Korean Pokemon VGC team disqualified from Nationals for using the move Metronome
The Pokemon CompanyFour members of Team Korea’s competitive Pokemon VGC team were disqualified from the Korean Pokemon Trainers Cup for trying to use the move Metronome in protest.
With the 2023 Pokemon World Championship event on the horizon, many competitive Pokemon players from around the world are doing their best to compete and earn a top spot ahead of the massive tournament.
However, The Pokemon Company and event organizers have strict rules when it comes to participating in tournaments, and these rules and circumstances sometimes vary by country.
Now, a full team of four players were disqualified from the Korean Pokemon Trainers Cup after they all planned to use Pokemon that knew the move Metronome as a form of protest during the live broadcast.
Korean Pokemon VGC team disqualified from Nationals
VGC player and Team Korea Manager Nash revealed on Twitter that he and his entire team of three other players were disqualified from the Korean Pokemon Trainers Cup Finals via email on June 3, 2023.
According to Nash, the team was preparing for the Trainers Cup Final Round, which would be livestreamed. The match would decide 1st through 4th place standings, but according to the pro VGC player, “we were already locked for [Pokemon Worlds] Day 2 so not much was at stake.”
Nash and fellow teammates Blue, Sangyoon, and Mija decided they would compete in a Metronome battle during the Finals. For those who may not know, Metronome is a move that, when used, selects a random move from nearly every available move in the series and uses it against the opponent.
Naturally, this makes battles chaotic and fun, but takes out a decent layer of strategy thanks to the entirely random element of the battle format.
The team decided to have this Metronome battle as a form of protest. Nash explained, “…like other Asian regions, Korea has been having a rather suffering year,” and alluded to world events that made organizing and participating in IRL events nearly extremely difficult for four years.
The recent tournaments Korean players were able to participate in had frustrating issues, such as best-of-one formats and shoddy communication from both organizers and TPC, which left many Korean players frustrated.
Unfortunately for Team Korea, the tournament organizers did not appreciate the protest and disqualified all four players via email on June 3, 2023, ahead of the Finals. According to Nash, the reason for the disqualification was listed as: “All locked in Pokemon had learned one specific move,” alluding to Metronome.
At the time of writing, the Korean Pokemon Trainers Cup has essentially been canceled altogether, with no winners decided. Additionally, Team Korea have lost their Day 2 invites to the 2023 Pokemon World Championship.
