The Pokemon Company has announced a new ruleset for Pokemon Sword And Shield‘s upcoming Ranked Battle Series 6, which includes a rather surprising and controversial move.

The ruleset is generally the same as the previous seasons, such as only allowing Pokemon from the Galar Pokedex and Isle of Armor Pokedex, restrictions for certain Legendaries and so forth. For those interested, the full ruleset can be found here, although again, there have not been many significant changes, with one notable exception.

For the first time ever, The Pokemon Company has decided to ban 16 commonly used Pokemon from the previous series/season of Ranked Battles. This banlist was apparently put together based on the Top 10 most commonly used Pokemon in Single Battles, as well at the Top 10 most commonly used in Double Battles, consisting of the following 16 Pokemon:

• Venusaur
• Gyarados
• Porygon2
• Tyranitar
• Torkoal
• Hippowdon
• Magnezone
• Togekiss
• Excadrill
• Whimsicott
• Incineroar
• Mimikyu
• Rillaboom
• Cinderace
• Indeedee
• Dragapult

According to some reports, this move is an attempt to shake up the meta and introduce more variety into the competitive scene, not unlike how fanmade competitive Pokemon community Smogon divides Pokemon into tiers based on usage stats.

Naturally, this has led to mixed response within the general Pokemon community. Some are upset that they can no longer use their favorite Pokemon in competitive, while others are excited at the prospect of seeing more original teams in the scene.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.