Right before the Pokemon World Championships, Pokemon officially announced a change in their rules and it directly involves time within matches of the Pokemon TCG competition.

Play! Pokemon announces changes in time rules for Pokemon TCG

Before the North America International Championships, Play! Pokemon made its changes with the official rule book of the circuit. This includes the fact that players competing in the tournament will now be allowed to ask for the time which was actually not encouraged to be shared by marshals and judges that are officiating the match. This was only allowed when the general public was allowed to know the time so to make the most count for competitors, they would wear their own watches and time themselves throughout their matches.

This would seem peculiar but they had their reasons for why this wasn't really encouraged prior. Some Trainers would deliberately delay, stall, or slow play the games by making unnecessary moves. A good example would be in best-of-three matches where when a player wins round 1, they will take their time and purposely delay the game to get a tie which would make them get a W in the match overall. While these moves may be legal in terms of the rule book, this somewhat throws off other competitors and makes them lose their cool. With these changes, this makes the competition more competitive and balanced in nature but some see this as a nerf while others actually take this as a buff.

As shared by PokeStats over on Twitter, The Play! Pokemon Tournament Rules Handbook shared that “Time remaining in the round is now public knowledge and can be requested from a judge.” and that “Match Loss is now a possible penalty, and is recommended for Major Unsporting Conduct infractions.”

The North America International Championships will take place this Friday, June 30, 2023. Top Trainers from around the world will gather in Columbus, Ohio in a last-ditch effort to make it to the Pokemon World Championships this August 2023. Who will you guys be rooting for?

If you're keen on following more news about the Pokemon World Championships and how this Pokemon TCG changes the complexion of the Pokemon TCG scene via Time Rules, make sure to visit ClutchPoints Gaming for more on the latest news, updates, and events on anything and everything Pokemon!