Rules & Regulations of the 2024 Season

On this page you can find all info on the official Rules & Regulations that apply at the VGC events of the 2024 Season. Normally, these apply to all events, regardless of the entity hosting them, and also apply to community-run grassroots events, like the ones from Victory Road.

Note the following distinction:

Battle rules: general set of rules that apply to all battles. These are what define “VGC”, such as all matches being Double Battles played with a game time of 20 minutes.
Team rules: general set of rules that apply to all teams. These provide the base framework to what is allowed in “VGC”, such as all Pokémon being auto-leveled to level 50, or the Species and Item Clauses (you may not use the same Pokémon or Items, respectively, more than once on your team).
Rulesets or Regulation Sets: specific set of rules that apply on top of the previous two. These refer to specific Pokémon, moves or items that are allowed or banned, and change during the season.

Battle rules

Players will play in Double Battles in Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet.
- - Each player selects four out of the six Pokémon in their Battle Team.
  - Gameplay continues until a player makes all four of their opponent’s Pokémon faint or until the in-game time limit has expired.
There is no round timer and all matches shall be allowed to finish when a player’s all four Pokémon faint or the in-game time limit has expired. The in-game timers are the following:
- - Team preview: 90 seconds
  - Move time limit: 45 seconds
  - Player total time limit (called “Your time” in game): 7 minutes
  - Game time: 20 minutes
If the match ends with an unresolved outcome, the tiebreakers that apply are first late shows, then sudden death. For disconnection cases, refer to the most current rules document.
Matches played during Swiss rounds may be best-of-one or best-of-three, with the latter strongly recommended in Regional-level and higher-tier events. All top cuts must be played as best-of-three.
In TPCI events, players will compete with open team lists. At the start of a match, players will swap team lists with the opponent, and will exchange them back at the end. Players may not take notes or alter their opponents’ list. The team list contains the following info:
- - Pokémon species, including forms or regional variants.
  - Abilities.
  - Held Items.
  - All known Moves.
  - Tera Type.

Team rules

Players may use Pokémon that were:
- - Obtained in Pokémon Scarlet or Pokémon Violet.
  - Imported into Pokémon Scarlet or Pokémon Violet via Pokémon HOME, even if they weren’t caught in Paldea.
  - Received through an official event or distribution.
Pokémon may make use of any move or Ability available to that Pokémon through normal gameplay. This includes Hidden Abilities and event-exclusive moves and Abilities.
Pokémon above and below level 50 will be auto-levelled to level 50 during battle.
Each Pokémon may hold an item, though no two Pokémon may hold the same item.
A player’s team cannot contain two Pokémon of the same species, that is, with the same National Pokédex number (for example, Heat Rotom and Wash Rotom are not allowed, since both are still Rotom).

Format rotations

All official events for the 2024 season, which starts on September 2023 and will end at the 2024 World Championships, will use Pokémon Scarlet & Pokémon Violet until further notice. This applies to TPCI, TPC and TPCK events.

The official VGC rules may vary with each Series of Ranked Battles in the in-game ladder. That means that both online & real-life events will usually follow such regulations, unless announced otherwise.

Regulation Set D: 1 Jul–30 Sep 2023
Regulation Set E: 1 Oct 2023–3 Jan 2024
Regulation Set F: 4 Jan–30 Apr 2024

Regulation Set E

Permitted Pokémon

These are the Pokémon allowed in Series 8, 10 and 11:

- Galar Pokédex: #001-397
- Isle of Armor Pokédex: #001-210
- Crown Tundra Pokédex: #001-209
- National Pokédex: #243–245, #252–260, #380–381, #480–482, #485, #488, #638–642, #645, #722–730, #785–788, #793–799 and #803–806

Additionally, players may use one (Series 11) or two (Series 12) of the following Restricted Pokémon in their teams:

- National Pokédex: #150, #249-250, #382–384, #483–484, #487, #643–644, #646, #716–718, #789–792, #800, #888–890 and #898

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