The annual Pokemon World Championships are being held in Anaheim, CA this weekend, and for Pokemon fans, that means a chance to see the best strategies players can come up with. The top players in both the trading card game and the video game compete for over $500,000 in prizes, and some of the matches can get pretty intense.You can watch all the events now on Pokemon`s official World Championships livestream. While the competitive TCG follows most of the usual rules you might be familiar with if you`ve played recently--and the casters explain complex strategies and unique cards if you aren`t up to speed--the competitive video game involves rules and strategies you probably wouldn`t use (or even know about) while playing the games normally. This is what you need to know to watch the best Pokemon video game playing you`ll see all year.The BasicsThe official Pokemon video game championships are known as the VGC, and the 2017 series uses Pokemon Sun and Moon. The rules for this year include:Only Pokemon in the Alola Pokedex are allowedPokemon must have the Alola symbol showing they were caught in the Alola regionMythical and some Legendary Pokemon are not allowedNo Mega Stones are allowedAll other items are allowed, including Z-CrystalsDouble Battle format90-second team preview, 45-second turn limit, 10-minute `player time`All Pokemon are set to Lv. 50, including Pokemon below Lv. 50All competitive battles are double battles, meaning each player has two Pokemon out on the field at one time. Additionally, they`re required to register a `battle team` of four to six Pokemon at the beginning of any given VGC event and can`t change it, so they have to come prepared.Before every battle, each player is given a 90-second preview of their opponent`s battle team. Based on that preview, they then pick the four Pokemon from their team that they think will best counter their opponent`s Pokemon. If all your Pokemon faint, you lose. Ties at the end of the time limit are broken ba ...
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