Hello, ya’ll! I have another custom format that I know many people have been theorizing about and trying their own hand at for some time. Since we now can create custom formats on this site, I’ve decided to create a Base-Neo format with a custom banlist to help balance it a little, taking away the most problematic cards. The rest of the card pool is the global Base-Neo card pool, which includes all of the JP-exclusive cards.
Banned cards are…
Baby Pokemon
All variations of Baby Pokemon that have the Baby Rule (Cleffa, Pichu, Igglybuff, Magby, Tyrogue, and Smoochum) are banned. This change will speed up the game and also make it harder to draw consistently since you won’t have access to Eeeek! Additionally, the removal of the Baby Rule will make the game have much less coin flips. A lot of people hate Base-Neo because of the inconsistencies that coin flips brings.
Strong Denial Cards
The Base-Neo format includes so many strong denial cards that were not well balanced when being designed. I guess the designers underestimated how hard people would lean into using them.
Specifically, the worst denial card of all time is banned, Chaos Gym. This card singlehandedly slows the game down and makes it impossible to have any consistency in any strategy.
Dark Vileplume is also banned, as a hard item lock has historically warped the metagame when it’s viable. With Pokemon Breeder allowing the player to skip Gloom and go straight into Dark Vileplume, this card just became even more common.
Other banned denial cards include Aerodactyl (which prevents evolving) and Muk (which prevents using powers). Though there are some quality uses for Muk, those do become a little less relevant when considering the other banned cards.
Hand Disruption
Another hallmark of Base-Neo that prevents people from having fun playing and building towards their own consistent strategy is hand disruption. For that reason, I’ve banned several of the strongest hand disruption cards: Rocket’s Sneak Attack, Lass, and Imposter Oak’s Revenge.
I do think it might be worth reconsidering these cards in the future if any of their inclusion doesn’t disrupt play too much.
Unfairly Strong Walls
This might be a little controversial, but I think Pokemon that are overly defensive are not a bad thing. However, in terms of Chansey, it not only has access to a lot of HP, it also can retreat for a single energy, making it quite nimble. Combine that with the Base-Neo staple of Metal Energy and Chansey just becomes way too powerful. For that reason, it is banned.
Additionally, Mr. Mime is also banned. I do like this card’s design and it does introduce an interesting spin on how players should build their decks, but with all of the banned cards in this custom format, the game would remain a little too slow if it remained unbanned.
Unfairly Strong Attackers
While this custom format is supposed to encourage strong Pokemon being used, there are many basic Pokemon that are too offensively powerful during the early game. Specifically, Erika’s Jigglypuff can unfairly destroy many basic Pokemon that would normally be able to evolve up to a Stage 2. I’d hope that this format could encourage more evolutions, so it’s banned.
Rocket’s Zapdos, though slightly less able to destroy Pokemon in the early game as Erika’s Jigglypuff, is an overall oppressive card and has also been banned.
Sneasel is banned. No, it doesn’t need an explanation. 
There are some other Pokemon that could also be in this section, but at the moment, all others remain unbanned. If you can think of something that is just way too powerful, I’d consider adding it in the future.
Misc
Murkrow is banned because of its ability to lock the opponent’s Pokemon in place, even when it leaves play. It’s just a little too disruptive, but this decision could potentially be reversed if enough people think it should be. Considering Sneasel is banned, I could see the argument for keeping it unbanned being made.
Computer Search is one of the best consistency cards of all time. Though it’s great, it’s banned in this format due to how big and strong of a card pool it has to search for.
Focus Band is banned because of its ability to lengthen the game, even though I absolutely love this card in a Giovanni’s Machamp deck. I wonder if it’s too quick of a decision to ban it without a partner Baby Pokemon accompanying it. Lemme know what you think!
Another controversial pick would be Gold Berry, which is banned because its healing factor is too powerful with other healing cards that exist, which makes the game too stall-focused.
As much as it hurts me to do this, to reign in the power of Dark Crobat, I have banned Dark Goldbat. Dark Crobat is still playable using Pokemom Breeder, though!
Full Ban List
Cleffa - Promo
Igglybuff - Promo
Pichu - Promo
Magby - Unnumbered Promo
Pichu - Unnumbered Promo
Smoochum - Unnumbered Promo
Cleffa - Neo Genesis
Pichu - Neo Genesis
Igglybuff - Neo Discovery
Magby - Neo Genesis
Tyrogue - Neo Discovery
Smoochum - Neo Revelation
Sneasel - Neo Genesis
Murkrow - Neo Genesis
Gold Berry - Neo Genesis
Focus Band - Neo Genesis
Chaos Gym - Gym Challenge
Erika’s Jigglypuff - Gym Challenge
Rocket’s Zapdos - Gym Challenge
Rocket’s Sneak Attack - Team Rocket
Imposter Oak’s Revenge - Team Rocket
Dark Vileplume - Team Rocket
Dark Golbat - Team Rocket
Aerodactyl - Fossil
Mr. Mime - Jungle
Lass - Base Set
Energy Removal - Base Set
Super Energy Removal - Base Set
Computer Search - Base Set
Chansey - Base Set
Of course, I’ve already converted a few of my own favorite Base-Neo decks to fit this new Base-Neo (Balanced) format. You can see them, here:
Read more about the format in the custom format link thingy, here: Base-Neo (Balanced) - v1 - Custom Format - TCG ONE