2017 Pokémon Video Game Championships format revealed

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  • Friday, December 2, 2016

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This article brought to you by Bulbanews, your community Pokémon newspaper.

The official rules for the 2017 Video Game Championships format have been revealed and are effective immediately.

Video Game Championships logo

The basic rules are as follows:

  • Double Battles
  • Players may only use Pokémon in the Alola Pokédex
  • Only Pokémon with the black clover (also known as the Alola symbol) may participate, meaning that only Pokémon obtained in the Generation VII games can be used. Pokémon transferred from previous generations cannot be used.
  • All items, except Mega Stones, are permitted
  • 90-second team preview, 45-second turn limit, 10-minute “player time”
    • There is also a judge-enforced round time limit of 50 minutes for best-of-three matches, and 20 minutes for best-of-one matches
  • All Pokémon are set to level 50, including Pokémon below level 50

For the full set of rules, see the 2017 Pokémon VGC rules document. To compare the changes from last year's rules, see this computed difference.


A new feature in Pokémon Sun and Moon allows players to download rule sets, so players can down this ruleset to practice with the 2017 VGC rules. This can be done in Festival Plaza in the games. The 2017 VGC rules are now available for download.