Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's first official ranked series has been announced alongside an updated competitive ruleset for Pokemon's ninth generation. With Pokemon Scarlet and Violet having introduced a large amount of strong Pokemon to the franchise, several of them have also been banned in the name of fairness.
Pokemon's Video Game Championship (VGC) is the franchise's official competitive format, with world championships having been held annually since 2009 using this ruleset and several smaller tournaments held throughout the year allowing players to accrue enough points to make an appearance on the world stage. The ruleset and banlist for the format changes with each new Pokemon generation, mostly due to new mechanics such as Mega Evolution and, more recently, the Terastal Phenonemon of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet.
The first competitive season for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet will commence from December 2, 2022, to January 31, 2023, and will only allow players to use Pokemon found within the Paldean Pokedex. Both singles and doubles formats remain mostly unchanged from the previous generation, with both singles and doubles formats allocating players 10 minutes of time, 60 seconds to pick their roster in team preview, and 60 seconds to make a decision each turn. Pokemon above level 50 also have their level reduced to this cap for the duration of the battle. As usual, players with Pokemon Scarlet and Violet will be able to take part in this Ranked Battle Series by battling players through the game's online ranked battle feature. The major changes brought about by this new format can be found in its initial banlist, which consists of some of the strongest Pokemon of the new generation.
While some unofficial competitive circuits such as Smogon previously banned some Paradox Pokemon due to their absurd strength in singles battles, Pokemon's official format has taken things a step further by adding every single Paradox Pokemon, both past and future, to the format's initial banlist. Currently banned alongside them are the Ruinous Quartet, consisting of Ting-Lu, Chien-Pao, Wo-Chien, and Chi-Yu, and box Legendaries Koraidon and Miraidon. Despite these sizable bans, there are currently no restrictions pertaining to Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's Terastal Phenomenon mechanic, allowing players of the format to freely use it on any member of their team, at any time.
With the first official Pokemon Ranked Battle Series of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet set to kick off on December 2, 2022, it is likely that, as with Pokemon Sword and Shield's own Battle Series, the banlist will be allowed to develop alongside the meta. What this means is that, despite being gone for now, Pokemon currently not allowed in the format may be permitted entry in the future. For the time being, however, players will have to focus on building synergistic teams in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet without relying on the raw power offered by the base stats of Paradox and Legendary Pokemon.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are available now on Nintendo Switch.
