At long last, a new Silph Arena season for individual Trainers (that is, outside of the Factions team competition) is at hand. There are a number of changes for this season, most of them pertinent to making competitions flow better and workable by Trainers in different conditions and parts of the world, but I purely focus on the formats or themed cups that make the season what it is - it's just the way I've always done things. And so it is with the first themed cup that I start to cover the season.
This season's first themed cup is "Ember". And... it is exactly like the Battlefield in the current Cycle of the Factions competition. Such a situation constitutes one of the changes in this new season, which will have a few of its non-league Battlefields as themed cups, in the same fashion as (and reciprocal to) older themed cups being a part of earlier Factions Cycles as Battlefields. It's a sensible change, as others who don't play Factions (like me) or else don't specifically deal with the Battlefield can also experience them in this way. It becomes rather insightful for all Trainers who participate in Silph Arena in any case.
Just as a review, for this themed cup, Pokémon of the types of Grass, Fire, Electric, and Ground are fair game, as are eight selected species (Primeape, Poliwrath, Machamp, Honchkrow, Malamar, Alolan Muk, Sirfetch’d, Hisuian Qwilfish). The types that are not fair game are Rock, Dragon, and Steel, as well as Water with Ground (the so-called "mud boys"), and ten selected species (Nidoqueen, Ninetales, Dugtrio, Lanturn, Pachirisu, Abomasnow, Whimsicott, Stunfisk, Diggersby, and Salazzle) are also off the table, as well as Mega Evolution and Shadow. That leaves around 200 species that are presently appearing in Pokémon Go and can be selected for battle with the themed cup, though of course some will be more viable than others.
Since this themed cup has the novelty of allowing some "curated" species, certainly for reasons of balance, they should be used if at all possible within conceived teams. Speaking of those teams, each of the four primary types as above are considered essential and by themselves even form a loop of relations going from Fire to Grass to Ground to Electric and back. The key may be to determine how opposing Trainers will utilize this loop of relations and the "curated" species in battle, and then to come up with countering teams to see how things will play out during the battles.
With a new season of the Silph Arena individual Trainer competition, there comes new changes in quite a few of its aspects, and its first themed cup already shows evidence of that with the simultaneity to the Factions team competition. As I've said, the restrictions themselves are fairly simple but the teams and battles ought to be quite dynamic; that makes it perfect as a "warm-up" to the new season, one that appropriately starts off with sparks to light up the glow of a new beginning.
One year ago: Pokémon Asia Bulbasaur Mug
Two years ago: No Scans for You
Three years ago: Pokémon Statues
Four years ago: ...With Gatherings and Safari Zones for All
Five years ago: More Odd Poké-Pika Things
Six years ago: A 3DS Story
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