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VGC in Ruins of Alph - Statistics

pkmnmasterjim

Recently, a vgc format was hosted for the first time ever at the ROA as the “Community Choice ladder” format. Personally I enjoyed playing it very much; in fact, I had suggested this exact thing years ago.

The purpose of this post is to assess, based on numbers provided by www.smogon.com/stats/, how “successful” (that is, how popular) the inclusion of vgc2013 in ROA was, and then (hopefully) convince the administrators to continue hosting old vgc ladders.

As you can see in the diagrams below, in the past twelve months, it was by far the most played format in the “Community Choice Ladder” category, almost doubling the total games played in the second most popular, and was surpassed only in some months by the “Rotational UU/Ubers” ladder.

exhibit2.png

Comparison of total games played in the Community Choice ladder between March 2024 and February 2025.

exhibit1.png

Comparison of total games played in all ROA ladders between March 2024 and February 2025.

CONCLUSION
Obviously there is considerable demand for old vgc formats on pokemon showdown, and therefore the staff in charge of ROA may want to consider including vgc formats regularly in the future.

Thank you for reading!

Appendix. A detailed record of the data below (source www.smogon.com/stats/):
exhibit3.png
 
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As a long-time VGC competitor, I would love and actively engage if "past VGC format" was implemented as a rotating ladder. Consider that we can do an entire year without ever repeating formats:

PL 2005/Orre Colosseum
JAA 2006
VGCs 2009-2018 (skipping 2012 because 2013 is an upgrade)
VGC 2019 Ultra
SwSh Series 4-5
VGC 2021 (SwSh Series 7/9)
VGC 2022 (Swh Series 12)

For every format starting with Generation IV, there's a history of ladder play connected to Smogon either through Pokémon Online or Pokémon Showdown. Sample teams and developed metagames exist for these formats. Playing these old formats provides a respite for doubles players from playing the current VGC format.
 
UPDATE

Since the original post, two more vgc formats have been hosted at the ROA: vgc2011 in April 2025, and most recently vgc2018 in July 2025.

With 60004 (sixty thousand and four) games played, vgc2018 now holds the record for the most games played in a ROA format for (at least) the past year and a half, surpassing the second place by more than 100%!

On the contrary, only 1744 games of vgc2011 were played in total. In my personal estimation, this is due to several reasons:
  1. The latest regulation of the current format (vgc2025 regulation I) was announced in the same month, April 2025, drawing much of the interest.
  2. Vgc 2011 is a relatively uninteresting and uncompetitive format (though I did play some games of it when it was playable).
  3. Easter holiday for all denominations fell in April this year.

The popularity of vgc 2018 can serve as a strong basis to advocate for a permanent rotating vgc ladder on showdown.
roa1.png

Total games played per ROA format, for each month.

Additional statistics below

roa2.png
 
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