Good morning!

Recently, many of you may have noticed a sudden influx of AI bots posting on the subreddit, as well as Reddit as a whole. With the US election season in full swing, a lot of these accounts are trying to build up positive karma across multiple subreddits to make themselves look like real people. Their goal is to establish credibility so that when they eventually start posting propaganda, their accounts appear legitimate.

These bots are able to get around our anti bot measures we've put in place, such as account age and low karma requirements, by swarming other subreddits and interacting with users to build up karma.

One of the biggest indicators that these accounts are bots is that they frequently use outdated or incorrect information when discussing the Pokemon Trading Card Game. A lot of their responses read like what you'd get from asking ChatGPT or Gemini a question about the game, with information that sounds convincing at first but doesn't actually hold up. A good example is telling our users to purchase a Charizard League Battle Deck for a upcoming Regional as if it was in standard, Or my personal favorite, a bot telling users that Boss's Order is one of the least played cards in the format because of how hated it is.

To combat this, we've installed a Reddit app called Bot Bouncer, which has done a tremendous job of weeding out these accounts. Since it was installed on October 1st, Bot Bouncer has banned 48 accounts on r/pkmntcg alone. This number is only amplified when taking into account bots banned directly by Reddit, or by the Moderator team. That said, we've still had a few slip through the cracks.

If you notice a comment that seems out of place or doesn't make sense, particularly when it comes to things like the current meta game, previously card out of rotation, purchasing starter decks, or deckbuilding advice, please report it to the moderators using the report option under the comment.

I've added a specific report reason called "Suspected bot account" to make it easier for us to identify these accounts, investigate them, and report them directly to Bot Bouncer for further review.

Edit : Only because I figured this would be a funny thing to share. Within 3 minutes of this post, Bot Bouncer removed a flagged account replying here who has 0 previous community posts, claiming they saw a bot here recently. So this is still a very active issue.

Pokemon has released their yearly Championship Series update. Here are some of the highlights.

Championship Point and Best Finish Limit Updates

The Championship Point awards and Best Finish Limits have been updated for the 2027 Championship Series season to reward more Championship Points for lower-finishing competitors at Regional and International Championships. Please check the individual event pages for the complete tables:

• League Challenge and League Cup
• Pokémon VGC Global Challenge
• Regional and Special Championships
• International Championship

Travel Award Tiebreaks

In previous Championship Series seasons, tiebreakers for final leaderboard placements were determined by Play! Points competitors had accumulated.

Starting with the 2027 Europe International Championships, ties for all Travel Awards will be determined by finishing position at previous Regional and International Championship events. Please check the International Championships page for a full breakdown of Travel Awards

2027 World Championships Qualifications

In 2027, a set number of competitors from each rating zone, age division, and game will earn an invitation to the World Championships based on their Championship Point leaderboard standings. This update applies to Pokémon TCG, Pokémon VGC, and Pokémon GO competitors.

Pokémon TCG Championship Invitations

2027 Championship Series Age Division Update

Competitors in Championship Series events are separated into three age divisions, where applicable: Junior, Senior, and Masters.

The age division that competitors participate in is set at the beginning of the tournament season based on that competitor’s year of birth, and it does not change over the course of that season. This allows competitors to compete against the same pool of opponents over the season.

2027 Championship Series Season age divisions:

• Junior Division: Competitors born 2015 or later
• Senior Division: Competitors born between 2011 and 2014, inclusive
• Masters Division: Competitors born 2010 or earlier

Regional Championships Merchandise Returns

https://preview.redd.it/tcjdd0u3xboh1.png?width=2048&format=png&auto=webp&s=3516ee288089ad5f8827ea8814b4fe99659ef559

During the 2027 season, Trainers can once again expect to find commemorative merchandise at Championship events in North America and Europe. The collection will be known as Regional Championships Collection – Series 27 and will feature T-shirts, hats, jerseys, pullover hoodies, coin and marker sets, premium playmats, premium deck boxes, and card sleeves.

Please note that availability of these items will vary between events. Trainers in North America will find a variety of exclusive merchandise. The full collection will also begin to roll out at several European tournaments this upcoming season, with some limited items available at other tournaments. 

• The full collection will be available at the following events:
  • 2027 Frankfurt Regional Championships
  • 2027 Nice Regional Championships
  • 2027 Stuttgart Regional Championships
  • 2027 Birmingham Regional Championships
• Specific T-shirts will only be available at the following events:
  • 2027 Lisbon Special Championships
  • 2027 Prague Regional Championships
  • 2027 Utrecht Regional Championships
  • 2027 Bologna Special Championships

Regional Championships Streams in Latin American Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese

For the first time, Trainers can look forward to select broadcasts produced in Latin American Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese. The 2027 Puebla Regional Championships, 2027 Mérida Regional Championships, and 2027 Monterrey Regional Championships will feature Latin American Spanish broadcasts.

The 2027 Rio de Janeiro Regional Championships and 2027 Porto Alegre Regional Championships will feature Brazilian Portuguese broadcasts. All broadcast content will be produced locally.

These events will be available on the official Pokémon Twitch and YouTube channels. For more details on when and where to watch, check the event calendar!

Ace Trainer Rewards 2027 Update

In the 2027 Championship Series season, competitors in all eligible rating zones will need to earn 200 Championship Points for Pokémon Champions, the Pokémon Trading Card Game, or Pokémon GO to be eligible to qualify for Ace Trainer status. This is unchanged from the previous season.

Trainers who achieve Ace Trainer status will once again receive a Celebratory Fanfare card to commemorate the season alongside a suite of digital goods and an Ace Trainer Badge in the Play! Pokémon Access app.

Check out the most recent announcement featuring the Celebratory Fanfare card awarded to all Trainers who earned Ace Trainer status during the 2026 season!

Wanted to post this since there is some slight changes to the TCG rule set, including a change to asymmetrical top cut.

Pokémon TCG Rules & Resources Updates — September 2026

Pokémon has published its latest updates to the Pokémon TCG Rules & Resources and Play! Pokémon Rules & Resources. Below is a summary of the changes announced today.

Pokémon TCG Rules & Resources

Pokémon TCG Tournament Handbook

• A small clarification regarding the timing for providing a deck list to an opponent has been added.

Pokémon League Rules & Resources

Play! Pokémon Store Handbook

• Clarifies that a Play! Pokémon Store is specifically owned by the store location, rather than an individual Play! Pokémon Store staff member.
• Language regarding the new Play! Pokémon Store Agreement has been updated.

Play! Pokémon League Challenges, Cups, and Prerelease Guide

• The sanctioning window for all events, including Prereleases, is now 7 days instead of 14 days.
• Information regarding server maintenance for Pokémon Champions that may impact League Cups and League Challenges has been added.

Rules & Resources for All

Play! Pokémon Standards of Conduct

• A new Section 6.1.1 has been added, disallowing an individual from simultaneously serving as tournament staff and acting as a parent, guardian, or chaperone for a participant who requires one to be present at the tournament.
• The minimum age for guardians and chaperones has been clarified as 18.

Play! Pokémon Tournament Rules Handbook

• Clarifies that individuals who are not eligible to participate in events that award Championship Points are also not eligible to participate in the World Championships.
• Additional information has been added regarding when a match begins, based on the product being played.
• Eligibility dates for the Junior, Senior, and Masters age divisions have been updated.
• Information has been added stating that, for some tournaments, individuals may be required to play different versions of a game based on their age and location.
• The maximum number of competitors in an asymmetrical top cut is now 16 for Pokémon TCG and 32 for Pokémon VGC and Pokémon GO tournaments run as Swiss.

Play! Pokémon Penalty Guidelines

• Section 4.1.1, Applying Same Penalty for Multiple Infractions, has been added.
• Clarification regarding when a match ends has been added.

Greetings!

Almost 10 years ago, this subreddit became the target of a coordinated bot attack that was spamming smaller subreddits across the site. With the amount of spam increasing, the moderators at the time came up with a pretty simple solution: automatically remove posts from accounts with less than 2 comment karma.

The original reasoning was that an account age requirement was fairly easy to circumvent. Spammers could simply create accounts ahead of time, let them sit for a while, and then use them to post spam later. Because of that, the subreddit settled on a minimum of 2 comment karma. Posts from users with less than 2 comment karma are automatically removed by AutoModerator.

Yes, this occasionally catches legitimate users. In particular, it can catch people who have mostly lurked on Reddit and are only now starting to participate. We know that's annoying, but unfortunately it's also one of the tradeoffs of having the filter in place.

Over the last few years, this automation has continued to be pretty important for the subreddit. During the Collector/Pokébro/PSA boom, we once again became a target for mass spam. This time, we've seen everything from people vibe-coding collector tracking apps, purchase bots, Discords that notify you when drops go live, and pretty much everything in between.

You name it, we've seen it.

So, while this system is almost a decade old at this point, there's still a pretty good reason we keep it around.

How do I get comment karma?

If you're a new Reddit account and your post was removed because you don't have enough karma, you don't need to do anything complicated. Just participate in Reddit normally.

Comment on posts, participate in discussions, and contribute something useful. If people upvote your comments, you'll gain comment karma. You only need 2 comment karma to get past this particular filter.

Please don't go around making a bunch of low-effort comments just to hit the requirement, though. That's generally going to be pretty obvious, and it kind of defeats the purpose of the filter in the first place.

My post was removed. What do I do?

If you're a legitimate user and your post was caught by the filter, please use the "Message the moderators" option on the subreddit to contact us. Send us a message once, and we'll review the post when we see it.

You don't need to make another post asking why it was removed, and please don't repeatedly message the moderators. The removal is automatic and does not necessarily mean there is anything wrong with your post.

If you have any questions, please use the "Message the moderators" feature on the subreddit. That will send your message to the current moderation team, who can actually review it.

We're making this post primarily to give everyone a current explanation of why the filter exists and what you can do if you get caught by it.

We know the filter isn't perfect, but after nearly 10 years, it's proven to be a useful tool for keeping the subreddit from getting buried in spam and bot posts. If you're a legitimate user who gets caught by it, just send us a modmail and we'll take a look!

Based on community feedback, Ace Trainer flairs are now available!

Like the official TPCi Ace Trainer program, these flairs require you to have earned at least 200 Championship Points during the current season.

The flair also features the Pikachu artwork from the official Ace Trainer promo card!

https://preview.redd.it/8wp2hh171l9h1.png?width=159&format=png&auto=webp&s=f079fb7ec0b8ce35b4b3e982c37f2559da1c9822

For now, we'll only be accepting requests from users who achieved this milestone during the most recent World Championship season. Achievements from previous seasons will not be eligible.

Our plan is to rotate these flairs each season, retiring the previous season's Ace Trainer flair and awarding a new one to players who earn Ace Trainer status that year.

If you'd like one of these flairs, please use the "Message the moderators" button in the subreddit sidebar and include a screenshot of your My Play! Pokémon home page. This lets us verify the total Championship Points you've earned during the season.

We'll cross reference your point total with the leaderboard to confirm your season earnings. Once everything has been verified, we'll apply your Ace Trainer flair!

As a reminder, we also offer flairs for World Championship competitors, as well as Pokémon Professors (Judges and Organizers). If you're eligible for any of those, feel free to reach out through Message the Moderators and we'll be happy to get those applied as well!

With the recent wave of emails going out to competitors, I figured now would be a good time to remind everyone that if you've ever qualified for the World Championship, you're eligible to request a special user flair!

https://preview.redd.it/s5rkif592c9h1.png?width=238&format=png&auto=webp&s=160f3538170c11d209d927fcdb3e891e800f13e7

This flair can only be added by a moderator. To request your flair, please follow these steps:

1. Send a screenshot of your World Championships invite email to the moderators via modmail. You will have to upload it to an image sharing site like Imgur due to Reddit's limitation on modmail messages.
2. We will verify your status as a Worlds competitor using Pokémon.com records, and once confirmed, your flair will be added.

If you prefer not to share your identity, or no longer have your invite email, just send me a message, and we’ll find an alternative way to verify your participation and get your flair.

This flair is available to anyone who competed in the main event at Worlds from 2002 to 2024 (Note: Worlds Open events and Last Chance Qualifiers do not count).

Side note: If you were one of the few players who competed in the Tropical Mega Battle era, let me know, and I’ll create a special flair just for you!

If you’ve won a World Championship and can verify it, I’ll create a special flair for you to showcase your achievement!

If you have any questions or feedback about our flair system, feel free to leave a comment below!

(Also, a friendly reminder that we offer Professor flairs! We've recently updated them to match Pokémon's new Professor ranking system. More info here)