What is Little Cup, and what makes it different than the other tiers?
Little Cup is a very unique and interesting tier. Unlike other tiers, which are based around level 100 Pokemon, Little Cup plays with Pokemon that are all level 5. Also, Little Cup further restricts the rules to include only Pokemon that can evolve and are the lowest evolution in their evolution chains. This creates a drastically different metagame in Little Cup than from other tiers, and Little Cup contains a lot of Pokemon that you simply would never see used anywhere else in competitive Pokemon. Because of its uniqueness, Little Cup exists in a state of its own-- it has its very own banlist, which means bans made in other tiers don't affect Little Cup at all (for example, Snover was banned in RU but remained legal to use in Little Cup for the entirety of Generation V). It's a ground for baby Pokemon to grit their teeth and show their evolved counterparts how powerful they can be as well.
Little Cup is a very unique and interesting tier. Unlike other tiers, which are based around level 100 Pokemon, Little Cup plays with Pokemon that are all level 5. Also, Little Cup further restricts the rules to include only Pokemon that can evolve and are the lowest evolution in their evolution chains. This creates a drastically different metagame in Little Cup than from other tiers, and Little Cup contains a lot of Pokemon that you simply would never see used anywhere else in competitive Pokemon. Because of its uniqueness, Little Cup exists in a state of its own-- it has its very own banlist, which means bans made in other tiers don't affect Little Cup at all (for example, Snover was banned in RU but remained legal to use in Little Cup for the entirety of Generation V). It's a ground for baby Pokemon to grit their teeth and show their evolved counterparts how powerful they can be as well.
How do I play Little Cup? What do I have to know?
Pokemon are only Little Cup legal if they: 1) can evolve; and 2) are the lowest stage in evolution in their chain. For example, Misdreavus, Scraggy, and Swirlix are Little Cup legal, but Ivysaur and Rotom are not. Little Cup is played at level 5. This creates a new host of breeding issues, EV troubles, and "is this allowed? why or why not?" which will be addressed in this thread. Guides will be posted as well, though keep in mind at this time they are all for BW, so they might be a bit outdated. A complete list of the rules can be found here.
How do I get involved with Little Cup?
It is quite easy to get involved if you want to play! The best place to get involved with Little Cup is on our IRC channel: #littlecup. If you do not understand Smogon IRC, a guide can be found here. A direct link to our channel can be found here. If you just want to jump on and start chatting, just click that and type a nickname to use! Everyone on Little Cup is friendly and we always welcome newcomers to our channel, so feel free to log on, say hello, stay to chat, or ask any questions you may have! If you need an immediate answer to any questions you may have, ask it in the chat and someone should answer it for you. Hopefully you'll enjoy your stay, and will keep coming back! We don't bite!!
Another great place to talk to fellow lovers of Little Cup is on the Little Cup channel on Pokemon Showdown! When you log on, it'll ask you to choose a channel. Scroll down until you see Little Cup, and join on in! You can also just go there directly! This isn't as popular as our IRC channel is, but we are hoping more people will frequent it and talk in it!
Pokemon are only Little Cup legal if they: 1) can evolve; and 2) are the lowest stage in evolution in their chain. For example, Misdreavus, Scraggy, and Swirlix are Little Cup legal, but Ivysaur and Rotom are not. Little Cup is played at level 5. This creates a new host of breeding issues, EV troubles, and "is this allowed? why or why not?" which will be addressed in this thread. Guides will be posted as well, though keep in mind at this time they are all for BW, so they might be a bit outdated. A complete list of the rules can be found here.
How do I get involved with Little Cup?
It is quite easy to get involved if you want to play! The best place to get involved with Little Cup is on our IRC channel: #littlecup. If you do not understand Smogon IRC, a guide can be found here. A direct link to our channel can be found here. If you just want to jump on and start chatting, just click that and type a nickname to use! Everyone on Little Cup is friendly and we always welcome newcomers to our channel, so feel free to log on, say hello, stay to chat, or ask any questions you may have! If you need an immediate answer to any questions you may have, ask it in the chat and someone should answer it for you. Hopefully you'll enjoy your stay, and will keep coming back! We don't bite!!
Another great place to talk to fellow lovers of Little Cup is on the Little Cup channel on Pokemon Showdown! When you log on, it'll ask you to choose a channel. Scroll down until you see Little Cup, and join on in! You can also just go there directly! This isn't as popular as our IRC channel is, but we are hoping more people will frequent it and talk in it!
Finally, one of the best ways to contribute to Little Cup is by posting in the forums! I know that doing so can be intimidating if you aren't that interested in a discussion, or are unsure what to post. Rest assured, Little Cup is a judgment free zone. We recommend and even encourage posting from people of any experience level. Keep in mind that every "good" player started off as a "noob" once. We all get better via practice and via contributing, so please do so to your heart's content. If there's any thread that you want posted, then please don't hesitate to talk to me or macle about it. We will give you advice on a thread and generally let you post it! If you are still a little hesitant, use this thread to introduce yourself. Tell us about yourself if you are comfortable doing so, and then post any questions you may have or any requests for help you might need. We'll do our best to get to know you all and answer any questions you may have!
Also, please post in this thread to introduce yourself if you are a new player or lurker, and to ask any questions you may have.
Also, please post in this thread to introduce yourself if you are a new player or lurker, and to ask any questions you may have.
How to Play Little Cup!
It's quite simple! Log on Pokemon Showdown! and ladder! As of right now, under the XY Singles tiers, there are two types of Little Cup: Little Cup (beta) and Pokebank LC (beta). The former is the official Little Cup tier. It is impossible to use Pokemon that would require Pokebank to transfer them to XY, so the Little Cup (beta) is our official tier. However, if you would like to play or ladder in Pokebank LC (beta), that's absolutely fine! If you don't feel like laddering, but want to play, then hop on IRC or the Pokemon Showdown! Little Cup channel and ask someone to play! You'll definitely find a battle.
Helpful Tips and Tricks!
- Because Pokemon at level 5 have very low HP values, Leftovers is not a very useful item. An item like Berry Juice, which restores 20 HP in one go, is almost always more valuable than Leftovers. Eviolite is also a very useful item, which boosts the defenses of EVERY Little Cup Pokemon by 1 stage.
- Even though the playing field seems equal, some baby Pokemon are just better than the rest! Unfortunately, there just isn't really a place for Caterpie, Pidgey, or any of the typical bad Pokemon. For an example, here is a "Viability Ranking List" that was made in Generation 5, that ranked legal Pokemon. We obviously haven't had time to do so for Generation 6 yet, but please take a look if you're curious!
- EVs work differently at Level 5 than at Level 50 or 100. It just takes more EVs in one stat to boost it by a stat point. This means that a spread like 4 HP / 252 Attack / 252 Speed is inefficient. In almost all cases, you will be wasting EVs, as sometimes a Pokemon does not get more Speed if you put in 236 or 196 EVs. The remaining points can go into other stats. Don't feel too intimidated if you see a spread like: 220 HP / 4 Attack / 68 Defense / 4 Special Attack / 148 Special Defense / 16 Speed. It just happens in Little Cup! A full guide to how to give EV spreads in Little Cup can be found here. However, this is quite the difficult guide to reference when building teams, and is for the most mathematically inclined. The EASIEST way to do it is to...just set your Pokemon's level to 5 in the Pokemon Showdown! teambuilder and slide the EV slider until a stat point goes up. Fiddle around with this, and you'll be an EV pro in no time! Likewise, when analyses go up for Little Cup Pokemon, please use the spreads listed!
List of Available Guides and Articles
Use these articles with a grain of salt. They were written for the Generation 5 metagame, and as such are not up to date for Generation 6. We will be writing more articles and Pokemon analyses soon, but we want the metagame to settle first.
- A Little Help? This is a thread including articles written by Ray Jay and Ssin that makes getting into XY Little Cup so much easier! I highly recommend checking it out.
- XY Little Cup -- Rules & Policy! I linked this earlier, but this thread lists the rules for XY Little Cup, what is banned, and some current policies. A lot of the information might be redundant with this thread.
- Guide to LC Move Legality! This article shows how and why a move would be legal or illegal for a Little Cup Pokemon. It is a very handy article if you want to give it a read through. Keep in mind right now that Pokemon you transfer over from the Pokebank in December are not legal right now, but Pokebank LC is still a thing you can play on Pokemon Showdown!
- Little Did You Know -- A Beginner's Guide to Little Cup! This article was intended to introduce an individual to the Generation 5 Little Cup metagame. As such, much of the information in this article is outdated, but that doesn't mean it's not good for a quick peek or reference.
- If you're new to Smogon in general and are looking for help getting acquainted with the site, check out the Mentorship Forum.
- This thread! It was unclear apparently, but this thread is meant to be used as a Simple Questions, Simple Answers kind of thread. If you have a question, ask it here! Don't make a new thread about it.
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