Looking at the Official Pokémon GO: Might and Mastery Webpage So You Don't Have to

As usual, you're welcome.

Ooh—that Gigantamax Machamp is big mad!

If you didn’t realize it, a new season of Pokémon GO is upon us.

Odds are that you didn’t know because you either stopped playing this game or never played it in the first place. Then again, you might’ve just been seeking more information about whether a new season had dropped, went to the official website, and the first thing you saw was—an animated GIF for Pokémon GO Tour, the event that has been over for about a week now? At least at this writing, that is my experience. Maybe Niantic is just waiting for the Tour Pass rewards redemption period to fully run its course. Or maybe they forgot to update the site. Or maybe they’re aware of the change, and they’re keeping the image there to remind themselves of how much money they made that weekend. Don’t pat yourself on the back too hard there, y’all.

Whatever the case, Pokémon GO: Dual Destiny has given way to Pokémon GO: Might and Mastery. That’s right, the letter D—step aside! It’s the letter M’s time to shine! What does this season have to offer? Let’s take a gander at the promotional material and find out!

What to Look Forward to This Season

As per the usual on The PoGO Journal, for this season’s synopsis, we’ll be combing through the game’s official webpage on the matter. The order in which these items are presented mirrors their placement on the site.

Meet the Wushu Pokémon, Kubfu!

Let me say, apropos of nothing: I love Kubfu’s energy. Apparently, this little bear has got so much ferocity in it that it goes around with a perpetual scowl on its face. Like, I’m not sure it’s even capable of smiling. Kubfu has zero chill—and I’m here for it.

Regarding its debut in Pokémon GO, Kubfu and its evolved form, Urshifu, are the lynchpin of Might and Mastery. Which is fair enough, I suppose. Kubfu is a Legendary Pokémon introduced in the main series games as part of the Isle of Armor DLC for Pokémon Sword and Shield, and all grown up, it looks pretty dope. That it’s being introduced in its Dynamax form is good—I suppose. In theory, this means that we won’t need to power up a separate Kubfu/Urshifu to use the Pokémon in its Dynamax form, as we’ve had to do with all of these Pokémon we’ve already encountered and caught in their normal versions—we’ve got a Dynamax-eligible variant from the jump.

Then again, this is Niantic we’re talking about here. At some point, I’m sure Urshifu, which can evolve into one of two forms—Single Strike Style or Rapid Strike Style—will be available in Dynamax battles or standard Raids. Already, there’s a paid option to encounter a second Dynamax Kubfu through a paid version of the free Special Research offered to all players. Oh, and it’s only available until March 10 at 8 PM local time. We’re touching your FOMO nerve, Trainers! Get excited!

Max Pokémon Debuts

Dynamax Raikou, Dynamax Entei, and Dynamax Suicune will be making their debuts this season. Also, Gigantamax Machamp (and others!) will join the fray. I could give two shits about Dynamax and Gigantamax Battles at this point, but maybe you’ll have use for this information.

Pokémon Debuts

With Urshifu being the focus of Might and Mastery, the Galar Region is in the spotlight. Featured on the website’s blurb under this heading are Nickit and its evolution, Thievul. I like Thievul’s design because its whiskers resemble a pointed mustache, and therefore it looks like some sort of fancy-pants fox. I say, Pikachu, old chap—what’s all this banging on about “might” and “mastery?” Dreadful business, if you ask me.

Those are the only Pokémon being teased right now, so we’ll have to wait to see who else might be introduced. Can your boy finally get a Yamper, though? Fingers crossed.

Seasonal Highlights

Community Days: We just had Shiny Fuecoco make its debut on March 8 as part of Community Day. W. March 22’s Community Day Classic features Totodile, whose final evolution, Feraligatr, is top meta for PvP. W. The season is starting strong—give Niantic their due. Also, remember this for when we get, like, Klink Community Day. They’re not all going to be bangers—just saying.

Power Up Ticket: From the webpage text: “Trainers will be able to purchase a Power Up Ticket during Might and Mastery. This ticket will help Trainers to get the most out of the Season by granting bonuses such as one additional Candy XL for completing Raid Battles and Max Battles!”

As a reminder, the Power Up Ticket and all purchases like it are paid solutions to a problem that Niantic created with its stupid broken Candies XL economy. They are cordially invited to take their Power Up Ticket and shove it up their ass.

Themed Stickers: We’ve got Beautifly! We’ve got Petilil! We’ve got Vileplume! We’ve got Ribombee! And they all look super cute! The Stickers never disappoint. At least we’ve got one thing we can count on, Trainers.

GO Battle League

As is evidently now tradition, following Seasonal Stickers on the seasonal announcement, it’s GO Battle League. I could outline the GBL season in greater detail for the one or two readers who care, but you know the drill by now if you play. Great League, Ultra League, Master League, rinse, repeat. Master Premier makes a cameo appearance, which is the only way I’ll ever get the Platinum badge for Master League, so I’ll take it. Great League Remix also sees a return, which is both exciting and annoying because it should always be on the schedule, Niantic—you don’t even have to think about it. To that effect, I don’t know why we don’t see an Ultra League Remix or Ultra Premier anymore. I feel like that might make UL that much more bearable.

Otherwise, Spring Cup makes sense to bring back for the season’s return (at least in my hemisphere). Willpower Cup and Retro Cup, meanwhile, seem like lazy inclusions because they were offered only a season or two or three ago. Also, the one new format, Scroll Cup, makes thematic sense in its relation to Urshifu and its possible types (Water, Fighting, and Dark), and it’s not even necessarily terribly imbalanced between those three, but there’s no real internal logic among the types. On PvPoke, the highest-ranked pure Dark-type Pokémon is Umbreon at #74. Last but not least, Catch Cup is back, for the love of Arceus. Might and Mastery? More like meh and meh.

PokéStop Showcases

Niantic would like to remind you that these exist. Please participate in them. Thank you for your time.

Seasonal Rotations

Encounter Pokémon by completing the Research Breakthrough!

Remember when we got Legendary Pokémon in these? I remember. 😔

Different Pokémon will appear in the wild!

Depending on your biome and your part of the world, your wild encounters will vary. City spawns skew vaguely Electric, and for you New Yorkers, as if you needed to witness more pigeons, expect to see Pidoves. Forest spawns will yield Bug-type and Grass-type Pokémon. Mountain spawns tend toward Ground-types and Poison-types—and Slakoth is there, too, for reasons. Beaches and Water get—I hope you’re sitting down for this—Water-type Pokémon. The Northern and Southern Hemispheres get slightly different encounters.

As with GBL, I could’ve covered this section in greater detail, but none of these spawns are particularly rare or exciting. Moving along.

The following Pokémon will hatch from Eggs this Season!

The main draws from the Egg hatch pools, in my humble opinion, are Galarian Corsola from 7 km Eggs and the 10-km Egg hatches for their rarity and/or utility (Carbink, Charcadet, Dreepy, Frigibax, Jangmo-o, Larvesta). Everything else is take-or-leave.

Seasonal Bonuses

We’ve got increased friendship bonus damage dealt by Pokémon in Raids, a guaranteed Candy XL when catching a five-star Raid Boss or when trading Pokémon (for Trainers Level 31 and above), and increased Stardust for the first catch of the day. I feel like the Candy XL bonuses should apply every season—not just every other season or every other, other season. In case I need to say it any more clearly, the Candy XL system can lick my Poké Balls.

This Season’s Web Store Deals

From the website: “The Pokémon GO Web Store will have new boxes during Might and Mastery! Be sure to check out the web store regularly. You never know what you may find!” Yeah—no.

---

Aww—he’s just a grumpy wittle bear!

Some final notes on Pokémon GO: Might and Mastery. From an execution standpoint, as usual and as with the Seasonal Stickers that get higher billing than GO Battle League, an entire mode of play and the sole reason to pay attention to Pokémon GO as an esport, the scene depicted on the loading screen looks good. What does seem notable is how barren that scene is when it comes to actual Pokémon. Front and center is Urshifu in both of its forms. A lone Talonflame patrols the skies above. And that’s it. Usually, these loading screens display a world teeming with life. Instead, it’s just our Wushu Pokémon and that g-d bird. If they had included Morpeko in there, too, I might’ve been forced to uninstall the app at first sight. That cursèd rodent belongs on a hamster wheel in the depths of Pokémon Hell.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with a sparse roster featured within the promotional art for the season of Might and Mastery. As the saying goes, it is what it is. Consequently, however, there’s not a lot to whet your appetite about what the next three months will have to offer in terms of events and potential new Pokémon releases. In addition, if the release of Kubfu and Urshifu are disappointing in any way, it threatens to cast a pall over the season as a whole. In the business (what business?), we say this situation is “highly leveraged.” Niantic is asking for a show of good faith with little indication of where Might and Mastery might go. When the company has done little to engender the public’s trust, on the other hand, that feels awfully risky.

As I discussed in a recent post, Hanke & Co.’s strategy appears to be of quantity over quality. They’re prepared to bludgeon customers with a glut of content, hoping users will be too distracted/busy to stop and think about whether they like what they’re getting. As such, there’s at least one event every weekend this season. It all could pay off beautifully. My sneaking suspicion, though, is that all these in-game promotions are of middling quality, whether because of an ongoing bereavement of creativity on Niantic’s part, their attention to other matters, or both. Pokémon GO: Might and Mastery might be fantastic. But it just as likely might suck. Be prepared to play through the pain, Trainers.