How does The Catch Cup work in Pokemon GO?

The Catch Cup is definitely one of the more unique events in recent Pokemon GO history.

Of course, some of the events that are less orthodox end up being the most popular. Trainers may have fond memories of the Jungle Little Cup or the Love Cup from a while ago. The Catch Cup is putting a pretty harsh restriction on the teams that can be brought in, though, so trainers should definitely be prepared if they want to participate.

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Special competition only allowing Pokemon from GO Fest 2022

The Catch Cup is running from June 8-15, 2022. This event will essentially be a Great League competition, so there will be a hard level cap at 1,500 CP. Here's the catch, though: Trainers can only use Pokemon that they caught during 2022’s edition of GO Fest.

This will hopefully give trainers several options since the spawns from this year’s GO Fest were pretty powerful. Every Generation IV starter could be caught, as well as those from Generation VII.

The hard part about training for The Catch Cup is that it only gives a short time to level up Pokemon used in the event. This could cost trainers plenty of Stardust, XP and even TMs before they even jump into battle.

Therefore, it has been recommended that, if trainers have any team members that they’ve caught a duplicate of at GO Fest, they shouldn't level it up for The Catch Cup.

Dragalge is another option that hasn't been available for a while (Image via Pokemon GO Hub)

Training Pokemon can take time and lots of it. Nobody will want to double invest in one tool just for a single event.

For example, if anyone out there already has a level 40 Tyranitar with Smack Down and Stone Edge, it’d be pointless to train up another one just to use in a tournament that lasts a week.

As an alternative, now is a great opportunity to use some of the latest options that were released through GO Fest. For example, it’s been ages since trainers have been able to catch Tropius, who actually might have some relevance in this tournament.

Haxorus is another rare beast that trainers can finally catch in shiny version for GO Fest. This may not be a bad option for The Catch Cup since it has two great fast moves (Counter and Dragon Tail), along with interesting charge move options in Night Slash, Earthquake and Surf.

Trainers who didn't get Haxorus during GO Fest can always look to Dragalge for a strong Dragon type. It may not be on the same level as Dragonite or Rayquaza, but it's a strong matchup against Grass-types.

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