The Pokemon Company International have announced a global exhibition tournament featuring top played from around the world.

Continuing the celebration of the series 25th anniversary, the Pokemon Global Exhibition will feature eight of the highest-ranking players from previous Pokemon Sword and Shield tournaments around Europe, North America, Latin America, Oceania, and Japan. The first four region will come from the Players Cup IV Global Finals.

It is worth noting that these are not the 2021 World Championships, which were cancelled earlier this year due to the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent quarantine orders.

According to Pikalytics (a fan-made website that studies the online metagame of Pokemon), Series 9 has seen several mainstays, and a few surprises. Regieleki, Landorus-Therian, and Tapu Fini continue to be popular for their raw power being backed by some support capabilities.

Glastrier and Galarian Moltres; both introduced in the Crown Tundra expansion pass, also have high-usage, thanks to their abilities allowing them to snowball once they get a KO or two. This is further enhanced by Dynamaxing; turning a Pokemon giant for a few turns, and granting it powerful moves that can also give it buffs.

However, popularity and following trends does not always lead to success. Coalossal has shown how the right combination of Pokemon can make a devastating force. By combining its Steam Engine ability and holding a Weakness Policy, its ally can attack it with weak Water-type move, boosting its speed and offensive stats to devastating effect.

Pokemon such as Grimmsnarl, Indeedee, Clefairy, Dusclops, and Porygon2 all act as great supporting Pokemon; creating barriers, forcing foes to attack them, setting up Trick Room so slower Pokemon can move first, or inflicting status effects on foes.

All of these Pokemon can be raised in a variety of ways to alter their speeds, defenses, and attacking stats; and have a variety of moves at their disposal. Major competitions usually result in players bringing builds and strategies their opponents may not be ready for, and succeeding in a best-of-three match (where both sides can slowly piece together what their opponent has and is up to).

The Pokemon Global Exhibition tournament premieres October (via Twitch). Exact dates and times will be confirmed at a later date.

While gaming conferences will be held prior to the tournament (such as Gamescom 2021 in August); we may get a new look at the upcoming Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, as well as Pokemon Legends: Arceus. 

Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Pokemon Shining Pearl launches November 19th on Nintendo Switch. Pokemon Legends Arceus launches January 28th, 2022 for Nintendo Switch.

Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield are available on Nintendo Switch. In case you missed it, you can find our review here, our Isle of Armor expansion review here, and The Crown Tundra expansion review here.