Pokemon Cracks Down on Genned Pokemon During World Championships

Pokemon VGC players are getting hit with DQs and other penalties during the Pokemon World Championships. Many top players at the Pokemon World Championships are reporting getting disqualified or taking losses as the result of using generated or modded Pokemon during the tournament. Players at world have either had the Pokemon removed from their teams, resulting in a significant handicap in later matches, or they’ve been totally removed from the tournaments. 

The DQs at the Pokemon World Championships has reignited a common topic among competitive Pokemon players, that is the use of Pokemon generated by save-editing programs. Many players have admitted to bypassing the grind needed to make a competitive team by using these programs, despite the fact that they are illegal per VGC rules. Outside of blatant cases (such as players using Shiny locked Pokemon), enforcement of the hack rules have been inconsistent at best. Some players and fans see the decision to enforce these rules at Worlds instead of at the beginning of the next competitive cycle to be unfair, especially as most players DQed have spent thousands of dollars to attend the Pokemon World Championships in a foreign country. Others have pointed to the growing cost of building a competitive team – the current ruleset requires Pokemon from four different games (Pokemon Sword and Shield, Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, Pokemon Legends: Arceus, and Pokemon Scarlet and Violet) and the purchase of DLC to legally obtain an ideal team, not to mention the dozens of hours it takes to actually build a competitive team through either breeding or grinding to get the proper IVs and EVs on a Pokemon. Even though recent games have significantly improved the process of changing a Pokemon’s nature and IVs to make it competitive, it’s still considered to be a significant grind. However, The Pokemon Company’s ruleset regarding genned Pokemon hasn’t changed and it’s acknowledged that players with modded Pokemon on their save file (even Pokemon that they obtained through trades) is running the risk of a DQ. 

The Pokemon World Championships are still ongoing, with the finals set to take place on August 13th.