Pokémon Masters EX rings in the new year with Gather Up! Dream Duo! story event, Seasonal Scouts, Log-in Bonuses, and more

A wealth of seasonal content is currently available in Pokémon Masters EX to welcome in the new year, including a new story event, Seasonal, Poké Fair, and Special Scouts, a selection of New Year's themed rallies, and more. As part of the tie-in to the event, the game's Pokémon Center lobby has received a makeover, with special decorations and background music filling the lobby until the end of January. The producers of Pokémon Masters EX have also revealed details on several upcoming events in their monthly message to players, along with information about future planned updates. The next letter is slated for late January and will include information about new Sync Pairs and events coming in February.

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New Year's Events and Activities
Story Event: Gather Up! Dream Duo!
This story event focuses on Lisia and Dawn, as they partner up with Kali for a special New Year Live concert. This event is available in-game now, and will run through to January 17th, at 9:59pm (PST).

All players will be able to team up with 3★ Kali (Furisode Girl) & Azumarill simply by completing this event. Kali (Furisode Girl) & Azumarill, a Gym Trainer in Laverre City and apprentice of Valerie, makes their Pokémon Masters EX debut as part of this event, and has an expanded sync grid. Players will also be able to exchange the New Year Ticket A and New Year Ticker A+ items that they earn for completing event battles for Custom ★ Power-Ups and Sync Orbs for Kali (Furisode Girl) & Azumarill, as well as a variety of other valuable rewards. Additionally, players can obtain Gems and medals for completing special missions during the event, and unlock the song New Year Sunrise in-game by exchanging Song Keys in this event's Exchange Items menu.

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As usual for events of this type, players will receive bonus rewards if they take on event battles using teams that feature specific sync pairs. The more of these sync pairs that players place in their lineup, the greater the bonus received. The applicable sync pairs and reward rates are as follows:

• Lisia (New Year's 2023) & Rapidash, Dawn (New Year's 2023) & Oricorio: +60% (x1.6) Bonus Rewards
• Volkner (New Year's 2022) & Electivire, Sabrina (New Year's 2022) & Chingling, Lance (New Year's 2021) & Gyarados, Lillie (New Year's 2021) & Ribombee: +40% (x1.4) Bonus Rewards
• Fairy- and Psychic-Type Sync Pairs: +20% (x1.2) bonus rewards

These bonuses stack additively, so having a team consisting of Lisia (New Year's 2023) & Rapidash, Dawn (New Year's 2023) & Oricorio, and Volkner (New Year's 2022) & Electivire would grant a combined +160% (x2.6) rewards.

Players should also note the following when playing this event:

• The number of plays available for Daily Extreme Battle 1 are reset every day at 10:00pm (PST).
• To participate, players must have completed Main Story Chapter 1: The More the Merrier (Normal) in single-player.
• The sync pairs that appear as opponents in battle have different capabilities than those players can actually obtain.
• All mission completion rewards must be claimed within three days of the mission period ending.
• Leftover New Year Ticket A and New Year Ticket A+ items will be automatically converted to coins at a rate of 10 coins per item at the end of the event, and sent to players' Present Boxes.

New Year's Battle Challenge
In this Daily Battle event, players can earn New Year's Scout Tickets by completing the event battle once per day. Each Ticket can be used to do the New Year's Poké Fair Ticket Scout (detailed below) once. Players can earn up to a total of 16 New Year's Scout Tickets from this event.

Additionally, special battles featuring high value rewards will be available on the first three days of the event, with players able to receive a total of 3,000 Gems from completing all three battles.

Legendary Gauntlet
The Legendary Gauntlet returns to the game on January 18th at 10:00pm (PST). Functioning the same as past Legendary Gauntlets, players will use the sync pairs they have raised to battle through Regirock, Latias, and Uxie's Legendary Arena battles in succession. Players can use as many sync pairs as needed to complete these stages and rack up as many wins as possible. Once a sync pair has been taken into battle, however, they can't be used again regardless of the battle's outcome.

As of writing, no specific date has been given for the end of the Legendary Gauntlet, but based on past events players should expect a 2 week runtime, with the event ending early February.

Players should also note the following when playing this event:

• To participate, players must have completed Main Story Chapter 1: The More the Merrier (Normal) in single-player.
• Area info completion data will not be carried over to future Legendary Gauntlets, nor will they count for completion in the Legendary Arena

Limited-Time Expedition Areas and Locations in the Trainer Lodge
Until January 17th, at 9:59pm (PST), Limited-Time locations will be available during interactions at the Trainer Lodge, along with a Limited-Time Expedition Area. Players will be able to form a Special Team in this Expedition Area that can receive substantial amounts of Expedition Awards. Drop-In Events will not appear for Special Teams on Expeditions. Once the limited-time expedition area disappears, Special Teams will be automatically disbanded, with any unclaimed items able to be received by going to the expedition screen.

Players will receive a +1 Rare Cache bonus to the Discovery Level of their Special Team for each of the following Sync Pairs which they include on their team.

• Lisia (New Year's 2023) & Rapidash
• Dawn (New Year's 2023) & Oricorio
• Volkner (New Year's 2022) & Electivire
• Sabrina (New Year's 2022) & Chingling
• Lance (New Year's 2021) & Gyarados
• Lillie (New Year's 2021) & Ribombee

In conjunction with this event, Dawn can now be invited to the Trainer Lodge after players have teamed up with 5★ Dawn & Turtwig. The Lodge Exchange has also been updated with exclusive presents for Dawn and other useful items.

Scouts
Seasonal Scouts
Lisia and Dawn are both appearing in new seasonal sync pairs together with Galarian Rapidash and Oricorio to celebrate the New Year, wearing the same concert outfits as they appear in the Gather Up! Dream Duo! Story Event. Both pairs are making their debut at 5★, and release with expanded sync grids as well as the ability to be raised to 6★ EX, which boost each sync pair's stats and gives them a special altered outfit

Lisia (New Year's 2023) & Rapidash are a Fairy-type Strike sync pair whose attacks can also help buff their allies. The combination of Quick Attack, which can be used up to 3 times for 0 move gauge; the Fairy Shift Passive Skill, which makes all Normal-type moves become Fairy-type moves; and the Fairy Strike Theme Skill, which raises allies' Attack and Sp. Atk by 15 when using Fairy-type attacks, makes this pair a buffing machine for other attackers in their team. Additionally, using the A Battle Spectacular! move, the pair can buff their own Attack and Speed by 4 stat ranks, and increase their Physical Moves ↑ Next effect by zero to three ranks at random, putting them in a good position to deal significant damage with their Giga Impact attack to opponents weak to Fairy-type attacks.

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Dawn (New Year's 2023) & Oricorio are a Ghost-type Tech sync pair with a selection of Moves and Skills focused on making the most use of buffs and debuffs. Their Double Drop Passive Skill doubles the amount of stat ranks lowered when opponents stats are lowered, while their Stat Up x2 Passive Skill doubles the amount of stat ranks increased whenever their own stats are increased. This latter skill synergises well with its Elegant Celebration Ghost Beam Sync Move, which increases in power the move that this sync pair's stats have been raised. Additionally, this sync pair can also defend their own allies from being debuffed, with their Perfect Dance! move applying the Stat Reduction Defense effect to the allied field of play, as well as restoring this sync pair's HP by approximately 40% of maximum, and raising evasiveness by 1 stat rank.

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Both of these Seasonal Scouts will give players a bonus present for the first three times players use their respective Sync Pair Scout x11, awarding Strike and Tech Move Candy Coin respectively. The Seasonal Scouts also include a daily discount, where players can perform a single scout for x100 paid gems. This daily discount can be used 1 time per day during the entire length of the scout.

The Seasonal Tiered Scouts for Lisia and Dawn have ten tiers, each of which is a Sync Pair Scout ×11. Players are able to scout once on each tier by using Paid Gems, with the amount of gems increasing with each tier. Additionally, Tiers 5 and 10 grant the player special tickets to use in associated Ticket Scouts, with the tickets at Level 10 guarenteeing the associated seasonal sync pair.

• Tier 1: 300 Paid Gems
• Tier 2: 900 Paid Gems
• Tier 3: 1,500 Paid Gems
• Tier 4: 2,000 Paid Gems
• Tier 5: 3,000 Paid Gems - 5★ Great Scout Ticket L (Lisia) or M (Dawn)
• Tier 6: 2,000 Paid Gems
• Tier 7: 2,500 Paid Gems
• Tier 8: 2,500 Paid Gems
• Tier 9: 2,500 Paid Gems
• Tier 10: 3,000 Paid Gems - 5★ Master Scout Ticket L (Lisia) or M (Dawn)

The Lilia Seasonal Scout and Seasonal Tiered Scout, and Dawn Seasonal Scout and Seasonal Tiered Scout, will both run until January 17th at 9:59pm (PST). The associated Ticket Scout meanwhile runs through to January 24th, at 9:59pm (PST). Tickets must be used prior to this scout ending.

New Year's Poké Fair Ticket Scout
This Ticket Scout can be performed using tickets earned from the New Year's Battle Challenge (see above) and the New Year's Log-in Bonus (see below), with each pull having a 10% chance for a 5★ sync pair. This Ticket Scout will remain available until January 22nd, at 9:59pm (PST). The Ticket Scout includes the following 3 Fair-Exclusive Sync Pairs:

• Sygna Suit Red & Charizard
• Sygna Suit Blue & Blastoise
• Sygna Suit Leaf & Venusaur

More information on each of these pairs can be found through the Bulbapedia links above.

5★-Select and Poké Fair Scouts

5★-Select Poké Fair Scouts
Two separate 5★-Select Poké Fair Scouts are currently live in celebration of the New Year. On top of giving players a whopping Sync Pair Scout x25, both of these 5★-Select Poké Fair Scouts offers players the chance to select and team up with a 5★ Sync Pair. Players can choose from one of 6 different Poké Fair Exclusive Sync Pairs, or any other 5★ Sync Pair from the general pool. The 5★-Select Poké Fair Scout x25 (A) and (B) each requires 5000 paid gems. The scouts can be used only once each during the scouting period, and will remain available until January 30th, at 9:59pm (PST). Each

The Poké Fair Exclusive 5★ Sync Pairs included each Scout are as follows:

• 5★-Select Poké Fair Scout x25 (A)
  • Sygna Suit May & Blaziken
  • Lucas & Dialga
  • Red & Snorlax
  • Ingo & Excadrill
  • Blue (Classic) & Aerodactyl
  • Raihan & Duraludon
• 5★-Select Poké Fair Scout x25 (B)
  • Sygna Suit Brendan & Latios
  • Sygna Suit Korrina & Marshadow
  • Sygna Suit Dawn & Cresselia
  • Emmet & Archeops
  • Lear & Hoopa
  • Sygna Suit Cynthia & Kommo-o

More information on each of these pairs can be found through the Bulbapedia links above. Poké Fair exclusive Sync Pairs may reappear in future Poké Fair Scouts.

5★-Select Special Scout x15
Running alongside these Poké Fair Scouts is a 5★-Select Special Scout. By spending 3,000 paid gems, players will be able to receive a 15x Scout, as well as an additional bonus selection of a 5★ Sync Pair from a limited pool. This scout can be used only once during the scouting period. This scout can be completed any time before January 30th, at 9:59pm (PST).

Monthly Poké Fair Scout Vol. 5
The Fair-Exclusive 5★ Cynthia & Garchomp are the featured Sync Pair for the latest Monthly Poké Fair Scout. The sync pair has received new fair-exclusive tiles in their sync grid in conjunction with this scout, which will remain available until January 31st, at 9:59pm (PST).

This scout will give players a bonus present of 3★ Friend Key x3 for the first five times they perform a Sync Pair Scout x11 for this Scout. This Monthly Poké Fair Scout also includes a daily discount, where players can perform a single scout for x100 paid gems. This daily discount can be used 1 time per day during the entire length of the scout.

New Year's Rallies and Presents
New Year's Gem Present
All players who log-in to Pokémon Masters EX between December 31st, at 10:00pm (PST) and January 7th, at 9:59pm (PST) will be entered into a draw to receive a share in 200 million Gems. The amount of gems and prizes has been substantially increased from past draws of this type. The prizes available are as follows

• First Prize: Gems x60,000 - 10 winners
• Second Prize: Gems x12,000 - 50 winners
• Third Prize: Gems x6,000 - 7,000 winners
• Fourth Prize: Gems x3,000 - 9,000 winners
• Fifth Prize: Gems x1,000 - 10,000 winners
• Sixth Prize: Gems x600 - 200,000 winners
• Consolation Prize: Gems x300 - all players who log-in during the period but do not win a prize

Prizes will begin to be sent to player's Present Box starting from January 11th, at 10:00pm (PST). All prizes must be claimed by February 11th, at 9:59pm (PST)

Log-in Bonus
A special New Year's log-in bonus is available in game now, and will continue through until January 15th, at 9:59pm (PST). The rewards being offered each day are as follows:

• Day 1: Gems x3,000
• Day 2: Gems x300
• Day 3: Gems x300
• Day 4: Gems x300
• Day 5: Gems x300
• Day 6: Gems x300
• Day 7: New Year' Scout Ticket x7
• Day 8: Gems x300
• Day 9: Gems x300
• Day 10: Gems x300
• Day 11: Gems x300
• Day 12: Gems x300
• Day 13: Gems x1,000

Gem Specials
The following four Event Gem Specials will be available in the purchase gems tab of the in-game shop until January 17th, at 9:59pm (PST), offering discounted prices on paid gems.

• Happy New Year gem special 1: Gems x350
• Happy New Year gem special 2: Gems x1,400
• Happy New Year gem special 3: Gems x4,600
• Happy New Year gem special 4: Gems x15,500

New Year's Live Show Cheer Rally
A Rally was posted on Twitter earlier today in conjunction with the New Year's Live Show from the Gather Up! Dream Duo! Story Event, with players quickly reaching all targets before even a single day had passed. As reward for achieving the goals of the Rally, Lisia and Dawn will be taking over the Twitter account's icon and header starting January 3rd.

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Additional story content and sync pairs coming with the Kalos Chapter of the Villain Arc
The Kalos chapter of the Villain Arc will be available in game beginning January 11th. As of writing, no specific details have been released about this event, however it's safe to assume the event will feature Lysandre and Team Flare a starring role, with the main characters from the Pokémon X and Y games opposing them. We expect a new trailer to be released on the official Youtube Channel and Twitter account regarding this event in the near future.

The Battle! Friends from Kalos event will be running alongside the launch of the Kalos Chapter, in which players will be able to raise Professor Sycamore & Xerneas to 6★ EX. Additionally, Holo Foils for Scrapbook Photos in the Trainer Logue will also be unlocked.

Other Upcoming Events and Future Updates
Events coming in January
A selection of new and returning events are planed for later this month, including a Seasonal Event Re-Run, Egg and Gear events, and a mini-event focused on specific Theme Skills. More details of these events will be released closer to when they launch.

Legendary Gauntlet Updates
Starting with the Legendary Gauntlet on January 18th, players will be able to see the in-game rankings of the top 100 longest win streaks from all players each time the Gauntlet is opened. As of now, these rankings are only for bragging rights, and do not award any prizes to those players who manage to make their way onto them.

Changes to the Pokémon Center & Trainer Lodge
A future update will revamp the interior of the Pokémon Center and its features, as well as allow players customize the interior of the Trainer Lodge. More details on these changes will be released in the next producer's letter at the end of January.