Pokémon Champions axes local communication options — New information released in VGC handbook

The Play! Pokémon Video Game Championships (VGC) Tournament Handbook was updated at the end of March 2026 to include rules and guidance relating to Pokémon Champions and VGC's transition to the upcoming title. It includes insights into currently unannounced features present in Pokémon Champions, future rulesets, and the controversial removal of local communication.

"VGC Transition to Pokémon Champions"​

As announced earlier this year, the 2026 Global Challenge I will take place within Pokémon Champions, and runs from 1–4 May 2026. This is unsurprisingly the first step towards all Online Competitions taking place within Champions—as the handbook says, "all Online Competitions after the release of Pokémon Champions will be conducted using Pokémon Champions." This sections also includes more information for in-person events; Championship-level competitions (Regionals, Specials, Internationals, and Worlds) that take place within Pokémon Champions will have this fact announced when registration opens for the relevant event. Local-level competitions (League Challenges and League Cups) will take place within Pokémon Scarlet and Violet until the beginning of the 2027 Championship Series from 1 September 2026.

"Regulation Sets in Pokémon Champions"​

While competitive formats, known as "regulation sets", have lasted up to four months in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, this will be slightly adjusted in Pokémon Champions. Regulation sets will instead last between one and three months, and new formats "may be announced up to 30 days prior to the first legal competition."

The first format for Pokémon Champions will be Regulation Set M-A, which allows the use of Mega Evolution. Nothing more is known about this format, but an in-game announcement will be published shortly after Pokémon Champions releases. The first event to use this ruleset will be the aforementioned 2026 Global Challenge I, followed by the in-person 2026 Indianapolis Regionals from 30–31 May 2026. This implies that the 2026 Pokémon World Championships will not use the Regulation Set M-A ruleset, as it takes place from 28–30 August 2026, more than three months after Regulation Set M-A begins.

"Pokémon"​

There is no new information relating to Pokémon available for use in the Regulation Set M-A format, but it has been stated the the Battle Bond ability will still be banned.

The "Rental Teams" feature from previous mainline games will be replaced with the "Replica Teams" feature. While there's no information on what this feature is, it can be inferred that it will function almost identically to Rental Teams.

"Team Lists"​

It has been confirmed that in-person events will continue to use open team lists for the duration of the 2026 Championship Series, including within Pokémon Champions. As described by the handbook, open team lists feature "all Pokémon information, [...] except for the Pokémon's stats and Nature," and they are always made available to the opponent before the battle begins. This includes the moves, abilities, and held items of all of your Pokémon your opponent's Pokémon, as well as other information related to specific formats, such as a Pokémon's Tera Type when Terastallization is legal.

"Pokémon Champions Competition Connectivity"​

It has been confirmed that online communication, defined by the handbook as "competitors connecting and playing over the internet," will be the only method of communication available for Pokémon Champions. In previous mainline games, both internet and local communication were valid ways to connect with other players, but the latter has been excluded from Pokémon Champions.

This has proved to be a rather controversial change, with 2x Regional Champion Stefan Mott describing the change as "absolutely trash," and VGC caster Gabby Snyder describing it as being "definitely another barrier" to the growth of VGC.