Pokémon Championship Series
The Pokémon World Championship Series has been going on since 2004 for the TCG and 2009 for the Video Games and brings players from across the world to earn the title of World Champion. This runs concurrently with the Trading Card Game championships. Each year the format shifts to the latest game to allow for different strategies. The series has multiple small events known as Premier Challenges across the globe, followed by Regional Championships, then National Championships before the accumulated winners get a chance to participate in the World Championships.
2026 Championship Series |
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The 2026 Championship Series was announced way in advance at the 2024 Pokémon World Championships with the World Championships returning to San Francisco
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2025 Championship Series |
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The 2025 Championship Series started in July 2024 and featured some major changes to how things were run with only the top amount of players earning an invite to Worlds rather than anyone who hit the Championship Point bar
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2024 Championship Series |
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The 2024 Championship Series started in September 2023 following the 2023 World Championships and continued to utilise Pokémon Scarlet & Violet, Pokémon GO, Pokémon UNITE and the Pokémon TCG. The World Championships were held in Honolulu, Hawaii VGC Winners
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2023 Championship Series |
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The 2023 Championship Series began with the London Open. It continued having VGC, TCG, GO and Pokémon UNITE in it, and featured the shift in VGC and TCG to the Pokémon Scarlet & Violet formats. As such, it lacked VGC competitions until January 2023 in order to make sure things were fair and players qualified only with the special rulesets from the new game. It culminated in the 2023 World Championships held in Yokohama in Japan for the first time
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2022 Championship Series |
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The 2022 Championship Series started up again in March 2022 following a 2 year hiatus due to the global situation. It reopened with the usual events but changed things somewhat. This series introduced Pokémon GO and Pokémon UNITE into the Championship Series, running alongside the VGC, TCG and Pokkén Tournament series. The 2022 World Championships is to be held in London
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2021 Championship Series |
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The 2021 World Championship Series is the first full circuit utilising Pokémon Sword & Shield Games. This circuit never happened due to the global situation. The series kept going with Players Cup competitions for VGC, TCG and Pokkén Tournament |
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2020 Championship Series |
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The 2020 World Championship Series is the first utilising Pokémon Sword & Shield Games. This Championship series was cut short due to global health crisis and had all events from the end of January cancelled. All CP earned would go towards the following year's circuit. |
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2019 Championship Series |
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The 2019 World Championship Series is the second utilising Pokémon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon games and adopts the GS Cup format once more, allowing for players to use two restricted Legendary Pokémon. With this, the series, for the first time, is set into three different series each with restrictions. First bans all Mega Evolutions, Primals and Z-Moves, second bans all Mega Evolutions, Primals and Ultra Necrozma and the third allows for everything. The 2019 World Championships are to be held in Washington D.C. VGC Winners
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2018 Championship Series |
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The 2018 World Championship Series is the first utilising the Pokémon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon games. The 2018 World Championships are to be held in Nashville, Tennessee VGC Winners
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2017 Championship Series |
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The 2017 World Championship Series is the first utilising the Pokémon Sun & Moon games. As such, they introduce new rules to match, utilising the Alola Pokédex. It continues with Premier Challenges and Midseason Showdowns, but rather than National Championships, there are instead four big Contintental Championships at the end of the season. The 2017 World Championships were held in Anaheim, California VGC Winners
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2016 Championship Series |
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The 2016 World Championship Series is the second utilising the Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire games. Due to this, the format changed considerably. Rather than the standard rules of the prior year, this season allows for the use of more Pokémon, specifically all non-Mythical Legendary Pokémon, allowing for up to 2 in your Battle Box, making it a very different metagame. It made a start earlier than ever before with a special event at the 2015 World Championships. This series includes a variety of new features and updates. First off is the introduction of Enhanced Premier Challenges. These challenges are for those Premier Challenges of 65 or higher entrants and has an increase in CP for every qualifying player except the winner. It also introduces Mid-Season Showdowns. These are events akin to Regional Championships, and share a Best Finish Limit, but have lower CP. The 2016 World Championships were be held in San Francisco, California VGC Winners
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2015 Championship Series |
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The 2015 World Championship Series is the first utilising the Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire games. As such, it features a jump in the number of usable Pokémon from the 450 of the Kalos Pokédex up to the full National Pokédex. This championship series fully integrated Premier Challenges globally into the system. It also started to introduce more Regional Championships outside of North America. The World Championship Final was held in Boston, Massachusetts. At the World Championships, a Pokkén Invitational Tournament was also held VGC Winners
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2014 Championship Series |
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The 2014 World Championship Series is the first utilising the Pokémon X & Y games. Being the first for Pokémon X & Y, it focused solely upon the Pokédex from those games featuring 450 Pokémon. This series was also the first to include Premier Challenges, which allowed for small competitions that let players gain Championship Points to earn a place in the final. The World Championship Final was in Washington D.C. VGC Winners
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2013 Championship Series |
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The 2013 World Championship Series is the first utilising the Pokémon Black 2 & White 2 games. Despite that, the format changed very little from the previous year, just allowing for the new forms intorduced in Pokémon Black 2 & White 2. This was the last series to include the special point structure and it added another set of Regional Championships in the winter. The World Championships were held in Vancouver in Canada VGC Winners
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2012 Championship Series |
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The 2012 World Championship Series is the second utilising the Pokémon Black & White games. This format was altered from the previous year to allow for the full range of Pokémon to be used from the National Pokédex. This series also added a second wave of Regional Championships in the United States. The World Championships were held in Waikoloa in Hawaii. The winners of this competition had their teams appear as battleable in downloadable competitions in the Pokémon World Tournament in Black 2 & White 2 VGC Winners
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2011 Championship Series |
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The 2011 World Championship Series is the first utilising the Pokémon Black & White games. This format was altered and allowed for only the use of the Pokémon in the Unova Pokédex. In practice, this series also separated VGC matches for Seniors into two different categories: Masters for over 16s and Seniors for those between 11 and 16. This series had a loss of Japan having their own specific competitions offline due to the Sendai Tsunami, but Japan later entered through online methods which continued onwards. The World Championships were held in San Diego. VGC Winners
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2010 Championship Series |
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The 2010 World Championship Series is the first utilising the Pokémon HeartGold & SoulSilver & White games. This format was the first that allowed for use of up to 2 of the usually banned Legendary Pokémon. The World Championships were held in Konoa, Hawaii. VGC Winners
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2009 Championship Series |
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The 2009 World Championship Series was the first ever World Championship series for the Video Games and sixth for TCG, following the Showdown that existed in 2008. This series ran on Pokémon Platinum and utilised the full National Pokédex of the time. The World Championships were held in San Diego in the United States. VGC Winners
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