Over the weekend, the best Pokémon players made their way to the island of Hawaii to find out who the best trainers in the world were. The champs of the Pokémon Trading Card Game, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, Pokémon Go and Pokémon Unite were decided. It’s crazy to think how the international championships have grown since I was playing the TCG and going to the Super Trainer Showdown in New Jersey. That being said, more than 13,000 players and Poke-fans from all over the world jumped on their favorite ride Pokémon to get to Hawaii for some fun in the sun.
It wasn’t just about the present of Pokémon games as there were announcements regarding the future for Pokémon too. Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket will be launching in October of this year. This application will bring a new dimension to Pokémon card collecting, as it will bring the TCG into an innovative digital format. You’ll be able to open booster packs and see your cards in visually stunning effects. Two free packs a day that get net you classic art cards like Base Set Pikachu as well as new cards that only exist on the application!
Pokémon Trainer’s Pokémon are coming to the TCG next year. I think this is the thing I’m most excited for as it reminds me so much of the Gym Leader Pokémon cards from the Gym Heroes and Gym Challenge sets. Instead of Lt. Surge, Brock and Misty, trainers can get their hands on Lillie’s Clefairy, Marnie’s Grimmsnarl and N’s Reshiram to name a few. It’s always interesting to see old ideas come back to the series but fun to see them modified for a new generation.
Pokémon Go and Pokémon Unite had new features revealed as well. Morpeko is coming to Pokémon Go as well as a new gameplay mechanic, the Battle-Only form. Trainers will be able use a “charged attack” to alter Pokémon forms in battle. As for Unite, a new battle system and new Pokémon Licenses are coming to the game. Trainers will be able to fight with Armarouge, Darkrai, and Psyduck in the game soon. Psyduck is an interesting choice but lets everyone hope their favorite will get into a game soon. The 500 Point Battle is a casual battle where the first team to collect 500 points wins. Pokémon fans will be able to play this mode in Unite in the Spring 0f 2025.
Lastly, the locations and dates for the next two Pokémon World Championships were revealed. By the looks of it, Hawaii is going to be hard to top but the Pokémon Company is going to try with Anaheim in 2025 and San Francisco in 2026. Anaheim will be from August 15-17 2025 and San Francisco will be from August 28-30 2026. Start training your best Pokémon and get your TCG decks together because those dates will be here before you know it.
Pokemon 2024 World Championship Results
Pokémon Trading Card Game Junior Division:
1st place: Sakuya Ota [JP]
2nd place: Logan Bailey [US]
Pokémon TCG Senior Division:
1st place: Evan Pavelski [US]
2nd place: Haruku Umehara [JP]
Pokémon TCG Masters Division:
1st place: Fernando Cifuentes [CL]
2nd place: Seinosuke Shiokawa [JP]
Pokémon Video Game Championship Junior Division:
1st place: Kevin Han [US]
2nd place: Tatsuomi Shimanuki [JP]
Pokémon VGC Senior Division:
1st place: Ray Yamanaka [JP]
2nd place: Luke Kroll [US]
Pokémon VGC Masters Division:
1st place: Luca Ceribelli [IT]
2nd place: Yuta Ishigaki [JP]
Pokémon GO:
1st place: Yekai0904 [HK]
2nd place: Inadequance [NL]
Pokémon UNITE:
1st place: FENNEL [JP]
2nd place: XoraTigersGaming [KR]