Happy New Year! It’s been a while but the E4 Pokémon tournaments are finally back, this time with the eighth generation of games: Sword & Shield!
Brackets for both VGC 2021 (Series 9) and Gen 8 OU Singles will be held. Both tournaments are open to anyone on E4 with either 50 posts, previous participation in an E4 tournament or a referral from another veteran competitor.
Tournament matches will be played on Pokémon Showdown using the VGC 2021 (Series 9) Ruleset. Restricted Pokémon are not legal in this format.
Starting this tournament, we will be following the official VGC tournament format and using Swiss bracket rules. Players will compete in a number of preliminary rounds and matched against opponents with a similar record. All VGC matches will be played in a “best of 3” format where players will need to win 2 games to win their set. The players with the best win-loss records will advance to a final, single elimination bracket, while everyone else will be placed in a “Little Cup” amateurs single elimination bracket.
For more information on the Swiss bracket format, please check out this post.
Players are only allowed to bring one team of 6 for the entire bracket and are required to post their full team in this thread before their first match. These restrictions are keeping in line with how official VGC tournaments operate now. If you are entering VGC please submit your teams to me via DM before the tournament start date.
Singles matches will be played in a “Best of 3” format where the winner will need to win 2 games to advance to the next round. The tournament will be a Double Elimination bracket, meaning players that lose in the winner’s bracket will still be able to progress through the loser’s bracket. Players that do not qualify for top 8 in this tournament will be entered in a single elimination, best of three “Little Cup” bracket.
Your team (Pokémon, items, moves, EVs/IVs) must remain the same for all games within a set. However, you can swap your lead Pokémon between games. Any player that is found swapping teams between games in a set will automatically have that game count as a loss for them. You can bring a different team for each round/new opponent.
Saving Replays
Participants are required to report the results of their sets here and post replays of all their games. Refer to this post if you aren’t sure how to save replays on Pokémon Showdown.
The Swiss bracket format is the tournament style that official Pokémon VGC events use. It is different from a regular double elimination bracket and provides a fairer way of match making based on a player’s performance over the course of a tournament. Players with a similar amount of wins and losses are matched together after the first round, until a certain amount of rounds have passed (determined by number of entrants) and those with the best records are advanced to a final, single-elimination bracket.
All participants are matched up randomly. Doesn’t matter if you’re a Worlds player or a first-time tournament player. Everyone is on an even playing field.
After the first round has concluded, every player that won their set will be grouped together and every player that lost their set will be grouped together.
The players who won their first round will be randomly paired against other players who won their first round. The players who lost their first round will only be paired against other players who lost their first round.
After the second round. Players with two wins and no losses will be paired against other players with an identical record. Players with one win and one loss with be paired together, and players with two losses will only be paired with players with two losses.
This process will continue for a predetermined number of rounds. After those rounds have concluded, the players with the best win-loss records will proceed to the final, single elimination bracket and are assigned a seed based on their performance in the Swiss phase. The same will happen for those with the worst win-loss record, and they will proceed to “Little Cup”, which is also a single elimination bracket.
The tournament will conclude once there is only one player left standing.
Please post in this thread if you would like to sign up. Indicate whether you’d like to participate in Singles, VGC Doubles or both brackets.
Both tournaments are open to anyone on E4 with either 50 posts, previous participation in an E4 tournament or a referral from another veteran competitor.
Regisration will stay open until Sunday, February 1 at midnight (PDT). The tournaments will begin afterwards.
Please keep in mind you will need to build and submit a team for VGC 2021 before the tournament begins. This will be the team you will use for the entire tournament bracket. If you cannot come up with your own team, feel free to use an existing competitive team (make sure to scroll down to Series 9 teams).
i have only ever played gen 2 so i’m sure i’ll be about as challenging as a runny nose!! but tournaments need losers as well as winners so pls count me in for both brackets
Of course i will join both. But that was a lot of explanation, can you simply tell me how many teams i need to make and what option to click on showdown ?
And Ive heard good things about an incineroar main focus, how would you suggest i work an explosion into his moveset?
This is my first time I am going to participate in such competitions through E4. Are time slots coordinated by players? And is there any specific period by which the round must be completed? Also is the platform of game is showdown?
If both my doubts are cleared I am also in for both brackets. I don’t know how far can I go but I will try to put up a challenge . I will DM my teams to you by today
Edit: Ok my bad I didn’t read the complete original post. Battles are indeed in pokemon showdown. Count me in. I will try my best
Each round for VGC will be 2 weeks in length. A lot of people who enter these tournaments lead busy lives so it’s to allow everyone enough time to schedule and play their match.
not to derail but is there any chance that we horseshoe back around to the earlier gens at some future point? i have a gen2 monotype team that brings me joy and I’d love to have an excuse to use it
DDK 
cosrob 
candle/G1TLandon
Swinub
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