The 2023 Pokemon World Championships began on August 11, 2023, where trainers from all around have been competing for top spots in games like Pokemon Scarlet & Violet, Pokemon Go, and more.
However, one player sparked controversy during the Day 1 VGC competition after they were disqualified for using multiple “genned” or modified Pokemon on their team.
Since the disqualifications, Pokemon fans on social media have started to debate whether or not modified teams should be allowed to compete in official tournaments, with compelling reasons for and against the rule.
Pokemon fans split over “genned” team bans For a bit more context, Pokemon player Brady Smith was DQ’d at 2-0 during Day 1 of the VGC competition after judges learned that members of his team were modified or “genned.”
According to Smith, he wanted to use Landorous and Urshifu on his team but since he didn’t have the games necessary to legitimately get them in Scarlet & Violet — Legends: Arceus and Sword & Shield, respectively — he instead traded for them. Those traded Pokemon were modified.
Now, fans from all corners of the internet are weighing in on the decision to ban, with many split on how this issue should be handled moving forward.
Some fans thought it was prohibitive to lock some of the best competitive Pokemon in Gen 9 behind separate games, like Legends: Arceus and Sword & Shield. “I feel bad for those who got disqualified… Especially, since the meta revolves around using Pokemon that you can only obtain from Legends of Arceus and Sword/Shield+DLC,” said one fan.
Nintendo will likely try to take down showdown if an unofficial vgc league rivals their offical tournaments but at this rate a showdown takedown is a likely thing at somepoint in the future anyway. I can't wait for competitive pokemon to be in the same state as Smash.