Wolfe is a player renowned for frequently retreating his
Pokémon to stay in an advantageous position. Selecting Dialga as a restricted
Pokémon instead of Primal Groudon, Primal Kyogre, Rayquaza, or Xerneas encourages
the defensive playstyle he favors. One major reason for the shift in style is
that Dialga is often taught Trick Room, so it spends some of its turns
supporting its team rather than dealing as much damage as possible.
Wolfe's team featured several Pokémon that can be tricky to
play against. Since Wolfe gave his Dialga Sitrus Berry to hold, he had to find a
different item for Thundurus. Focus Sash isn't an item we see given to
Thundurus very often, but it allowed Wolfe to train his Thundurus to be fast
instead of sturdy. That high Speed can be helpful; for instance, it lets his
Thundurus use Taunt before most opposing Thundurus, preventing them from using
Taunt on his Dialga before it can use Trick Room.
We frequently see Trainers teach their Salamence Draco
Meteor, but
Wolfe was one of several Trainers who went with a different move at Regionals. His unexpected choice of Substitute probably surprised most of
his opponents. Wolfe's Landorus may have been his trickiest Pokémon: it helped the
team on defense with its Intimidate Ability, and the Choice Band it held allowed
it to deal huge damage. Choice Band is particularly exciting when paired with
the hazardous Explosion. Few Trainers risk Explosion, but the combination of
Choice Band and Explosion can deal massive damage to almost any opponent at the
cost of Landorus's remaining HP. It's a risky combination that his opponents
may not have expected from a famously conservative player.
We saw several other players use the pairing of Dialga and Primal
Kyogre to great success. Alex
Underhill was able to show off his top-8 team on the live stream from Illinois.
He used Cresselia as a second Pokémon that knew Trick Room, and it surprised
the crowd by using Lunar Dance to heal a teammate. He also had Kangaskhan and
Amoonguss instead of Landorus and Thundurus, giving his team a very different
feel from Wolfe's. Conan
Thompson's Oregon top-8 team had some tricks we didn't see from other
players. He didn't teach his Dialga Trick Room, leaving that job for his
Cresselia, and he had a Gengar that could Mega Evolve. Emilio
Estrada finished one spot behind Conan, and he was the only one of the four
Trainers to use Mawile and Talonflame. Dialga helped win a couple of Junior
Division Regional Championships as well, once paired with Primal Kyogre by Connor
Woitalla and once paired with Primal Groudon by Emma
Cox.
A Storm of Surprises
Many different teams found success in February. Drew
Nowak's Thundurus was a big factor when he won the live-streamed Regionals
in Illinois. Thundurus is normally used to support other Pokémon with moves
like Taunt and Swagger, but Drew gave his Thundurus a Life Orb to hold and
taught it Wild Charge and Superpower instead. Even after his opponents picked
up on his unexpected strategy, they found they were unprepared to deal with it.
The most surprising finish by an Electric-type Pokémon was definitely Ashton
Cox's Pikachu making it to the semifinals in Florida. Carson
St. Denis also won Oregon's Senior Division event using a Raichu that
evolved from one of the Pikachu that knew the move Endeavor given away in the
Pokémon Global Link's Pikachu Cup. Perhaps players will look to find more ways
to fit Electric-type Pokémon on their teams moving forward after the success of
these players.
One surprising trend was that teams combining Rayquaza and Primal
Kyogre were unable to achieve victory in the Masters Division. Rayquaza and
Kyogre have been an extremely popular pairing in Europe as a solution to
Groudon, and both teams that made it to the finals of the European Challenge
Cup, a Regional-level event that took place during North American Winter
Regionals, featured Rayquaza and Kyogre. Teams combining Kyogre and Rayquaza
seemed nearly as popular as those combing Groudon and Xerneas in most of the
world before Winter Regionals, so the pair achieving only six top cut
appearances in North America's Masters Division was very surprising. The duo was
much more successful in the Senior Division, winning on Dylan Salvanera's teams
in both Virginia
and Illinois.
Dialga wasn't the only restricted Pokémon that was able to
break through the dominance of Groudon, Kyogre, Rayquaza, and Xerneas. Kyurem
White was a surprisingly popular choice, making it to the top-8 of every
Masters Division event except Oregon (Patrick
Smith, Franklin
Lewis, Joohwan
Kim, Will
Aiken, and Mitchell
Moscrop all had interesting takes on Kyurem teams). Yveltal had an
impressive second-place finish in Florida on the team of veteran Matthew
Coyle, and fan-favorite Mewtwo managed to squeak into the Oregon top cut thanks
to Samuel
Haarsma.
The results of the Winter Regional Championships are sure to
change the way players approach future tournaments. Midseason Showdowns have
already begun, so check the event finder
to find one happening near you. Stay tuned for the Spring Regional
Championships in May, and remember to check out Pokemon.com/strategy to find
all the most recent strategy content and tournament coverage.