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[Bluerobin]

Time to get the third (annual?) Bay12 Pokemon Rivalry tournament underway! The last time this was run was about a year ago, but the rules have been tweaked and the length of the tournament has been toned down. The general idea is that the tournament mimics a playthrough of the games. You start at a low level with one unevolved Pokemon and no EVs. As you travel, you "catch" pokemon based on the routes you choose to travel down, gather items for your Pokemon to wield and, hopefully obviously, battle the other participants. There are 7 rounds of the tournament, one for each town, and watching the teams develop organically is pretty great.

By now, most of the participants have their starters chosen from a list of typically underused Pokemon. This Pokemon has the distinction of being the only member of your team that can not be traded or swapped out later in the tournament once more than 6 Pokemon are acquired. The first round begins in just a few days!

Rules are outlined below. Links to Google Docs with all of the required information will be after the spoilers, in case that's convenient.

Spoiler: Format (click to show/hide)

As mentioned above, there are 7 rounds, one for each town. In each town, all rivals will do battle against each other. Each victory scores you a point. Between each town, you are given the choice between 3 possible routes to reach the next town, and may only catch Pokemon that are on the list for that route. There will be additional challenges along the way, in the form of the Recruiter, the Team Mal Leader, and the Gate Keeper.

Spoiler: Pokemon Showdown! and Oh god what's an IV? (click to show/hide)

Battles will be held via Pokemon Showdown!, a convenient online battle platform. The sign up is free and doesn't even require an email address, all you need to do is choose a name and protect it with a password. To do so, click the "Choose name" button in the upper right, then, once you've chosen a name, click the cog to open the Options menu and click the Register button at the bottom. For everyone's convenience, keeping the name recognizable is encouraged. The Options menu also allows for you to change your avatar if you want to, as well as helping you customize your experience a bit. Our meeting place is the Tournaments room. Unless otherwise specified, the format is OU.

There are a Beginner's Guide and an FAQ in case you need more help.

Much has changed since the first generation, so here’s a short explanation on team creation, geared towards using the Pokemon Showdown! Teambuilder. To begin, click the Teambuilder button at the left in Showdown, then the New Team button. You can name the team whatever you want, but it’s best to leave the Format as (None) so that you can use it in whatever Format you need to. To start building your team, hit the Add Pokemon button. You can search using the box, then click on the one you want to add.

Details: Here you can set the level of your Pokemon, its gender, whether it's shiny or not, or it's happiness. You can click on the info pane to edit the numbers. The only thing that really matters is the level, as it gradually increases over the course of the tournament - always double check if you have set the level correctly, it can be a pain if battles need to be redone because you left a Pokemon on level 100, which is default. Shininess is irrelevant, so feel free to make some of your Pokemon shiny. Changing happiness and gender can be useful for a couple moves, but generally they doesn’t matter.

Items: They do exactly as the description says. Just browse the list, and surely you will find something that your Pokemon can benefit from. When in doubt, defensive pokemon usually benefit from "Leftovers", which adds a small regeneration effect, while offensive Pokemon can usually benefit from "Life Orb", an item that greatly increases the damage they do, but slowly drains their health when they use a damaging move. Know that there are restrictions on when you obtain items, see more in Item, move, and evolution restrictions below.

Abilities: Like items, they do as they say. Usually there should be at least one good choice among them. Know that if your Pokemon evolves and the ability changes, hidden abilities always lead to hidden abilities, and normal abilities always lead to normal abilities. You are free to use any available abilities (except for Moody).

Stats: Beware the difference between physical and special. A Pokemon with phenomenal Attack may still do pitiful damage when using a special move (distinguishable by the symbol next to the move), while a Pokemon with amazing Special Defence can still crumble after taking a physical hit. Moves based on Attack/Defense have a red and orange starburst icon, while moves based on Special Attack/Special Defense have a blue and white icon with two concentric ovals. Moves that aren’t based on either have a swirly icon reminiscent of a yin yang symbol. Keep that in mind during battling and team building.

EVs: The sliders make it obvious what they do - they increase your Pokemon’s stats, allowing for personalization that may easily surprise your opponent, or simply make your pokemon even better at what it is already good at.

Natures: Raise one stat by 10%, lower another by 10%. If you are unsure what nature to take, there are neutral natures that don’t change stats as well.

Tiers: Pokemon are categorized in various Tiers by Smogon, an independent competitive battling organization, so that people who prefer to use weaker pokemon don't have to compete with Pokemon who prefer to have their team full of Mewtwo and Arceus. It's an issue of diversity, because with Ubers being an option, weaker Pokemon would mean you stand no chance. Ubers (the highest rank) are banned from this tournament, but otherwise the only restrictions come from which Pokemon are available on the routes you choose. More information on that below. Players are encouraged to pick what they like the most, not just the strongest Pokemon, as battling with Pokemon you like is almost always more fun. A good (and short) summary of the tiers as laid out by Culise is here.

If you are not sure what to do with a Pokemon, always feel free to PM me (or other players in the game) for advice. We will gladly tutor you, to give even new players a chance for a turnaround. A useful resource for suggested movesets and informations about the competitive use of Pokemon can be found at Smogon University.

Spoiler: Item, move and evolution restrictions (click to show/hide)

This game depicts a journey, meaning your Pokemon don't begin the journey already at the end of it.
Moves:
When you receive a new pokemon, it may know:
- any moves that it can learn via level-up, given it has reached a level at which it can know the move
- any one egg-move it has access to that can not be learned via level-up, TM, or Move Tutor later.
Between rounds, Pokemon level up and can learn new moves. TM moves require that you have that TM bought with a Custom Pass (more info in Notes below). As always in Pokemon, once you have learned Hidden Power, the type stays fixed - once you have decided, it'll remain as it isInformation about which moves are learned how can be found at Bulbapedia as well as on PokemonDB (and other sources). Make sure you are using a source that has been updated with Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire information!

Items:
You begin the tournament with one berry of your choice. Every round, you receive additional items as noted in the Rounds summary below. Mega-Stones can only be obtained in Round 5 or later.

Evolution:
Pokemon evolve at their normal levels, though you may choose to leave them unevolved, if you prefer.
As items are somewhat scarce, Pokemon that usually evolve via methods other than level up may instead evolve at lvl 25 (minimum), or the round after it's previous evolution. If a Pokemon would evolve twice because of the levels gained between rounds, that’s ok.
Pokemon with various formes (Rotom, mostly) are treated as separate Pokemon in each forme and can not be switched between them.

Spoiler: The rounds (click to show/hide)

Round 1: Start with a starter Pokemon at level 10. This Pokemon is special, as it always has to stay in your party. The Pokemon must be chosen from the list of Pokemon at the bottom of the document here and players can not choose the same starter. If two players choose the same starter, the first one to claim it in the thread gets it. It’s encouraged that you pick a Pokemon you really like, as it’s possible it could be a little bit of a weak link in the late rounds and having it as a mascot will help morale if you like it. No EVs are invested yet. You are allowed one berry of your choice.

Round 2: You travel from Einpointe to Zwo Cliffs, picking one of the available routes. You catch one Pokemon from the list of available Pokemon for that route. Your Pokemon are level 25 and have 152 EVs invested. You have scrounged enough money for one item of your choice (so you will have the berry from round 1 and one other item). The tournament leader takes the role of the Recruiter (more info below), gains two Custom Passes, and battles everyone else. Everyone battles each other.  Battling the Recruiter gives you two Custom Passes and beating him gives you a third.

Round 3: You travel from Zwo Cliffs to Dreisdale, picking one of the available routes. You catch one Pokemon from the list of available Pokemon for that route. Your Pokemon are level 40 and have 300 EVs invested. Now that your Pokemon are more powerful, you’ve done odd jobs and battled and have enough for 3 additional items (a total of 4 items plus the berry). Everyone gets two Custom Passes before any battles. Battle each other. After the round, the player with the most points and the two with the least points after this round get an additional Custom Pass.

Round 4: You travel from Dreisdale to Vietropolis, picking one of the available routes. You catch one Pokemon from the list of available Pokemon for that route. Your Pokemon are level 55 and have 452 EVs invested. You stumbled across someone selling items and now have one additional item (a total of 5 plus the berry). Everyone gets two Custom Passes. The person with the most points is recruited as the leader of Team Mal (more details below) and gets two Custom Passes. Everyone battles each other and the leader of Team Mal. Fighting the Team Mal leader awards two Custom Passes, and beating him earns you two more.

Round 5: You travel from Vietropolis to Funfsburg, picking one of the available routes. You catch one Pokemon from the list of available Pokemon for that route. Additionally, you choose one Pokemon from a route that you did not previously visit (for a total of 6 Pokemon). Everyone has a full team now. Your Pokemon are level 70 and have all EVs invested. You gain two additional items and a second berry (7 items and 2 berries). Mega stones are now an option. Everyone gains two Custom Passes. Everyone battles. After the round, the person in first place and the bottom three gain an additional Custom Pass.

Round 6: You travel from Funfsburg to Secton, picking one of the available routes. You catch one Pokemon from the list of available Pokemon for that route. Your Pokemon are level 85 with all EVs invested. You gain one additional item. Everyone battles each other and the Gate Keeper (more info below). You gain two Custom Passes for battling the Gate Keeper and one more for winning. After battling the Gate Keeper you can trade one of your Pokemon for a clone of one that any other player is using, if so desired.

Round 7: You travel from Secton to the Sebb Hills, picking one of the available routes. You catch one final Pokemon from the list of available Pokemon for that route. Your Pokemon are level 100 with all EVs invested. You gain one additional item (up to 9 items and 2 berries), and one Custom Pass. Everyone battles. Battles in this round are worth 2 points.

Spoiler: Map and route information (click to show/hide)

This is the map for the tournament. Routes are numbered in pink. Icons are purely cosmetic. A spreadsheet with all of the lists for Pokemon availability per route is here. Round by round lists will be posted as we go and they will probably be easier to sort through, since there'll only be 3 routes at a time. Apologies, Ubers are not removed from this list, as some of them are allowed as long as their final evolution/mega stone is not used. Legendaries, however, are removed and will not be available.

Spoiler: Additional notes (click to show/hide)

First/last: If at any time there are players tied for points in a position where rank is important, the players are ranked according to the National Dex number of their starter Pokemon. The lowest evolution level is used for this (use 41 for Zubat, Golbat, and Crobat).

Custom Passes: These are used for any Pokemon services. At the cost of one Custom Pass you can have a Pokemon relearn a move, learn a Move Tutor move, learn an Egg move, change a Pokemon’s ability, or fully reallocate EVs. Additionally they can be traded for TMs. TMs are not used up when they are used to teach a move, so a TM can be a good investment. A maximum of 19 Custom Passes can be obtained (with about 14 being more likely), so it’s important to use these wisely. Also, in some towns it’s possible to earn Passes by battling the Recruiter, Team Mal Leader, and Gate Keeper. It’s advised you do these battles before you battle other players, as the Passes may give you an edge.

The Recruiter: The leader of the tournament plays the role of the Recruiter in round 2. He or she builds a team of two Pokemon that each player battles as their first “NPC” battle. The Recruiter is restricted to Pokemon that have the Normal type (although they can have a second additional type) and has the same restrictions on his/her Pokemon that the players do, except they have any two items, rather than an item and a berry.

The Leader of Team Mal: In round 4 the player who is in first place (after all round 3 battles are finished) takes the role of the Leader of Team Mal. They can feel free to create a character and rename the team if they so choose. They build a team of 4 Pokemon that are level 55 with all EVs invested and any available moves/items to battle all other players. This includes mega stones (which is a round earlier than would normally be available), although no Ubers may be chosen. The Leader of Team Mal is restricted to Pokemon that have the Dark, Poison, Ghost, or Fighting type (although they can have a second additional type).

The Gate Keeper: In round 6, the players in first and last place (after all round 5 battles are finished) collaborate to build a team of 6 level 86 Pokemon. They can have any of the available moves and items. They are free to strategize as desired to guide the strengths and weaknesses of the team. It is recommended that this be used as a teaching opportunity if possible. If all else fails and the players can not collaborate effectively (for time zone/communication reasons or personality reasons), each player contributes three of the six Pokemon for the team. The first place player uses this team to battle all other players (including the last place player). The Gate Keeper’s team has no restrictions, though it can not use any Pokemon that are not available to the players over the course of the tournament. (Clarification: First and last place players build the team together. First place player uses it to battle the other 5 players.)

Trading:
In between rounds you may trade Pokemon and TMs to other players. This may only be done after all of the battles for a round are complete and before any start in the next round. Pokemon must be traded for Pokemon and TMs for TMs. Trades must be announced in the tournament thread before they are done, and terms of the trade as laid out in the thread must be followed. Failing to follow through on a trade as laid out will result in a loss of 10 points.

Technical Rules for Battling:
These rules are automatically in place for every battle on Showdown.

Endless Battle Clause: Players cannot use any moveset on any Pokémon capable of intentionally causing an endless battle. Thus:
A Pokémon may not carry Recycle and hold a Leppa Berry in conjunction with Heal Pulse and Milk Drink, Moonlight, Morning Sun, Recover, Roost, Slack Off, Soft-Boiled, or Wish.
A Pokémon may not hold a Leppa Berry while carrying Recycle and Pain Split.
A Pokémon may not hold a Leppa Berry while carrying Recycle and Fling.
Evasion Clause: Players cannot use the moves Double Team or or Minimize.
Moody Clause: Players cannot use a Pokémon with the Moody ability.
OHKO Clause: Players cannot use the moves Fissure, Guillotine, Horn Drill, or Sheer Cold.
Sleep Clause: Players cannot induce sleep to more than one Pokémon on the opposing team at the same time.
Species Clause: Players cannot have two Pokémon with the same Pokédex number on the same team.
Swagger Clause: Players cannot use the move Swagger.
Baton Pass Clause: Players cannot have more than one Pokémon with the move Baton Pass.

Players cannot use the following items:
Gengarite
Kangaskhanite
Lucarionite
Mawilite

External Links:
Rules
Map
Pokemon availability by route
Scores!

Please make sure you read through everything at least once! There are competitive battling rules in there that many people may not be familiar with, as well as hopefully thorough descriptions of everything for the tournament. I'll remind people what's in store for each round as we go, but it's good to have a plan in mind now!

Players (Showdown name in parentheses if different):
Bluerobin
Broken (Broken65)
Orb (Orb370)
Urist Imiknorris (UristImiknorris)
RoryTehNoob
Culise

[Bluerobin]

Spoiler: Old OP (click to show/hide)

I've been getting a craving for a tourney again. Enough to bring a thread back from the dead for brainstorming purposes. I really love the spirit and most of the implementation of this tournament and I'd like to bring it back in a way that's easier to run and easier to participate in, possibly making it a somewhat regular thing.

Edit: New rules here. Anyone can comment on this. The rest of this post is fairly obsolete, but there's reasoning behind the changes I made, so I'm leaving it up.




Here's a link to the thread from the last time this was run: LINK! The general idea is that the tournament mimics a playthrough of the games. You start at a low level with one unevolved Pokemon and no EVs. As you travel, you "catch" pokemon based on the routes you choose to travel down, fight gym leaders, gather items for your Pokemon to wield and, hopefully obviously, battle the other participants. There were multiple stages of the tournament, one for each town, and watching the teams develop organically was really awesome.

The main problems I saw were:
1) Rules, rules, rules. They're necessary, but there are so many that they become hard to follow. I'd be happy to come up with a google doc or some sort of better (and hopefully automatically-updating) way of presenting the rules so that they're almost second nature. Ideally a spreadsheet or something that helps you build your team by presenting the possibly options at each stage.

Oh hey, Pokemon Showdown! is open source... let's see how hard it would be to make a new Rivals format.

2) Pokemon availability. A big part of why this tournament was interesting was seeing how people used the available Pokemon, but which ones were available wasn't completely clear. Make it more obvious which Pokemon are or aren't available. Make a straight up list for each route. It's a good way to simplify the rules, although it messes with immersion a bit. The goal here isn't to severely limit what's available, but to clarify so that you know what your options are.
 
3) Participation/scheduling matches. With people from all over the world and all sorts of schedules, this gets complicated. Maybe do smaller tournaments? In my opinion, this problem makes the eight person tourney a bit unwieldy (even though it fits the RP side nicely), but dropping the max participants to six may be a good way to combat some of the tedium in scheduling and actually doing the battles.

Alternatively, some sort of round robin style tournament where you don't battle everyone each time, you only battle some people. This allows you to specialize for next round in your Pokemon choices, but you still have to take the future in to account, so it may not end up changing the spirit of the tournament.

4) Expertise and burnout. I feel like these go hand in hand, even though they're not directly related. Have a broad range of expertise tends to make it not very fun for less skilled or experienced players to stick around when they just keep accumulating losses. This may be something we can't do much about unless there's a lot of interest in the tournament, so I'm going to leave it for now.


Anyway, since I'm at work I'm off to do some actual work and think about ways to simplify/automate the rules and team building. I'll work on summarizing the rules in a relatively readable format as well, unless someone else feels like doing it. If anyone feels like piping up, I'd love feedback.

Edit:Doc with old rules.
Doc with new rules. Anyone can comment on this.

Resources:
http://pokemonshowdown.com/dex/ Very useful as a pokedex that is pretty user-friendly and fast, plus it tells you if/when mons learn moves and how they learn them. Downside is that there's no information about when mons evolve, so it can't be used as a sole resource.

http://pokemondb.net/ Also useful as a pokedex. I have a bias against this site for some reason, but I don't remember why. It seems to provide everything we'd need in a pretty easy to read and access manner. Maybe it wasn't fully up-to-date last time, since X/Y were released around when we started?

Showdown is open-source. Setting up a custom league (or a series of leagues, depending on the implementation) to auto-enforce rules is a possibility. More investigation needs to be done to see how much this would do to automate rule implementation and if it's worth the effort to set up and find/pay for a host.

http://challonge.com/ for tournament brackets. Useful if using a normal tournament bracket style, not so useful if everyone battles everyone else. A possible way to reduce the number of battles while keeping the number of participants higher would be a Round Robin tournament, though, so that's a possibility.

Spoiler: Rules for the first Rivalry Tournament (click to show/hide)

First rivalry tournament:
First, pick your favorite pokemon. Then pick a pokemon that’s the first stage of a 3 stage evo and not anyone’s favorite as your first mon. It starts at level 5 with a berry of your choice. No EVs. Move selection was the same.
You got a point for each pokemon you knocked out in a round..
First round: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=132633.msg4773652#msg4773652
Second round: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=132633.msg4778534#msg4778534
First mon is level 20 with haf EVs. Second mon is level 20, first stage of 2 stage evo, not someone’s favorite, also half EVs. One item, plus one berry.
Third round: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=132633.msg4786096#msg4786096
Mons level 40, evolved as appropriate. All EVs allocated. Three items total. Third pokemon is one that never evolves.
Fourth round: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=132633.msg4793699#msg4793699
Mons level 60, evolved as appropriate. One more item (four total). Add your favorite mon to the team, evolved as appropriate with full EVs.
Fifth round: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=132633.msg4796229#msg4796229
Mons level 80, blah blah. Two more items (6 total). Add a non-uber legendary.
Last round: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=132633.msg4805152#msg4805152
Mons level 100, two more items (8 total), mega stones are now ok. Add any non-uber non-favorite pokemon. Later retconned to ubers being available.

[Broken]

I am in.

Can we choose any starter, or will you give a list?

[Bluerobin]

Good question. You will probably be able to choose anything, although if that's the case there will be a short list of banned Pokemon. Things like Uber-ranked Pokemon that don't evolve would be on that list. Things like Torchic and Honedge would probably be on another list of "recommended to avoid" because their highest evolutions are Uber and their use will be heavily restricted, so you would have to keep them as Combusken/Doublade for the vast majority of the tournament.

Edit: Rules docs added to the end of the OP. I'll work on making them more reader-friendly as well, but this way people can potentially comment on changes they think could be good to make. So far the biggest hurdles look to be:
1) Do we change gyms? They add a fair amount of additional work, they're kind of hard to balance, and they add to the number of battles, but they're pretty fun and good for RP/immersion.
2) Do we change the number of players or the number of battles per round? I like the idea of going down to only battling 3/8 or 4/8 of the possible opponents each round to make it move faster, but it complicates organization significantly.
3) What to do with the Elite 4/Champion bit. We never got there the last time this was run, everything fizzled before we got there, but it seems like it's another case of something that's potentially interesting, but hard to balance and doesn't interact super well with the rest of the tournament. I guess it'd be ok to leave it as something optional to do if people want after everything's done.
4) Do we keep in the rounds with legendaries and ubers?  Based on the first Rivals tournament they have the potential to kind of invalidate a lot of other choices, since they can be really unfairly good. They can also be incredibly mediocre if chosen poorly. Basically, what they add seems to be less than the issues they can cause.

[Culise]

It may also be worth adding the unofficial tier list to the useful links, since the majority of players don't actually play using Smogon's banlists, and we had significant issues with that the first time we started setting up tournaments here in previous years.  This is the location of the usage tiers and some advice (though take it with a grain of salt; this tourney won't be your typical tiered meta).  Basic overview of the tiers can be found here, but for a basic overview:
Ubers: These are kings of kings, queens of queens, the brave, the bold, the broken.  This is where stuff that fundamentally destabilizes the metagame goes to rest. 
OU: Over-Used.  The most commonly-used Pokemon in the meta. 
BL: Border-Line.  Stuff that's not commonly used, but still powerful enough to break the next meta-game below. 
UU: Under-Used.  Not as used as OU, but still often used.  Frequently one-trick-ponies that can be countered relatively easily, powerful stuff with some key weakness, or just plain "good but not good enough for the top leagues." 
RU: Rarely-Used.  Between UU and NU.  Not much else to say.
NU: Never-Used.  Everything else. 
LC: Little Cup.  Special tourney structure geared around unevolved Pokemon that can evolve, done at level 5. 
NFE: Not Fully Evolved. 

Posting to watch thus far; I haven't actually played since the first rivals tourney over a year ago (the latest one was the second such). 

[Broken]

Ok, i will take vulpix as starter.

[Bluerobin]

Thanks Culise.

I'm going to try and make sure I keep going on this, but there are a couple things I need to investigate pretty thoroughly, so I wouldn't anticipate this starting in the next week. Just so people know. Right now I'm most interested in making sure it's as simple, thought through, and relatively airtight as possible. I don't know how well I'll be able to do on the first pass, but I may as well try.

Edit: Argh, it's starting to look like the easiest way to do this is to make an actual Pokemon game with the Pokemon Essentials RPGMaker pack and bake the rules in that way. I'll have to see how difficult internet battles are with that... it might end up being worth it. I'll have to see if there are still bugs in some moves with Essentials.

Edit2: Oh, there was a relatively recent release that makes it look like this may actually be a relatively easy way to do this. Hmmmmmm.

Edit3: Noooope. It's not updated for gen 6 and has no online play. Both of those are possible to get working, but it would be a lot of work, so it's not particularly worthwhile.

[Bluerobin]

Ok. I put some serious time and thought into this and came up with a simpler tournament that I think should still be fun. Rules are in spoilers below and also in a Google Doc here (still open to commenting if anyone feels like it).

Spoiler: Format (click to show/hide)

In each town, all rivals will do battle against each other. Each victory scores you a point. Between each town, you are given the choice between 3 possible routes to reach the next town, and may only catch Pokemon that are on the list for that route. There will be additional challenges along the way, in the form of the Recruiter, the Team Mal Leader, and the Gate Keeper.

Battles will be held via Pokemon Showdown!, a convenient online battle plattform. The sign up is free and doesn't even require an email address, all you need to do is choose a name (for everyone's convenience, keeping the name recognizable is encouraged, and protect it with a password. The options menu (the cog to the right of your name) allows for you to change your avatar. Our meeting place is TBD. Unless otherwise specified, the format is TBD.

Spoiler: I am new to Pokemon, what is all this? (click to show/hide)

Much has changed since the first generation, so a short explanation on team creation, geared towards using Pokemon Showdown!.

Details: Here you can set the level of your Pokemon, its gender, whether it's shiny or not, or it's happiness. The only thing that really matters is the level, as it gradually increases over the course of the tournament - always double check if you have set the level correctly, it can be a great pain if battles need to be redone because you left a Pokemon on level 100, which is default. Gender and shininess are irrelevant. Changing happiness can be useful for a couple moves, but generally it doesn’t matter.

Items: They do exactly as the description says. Just browse the list, and surely you will find something that your Pokemon can benefit from. When in doubt, defensive pokemon usually benefit from "Leftovers", which adds a small regeneration effect, while offensive Pokemon can usually benefit from "Life Orb", an item that greatly increases the damage they do, but slowly drains their health when they use a damaging move. Know that there are restrictions on when you obtain items, see more below.

Abilities: As items, they do as they say. Usually there should be a good choice among them. Know that if your Pokemon evolves and the ability changes, hidden abilities always lead to hidden abilities, and normal abilities always lead to normal abilities. You are free to use any available abilities (except for Moody).

Stats: Beware the difference between physical and special. A Pokemon with phenomenal Attack may still do pitiful damage when using a special move (distinguishable by the symbol next to the move), while a Pokemon with amazing Special Defence can still crumble after taking a physical hit. Keep that in mind during battling and team building.

EVs: The sliders make it obvious what they do - they increase your Pokemon’s stats, allowing for personalization that may easily surprise your opponent, or simply make your pokemon even better at what it is already good at.

Natures: Raise one stat by 10%, lower another by 10%. If you are unsure what nature to take, there are neutral natures that don’t change stats as well.

Tiers: Pokemon were categorized in various Tiers, so that people who prefer to use weaker pokemon don't have to compete with Pokemon who prefer to have their team full of Mewtwo and Arceus. It's an issue of diversity, because with Ubers being an option, weaker Pokemon would mean you stand no chance. Ubers are banned from this tournament, but otherwise the only restrictions come from which Pokemon are available on the routes you choose. More information on that below. Players are encouraged to pick what they like the most, not just the strongest Pokemon, as battling with Pokemon you like is almost always more fun.

If you are not sure what to do with a Pokemon, always feel free to PM me (or other players in the game) for advice. We will gladly tutor you, to give even new players a chance for a turnaround. A useful resource for suggested movesets and informations about the competitive use of Pokemon can be found at Smogon University.

Spoiler: Item, Move and Evolution restrictions (click to show/hide)

This game depicts a journey, meaning your pokemon don't begin the journey already at the end of it.
Moves:
When you receive a new pokemon, it may know:
- any moves that it can learn via level-up, given it has reached a level at which it can know the move
- any one egg-move it has access to that can not be learned via level-up later

Between rounds, Pokemon can level up and learn new moves. TM moves require that you have that TM bought with a Custom Pass. As always in Pokemon, once you have learned Hidden Power, the type stays fixed - once you have decided, it'll remain as it is

Information about which moves are learned how can be found at Bulbapedia as well as on PokemonDB (and other sources).

Items:
You begin the tournament with one berry of your choice. Every round, you receive additional items as noted in the Rounds summary below. Mega-Stones can only be obtained in Round 5 or later.

Evolution:
Pokemon evolve at their normal levels, though you may choose to leave them unevolved, if you prefer.
As items are somewhat scarce, Pokemon that usually evolve via methods other than level up, may instead evolve on lvl 25 (minimum), or the next round after it's previous evolution. If a Pokemon would evolve twice because of the levels gained between rounds, that’s ok.
Pokemon with various formes (Rotom, mostly) are treated as separate Pokemon in each forme, so you have to pick one and stay with it.

Spoiler: The Rounds (click to show/hide)

Round 1: Start with a starter Pokemon at level 10. This Pokemon is special, as it always has to stay in your party. The Pokemon must be chosen from this list of Pokemon. It’s encouraged that you pick a Pokemon you really like, as it’s possible it could be a little bit of a weak link in the late rounds and having it as a mascot will help morale. No EVs are invested yet. You are allowed one berry of your choice (this will stay with you for the entire tournament, so choose wisely!).

Round 2: You travel from Town 1 to Town 2, picking one of the available routes. You catch one Pokemon from the list of available Pokemon for that route. Your Pokemon are level 25 and have 150 EVs invested. You have scrounged enough money for one item of your choice (so you will have the berry from round 1 and one other item). You battle the Recruiter (more info below) as well as each other. Battling the Recruiter gives you two Custom Passes and beating him gives you a second.

Round 3: You travel from Town 2 to Town 3, picking one of the available routes. You catch one Pokemon from the list of available Pokemon for that route. Your Pokemon are level 40 and have 300 EVs invested. Now that your Pokemon are more powerful, you’ve done odd jobs and battled and have enough for 3 additional items (a total of 4 items plus the berry). Everyone gets two Custom Passes before any battles. Battle each other. After the round, the player with the most points and the two with the least points after this round get an additional Custom Pass.

Round 4: You travel from Town 3 to Town 4, picking one of the available routes. You catch one Pokemon from the list of available Pokemon for that route. Your Pokemon are level 55 and have 450 EVs invested. You stumbled across someone selling items and now have one additional item (a total of 5 plus the berry). Everyone gets two Custom Passes. The person with the most points is recruited as the leader of Team Mal (more details below) and gets two Custom Passes. Everyone battles each other and the leader of Team Mal. Fighting the Team Mal leader awards two Custom Passes, and beating him earns you two more.

Round 5: You travel from Town 4 to 5, picking one of the available routes. You catch one Pokemon from the list of available Pokemon for that route. Additionally, you choose one Pokemon from a route that you did not previously visit (for a total of 6 Pokemon. Everyone has a full team now. Your Pokemon are level 70 and have all EVs invested. You gain two additional items and a second berry (7 items and 2 berries). Megastones are now an option. Everyone gains two Custom Passes. Everyone battles. After the round, the person in first place and the bottom three gain an additional Custom Pass.

Round 6: You travel from Town 5 to 6, picking one of the available routes. You catch one Pokemon from the list of available Pokemon for that route. Your Pokemon are level 85 with all EVs invested. You gain one additional item. Everyone battles each other and the Gate Keeper (more info below). You gain two Custom Passes for battling the Gate Keeper and one more for winning. After battling the Gate Keeper you can trade one of your Pokemon for a clone of one that any other player is using, if so desired.

Round 7: You travel from Town 6 to the Tournament Center, picking one of the available routes. You catch one final Pokemon from the list of available Pokemon for that Route. Your Pokemon are level 100 with all EVs invested. You gain one additional item (up to 9 items and 2 berries), and one Custom Pass. Everyone battles. Battles in this round are worth 2 points.

Spoiler: Additional Notes (click to show/hide)

Custom Passes: These are used for any Pokemon services. At the cost of one Custom Pass you can have a Pokemon relearn a move, learn a Move Tutor move, learn an Egg move, change a Pokemon’s ability, or fully reallocate EVs. Additionally they can be traded for TMs. TMs are not used up when they are used to teach a move, so a ™ can be a good investment. A maximum of 13 Custom Passes can be obtained (with about 10 being more likely), so it’s important to use these wisely.

The Recruiter: The leader of the tournament plays the role of the Recruiter in Round 2. He or she builds a team of two Pokemon that each player battles as their first “NPC” battle. The Recruiter is restricted to Pokemon that have the Normal type (although they can have a second additional type).

The Leader of Team Mal: In Round 4 the player who is in first place (after all round 3 battles are finished) takes the role of the Leader of Team Mal. They can feel free to create a character and rename the team if they so choose. They build a team of 4 Pokemon that are level 56 with all EVs invested to battle all other players. The Leader of Team Mal is restricted to Pokemon that have the Dark, Poison, Ghost, or Fighting type (although they can have a second additional type).

The Gate Keeper: In Round 6, the players in first and last place (after all round 5 battles are finished) collaborate to build a team of 6 Pokemon. They are free to strategize as desired to guide the strengths and weaknesses of the team. It is recommended that this be used as a teaching opportunity if possible. If all else fails and the players can not collaborate effectively (for time zone/communication reasons or personality reasons), each player contributes three of the six Pokemon for the team. The first place player takes uses this team to battle all other players (including the last place player). The Gate Keeper’s team has no restrictions, though it can not use any Pokemon that are not available to the players over the course of the tournament.

Technical Rules for Battling:
Endless Battle Clause: Players cannot use any moveset on any Pokémon capable of intentionally causing an endless battle. Thus:
A Pokémon may not carry Recycle and hold a Leppa Berry in conjunction with Heal Pulse and Milk Drink, Moonlight, Morning Sun, Recover, Roost, Slack Off, Soft-Boiled, or Wish.
A Pokémon may not hold a Leppa Berry while carrying Recycle and Pain Split.
A Pokémon may not hold a Leppa Berry while carrying Recycle and Fling.
Evasion Clause: Players cannot use the moves Double Team or or Minimize.
Moody Clause: Players cannot use a Pokémon with the Moody ability.
OHKO Clause: Players cannot use the moves Fissure, Guillotine, Horn Drill, or Sheer Cold.
Sleep Clause: Players cannot induce sleep to more than one Pokémon on the opposing team at the same time.
Species Clause: Players cannot have two Pokémon with the same Pokédex number on the same team.
Swagger Clause: Players cannot use the move Swagger.
Baton Pass Clause: Players cannot have more than one Pokémon with the move Baton Pass.
Players cannot use the following items:
Gengarite
Kangaskhanite
Lucarionite
Mawilite

A tl;dr for people that have looked through the rules before:
1) Only 7 rounds. Pokemon level faster, and get max EVs sooner.
2) Custom Passes as rewards throughout. Can be spent to learn/relearn moves, change Abilities, etc.
3) TMs separated from other items. They are bought with Custom Passes.
4) Gyms removed, but three "NPC" fights still persist, with Custom Passes as their main rewards.
5) Players doing poorly get additional Custom Passes to hopefully help them tweak their teams and rebound.
6) Starter Pokemon must be UU or below. I like the original spirit of trying to get some lesser-used Pokemon some time in the spotlight.
7) Distinct lists will be made for Pokemon available on each route. These lists will typically be pretty long.

Feedback is greatly appreciated. Map and lists of available Pokemon are next.

[Broken]

No replies yet? I am Sad.

Anyway, i will take Cottonee from the list. The Troll sheep is awesome.

[Orb]

I was waiting for Bluerobin to get everything together. Seems like a fun idea overall.

[Bluerobin]

Yeah, I was hoping for people to pipe up, but knowing that there are people lurking helps my motivation. The list of starter mons is almost together, and the giganto list of "settings where you could find every mon in existence" is shaping up. Once I have that it's just a matter of picking from it in interesting ways. Oh and making a map, but thanks to the fine example of Culise's that I have to work from, that should be reasonably quick.

Broken, you're welcome to keep your Vulpix. It should still be on the list once it's done, if it isn't already.

[Bluerobin]

OK! Starter list is here:

Spoiler: Sorted by Ranking (click to show/hide)

Starter List:
-UU-
Aron
Abra
Mareep
Growlithe
Squirtle
Happiny
Litwick
Chespin
Shellder
Zubat
Darumaka
Phanpy
Piplup
Eevee
Flabebe
Trapinch
Pineco
Joltik
Goomy
Axew
Hippopotas
Murkrow
Houndour
Deino
Chimchar
Horsea
Sandile
Riolu
Machop
Beldum
Mienfoo
Feebas
Nidoran-M
Nidoran-F
Noibat
Porygon
Wooper
Budew
Scraggy
Munchlax
Staryu
Mudkip
Tentacool
Croagunk
Phantump

-RU-
Snover
Aipom
Foongus
Spritzee
Shuppet
Rufflet
Bronzor
Minccino
Clauncher
Baltoy
Yamask
Fennekin
Skorupi
Diglett
Tynamo
Tepig
Karrablast
Whismur
Ralts (for Gallade)
Shellos
Helioptile
Tyrogue
Frillish
Omanyte
Solosis
Rhyhorn
Carvanha
Seedot
Stunky
Slowpoke (for Slowking)
Tangela
Tyrunt
Cottonee

-NU-
Shellmet
Swablu
Ekans
Archen
Spinarak
Anorith
Amaura
Bergmite
Binacle
Shieldon
Cubchoo
Wurmple
Weedle
Elgyem
Oddish
Bidoof
Caterpie
Cacnea
Numel
Tirtouga
Cherubi
Chingling
Lileep
Dwebble
Skitty
Seel
Doduo
Skrelp
Drifloon
Duskull
Elekid
Voltorb
Exeggcute
Spearow
Totodile
Buizel
Sentret
Trubbish
Roggenrola
Snorunt
Skiddo
Psyduck
Geodude
Golett
Clamperl
Pumpkaboo
Snubbull
Spoink
Makuhita
Drowzee
Hoppip
Smoochum
Kabuto
Krabby
Klink
Kricketot
Chinchou
Sewaddle
Ledyba
Lickitung
Purrloin
Petilil
Zigzagoon
Buneary
Lotad
Finneon
Shinx
Machop
Slugma
Magby
Inkay
Mantyke
Cubone
Surskit
Chikorita
Espurr
Poochyena
Misdreavus
Burmy
Mime Jr.
Grimer
Munna
Vulpix
Nincada
Hoothoot
Remoraid
Pancham
Paras
Wingull
Meowth
Pidgey
Pichu
Poliwag
Mankey
Nosepass
Glameow
Litleo
Cranidos
Ponyta
Rattata
Oshawott
Sandshrew
Deerling
Treecko
Goldeen
Tympole
Snivy
Panpour
Pansage
Pansear
Slakoth
Swirlix
Onix
Lillipup
Bonsly
Sunkern
Gulpin
Ducklett
Taillow
Woobat
Turtwig
Cyndaquil
Pidove
Teddiursa
Vanillite
Bellsprout
Scatterbug
Wailmer
Spheal
Patrat
Koffing
Barboach
Igglybuff
Natu
Blitzle

Spoiler: Sorted Alphabetically (click to show/hide)

Abra
Aipom
Amaura
Anorith
Archen
Aron
Axew
Baltoy
Barboach
Beldum
Bellsprout
Bergmite
Bidoof
Binacle
Blitzle
Bonsly
Bronzor
Budew
Buizel
Buneary
Burmy
Cacnea
Carvanha
Caterpie
Cherubi
Chespin
Chikorita
Chimchar
Chinchou
Chingling
Clamperl
Clauncher
Cottonee
Cranidos
Croagunk
Cubchoo
Cubone
Cyndaquil
Darumaka
Deerling
Deino
Diglett
Doduo
Drifloon
Drowzee
Ducklett
Duskull
Dwebble
Eevee
Ekans
Elekid
Elgyem
Espurr
Exeggcute
Feebas
Fennekin
Finneon
Flabebe
Foongus
Frillish
Geodude
Glameow
Goldeen
Golett
Goomy
Grimer
Growlithe
Gulpin
Happiny
Helioptile
Hippopotas
Hoothoot
Hoppip
Horsea
Houndour
Igglybuff
Inkay
Joltik
Kabuto
Karrablast
Klink
Koffing
Krabby
Kricketot
Ledyba
Lickitung
Lileep
Lillipup
Litleo
Litwick
Lotad
Machop
Machop
Magby
Makuhita
Mankey
Mantyke
Mareep
Meowth
Mienfoo
Mime Jr.
Minccino
Misdreavus
Mudkip
Munchlax
Munna
Murkrow
Natu
Nidoran-F
Nidoran-M
Nincada
Noibat
Nosepass
Numel
Oddish
Omanyte
Onix
Oshawott
Pancham
Panpour
Pansage
Pansear
Paras
Patrat
Petilil
Phanpy
Phantump
Pichu
Pidgey
Pidove
Pineco
Piplup
Poliwag
Ponyta
Poochyena
Porygon
Psyduck
Pumpkaboo
Purrloin
Ralts (for Gallade)
Rattata
Remoraid
Rhyhorn
Riolu
Roggenrola
Rufflet
Sandile
Sandshrew
Scatterbug
Scraggy
Seedot
Seel
Sentret
Sewaddle
Shellder
Shellmet
Shellos
Shieldon
Shinx
Shuppet
Skiddo
Skitty
Skorupi
Skrelp
Slakoth
Slowpoke (for Slowking)
Slugma
Smoochum
Snivy
Snorunt
Snover
Snubbull
Solosis
Spearow
Spheal
Spinarak
Spoink
Spritzee
Squirtle
Staryu
Stunky
Sunkern
Surskit
Swablu
Swirlix
Taillow
Tangela
Teddiursa
Tentacool
Tepig
Tirtouga
Totodile
Trapinch
Treecko
Trubbish
Turtwig
Tympole
Tynamo
Tyrogue
Tyrunt
Vanillite
Voltorb
Vulpix
Wailmer
Weedle
Whismur
Wingull
Woobat
Wooper
Wurmple
Yamask
Zigzagoon
Zubat

With that I'd say we're ready to start recruiting people. Feel free to post if you're interested in joining, and include the starter you'd like from that list!

Edit: In case you're interested, here's what the "giganto list of climates where you could find every mon in existence" looks like. The route lists will be built from that!

[Orb]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I choose Trapinch.

When do we decide moves/berries/abilities, at the end of round 1?

[Bluerobin]

You'll need those before round 1, so you can do them whenever. The restrictions are in the rules, although there's one important change. Basically:

You can have any moves that would be learned by level 10.
You can have any one egg move that can't be learned by level up later. This was the change. You'll have to use Custom Passes for the extra egg moves. With this change I'm going to increase the number of Custom Passes slightly, though, so you should still be able to get the moves you want... eventually.

You can pick any ability, but once you have it the only way to change it is with a Custom Pass.

You can pick any berry, but you'll have it the whole tournament. You'll probably still want an Oran or Sitris berry, but just keep that in mind.

[Urist Imiknorris]

I guess I'll get in on this, and I'll start with Noibat.

Spoiler: Data (click to show/hide)

Species: Noibat
Nickname: Batmon
Item: Lum Berry
Nature: Naive
Ability: Infiltrator
Moves: Screech, Tackle, Leech Life, Outrage (egg)