 8 (eg. last year's SS OU tour, which had ~25 participants). Both situations would decrease participation, though we can sort out which formats are better with ladder and which with normal schedules.
ADV OU is a fairly active ladder. Most of the time, you can find games in around ~10 seconds of searching.  I think it's pretty ladder tour friendly, it's neither too popular nor unpopular.
Sounds good then. I was initially worried because I did BW OU ladder a couple of months ago and matches started taking upwards of 5 mins to find at 1200+.
GSC and BW OU ladders are somewhat inactive, but all other OU ladders are easy to find games on in my experience.
If anyone wants teams for laddering or advice on ADV, send me a wall post.