The Sunshine Cup of GBL

The eventual closure of the Silph Arena means that Go Battle League or GBL will likely become the most prominent furnisher of PvP formats for a good amount of time, at least until something else that most of the community can rally behind comes up. For now, GBL has done just that - furnished another format - as the season in Pokémon Go carries on. And it seemingly brings at least a little (more) light into what seems to be a gloomy time.

As in the title, the format is called the Sunshine Cup. The Pokémon that are allowed to be used in this format have to be of the types of Normal, Fire, Grass, and Ground. This is equivalent to the types that are boosted in Sunny weather plus the Normal type... or to make an analogy to Silph Arena, it's the Ember theme with Normal in place of Electric. There is also one small restriction: Charizard is banned, obviously as its "firepower" has been proven too great.

Unfortunately, it seems that Fire types in general are not having a strong showing in its rankings either, with only two species breaking the top 20 and the rest being below that. Instead, nearly half of that top 20 is occupied by Normal-type Pokémon, many of which have the Flying type. That automatically casts out most Grass types as well and necessitates the entry of Ground types (some with Rock types) to hold back the Flying cavalcade.

Furthermore, the above situation is also reflected in the teams. Nearly all of the top teams have at least one Flying-type Pokémon, with the greatest offender being Noctowl (#2 in the rankings); the rule of thumb seems to be "pick Noctowl, then pick two counters". Thus, some have taken to call this format the "Noctowl Cup" in stark contrast to its bright intent. All of the teams follow a design both to include and to counter Noctowl.

Looking at the above, it seems that the format attempted to "shine" but it instead became a "flop" in the same way that Fighting Cup did, except this time with a restriction that should have been present, that of eliminating Flying types. This would obviously include and still allow the Charizard ban to be fulfilled as above, while allowing the other types (especially Grass) to have time in the spotlight against other species.

While the Sunshine Cup does coincide with a less-than-bright happening, as the start of the demise of a popular community PvP furnisher, it does attempt to introduce its own brightness, even if that brightness seems dulled by the situation and its own quirks. Yet it may be the hope that both can shine again brightly at another time, perhaps even in some modified form, as they are and were meant to be.

One year ago: The New Structure of Factions

Two years ago: Quickies: Bike for Pokémon

Three years ago: Everything Is Electric

Four years ago: A Wonderful PikaWorld

Five years ago: Beyond Gyms and Trials

Six years ago: A Pokémon Pencil Bag