Pokemon World Championship challenger disqualified for using ‘genned’ team
Game Freak/The Pokemon CompanyA Pokemon World Championship candidate has been disqualified for using ‘genned’ Pokemon after winning his first two rounds during the competition.
Pokemon World Championship 2023 is in full bloom at Yokohama’s PACIFICO Convention Center, and we just learned that one of the challengers for the Pokemon Scarlet & Violet VGC competition has been disqualified for using spoofed mons during his matches.
The competitor Brady Smith, who was going all out and winning 2-0 in the first Swiss rounds, was eventually called out and learned about his disqualification. According to Smith, half of his team was branded ‘suspicious’ and then confirmed to be ‘genned,’ meaning: obtained through cheats.
Smith quickly explained that he obtained those Pokemon through his ‘trusted trader.’ He claimed that he didn’t have a copy of Sword and Shield to get Urshifu, nor a copy of Legends Arceus to get the Landorus he was also using in his team build.
Genned Pokemon are a recurrent issue in the competitive scene and have been plaguing it ever since the beginning of the VGC Pokemon World Championship Event back in 2008. So, it’s no surprise that The Pokemon Company and Nintendo had been steadily increasing their control methods to prevent this from happening.
What is considered a ‘genned’ Pokemon according to the rules?
A ‘genned’ Pokemon, aka ‘generated Pokemon,’ is a term used to classify a mon that has been generated or created using unauthorized means, such as hacking or with the use of third-party software. The most obvious ones possess combinations of abilities, moves, and base stats that are impossible in the actual games.
There are other ‘smoother’ methods of genning that slightly modify things like the percentage of critical hit chance of a certain move to make it happen once every two or three rounds. Some even modify the base damage of a move for it to increase steadily during combat.
The organizers of the event have a policy of zero tolerance for genned Pokemon. This time, it happened to Brady Smith, but as he says: “Should have gotten my mons myself.” Trainers should be extra careful to catch and train all their team members themselves, as tradings seems to be unsafe.
If you are still hungry for more Pokemon content, here’s a Mystery Gift code to claim Mew in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet, and you can also check all we know about the upcoming Pokemon Scarlet & Violet DLC.