The 2026 North America International Championships run June 12–14 in New Orleans — the first major international event played exclusively on Pokemon Champions, the competitive platform that replaced Scarlet & Violet for official play in April. The current format, Regulation M-A, stays active until June 17, so this is the last week to prep before the ruleset turns over. If you're trying to understand what the field looks like right now, or you're building a team for ladder practice, this breakdown is based on 90,604 competitive battles logged between May 17–31, 2026.

Image: Nintendo / The Pokemon Company

What Regulation M-A Allows

Regulation M-A is the current ruleset for Pokemon Champions. The key defining feature is that restricted Legendary Pokemon are banned from team slots, but Mega Evolution is fully legal. That single rule shapes the entire meta — Mega Charizard Y is dominant in a way it never was in standard formats, and the absence of powerhouses like Calyrex or Miraidon means the format rewards team synergy over raw individual strength.

Team composition is 6 Pokemon, bring 4 to battle. Open team lists are used in Premier Events, so your entire 6 is visible to your opponent before the match starts — which puts a premium on teams that can win from multiple lead combinations, not just a single game plan.

The Dominant Archetype: What's Actually Winning

The most successful core in Regulation M-A, appearing on thousands of high-rated teams, is a six-piece built around Basculegion, Mega Charizard Y, Garchomp, Kingambit, Whimsicott, and Glimmora. Variants of this core — swapping one slot for Aerodactyl, Sylveon, or Floette-Eternal — make up the majority of top-rated teams in the data. The 6-piece version posts a 56.51% win rate at an average rating of 1,463.

Here is what each slot is doing:

Basculegion (33.42% usage, 52.91% win rate)

The format's most-used Pokemon by a clear margin. Basculegion's Swift Swim under Drizzle or its sheer offensive power with Wave Crash makes it a consistent threat. It benefits directly from Whimsicott's Tailwind support, turning an already fast Pokemon into something that can clean through weakened teams in the late game. Most builds run Adamant or Jolly with max Attack investment. The Male form (with Swift Swim) is the more common pick on rain variants.

Mega Charizard Y (21.18% usage, 52.59% win rate)

The top win-rate Pokemon among A-tiers. Drought on Mega Evolution lets Charizard fire off solar-boosted Fire Blasts without needing Torkoal as a setter, and it hits hard enough under sun to OHKO a wide range of targets. The coverage move of choice is typically Air Slash or Ancient Power depending on the team. Charizard handles the Glimmora mirror — Mortal Spin clears hazards — and is one of the few Pokemon in the format that puts raw pressure on Whimsicott without needing setup.

Garchomp (30.23% usage, 51.37% win rate)

Garchomp does the physical work that Charizard can't. Rough Skin punishes contact moves, Dragon/Ground coverage is nearly unresisted in the current meta, and it fits into both offensive and more defensive builds. Most competitive builds run Jolly with enough Speed to outpace Sneasler after Tailwind, using Rock Slide to spread flinch damage and Earthquake to punish grounded targets. The Tera type varies, but Ground and Steel are the most common to dodge incoming super-effective hits.

Kingambit (30.11% usage, 51.70% win rate)

Kingambit is the format's premier late-game cleaner. Supreme Overlord rewards you for playing through your team correctly — the more fainted allies, the higher the Attack boost. Most builds lean on Sucker Punch for priority, Kowtow Cleave for reliable STAB, and Iron Head for Fairy coverage. It struggles with faster physical attackers and anything that resists both Dark and Steel, which is why it's rarely a lead but thrives in the back four.

Whimsicott (20.02% usage, 51.14% win rate)

The format's primary speed control. Prankster gives Tailwind priority, meaning Whimsicott can set up speed doubling before any opponent moves regardless of Speed stat. It also runs Moonblast for chip damage on Dragons, and often carries Helping Hand or Encore to disrupt the opposing team's setup. Sash is the standard item. Some builds run Fairy Tera to dodge Poison-type revenge kills.

Glimmora (11.41% usage, 51.73% win rate)

Glimmora's Toxic Debris ability sets Toxic Spikes on contact, which punishes physical attackers and puts gradual pressure on anything that isn't grounded or Poison/Steel type. Mortal Spin clears your own hazards. It works as an opener to soften the field, with most builds running Timid and enough Speed to outpace the middle of the tier list. Power Gem and Earth Power provide two-way offensive coverage that threatens most of the meta.

Second-Tier Picks Worth Considering

Outside the dominant core, a few Pokemon are seeing legitimate tournament success. Aerodactyl (16.33% usage, 50.22% win rate) shows up in a strong variant that replaces Glimmora in the six-piece — it provides Rock Slide spread damage and Tailwind of its own, giving teams redundant speed control. Sylveon (13.68%, 51.72%) fills a support role with Hyper Voice spread and Misty Terrain to block status, and its Pixilate ability makes Normal-type moves hit as Fairy for better coverage. Farigiraf (20.08%, 50.14%) provides Armor Tail to block priority moves, which counters both Kingambit's Sucker Punch and Whimsicott's Prankster, and its slow Trick Room potential gives an alternate win condition.

Sneasler (25.38% usage at 49.78% win rate) is high-usage but underperforming — it sits in C-tier on win rate despite being the most-talked-about Pokemon in the format. Electric Seed Unburden Sneasler is a threat at peak speed, but it's over-represented relative to its actual results, which means running a team that specifically prepares for it offers an edge.

The Build Problem: Why This Team Takes Forever to Assemble

Building this team in Scarlet & Violet the natural way is a multi-week project. Breeding Basculegion requires chaining Basculin for IVs and specific egg moves. Kingambit needs 3 Bisharp fainted before evolving, plus RNG on Ability patches if you want Supreme Overlord locked in on a bred line. Each Pokemon wants a specific nature, specific IV spread, and EV trained from scratch. For six Pokemon that all need optimal spreads, you're looking at 30–60+ hours of in-game grinding before you've even practiced a single match.

That grind doesn't make you a better player. It just costs time you could spend on actual team development and matchup practice.

Getting Your Team Ready Without the Grind

Genning gets you a functionally complete team in an afternoon. You specify the nature, moveset, held item, ability, Tera type, and EV spread for each Pokemon, receive them via Link Trade, and you're practicing the actual game — reading leads, making positioning decisions, learning the Charizard/Basculegion timing windows — instead of chain-breeding Jolly Garchomp with the right IV spread.

The PokéCreator lets you configure any of these builds exactly to spec. If you're unsure where to start, the Pokédex covers every Pokemon in the current format so you can browse the six you want to test first. Once your sets are configured, you receive the team through a standard Link Trade via the Trade Hub — no hacks, no modified save files, just a Pokemon with the right stats.

Genned Pokemon that pass legality checks behave identically to naturally obtained Pokemon in battle and in Pokemon HOME, which is what you need for the Champions transfer pipeline. For a thorough breakdown of what "legality" means and where the actual risk boundaries are, see our safety guide. The short version: a correctly generated Pokemon that could plausibly be obtained in the game passes every check the game and Pokemon HOME run.

If you're building toward NAIC or just want to experience the Regulation M-A format before it rotates on June 17, the window is narrow. The meta is well-understood at this point, the top archetypes are documented, and the matchup knowledge for this format is transferable to whatever the next regulation brings.

Frequently asked questions

What is Regulation M-A in Pokemon Champions?

Regulation M-A is the current competitive ruleset for Pokemon Champions that bans restricted Legendary Pokemon while allowing Mega Evolution. It is being used for all Premier Events including the 2026 NAIC (June 12–14) and runs until June 17, 2026, when it rotates to the next regulation set.

Is Basculegion really the best Pokemon in Regulation M-A right now?

By usage and win rate, yes — Basculegion leads both categories among A-tier Pokemon with 33.42% usage and a 52.91% win rate across 90,604 analyzed battles from May 17–31, 2026. It pairs particularly well with Whimsicott's Tailwind support and Mega Charizard Y's sun, giving it multiple viable team archetypes.

Can I use a genned Pokemon in Pokemon Champions?

Pokemon Champions accepts Pokemon transferred from Pokemon HOME, which accepts Pokemon from Scarlet & Violet. Genned Pokemon that pass legality checks move through this pipeline without issue — they are indistinguishable from naturally obtained Pokemon at the game-data level. Pokemon Champions itself does not run additional origin checks beyond what HOME already validates.

Why is Sneasler's win rate lower than its usage suggests?

Sneasler is over-represented on the ladder — 25.38% usage but only a 49.78% win rate, placing it in C-tier. It attracts new or experimental players running Electric Seed Unburden sets, which inflates usage without matching the win consistency of more established cores. At high-rated play, it requires very specific support to function reliably, so the broad usage base drags its overall win percentage down.

What happens to this team after Regulation M-A ends June 17?

The format rotates, but the core Pokemon — Garchomp, Kingambit, Basculegion — have shown up in multiple regulation sets and are likely to remain viable. Mega Charizard Y's viability is directly tied to the Mega Evolution rule, so it may drop if the next regulation restricts Megas. Building these Pokemon now still gives you foundational competitive pieces that carry forward.