The 2020 International Challenge February is the next online competitive tournament for Pokémon Sword and Shield. It will feature full VGC rules in a Double Battle format while also providing potential Championship Points for players trying to make to Worlds.
This event will begin on Feb. 27 at 6pm CT and run until March 1 at 5:59pm CT. Since this tournament is going to be actively using the main competitive ruleset and providing CP to some of the competitors, however, there are some extra hoops you’ll need to jump through.
While the competition actually begins on Feb. 27, sign-ups start on Feb. 20 at 12am CT and will close right before the tournament kicks off. As long as you play one battle after entering the tournament, you’ll receive a Ball Guy T-shirt that you can wear in-game.
If you plan on trying to earn up to 50 CP toward qualifying for the Pokémon World Championship, you’ll need to link your Pokémon Trainer Club account to the Nintendo Account that you’ll be using for the event before registering for the tournament. This will let The Pokémon Company’s competitive circuit team track the placements and CP of every registered player more accurately.
If you don’t plan on competing for the CP, you don’t need to worry about linking your accounts, which you can do from the official Pokémon website. You can still play in the tournament and get your Ball Guy T-shirt without doing anything outside of registering for the tournament.
As always, only Pokémon caught in the Galar region will be eligible to compete, so make sure your team is legal before trying to enter one of your matches. This will also be the first event in which players can use Charizard with the ability Blaze and Gigantimax Factor, or with its Hidden Ability Solar Power.
You can find all of the rules for the 2020 International Challenge February and other VGC events on the official rules and resources page as you prepare to battle it out on Pokémon Day.
