The Ionic Cup

Get ready for a new challenge beginning on March 1st! With it comes a new chance to prove your skill and increase your global and local player ranking! The Ionic Cup follows the same basic rules as all Silph Arena global cups, but this month it comes with a special twist! Here's what you need to know:

What Is The Ionic Cup?

Each month the Silph Arena holds a month-long Cup - a 'themed' PvP tournament - that provides tens of thousands of trainers around the world a specially-designed competitive challenge and a chance to prove they're the very best. The Silph Arena is the world's largest global network for ranked Pokémon GO^TM tournament play.

During the Cup (March 1^st - March 31^st), local Silph League communities host and record a special tournament using the free Silph.gg tools. Wins and losses in this local tournament affect your player rank on local and global leaderboards

All players are welcome to compete, whether it's your first tournament or your hundredth! Find a local tournament near you on the Tournament Map!

Ionic Cup Rules

The Ionic Cup has a few special rules (designed to provide added challenge and fun) that differ from standard PvP combat in Pokemon GO:

• Team of 6: Competitors will bring a team of 6 Pokemon (and register them before the tournament begins). All battle parties used must be comprised of these 6 Pokemon.
• Great League: Matches are played in Great League: only Pokemon up to 1500 CP are permitted in the Cup.
• Create a team with Chemestry: Build a team from the list of eligible Bug, Dark, Normal, Poison and Water Pokémon, bonding them together with optional pokemon from other slots!
  • Mega Pokémon are not eligible to use in the Ionic Cup.
• Eligible List: What follows is the official list of exactly which species are permitted for use in the Ionic Cup:
  • Slot 1: Electron
    #181

    #243

    #312

    #405

    #466

    #702

    And in text form:

    • Ampharos, Dedenne, Electivire, Luxray, Minun, Raikou
  • Slot 2: Proton/Wildcard
    #9

    #15

    #30

    #47

    #62

    #89

    #119

    #127

    #131

    #143

    #168

    #186

    #211

    #233

    #264

    #317

    #336

    #342

    #348

    #350

    #351

    #364

    #400

    #402

    #461

    #503

    #545

    #569

    #571

    #675

    #687

    #689

    #20

    #760

    #768

    #215

    And in text form:

    • Ariados, Armaldo, Barbaracle, Beedrill, Bewear, Bibarel, Blastoise, Crawdaunt, Garbodor, Golisopod, Hisuian Sneasel, Kricketune, Lapras, Linoone, Malamar, Milotic, Muk, Nidorina, Normal Castform, Pangoro, Parasect, Pinsir, Politoed, Poliwrath, Porygon2, Qwilfish, Raticate (Alolan), Samurott, Scolipede, Seaking, Sealeo, Seviper, Snorlax, Swalot, Weavile, Zoroark
  • Slot 3: Neutron/Wildcard
    #9

    #30

    #47

    #89

    #119

    #127

    #131

    #143

    #186

    #197

    #211

    #233

    #264

    #302

    #317

    #336

    #342

    #348

    #350

    #351

    #400

    #402

    #435

    #446

    #452

    #461

    #503

    #545

    #569

    #571

    #675

    #687

    #20

    #760

    #768

    #820

    And in text form:

    • Armaldo, Bewear, Bibarel, Blastoise, Crawdaunt, Drapion, Garbodor, Golisopod, Greedent, Kricketune, Lapras, Linoone, Malamar, Milotic, Muk, Munchlax, Nidorina, Normal Castform, Pangoro, Parasect, Pinsir, Politoed, Porygon2, Qwilfish, Raticate (Alolan), Sableye, Samurott, Scolipede, Seaking, Seviper, Skuntank, Snorlax, Swalot, Umbreon, Weavile, Zoroark
  • Slot 4: Wildcard
    #9

    #30

    #47

    #89

    #119

    #127

    #131

    #143

    #186

    #211

    #233

    #264

    #317

    #336

    #342

    #348

    #350

    #351

    #400

    #402

    #461

    #503

    #545

    #569

    #571

    #675

    #687

    #20

    #760

    #768

    And in text form:

    • Armaldo, Bewear, Bibarel, Blastoise, Crawdaunt, Garbodor, Golisopod, Kricketune, Lapras, Linoone, Malamar, Milotic, Muk, Nidorina, Normal Castform, Pangoro, Parasect, Pinsir, Politoed, Porygon2, Qwilfish, Raticate (Alolan), Samurott, Scolipede, Seaking, Seviper, Snorlax, Swalot, Weavile, Zoroark
  • Slot 5: Wildcard
    #9

    #30

    #47

    #89

    #119

    #127

    #131

    #143

    #186

    #211

    #233

    #264

    #317

    #336

    #342

    #348

    #350

    #351

    #400

    #402

    #461

    #503

    #545

    #569

    #571

    #675

    #687

    #20

    #760

    #768

    And in text form:

    • Armaldo, Bewear, Bibarel, Blastoise, Crawdaunt, Garbodor, Golisopod, Kricketune, Lapras, Linoone, Malamar, Milotic, Muk, Nidorina, Normal Castform, Pangoro, Parasect, Pinsir, Politoed, Porygon2, Qwilfish, Raticate (Alolan), Samurott, Scolipede, Seaking, Seviper, Snorlax, Swalot, Weavile, Zoroark
  • Slot 6: Wildcard
    #9

    #30

    #47

    #89

    #119

    #127

    #131

    #143

    #186

    #211

    #233

    #264

    #317

    #336

    #342

    #348

    #350

    #351

    #400

    #402

    #461

    #503

    #545

    #569

    #571

    #675

    #687

    #20

    #760

    #768

    And in text form:

    • Armaldo, Bewear, Bibarel, Blastoise, Crawdaunt, Garbodor, Golisopod, Kricketune, Lapras, Linoone, Malamar, Milotic, Muk, Nidorina, Normal Castform, Pangoro, Parasect, Pinsir, Politoed, Porygon2, Qwilfish, Raticate (Alolan), Samurott, Scolipede, Seaking, Seviper, Snorlax, Swalot, Weavile, Zoroark
• No Duplicates: Only one of each Pokemon species is permitted on your team of 6. (No species duplicates!)
• Arena Rules will be followed in all other particulars.

Take a moment to review the Arena Rules linked above. The rules have been updated for the new Competitive PvP Season, make sure you’re familiar with all of the changes!

How to Compete

Registration for the March Cup will become available to local community leaders on February 21^st, 2023 - but Ionic Cups must be scheduled for dates between March 1^st and March 31^st, 2023. Find a Cup tournament near you via the Tournament Map

Frequently Asked Questions

Community Leader Questions:

How Do I Host a Ionic Cup Tournament in My Community?

Simply log in to Silph.gg with an authorized Community Leader account and create a Cup tournament on your community management page. You will be given an RSVP url to share with your community and, on the day of the tournament, a join code to confirm your tournament's registrants. For a guide to setting up your tournament on Silph.gg, click here.

How Do I Become Authorized to Host Tournaments on Silph.gg?

All Silph League Discord community admins simply need to add themselves as 'Tournament Admins' via the Discord @SilphRoad bot:

• On Discord, use the @SilphRoad add-tournament-admin @username#0000 command in your #silph-league channel. (You may need to log out of Silph.gg and back in again!)

Telegram channel and group admins are automatically authorized on Silph.gg.

Does the Ionic Cup have to be hosted on a specific date?

Any date between March 1^st and March 31^st, 2023 is a valid date to hold your community's Ionic Cup. The tournament registration page will not allow registering your Cup for an invalid date or time - so as long as you are able to create your tournament on Silph.gg, you will know it is set for a valid date.

I am a community leader of a Facebook Group (or other platform like Slack, Line, etc). How do I host the Ionic Cup Cup for my community?

The Arena team is working quickly to enable non-Discord/Telegram communities to host the Cup. Stay tuned for news on this front!

Participant Questions:

How Do I Join a Ionic Cup Tournament in My Community?

Find a local Cup being hosted by a community near you via the Tournament Map and read the event details on the event's RSVP page!

How Important Are Monthly Cups for My Player Rank?

Very. The vast majority of player rank in the Arena is derived from performance in the global, standardized Cups. (This is because Cups allow the Arena to observe the same controlled competitive scenarios for each player!)

Why is the Ionic Cup played in Great League?

Great League (max 1500cp) provides a diverse, new playing field with many options for creative, competitive teams. It also allows more casual players to join tournaments at meetups without being completely unable to compete with level 40 trainers who often sport the same level 40 Legendary Pokemon. Great League also marks immediately irrelevant much of the amassed arsenal of those who manipulate their GPS location ('spoof') to circumvent in-game mechanic limiters and acquire unnatural advantages.

Where can I learn more about global player ranking?

You can learn more about Global Player Rankings by reading our Guide to Player Rank.

About the 2023 Competitive Season »