Big Changes for Pokémon Championship Series 2026 - What’s New?

In the 2025 Championship season, when the timer hit zero, Trainers had three additional turns to conclude their current game. If the game did not end with a winner, that game was declared a draw and the match was scored then and there. If a player had 1 win and the other had 0, the player with 1 win  would win the match. However, a score of 0-0 or 1-1 would lead to a tie.

The issue with this method was that under time pressure players would play quickly, however, once time was called, there was technically no time limit for the additional turns which resulted in long, drawn-out matches and more difficult round turnover. To amend this issue, there are two main changes to the end of round procedure.

1. Instead of +3 turns, players will have only one additional full turn. This means the active player, when time is called, will complete their turn, then the opponent will have their turn. Once that concludes, if there is no winner, that game is considered a draw.
2. This additional full turn will be covered by a 10 minute “overtime clock”. While it is unlikely that the full 10 minutes will be used, it is a precaution to prevent unnecessary long rounds.