Product Legality and Competitive Ruleset Support in Pokémon TCG Live
Hello everyone,
We’re aware that the announcement of changes to the availability and physical legality of cards from the Mega Evolution—Ascended Heroes expansion has raised questions, and we wanted to take this opportunity to provide more information about Pokémon TCG Live’s role as a game, as well as how we plan to support competitive players going forward.
Pokémon TCG Live is designed to provide an environment within which players can enjoy access to newly released cards as they become available, as well as a space for those competing in Play! Pokémon events to immediately start preparing for future competitive play. Due to official rules on product legality, this does mean that Ranked gameplay in Pokémon TCG Live will not always reflect the current ruleset present at Regional and International Championship Series events, and these differences are compounded when emergent product legality changes are made.
We hear loud and clear from the community that the game is playing an increasingly important role when it comes to preparation for competitive play. We are actively taking steps towards piloting ways that will allow us to better support competitive players in times when the tournament ruleset differs from the Pokémon TCG Live environment, in order to provide a safe training space for in-person events in real time without compromising Pokémon TCG Live's core mission of ensuring the latest TCG content remains accessible and playable for all.
The first step in doing so is the use of Trainer Trials to temporarily simulate different tournament rulesets. However, implementation of changes takes some time, and additional engineering work is necessary for us to do so safely. We are looking to first pilot this through a pre-Rotation Trainer Trial in March, with additional pilot tests to follow. Players can expect an update with more information as we get closer to the 2026 Standard format rotation.
We appreciate your patience and understanding as work towards making changes continues, and we look forward to hearing your feedback on these pilot tests to help inform whether they are a viable path forward for tournament preparation.
Thank you,
The Pokémon TCG Live Development Team