The Nightmare Cup

Announcing May's Global Cup: The Nightmare Cup!

The Silph Arena's fifth global Cup begins on May 1^st! With it comes a new chance to prove your skill and increase your global and local player ranking! The Nightmare Cup is a three-typed Cup of monsters inspired by the Pokémon that might haunt the dark places of nightmares! There are no new rule changes from April's Kingdom Cup, but for the first time restrictions have been applied to specific Pokemon species. Here's what you need to know:

What Is the Nightmare Cup?

Each month the Silph Arena holds a month-long Cup - a 'themed' PvP tournament - that provides tens of thousands of trainers around the world a specially-designed competitive challenge and a chance to prove they're the very best. The Silph Arena is the world's largest global network for ranked Pokemon GO^TM tournament play.

During the Cup (May 1^st - 31^st), local Silph League communities host and record a special tournament using the free Silph.gg tools. Wins and losses in this local tournament affect your player rank on local and global leaderboards - and may eventually even earn you an invitation to compete at Regionals and even the World Championships at 2019 GO Fest & Safari Zone!

Find a local tournament near you on the Tournament Map!

The Nightmare Cup Rules

The Nightmare Cup has a few special rules (designed to provide added challenge and fun) that differ from standard PvP combat in Pokemon GO:

• Competitors will bring a team of 6 Pokemon (and register them before the tournament begins). All battle parties used must be comprised of these 6 Pokemon.
• Matches are played in Great League: only Pokemon up to 1500 CP are permitted in the Cup.
• Only Pokemon with at least one of the following types are permitted: Psychic, Dark, or Fighting.
• Legendaries, Mythicals, Sableye, and Medicham are banned from use in this Cup!
• Only one of each Pokemon species is permitted on your team of 6. (No species duplicates!)
• Arena Rules will be followed in all other particulars.

Take a moment to review the Arena Rules linked above - particularly clarifications in regards to technical difficulties and an optional coin toss to determine which opponent sends battle invites, due to a suspected ordering advantage.

How to Compete

Registration for the May Cup will become available to local community leaders on April 18^th - but Nightmare Cups must be scheduled for dates between May 1^st and May 31^st. Find a Cup tournament near you via the Tournament Map!

Frequently Asked Questions

Community Leader Questions:

How Do I Host a Nightmare Cup Tournament in My Community?

Simply log in to Silph.gg with an authorized Community Leader account and create a Cup tournament on your community management page. You will be given an RSVP url to share with your community and, on the day of the tournament, a join code to confirm your tournament's registrants. For a guide to setting up your tournament on Silph.gg, click here.

How Do I Become Authorized to Host Tournaments on Silph.gg?

All Silph League Discord community admins simply need to add themselves as 'Tournament Admins' via the Discord @SilphRoad bot:

• On Discord, use the @SilphRoad add-tournament-admin @username#0000 command in your #silph-league channel. (You may need to log out of Silph.gg and back in again!)

Telegram channel and group admins are automatically authorized on Silph.gg.

Can I host multiple Nightmare Cups in my community in May?

Yes. However, only the first Cup each participant competes in will count towards their individual player rank.

Does the Nightmare Cup have to be hosted on a specific date?

Any date between May 1 and May 31, 2019 is a valid date to hold your community's Nightmare Cup. The tournament registration page will not allow registering your Cup for an invalid date or time - so as long as you are able to create your tournament on Silph.gg, you will know it is set for a valid date.

I am a community leader of a Facebook Group (or other platform like Slack, Line, etc). How do I host the Nightmare Cup for my community?

The Arena team is working quickly to enable non-Discord/Telegram communities to host the Cup. Stay tuned for news on this front!

Participant Questions:

How Do I Join a Nightmare Cup Tournament in My Community?

Find a local Cup being hosted by a community near you via the Tournament Map and read the event details on the event's RSVP page!

How Important Are Monthly Cups for My Player Rank?

Very. The vast majority of player rank in the Arena is derived from performance in the global, standardized Cups. (This is because Cups allow the Arena to observe the same controlled competitive scenarios for each player!)

Why is the Nightmare Cup (and all non-Cup ranked tournaments) played in Great League?

Great League (max 1500cp) provides a diverse, new playing field with many options for creative, competitive teams. It also allows more casual players to join tournaments at meetups without being completely unable to compete with level 40 trainers who often sport the same level 40 Legendary Pokemon. Great League also marks immediately irrelevant much of the amassed arsenal of those who manipulate their GPS location ('spoof') to circumvent in-game mechanic limiters and acquire unnatural advantages.

Where can I learn more about global player ranking?

More resources will be coming soon - but in the meantime, you may give the following page a read:
About the 2019 Competitive Season »