I’ve been paying Pokémon champions for a few days and here are 5 things that I learned while playing:

1. Do the tutorials (seriously, they hand out free stuff)
Yeah, I know tutorials are usually a snooze, but Pokemon Champions actually rewards you for sitting through them. We’re talking VP, Quick Coupons, Training Tickets, and even free Mega Stones for heavy hitters like Garchomp, Beedrill, Gyarados, Steelix, Heracross, Aggron, Manectric, and Abomasnow. One tutorial basically just throws them at you. Also, quick breakdown on currencies since the game doesn’t explain it well: VP is your main grind currency (about 300 per win, Mega Stones cost ~2,000), Quick Coupons let you recruit mons (7-day free trial or permanent with VP/Teammate Ticket), and Training Tickets let you fully retrain a Pokemon for free. Best move? Transfer fully evolved Pokemon from Pokemon Home if you’ve got them – skips the whole recruitment circus.

2. The Battle Pass is mostly a trap
I bought it so you don’t have to. The exclusives are almost all just clothing, and everything actually useful (Mega Stones, Pokemon) you can earn by just playing. It’s $10 per season, and unless you really want your trainer to look like a walking billboard, save your money. The $50/year membership? Increases box storage to over 1,000 slots, which is overkill for beginners. Stick with free mode – Champions’ monetization isn’t aggressive yet, and that’s a good thing.

3. EVs and IVs are dead – welcome to the 66-point system
No more grinding wild Pokemon for EVs. Now each Pokemon gets 66 stat points to distribute however you want. For example, an old-school Charizard would run 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe. Now? 32 SpA / 2 SpD / 32 Spe gives the exact same boost. Most Pokemon just max two stats at 32 each and toss the last 2 points somewhere else (like Garchomp with 32 Atk / 32 Spe / 2 Def). You can tweak everything from the Train menu – no more punching helpless Bunnelbys for hours. Start with single battles (less chaos), and keep a browser tab open for Bulbapedia or Serebii because knowing Speed stats is everything. Speaking of which, fast mons like Mega Alakazam, Mega Aerodactyl, Dragapult, and Mega Greninja will ruin your day if you’re not ready.

4. Use the GTS to cheat the system
Twitter’s been melting down over Mega Floette – it’s one of the best Pokemon in the format, but the only “legit” way to get it is as a post-game reward in Pokemon Legends: Z-A (which takes forever). Here’s the workaround: Pokemon Home’s GTS. Put up a spare Shiny or a standard Legendary, ask specifically for Eternal Flower Floette (not a normal Floette), wait a bit, and boom. Transfer it to Champions and grab its Mega Stone. The community’s salty, but you’re not here to make friends – you’re here to win.

5. Don’t bother training in other games after transferring
I had the bright idea to bring a mon into Champions, see the VP cost, and send it back to Scarlet/Violet to train cheaper. Doesn’t work. Champions takes a “snapshot” of your Pokemon the moment it enters the game, and from then on, any training you do elsewhere is ignored. If you want to tweak a Pokemon, do it before you ever transfer it over. It’s a weird, slightly annoying system, but now you know.

That’s what I’ve learned so far. If you’ve got your own tips, drop ’em below – I’m still getting my sandwich handed to me in ranked.