Pokémon Sword - Pokémon Shield (Isle of Armor, June 17, 2020) [NSW]

[Serra]

I'll confirm when I get home today, but I believe it is VS menu >> Check Status of an Online Competition (option 4?) >> 1st option.

[Serra]

It's VS menu -> Battle Stadium -> Online Competitions -> Search Official Competitions.

[detlef]

Where does it say how many matches you have to participate in?

[Serra]

I'll check if the in-game announcement says anything after work, but I haven't actually been able to find the English announcement of the IC online (I'm not sure if they have the same weight in the competitive circuit in the US). Here's the announcement from Serebii:

The next online competition has been fully announced. This competition, the 2022 International Challenge February is a Double Battle competition with standard VGC rules. All players who enter and participate in at least 3 battles will receive a Shiny Galarian Articuno.

There's a chance people are misinterpreting the original announcement since it announced all three birds/competitions, but if you're only playing for the Articuno, I'd recommend playing three games to be safe.

[Serra]

Apparently it's in the red box here:


Also, I've seen some people say that three battles was the requirement for the shiny Tapu distributions they did in the Sun/Moon days.

[detlef]

Thanks for checking, never had a reason to do the online battles.

[Serra]

With the end of support for 3DS purchases, Pokemon Bank is going free:

With the discontinuation of the Nintendo eShop service for the Nintendo 3DS family of systems, the Pokémon Bank service for Nintendo 3DS will become available at no cost to users. You will still be able to transfer the Pokémon you've deposited in Pokémon Bank to Pokémon HOME even after the paid service is discontinued, and you'll still be able to bring Pokémon into Pokémon Bank from compatible titles. However, you'll need to be enrolled in a paid Pokémon HOME Premium Plan to do so.

Not sure if this is an immediate change, or if this will only happen in March 2023.

[Serra]

Reminder: IC starts today, so get your three matches in this weekend if you registered and want a shiny Articuno.

[Serra]

Registration for the next IC for shiny Zapdos is up (runs for the next two weeks). And if you participated last weekend, you can claim the shiny Articuno.

[Serra]

Felt like an appropriate spot -- Pokemon Presents announced for Sunday the 27th at 9am EST.

No idea what it will entail yet.

[Serra]

Registration for the April IC (and shiny Galarian Moltres) is open for the next two weeks.

Matches run April 14th to 17th (15-17 officially, but because of timezones..).