"If the strong and able do too much, they limit the contributions of others. The strong must show restraint. This enables everyone to live together and share responsibility."
--a veteran, Hearthome City, Pokemon Platinum Version
With that in mind, allow me to explain the
Level-balanced tier shift tournament!
Every species of Pokemon (except those with no legal abilities) is allowed, but those on higher Smogon tiers must have lower levels. Based on statistics from January 2022, these are the max levels for each tier.
ZU: 100 (MBST 494)
PU: 99 (MBST 500)
NU: 98 (MBST 507)
RU: 96 (MBST 535)
UU: 96 (MBST 505)
OU: 93 (MBST 570)
Ubers: 85 (MBST 680)
As for the details, this tournament will be set in Ubers, but use the OU banlist for abilities and moves.
Pokemon in BL tiers have the same max levels as the tier above them. (for example, UUBL Pokemon have the same max level as OU Pokemon) Pokemon below ZU have the same max level as ZU.
Light balls and Eviolites are banned.
If a generation started recently, and not all usage tiers have been out of beta for a month, then please delay this tournament until they are.
If this tournament is to happen after I leave the site, then the host is to do this to determine the max level for each tier.
Step 1: Find the right usage statstics
Go to smogon.com/stats/ and click the latest date on the page. You should now see something like
gen21ou-0.txt
gen21ou-1500.txt
gen21ou-1695.txt
gen21ou-1825.txt
for each playable tier. The numbers right before the .txt are GLICKO ratings. The higher numbers imply more experience, so you will use stats from players with the highest GLICKO rating (gen21ou-1825.txt in this case) to calculate the maximum levels.
Step 2: Calculate the median base stat total (I'll call it MBST) for each tier
These calculations involve base stat totals. If a Pokemon can enter battle in an alternate form or reliably change form on turn 1 before anything moves, then the alternate form's base stats should be used.
The MBST of a tier is the median base stat total for the first 200% of Pokemon on the statistics you just found.
Step 3: Calculate the max level for each tier
The max level for ZU will be 100. The max level for all the other tiers are given by
100 sqrt(a/b)
where a is the MBST of ZU and b is the MBST of the tier whose max level you're calculating. Round down.
If a tier's max level is lower than the max level of the tier below, then the higher tier's max level will be set to the lower tier's. For example, if the max level of OU is less than the max level of UU, then the max level of OU will be set to the max level of UU.