Oct 1, 2019: The Arena Is Now Open for Battle! Calling all 2019-2020 Season Competitors!

Get ready to show the world what you’re made of, because today the 2019-2020 competitive PvP Season begins! The Silph Arena is now open for battle.

Over the next 11 months, competitors will climb the local, national, and global PvP leaderboards to earn a coveted spot at Regional Invitationals, Continental Championships, and finally the prestigious World Championship! All competitors begin today with a blank Season record, so there’s never been a better time to join the rapidly-growing PvP community and enter the Arena!

New to competitive PvP? Start here to learn more, then head to the tournament map to find a tournament near you, and finally …start preparing your team for your first battle!

What’s New in the 2019-2020 Season?

Almost every piece of the Silph Arena is undergoing upgrades this Season – from expanding our team and enhancing the rank algorithm to upgrading the gear store and making the silph.gg interface easier for organizers. The Arena development team has been working round the clock to add a ton of new upgrades, including:

National Leaderboards! New this Season, countries can unlock a National Leaderboard once they field 24 ranked competitors! View yours in the site navigation after logging in Arena Guide Series: Top-notch starting point to help beginners and veterans alike. (more info below!) Open Ultra & Master League: Joining Great League, open Ultra + Master League battles can now be ranked! New Matchup Reporting: Report all 3 battles with every opponent “Undo” Tournament Start Button: For when a competitor forgets to check in “Start Round” Buttons: For organizers and staff to have more control over live events “Undo” Remove Competitor: To restore an inadvertently removed competitor Tiebreaker: New optional secondary tiebreaker: Battles Won Auto-Scroll: Brackets auto-scroll to the current round And countless other patches, improvements, and upgrades!

There’s a whole lot more to look for in coming days and weeks! Including:

Arena-Style Travelers Cards! Soon you can show off your stats in style on an upgraded sil.ph/<username> profile! Fresh Cup Metas: Some brand new challenges are heading your way New Avatars: Time to look the part – new competitor avatars are in the works Tournament Logs: Action logs for ranked tournaments Meta Stats: A deeper and more dynamic look at the meta you’re up against each month World Championships Event: In addition to the Continentals hosted last Season, the Arena is aiming to host a single World Championships event at the finale of the 2019-2020 Season. More on this soon!

All Are Welcome!

The first Cup of the Season – the Sinister Cup! – is already on track to be the largest in Competitive Pokémon Go PVP history! First-time battlers are always welcome – come join the growing competitive PvP scene and show us what you’re made of! First-time community leaders are also welcome to help provide accredited, ranked tournament play for their community members through the simple silph.gg tools – join the Arena Discord for help getting started! We’ll see you out there!

Don’t Just Play – Play Smart!

Just in time for the new season, we’d like to announce our work-in-progress series of How-To guides for new trainers: PVP Essentials. This series is designed to help trainers new to the Arena get all the information they need to compete with the best!

The first three articles’ initial versions are available now – share them with beginners looking to get up to speed in competitive PvP!

The Essentials of Competitive PVP – Starting from the ground floor, this installment will help you get your bearings, understand how battles and tournaments work, and provide a starting point for beginning to master PvP. PvP Team-Building Essentials – Bringing a strong, well-rounded team to your tournament requires knowing the elements of good team-building! This installment will explain everything you need to know about what makes a Pokémon a prime pick for your roster. Good PvP Investments Essentials – Now that you know what makes a good team, Good Investments will help you find powerful Pokémon that won’t cost you your last speck of Stardust!

These guides will continue to evolve and improve with community feedback, and more articles will be coming soon covering advanced topics and strategies top-tier players use to sweep their tournaments!

¿Hablas Español?

¡Nosotros también! Follow our brand new Spanish social media accounts for Arena content all season long:

Take Home a Memento of Battle

Official Sinister Cup pins are now available for individual retail orders in the Arena Gear Shop until the end of the Sinister Cup! Once they’re gone, they won’t be available again until the end of the season!



We’ve nearly finished migrating our gear operation to our new fulfillment center, which will enable future orders to receive automatic tracking and shipping updates straight to your phone or email. Keep your eyes on the shop, wholesale pre-orders for future Cups will be released roughly 4 weeks before each Cup opens!

See You In The Arena!

The Arena team is excited to embark on this competitive challenge spanning many continents, languages, and cultures to discover who really deserves to be called the best there ever was.