When playing Pokémon GO, all players will be faced with two big questions: which Pokémon to choose as your “starter” catch and which team (blue, red, or yellow) you should join.
Once you reach level five, you are given access to gyms where you can train your Pokémon. To do this, you have to first choose a team. Although all teams are basically equal (there are no advantages or disadvantages to selecting any of the teams), there are some points to consider before you decide. Here’s a quick rundown of team specifics.
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Choosing Your Pokémon GO Team
When deciding which Pokémon GO team to join, we suggest that you either first take a look at the arena nearest to you or find one to which you are likely to return. Even if you have not yet reached level five status, you can still see which team has control of different arenas by looking at the color of your map. Note that an arena can change color depending on the teams fighting there:
You can choose to join your area’s reigning team or, alternatively, select another team to try to balance things out.
Another point to consider is possibly joining the same color team as your friends, family, or spouse. On the other hand, you could incite some friendly competition amongst close ones by battling it out in the Pokémon gyms.
Pokémon GO Teams
As mentioned above, there are three available teams that you can join: Team Instinct (yellow), Team Mystic (blue), and Team Valor (red). Each team has its specialty, though these specialties have no real effect on the outcome of the game. Note that once a player has selected a team, it cannot be changed.
Team Instinct
Team Mascot: Zapdos
Team Leader: Spark
Team Specialty: Hatching
Team Mystic
Team Mascot: Articuno
Team Leader: Blanche
Team Specialty: Evolution
Team Valor
Team Mascot: Moltres
Team Leader: Candela
Team Specialty: Combat