For everyone who was questioning whether or not Pokémon from Pokémon Home were going to competitive legal right away, Play Pokémon has finally given a definitive answer. And that answer is that everyone will have to wait just a little bit longer.
None of the regional variants or new Pokémon will be legal to use in official competitions until March 1, which is when Series 3 of the online season begins and new rules will be introduced for the Pokémon from Home.
This means no one can use their Alolan Pokémon or any of the returning regional forms on competitive teams yet. That also extends to the returning starter Pokémon as well, so no Bulbasaur, Squirtle, or Gen 7 starters will be usable until March 1 competitively.
Here are all of the forms and Pokémon you will be unable to use until Series Three starts, not including Legendary and Mythical Pokémon because it is unknown which of them will be tournament legal at the moment.
- Bulbasaur
- Ivysaur
- Venusaur
- Squirtle
- Wartortle
- Blastoise
- Rowlett
- Dartrix
- Decidueye
- Litten
- Torracat
- Incineroar
- Popplio
- Brionne
- Primarina
- Alolan Raichu
- Alolan Vulpix
- Alolan Ninetails
- Alolan Diglett
- Alolan Dugtrio
- Alolan Meowth
- Alolan Persian
- Kantonian Ponyta
- Kantonian Rapidash
- Kantonian Farfetch’d
- Kantonian Weezing
- Johtonian Corsola
- Hoenian Zigzagoon
- Hoenian Linoone
- Unovian Darumaka
- Unovian Darmanitan
- Unovian Stunfisk
This is not the full list of every Pokémon that you can transfer over from Home right now, but it is all of the ones that Play Pokémon specifically mentioned in its post. The competitive team did clarify yesterday that all of the hidden abilities and transferable moves from Home are legal as long as you can breed them onto a new version of the Pokémon that will have the Galar symbol.
Related: Play Pokémon confirms hidden abilities and moves from Pokémon HOME are tournament legal
The reason behind this is that when you compete in online competitions or official events, the game checks each Pokémon in your party for what is called a “Galar symbol.” This is just a small mark that appears in your Pokémon’s summary that shows it was obtained in Galar, which will be how the game differentiates between the incoming wave of Pokémon and the ones that are already present in the current games.
This is a bit of a mixed bag in terms of news, mainly because Pokémon like Incineroar are going to become legal in competition again because of this rule. If Play Pokémon is going to use this as a baseline, Pokémon being added in the Expansion Pass could very well become legal for competitive play sooner than many thought.
Play Pokémon also points out that this will apply to new Gigantimax forms too, which is likely referring to the unreleased Gigantimax Venusaur, Blastoise, and Melmetal that we know exist in the game already.
Series Three of the Pokémon Sword and Shield competitive season is going to be a wild ride once all of the new Pokémon are factored in.
