How to unlock the original Magearna as a Gift in Pokémon Home

Pokémon Home's already robust cornucopia of free Pokémon has grown suddenly with the addition of an exclusive Poké Ball-colored version of the Mythical Pokémon Magearna, but not every Pokémon trainer seems able to claim one.

Pokémon Home has provided fans with a free Pikachu, the Kanto Starters, Rotom, Pichu, and seemingly now Magearna. However, between the app's error-filled debut and the welcome “Dexit” ban reduction, the new cloud-based storage service has received mixed reviews.

What makes Magearna worthy as a top-tier, endgame reward for Sword and Shield players with Pokémon Home? And how do you get your hands on it? Here's all that and more.

What is a "Poké Ball-colored" Magearna?

Magearna first debuted in 2016 as the star of the nineteenth Pokémon movie, Pokémon the Movie: Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel. In the film, Magearna is revealed to be a synthetic Pokémon crafted by a scientist 500 years into the past. When the scientist created Magearna, the Pokémon was given a Poké Ball-themed color scheme, but as time has marched on, the initial paint coat decayed, revealing a silvery metallic coloring.

The latter color scheme was later distributed to Sun and Moon players throughout the world as a promotion for the film. Meanwhile, the original Poké Ball-colored version was lost to history, forever locked within the movie alone. You could only obtain it through hacking and other nefarious means ... until Pokémon Home.

From what we know, this new Magearna is read by the game as a new form rather than a "Shiny" Pokémon.

How do you get Poké ball colored Magearna?

Magearna’s new (but also old) coloring is a Pokémon Home exclusive. As with the other "Gift" Pokémon on the app, the gear themed critter is walled behind a task, but this one's the most challenging of all. To claim this Magearna, players have to complete Pokémon Home’s Pokédex.

Essentially, players will have to transfer all 890 existing Pokémon into the app from various games and/or Pokémon Bank. However, there’s some dispute as to if that is the actual trigger, as it appears to be bugged.

Joe Merrick, Pokémon mega-fan and founder of Pokémon’s biggest fan hub, Serebii.net, has struggled to get the Pokémon to pop-up, despite entering the app with a full Pokédex. It took adjusting every Pokémon left one box then putting those same Pokémon back to the right once space for Magearna to pop-up. The actual trigger may be that players need a full Living Pokédex, which essentially means having every distinct Pokémon in your box at the same time.

It’s unknown if this benchmark to unlock Magearna will expand as more Pokémon are added via new titles and the upcoming DLC. It may change as the official Pokédex grows.

In other words, you "Gotta Catch ‘Em all!"

How do you clone Magearna in Pokémon Home?

One thing we do know is that doing the trick seems to unlock the Poké Ball colored Pokémon for all players that previously had issues with it. Additionally, according to multiple players, the trick can be performed infinite times, effectively cloning Magearna. Although, this version of Magearna is unable to be traded, making cloning her for vanity more than anything else.

How do you complete Pokémon Home’s National Pokédex?

Although this becomes a loftier goal with each generation, "catching them all" is perhaps the single greatest task any Pokémon player can do. The simple answer for completing the National Pokédex is to send Pokémon from every game you have at your disposal, and it will probably involve using a Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, and a Nintendo Switch.

To achieve this in Pokémon Home, players will have to assemble resources from virtually every generation of Pokémon games ever. Clean out the cobwebs on your old consoles! With the wonders of technology, it’s possible to obtain Pokémon all the way back from games published in 2002, so your Game Boy Advance isn’t useless in 2020. That generation includes remakes of the original two Pokémon games, along with the Generation II pair. Use these handy guides to help assemble your Pokémon army within Home:

• How to transfer Pokémon from Game Boy Advance games to Pokémon Bank
• How to use transfer Pokémon between games with Pokémon Home

You can also transfer Pokémon from newer generations like Sword and Shield and Sun and Moon directly into Pokémon Home. I’d also suggest using Pokémon Home’s magical Wonder Box if you’re just starting your collection. This will help get some more odds and ends of the ‘Dex with ease!