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Pok\u00e9mon Champions<\/span><\/i><\/a> is ushering in a new era of competitive play when it comes to Switch tomorrow, April 8. The battle simulator is going to become the platform for official competitive play moving forward. It\u2019s meant to make playing <\/span>Pok\u00e9mon <\/span><\/i>like a pro easier for newcomers who have long been intimidated by the game\u2019s more complex under-the-hood systems.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n So if you aren\u2019t among the competitive players already building teams in your head, you might be wondering what the game is all about. Well, here\u2019s a quick rundown of things to know before <\/span>Pok\u00e9mon Champions <\/span><\/i>launches.<\/span><\/p>\n The spin-off isn\u2019t a traditional <\/span>Pok\u00e9mon<\/span><\/i> RPG. Instead, it\u2019s a free-to-play battle simulator that lets you import Pok\u00e9mon from other games and create teams to take into online battles. Ideally, this will expand into an all-encompassing, generation-spanning tool for competitive players, allowing everyone from the greenest trainee to the most seasoned veteran to customize rulesets, playstyles, and teams to their liking.<\/span><\/p>\n But <\/span>Champions<\/span><\/i> will have a few notable restrictions at launch. It will only feature <\/span>fully evolved versions of each monster<\/span><\/a>, so if you have a strategy or team that uses pre-evolved forms, you\u2019re out of luck for now (though Pikachu seems to be a notable exception to this restriction). <\/span>Champions<\/span><\/i> is also rolling out battle gimmicks over time, so you\u2019ll be able to use Mega Evolved monsters but Z-Moves, Dynamax transformations, and other rulesets won\u2019t be available until later down the line.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n There will be multiple modes of play, including ranked matches, casual matches, and private matches for playing directly with friends.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nWhat is <\/b>Pok\u00e9mon Champions<\/i><\/b>?<\/b><\/h2>\n