The GO Battle League is a new feature in Pokémon GO that lets Trainers battle head-to-head to see how they match up with other Trainers around the globe, earning rewards as they battle. Each GO Battle League season will rotate between three leagues. At the end of each GO Battle League season, Trainers will receive rewards depending on how well they finished.

The first GO Battle League period will be a preseason: a period before a season of competitive play begins, where players can practice strategies and techniques and the Pokémon GO developers can optimize and balance the game. To maintain stability, the GO Battle League will gradually become available to Trainers based on Trainer level as the preseason rolls on. The preseason will begin with the Great League, then move on to the Ultra League, and then the Master League, with leagues rotating every two weeks. To participate in the preseason and in future GO Battle League seasons, you’ll need to walk five kilometers to unlock five online matches, which you can do up to three times each day. You can also use the Battle Now feature to spend PokéCoins to skip up to three of the five kilometers; the amount of PokéCoins required goes down the closer you get to the five-kilometer goal.

Although any ranking achieved during the preseason will only partially carry over to Season 1, you can still earn rewards for battling and winning. As you battle, you can be rewarded with a large amount of Stardust depending on how you do in a set of five matches, and you can also earn battle-related items (like Rare Candies and TMs) and exclusive Pokémon encounters. During the preseason, you can also look forward to other exclusive rewards, such as Pikachu Libre avatar items!

Get more details on the GO Battle League and its rewards at www.pokemongolive.com.

Good luck to all the Trainers competing in the preseason of the GO Battle League. Be sure to practice your battle strategies for when GO Battle League Season 1 begins later this year.