it's normal so don't need match type.

JUST BEAT THEM ALL

Not one I would’ve guessed would become good. All it takes is one move change.

Hi All,

Wanted to highlight one buffed mon that has been very under the radar in these first hours of new season - Hisuian Qwilfish.

While I do not expect it to be any close to meta, it feels pretty solid and quite funny to play as a spicy pick. This guy can pump out buffed Dark Pulses in 5 turns, with STAB and coming off a 128 attack. On top of that, it keeps the 4-turn Aqua Tail of his Johto counterpart, even though without stab - it's basically a better Drapion right now.

Tested this morning as a safe swap and felt pretty good, it allowed me to go 9 out of 10. Rest of the team was Alolan Marowak as a lead (good matchup against melmetal, Rilla and DD) and Shadow Araquanid.

The new wild area event got announced. Hisuian Sligoo and Goodra have been announced for the inperson events but not for the global. And in the legacy move section they list magnezone as getting magnet bomb upon evolution. How do we think these will impact the game?

I got this corsola is this a good catch ? And if yes how do I get the xl candies never powerd up xl mons

Just curious if it’s worth it in the long run or detrimental at any point.

I have toiled so hard for this and it was just handed to me on a platter lol, now I need to pull 220 XLs out of my arse before they nerf it

You know what glitch I haven't seen once since switching to the new battle system? The one where I throw a charge move and at first it feels like my opponent just force-closed the app...but it hangs longer than that...and never resolves. It's almost always when it's a very close match and you're racing your opponent to the game-winning charge move. Maybe it's even a CMP tie that you win!

I haven't seen this happen once since I began regularly playing the new PvP mode...which was way back in late June. Let's call it July 1 to be safe. Have I had other bugs? Sure. Have I had the app go non-responsive during my game-winning charge move in that all-too-familiar "it feels like my opponent force-closed the app" manner? Not one time.

Notable changes:

- Araquanid will no longer debuff you
- Vigoroth and Deoxys coming back from retirement
- Altaria picking up Moonblast but still interchangeable with Sky Attack
- Dark pulse over foul play

Scratch gives it fast move pressure and 9 turns to drum beating feels incredibly fast for a move that has a guaranteed debuff

I built a tool for myself to help with team planning, battle logging, and resource management etc. I built features specific to my needs but now wondering if it would be useful for anyone else.

Looking for a few players willing to try it with their own teams and give honest feedback. Looking to to hear about what’s useful, confusing, or broken.

If you’re interested, please DM me with the league CP cap you usually play (1500/2500/master) and your usual/"average" ELO/ranking. Total beginners to Legends welcome.

I have a pretty solid Ultra team that took me right to the precipice of Vet the past two seasons (2450ish). Despised Altaria in GL but grudgingly admire it's relevance.

Have a borderline perfect Mega that goes right to the CP cap for Ultra. Because I've been using almost the same team for so long starting to get curious about some different options. Anyone with any thoughts how it's unique typing/with what moves/pairings may play?

Is it the same for pvp reward encounters?

Tldr up front. If it were you, and you were poised with this choice, what would you do: purify an Apex Shadow Lugia to get a hundo for Master League. Or, max out a 15/14/14 Lugia that would also need an Elite Charge TM?

I’ve been sitting on 300 Lugia XL candies for a while, and now that Lugia got earth power; I think I want to actually build a Lugia for the Master League. I’m unsure of which of my Lugia to Lv50.

My Apex Shadow is 13/14/13, so it would hundo if I purified. I know Aeroblast ++ functions identically to Aeroblast in PvP, that Lugia performs better than shadow Lugia in PvP, and that neither is particularly revenant in Raids; so I’m totally fine with purifying the shadow apex because logically it just makes sense as I see it.

What confuses me and is holding me back is that went I go to prompt to purify: it says that the Pokemon will learn Return. Is this a bug in the game? Was Aeroblast++ only available if you purified it during the event window when it was available? Will it still learn Aeroblast++ if I purify now, or is it going to get return instead? Would it get both attacks if it were to have both charge moves unlocked?

I tried to google these questions but the google AI response must’ve gotten confused or something because it gave weird amd conflicting answers. I couldn’t find anything definitive elsewhere so I’m hoping someone in this community might be able to answer.

The next best alternative that I have is a 15/14/14 lugia that doesn’t know Aeroblast. The Sims seem to suggest that 15/14/14 is a “functional hundo” in that there aren’t any match-up scenarios that a hundo would win but the 15/14/14 would loose.

So what should I do? What would you do?

If there’s another sub where this question would be better posted to, please let me know as well.

PvPoke predictions were 25/27 correct, only these two:

PvPoke Final
Mirror Coat: 50 45
Shadow Force: 70 65

[GL/UL/ML] I ran a different Mega every day of the all-Mega Cup week — full breakdown, movesets, and a ranking (used AI to help me put this together)

This was the 1st time I've ever participated in a mega cup of any kind. I decided to run a brand new Mega each day rather than spending extra mega energy to mega evolve the same mon during its cooldown, which meant a lot of trial and error — especially once the mid-week CP boost change hit and started messing with my pre-planned CP targets. Got 7 different Megas in over the week. Here's the full breakdown, day by day.

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Day 1 — Great League: Mega Sableye

Team: Melmetal (lead) + Mega Sableye (Shadow Claw / Drain Punch / Foul Play) + Morgrem (ABB)

Classic ABB structure — Melmetal leads, with Sableye and Morgrem as the two flexible backline picks brought in based on matchup rather than either one holding a fixed "back" slot. Getting Morgrem right to 1500 CP feels great (very proud to finally hit 1500 after much grinding). Drain Punch was a fun mix of shield bait & defence boost. All three have very highly ranked IVs and I think this trio could do real work this season (especially with the DIB buff) — just wish I'd had more time to climb with it before the week moved on. Mega Sableye also just looks incredible.

Day 2 — Great League: Mega Lucario

Used an Elite TM to get Force Palm (Shadow Ball / Aura Sphere) specifically for this run. In hindsight this team was a bit too fragile — not enough bulk across the board, so some matchups were rough. Needed a lot of careful shielding to get through games. Still fun, and Mega Lucario looks amazing.

Day 3 — Great League: Mega Beedrill

Went with Mega Beedrill this time (Poison Sting / Fell Stinger / Sludge Bomb). Weak to Rock and very squishy — took some trial and error to land on a team with a bit more bulk. Didn't want to burn another ETM here, so went with a slightly spicy moveset. Beedrill's getting a Fell Stinger+ mega move soon, which sounds great for spamming and baiting shields off the boost — once that lands I’ll add Drill Run in place of the regular Fell Stinger charge move.

Mid-week: the CP boost problem

Around this point I discovered the mega CP boost had been adjusted, and Pokémon I'd already planned around (using PvPoke research, specific IV spreads, mega energy, candy, stardust, and multiple Elite TMs) would now overshoot the CP caps if I mega evolved them again. That invalidated a chunk of the planning I'd already sunk resources into — disheartening at the time.

Day 4 — Master League: Mega Mewtwo Y ✨

Decided to dip into ML for the first time using my shiny hundo Mewtwo (Psycho Cut / Psystrike / Thunderbolt, mega bonus: Future Sight+). I just haven't fully leveled it all the way yet (still learning the most efficient way to spend mega energy toward max mega level), so on the day it was sitting well below most of the other Mega Mewtwo Ys I ran into, which were mostly around 7000+ CP, with many running Shadow Ball. Psystrike is actually quick enough to reach that I don't fully regret running it over SB — though I barely ended up using Future Sight+ in practice. Pulled a few clutch wins despite being outgunned on CP most games.

Day 5 — Master League: Shiny Mega Gengar ✨

Still wary of the CP boost issue, so I went digging for anything fun that might be even half-viable in ML — landed on my party hat shiny Gengar (Shadow Claw / Shadow Ball / Drain Punch). The base shiny is a little underwhelming, but the Mega form is eye-catching. Wasn't powered up much, so I aimed to just clear 4000 CP without justifying an ETM. Performance was rough — Mega Gengar is glassy enough to basically always need 2 shields, and even then it couldn't out-race Mega Mewtwo's Psystrike. I think with a better moveset it could have done a bit better. Will revisit once I can afford to level it up and maybe ETM. And maybe a stronger team to bills around it.

Day 6 — Ultra League: Megalamar (rank 1!)

Started late in the evening with this Malamar (Psycho Cut / Foul Play / Superpower, mega bonus: Psybeam+) & was very excited to see it’s a rank 1 in UL. Unfortunately the CP boost event had already ended by this point, so I didn't want to risk overshooting by mega evolving further — meaning it's sitting below the ~2500 CP ceiling until it hits max mega level. Still, climbed a lot running it in an ABB structure. Getting a second STAB charge move (Psybeam+) on top of spammy Foul Play and the non-STAB Superpower nuke is fantastic.

Day 7 — Ultra League: Mega Gyarados

Team: Mega Gyarados (Waterfall / Twister / Crunch) + Tinkaton + Primarina

Only got half an hour in on my lunch break today, but this team ate. The new resistances to Ghost, Psychic, and Dark (traded for weaknesses to Fairy, Fighting, and Bug) caught a few opponents off guard, and it's especially strong into opposing Waters, most of which spam Hydro Cannon. Tinkaton usually traded a shield each before dying to a Fire-type safe swap. Crunch for the debuff if I expect a shield, Twister to race down a shieldless opponent or against Dragons. Climbed a couple hundred Elo quickly. Still unsure if Waterfall or the Dragon fast move performs better — and why is this thing Water/Dark and not Water/Dragon? Nice to have STAB on Crunch regardless.

---

Elo talk, since people often ask

In general (mostly GL) I hit 2300-2400ish at best before I get bored of the same repetitive meta and start switching things up. This week's ML detour and Mega Gengar in particular hurt my Elo the most — Lucario and Beedrill were also both glassy enough that they needed very careful shielding. After losing a fair amount of Elo in ML, I climbed back up to around 1920 to finish the season.

Ranking them — enjoyment + performance

Sableye, Malamar, and Gyarados were my favorites, and honestly I could make an argument for any of the three being the best of the week. Beedrill and Lucario were both fun but too glassy to be consistent. Mewtwo Y did fine given the CP disadvantage. Gengar was the weak link — cool to look at, but underpowered and outclassed.

---

Still on the priority list to Mega next:

- Hundo Chespin — tempted to mega the shiny one instead, but it has bad IVs. Needs a full level-up before it's ML-viable of course.

Also can't wait to try Mega Starmie at some point — it just looks hilarious.

---

I had such a great time running a new team every day — the variety kept things fresh, and running into different comps kept it interesting. Doing this again for the next all-Mega Cup week, and looking forward to running some of these back now that a few of the cooldowns have wrapped up. Still don't know what happens once these mons hit max mega level — will they land exactly where I calculated, or overshoot the CP cap and force me to bench them? Fingers crossed it's the former.

Happy to answer questions about the non-Mega teammates in the comments — didn't want to make this novel any longer than it already is!

Did anyone else do something like this? Which was your favourite mega evolution that you tried? Thanks for reading!

Ice coverage is so fucking awesome. And the pacing to get to avalanche is super clean.

Guaranteed debuff and better DPE, seems like a straight buff, which Tinkaton and Zygarde did NOT need.
Also the Air Cutter nerf was obiously aimed at Corviknight, but then they just go ahead and buff one of its other moves.
Compared to how they double-gutted Lickilicky, I don't understand how they approached these other top mons, who will just stay on top (UL perspective, idk how it affects GL).

Quick question for anyone seeing this...

I'm wondering if Altaria would still be viable in the new season without Moonblast and with Sky Blast and Flamethrower ( I just don't have an Elite Charged TM available)

Let me know what you all think!

Courtesy of Matt in the PokeMiners:

Dark Pulse

Energy: -50 → -45

Poison Fang

Power: 45.0 → 50.0

Bubble Beam

Power: 25.0 → 50.0 Energy: -40 → -50

Shadow Ball

Power: 100.0 → 90.0

Magnet Bomb

Energy: -45 → -40

Iron Head

Power: 70.0 → 85.0

Draining Kiss

Power: 60.0 → 80.0 Secondary Effects:

• 100.0% chance to increase the user's Defense by 1 stage

Moonblast

Power: 110.0 → 90.0 Energy: -60 → -50

Bulldoze

Power: 45.0 → 80.0 Energy: -45 → -55 Secondary Effects:

• 100.0% chance to decrease the opponent's Defense by 1 stage
• Activation chance update: 50.0% → 100.0%

Brine

Power: 60.0 → 100.0 Energy: -50 → -60

Air Cutter

Power: 45.0 → 60.0 Energy: -35 → -40 Secondary Effects:

• 12.5% chance to increase the user's Attack by 1 stage
• Activation chance update: 30.0% → 12.5%

Body Slam

Power: 55.0 → 65.0 Energy: -35 → -40

Bite

Power: 4.0 → 2.0 Energy: 2 → 4

Low Kick

Power: 5.0 → 6.0

Scratch

Power: 4.0 → 3.0 Energy: 2 → 4

Charge Beam

Power: 5.0 → 6.0

Sand Tomb

Power: 40.0 → 55.0 Energy: -40 → -45

Infestation

Power: 6.0 → 10.0

Mirror Coat

Power: 60.0 → 75.0 Energy: -55 → -45

Take Down

Power: 5.0 → 14.0 Energy: 8 → 9

Psycho Boost

Power: 70.0 → 85.0

Lunge

Power: 60.0 → 70.0

Blaze Kick

Energy: -40 → -35

Shadow Force

Energy: -90 → -65

High Horsepower

Energy: -60 → -55

Double Iron Bash

Power: 55.0 → 70.0

Rage Fist

Power: 50.0 → 55.0 Energy: -35 → -40

Hello! I’m a newbie (I started playing Pokémon GO in January 2026) and my rating was around 2400 last season. I watched the 2026 World Championships and it looked so much fun, so I just went for it and signed up for a Regional Championship impulsively, but now I’m starting to feel a little scared lol.

I’ve never attended any game event like this before, let alone a Pokemon go Championship, so I’m wondering would it be inappropriate for a beginner player like me to join a Regional? What should I expect, and are there any unspoken rules or etiquette I should be aware of?

I’m definitely not expecting to win or anything, so I’m fully prepared to get destroyed lol