In the midst of all the criticism directed towards Pokémon Go’s pay-to-play content, the community is torn over leaks suggesting pay-to-play ticketed Shadow Raids could be coming soon.
In other news, Glimmora has risen up the ranks in the Pokémon Scarlet and Violet VGC to the point where its dominance was one of the biggest surprises at the Vancouver Regionals.
Meanwhile, The Pokémon Company appears to be looking into the prospect of creating NFTs under the brand, and as expected, long-term fans of the franchise aren’t thrilled.
Shadow Raids could be coming soon in Pokémon Go, but they won’t be free
PokéMiners have been on the ball with discovering traces of new Pokémon Go content throughout the years, and they claim they’ve found evidence that a new type of raids called Shadow Raids, which, as the name suggests, revolve around Shadow Pokémon, could be coming soon.
Unsurprisingly, however, they believe these will be ticketed events, meaning players will need to pay a fee to participate in them, which is a shame since they will allow players to catch Shadow Pokémon more frequently and earn additional XP for their efforts in the process.
Because of that, and the fact pay-to-play content releases have been more frequent in recent years, the community is torn. The raids and all their perks sound appealing to some, while others fear it could require specific tickets, making them an expensive investment.
Glimmora is meta now, apparently
VGC fans expected to see Paradox Pokémon like Flutter Mane, Iron Hands, Iron Bundle, and Great Tusk, as well as regulars like Dragonite, Arcanine, and Paladin, dominate the meta at the Vancouver Regionals.
For the most part, they were on the ball. There was, however, an unexpected Pokémon that wound up being more impactful than them all—Glimmora, who featured in two top teams despite being relatively unused prior to the tournament.
On paper, it does tick all the right boxes. Its ability, Toxic Debris, which sets up Toxic Spikes whenever it gets hit by a physical move, looked incredibly effective in the current meta. That’s because it causes enemy Pokémon switched into the battle to be poisoned immediately. Glimmora also has a lot of Special Attack, allowing it to deal a ton of damage with the right moves.
Given how effective it looked at the Vancouver Regionals, there’s a good chance we’ll see it pop up again at the Charlotte Regionals and potentially after depending on how the meta changes.
Pokémon NFTs? No thanks, say fans
The Pokémon Company posted a job listing suggesting they’re looking for staff to help them create non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in the near future, and fans have reservations about it.
NFTs are controversial for several reasons, including how easy it can be to circumvent copyright, the fact their value is dependent on an unregulated and speculative market, and they’ve been used in pyramid-scheme-like ways.
It’s hard to imagine The Pokémon Company will use them maliciously. Still, in the eyes of some fans, it means there could be “dark times ahead,” that could turn themselves and others away.
