The 2016 Pokémon World Championships will be hosted in San Francisco from August 19-21. The event will be closed to the general public since the response from invited players was so positive, but they will be shown live at  www.pokemon.com/live. Competitors from over 30 countries will be in attendance, and hundreds of players will be competing to become the Pokémon World Champion and for a piece of a combined prize pool of more than $500,000 in scholarships and travel awards.

Coverage schedule is as follows:

Twitch.tv/Pokemon – General Event Coverage

• Friday: 9 a.m. – 10 p.m.
• Saturday: 9 a.m. – 10 p.m.
• Sunday: 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. (Finals Coverage for Pokémon TCG and Video Game)

Twitch.tv/PokemonVGC – Pokémon Video Game Championships

• Friday: 9 a.m. – 10 p.m.
• Saturday: 9 a.m. – 10 p.m.

Twitch.tv/PokemonTCG – Pokémon TCG Championships

• Friday: 9 a.m. – 9 p.m.
• Saturday: 9 a.m. – 9 p.m.

Twitch.tv/Pokkentournament – Pokkén Tournament Championships

• Friday: 9 a.m.–5 p.m. (Last Chance Qualifiers coverage)
• Saturday: 9 a.m.–5 p.m.

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The next Pokémon TCG: Mythical Pokémon Collection box features Keldeo, the Colt Pokémon first introduced in Pokémon Black & White.

Just like other Mythical Pokémon Collection boxes, MSRP will be $12.99 and it will contain:

•  1 never-before-seen foil promo card featuring Keldeo
• 1 Keldeo collector’s pin
• 2 special Pokémon TCG: Generations booster packs to expand your collection
• 1 code card for the Pokémon Trading Card Game Online

You’ll be able to find it on store shelves on October 3rd.

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This weekend, July 1st – 3rd, the Pokémon U.S. National Championships will be held at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio. All players will be competing for great prizes and Championship points, required to earn an invitation to the Pokémon World Championships in San Francisco this August. The National Championships will feature the Pokémon TCG and Video Game,

Also, for the first time ever, a Pokkén Tournament will be held with both a Senior and Masters Division. The top two finishers in each division will earn a travel award and invitation to compete in the Pokkén Tournament event at the Pokémon World Championships in San Francisco in August. Note that these Pokkén events are not part of the National Championships.

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Pokémon’s 20th anniversary celebrations continue, now with the release of the Mythical Pokémon Collection: Manaphy box.

The box includes a special Manaphy promo card and a pin of the Mythical Pokémon. It’s a limited time collection, and  also contains two special Pokémon TCG: Generations booster packs.

If you saw my digital unboxing of the Darkrai box, you know what to expect from the Manaphy on.

I’m a big fan of the Mythical Pokémon Collections. It’s always nice to get promo cards and a pin for a good price. The extra Generations pack are a huge plus.

These are on store shelves now, and are priced at $15.

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Now with more POTATO QUALITY AUDIO!

Here’s a quick unboxing for you. The Darkrai Mythical Pokémon Collection contains an exclusive holofoil Darkrai card, a sweet Darkrai pin, and two Pokémon Generations booster packs. Fates Collide is the new set in Pokémon, and you can see me get tons of dupes with a few good cards tossed in.

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The latest Pokémon TCG expansion, Fates Collide, will be launching on May 2nd. The 120 card set will include 5 new Break cards, and 13 new EX Pokémon, 3 of which are Mega Evolutions. Among the new cads are Mega Alakazam-EX, Zygarde EX, Lugia BREAK, Mega Altaria-EX, and Umbreon-EX. There’s some card previews below.

The Break releases have been really solid so far, so I’ve got high expectations for Fates Collide.

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Captured from my Twitch channel, here’s an unboxing of the 2016 Spring Pokemon tins. The tins: Mewtwo EX, Shiny Gyrados EX, and Machamp EX, are available in stores now. Each one contains an EX card and 4 booster packs. I actually snagged some pretty good cards here!

EDIT: It seems the audio is off-sync with the YouTube video. I’m working on getting that fixed. You can still view the broadcast version here.

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Pokemon is turning 20 in February of this year. To celebrate, The Pokemon Company will be reprinting the original 60 cards from the Pokemon TCG. The pack will contain the original 60 cards, a commemorative coin, and a player’s manual.

Along with the release of the cards, the original Pokemon Gameboy games will be released on the Nintendo eShop for the 3DS/2DS.

[via toonzone]

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Pokémon TCG Online is getting a major update that will include more than just  every card from the new Pokémon TCG: XY—BREAKthrough expansion, including powerful new Pokémon BREAK cards. You’ll also see better in-game graphics, animations, new functionality, and hear new music.

All platforms will see this update, but we haven’t gotten a solid release date yet. Only that it’s coming soon.

You can download Pokemon TCG Online and play for free. I personally love playing this way, as my kids keep all the cards we get and I steal all the digital codes to pull those cards into the online system.

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Hitting shelves on November 4th, Pokémon TCG: XY BREAKthrough is a new 160 card set including: 8 new Pokémon-EX, 4 new Mega Evolution Pokémon, and 6 new Pokémon BREAK cards.

BREAK cards are a new evolution mechanic, allowing Pokémon to get a HP boosts and new actions/abilities, but still allowing them to keep their previous attacks. These new cards are landscape format with unique art and a foil treatment.

BREAKthrough will be available in 10 card booster packs, and 2 Theme Decks: Burning Spark and Night Striker. So far there’s no word of an Elite Trainer Box for the set.

I’m excited to test out the new mechanic, and a new layer of depth to a game my whole family enjoys.

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