Season 4 of Go Battle League is going out with a bang with the conclusion of the Halloween Cup and then finally we have the Flying Cup for Go Battle Night. Although Season 5 will be a short one at only three weeks long, it is going to be stacked with different Cups and legendary rewards. Some of these cups will be better than others but we'll get into that later.
Season 5 begins on Monday, November 9, 2020, and will run for three weeks. If you reach rank 7 or higher you will collect your Elite Fast TM and expect similar end of season rewards to what we will get from Season 4. All of the other features of the Go Battle League will remain the same such as no walking requirements for entry, Good friend status for being able to battle your friends, and the avatar items at rank 7, and Pikachu Libre at rank 10.
We do have some significant changes with Legendary Pokemon encounters returning to rewards at rank 7. This was a feature when Go Battle League first came to us and is an awesome inclusion. However, this doesn't seem to be a permanent change with Niantic having this to say in their article: "Please note that encounters with Legendary Pokemon on the reward tracks will be available in the Go Battle League only during Season 5". We also have a shift in the rank progression with us needing a certain amount of wins to reach rank 10, rather than giving us a rank. This should allow more people to hit rank 10 this season who haven't done so before. I doubt this change is permanent but rather an experiment during this shorter season as it does seem obvious that Niantic is exploring new options for the ranking system.
The most exciting news from these announcements is the new attacks and the updates to older moves. For moves getting updated we only have Poison Sting getting a buff and it will generate more energy. This is potentially exciting for something like Qwuilfish which has really impressed me during the Halloween Cup and will still counter Azumarill in the open Great League. Even something like Drapion with a versatile move set could benefit from this buff. Fire types are getting buffed with a new fast move Incinerate and Flame Charge will be available to more Pokemon. Fire types have been struggling a bit in most of the leagues so hopefully, we see them smoldering higher in the ranks. For Incinerate we have Kanto Rapidash, Typhlosion, Ho-Oh, Unova Darmanitam, and Chandelure. If this move is anything like Fire Spin and can generate decent amounts of energy then this is a huge win for Typhlosion and Ho-Oh which have desperately needed a good Fire fast move. Flame Charge will be available for Kanto Rapidash, Entei, Emboar, and Chandelure. Rapidash and Chandelure are getting some serious buffs so maybe we will see them getting played in the Ultra and Masters Premier Cups.
Now saving the best, or for some, the worse for last we have the three new Cups coming to the Go Battle League in Season 5. The Little Cup will be running first from Monday, November 9 to November 16, 2020, and will have a 500 CP limit. This format has been something the Twitch community has been exploring for a while and is a Cup I'm personally excited about. Strangely Niantic restricted the option of playing evolved Pokemon or a single evolution like a Skarmory. I have seen some community gameplay and Pokemon like Wobbuffet and Shuckle were problematic so perhaps this is for balancing. I will say the Bronzor is likely to be the meta defining Pokemon with it being a Steel-type with access to Confusion. The next Cup is also exciting and it is the Kanto Cup running from Monday, November 16, 2020, to Monday, November 23, 2020. This shouldn't be too resource-intensive as Kanto has plenty of viable Pokemon used in the open Great League. We will of course we writing team guides for each cup but I will say to keep your eyes on the Alolan Pokemon that are legal. Hypno is also likely to be the best Pokemon in that Cup. Last we have the Catch Cup from Monday, November 23, 2020, to Monday, November 30, 2020, and it will only allow Pokemon that you have caught since the start of Season 5. This is obviously terrible and the dumbest concept for a Cup I could have imagined. I don't want to complain too much as Niantic could have some crazy bonuses to help us gain the resources to power up these new Pokemon, but if not then this will be way too resource-intensive. We'll see what Niantic has planned for the Catch Cup but looking at its face value, this cup may be worth skipping.
Thanks for reading and let us know if you're excited about any of these new Cups coming to the Go Battle League. As I said, I'm pretty excited for the Little Cup and the Kanto Cup but may ignore the Catch Cup altogether. Stay tuned for the articles covering what teams you should be bringing to the Cups by following us on Instagram. Check us out on Youtube for some vlog content and we'll be streaming on Twitch if you want to see us playing in the Go Battle League. Thanks again for reading, best of luck in Season 5, and thanks for joining The Fellowship.
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