Leaderboards (Updated Weekly)

Hey everyone, just giving a quick update on events of the League for the immediate future.

Candidly, the League did not perform as well as I hoped and expected it to. We had some good interest at the start, and the first couple weeks were filled with battles and activity. But, that started to wane over time and I don't think we've had an official League battle in probably a month or so. Even then, a vast majority of the battles recorded were just t4u, panda, and schoen taking turns battling each other (which isn't a bad thing, but I would've liked having some more really active users). I have some theories as to why this happened, but my prime thoughts are that 3 months is too long, we had a lack of good advertising at the start, and we didn't have enough events or excitement generating activities throughout the season.

Analysis aside, Season 1 officially ends a week from today. If you want to try and rack up as many points as you can, definitely still feel free. However, as a result of lack of interest in the past couple months, I've decided to cancel the end of the season tournament. Additionally, the point gap between first and second, second and third, and third and everyone else seems large enough that awarding any meaningful points for a single event seems arbitrary and minimizes the important of the season as a whole.

As far as the future of the League is concerned, it's still open-ended right now. I did get burned out myself keeping track of all the battles and constantly updating the rankings early on in the season, so I'd probably want at least one other person on board for doing that job with me. Alternatively, we could just scrap the idea of Community Points (which is the only reason I had an admin-type job to begin with) and keep this purely a battle league. If we decide to have a Season 2, we can discuss those options more in-depth.

In the mean time, once May 1 hits, I'll finalize the results and update the sidebar with a simple trophy gallery for our main participants. If there's enough interest, we can discuss having a Season 2. Otherwise, you all can still feel free to hang out in the Discord channel to talk Pokemon and have some for-fun battles or trade partners.

I hope you all had a positive experience with the League!

Walking through what seems to be an empty building, you see a door at the end of the hallway. Stepping through the door, you enter what appears to be a make-shift dark room. Photos are scattered all around the room and stuck to the walls. Examining the photos, you see that there is a picture of every single known Pokemon, but some of the photos are different than others, most of the pictures have large red X's cut across the Pokemon, obscuring their image.

With a start, you realize that there is a pattern to the X's, the only ones left unblemished are the original Pokemon that were discovered first. You turn to leave, but as you move the door behind you starts to creak open and you see a figure standing in the doorway. You hear him saying something, starting out in a low tone but get louder and higher as he repeats the phrase repeatedly. He charges at you, now screaming what must be a catchphrase he lives his life with, "ONETRUEGEN!ONETRUEGEN!ONETRUEGEN!ONETRUEGEN!ONETRUEGEN!ONETRUEGEN!ONETRUEGEN!ONETRUEGEN!ONETRUEGEN!ONETRUEGEN!ONETRUEGEN!ONETRUEGEN!ONETRUEGEN!ONETRUEGEN!ONETRUEGEN!ONETRUEGEN!ONETRUEGEN!ONETRUEGEN!ONETRUEGEN!ONETRUEGEN!ONETRUEGEN!ONETRUEGEN!ONETRUEGEN!ONETRUEGEN!ONETRUEGEN!ONETRUEGEN!ONETRUEGEN!ONETRUEGEN!ONETRUEGEN!ONETRUEGEN!ONETRUEGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Gym Theme: Generation 1

FC: 2767-1328-4845

IGN: tehfatpanda

Time Zone: UTC-6 (Central Time Zone)

Current Streak: 0

I'm most often available between 9a-noon most days. If I'm in the discord its worth checking at other times though.

A couple quick announcements now that the League has been up and running for almost a week.

Moving forward, the League will reset at midnight EST on Monday morning. Full disclosure, this is mostly because it's the most convenient for my personal schedule. This also means that the first week is a short week in order to get on this schedule. I consider it a little bonus for the early adopters of the League so they don't have to wait as long to get their second round of matches in.

Secondly, this is also when I'll be updating the sidebar leaderboards. You'll notice that they've already been updated with the current rankings.

Lastly, let's talk about Community Points. By design, this category is not well defined as acts as a means to recognize members for contributing to the community in non-traditional methods (as in, outside of battling). There hasn't been a whole lot of ways to earn these yet, mostly because I wanted to focus everyone's attention on the battling aspect first and then move into the community discussion once things got established. Now that we're underway, it feels appropriate to bring up the community category and start to flesh it out a little better.

The most generic way to get these points is just being a good community member. I won't get too specific, but tehfatpanda earned his point for the way he handled a battle against an opponent who mistakenly brought in a banned Pokemon. I've seen a lot of people being helpful with regards to trading breeding subjects (e.g., the link in the sidebar) and also providing help and advice on teambuilding. Admittedly, I've taken a lot of that for granted the past week and probably haven't given out as many points as I should've. I do my best to read through the Discord to make sure I'm up to date on what's happening and will try to award points where appropriate, but I can definitely miss things. If you see something you think deserves recognition, don't hesitate to shoot me a PM of the situation and I'll award the appropriate points.

That being said, the Community category was originally conceived as a way for our members to actually contribute content to the League. If you have replays of your League battles you want to commentate over and share, you'll earn points for that. They don't even necessarily have to be your own battles if you just want to watch a bunch of replays and work on your analysis/commentary skills. On the League membership spreadsheet, there's a second sheet that contains all the official League battles that have taken place, so consider it open season to use any of those. If you want to host an event (like a tournament, battle royale, etc.), you can earn points that way too. If you have a different creative outlet that's Pokemon themed (podcasts, fan art, non-battle related videos, etc.), feel free to share those. Content doesn't even have to be main title specific, if you're a fan of the TCG or Pokemon Go or Pokemon Duel or whatever, don't be afraid to share your interests.

Basically, consider the Community points a way to express yourself on the blank slate of the League. If you find yourself thinking, This League is pretty cool, but I wish it had [your idea]... then feel free to bring it up with me.

As you enter Lush Jungle you notice many of the trees beginning to fade and lose their color. As you make your way deeper into the Jungle you look around for the many grass Pokémon you expect to find in the jungle but see none. The deeper you go the less color all of the trees and bushes seem to have, suddenly you feel water soaking into your shoes. A small stream of water is flowing towards the center of the jungle. Eager to see where this stream is going you start to follow it.

The longer you follow it the stronger the stream gets.  Soon the flow of the water becomes too great and it sweeps you out from under your feet and pulls you down.  As you fly down stream you see it, the cause for all of the decay in the jungle is right in front of you.  You free yourself from the pull of the current and walk up to what appears to be a large bush soaking up all of the water in the forest when suddenly it lunges at you!  You jump back just in time and look around at the dried up forest and plan your escape.  As you try to swim back up stream you are knocked back by a group of water Pokémon under the trance of the powerful Ferrothorn.

It is now up to you to save the jungle from being completely drained of life by this thorny plant and escape to freedom.

Gym theme: Ferrothorn supported with water

FC: 3110-5570-0243 IGN: Schoen Time Zone: US central time: Available most days after 7 Contacting me: Best way would be through the discord channel.

Current streak: 1

As you walk through Exeggutor Island, you suddenly feel a whoosh of air. Out of nowhere a wild Exeggutor faces you. You look all the way up to its face and wonder "Why is this a dragon type?" Exeggutor doesn't look happy about what you said. It starts to prepare a wood hammer and right before it strikes you, you exclaim * So I herd yu liek Mudkipz.* It freezes right where it is, and its leafy head touches the ground. It looks solid. You turn to exit when you see there's a tunnel inside Exeggutor. You climb it and your assumption was true. It's hollow, right through it. You begin to walk in the tunnel. When walking, you see multiple posters. One with doge, another pepe. You wonder what this is. As you walk you start hearing somebody speak. " We will build a great wall along the southern border." You see a door. You enter. You see a large room inside. As you enter, your phone buzzes. Ifunny has fresh memes for you! You dont remember even downloading Ifunny, but you dont care. You're here to get a badge. A trainer appears before you. Hello, I’m the meme Liam and I’m gonna ask you what your gender is. Ready for battle?

Type: Memes

Availability: Weekdays: 4-8 PM EST Weekends: Any time

FC: 0361 - 7774 - 4199

I will probably respond faster if you @ or pm me in discord

"You're going to the Dimensional Research Lab, aren't you? Anyone could tell that. After all there's nothing else upstairs... a gym you say? That's the first I've heard of it." the secretary states as she greets you. Taking the short elevator ride up to the floor above the Dimensional Research Lab, you enter the supposed Rift Gym.

What you see in front of you is a messy room with newspaper cutouts of various images pinned to the walls. Among them you see an image of a blue haired man with a Murkrow with a red string tying him to a drawing of what appears to be some kind of pokemon you've never seen before. There is also a newspaper cutout of Lusamine, Aether Paradise President, pinned to the wall. In the kitchen you see a pile of dirty dishes and the water is left running.

The Gym leader doesn't appear to be in this room so you head to a door near the back. Opening it without thinking you see a man with unkempt hair in a dirty lab coat furiously erasing something on a white board. In the corner you spot what appears to be multiple CRT tvs displaying a fuzzy images of the dimensional research lab from various angles, along with what appears to be a trapdoor.

The leader exclaims "Have you ever heard of knocking! Give me a moment and I'll greet you in the other room." despite this statement the gym leader awkwardly sidesteps you and rushes to the other room and begins furiously cleaning up to create a space for the battle to take place.

"Ahem! Welcome to the Akala City Gym you will be facing me the world's number one dimensional research enthusiast! If you win you will earn a Rift Badge!" the leader holds out what appears to be a rock with the word "Rift" written on it in Marker "I have a spent years investigating the thousands of hidden dimensions in the Pokemon World. In the process I have mastered the use of the move Trick Room. Now face me in..." the leader turns around "oh whoops I left the water on...um I'm gonna go turn that off right now" The leader moves to turn off the water "...now as I was saying um... whatever lets just get to the battle."

Gym Theme: Trick Room

FC: 1091-8131-2987

IGN: Aaron

Time Zone: UTC -6 (CST) Mostly free between 4pm and 10pm daily.

Contacting me: The best way to contact me is to either send me a private message through discord or reply on reddit I have reddit notifications so either way I should be very quick to respond either way.

Current Streak 0

Rift Gym Badge Holders:

u/tehfatpanda

You are slowly approaching the legendary Stonewall Castle on Poni Island, the Aether Foundation's last defense.

As you summit the final grassy hill, you see it. A gigantic castle. Screeching Skarmory orbit the tallest tower like hawks ready to strike. There's a moat full of vicious Feraligatr and to top it off, a formation of Palossand guarding it all.

You approach the edge of the moat and take a better look at the gargantuan formation.

"This isn't that hard," you think. "Nothing can get in the way of me and the Battle Tree!"

A Feraligatr snaps at your feet.

"Well, maybe not,"

A set of shifty eyes peek through a peephole in the thick wooden drawbridge door. You hear shuffling.

The gym leader, Moon, appears at the top of the castle next to a sentry box.

"Someone who dares to challenge me?" she feigns shock.

"I'm an unstoppable force!" you call up to her.

Moon slides down the castle to the ground fireman style.

"Silly boy/girl, don't you know what happens when an unstoppable force meets an unmovable object? This wall has no cracks!"

Battle for the Stonewall Badge

Gym Theme: Bulky Beasts FC: 0962-9185-6296 IGN: Moon Timezone: EST (UTC-5:00) I’m most often available on the weekends and during holidays as I am a student. Find me on the Discord as Puke-Ew-Fuck-You!

Stonewall Badge holders: none

Twenty years ago, the world famous Pokemon Master Red attended an afterparty on the S.S. Anne. Shortly after assisting the captain and departing the ship, Red sat on the pier and watched it chug off into the evening sun. This much has been shown on countless Jubilife TV documentaries.

What happened next in Red's story has become the stuff of legend. But what happened next in the S.S. Anne's story... well, that has become the stuff of nightmares. The few scattered reports that exist seem to indicate that the ship hit something in the water, though no survivors seem to have gotten a clear look at it. In any case, hours before pulling in to dock at Melemele Island in the Alola region, the ship went down.

Now, you and a motley crew of cameramen, treasure hunters, and thrill seekers are heading out to the wreck to see if anything of value is left. But in the twenty years since the S.S. Anne was last used by humans, wild Pokemon have moved in. And they are not keen on letting strangers into their home. If you want to triumph and earn the Salvage Badge, you'll have to get through them first!

Are you ready?

Gym Theme: Shipwreck

FC: 4055-6032-7414

IGN: Bren

Time Zone UTC -5 (EST)

Current Streak 1

The best way to get ahold of me is the League Discord, but I will respond to any posts here as well.

The grass feels soft as you lay there exhausted from the last gym battle. You've never felt so close to your Pokémon before. The feeling of invincibility covers you all. Now you're finally ready to challenge the league.

You fall asleep as something falls on your face. A dragon scale. Shocked, you immediately jump up and look around. Dragons are rare and you're eager to catch one. But you can't help thinking this is a hoax. You see more scattered about and follow in that direction in search of whatever dropped them.

Your journey leads you to Mount Draco. This was the long abandoned home of legendary Dragons. You look upon the decaying mountain in awe and at the top, a shadowy figure watches you. You feel a breath on your back as you're snatched and flown to the top.

At the peak you turn to see who lifted you but you saw nothing. Another glance around left you speechless. Dragons, literally hundreds of them living together peacefully. You quickly pull out your master ball to try and catch one. Odd to you it bounces back.

The shadowy figure you once saw steps out. "Now why would you try and take one of my babies. I'm the one who lead you here in the first place, well me and Dragonite. You are eager to challenge the league, no?" At a lost for words you realize this is where your first league battles begins. "I've been watching you and keeping track of your progress. I believe this will be a battle to remember. Give me everything you've got"

Gym Type: Dragon IGN:KiingDarii Central Time / UTC-06:00 FC: 4528-2294-2521

I'm usually available 4pm-8pm daily

Draco Badge Holders: TehFatPanda BigSchoen

FINALLY

Get those battles in and start earning points!

You have wandered into... #The Moonlight Gym

Your journey takes you to deep into the woods, well beyond the roads, where civilisation seems like a long forgotten memory. A criss-cross of boughs and knotted roots slow your progress, but as you spot the disc of the moon through the branches above you know your goal is close. The trees soon give way to a clearing ringed with mushrooms. As you move gingerly into the glade, you notice all the creaks of the forest are quieted. The silence is oppressive.

At the centre of the clearing, a shaft of dappled moonlight falls onto an enormous stone altar. You spot a woman in a white dress lying beneath the table. She sits up, and turns to reveal a face covered with an ivory mask, almost featureless save for its blackened eyes and mouth. With a flick of her wrist, and without a word spoken, she presents a pokeball for battle.

Battle for the Moonlight Badge

Gym Theme: Fairy types
FC: 0903-2963-6063
IGN: Imogen
Timezone: UTC +0
I’m most often available on weekday evenings and some weekends. Find me on Discord!

Moonlight Badge holders:
T4U (1/2/17)
tehfatpanda (1/2/17)

I'm posting this now since I'll be asleep when the League officially launches (also to give a little heads up beforehand to make sure everyone is ready). Here's a last minute reminder on some specifics to make this go as smoothly as possible:

##For Everyone:

Make sure you've sent me your Friend Code, and make sure your team(s) is(are) ready to go. If you haven't already, please also check the official League Member list to make sure your information is correct. I don't think I missed anyone, but better safe than sorry. Once you have started doing some League battles (either as a Challenger or Gym Leader), send the info to me via PM. It should include your opponent's username, who the Leader was, and a replay code for the battle. Also please remember, you can only receive points for battling a specific Gym (or facing a specific Challenger) once per week. If you want, you can switch roles and battle the same person twice in a row (once as Leader, and once as Challenger), but you can't marathon against the same person over and over to load up on points.

##If you are a Challenger:

Simply sending me your Friend Code signs you up as a Challenger (even if you only really want to be a Gym Leader). Once the League goes live, feel free to start challenging Leaders and earning those sweet internet points. Each Gym will have its own post you can use to see Leaders' availability and other info (like themes and contact info), so that's probably the best place to find a battle against someone specific. If you want, you can also use our Discord channel to find people there. There's usually people around and we're all pretty friendly, so if you just have a few minutes of free time and don't care who you face, pop in and see who's around.

##If you are a Gym Leader:

Make sure you have a theme that has been approved by me. If it's on the aformentioned Member List then you're good to go. Once the Season begins (so, approximately 10 hours from now), make a post about your Gym that highlights the theme and provides some contact info and times that you are usually available to battle. If you need inspiration or don't know how these posts should look, use this super old Gym Page I made as a guide.

##As a final note:

Have fun! This is our first time running a League like this so we're open to discussion about the rules and ways we can make this run more smoothly (or fairly). If you ever have any questions about anything, don't hesitate to ask.

Just a reminder that the season will be starting a week from today. Also in the news (though I'm sure you've all heard), Pokémon Bank is now live so you can bring all your trained Pokémon from Gen 6 to Sun/Moon! We'll be allowing them in the league so long as they're still in Smogon OU.

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Hey everyone! We hope you had a great holiday break and are ready to try your hand at the shiny, new /r/PokemonLeague3DS! We've been discussing plans for this league for a long time to try and make it as fun and fair as possible.

What's New?

We've overhauled everything about how the League will work. Previously, we followed the "traditional" League format where contributing and trustworthy members were given the "Gym Leader" or "Elite Four" roles, and new challengers would have to test their mettle against what we consider to be our best. That's a really good way to handle it in principle, and we were very successful at that for many years. But, the underlying problem to this format became clear far too late for us to react and respond. It forces our most important members to take a passive role, relying on battles from people coming into the League as opposed to generating battles on their own. Candidly, the primary reason that the old League came to a close is because we simply ran out of new faces and collectively lacked the drive to find more. We got burned out on recruitment because we had been doing it for far too long.

So, we devised a new format; one that allows for our key members to actively initiate battles and generate traffic for the sub. Anyone that comes here can choose to take on the role of a Gym Leader, and anyone that comes here can choose to take on the role of a Challenger. If you want to do both, then that's even better. As a member, your participation in the League will be measured by a point system. The more active you are, the more points you earn. At the end of a pre-designated time period (we're calling it a Season), we'll total up the points and provide rewards to our most active members. These rewards will manifest in custom user flairs and places in our Hall of Fame. We're also toying with the idea of real physical rewards (like gift cards or T-Shirts) if we have sufficient interest in the League.

We also have a Discord channel here. Definitely feel free to drop in and talk about all things Pokemon (or even some things that are not Pokemon).

What are the rules?

Rules for the League can be found here. For the sake of transparency, because we're doing a brand new point system, there may be things that seem unfair or dumb. The point values were determined by what we as a moderation team felt to be fair, but there's likely room for improvement moving forward. If you have issues with the points system, bring them up for discussion. It's one thing to theorize about how many points our members should be getting, but it's entirely different once the system is in place and people start earning those points.

For this first season, we're going to shoot for a 3-month long season and have it start on Feb. 1. This will hopefully give everyone enough time to set up their various teams and hit the ground running once the season begins. This also means that the season will end on May 1. We plan on having some end-of-season style tournament where everyone can gain some last minute points, but those details will come as the date comes closer.

How do I join?

You can become a member simply by replying to this post (or sending a PM to /u/TheRealQwade) with your 3DS friend code. Remember that all of our official battles will take place on the console itself (and they will require replay codes to gain points for them).
If you want to be a leader, tell me your team's theme and team members (you won't be locked into a team as a leader, so long as the theme can still fit your new team). Once your team is ready, create a new post on the sub that can act as an introductory narrative about the gym you've created. Challengers can (and probably should) also use that post to schedule battles with you so you both can start earning points.
If you want to be a challenger, you just need to finish making your team on the 3DS and start battling approved leaders by replying to their gym threads.
If you want to help with the community in some way, reach out to me (preferably by PM, but I do check the Discord channel pretty frequently). I have some ideas about ways we can generate content and make this place better, I just don't have the time to do it myself. I'm also very open to ideas you may have about improving this place. The League here is meant for the members to make it their own.

If you have any questions or concerns at all, just ask. This League is designed to be flexible to accommodate the desires of its members.

##Basics

• The League will operate on a seasonal structure. The first seasonal structure will be 3 months in length. We will announce when each season begins, and each season ends.
• Points will be allotted for being active in this sub.
• There are 3 different point groups: Challenger Points, Gym Points, & Community Points.
• 1 point is awarded for being in a League Battle (either as a Challenger, or a Gym Leader).
• 1 Point will be awarded for winning the battle (either as a Challenger or Gym Leader).
• Bonus points will be awarded for those who can collect many different badges as a Challenger. (Earn 4 badges, get 3 bonus points, 8 badges, and be awarded another 5)
• Gym Leaders are able to earn bonus points by going on win streaks (3 wins - bonus points, 6 wins - 5 bonus points, 10 wins - 10 bonus points, 20 wins - 25 bonus points). These wins must all be sequential.
• If a Challenger defeats a "streaking" Gym Leader, they will receive bonus Challenger Points equal to the next highest "streak threshold". For example, if a Challenger beats a Gym Leader that has won 7 times in a row, they will receive 10 bonus points. This streak bonus will not trigger for Gym Leaders that have less than 3 wins.
• Players can only receive points once per week for battling the same person.
• All League Battles should be done through the cartridge, and not with a simulator (Showdown).
• At the end of a season, announce the winners for within each subset. Rewards will come in the form of sub flair and a trophy case sidebar.
• Community Points are awarded for being active in this sub in meaningful ways. Points can be earned in (but not limited to) the following ways: Commentating an official League battle video, fostering good discussion topics, setting up and running events (such as unofficial tournaments, giveaways, etc.), or creating some other type of original media (tutorial videos, analysis videos, artwork, etc.)
• Community Points will be awarded in a case-by-case basis by an impartial League Admin based on effort, complexity, community impact, and other factors.
• League Admins cannot gain points on the leaderboards. Their job is to facilitate the League by assigning Community Points, so it would be a conflict of interest if they had a stake in how many points they give out to other members. They will also help keep track of the points that all the other members get across the various groups and help with other management of the sub.

##Tournaments

• Will be used as an endcap for the season
• Points for simply entering, plus normal battle points apply
• Tournaments will award additional bonus points for placing high, depending on how many people enter the tournament
• No restrictions on teambuilding here, everyone can use whatever they want.
• That being said, tournaments may have a theme implemented on them that restricts it, there's just no hard-and-fast rule about legendaries or themes.
• Tournament points will apply to the "Challenger Points" subset.

##League Battle Format

• 2 Team types: Challenger Team and a Gym Team.
• Challenger teams have no restrictions.
• Gym teams must have a theme of some kind (Monotype, Rain team, Eeveelution, something like that). Themes must be approved by a League Admin (because things like "All Legendary" or "All Arceus" are not really themes).
• Gyms should also have an accompanying story. This should emphasize your Gym's theme and help explain what the theme is and how your Pokémon are a part of it. More leniency will be shown to Gyms if they have a meaningful story. For example, just because "All Legendary" isn't a theme, that doesn't mean you can't make a team of Legendary Pokemon so long as it has a good theme and a good explanation.
• All teams are allowed to change members at any time, provided the team is still valid under the teambuilding rules. You're allowed to change your gym's theme, but you'll forfeit all your Gym Points for the season (since, thematically, that Gym would no longer exist).
• The format of the battle will Singles, using Smogon OU.
• Submission of a battle replay code is required (either as challenger or gym leader) to the League Admins in order to gain points. Only one person in the battle needs to submit the code, but the submission should include: Both usernames, which user was the Leader and which was the Challenger, and who won.

Sun/Moon is officially out worldwide! (Except, not in the EU? So not actually worldwide but that's what they're calling it?) Enjoy that feeling of playing through a new generation with seemingly endless possibilities.

In other news, we have an announcement:

#The League is coming back!

We're still finalizing a couple details, but the mods have been discussing for months about coming back with a totally different format that will encourage everyone to play how they want. More details and the official rules will be posted soon, but to whet your appetite for what's to come, everyone will have the opportunity to become a Gym Leader if they choose.

If you want to chat about the new games (or just chat about anything), we have a new Discord channel set up for everyone to join.

Expect some of the CSS and sidebars to change soon. You also may notice that I gutted the sub of all the old posts to make room for all the new content.