The Best 'Pokémon GO' Team for Sunshine Cup Are Mostly Older Pokémon Outside the Meta

The gist:

• The best team to use for the Sunshine Cup is Steelix, Pidgeot, and Gligar.
• Other Pokémon, such as Rufflet, Swampert, and Abomasnow, are great substitutes.
• Charizard is banned from the tourney, plus you can only use Fire, Grass, Ground, and Normal-type creatures with 1,500 CP or lower.

Now until Oct. 6 or when it returns from Oct. 13-20, Trainers can jump into the Sunshine Cup in Pokémon GO to test their mettle in a slightly new way.

The rules for the tourney require Trainers to only use Fire, Grass, Ground, and Normal-type Pokémon with a 1,500 CP or below. Furthermore, Charizard is banned from competing.

Due to the restrictions for this competition, Trainers will have a much tougher time putting together a solid lineup. Thankfully, the best team to bring into the Sunshine Cup consists mostly of older Pokémon from the franchise that aren't hard to catch and train up in the mobile AR game.

The type and CP restriction for Sunshine Cup will force you to consider Pokémon that you usually wouldn’t see in a high-tier tournament or in meta ranks. That said, some of the options available aren’t necessarily bad Pokémon.

As for the best team in the Sunshine Cup, Pidgeot, Steelix, and Gligar are fantastic options. According to PvPoke, a site dedicated to Pokémon rankings in various leagues, these three are among the top-performing creatures and have strong versatility. Below are the moves we recommend you assign them for the Sunshine Cup.

• Pidgeot: Wing Attack, Brave Bird, and Feather Dance.
• Steelix: Dragon Tail, Breaking Swipe, and Earthquake.
• Gligar: Wing Attack, Aerial Ace, and Dig.

If you don’t have these Pokémon, plenty of other great creatures can get the job done, too:

• Noctowl: Wing Attack, Sky Attack, and Shadow Ball.
• Staraptor: Wing Attack, Brave Bird, and Close Combat.
• Gliscor: Wing Attack, Earthquake, and Night Slash.
• Swampert: Mud Shot, Hydro Cannon, and Sludge Wave.
• Abomasnow: Power Snow, Ice Weather Ball, and Energy Ball.
• Vigoroth: Counter, Body Slam, and Bulldoze.

Whether you go with the best team or not is up to you, but it’s proven that the Pokémon above outperform the rest that can join the Sunshine Cup.

Feel free to mix and match a team makeup if you feel like it and experiment. Also, if you miss out on the ongoing tourney, Sunshine Cup will return on Oct. 13 for anyone who didn’t get a chance to join.