A first look at Teal Mask DLC

Welcome back for the 50TH issue of The Victory Road. That’s right, there are fifty issue of your favorite Pokémon email running loose, and your boy Ace has no plans to slow down anytime soon.

So, from the dank, darkness of Victory Road BF 2, I’m raising a glass of Machoke sweat to you. Thanks for reading, Cooltrainers.

Here’s this week’s rundown (estimated read time, 5 minutes):

• A spoiler-free look at the Teal Mask DLC

• Grab your Gourgeist: Pokéween is upon us

• Pokémon GO events this week & next

The Teal Mask is here! (Spoiler free overview)

Just in time for mask season, the Teal Mask DLC dropped yesterday (technically on Tuesday if you were a lucky Pokémon player in the Western Hemisphere).

Part 1 of The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero features the quaint, agricultural land of Kitakami and a whole grundle of new Pokémon to catch. You can check out the full Kitakami Dex here, from Pokéos.

A quick note on two changes to returning Pokémon: the Piplup line no longer has the hidden ability Defiant (Boosts the Pokémon’s Attack stat sharply when its stats are lowered) and now has Competitive (Boosts the Sp. Attack stat sharply when a stat is lowered).

Also, Shiftry no longer has Early Bird (The Pokémon awakens from sleep twice as fast as other Pokémon) and instead has a new ability called Wind Rider (Boosts the Pokémon's Attack stat if Tailwind takes effect or if the Pokémon is hit by a wind move. The Pokémon also takes no damage from wind moves.)

Cooltrainer Ace’s first impressions

I've spent my first few hours of the DLC exploring and working on the Pokédex, so I don’t have much to say about the storyline. According to Austin John Plays, it’s about 6 hours of content, if you aren’t hurrying through. In order to get one of the unique encounters (UBM), you need to catch at least 150/200 Pokémon in the Kitakami Dex, which is what I’ve decided to work on first.

Overall, I’m enjoying the DLC and anything negative I have to say at this point are minor gripes.

The first thing I did was to take a quick spin around the map. Your ride Pokémon doesn’t unlock until about 15 minutes into the, so be sure to at least go that far in the story before you strike out on your own.

My first impression of the map was that it’s pretty square/ similar in layout to Paldea. You’ve got a central mountain or volcano, and a variety of habitats framing it. Knowing that Indigo Disk will be divided into quadrants, I was hoping for a change in the geography, similar to what we got with Crown Tundra or Isle of Armor in Sword and Shield.

A personal negative for me is the amount of Gen 4 Pokémon that made a return in both Scarlet and Violet and the DLC. I’m not big on the Kricketot or Starly lines, for example. I do appreciate the return of some of Gen 2 originals, like Hoothoot and Sentret.

Based on gameplay shared by streamers, there seems to be an increase in shiny encounters, I haven’t experienced this personally so its all anecdotal. Let me know if you notice the same.

Level scaling is in place, ranging from about level 10 up to the 60-85 range if you’ve completed the main Scarlet/Violet story. I went in with a new team ranging from 60-75 and actually lost a couple of battles against the Ogre Clan trainers across the map.

Quality of life improvements include being able to filer learnable moves at the TM stations and Mochi, EV enhancing items you earn in the Ogre Oustin mini game. This include a Fresh Start Mochi will allows you to reset a Pokemon’s EVs to build it back into statistical perfection.

Overall, I’m taking the content nice and slow, especially since we don’t have a release date for Indigo Disk yet! I'm excited that both parts of the DLC appear to have an overarching story

How about you? If you’re playing the Teal Mask, what are your thoughts?

Pokémon Celebrates the Halloween Season

THIS IS POKÉWEEN, THIS IS POKÉWEEN

Pokémon is getting in the spooky spirit again with the return of last year’s popular Trick or Trade BOOster Bundle. These mini booster packs contain 3 cards each and feature a special Pikachu pumpkin stamp in the bottom right corner of the illustration. The set contains a variety of Halloween-themed Pokémon, like Ghost and Dark-types, Zubat, and Spectrier. Every booster pack comes with one holo.

Here’s a fun fact for your next Pokémon Trivia night: Because we’re in between the Sword & Shield era (cards with the original yellow border) and Scarlet & Violet era (cards with the new gray border), the BOOster Bundle contains cards with both borders.

In addition the the Trick or Trade BOOster Bundle, a number of Halloween-themed decorations, costumes, apparel and more are available at the Pokémon Center store.

Check out all of this year’s Halloween Pokémon shenanigans at Pokemon.com/Pokeween.

The Psychic Spectacular returns to Pokémon GO

Note: Don’t forget about Ultra Unlock: Paldea (more info here) running until tomorrow, September 15 at 8 p.m. local time. Be sure to stock up on Paldean Pokémon like Nymble, Pawmi, Bombirdier, and Frigibax (if you’ve found one).

Coming next week, (Wednesday, September 20, at 10:00 a.m. to Sunday, September 24, at 8:00 p.m. local time), the Psychic Spectacular returns. Here’s everything you need to know!

• Shiny Solosis available or the first time.

• Event bonus: Increased XP for catching Pokémon with Curveballs.

• 7 km Eggs: Smoochum, Wynaut, Chingling, Solosis (has higher shiny odds than wild Solosis).

• Three-Star Raids: Alolan Raichu, Galarian Mr. Mime, Hisuian Braviary.

• Five-Star Raids: Brun Drive Genesect (until Sept. 23), Raikou, Entei, Suicune.

• Mega Raids: Mega Gardevoir.

• Field Research Encounters: Kadabra, Galarian Slowpoke, Wobbuffet, Metang, Solosis, Inkay.

Card of the Week

This Aegislash illustration rare is from the upcoming Japanese set, Raging Surf. If you’re like me and got major Legend of Zelda vibes when you saw it, there’s a reason. The illustrator, Takumi Wada is the talented artist behind the Skyward Sword and Breath of the Wild artwork!

Random encounters around the internet

• The latest Detective Pikachu trailer dropped in today’s Nintendo Direct.

• Pokémon (Van) Gogh: the crossover we never knew we needed.

• The 2023 McDonald’s Pokemon TCG promotion began September 12. Here’s an overview of the 15-card set from PokéBeach.

• Now that’s dedication: Shout out to streamer Reversal, who landed a Shiny Feebas after 1,383 days and 236,184 encounters. Freaking legend.

Obscure Pokémon Fact of the Day (from u/Mx_Toniy_4869)

Until next time,
Cooltrainer “Man in the Teal Mask” Ace