The Fighting Cup of GBL

GBL has its role in introducing new formats, as I discussed earlier for a "format of the season". Of those formats, it may be considered rare that an introduced format turns out to be a "flop" in a way. That seems to be the case for a newly introduced format since last week, coinciding with a special event (and which today is the final day for the format itself). It may be symbolic of a certain struggle that one has to strive for (even as a certain "flop"), and appropriately enough, it's called the Fighting Cup.

For this format, Fighting-type Pokémon are involved. They may or may not have a secondary type, but any Pokémon with the Fighting type as one of its types is fair game. The only exception is the Psychic type, which is definitely a counter for this type and for which the offender is the ever-popular Medicham; the type (and effectively that Pokémon) are banned from this format. The rest is for Trainers to contrive to set themselves apart... or perhaps to try to stay in line with the others, as will be evident shortly.

One of the reasons for that is that some of the top contenders are quite uncommon. Hakamo-o is the topmost of them, but its family has been hardly encountered and is therefore lacking in accessibility. The same goes for Sneasler, which is only gotten through Hisuian Sneasel and thus the preceding Hisuian Discoveries event, also a rare one. Toxicroak is the most common, most accessible, and most versatile contender, and it only gets more or less more common from there... or maybe not.

The "flop" is that because of the above, this format is rather lopsided; one can see Toxicroak dominating, with only a handful of the others making things "spicy". As such, since the format is demanding for both keeping up and differentiating, one of my PvP fellows actually recommended not to deal with this cup and to go with straight pure Great League, which is available until the season ends as the month ends. Fortunately, that shouldn't be a problem as today is the last day anyhow.

Even with the format being a "flop" for what it is, the thought process behind it and its inclusion is still notable in some ways. The sole banning for the format fulfills the consideration of what really works, though it seemingly just moved dominance from one species to another. The struggle is as evident in the name of the format as it is for preparing for it, and that may be the least of anyone's worries. It still remains as real as the spirit of any new format that the GBL chooses to introduce for prospective Trainers.

One year ago: Flashback to a "Voice Chaos"

Two years ago: Real Fights Over Imaginary Battles?

Three years ago: Cosplay: B-Bunkasai 2019 - Orihime to Hikoboshi no Monogatari

Four years ago: Trainers and Musicians Alike

Five years ago: Pokkén Downturn?