Made (Deep) in Obsidian

Obsidian is a kind of rock that is deep black in color; looking at it, one could almost be looking into an abyss (ahem). For Pokémon fans around the world, their "abyss" ("rabbit hole") is how the franchise has developed over the course of a quarter century and more, particularly the creatures that bear the name. It's one that any fan would be willing to jump into and explore. In fact, that may be exactly what the Silph Arena wants its competing Trainers to do, as "Obsidian" is the title of the themed cup this month.

In line with the characteristic of the substance that gives the themed cup its title, the restrictions for it consist of "black inkblots on paper"; in other words, they all consist of bans. Any Pokémon with the types of Grass, Flying, Ground, Fighting, and Fairy are not allowed. Shadow Pokémon, with their naturally black characteristic, are also not allowed, as are Mega Evolutions by standard protocol. Finally, the specific species of Lickitung, Vigoroth, Registeel, Pachirisu, and Bastiodon also cannot be used. That's a lot of "inkblots" for a themed cup, which is something that's usually more positive in restrictions.

From those "inkblots", though, a few Pokémon have the chance to stand up to many of the remaining ones. The key four types are Water, Rock, Bug, and Dark, as the types that have the most interactions. Select species for these are Politoed, Regirock, Galvantula, and Umbreon. The third of these has the Electric type and might be useful to counter Water types. An alternative Dark-type Pokémon is Sableye, which has the Ghost type and may be useful against Psychic types, one of which is the perennial favorite of Deoxys Defense Form. A good Steel-type - for example, Escavalier - ought to be useful as a buffer as well.

Thanks to its development notes, the inner perspective regarding the themed cup can be obtained. The intent of the themed cup is to allow Trainers to choose Pokémon that can easily fend off certain others (the "hard counters" to them). Forcing entire types to be removed prevents them from being too advantageous - most likely from a STAB framework - and forcing the five species above to be absent prevents others from gaining dominance in order to counter those very species, while forcing Shadow Pokémon to be absent levels out the battlefield in other ways; this last objective is essentially the overall grand objective.

Pokémon Go PvP hasn't been as long as the overall breadth of Pokémon species, but it presents an "abyss" all the same that Trainers may and should explore. The restrictions that are presented in this themed cup for PvP have to be thought of as encouragement to do just that, free from the problems and barriers that certain species may present. The results should be in the form of battles that not only reflect the characteristics of the dark obsidian-like abyss but also are "made (deep)" in it.

One year ago: Pokémon First-Generation Drink Bottle

Two years ago: Hope For Problematic Pokémon Fans

Three years ago: A Gold and Silver Postcard

Four years ago: Being a Pokétaku

Five years ago: I'm Swept Away