Battle Clauses

Most of our tournaments have the same clauses, but some additional ones may be included depending on the format being run. 

Evasion Clause

Moves with the sole purpose of increasing evasion are banned from being used, such as Double Team and Minimize.

Sleep Clause

No two Pokémon per team can be asleep at the same time. If you try to put a second Pokémon to sleep, the move will fail.

Species Clause

No two Pokémon can have the same Pokédex number on your team, or in other words, no duplicates. Forms such as Rotom, Hoopa, Landorus etc. count as the same Pokémon.

OHKO Clause

OHKO moves Fissure, Sheer Cold, Horn Drill etc. cannot activate with this rule in effect. This is as their low, unpredictable odds often are too luck based even for a typical battle.

Moody Clause

Pokémon with the ability Moody cannot be used. This is because its effect is wildly unpredictable and can boost any random stat, including Evasion, by two stages, and is widely considered uncompetitive.

Additional Rules

Shadow Tag

This ability is not allowed to be used, as it is a trap which is impossible to escape.

Arena Trap and Magnet Pull are allowed as they either have counters, or are very niche and specific in what they can trap.

Baton Pass 

This move is usually banned in our tournaments as it can be used to set up another Pokémon on the team with too few drawbacks with far too powerful a reward.

Dynamaxing 

Dynamaxing is typically banned as, like Smogon, it is considered too powerful for most tournament content we provide, which is primarily Single Battle.

We will have 12-14 tournaments in a season, ending with a Masters Tournament.

Each season will include at least two OU tournaments, and the rest are chosen by the competitive committee at random each season. 

We will state in the announcement if you must bring your own Pokémon to the tournament, or if we will be providing rental teams.

OU Tournament

The classic, vanilla tournament of PokeMC, the OU Tournament is a typical tournament here. All the normal rules apply, with no special conditions.

Rental Tournament

The Rental Tournament has players select Pokémon from a provided list of Pokémon to compile a team out of, with options swapping in and out between seasons depending on their usage rates. 

Mix Tournament

Both trainers create a team of 6 Pokémon, and before each battle, you are shown your opponent’s team. Both players select one Pokémon on the opposing team to add to their own team, effectively trading Pokémon. Pokémon are then returned after the battle. The further into this tournament you go, the more swaps are made before battle.

Little Cup

Another PokéMC favorite, players use 6 Little Cup tier Pokémon set to level 5. Little Cup consists of unevolved Pokémon, and has its own unique ban list specifically for this format. 

Generations Tournament

In this tournament, players are asked to choose a specific generation of Pokémon, and are only allowed to use Pokémon that debuted in that generation. For example, Gardevoir is considered Generation 3, but Gallade first appeared in Generation 4. 

Monotype Tournament

Monotype Tournaments are special tournaments where you can only use Pokémon which all share one specific type. Depending on the Monotype tournament, you may be able to select the type yourself, have the type chosen randomly for you, or everyone uses the same specific type. 

Metronome Tournament

A more lighthearted tournament, Metronome Tournaments are entirely luck based, as everyone uses 6 Clefable with the Protean ability, that only know Metronome. Each Clefable is also provided with a Leppa Berry. Each and every move is random and unpredictable, so anything can happen in this format!

Chaos Cup

Chaos Cup is very similar to OU, with the big exception being that Ubers are limited, but allowed in this tournament. This format is an opportunity for players to experiment with Pokémon which would otherwise be typically banned from our competitive tournaments, whilst also not feeling too imbalanced. 

Tag Team Tournament

A popular tournament created in the later half of our time on Pixelmon 1.12, Tag Team Tournaments are where two players form a team together and battle two opposing trainers. 

As a duo, you face both opponents in 1v1 OU battles. If both you and your teammate win, you’re awarded the win. If one teammate wins and the other loses, the winner from each team faces each other in a tiebreaker to see which team is awarded the overall win.

Experimental/Seasonal Tournaments

On our server we’re open to experimentation, and as such, we often create new formats for specific seasons to test what our playerbase wants to see more of, some of which come from suggestions provided by the community.

Tournaments like this happen roughly once or twice per season. These tournaments are often one off  tournaments where most rules are changed to make a unique experience compared to other formats.

For example, a traditional tournament held around November/December here is the Fire and Ice Tournament, where half your team must be Fire type, and the other half must be Ice Type.

Masters Tournament

We hold a Masters Tournament at the end of the season to crown the season champion. The format for this tournament is always OU.

To qualify, you must place top 3 in one of the tournaments in that season. 

Some tournaments, such as Metronome, do not count for Masters qualification.

The winner of the Masters Tournament is crowned the season’s Champion! 

They receive a special title, and statues of the player and their full team are added to the Masters Tournament arena to forever be remembered for their amazing achievement. 

Additional rewards will vary depending on the season, but are often considered the best possible prizes to be obtained each season on PokéMC.