The 2026 Pokémon UNITE Championship Series kicks off at the 2026 Latin America International Championships (LAIC), where teams will have the opportunity to compete for cash prizes and international bragging rights. Among those teams, we expect to see none other than the 2025 Pokémon UNITE World Championship winning team from the Latin America South region, PERÚ UNITE, who are no doubt looking to build out their trophy case in front of a home crowd.
The Peruvian side stunned the best Pokémon UNITE teams in the world with peak Scyther and Crustle gameplay, but it was a journey to get to that point. Leading up to their triumphant return to the international stage at 2026 LAIC, we’re breaking down PERÚ’s journey to the top, from major tournament performances to the Pokémon they played along the way—and even how many Rayquaza they managed to take down this year.
Previously known as FUSION, PERÚ UNITE had its first major event of last season at the 2025 Latin America International Championships, where the team had no problem pushing through the open qualifier as their group’s number-one seed. Unfortunately, that success did not continue for FUSION—the Peruvian side quickly fell out of the tournament in their first bracket stage match against PLAGA. Luminosity Gaming went on to win the tournament, and PERÚ’s journey can’t be recounted without the North American juggernaut.
FUSION renamed to PERÚ UNITE and returned to the Aeos Cup at the Europe International Championships (EUIC) as its defending champion. Following a relatively rough LAIC and couple of Monthly Finals tournaments, the Peruvian team bounced back to take second place, only falling to the two-time World Champions Luminosity Gaming in the Aeos Cup Finals. PERÚ UNITE didn’t get to hoist the Aeos Cup trophy this time, but everything started to trend in the right direction for the future world champs.
Fast forward to the North America International Championships (NAIC), and PERÚ UNITE have become a completely dominant force in competitive Pokémon UNITE. They won every Monthly Cup between the Aeos Cup and the Final Stretch and looked completely dominant doing it. That success continued at the Final Stretch, too, until PERÚ UNITE hit Luminosity Gaming in the bracket stage and were felled once more by the star-studded North American team.
Still, the Latin American hopefuls defeated Orange Juicers in the third-place match to secure a top three finish. At this point, it was clear that PERÚ UNITE was a lock to challenge for the world title in August, but could they get over Luminosity Gaming?
Worlds rolls around, and everyone in the Pokémon UNITE community is already calling for one final to occur: a match between the Japanese Zeta Division and North American Luminosity Gaming. Both teams delivered and fired on all cylinders during the tournament—that is, until they ran into PERÚ UNITE.
PERÚ originally fell 1–2 in their bracket stage series against Luminosity Gaming but came back to take the set 3–2 and finally defeated the team that denied them both the Aeos Cup and Final Stretch trophies. Once PERÚ UNITE got past the North American side, they had no issues dispatching the other tournament favorite, Zeta Division, with ease in a 3–1 series win as they hoisted the World Championship trophy for the first time in Anaheim, California. It takes five players to win a Worlds title in Pokémon UNITE, but perhaps no player on PERÚ shined brighter than DrakenN, who was awarded Finals MVP for his rocking Crustle gameplay.
This Worlds title was both Latin America’s and PERÚ UNITE’s first-ever Pokémon UNITE World Championship title, and they thoroughly deserved it. Their passion for the game shined throughout the year, and PERÚ’s players clearly had the talent to match.
PERÚ UNITE played 126 games over the course of the 2025 season, partaking in 12 events, including all three events at the International Championships this year and the World Championships. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and PERÚ’s season wasn’t either—we’re still shocked at just how much damage PERÚ did en route to becoming World Champions.
We’ve shown off the team’s most-played Pokémon during the season’s largest events, but you can also check out each player’s most-played Pokémon for the entire season, complete with their favorite build! Keep an eye on the players as they use these Pokémon during the 2026 season—you might even see the Latin American titans bring them to battle on Aeos Island as they compete for the Pokémon UNITE LAIC title on home soil. You won’t want to miss it, so be sure to tune in to the event on Pokemon.com/broadcasts-UNITE November 21–23.