How to get a Master Ball from this pay-to-play quest.
Masterwork Research: A Precious Catch gives you the chance to get a Master Ball in Pokémon Go if you’re willing to spend some real world money.
That’s right! Not only will this Pokémon Go quest take you a while to complete (since Masterwork Research quests are designed to be long), but you need to part with some cash if you want to get a new Master Ball. Thankfully, Master Balls do stack so it’s safe to buy this quest if you’re still waiting to use one of these special balls.
So let’s take a look at all of the Masterwork Research: A Precious Catch quest steps and rewards in Pokémon Go that we know so far.
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‘Masterwork Research A Precious Catch’ quest steps in Pokémon Go
Masterwork Research: A Precious Catch is a pay-to-play quest where your ultimate reward is a Master Ball — the best Poké Ball in Pokémon Go. This quest doesn’t expire which is great because one) you’ve paid real money for it and two) it’s designed to take a while to complete! (Got to earn that Master Ball after all.)
It’s important to note that the quest step titles for this quest appear to be bugged as they lack the numbers you typically see. Due to this, I’ve listed the first step in the list down below as ‘unnumbered step’ before the numbers actually begin. Hopefully this bug will be fixed soon.
Here’s all of the Masterwork Research: A Precious Catch quest steps and rewards I’ve found so far:
‘Masterwork Research: A Precious Catch’ — Unnumbered step
- Catch 250 Pokémon — 20 Poké Balls
- Use 150 Berries to help catch Pokémon — 15 Razz Berries
- Make 100 Nice Curveball Throws — 2,500 Stardust
Rewards: 2,500 XP and Cetoddle encounter.
‘Masterwork Research: A Precious Catch’ Step 1 of 4
- Catch 300 Pokémon — 25 Poké Balls
- Make 100 Great Curveball Throws — 15 Pinap Berries
- Transfer 50 Pokémon — 20 Great Balls
Rewards: 3,500 XP and TBA encounter.
‘Masterwork Research: A Precious Catch’ Step 2 of 4
- Catch 350 Pokémon — 20 Great Balls
- Defeat 25 Team Go Rocket members — 5 Charged TM
- Catch 75 different species of Pokémon — 15 Pinap Berries
Rewards: 4,500 XP and Bisharp encounter.
‘Masterwork Research: A Precious Catch’ Step 3 of 4
- Visit PokéStops on 7 different days — 2,500 XP
- Catch a Pokémon on 7 different days — 2,500 Stardust
- Hatch 20 Eggs — TBA encounter
- Catch 75 Pokémon in a single day — 20 Ultra Balls
- Make 50 Excellent Throws — 20 Max Revives
- Catch 500 Pokémon — 3 Silver Pinap Berries
Reward: 5,000 XP, 5,000 Stardust and one Master Ball.
More to come…
The Journey to Paldea event is currently running. It’s brought both Nacli, a new Pokémon, and the new Precious Paths Special Research quest. You can get a shiny Keldeo thanks to the Masterwork Research: Pony Tales quest. There’s a lot to do in Pokémon Go outside of the current event! First, it’s worth learning about the level update. After this, you might want to fight in the Go Battle League, use Party Play, compete in a PokéStop Showcase or explore a Route for its Gift Exchange. Keep an eye out for rare Pokémon and don’t forget to collect Max Particles, so you can battle Dynamax Pokémon in Max Battles.
How Masterwork Research A Precious Catch work in Pokémon Go
Masterwork Research: A Precious Catch is a pay-to-play quest released during the Journey to Paldea event in December 2025. It costs £7.99, $7.99 or the equivalent pricing tier in your local currency. This purchase is nonrefundable and can not be done using PokéCoin. It can be gifted to another player if you’re Great Friends or higher.
Keep in mind that this quest is only on sale until Thursday 1st January 2026. If you don’t purchase this quest during this time frame, then you’ll have to wait until the next time a Master Ball is available.
Once purchased, you’ll find that this quest lacks a deadline. This is perfect because Masterwork Research is designed to take a long time to complete. (Seriously, be prepared for this to take a while even if you do play Pokémon Go every day.) Despite this, the quest does work exactly the same as any other Pokémon Go quest: complete the assigned challenges, collect the rewards and repeat this process until you’ve reached its conclusion.
Best of luck completing Masterwork Research: A Precious Catch!
