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Old 06-07-2018, 10:14 PM   #1
Talon87
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VGC 2019 - Schedule and Prizes

The VGC 2019 schedule was posted today, and right off the bat you can see some curious shake-ups to the pretty regular calendar we've had since 2013. (Compare against 2018's schedule.)
Same as last year:
Dallas, TX
Collinsville, IL (near St. Louis, MO)
Madison, WI

Changes from last year:
Hartford, CT got pushed back from late September to early May. (+7 months)
Daytona Beach, FL got pushed back from early October to late April. (+6˝ months)
Memphis, TN got kicked up from mid-December to early October. (-2 months)
Portland, OR got kicked up from late March to late October. (-5 months)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada got kicked up from mid-May to mid-March and slightly relocated to nearby Brampton. (-2 months)
Roanoke, VA got kicked up from late May to Thanksgiving Weekend. O_o (-6 months)

Deletions from last year:
Fort Wayne, IN
Richmond, BC, Canada
San Jose, CA
Costa Mesa, CA
Charlotte, NC
Salt Lake City, UT

New additions:
Oaks, PA (pretty darn close to NYC)
Anaheim, CA
Greensboro, NC
Denver, CO
Santa Clara, CA
I feel I should point out that the website does say, "Below you will find the location and dates for most of the Regionals in North America and Europe." But I think the additions and deletions are fairly balanced -- a net loss of one city, Fort Wayne #rip -- so we're probably not going to get more than this.

As for prizes, they've actually held off publishing those for right now. So I guess this will just have to be a placeholder thread until we get that information at a later date. I know that the entry fees for VGC events have become quite the controversy with players advancing arguments on either side, so the prizes are almost certainly going to be determined once TPCi makes a final decision on this year's entry fees.

This is the biggest shakeup I've seen in a long while. Normally I feel like the cities that get added or dropped number only two to three between seasons, not five to six. Furthermore, cities that aren't dropped tended to have soft locks on their dates. Like, Fort Wayne was always early autumn; St. Louis was always mid-winter; Madison was always last of season; and so on. But this time we're seeing a crapton of Musical Chairs taking place. Some people are going to be going 18+ months between their VGC 2018 regional and their VGC 2019 one, while others are going to be whiplashed into re-entering less than six months after their last brouhaha.
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Old 08-29-2018, 02:03 PM   #2
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They've released the rules for VGC 2019. Copy-pasting from Trainer Tower:

Spoiler: show
VGC '19 (Generic)
  • To play VGC 2019, either of the following most be used:
    1. Pokemon Ultra Sun's or Pokemon Ultra Moon's VGC 2019 downloadable rules in Festival Plaza for the appropriate series, or
    2. When permitted, the appropriate series' VGC 2019 format on Pokemon Showdown
  • Species clause (No two Pokemon on a team may share a National Pokedex number)
  • Item clause (No two Pokemon on a team may share the same item)
  • Pokemon must have been obtained in Generation VII (display the black clover in the summary screen)
  • All Pokemon are allowed, excluding the banned Pokemon listed below and at most two of the restricted Pokemon listed below
  • Pokemon are autoleveled to level 50
  • A player's team cannot contain two Pokemon with the same nickname
  • A player's team cannot contain a Pokemon nicknamed with the name of another Pokemon (e.g. a Dhelmise nicknamed "Trevenant")
  • Pokemon may only use moves currently obtainable in Generation VII (e.g. Light Of Ruin Smeargle is disallowed)
The following Pokemon are disallowed in VGC 2019: Battle Bond Greninja, Mew, Celebi, Jirachi, Deoxys, Phione, Manaphy, Darkrai, Shaymin, Arceus, Victini, Keldeo, Meloetta, Genesect, Diancie, Hoopa, Volcanion, Magearna, Marshadow, and Zeraora

Up to two of these Pokemon are allowed per team in VGC 2019: Mewtwo, Lugia, Ho-Oh, Kyogre, Groudon, Rayquaza, Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, Reshiram, Zekrom, Kyurem, Xerneas, Yveltal, Zygarde, Cosmog, Cosmoem, Solgaleo, Lunala, and Necrozma

VGC '19 - Sun Series (September 4, 2018 - January 7, 2019)
  • The following items are disallowed: Red Orb, Blue Orb, all Z-crystals, and all Mega Stones.
  • The combination of Rayquaza + Dragon Ascent is disallowed.
VGC '19 - Moon Series (January 8, 2019 - April 1, 2019)
  • The following items are disallowed: Red Orb, Blue Orb, Ultranecrozium Z, and all Mega Stones.
  • The combination of Rayquaza + Dragon Ascent is disallowed.
VGC '19 - Ultra Series (April 2, 2019 - Worlds)
  • All released items and moves are legal.

As you can see, it's three different formats across the year. The autumn will be one format with the most restrictions, the winter a second format with fewer restrictions, and the spring & summer a third format with the fewest restrictions.

Personal thoughts:

Spoiler: show
I'm not a big fan of them splitting up the format like this. Hardercore players I imagine will complain about the shorter format lengths that interfere with getting proficient. Casual players, I imagine, will be disappointed to learn that they now have to make three different teams per season without cheating instead of just one. And then there's geography. Lots of players wait for VGC to come to their neck of the woods before they compete, because they can't afford to be flying or driving cross-country every three months. For example, someone who lives in Missouri might only ever attend the Winter Regional held near St. Louis and that's it for them. But now this year, you're splitting the format in three while keeping the number of events hosted locally the same. So now if someone can only attend St. Louis, they can only participate in the Winter '19 format -- even if they would have preferred to have built a team that was Worlds (Summer '19)-compatible.

But I also can see why they did this. After the introduction of the primals and Mega Rayquaza, it became very obvious to everyone what VGC 2019 was going to look like if TPCi stuck to their tradition of "every third year, we do the no-holds-except-for-mythicals format." Worlds was gonna be -- is still probably going to be -- nothing but Primal Groudons, Primal Kyogres, Mega Rayquazas, and Ultra Necrozmas running rampant. By creating the Fall '18 and Winter '19 formats that they have made, they've effectively banned players from using any of these four Pokémon -- and thereby given a chance to the other, lesser legendaries to compete.

Rather surprising that the Fall '18 format opts to not only ban mega stones and Hoenn orbs but also prohibits the use of Z-Crystals. For a season intended to promote SMUSUM, that seems like a really weird choice. Of course they're back by Winter, but still. That makes Fall '18 potentially the most interesting of the metas on the horizon. We'll see!
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Old 09-04-2018, 07:21 AM   #3
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Hearing worlds was gonna be in DC made me want to try competing this year, but I personally despise these "Uber's year" formats because hello meta run on Undiscovered Egg Group. Can we just once have a meta where Undiscovered egg group just isn't allowed period save things that have no goddamn business being there like Nidoqueen? Just one meta where everything can be bred for IVs rather than soft reset thousands of times or hyper trained? Please and thanks.
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Old 09-06-2018, 03:00 AM   #4
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There's a lot of broken exclusive Z-Moves that I can see would complicate things. That Fall format is like, a throwback to pre-ORAS Gen VI. I wonder if Kyogre is going to rule the oceans again?

It would be nice if people appreciated regular Kyogre and realized Primal sucks, but I think people will be scrambling for the Blue Orb as soon as it's unbanned anyway.
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Old 09-06-2018, 05:21 PM   #5
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I...what? Primal Kyogre is a flat stat up from regular, and while primordial sea is for sure the less useful of the primal weathers at least for its bearer alone, it is now the only way to have (theoretically) permanent rain, which is huge in Doubles. PKyo doesn't get new weaknesses or anything. It just gets better stats and a fantastically abusable Ability. There's a reason everyone will race for Blue Orb once its unbanned.
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Old 09-07-2018, 03:50 AM   #6
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No, Primal Kyogre sucks.

Of the 100 point boost from Blue Orb, 50 points went into attack, which is wasted on Kyogre because it has a limited physical movepool to take advantage of it. Physical Primal Kyogre hits less hard than special Primal Kyogre, in part because the strongest physical water attack available to it has 85 BP, while the strongest special moves are 110/150. It can also be burned through Primordial Sea with Will-O-Wisp, crippling the physical build.

150/180 Atk and SpA lineup almost perfectly with the damage output of regular Kyogre using a Life Orb. And regular Kyogre has the option of Specs and Scarf which give it the ability to outdo Primal Kyogre in damage.

It basically boils down to Primordial Sea overriding Mega Charizard Y's Drought, but needing Primal Kyogre on the field to maintain that rain is limiting, for the reasons above. Even if Ferrothorn + Primal Kyogre is a nice combo, I'd rather have two other Pokemon in the rain together considering how one dimensional Primal Kyogre is.
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Old 09-08-2018, 12:30 PM   #7
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Except to match or PKyo, regular has to use items that severely limit its survivability and staying power. Being choice locked kind of sucks as a water type, especially one with Thunder access, and Life Orb damage isn't fun in a format where it is far easier to accrue damage.
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Old 09-08-2018, 03:47 PM   #8
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Quote:
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Except to match or PKyo, regular has to use items that severely limit its survivability and staying power. Being choice locked kind of sucks as a water type, especially one with Thunder access, and Life Orb damage isn't fun in a format where it is far easier to accrue damage.
Not true.

0 SpA Choice Specs Kyogre Origin Pulse vs. 240 HP / 0 SpD Arceus in Rain: 324-382 (73.4 - 86.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Kyogre-Primal Origin Pulse vs. 240 HP / 0 SpD Arceus in Heavy Rain: 324-382 (73.4 - 86.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Primal Kyogre only has 256 EVs to work with now, while I have an additional 252 and the nature free to invest in both bulk and speed.

With uninvested Scarf, Kyogre can go faster than +252 Primal so the EV/nature spread is more flexible around whatever role you want Kyogre to play. I feel like this is really important because Origin Pulse hits both opponents in doubles.

With 200 EVs in Spe, 252+ SpA Scarf Kyogre is as fast as Ash-Greninja. Mega Charizard Y and most Groudon can't switch in: Mega Charizard Y is still 2HKO in the Sun even with the 25% damage reduction, while only max special bulk Groudon avoids the 3HKO.
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Old 09-08-2018, 04:55 PM   #9
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Primal Kyo is better in Doubles because it allows you to use the defensive benefits of Heavy Rain to greater effect, mainly the Fire immunity.

Normal Kyogre would be better if Water Gem existed, but alas, it doesn't, so. The boost in power from Blue Orb as well as the extra special bulk are still pretty important. imo
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Old 09-08-2018, 05:05 PM   #10
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Regular kyogre needs airlock / cloud nine to properly function in an orb meta. Pdon face rolls it. This makes Pogre much more self efficient in the vast majority of cases.

That's not to discredit regular kyogre. Rayogre preformed very well for a reason. But I must say, your calcs and input don't make sense. While you're likely using arceus as a flat line for damage comparison, it's worth noting that arceus isn't legal, and most things don't have arceus bulk in the format. Frankly, 252 modest is a waste of EVs on primal Kyo, with you being able to accomplish what you need in much less. I'm also confused about your remark with ash greninja and char-y: one isn't legal at all, making it an irrelevant comparison, while the other wasn't used in 16, and likely won't see use in moon+.

As a final note, all of your points against primal Kyogre seem to ignore pdon existing, with you calcing for base Groudon. Theory crafting and number calcs are all good and fine, but you need to consider the meta and other forces.
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