Tune In for the Pokemon Oceania International Championships

The first International Championships of the new year are about to start, and you can watch all the action live starting at 5:30 p.m. EST on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, February 8–10, 2018. The Oceania International Championships will feature Pokémon TCG, Pokémon Ultra Sun and Pokémon Ultra Moon, and Pokkén Tournament DX competitions. Video game matches will appear on Twitch.tv/Pokemon on Thursday and Friday, while Pokémon TCG matches will be aired on Twitch.tv/PokemonTCG. Final matches for both events will take place Saturday on Twitch.tv/Pokemon. Pokkén Tournament DX matches will take place only on Friday and Saturday at Twitch.tv/PokkenTournament.

Each match will feature expert commentators, so you're sure to have a good time and learn a little, too. D'Ron “D1” Maingrette, Michael “H2” Graf, and Brendan “Burnside” Hansen will be on the mic for Pokkén Tournament DX, Aaron “Cybertron” Zheng, Ray Rizzo, Duy Ha, and Adam Dorricott for the Video Game Championships, and Kyle “Pooka” Sucevich, Kyle Sabelhaus, Ross Gilbert, and Ellis Longhurst for the Pokémon TCG.

The Pokémon TCG event will use the Standard format, which includes expansions from XY—BREAKthrough to Sun & Moon—Crimson Invasion. This format was also used at the Europe International Championships, so competitors have had a few months to learn from previous tournaments and tweak their decks. Zoroark-GX from the special Shining Legends expansion came out on top in Europe, paired with Golisopod-GX from Sun & Moon—Burning Shadows, and more recently, players have found success by matching it with Lycanroc-GX from Sun & Moon—Guardians Rising. Expect to see a variety of exciting decks throughout the weekend, including decks based around Gardevoir-GX, Buzzwole-GX with Lycanroc-GX, Volcanion-EX, and perhaps even Tapu Bulu­-GX. (Read more about Buzzwole­-GX.)

The Oceania International Championships will be the first to feature the Pokémon Ultra Sun and Pokémon Ultra Moon video games. The newly discovered Ultra Beasts Blacephalon, Naganadel, and Stakataka could be impactful additions to many teams, and Move Tutors in Alola can teach Pokémon tricky moves that few could previously learn, like Ally Switch. Many Legendary Pokémon available in Ultra Space will be permitted in this year's Video Game Championships, so expect to see Cresselia, Landorus (Therian Forme), and Zapdos play big roles in the tournament. Mega Evolution has also returned to the Video Game Championships. Be sure to tune in to see if Charizard can harness this power to win its first International Championships.

The Pokkén Tournament DX competition is sure to host some of the weekend's most thrilling battles. The Battle Pokémon Croagunk, Darkrai, Decidueye, Empoleon, and Scizor will be available for the first time in the Pokkén Tournament Championship Series, making this event particularly exciting and unpredictable. Watch to see if these new challengers can match established characters like Braixen, Chandelure, and Mewtwo. The stakes will be high: the Masters Division finalists and the Senior Division Champion will be the first players to earn invitations and Travel Awards to the 2018 Pokkén Tournament World Championships.

Tune in to Twitch.tv/Pokemon and Twitch.tv/PokemonTCG starting at 5:30 p.m. EST on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, February 8–10, to watch Pokémon TCG and Pokémon Ultra Sun and Pokémon Ultra Moon battles, and at 5:30 p.m. EST on Friday and Saturday to watch Pokkén Tournament DX at Twitch.tv/PokkenTournament.