GameStop PBR Tournaments - Help with rules requested

[Superhacker75mil]

Greetings, serebiiforums community. I'm new here and I didn't see any signs pointing me to where I might find assistance regarding my inquiry, nor did web searches yield me enough useful information on the subject.

For starters: I'm an employee at a Central Jersey GameStop interested in running a proper tournament at our Middletown location. Word was sent down that the company is to be hosting them all over the place to celebrate (i.e. promote/make money off of) the release of Pokémon Battle Revolution, but I have my doubts that very many will be as serious about fair play and proper procedures as I will. Therefore, I've taken it upon myself to figure out the best set of rules I can, and that's where I need the help of an experienced competitive community.

(If you guys know of a better place for me to be asking about this stuff, please do recommend it.)

I only have a few important questions, as I already know to ban legendaries at the start, and I've also decided to adhere to the only-one-of-a-species rule. Here are my remaining concerns:

1. What is the most efficient way to check for hacked Pokémon during registration? I know that you can check for abnormal/overmaxed stats, but is that the only way, and if so, what's the best way to do that?

2. Is Wobbuffet an absolutely necessary ban? I'm assuming if so, it's because of Destiny Bond being a required move of his...

3. What moves, if any, should I ban? I'm aware that Self-Destruct, Explosion, and Destiny Bond are occasionally forbidden due to their tendency to bring about draws...should they be the first to go?

4. Is banning item repeats (two or more Pokémon on a team holding the same item) common? I'm not sure I want to do that.

Thanks for the help,

;475; Superhacker

 

[Roselia---Rozureido]

1. I'm not really sure. You could check if the Pokemon have max IVs, but that would take a while. If somebody is using all shinies on their team, it's probably hacked. You could also check for illegal movesets.

2. Destiny Bond is a factor, but it's the other three moves that really make it uber. With Wobbuffet, you simply Encore your opponent's last attack, and then you can easily Counter/Mirror Coat it.

3. The moves you mentioned are often banned when the user is using his/her last Pokemon, because like you said, they bring draws. The other moves banned in competitive battling are "hax" moves like Double Team and Minimize which make the battle rely on luck.

4. In competitive battling, the "Item Clause" is not in effect. You decide whether on not you want it.

EDIT: I noticed you said you were banning legendaries. What do you mean by legendaries? Does that include Pokemon like Zapdos and Suicune? Because in the standard, only "ubers" are banned (Ubers: Mewtwo, Mew, Wobbuffet, Ho-oh ((Despite the huge Stealth Rock weakness)), Lugia, Kyogre, Groudon, Latias, Latios, Rayquaza, Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, Darkrai, and Arceus). And before you ask, I believe Celebi is not uber because of it's horrible typing.

 

[turtleman]

to bad I'm all the way in south jersey...

 

[Negrek]

It might help you to look at some of the official tournaments that Nintendo has hosted in the past if you want to get an idea of what rules to employ in yours. Last year they had the Journey Across America tournament (warning: PDF), which was a double battle-style tournament, a Journey Across OZ tournament in Australia, and this year they're having another Australia-wide tournament. The rules for each vary slightly, but by looking at them you should be able to get a general idea of what official tournament conventions are.

As for your more specific questions:

1. Checking for hacked pokémon is tough; the game itself may have some sort of automatic cheat-detection mechanism that will detect things like impossible stats, impossible movesets, and so so on, but I'm not sure. If it doesn't, you would have to do it manually somehow by inspecting each team, which would probably require someone with a fair bit of knowledge about the game to look over pokémon and calculate out stats. Teams with all-perfect stats are indications of hacking, being prohibitively difficult to get through legal means even though they are technically possible within normal game parameters. Manual checking would be a bit time-consuming and annoying, though.

2. Most serious tournaments ban Wobbuffet because it is very difficult to counter when played correctly; I know at JAA they allowed Wobbuffet in, but you couldn't attach the item "leftovers" to it (which reduced its effectiveness a fair amount), although it typically isn't as good in 2vs2 as 1vs1. If you're hosting a standard 1vs1 tournament, banning it entirely would probably be the best course of action.

3. In Pokémon XD and Pokémon Colosseum, there was a rules setting where if the last pokémon on a team used destiny bond/perish song/selfdestruct/etc., its trainer would lose automatically in order to prevent a draw. There is probably a similar option in Battle Revolution that you can use so that you won't have to ban the moves, but the game will automatically prevent draws as a result of their use.

4. The banning of repeat items or "item clause" is kinda up in the air. Some tournaments use it, some don't. Most online competitive tournaments don't use it, but some do. A lot of the official Nintendo tourneys such as JAA do employ it. I'd say that one is up to you.

You're going to need to look at the rules options in the actual PBR game and make sure you come up with a standard set to use for battles, too; it might be a good idea, for example, to use one of the timing options to prevent matches from dragging on for an eternity. Not having the game I'm not really sure what those options might be, though.

Anyway, I hope that helped you out a bit. Do you have any idea what stores are doing a tournament like this or where I could find out about those that are? If my local Gamestop is having a tourney I'd love to participate...

 

[SkittyOnWailord]

1. I'm not really sure. You could check if the Pokemon have max IVs, but that would take a while. If somebody is using all shinies on their team, it's probably hacked. You could also check for illegal movesets.

I disagree with the all-shiny bit. I have over 100 legit shinies. I usualy have an all-shiny team. Some of them have horible natures though, like my Brave shiny Milotic.>_>

 

[Meganium Ex]

I disagree with the all-shiny bit. I have over 100 legit shinies. I usualy have an all-shiny team. Some of them have horible natures though, like my Brave shiny Milotic.>_>

I envy you >_>

On topic: IIRC PBR already has its own way to prevent hacked Pokémon. I remember Colosseum checked for hacked Pokémon and always found 'em. I doubt why they would remove that from PBR if they ever did

 

[Bultoman Z]

I envy you >_>

On topic: IIRC PBR already has its own way to prevent hacked Pokémon. I remember Colosseum checked for hacked Pokémon and always found 'em. I doubt why they would remove that from PBR if they ever did

Not exactly true, Colosseum only prevented pokes with over 510 Evs. So you could still use your perfect iv Slaking caught at the cave of origin at level 2, lol.

 

[Meganium Ex]

Oh. Well, then I'm stuck

 

[PaperMoon07]

I'm sorry if this doesn't help anyone, but I was just wondering:
How can I find out if there is a GameStop hosting one of these things near me?

 

[Turtwig510]

1. Check the encounter. If they encounter above level 80 it is hacked. Also Arcues, Darkai, and the little grass person cant be found. Darkai in jappanese is possible though. See Diamond Pearl disscusion for darkai.

2. Let him be in it just band destiny bond...He's good if you band that.

3. Forbid those moves if you dont want draws. Also usally at tornements they band double team which i dont understand.

4. I think people should be able to do item repeats

 

[Turtwig510]

1. Also if they encounter ceartain pokemon at a ridiculusly(sp) low level its hacked.Enless it is pokemon you can get that low like starly, bidoof ect.

 

[lilbigman42012]

Man i wish they had it in south florida..

 

[Ophie]

A few more things to bring up:

0. Do NOT ban all Legendaries. All of the "trio" Legendaries, as well as Celebi, Jirachi, Manaphy, and Shaymin, are considered at the same level as non-Legendary Pokémon. (Consider that Dragonite, Tyranitar, Metagross, Salamence, and Garchomp have total stats equalling that of many Legendaries but are universally allowed.) Latias and Latios are not allowed to have the Soul Dew, though whether they're allowed without them is under dispute; to be on the safe side, you should ban Latias and Latios completely. Essentially, the list is: Mewtwo, Mew, Wobbuffet, Lugia, Ho-oh, Wynaut, Kyogre, Groudon, Rayquaza, Deoxys (all forms), Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, Darkrai, and Arceus.

1. Regarding hacked Pokémon, it's best to see if there are any stats that seem to be too high. Like, say, a Nidoking whose stats all read "F25." Obviously, something is wrong there. It's best to have Serebii.net as something to consult, since each Pokémon's page has its maximum possible stats.

2. Wobbuffet is banned because of how easily it can trap the opponent and completely take control of the game. It's not Destiny Bond being a required move but that it has the Shadow Tag Ability, which prevents the opponnt from switching out, and it can learn Encore through Wynaut, essentially locking the opponent into a single move. Wobbuffet can then safely choose Counter or Mirror Coat, since it'll know what the opponent will atatck with next.

3. Double Team and Minimize are the typically banned moves. Everything else is okay. If you ask me, I'd say to use the in-game rules where a person who successfully knocks out the opponent's last Pokémon with SelfDestruct, Explosion, or Destiny Bond automatically loses.

4. Repeating items is there just to make things more interesting, to gie mroe variety. That's the same reason why more than one of a single species is not allowed in these tournaments. It's up to you on how competitive you are. It'll force different choices of different Pokémon; Sharpedo and Shedinja will msotly no longer coexist, since they both rely on Focus Sash.

 

[Xain]

The banning of all legends is a tricky situation....you have to remember not every one uses legendaries. Even though many are considered "fair game", they are still very powerful and can cripple any one that uses a-less-than conventional team. So if you want to count on future attendance you should ban all legendary Pokemon.

Besides, it must be difficult to get a legendary with all the correct stats and what not....leaves alot of room for foul play. Also, here's a tip if your doing a manual spot check: No fighting type pokemon can learn the move Hammer Arm.

Also a question for you....are all game stops in NJ doing this? If not me and my friend might head there for the tourney....of course if all legendaries are banned. You should post an update on what you plan to do.

 

[EifiBurakki]

wow, a gamestop employee asking for OUR help. kool.

1. One way is to check the stats. If most of the stats are above 350, than it is most likely hacked. Another way is the encounter. (like Turtwig510 said) and the Contest stats. If they are all maxxed, its hacked.

2. People bann Wobofett because of his INSANE moveset. Counter, Mirror Coat, Protect, and Destrony Bond. Counter and Mirror Coat can do as much as to double Hyper Beam. And Destony Bond makes a draw so that is why you should ban Wobofett altogether.

3. Moves to Ban: Counter, Mirror Coat, Explosion, Self-Destruct, Destony Bond, Minimize, Double Team, and Flash.

4. You should ban item repeats because you dont want to have one person with nothing but Leftovers, Shell bells, and Focus Bands.

 

[Pochaki]

okay, these are my opinions... ^^

1) I'm not an expert in telling whether pokemon is hacked but I do know a few ways....
-For Event Pokemons, you should check to see if the ID numbers are correct.
-Meeting Pokemon at lvl. 100 in the wild (when you caught it) is hacked.
-Having unusual high stats is hacked, you can confirm that on serebii's pokedex pages.
-Usually around lvl 50 pokemons, there isn't any pokemon that has stats over 200...if it is some lvl 40 pokemon and has like 210 in one stat (like Attack), then it is probablly hacked.


2) I don't think Wobbafet should be banned. eventhough how you guys say it's moveset is really powerful, I don't think that should be the case for banning it as there are other pokemons with powerful move too (like Shedjina, what if your pokemon doesn't have any flying/physic attack that counter it's ability Wonder Guard? so, you'll be stuck and auto-lose as well...). Anyways, I think Wobbafet is just like normal pokemon but it just requires you to have Strategy to beat it. So I think Wobbafet could add more fun/strategically gameplay if you include it in the tournament.

3) well, Double team is pretty annoying when you can't hit your opponent...but I find that it really is depend on luck, because I have an opponent use Double Team many times but then I really hit his pokemon on that same turn....so it depends if you want to ban it or not....but for tournaments, I think Double Team could lagged the whole process if one player keep using it to prolong the battle....
the other moves like Explosion, Perish Song, Destiny Bond...well, I think it will be okay to use if it's not the last pokemon.
I'm not aware of any other moves to banned. I think Mirror Coat/Counter is alright because you can easily predict it and it really has to depend on luck as well... (like say you throw the opponent's off-course by playing with them...like first you use a Special attack, like Ice Beam, and luckily they counter it with Mirror Coat, but then you can use a Physical attack, Razor Leaf, so their move will fail if they use Mirror Coat again.... ^^)


4) As for items, it really depends. It doesn't really matter much if the whole team has leftovers, focus slash or not...maybe that's the opponent stratgy on their team (i.e., they need to use that item for some moves/combination of attacks), so if you really ban their items, then you are banning their strategy...so that is unrespectful in a way.... (well, to me I think) ^^;;
because some items really helps makes the battle alot cooler/attractive and it shows if the player is using a strategically gameplay on his pokemons or not. (rather than brute force, which is pretty boring if you ask me. lol. oh like the battle is over in 3 turns, because one pokemon KO 3 pokemons... game over already? ) So I really think the duplicate items doesn't matter. It actually makes the game more interesting (depending on it's use).