Pokemon VGC Competitors Apparently Aren't Told in Advance About Scarlet and Violet Distributions

It seems competitive players don't know when their Pokemon are given out as Mystery Gifts.

By Marc Deschamps

Through Mystery Gift distributions, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet players have had the opportunity to obtain Pokemon based on those used by various players in the competitive community. We've seen this a lot lately, including a distribution of the Gyarados used by Melvin Keh, the 2023 Singapore National Champion. During a new episode of A Wild Podcast Has Appeared, ComicBook's official Pokemon podcast, we had a chance to speak with Keh, who goes by the name "Shaman" in the VGC community. In our interview, Shaman revealed that he became aware of his Gyarados distribution at "the same time as everyone!" 

As Shaman recounts, when he won the 2022 Nationals, The Pokemon Company asked him his favorite Pokemon from his team, which he believes he answered with Ice Rider Calyrex. Nothing was done with his selection, and Shaman assumed plans had simply fallen through. The following year, Shaman became the 2023 Singapore National Champion, which was an online event. He wasn't asked the question this time, and was quite surprised when the distribution was revealed in May 2024. 

"I wasn't informed at all. But still cool to have. If I could pick one Pokemon, it would like... not be the Gyarados," laughed Shaman. "It would be something else." 

Shaman's Gyarados is one of several VGC inspired distributions that have taken place in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet over the last few months. In May, the game featured a distribution centered around the Flutter Mane used by Shin Yeo-myeong, the 2023 Senior Division Pokemon Trainers Cup Champion. The following month, there was a Talonflame distribution based on the one used by 2023 Japan National Champion @UB_Slow, as well as a Porygon2 distribution based on the one used by Nils Dunlop, the winner of the European International Championships. 

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It's unclear if any of those other competitive Pokemon players were given advanced warning about their distributions. It's possible it would be too much work logistically trying to reach out, handle requests, and make sure that chosen Pokemon don't conflict with other planned distributions. However, a lot of these distributions tend to have short redemption windows, so it's possible some competitive players could find out after the promotions have already concluded! At the very least, it's interesting to get some background information about how these distributions are handled by Game Freak and The Pokemon Company. 

Readers interested in listening to ComicBook's full interview with Melvin "Shaman" Keh can find A Wild Podcast has Appeared on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Pandora. 

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