Question about what exactly is allowed in the new lil’ cup: Jungle Cup.
The announcement states:
Pokémon do not need to be able to evolve to enter.
Does that mean that evolved Pokémon are allowed or only lowest form Pokémon, i.e. Castform, Luvdisc, Miltank, Bulbasuar, etc.? I would assume the point of the lil’ cups is to ban evolved 'mon but the announcement text is not clear on what’s really allowed.
When I first read it my thoughts were Pokemon that do not have an evolution are permitted but the usual Little Cup rule of first stage evolutions only applied. Then I read the line where Shuckle and Smeargle are not allowed. There would be no point in banning these two Pokemon if only Pokemon that could evolve were allowed. But I would say the announcement needs clarification.
Side note - I didn’t think Smeargle was allowed in GBL period. But for giggles I looked at it’s max CP. A L51 100 IV is just below 500. If someone has a perfect Smeargle that they pumped XL candy into, let them use it. I don’t care if the moveset breaks the cup. I suppose Shuckle takes a lot to max out too but it’s significantly easier to obtain XL candy. I suppose it was banned because it would lead to many time out games.
EDIT: PvPoke has sims for Little Jungle Cup but it includes evolved Pokemon so now I’m not sure. Unless they assumed the usual Little Cup rule of no evolved Pokemon wasn’t specifically listed this time so it doesn’t apply.
I think it means like, weird stuff such as Delibird or Chatot where it’s never gonna grow up and is stuck being Little forever, that stuff is fine for the cup. Unsure about second stage evos though, for instance.
I am devastated about shuckle not being allowed. It’s literally my favorite Pokémon and this cup would have been one of the only things it could have been viable in.
Back in the days of the silph road tourneys we actually set up a tournament where any Pokémon was allowed, but had to be at or under 405 cp (100 IV level 40 shuckle cp). Shuckle itself was an absolute monster in this tournament.
However I might actually still try this cup as it gives me a chance to flex my shiny lucha libre Pikachu (caught at 498 cp).
If anyone was curious I’m working on making a Custom Little Jungle Cup on PvPoke assuming the rule of only first-stage evos are allowed. This is before I filter out the two- and three-stage evos (and Smeargle/Shuckle):
Oh my God I have so many troll teams for this, this is going to be bonkers. I’m glad I save tiny evolutions
Here is a quick look after removing second- and third-stage evolutions. Note I kept baby Pokemon in and their first evolution, i.e. Happiny and Chansey. I don’t know if pre-evolutions are excluded. It shouldn’t change too much. Since Pokemon don’t need to be able to evolve I had to exclude Legendary and Mythical as I don’t believe you can get any of them below 501 CP.
Thanks for putting all the time into getting that sim drawn up! I can really see why Shuckle and Smeargle were banned now 
It would be nice to get some confirmation on whether evolved 'mon are eligible or not…
Yeah it took a while lol. Fun fact if you’re excluding Porygon-Z by name you have enter porygon_z. That took far too long to figure out. Also fun fact, Porygon-Z, if eligible, is the worst Pokemon for the cup.
Howndid that Smeargle learn Lock-on, V-Create and Ice WB 
The second move is completely impossible, I’m not sure why PvPoke did. But to get Lock-On and V-Create you need a Shadow or Purified Porgyon2 or Porygon-Z with Frustration or Return. Smeargle cannot learn either of those moves so when you get one to photobomb it learns a random move, such as V-Create. It’s definitely not something done easily and the chances you get a 100 IV Smeargle with Lock-On and V-Create is very low.
This cup starts tomorrow and from what I can tell evolved forms are allowed which is a first for the Little Up format. I suspect you’ll see a lot of Cottonee. I’ve seen a lot of hype around Pikachu (Libre) because Flying Press is insane and of course the only one I have was caught at 503 CP.
Yeah Ive got two LuchaChus and both are above 500. Luck of the draw I suppose. Pikachu with fly probably works pretty well too tho. It can threaten to nuke a cottonee.
From everything I’ve seen people are operating under the assumption that Pokémon can be used regardless of evolution. I really hope that’s the case. Makes it far more interesting.
Downside to fly is only balloon pikachu can learn it, i considered etm’ing it onto a shiny chu i have under 500cp but the option is not there, idk if libre chu can learn it or not but those balloons are as big a tell as purified sableye and return lol
Can confirm only legacy charge that you can Elite TM on a Pikachu is Surf. But listen. If my Libre was under 500 ….guarantee I would do it, just for the insanity
Edit: ok, that is not the case after all. It seems that their Pikachu movesets are bonkers across the board. Any Pikachu with an exclusive moveset can only learn that moveset. Wtf? 
I wasn’t planning on using Cottonee but I thought I had one from a prior cup and…I don’t. So of course now I want one lol. I may have evolved it for use in the GL because I do have a Whimsicott. I have been slowly powering up a Shadow Forretress for GL and I haven’t powered it up above 500 CP yet so I’m going to use it as a Cottonee counter. It also holds up against G-Fisk. I also have a Shadow Marshstomp I was going to evolve into Swampert at some point for use in GL but it’s under 500 CP so I’ll give it a shot too. It handles Forretress’ Fire weakness. No idea what to use for a third and I don’t have much. XL Lotad sounds like some spice, a pseudo Bug Double Water team.
I’d not actually seen the animation for Fly until I watched some practice matches from Boygos and HomeSliceHenry (fairly popular YouTubers) and the animation for Fly is just fantastic.
Lol I saw those too. That was great, reminded me of the ol main series games
I tried my fly Pikachu. Well, if it survives long enough it can be of use :D
Unfortunately, most of the time it doesn’t.
Interesting cup so far. Difficult enough for me to adjust, but cool and broad meta.
Not as many cotties as I thought. Some flying ducks, some annoying chaneiras, a lot of poison, some fire, some dragons, some (shadow) skarmories, many many swinubs. Had some fun with drifloon, but it’s neither a farmer nor a quick-charger, difficult to use in the cup, same as Snorlax of which i have a 499er. Shadow stinky cool as well.
Next jungle cup here soon. Great that the hate (aka love) cup ends :D
Finally a really diverse meta again, at least that what was it last time. Unfortunately, no really cool new mons in. Have some additions though, let’s see how they play out
