What is the best team for Color Cup: Great League in Pokemon GO? (March 2023) 

Aligning with the timing of Pokemon GO's Festival of Colors comes the latest iteration of the Color Cup, this time centering on a Great League-style ruleset. The maximum CP cap remains 1500, but only Fire, Water, Grass, and Electric-type Pocket Monsters are permitted.

It should be noted that while these restrictions can be tough for team-building, dual-type Pokemon can still enter the Color Cup as long as one of their elemental types is permitted.

For example, Abomasnow qualifies for the format even though it is both a Grass and Ice-type creature. This allows Pokemon GO trainers to utilize types that normally wouldn't be permitted.

When it comes to creating a team for the Color Cup, there's no perfect lineup in Pokemon GO. However, trainers can get far with the right party members.

Note: Parts of this article are subjective and reflect the opinions of the writer

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How to build a great team for Color Cup: Great League Edition in Pokemon GO

A species like Toxapex is coveted, thanks to its type combination and quality resilience (Image via Niantic)

As one might expect, the meta for this year's Color Cup is already heating up. This has resulted in plenty of Pokemon seeing extended use where they might have fallen behind in other formats like the standard Great League. The restrictions on elemental types have shifted things somewhat, forcing Pokemon GO players to re-think their usual battle strategies to give them a better chance at success.

When building any PvP team, it's always wise to utilize Pokemon that fit the lead, switch, and closer roles. This gives players a defined combatant to begin and end with, as well as a creature that can get its two teammates out of poor matchups.

Even better, many species in Pokemon GO are capable of filling multiple different team roles thanks to their stats or movesets. This means that trainers have some flexibility in their team building.

Here is the recommended team lineup for Pokemon GO's Color Cup: Great League Edition:

• Lead - Shadow Luxray (Spark, Wild Charge, Psychic Fangs)
• Switch - Trevenant (Shadow Claw, Seed Bomb, Shadow Claw)
• Closer - Toxapex (Poison Jab, Brine, Sludge Wave)

There's a lot to like about this team, though trainers always have the freedom to tweak it as necessary if it isn't quite panning out as planned.

With Shadow Luxray as a lead, trainers receive increased damage output, thanks to the Shadow Pokemon buff. Luxray benefits from being able to cover against additional elemental types thanks to its ability to learn Psychic Fangs. In this Pokemon GO format, Shadow Luxray should be particularly good at taking down meta foes like Charizard and Toxapex.

When Shadow Luxray has taken a beating or is in a poor elemental type matchup, Pokemon GO players can bring in Trevenant. This Ghost/Grass-type creature has been a fixture in the standard Great League for quite some time and still has plenty of applications in the Color Cup.

Trevenant excels at neutral damage using Ghost-type moves while still being able to counter popular options like Swampert and Lanturn, thanks to the presence of Seed Bomb. It also benefits from great durability, allowing it to drag out fights if it needs to.

Once an opponent is down to their last Pokemon or has used their available shields, Toxapex should be able to secure the win for a few reasons. Poison Jab and Sludge Wave give it the ability to counter the likes of Abomasnow and Trevenant.

Meanwhile, Toxapex maintains access to Brine, which allows it to use Water-type damage against other picks like Charizard and Victini. It also has a spectacular max defense stat, so finishing it off at the end of a battle can be a difficult task.