The Lunar New Year Event 2021 is just around the corner, but before the fetivities begin there’s one aspect of the celebration players can join today. The Love Cup will be launching soon in Pokémon GO. But while the other leagues let you pick from a wide selection as long as they meet the CP cutoff, the Love Cup has its own rules. We break it all down below in our Pokémon GO Love Cup guide, showing you the best Pokémon for your team among those that are allowed. But first, when does the Love Cup start and end?
When is the Love Cup, When does it End
The Love Cup will begin on Monday, February 8th at 1pm Pacific Time, so adjust accordingly for your time zone. It will last exactly one week, ending on Monday, February 15th at 1pm PT. Along with the Love Cup there will be the Master League and Premier Cup, which we will have separate guides for as well, so watch for those.
What Pokémon are Allowed in the Love Cup
Below is a list of all of the Pokémon allowed in the Love Cup during the Lunar New Year Event 2021. The basic parameters are that they must be 1500 CP or below and be officially viewed as a red or pink Pokémon by the official Pokédex. And no Legendary or Mythical Pokémon allowed, unfortunately. So Mew is right out. It’s a long list, so if you just want to know the best for your team go ahead and scroll below.
- Charmander
- Charmeleon
- Charizard
- Vileplume
- Paras
- Parasect
- Krabby
- Kingler
- Voltorb
- Electrode
- Goldeen
- Seaking
- Jynx
- Magmar
- Magikarp
- Flareon
- Ledyba
- Ledian
- Ariados
- Yanma
- Scizor
- Slugma
- Magcargo
- Octillery
- Delibird
- Porygon2
- Magby
- Torchic
- Combusken
- Blaziken
- Wurmple
- Medicham
- Carvanha
- Camerupt
- Solrock
- Corphish
- Crawdaunt
- Kricketot
- Kricketune
- Trash Cloak Burmy
- Trash Cloak Wormadam
- Magmortar
- Porygon-Z
- Wash Rotom
- Tepig
- Pignite
- Emboar
- Pansear
- Simisear
- Throh
- Venipede
- Scolipede
- Krookodile
- Darumaka
- Darmanitan
- Dwebble
- Crustle
- Autumn Form Deerling
- Spring Form Deerling
- Shelmet
- Accelgor
- Pawniard
- Bisharp
- Braviary
- Heatmor
- Fennekin
- Braixen
- Delphox
- Fletchling
- Fletchinder
- Talonflame
- Clefairy
- Clefable
- Jigglypuff
- Wigglytuff
- Slowpoke
- Slowbro
- Exeggcute
- Lickitung
- Happiny
- Chansey
- Mr. Mime
- Mime Jr.
- Porygon
- Cleffa
- Igglybuff
- Flaaffy
- Hoppip
- Slowking
- Snubbull
- Corsola
- Smoochum
- Miltank
- Blissey
- Whismur
- Skitty
- Milotic
- Gorebyss
- Luvdisc
- Cherubi
- Sunny Form Cherrim
- Lickilicky
- Audino
- Alomomola
- Scrafty
But which of these are the very best? Which should you choose for your Love Cup team? We have some ideas below.
The Best Pokémon for Love Cup – Lunar New Year 2021
So while there’s a lot of rules for which Pokémon are allowed in the Love Cup for Lunar New Year 2021, there are a few standout favorites. Of course, the meta will change as the GO Battle League proceeds, so be ready to mix things up based on what you’re seeing and how your team is doing. For example, almost every team will have a strong Fairy type attacker since there are so many. So you want to have a good Fairy counter in your team, which you can find in the chart below.
| Pokémon | Type | Fast Attack | Charged Attack | Strong Against | Weak to |
| Wigglytuff | Fairy | Charm | Ice Beam and Play Rough | Dragon, Ghost, Bug, Dark | Poison, Steel |
| Clefable | Fairy | Charm | Meteor Mash and Psychic | Dragon, Ghost, Bug, Dark | Poison, Steel |
| Alomomola | Water | Waterfall | Hydro Pump or Psychic | Water, Steel, Ice, Fire | Electric, Grass |
| Charizard or Charmeleon | Fire and Flying | Fire Spin | Blast Burn or Fire Punch | Grass, Bug, Steel, Ground, Fire, Fighting, Fairy | Rock, Electric, Water |
| Magcargo | Fire and Rock | Rock Throw or Ember | Stone Edge or Overheat | Fire, Poison, Normal, Ice, Flying, Fairy, Bug | Ground, Water, Fighting, Rock |
| Electrode | Electric | Volt Switch | Discharge | Steel, Flying, Electric | Ground |
| Vileplume | Grass and Poison | Acid | Sludge Bomb and Moonblast | Grass, Water, Fighting, Fairy, Electric | Fire, Flying, Ice, Psychic |
| Scrafty | Dark and Fighting | Counter or Snarl | Foul Play | Dark, Rock, Psychic, Ghost | Fairy, Fighting, Flying |
| Lickilicky | Normal | Lick | Body Slam | Ghost | Fighting |
| Medicham | Fighting and Psychic | Counter | Dynamic Punch and Psychic | Rock, Fighting | Fairy, Flying, Ghost |
So those are some of the best Pokémon in the Love Cup during the Lunar New Year Event 2021. Your team should start here, picking one or two then fill in gaps in terms of your strengths and weaknesses as you can. The available Pokémon pool is small, so you can focus on what you’re seeing and how your fights are turning out as you learn more and the meta shifts throughout the week.
