Welcome to the latest One More Catch weekly newsletter, offering you a guide to the week ahead in Pokémon Go.
It's another week where the Tuesday doesn't kick off a week-long event, meaning all eyes are on the Monday, Wednesday and Saturday updates, the last of which offers a replay of a frustrating Max Battle event that should be much easier to take part in today.
So here's a snapshot of everything coming to Pokémon Go in the days ahead, the biggest opportunities available, and a roundup of Pokémon news and site updates you may have missed.
Adjustments to the newsletter continue, with a table showing each day's highlights at a glance replacing the day-by-day breakdown I usually feature. Hopefully, for yourselves, this results in a snappier read, while also being a little quicker for me to put together. If you have any feedback about the newsletter, from the format to the contents, I'd love to hear your thoughts in these early months as it continues to take shape:
This week in Pokémon Go (20th to 26th April)
All times are at your local time, unless otherwise stated.
It's a quieter week without a Tuesday update, so let's look at what is happening and how much it's worth taking part in:
Opportunities this week
- Dynamax Regirock - arriving Monday - is a legendary encounter, meaning you will have a tough battle on your hands, especially since Dynamax battles are maxed out at four players. It hasn't stopped people doing it solo, obviously, but that requires a Max Mushroom and strong powered up counters. So realistically, you need a co-ordinated group to stand a chance.
- This is similar to Regice a few weeks ago, but unlike the Iceberg Pokémon which really was for the 'dex entry, Regirock has some application as a tank in Max Battles, going by this analysis on reddit. That said, Zamazenta, Zacian and Blissey still largely win out in that role, so consider this a nice to have.
- And yes, Regirock can be shiny:
- On Wednesday is the weekly raid refresh, and the arrival of Tapu Koko and Mega Sharpedo.
- Tapu Koko is fairly good: it's up there as a strong Fairy-type attacker, only outshone by Mega Gardevoir, Zacian, Enamorus and Mega Alakazam - while Mega Sharpedo lingers quite low in both the Water- and Dark-type standings and isn't worth chasing after.
- Both can be shiny, with a comparison seen below:
- On Saturday, there's the 'Replay: Go Bigger' event, which sees Gigantamax Venusaur, Charizard, Blastoise and Gengar all appear in Max Battles for the afternoon. These are all strong Pokémon which players struggled with when Max Battles first appeared, as Niantic debuted them far too early for anyone to realistically counter against. For many, this is unfinished business, and it's a welcome opportunity to have another go.
- With most players having a range of Max Battle Pokémon at their disposal, provided you join a large enough group (ideally between 10-20 players) where everyone has half-decent teams, you should stand a good chance to finally add them to your Pokédex, and get some powerful Max Battle Pokémon at the same time.
- In terms of counters, the three evolved Kanto starters are all weak to one another (Grass > Water > Fire > Grass), while the best counter for a Gengar is... another Gengar. (Otherwise, bring a Dynamax Metagross or Excadrill to the fight.)
- It's also worth remembering that all these can Mega Evolve, meaning they have extra application outside of Max Battles. Though the energy to do so won't drop during this event, with a new fourth tier of Mega Evolution likely coming to every applicable Pokémon in the near future, it's a good time to get one of each with stats you are happy with in preparation, giving you more bang for your buck.
- All four can be shiny, too, so consider that the cherry on top:
What's new in Pokémon and Pokémon Go?
Here's a catch-up on news from Pokémon Go and the wider world of Pokémon:
- The big story last week was the arrival of Silicobra as part of the 'Sustainability Week' event, and the tale of shifting spawns.
- At first it could be anywhere - including from Incense - albeit with a very low appearance rate, then it changed to specific land types which align with desert-like areas (making it a pseudo-regional).
- Then, on Friday (just hours after I pressed send on a newsletter telling people where to find spawns...) it updated again, with Niantic Support saying you can find it "slightly more frequently", which meant scrubland was added to the mix.
- It's been a bit messy, basically, and while Silicobra has become harder to find than when it first debuted, at least by the end of the week it could show up in a few more places. The pink dots in the following image of a fan-made map are Friday's additions, while the red ones show that mid-week shift from just-about-anywhere to desert-like biomes:
- If you want more detail, my how to find Silicobra in desert biomes guide has the specifics.
- The Explorer Gadget, essentially a virtual Go Plus device that's in the works, continues to show up in datamines, this time with images of what it should look like in-game:
Matthew Reynolds
- Speaking of datamines, it appears both Mega Mewtwo X and Y are coming to Go Fest, which each Mega Evolved form available through branching research. The team at pokeminers (via Threads) can show you what the assets look like ahead of time:
- Earlier this month, a Pokémon Go player was disqualified for a "unsportsmanlike" celebration during a regional contest. The player, Firestar73, has since released a statement asking to reverse the decision, which feels completely reasonable as, if you watch the video, the celebration in question is rather tame. See Aftermath for a full report on the story.
After a long loser's bracket run, @Firestar73_ wins a decisive game 5 to win the Orlando Regional Championship. Allegedly this celebration was unsportsmanlike, resulting in a game loss and giving NTC The win. I'm at a loss for words, I feel so bad for firestar. pic.twitter.com/72l1RJO31v
— AXN (@ItsAXN) April 5, 2026
- And finally, a user on reddit, Av0cado_t0ast, is keeping tabs of the changes in Niantic's Terms of Service as they appear, for those who enjoy following the fine print.
One More Catch notes
Here's a quick round-up of other site posts, updates, and publication-related musings:
- The latest Behind the Catch blog, which provides a behind-the-scenes insight into how the publication is going, is now live, accounting for the launch period and a hint at what's to come, including a new site feature which - all going well - will debut next week. Great Supporters can read the article now:
Matthew Reynolds
- Despite the promise of more Pokémon Champions content in last week's newsletter, I had an unfortunately timed mishap which rendered my Switch 2 kaput. I'll save the details for a possible blog later in the week, but the good news is I recently discovered a workaround that means I should be chipping away at more guides soon.
- One More Catch is now posting to Threads. It'll be a mirror of the scheduled posts seen on Bluesky, so if you prefer the Instagram alternative as your text-based social media of choice, be sure to follow along there.
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Hope you have a great week!
