What is Pokémon Champions and How to Start from Scratch

Se you've made it this far, you've probably heard of Pokémon Champions and feel the urge to play competitively — but also have that question: where do I start? This guide is your starting point. No jargon, no rush: we'll go from "what is this?" to building your first team with confidence.

What is Pokémon Champions

Pokémon Champions is the competitive battle-focused Pokémon experience: instead of exploring a world, you build teams, adjust attributes, and face other trainers in quick and strategic matches. It's where the franchise takes the "choose the right six and win with talent" concept seriously.

What matters to you now is what you can already master: how battles work and how to build a good team. That's where the newbie.guru comes in.

How a Battle Works

Three things define the competitive aspect of Champions — keep these in mind:

Your team always has 6 Pokémon. You build six, but you don't use all of them at once.
The battle is 4v4. Before starting, there's the Team Preview: you see the opponent's 6 Pokémon and they see yours. Then, each player chooses 4 to bring in. This decision — which 4 to bring against the team you just saw — is already half the strategy.
There are two formats:
- Single — 1 active Pokémon from each side at a time.
- Double — 2 active Pokémon from each side at the same time (more combos, the classic tournament format).

Understanding this changes everything: you don't build "the 6 best," you build 6 that cover different scenarios to choose the right 4 in the Team Preview.

The Heart of Preparation: Stat Points (SP)

The biggest difference for those coming from older games. Champions uses a streamlined Stat Points (SP) system:

66 SP in total to distribute among attributes.
No more than 32 SP in a single attribute.
IVs are perfect — all Pokémon start even; the difference is how you invest the SP.

Forget large EV/IV spreadsheets. You decide a few things, but they weigh heavily.

The Gimmick: Omni Ring, Terastallization, and Mega

The signature mechanic of Champions is Terastallization, activated by the Omni Ring:

You can Terastallize once per battle — the timing matters a lot.
When you Terastallize, the Pokémon changes type (the Tera Type): gains a new STAB or removes a weakness at the right time.
And the powerful detail: for Pokémon with Mega forms, Terastallizing triggers the Mega Evolution. In Champions, Mega comes from Tera — it's not "one or the other".

The Current Regulation: Reg. M-B

The competitive scene runs on regulations (which Pokémon and forms are allowed). The current one is Regulation M-B. You don't need to memorize the list — check the Tier List of Reg. M-B to see who's currently popular.

Your First Steps

Understand the types. Knowing who's strong or weak against whom is the foundation. Open any Pokémon in the Pokédex — each page shows weaknesses, resistances, and immunities already calculated.
Choose a format. Start with Double for the tournament atmosphere or Single for something more straightforward.
Build a team of 6. It doesn't need to be perfect; it needs to cover types and roles.
Test before you get hit. See if your team hits hard and withstands in the damage calculator.
Adjust and repeat. Competitive is all about iteration.

The Number One Mistake of Beginners

Wanting to memorize "the best team" copied from the internet before understanding why it works. Start with the tools — types, SP, the Omni Ring — and the rest will follow.

Quick Summary

Team of 6, 4v4 battle, with Team Preview and choice of 4.
Single (1 active) or Double (2 active).
66 SP, maximum 32 per attribute, perfect IVs.
Terastallization 1×/battle (changes the type and triggers Mega).
Current regulation: Reg. M-B → check the tier list.

In the next guide, we'll dive into how to distribute your 66 Stat Points without error. Meanwhile, open the Pokédex and the calculator and have fun — the best way to learn competitive is by testing.