PokéNews (April 1): Pokémon Sword and Shield / Pokémon GO

Today’s Pokémon news: latest Pokémon Sword and Shield news, but also…

• Pokémon GO
• 2020 Pokémon Championship Series
• Pokémon TCG

Pokémon Sword and Shield

Now that it’s over, rewards for the latest season of Ranked Battles in Pokémon Sword and Shield are now live. To get them, you need to head over to the Mystery Gift menu, and select Receive via Battle Stadium, once you have checked your ranking.

Also, the April season is now live, and runs until April 30th. Rules are the same as the previous season, with Brave Mint and Quiet Mind available as rewards.

Source: Serebii

Pokémon GO

Gyms

Niantic recently announced that they are working on ways to team up in Raid Battles from home. In the mean time, they have temporarily doubled the distance from which you can interact with a Gym (including spinning Photo Discs). However, this change does not apply to spinning Photo Discs at PokéStops.

Source: Niantic

Tricky Pokémon

Niantic have announced a new event for Pokémon GO, centered around Tricky Pokémon. It runs until April 7th, and it features the following:

• Pokémon known to be pranksters and masters of disguise will also be appearing more often in the wild, such as Gastly, Haunter, Voltorb, Sudowoodo, Aipom, Croagunk, and Foongus. If you’re lucky, you might encounter a Shiny Sudowoodo or a Shiny Croagunk!
• Stunfisk, the Trap Pokémon, will make its Pokémon GO debut! For the duration of the event, Stunfisk will be available as Field Research task reward encounters and—if you’re extremely lucky—in the wild.
• After the event ends, Stunfisk will no longer hatch from 5 km Eggs. You’ll be able to encounter Stunfisk as Field Research task reward encounters or, if you’re very lucky, in the wild.
• The following Pokémon will be hatching more often from 5 km Eggs: Aipom, Wynaut, Bonsly, Croagunk, and Stunfisk.
• Event-exclusive Field Research tasks will be available. Depending on the task, you might receive a reward encounter with a Sudowoodo, Croagunk, or Stunfisk!
• Take a snapshot and see who appears!
• Ditto will be appearing more frequently in the wild during the event, so be sure to catch Pokémon that Ditto are known to transform into! We also have reports of Ditto transforming into more Pokémon species than before, and it seems this phenomenon will persist after the event ends.

Source: Niantic

2020 Pokémon Championship Series

The Pokémon Company have announced that the 2020 North America International Championships (scheduled for June 26–28 in Columbus, Ohio) and the 2020 Pokémon World Championships (scheduled for August 14–16 in London, United Kingdom) have both been canceled.

As a result, it’s the entire 2020 Pokémon Championship Series which has been canceled until further notice: all sanctioned Play! Pokémon events including League, Club, Prerelease, League Challenge, League Cup, Premier Challenge, and Midseason Showdown. Also, any points earned up to this point for the current Championship Series will roll over to the 2021 Play! Pokémon Championship Series.

As for the Pokémon World Championships, The Pokémon Company have announced an expanded 2021 Pokémon World Championships, to take place in 2021 in London. All invitations to the 2020 Pokémon World Championships will carry over to the 2021 World Championships.

Source: The Pokémon Company

Pokémon TCG

As announced previously, all Play: Pokémon are canceled until further notice. That includes the pre-release events for the Sword & Shield—Rebel Clash Build expansion for the Pokémon Trading Card Game. But The Pokémon Company have announced that eligible retailers will be allowed to sell the Build & Battle Boxes early, from April 18th.

Source: The Pokémon Company