Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's competitive scene is about to get a complete overhaul thanks to the next set of official Video Game Championships (VGC) rules, which will see all Legendary and Paradox Pokemon banned.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Regulation Set H has just been announced, but it won't come into effect until the start of September. At that point, though, it'll run through January 5, 2025, and will enforce massive changes from the current Regulation Set G rules that VGC players have been following since May.
In recent months, thanks to Set G, players were allowed to select one 'Restricted' Pokemon to use on their team, permitting them to pick from Legendaries like Mewtwo, Giratina, and Groudon to add some extra firepower. It's thanks to these rules that we've seen the surprising rise of Zamazenta – which was considered a pretty lackluster Legendary in its own game - and the development of a strategy to make Gen 9 powerhouse Miraidon even more viable. It's been a really fascinating few months in the competitive scene for this reason, so it's rather surprising to see all of those Restricted Pokemon removed from play.
The banning of all Paradox Pokemon is also quite a shock. After all, they were some of the most exciting additions to Scarlet and Violet in the first place, with their cool futuristic and prehistoric takes on existing Pokemon. They've also been a prevalent part of Scarlet and Violet's competitive scene for the vast majority of the time it's been running – while they were banned in the first ruleset, Regulation Set A, they've been available to use since Set B in February 2023, and people have made great use of them, with the likes of Flutter Mane (the ancient version of Ghost-type Misdreavus) running rampant.
Needless to say, I'm very curious to see how competitive players are going to adapt to these changes. It's also worth keeping in mind that the Regulation Set G rules are actually set to come back into play after the upcoming Set H rules end, so those Restricted Pokemon will be back in action from January 2025 to the end of April.
