When people talk about “competitive Pokémon,” they usually mean one of two ecosystems: official Video Game Championships (VGC) or the fan-made Smogon singles formats. Both communities are healthy and deep, but their rulesets are different enough that a team designed for one will often flop in the other. Before you start building teams, it is worth understanding what each format expects from you.
VGC is the official tournament format supported by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company. Battles are doubles, you bring six Pokémon but choose four each game, and most seasons lock you to a specific Pokédex and level 50. Restricted legendaries are sometimes allowed, sometimes limited, and sometimes banned entirely depending on the series. Positioning, speed control, and spread moves are central; games are fast, and leads matter a lot.
Smogon, by contrast, focuses on singles 6v6 battles played mostly on simulators. Instead of rotating formats each season, it organizes Pokémon into usage-based tiers like OU, UU, and Ubers. Each tier has its own ban list and clauses—Sleep Clause, Species Clause, and so on—to keep games interactive. Games tend to be longer and more methodical, with pivoting and hazard control playing a huge role.
The team that feels broken on ladder in one format might be deeply flawed in the other. For example, a hyper-offense squad built for singles OU might crumble in VGC because it lacks Fake Out pressure, redirection, or speed control. Likewise, a bulky doubles team that leans on Protect and spread damage may feel underpowered in singles, where it gets chipped down by hazards and repeated switches.
PokeSuite's Team Generator helps bridge this gap by letting you specify the format you care about before generating ideas. Use it to brainstorm VGC cores, then refine them with more detailed resources; or spin up Smogon-style teams for casual play with friends. Once you know whether you are building for doubles or singles, the rest of the choices become much easier to reason about.