Tournament Rules
Registration:
We allow for a one hour window at the beginning of every tournament event for you to register your team and pay your entry fee. This consists of writing out your entire team, their moves, and items to insure no changes happen during the event. These teams must then be entered as a Battle team which will then be entered into the event.
You may pre-register your team ahead of time by email to: Contact@phillypokemon.com. The deadline for this is 12pm on the day of the event. If you do so please put the name of the tournament, such as SPRING FLING, in the subject line. Although, you will still be required to pay the entry fee to finalize your spot.
All tournament fees are used as prize support and to fund future league events.
Tournament Points:
Each Season each tournament will allow you to gain tournament points. These points are cumulative and can be viewed in the Rankings section along with your current win/loss record. At the end of each Season we will crown the Champion to whomever has the highest point total.
Rules, known as “Standard Clauses”, for all tournaments unless otherwise stated under the respective individual tournament rules:
Endless Battle Clause: There are some combos that can cause endless loops such as Leppa Berry + Recycle +Heal Pulse. ALL FORMS OF ENDLESS LOOPS ARE BANNED.
Species Clause: You may not have two of the same Pokèmon on your team. Pokèmon such as Rotom have several variants although they share the same National Dex number you may use more than one of Pokèmon such as this if they are not the same variant. This variant exception will also apply to Aloha Forms in Sun and Moon.
Item Clause: You may not have two or more Pokèmon with the same item on your team.
Evasion Clause: A player cannot increase their Pokémon's evasion stat with a move that specifically increases evasion. Items or indirect boosts do not break this clause.
One Hit KO Clause: You may not use any move that may result in a one hit KO such as: Fissure, Horn Drill, Sheer Cold, and Guillotine.
Sleep Clause: You may only willingly put two enemy Pokèmon to sleep at any one time. This amount is not effected by secondary effects such as certain Gmax moves.
Legendary Pokèmon Clause: You may not use any Legendary Pokèmon, or Mythics such as: Arceus, Articuno, Azelf, Calyrex, Chien-Po, Chi-Yu, Cresselia, Darkrai, Dialga, Diancie, Enamorus, Eternatus, Fezandipiti, Giratina, Glastrier, Groudon, Heatran, Hoopa, Iron Leaves, Koraidon, Kyogre, Landorus, Magearna, Manaphy, Meloetta, Mew, Mewtwo, Miraidon, Moltres, Munkidori, Ogerpon, Okidogi, Palkia, Phione, Rayquaza, Regidrago, Regieleki, Shaymin, Spectrier, Terapagos, Thundurus, Ting-Lu, Tornadus, Uxie, Urshifu, Volcanion, Walking Wake, Wo-Chien, Zacian, Zamezenta, Zapdos, Zarude, and Zeraroa.
Palafin as well as all Paradox Pokemon, and the Move Last Respects will be considered a “Legendary” for the above clause.
Fair Fight Clause: You may not use the internet or receive aid from another player during or before any match, however you may use a blank sheet of paper and a writing utensil. It is polite to not have your phone out during matches to curtail impressions of such bad behavior.
Timer Clause: Due to the restrictive 20 minute time in link battles all battles will be hosted as local tournaments by a member of the league. Our official settings for Tournament matches are a 7 minute personal or chess timer coupled with an unlimited match timer.
Note - As of now there is no way to remove the timer in Scarlet/Violet, although we hope that this functionality is added at a later date.
2026 Tournament Season Events:
Tournament one: Prism Battle Factory
Format: bring 6, play 6 singles
Tournament Format: Swiss-System, Five rounds
Team Construction: Choose one Pokémon type (Grass, Fire, Water, etc.) – all of your team members must be a Pokémon of that type. Dual-type Pokémon are allowed as long as one of their types matches your selected type. After each battle, the player who loses the battle MUST select one of their Pokémon and one of their opponent’s Pokémon to trade. You will proceed to the next battle with your new team member. NOTE: Please bring a team of Pokémon that you are alright with permanently trading away! If you bring a Pokémon that you want to get back after the end of the tournament, that’s up to you to sort out.
Clauses: All Standard Clauses will be in effect for this event. Species Clause and Item Clause apply during your initial team construction, but you are allowed to have a duplicate Pokémon species or item on your team as a result of trading during the tournament. Terastallization IS ALLOWED for this event. This event has a $5 Dollar entrance fee which is payable via cash or PayPal.
This event has a $5 Dollar entrance fee which is payable via cash or PayPal.
Season Points Awarded for this Event: 1st: 10pts, 2nd: 8pts, Top 4: 6pts, Top 8: 4pts, Any wins: 2pts, No wins: 1pt Best Sportsman: 3 additional pts.
Tournament Two: TBD
Tournament 3: Halloween Season Finale!
Format: 6 vs 6 Singles Normal Battle
Rules: Singles Normal Battle.
Clauses: All Clauses will be in effect for this tournament which can be found at the top of this page.
Banned Pokémon: All Legendary and Mythic Pokémon as per the Legendary Clause.
Paradox Pokémon - Iron Treads, Iron Bundle, Iron Hands, Iron Jugulis, Iron Moth, Iron Thorns, Iron Valiant, Great Tusk, Scream Tail, Brute Bonnet, Flutter Mane, Silther Wing, Roaring Moon, Walking Wake, Iron Leaves, and Sandy Shocks. In addition to these Palafin will also NOT be allowed.
Banned Move: Last Respects.
Terastalization is allowed for this event.
This Event will have a $10 dollar admission fee payable either by cash or Venmo.
Season Points Awarded by this Event:
1st 20pts, 2nd: 16pts, Top 4: 12pts, Top 8: 8pts, Top 12: 6pts, Below 12th: 3pts
Best Sportsman: 3 additional pts.
At the end of this tournament we will also announce the Tournament Champion of the 2023 Season to whomever has the highest point total. If there is a tie it will be decided by win/loss ratio.