Warning: Included screenshots and importables contain profanity and sexual innuendo
Introduction
Hello Hat Lovers!
My name is Scott Iwafuchi and I’m here to share my experience using one of my favorite Pokemon – Porygon2 (P2) – during VGC 2024’s Regulation F (Reg F) ruleset! This report will encompass the entire teambuilding process that led to each iteration of the team as well as my runs at the Portland, Charlotte, and Vancouver Regional Championships where I finished Top 128, Top 16, and Top 4, respectively.
One of my best friends, Demitri, and I discovered the Tera Poison Porygon2 idea very early in our experimentation with the ruleset and I eventually committed to refining the team throughout Reg F. Not only did I think that P2 was an incredibly strong Pokemon, but it made the game feel comfortable and familiar to me despite some general gripes that I had with the format at large. There were moments where I doubted P2’s ability to hold up amidst shifts in the meta, but I ultimately chose to lean into my experience with the team and how well it weaponized my talents as a player, rather than try to develop something else.
A common trend within Pokemon is the idea that teams have an inevitable expiration date and will need to be updated drastically, or scrapped entirely in order to keep abreast of meta developments. There are certain strategies, like Dondozo + Tatsugiri and Psyspam, whose rate of success rises and falls dramatically based on the kinds of teams that are popular within the field. While there is a lot of value in analyzing meta and usage trends to help construct teams, my perspective has always been: ‘Comfort is supreme’. After deciding that I would stick with P2, Incineroar, and Amoonguss, the goal was to perfect the last few slots and hone my ability to pilot the team. Let’s start by talking about the team’s origin story.
Disclaimer: The bulk of this report will be a narrative account of how I arrived at the team I brought to Vancouver. If you are looking for details about the spreads and my matchups guide, feel free to scroll to the bottom. If you are at all interested in how the team came about though, please read. I think it’s pretty fun and cool, and I worked really hard on it 🙂
A Brief Explanation of Team Archetypes and Terminology in VGC
I will be referencing various team archetypes by name throughout this report, so I figure it prudent to provide definitions. If you’ve ever listened to Pokemon players discussing different playstyles, you have likely heard the terms “stall,” “hyper offense,” and “balance” thrown around. Be aware, I am corralling teams into one of these categories for the sake of simplicity. Many teams are rarely as simple as my descriptions might imply. Many teams blend aspects of multiple playstyles, so take what I say with a grain of salt.
The Stall archetype can be described as a strategy that is designed to turn the game into a war of attrition. Noteworthy examples from VGC history include Wolfe Glick’s signature ‘Perish Trap’ tactic and the recent Sand Tomb Ting Lu + Yawn Dondozo strategy that aims to trap opponents in, put them to Sleep, and gradually whittle away at their health via residual damage. Stall teams generally feature Pokemon whose goal is to utilize recovery and the application of constant chip damage to slowly drain the opponent’s health, and/or to shut down the opponent’s ability to deal damage while setting up a win-condition like Perish Song.
The hyper offense (HO) archetype features a number of potent damage sources and a form of speed control to enable the team to move – and knock out (KO) – before their opponent has a chance to act. Due to these teams’ limited pool of defensive resources, they are largely dependent on the ability to knock out their opponents quickly. Terastallization, however, gave HO teams access to a powerful, instantaneous offensive and defensive resource that empowered the archetype to completely take hold of the previous formats in the Scarlet Violet era. In my view, HO is the strongest team style in Generation 9 due to the large-scale implications of the Terastallization mechanic.
The balance archetype as a concept is less straightforward than the others, but I will do my best to make the telltale signs of a ‘balance team’ clear. Balance teams often lean on a mix of strong attacking options and high levels of defensive maneuverability. The goal is to utilize their superior ability to pivot to achieve a position where they have control over the flow of damage on the field. The classic CHALK (Cresselia, Heatran, Amoonguss, Landorus, Kangaskhan) core from 2015, the FAKE PG (Tapu Fini, Arcanine, Kartana, Electric, Porygon2, Gigalith) team from 2017, and 2023’s “Palance” (Palafin, Arcanine, Amoonguss, and friends) and “New Balance” (Flutter Mane, Chi-Yu, Gyarados, Ting-Lu, Iron Hands, Amoonguss) all fall under the balance umbrella.
One signature mark of a balance team is defensive type synergy, aka the inherent ability of a team to cover for the type weaknesses of its members. The most common form of type synergy is the Fire, Water, Grass (FWG) core that forms the defensive backbone of countless successful teams. By incorporating a typing infrastructure that lets the team pivot around, balance teams give the pilot time and space to eventually acquire advantageous positions.
A term that I think is important to establish is the idea of “coverage.” “Coverage” refers to the variety of different types that a team can threaten offensively. The term, “BoltBeam,” refers to the classic offensive coverage duo of Ice and Electric. Ice and Electric form powerful coverage because no single type resists both of those types. Incorporating strong coverage options is a key way of constructing a successful team in VGC.
The last concept that I want to plant in readers’ minds is the idea of “pace” in the context of team functionality. HO teams have a very high pace as the goal of the team is to blow through your opponent quickly. Stall teams obviously sit on the other end of the spectrum, with balance somewhere closer to the middle. The concept of pace is extremely relevant to how certain teams are constructed and the meta heavily impacts the broader pace of the format at large.
No Faith in the Duck
With the release of the Indigo Disk, a number of historic VGC staples were slated to return to the game and shake up a fairly stagnant Regulation E (Reg E). In my experience of trying to build balance in Scarlet and Violet, the perennial issue that I encountered was the lack of compelling Trick Room setters. Speed control is a crucial aspect of any team and Tailwind felt difficult to justify on balance because opposing Tailwind offense teams would consistently outrun my bulkier, balance oriented Pokemon. This would mean that my opponent’s Tailwind would frequently be of higher value than my Tailwind. The intuitive solution for this problem was to have a handful of naturally fast Pokemon to give the team independence from Speed control and pair that with a solid Trick Room mode to counter opposing Tailwind. Most of my dissatisfaction with the Trick Room setters in the past revolved around either 1) a general inability on the part of the Trick Room setter to sufficiently capitalize on the Trick Room they had set up or 2) insufficient defensive prowess to be able to reliably set Trick Room in the face of powerful offensive threats or to withstand a drawn-out, positional war of attrition. Seeing Porygon2’s return on the horizon, I started to wonder if I would be able to achieve my ideal form of balance in Regulation F. Traditionally, P2 has been among the best Trick Room setters on balance teams as it marries some of the most impressive bulk with steady damage output. P2’s marquis role is generally to be indestructible, tanking numerous attacks and retaliating with strong coverage moves like Ice Beam and Thunderbolt, setting Trick Room, and/or using Recover to dramatically extend its staying power. My initial thought was that while P2 might be among the bulkiest Pokemon in the format, the strength of modern HO teams would undermine its ability to function in the way that it used to. Furthermore, I feared that the return of Knock Off and Parting Shot on Incineroar and the prevalence of Pokemon with high Special Defense like Flutter Mane, Ogerpon-Wellspring, and Assault Vest Iron Hands would make it difficult for P2 trade favorably like it had previously. During early theorycrafting for the format, I was pessimistic about P2’s odds of being able to keep up with the high-octane, offensive juggernauts that dominated Reg E.
A Silly, Goofy Idea
Most of my initial teambuilding efforts in Reg F were attempts at figuring out the strongest ways to use the new Paradox Pokemon, and me and my friends messing around with goofy ideas revolving around quirky, returning Pokemon. Probably the silliest of these teams was an idea that Demitri and I came up with on the first day of testing out ideas in Reg F. A slow Regidrago Trick Room team featuring Araquanid, Comfey, and Ogerpon-Wellspring that tried to use Comfey’s Floral Healing to keep Regidrago healthy while it spammed Dragon Energy under Trick Room.
The main sources of damage on the team were Regidrago and Araquanid, which are easily walled out by opposing Fairy and Grass types. In our attempts to make this funny joke idea somehow work, we had the idea to run Tera Poison Tera Blast P2 as the team’s Trick Room setter to counter the Pokemon that were throttling the core strategy.
Demitri and I had both piloted P2 to competitive success in prior VGC rulesets – Demitri placing 2nd at the Vancouver Regionals in 2017, myself placing 10th at that same tournament, and me pioneering the Incineroar, P2, Amoonguss, Tapu Fini, Glastrier archetype during Sword and Shield Series 7 in 2020- and were excited by the prospect of our smooth duck friend having a niche in Generation 9. This wacky team was our first glimpse into P2’s potential in the format and the origin of the Tera Poison Tera Blast set. Despite my concerns about P2’s ability to match the blistering pace of modern HO teams, P2’s tremendous defensive strength continued to shine through and the Poison Tera typing bolstered its defensive maneuverability and damage output. Poison felt like the perfect Tera type for P2 as it enabled it to resist Fairy, Fighting and Grass – all of which were crucial offensive types in the Reg F meta – and allowed it to pressure Ogerpon and Pokemon that would utilize the Grass Tera type to block Araquanid’s Water attacks, and later Amoonguss’ Spore and Rage Powder.
Prior to testing out this idea, Demitri and I did not realize that P2’s Download ability, when paired with the mechanics of the move Tera Blast, had subtle, beneficial implications. When a Terastallized Pokemon uses Tera Blast, the move becomes the attacking category – Physical or Special – of whichever of its offensive stats is higher, including modifiers. Upon receiving an Attack boost from Download, if P2 were to Terastallize and use Tera Blast, the move would become a Physical attack instead of a Special one. As a result, P2 became significantly more threatening to Pokemon like Flutter Mane and Chi-Yu, and could maintain its damage output in the face of Pokemon using Snarl to weaken its Special damage output. Not only that, but when its Special Attack is boosted by Download, P2 could score one-hit knockouts (OHKO) against the vast majority of Ogerpon with Tera Poison Tera Blast. P2 completely blew my expectations out of the water and my faith was restored. What started out as a joke would turn into one of my most successful teams to date.
Early Tera Poison P2 Balance
As I mentioned previously, I spent a significant portion of time before Reg F officially took effect exploring ideas around Reg F’s poster child, Raging Bolt. My initial thoughts were that Raging Bolt’s typing and bulk would be a perfect fit for the balance archetype and its Electric attacks have incredible coverage when combined with Chien-Pao’s Ice and Landorus-Incarnate’s Ground moves. With the return of Incineroar, I knew that balance teams were going to get significantly better. I had a lot of experience with Incineroar and Amoonguss on balance teams from the Sword and Shield era, so I was eager to see how well they would work in Reg F. Landorus appeared to me on paper to be one of the strongest Pokemon in Reg F and it condenses the offensive role better than almost any other Pokemon in the Pokedex. I was confident that it would be one of the best Pokemon on balance throughout the majority of the format.
I had theorized P2 on this new balance composition, but I had built these teams before Demitri and I came up with the idea to run Tera Poison Tera Blast. Before that, P2 felt unwieldy and difficult to consistently get value out of.
It wasn’t until the Tera Poison Tera Blast set that P2 felt like it was pulling its weight. As you can see, P2 was the member of the team that I thought needed to be replaced. However, Poison P2 felt like it could be brought to the majority of matchups, and the expanded arsenal of offensive tools accessible to the team completely flipped my impression of the Pokemon and the team.
While Raging Bolt was an individually strong Pokemon, I disliked its weakness to opposing Amoonguss and Flutter Mane in the context of this team. Amoonguss preyed on this version as it punished P2 heavily for setting Trick Room due to the lack of Spore immunities, and Raging Bolt in general was not intuitive to me. Opposing Landorus-Incarnate usage had also ramped up significantly after having widespread success at the end of Reg E, and the team did not appreciate how poor Raging Bolt’s matchup against that Pokemon was.
While Gholdengo didn’t necessarily strengthen or weaken the team’s matchup against Landorus, Metal Coat boosted Make it Rain being able to OHKO a majority of Flutter Mane in the meta, and Good as Gold giving it free reign to torture opposing Amoonguss made it a splendid replacement for Raging Bolt. Along with bolstering the team’s matchup against Flutter Mane and Amoonguss, Gholdengo came with the added benefit of being able to take advantage of less common strategies and teams that took awhile to get set up. Ironically, Gholdengo was an unmatched “anti-cheese” Pokemon by being able to set up Nasty Plots against teams lacking in options to dispose of it quickly.
The Chien-Pao version of the team felt like it was on the cusp of being something great, but was still just not quite there. While Chien-Pao helped raise the team’s Speed ceiling and provided strong Ice coverage for opposing Grass and Flying types, it felt like the weakest link on the team and was the least brought Pokemon by far. It failed to contribute to the team defensively in any way and bringing it sometimes felt entirely detrimental. The Sword of Ruin ability was not being taken advantage of by the main mode of the team and could sabotage the team by strengthening my opponent’s Physical attacks. I still wanted a Physical attacker to be able to take down Flutter Mane, and posing problems to opposing Landorus felt like a necessary aspect of that slot for this particular team. In addition to fulfilling those two criteria, Rapid-Strike Urshifu holding the Focus Sash provided the team with safer endgames as it could 1v1 countless Pokemon regardless of whether or not they were faster and removed the risk of targeting into Protect. It was at this point that I felt like the team was at a point where I could make a deep tournament run with solid play.
January 6th-7th: Portland Regional Championships
https://pokepast.es/f715f29321923ef2
I am going to hold off on talking about decisions in teambuilding until my recap of Vancouver where the team reached its final form. The one thing that I will say about this version of the team is that I chose Tera Flying on Gholdengo as I anticipated to face off with a lot of Landorus-Incarnate in Portland.
I went into Portland feeling sufficiently prepared and substantially confident that the field would not be ready for what my team could do. Unfortunately, my preparation for this tournament was lackluster and this in combination with less than ideal matchup luck landed me with an immeasurably disappointing 6-3 finish. I had not spent nearly enough time thinking about how to best navigate the Chien-Pao Dragonite teams that showed up in full force at this tournament. On top of that, my inexperience with using Gholdengo really came to bite me as I was unfamiliar with which matchups it could and could not be brought into. The icing on the cake was during Round 7 when my opponent and I disconnected in game 1 while I was in a massively advantageous position and I just did not have the composure to close out the set after that.
Somehow the more frustrating consequence of this tournament performance came after the event itself: the team started working better than I had expected.
With how well the team went on to perform online, I felt like I had lost a prime opportunity to catch the meta off guard. Thankfully, the Charlotte Regional Championships were only two weeks away and I would have a chance to redeem the duck. For a good portion of the time between these two tournaments, I held the #1 spot on the Best of Three (Bo3) Pokemon Showdown! ladder and was feeling more confident than I ever had.
January 20th-21st: Charlotte Regional Championships
https://pokepast.es/991ae29a34b0ee59
After not playing a single Landorus-Incarnate in Portland and feeling mounting pressure from rising Ogerpon (Wellspring and Hearthflame) usage, I changed Gholdengo’s Tera type to Dragon. In addition to the compelling use cases for Dragon in the context of my team, I concluded that using Gholdengo’s Tera type to hard counter a single Pokemon would be less valuable overall than having a multi-purpose Tera type that could be used in a number of matchups. The other change that I made to the team was giving Urshifu the brand-new Stellar Tera type. This wound up paying dividends in Charlotte as it maintained the option to boost Surging Strikes while also opening up the possibility of firing off a huge Close Combat that could punch through Water resistances like Ogerpon-Wellspring and Dragon Types. Going from Tera Water to Tera Stellar meant losing the ability to shed the Fighting typing for defensive purposes, but that was largely irrelevant to this Pokemon as essentially any combination of Special attacks could take out Urshifu regardless of its ability to Terastallize defensively.
Day 1
Emboldened by success on ladder and a considerably deeper cache of meta knowledge and matchup experience, I went into Charlotte with just as much, if not more, confidence as I had entering Portland. My preparation going into this tournament was worlds better than it was prior to Portland and it showed. I had spent much more time preparing ideas for the matchups that I expected to play and continued to build up practical experience in piloting my team. Both of these proved to be crucial differentiators from my run at Portland and the team was flying. After an 8-0 start, I was handed my first and only loss on Day 1 by Zhe Zhang who later said that he had altered his team to have a more favorable matchup against my team. The week before Charlotte, it came to my attention that people saw me top the Bo3 ladder and had been discussing how to beat my team in preparation for the tournament. Part of what I think makes my philosophy in Pokemon different from other players is the fact that I’ve never really stressed very much about people discovering my teams. My goal as a teambuilder is to construct a team that contains all of the necessary tools to work through multitudes of different positions and to then be the better player at the table. That said, on Day 1, I felt like I was playing well and my opponents were largely ill prepared for the dense pool of options that my team had access to. Day 2 would be a slightly different story, however.
Day 2
An ongoing joke amongst some of my friends and myself was that I had a double digit curse when it came to Regional level tournaments. At the time of Charlotte Regionals, I had 4 different Regional Top 16 finishes on my resume but nothing higher. With an 8-1 record going into Day 2, I was hungry and determined to finally break the curse and push for a single digit placement. The first round of Day 2 went about as well as I could have hoped. I played the set beautifully against a strong opponent in a matchup I had not put a ton of thought into prior and was feeling good about my chances of making a deep run. However, my next two opponents had unorthodox teams both featuring Taunt Tornadus alongside potent Special attacking Pokemon. Arbin and Enzo both played well and my lack of experience battling their kinds of teams was my undoing. Upon reaching the final round which would make or break my chances of moving on in the tournament, I was undeniably nervous. I lost game 1 cleanly and needed to dig deep if I wanted to take the set. Game 2 was a nailbiter, and I managed to pull it out, but my stamina was fading along with my mental fortitude. Fearing that I would lose too much ground by playing passively, I went for a hard read on turn 1 of Game 3, got it wrong, and was immediately too far behind to have a chance and I squandered my opportunity to achieve my first Top 8 appearance. I was happy to squeeze into Top 16, but I was once again heartbroken over the result. The hunger to break my Top 16 curse remained, though, and an amazing conversation that I had with the magnificent Evan Latt would keep my competitive fire going.
Most of the matches that I lost in Charlotte felt like they came down to me and my ability to identify the most effective strategies and to employ them successfully. However, at other times it felt like the team itself was struggling to find clean paths to victory. At certain points I had the sense that I, as the pilot, had to carry the team with creativity and pristine calculation. Some of these sets ended in victory, but that feeling that you had to work extraordinarily hard to barely snag the win can be disconcerting. Despite how strong the team felt most of the time, I knew that it could improve and likely needed to if I wanted a better result in the next tournament I attended. Following Charlotte, I would have two months to prepare for my next major, the Vancouver Regional Championships.
Still Going Strong: Global Challenge 1
Once Charlotte came to a close, I felt more at ease, knowing that I had ample time to think about next steps for P2. I had dedicated the majority of my time in the intermission between Portland and Charlotte to preparing for Charlotte and was looking forward to taking a mini break from Pokemon to recharge my batteries. However, the first Global Challenge of the season was happening the weekend after and I decided to enter on a whim during the last day of the signup period. Online ladder tournaments can be a ton of fun when you go in with the right mindset and I just figured that I might as well enter to have the option to play if I felt like it. Submitting a team designed for open team sheet (OTS) Bo3 is generally not an advisable strategy for these kinds of tournaments, but I was just playing for fun and I didn’t care enough about the result to want to cook up something spicy. My run went exceedingly well and I managed to place in the Top 16 for North America and Europe. Turns out my team was pretty good regardless of whether or not my opponent knew what options I had.
Countering the Meta
One of the spookiest matchups for the team in Charlotte was the latest iteration of the Flutter Mane, Tornadus, Glimmora composition being piloted by a number of strong trainers. With the recent addition of Chi-Yu to those teams, P2 on its own could no longer count on being able to trade positively due to the sheer amount of damage coming out of Chi-Yu, not to mention how Chi-Yu’s Beads of Ruin ability would augment the damage output of its Special Attacking partners. I spent the week following the Global Challenge racking my brain to try and come up with a way to improve that matchup. The idea that I eventually landed on was Assault Vest Ting-Lu who, with the Vessel of Ruin ability and Snarl, could single handedly lock down many of these teams that rely on strong Special attackers to dish out huge amounts of damage. Glimmora had been giving me some trouble, and Ting-Lu’s positive matchup against Chi-Yu was a major boon for the team on paper. However, Ting-Lu had a considerably worse time against Ogerpon than Landorus or Urshifu did and I needed a Pokemon that could shut down Physical leaning teams. Throughout the process of working on this team, I had been messaging Gavin Michaels and during one of our chats, he proposed the idea of using Michael “EternalSnowman (ESM)” Zhang’s Kommo-o set with the Overcoat ability. I was drawn to the Spore immunity that did not require using my Tera or an item similar to the benefits of running Gholdengo on the other versions of the team and Kommo-o’s nearly auto-win matchup against most balance teams at the time intrigued me.
People may recognize these 6 Pokemon as the team that Alex Gomez and Eric Rios brought to the Liverpool Regional Championships. Despite some broader, philosophical qualms that I had with how the team functioned, I was still dominating the Bo3 ladder in large part because of how well Ting-Lu and Kommo-o were positioned in the meta. Popular teams at the time generally disliked having to go up against at least one of those two Pokemon and were sorely lacking in answers. Many players took notice of what I was doing, including European players gearing up to compete in Liverpool. The day before Liverpool began, I received a message from Alex asking if I would be willing to send him the team and talk to him about how to pilot it. I have a strict open door policy when it comes to people asking me questions about VGC, so I made a considerable effort to supply him with the necessary information to utilize the team successfully. The team would go on to heavily influence the metagame as a result of the Spaniards bringing it to this tournament.
https://pokepast.es/48e841e336245067
https://pokepast.es/317e4677bdeafe22
In an effort to improve the team’s ability to damage opposing Steel types like Kingambit and Gholdengo, I circled back to Rapid-Strike Urshifu and Landorus. Regardless of which Pokemon I put on the team in place of Flutter Mane though, I was just not convinced that the fundamental principles that the team sat on were sound.
Around this time in my testing of this team, I had a revelation about the nature of the format and the broader implications of the Terastallization mechanic. I alluded to this realization in my overview of the hyper offense archetype. What I became convinced of was that, in the modern economy of offensive and defensive options, offensive counterplay consistently trumps defensive counterplay. In other words, teams that are predicated on slowing down the pace of the game via damage control (like Ting-Lu) and/or defensive setup (Kommo-o) were inherently weaker than teams that feature an array of ballistic coverage options to account for defensive synergy and Terastallization. I mentioned earlier that HO is the strongest archetype by nature in Scarlet and Violet. I think that this is the case because Terastallization provides these teams with an incredibly influential resource that greatly adds to their defensive resilience. In the past, it was this lack of flexibility that kept HO teams in check. Terastallization drastically cheapens the cost of incorporating defensive options into a team, significantly improving the strength of teams that lean into offensive game plans.
In addition to the team’s seemingly hopeless matchup against Gholdengo balance teams, this observation about the pace of the format confirmed my initial doubts about the team’s long-term viability. I was once again in search of where to take the team next.Part of me began to doubt that an Incineroar, P2, Amoonguss team could be strong enough to have a chance at top cutting Vancouver…
Going a Little Crazy
Towards the end of my attempt at making Ting-Lu Kommo-o work, the team began to feel increasingly difficult to win with. My ladder rating had plummeted and the team itself felt less poised in the meta. On top of that, the Ting-Lu Kommo-o version of the team just never felt as intuitive to me as the prior versions. I was constantly racking my brain to come up with clever ideas about how to approach matchups due to the inherently roundabout methods the team had to use, and I detested how little damage the team was capable of doing in the early stages of the battle. This level of passivity made games drag on and on, opening up the team to getting unlucky and amplifying the already monumental mental load required to position the team accurately. My dwindling faith in Ting-Lu and Kommo-o in the broader sense and my growing alienation with that version of the team drove me to go back to the drawing board. By this time, I had spent nearly two and half months trying to make a P2, Incineroar, Amoonguss team that I believed could achieve a Top Cut finish in Vancouver. In trying to come up with previously unconsidered ideas for how to make those core three Pokemon work, some wild Pokemon choices hit my teambuilder.
As an offensive solution to opposing Chi-Yu and Tornadus, I tried Ogerpon Cornerstone who could threaten both with super effective Ivy Cudgel, and Suicune, who was built to pester Landorus-Incarnate and Flutter Mane with Snarl, Tailwind, and Ice Beam. In theory, Suicune’s bulk, Water typing, ability to slow down Special attackers, and access to Speed control made it a highly attractive addition to this team. However, Suicune fell victim to the trend that I noted earlier where Pokemon who are exclusively defensive are inevitably outpaced by efficient, offensive teams and struggle to make progress quickly enough to keep up. It felt like there were so many issues that I had to try to solve with just three Pokemon.
In light of rising Incineroar, Raging Bolt, and Gouging Fire usage, as well as the general lack of Ground resistances in the format, I became interested in regular Ursaluna. Guts boosted Facade and Earthquake under Trick Room seemed like a powerful mode that I could easily default to and push through a number of different team compositions. Ultimately, getting Ursaluna into position with this team proved to be a major challenge. Switching Ursaluna in often came with the risk of getting put to Sleep by opposing Amoonguss, taking undesirable amounts of damage, or losing its Flame Orb. To make a long story short, none of the ideas that I had concocted since Charlotte felt like they had gone in the right direction and I began to wonder if the changes needed to be as drastic as I had initially thought.
Coming Full Circle
When the results for the first Global Challenge came out, I had noticed that Lorenzo Marcelli, the player who placed third overall and second in North America and Europe, had used 5 of the same Pokemon as I had in Charlotte, with Booster Energy Roaring Moon in place of Rapid-Strike Urshifu. I remember thinking that it was a neat take on the team and being happy that P2 had done so well, but I wound up not giving the Roaring Moon much thought for some reason. A couple weeks passed and I had largely forgotten about it when Lorenzo reached out to me on Twitter wanting to discuss the team in preparation for his upcoming tournaments. The Speed tier, offensive coverage, and defensive typing of Roaring Moon patched up many of the problems I was having with the team up until that point. Roaring Moon’s amazing matchup against opposing Ogerpon and Special Attacking Fire types, and its ability to offensively pressure Amoonguss and other Flying-weak Pokemon was very encouraging. Talking it over with Lorenzo, I was becoming increasingly curious and optimistic about Roaring Moon as the future of the team. The importable above is the first draft of my take on using Roaring Moon on this team.
https://pokepast.es/b2679018a596768b
At the beginning of Reg F, most Ogerpon were tending towards bulk and often did not have the Speed investment to outrun Timid Landorus-Incarnate. As the format progressed and Landorus proved to be a defining offensive threat in the meta, players adapted by training their Ogerpon to outspeed Timid Landorus. This trend affected my team heavily as a fast Wellspring Ogerpon could circumvent Amooguss’s redirection and threaten huge damage onto my Landorus. Additionally, the format had recently seen a major uptick in Hearthflame Ogerpon usage as a result of the team that Wolfe Glick and Antonio Sanchez used to win Charlotte and Liverpool, respectively. Consequently, when I made the switch from Rapid-Strike Urshifu to Roaring Moon, it quickly became apparent that Roaring Moon giving the team the option to outspeed these Ogerpon was too good to pass up.
https://pokepast.es/4cee129cc244f3f0
Another development in the meta that was causing the team discomfort was the fast Bloodmoon Ursaluna, Farigiraf, Tornadus team piloted by Charlotte Regional finalist, Nicholas Donnelly. Before training my Incineroar to outspeed the Ursaluna, Life Orb Tera Normal Blood Moon and Earth Power would just shred through the team, not giving me room to maneuver and set Trick Room as the team likes to do. While Incineroar being faster than Ursaluna wasn’t a panacea for the matchup, it gave me new options that could complicate the position for my opponent. The option to Knock Off Ursaluna’s Life Orb or use Parting Shot before its attack went off could catch them by surprise in game 1 and force them to read into whether or not I was using Fake Out or not on turn 1 in the rest of the set. In an attempt to try to further improve this matchup, I experimented with bulk on Roaring Moon to have a better chance of surviving Tera Normal Blood Moon.
https://pokepast.es/8fa424430af8a666
For the entirety of my time using Amoonguss since Regulation C, I had stuck to Pollen Puff, Spore, Rage Powder, and Protect. A lot of players that I had been talking to after Charlotte ardently expressed that they thought Sludge Bomb was the better attacking move on Amoonguss due to the pace of the format. I was reluctant to get rid of Pollen Puff because of how well it supports the team’s maneuvering options and ability to win drawn out positional bouts, so I decided to try dropping Protect. I had noticed that Protect was my least used move by far and was curious about how Sludge Bomb could improve Amoonguss’ matchup against Ogerpon and its ability to damage Fairy and Flying types. Amoonguss felt immediately stronger during testing so I locked in Sludge Bomb over Protect.
During this time, my practice games were going much better and my confidence in the team was restored. Playing with the team felt intuitive and fluid once again and I was solidly in the mix of the top slots on the Bo3 ladder. After the addition of Sludge Bomb on Amoonguss and a few spread tweaks on Incineroar and Roaring Moon, the team was ready for battle in Vancouver.
March 23rd-24th: Vancouver Regional Championships
https://pokepast.es/aa5f36311515bc29
Click here to watch the video I recorded with Adi Subramanian covering my run in Vancouver!
Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Ability: Download
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 124 Def / 92 SpA / 36 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
– Tera Blast
– Ice Beam
– Recover
– Trick Room
- +1 92+ SpA Tera-Poison Porygon2 Tera Blast vs. 164 HP / 0 SpD Ogerpon-Wellspring: 176-210 (100 – 119.3%) — guaranteed OHKO
- +1 4 Atk Tera-Poison Porygon2 Tera Blast vs. 212 HP / 132 Def Flutter Mane: 75-88 (47.7 – 56%) — 80.9% chance to 2HKO
- 252+ Atk Mystic Water Tera-Water Urshifu-Rapid Strike Surging Strikes (3 hits) vs. 252 HP / 124 Def Eviolite Porygon2 in Rain on a critical hit: 168-198 (87.5 – 103.1%) — approx. 6.3% chance to OHKO
- 252+ Atk Urshifu-Rapid Strike Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 124 Def Eviolite Porygon2: 144-170 (75 – 88.5%) — guaranteed 2HKO
- 252+ SpA Life Orb Tera-Normal Ursaluna-Bloodmoon Blood Moon vs. 252 HP / 36 SpD Eviolite Porygon2: 159-187 (82.8 – 97.3%) — guaranteed 2HKO
- 252 SpA Choice Specs Beads of Ruin Chi-Yu Overheat vs. 252 HP / 36 SpD Eviolite Porygon2: 153-180 (79.6 – 93.7%) — guaranteed 2HKO
Porygon2 is the linchpin of the entire team. Its combination of defensive prowess, Speed control from Trick Room, added staying power with Recover, and powerful offense from Tera Blast and Ice Beam make it an incredibly strong Pokemon in the current format. While the original idea behind Tera Poison on P2 was to provide offensive coverage against Grass and Fairy, it came with the defensive benefits of flipping P2’s weakness to Fighting and making it a nightmare for teams lacking Ground or Psychic types to get rid of. Furthermore, the most common Ground type by a country mile is Landorus-Incarnate who is easily taken down by P2’s Ice Beam. The defensive investment ensured that P2 could tank a litany of different attacks including, but not limited to, Urshifu Close Combat, Life Orb Tera Normal Blood Moon, Choice Specs Chi-Yu Overheat, and Tera Water Mystic Water Surging Strikes in Rain.
The Download ability is a major part of why P2 is such a strong Pokemon. With the Special Attack boost, P2 can reliably one shot opposing Ogerpon with Tera Poison Tera Blast. This can either get rid of the Ogerpon entirely, or force it to Terastallize and lose its immunity to Amoonguss’ Spore and Rage Powder. I mentioned it earlier, but for those that might have skipped to this part of the report, the Attack boost from Download is also a major part of why I loved using P2. With +1 Attack, Tera Poison Tera Blast would deal Physical damage due to P2’s Attack stat surpassing its Special Attack after the modifier. This allows it to two-shot opposing Flutter Mane and Chi-Yu and to deal greater damage to Pokemon wearing the Assault Vest like Rillaboom. It is able to punch big holes in Pokemon that boost their Special Defense like Quiver Dance Volcarona and Calm Mind Raging Bolt, as well. This spread maximizes the amount of Special Attack P2 can have while still having access to Physical Tera Blast off of the Download boost: P2’s Special Attack stat is 150 and its Attack stat reaches 151 at +1. It is my belief that P2’s ability to deal damage is essential to how this team functions. P2 being able to sit on the field and dole out steady amounts of neutral damage, or threaten KOs with super effective hits is crucial to how I play this team. I could not see myself having as much success as I did with a different spread or Tera type.
People that I discussed the team with had proposed the idea of swapping out Ice Beam for Eerie Impulse, switching from Download to Trace, and/or using Tera Flying instead of Poison. Eerie Impulse allows P2 to shut down Special threats, Trace has some nifty use cases like giving P2 Intimidate or Water Absorb, and Tera Flying offers many of the same benefits as Tera Poison, but is stronger against opposing Landorus. For the same reasons that I wound up abandoning Ting-Lu and Suicune, I had major doubts about Trace or Eerie Impulse being able to uphold the level of pressure that Download and Ice Beam exert. Tera Flying seemed interesting at first, but I strongly disliked the idea of becoming weak to Ice and Electric amidst the prevalence of Raging Bolt and Chien-Pao. There have been successful teams online and in tournaments that have utilized these options, but I much prefer this offensive Tera Poison P2 set.
P2 is amazing at simplifying team preview as there are numerous matchups where Incineroar and P2 can easily set up Trick Room off the lead and dictate the pace of the battle. Not only that, but P2’s insane bulk makes it a strong default fourth Pokemon to bring when the team’s game plan is not concrete. It is this flexibility that makes P2 so enjoyable for me to use. I am a defensive player at heart and P2 has all of the tools that I look for in a Pokemon.
Incineroar @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Intimidate
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 228 HP / 36 Atk / 4 Def / 36 SpD / 204 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Flare Blitz
– Knock Off
– Parting Shot
– Fake Out
- 36+ Atk Incineroar Flare Blitz vs. 244 HP / 44 Def Gholdengo: 174-206 (90.1 – 106.7%) — 37.5% chance to OHKO
- 36+ Atk Incineroar Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Rillaboom: 188-224 (90.8 – 108.2%) — 43.8% chance to OHKO
- 36+ Atk Incineroar Flare Blitz vs. 164 HP / 0 Def Ogerpon-Wellspring: 102-120 (57.9 – 68.1%) — guaranteed 2HKO
- 252 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Landorus Sludge Bomb vs. 236 HP / 36 SpD Tera-Grass Incineroar: 166-198 (83 – 99%) — guaranteed 2HKO after Sitrus Berry recovery
Everyone’s favorite VGC swiss army knife, Incineroar, is the cornerstone of this team’s ability to control the flow of battle. Fake Out enables P2 to reliably set up Trick Room and the rest of the team’s setup moves, Intimidate extends the team’s bulk, and Parting Shot provides much needed damage control and allows the team to pivot into favorable positions. The defensive synergy that Incineroar has with Amoonguss and the benefits that both Pokemon gain by pivoting in and out is absolutely essential to the way that this team is meant to be played.
The criminal amount of Speed that I chose to run on this spread allows my Incineroar to always outspeed Modest Blood Moon Ursaluna. This made a major difference in the matchup against teams using fast Blood Moon, and came with unforeseen benefits like outspeeding a number of Raging Bolt spreads and always having the faster Fake Out than opposing Incineroar. I gave Incineroar an extra point in Speed so that it would not Speed tie with my Gholdengo. This decision inadvertently allowed Incineroar to use Knock Off to remove my opponent’s Assault Vest before Gholdengo attacked so that it could deal more damage.
The Attack investment is not for a specific damage roll. After using a Careful nature for the first couple months of Reg F, I was starting to grow weary of how little damage my Incineroar was doing. After running calculations, I saw that going from Careful to Adamant did not change many relevant defensive rolls whereas the increase in output was considerable. I tuned the spread to always survive Landorus-Incarnate’s Sludge Bomb from full health after Terastallizing into Grass.
I want to mention that I did spend time considering a different Incineroar moveset, like potentially replacing Knock Off with Will-o-Wisp or Taunt. I ultimately chose to stick to Knock Off to give Incineroar the ability to be offensive in more positions as well as maintaining the option to get rid of opposing Safety Goggles to clear the way for Amoonguss to take charge of the battle.
I chose to run Tera Grass and the Sitrus Berry item because I disliked the fact that Safety Goggles was basically only useful against opposing Amoonguss. If my Incineroar is holding the Safety Goggles and my opponent does not have an Amoonguss, my Incineroar would effectively have no item. Sitrus Berry provides consistent value and, with the Grass Tera type, I still have the ability to become immune to Spore. Additionally, Tera Grass Incineroar is a strong option against opposing Ogerpon, Rapid-Strike Urshifu, Dondozo, and Landorus-Incarnate.
Amoonguss @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 236 HP / 236 Def / 36 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 27 Spe
– Sludge Bomb
– Pollen Puff
– Spore
– Rage Powder
- 0 SpA Amoonguss Sludge Bomb vs. 164 HP / 0 SpD Ogerpon-Wellspring: 92-110 (52.2 – 62.5%) — guaranteed 2HKO
- 252+ Atk Sword of Ruin Chien-Pao Icicle Crash vs. 236 HP / 236+ Def Amoonguss: 186-218 (84.9 – 99.5%) — guaranteed 2HKO
- 252 Atk Gouging Fire Heat Crash (120 BP) vs. 236 HP / 236+ Def Amoonguss: 170-204 (77.6 – 93.1%) — guaranteed 2HKO
- 196+ Atk Incineroar Flare Blitz vs. 236 HP / 236+ Def Amoonguss: 182-216 (83.1 – 98.6%) — guaranteed 2HKO
The final member of the team’s defensive backbone, Amoonguss’ role on this team cannot be overstated. Incineroar and Amoonguss are the glue that holds this team together. Regenerator, coupled with how well Amoonguss switches in for every single Pokemon on this team is unbelievably powerful. Its defensive synergy with Landorus, Incineroar, Roaring Moon, and Gholdengo is a central element of this team. Amoonguss elevates this team’s ability to maneuver around offensive threats better than any other Pokemon could.
I stuck with the Rocky Helmet item partially because of how comfortable I was with it, but there are a number of scenarios where this choice greatly simplifies how this team approaches certain matchups. Rocky Helmet breaking Focus Sash on Single-Strike Urshifu and dealing tons of recoil damage to Rapid-Strike is a key tool in creating comfortable positions for my Landorus and Roaring Moon who always outspeed Urshifu so long as they’re not holding the Choice Scarf item. Rocky Helmet also helps supplement recoil damage onto Pokemon using Flare Blitz to damage/KO Amoonguss. Many players prefer the extra health that Sitrus Berry provides Amoonguss, but this team does so much pivoting that it is genuinely not uncommon for it to go down to red health just to switch out and back in multiple times until it is back to full.
I talked about it earlier, but I’ll mention it again. I switched to Sludge Bomb over Protect only a week before Vancouver. The option for Amoonguss to deal damage to a wider range of Pokemon, giving it a higher-damage attack to use while Taunted, increasing the amount of pressure it applies to opposing Ogerpon, and further punishing Pokemon using the Grass Tera type to avoid Spore were all huge benefits that paid dividends in Vancouver. Spore and Rage Powder are non-negotiable for being able to apply pressure and support the team. Pollen Puff on Amoonguss is one of the most overpowered moves in the game. In the balance mirror, games can last a long time. Pollen Puff being able to continuously supply my team with extra health is a tool that I do not think I could ever pass up when using Amoonguss. While I did not have to face any in Vancouver, Pollen Puff is also a very important tool in the matchup against Dondozo + Tatsugiri. Under Trick Room, Amoonguss can sit on the field and keep the team healthy while Dondozo struggles to make progress. I absolutely loved this Amoonguss moveset and wholeheartedly advocate for people to stick to it on this team and experiment with it on others!
Given the inevitable prevalence of Chien Pao, I think all Amoonguss should prioritize Physical Defense. Knowing that my Amoonguss can always survive Icicle Crash from full health, even if my Incineroar is unable to get Intimidate down makes a world of difference against Chien-Pao. Amoonguss is often the linchpin in my team’s management of opposing Physical threats so its survivability in those matchups is paramount.
I prefer Tera Water on Amoonguss due to it maintaining its natural resistance to Water. Rocky Helmet Amoonguss is the most bothersome Pokemon for opposing Rapid-Strike Urshifu, so being able to Terastallize and still resist Water is very powerful. In the matchup against opposing Chien-Pao in particular, Tera Water is extremely handy as it can allow Amoonguss to sit on the field against Urshifu, Chien-Pao, and Incineroar. In the Psyspam/hard Trick Room and Sun matchups, Amoonguss can Terastallize to resist Fire and get off a game-changing Spore. Tera Fire Choice Specs Eruption can just KO my Amoonguss even if my Tera type takes neutral damage from Fire attacks, so having a Tera type that resists Fire was mandatory.
Landorus @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 4 HP / 4 Def / 244 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
– Earth Power
– Sludge Bomb
– Substitute
– Protect
- 244 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Landorus Sludge Bomb vs. 4 HP / 4 SpD Ogerpon-Hearthflame: 164-195 (105.1 – 125%) — guaranteed OHKO
- 252 Atk Tera-Water Ogerpon-Wellspring Ivy Cudgel (1.2x Mask Boost) vs. 4 HP / 4 Def Tera-Poison Landorus: 140-166 (84.8 – 100.6%) — 6.3% chance to OHKO
The driving force behind the team’s offensive engine, Landorus-Incarnate is an invaluable source of damage. Ground being such a powerful offensive typing coupled with how much damage Landorus is able to do with Life Orb and Sheer Force makes it an enormous threat. Landorus’ Earth Power is the main method through which this team checks opposing Steel and Fire types and Raging Bolt. Kingambit, Incineroar, Gouging Fire, and Gholdengo all give the rest of the team problems in Landorus’ absence. The coverage that Ground provides is integral to how this team threatens those Pokemon.
This Landorus set is, of course, very standard. What I will say is that, the option to boost Sludge Bomb with Tera Poison is a big part of how I approach the matchup against opposing Ogerpon and Rillaboom. On top of that, I disliked how Tera Steel would make Landorus weak to Fighting and Fire which is relevant against Sacred Sword from Chien-Pao and Flare Blitz from Incineroar.
I have received questions from people about why I chose to run Timid max Speed Landorus instead of Modest with bulk. The main reason that I stuck to being fast was to ensure that Landorus is always moving before opposing non-Choice Scarf Urshifu. With Rocky Helmet Amoonguss and the knowledge that I would always be faster, this team had a much easier time dealing with both forms of Urshifu. Another noteworthy rationale for being fast is that it gives me the best odds of potentially outspeeding my opponent’s Ogerpon. In the event that my Landorus is faster than Ogerpon, the matchup for my team improves drastically.
Gholdengo @ Metal Coat
Ability: Good as Gold
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 244 HP / 44 Def / 212 SpA / 4 SpD / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
– Make It Rain
– Shadow Ball
– Nasty Plot
– Protect
- +1 212+ SpA Metal Coat Gholdengo Make It Rain vs. 244 HP / 12 SpD Ursaluna-Bloodmoon: 207-244 (94.5 – 111.4%) — 68.8% chance to OHKO
- 212+ SpA Metal Coat Gholdengo Make It Rain vs. 212 HP / 4 SpD Flutter Mane: 152-182 (96.8 – 115.9%) — 87.5% chance to OHKO
- 252+ Atk Mystic Water Tera-Water Urshifu-Rapid Strike Surging Strikes (3 hits) vs. 244 HP / 44 Def Gholdengo on a critical hit: 168-204 (87 – 105.6%) — approx. 6.3% chance to OHKO
- 252+ Atk Sword of Ruin Chien-Pao Sucker Punch vs. 244 HP / 44 Def Gholdengo: 164-194 (84.9 – 100.5%) — 6.3% chance to OHKO
To put it lightly, Gholdengo is one of the most broken Pokemon introduced in Generation 9. On this team in particular, Gholdengo’s natural typing and Nasty Plot are major assets in matchups like Dragonite + Chien Pao, Psyspam, Cresselia + Ursaluna, Ting-Lu + Dondozo, and against teams that rely heavily on Fake Out. Oftentimes, if Gholdengo is given the opportunity to set up a Nasty Plot relatively risk-free, it will just run away with the game. It is an especially obnoxious Pokemon for Psyspam teams to deal with as Gholdengo resists most of those Pokemon’s attacks and can set up Nasty Plot for free, making it next to impossible for the opponent to get into a good position.
The Special Attack investment on this Gholdengo and the Metal Coat item allow it to consistently OHKO opposing Flutter Mane, which is an invaluable capability against the popular Taunt sets. Taunt poses major problems as it shuts down all of the support moves that the team generally leans on to maintain its position. Without the ability to dispose of it quickly, Taunt Flutter Mane would shut down my Amoonguss and P2, leaving Gholdengo and the rest of my team vulnerable to the Landorus or Ogerpon standing next to it. The defensive investment allows Gholdengo to survive Tera Water Mystic Water Surging Strikes and Adamant Chien-Pao Sucker Punch the vast majority of the time.
Fairy is the best all-purpose defensive type in Reg F. On top of making Gholdengo highly effective against opposing Single-Strike Urshifu, Tera Fairy Gholdengo is a very difficult Pokemon for many teams to get rid of quickly.
Roaring Moon @ Booster Energy
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 52 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 196 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Knock Off
– Acrobatics
– Dragon Dance
– Protect
- 252 Atk Protosynthesis Tera-Flying Roaring Moon Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Tera-Fire Ogerpon-Hearthflame: 148-175 (94.8 – 112.1%) — 75% chance to OHKO
- 252 Atk Protosynthesis Roaring Moon Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 252 HP / 44 Def Ogerpon-Wellspring: 188-222 (100.5 – 118.7%) — guaranteed OHKO
- 252 Atk Protosynthesis Tera-Flying Roaring Moon Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 252 HP / 156 Def Flutter Mane: 162-192 (100 – 118.5%) — guaranteed OHKO
What I would probably consider the MVP of my run in Vancouver, Roaring Moon provided the team with much needed Speed and Physical damage output. The key difference between Roaring Moon and previous versions of the team was the strength of Roaring Moon’s natural defensive typing and its Speed tier. The Dark and Dragon typing was very relevant for my team which greatly appreciated the extra Psychic immunity and the resistances to Fire, Water, and Grass. The defensive implications of its natural typing was a major advantage that Roaring Moon had over other Pokemon I had tested in that slot. Roaring Moon’s natural bulk in combination with how strong its typing was made it a much more flexible Pokemon than Rapid-Strike Urshifu had been. Not to mention how being faster than opposing Landorus, Tornadus, and Ogerpon expanded how the team could approach matchups involving those Pokemon.
The Speed on Roaring Moon is to ensure that it is always faster than opposing Ogerpon and Tornadus. This makes a huge difference because being slower than either of those Pokemon, or things like Landorus and Chi-Yu, can mean the difference between taking no damage and losing an entire Pokemon. Once I had the Speed stat set, I messed around with different levels of bulk. Ultimately, I could not find convincing improvements to defensive damage rolls and decided to stick with max Attack. In Vancouver, Roaring Moon never failed to do the amount of damage that I needed it to and sometimes even blew past my expectations. The lack of bulk felt completely meaningless while the extra Attack undoubtedly won me multiple games.
The decisions to run Attack Booster Energy and Dragon Dance were both easy choices. This team really needed Roaring Moon to be a source of damage. Without the Attack boost from Protosynthesis, it would be considerably less threatening when using neutrally effective attacks. Dragon Dance was a crucial tool for Roaring Moon allowing it to outspeed Pokemon like Choice Scarf Urshifu and Quiver Dance Volcarona, as well as to neutralize Attack drops from Intimidate and Breaking Swipe.
One of the major boons of the team as a whole was the fact that I usually knew on team preview what all of the Speed interactions with my opponent were. My Incineroar is (pretty much) always faster than opposing Incineroar, my Landorus is always faster than non-Choice Scarf Urshifu, Roaring Moon is always faster than Landorus and Ogerpon, and my P2 is always slower than other Pokemon in its Speed tier. This made planning out how to approach matchups much easier because I never had to spend time worrying that I was going to get surprised by a Speed interaction. Overall, I do not think I would have changed a single thing about this team. All of my losses in Vancouver came down to my execution. The team had all the tools to win that I could ask for.
My Round 1 was against a formidable opponent, Collin Heier. We had played each other on ladder prior to the tournament, so we were both familiar with the matchup. I felt that the Ting-Lu Dondozo matchup was in my favor, and I just needed to use Gholdengo effectively to get through his Ting-Lu. I got a little too cute in game 1, thinking that I could catch him playing defensively. I eventually lost the war of attrition and knew that I needed to clean up my play. I succeeded in getting Gholdengo set up and cleanly took Game 2. Game 3 was a nail-biter that came down to me calling whether or not his Ogerpon would Spiky Shield or not in the end game as I went for Fake Out. I got the call wrong and was dead lost. We eventually reached a Ting-Lu vs low health P2 endgame. With Taunt on Ting-Lu, P2 pretty much always loses. For the first time in the whole set, I clicked Ice Beam as my last out…. and got the Freeze. Ting-Lu stayed frozen and P2 was freed from Sand Tomb and Taunt with 1 HP remaining. P2 succeeded in getting Recover off and clutched out the set… A completely fraudulent win, but I was determined to make it count…
In Round 8, I finally broke my lifelong stream curse and was featured for the very first time. Having played the same team earlier in the day and already thinking that I had a positive matchup, I started off the set filled with confidence. I immediately got the sense that Chuppa was not familiar with the matchup as he did not lead with the Ting-Lu Dondozo mode that has traditionally given my team problems. I was 100% in the zone and got all of the crucial calls right in Games 1 and 2, in addition to playing accurately. After using Nasty Plot and a preemptive Pollen Puff to get Gholdengo into position to get rid of Ting-Lu, I handedly took game 1. Game 2 was even more convincing with me calling every single defensive maneuver Chuppa attempted, never targeting into a Protect and reaching an endgame with Tera Normal Dragonite against Gholdengo and two healthy Pokemon. Having locked Day 2 early, I was feeling very confident for the rest of the tournament…
In Round 13, I got the pair up into Brady Smith using the Japan balance team, one of the matchups that I was the most familiar with. After an abysmal turn 1 where I whiffed Fake Out into Tera Ghost Incineroar and Raging Bolt managed to get a Calm Mind off, I maneuvered into a position where I could double the Raging Bolt slot for the KO with Earth Power + Knock Off. The massive Speed investment on Incineroar allowed it outspeed his Raging Bolt and I came out of the early game with little damage taken. Incineroar and Tera Poison P2 easily took control of the rest of the battle. In Game 2, I led Incineroar + Landorus against his Chien-Pao and Choice Scarf Urshifu and called out that he hadn’t brought Landorus, and scored the KO on Urshifu on turn 1 thanks to Fake Out + Earth Power. From there, he had little to nothing to deal with my Incineroar. That and an Ice Beam Freeze onto his Tera Ghost Chien-Pao completely locked him out of the game. With that win I had effectively locked my first ever top 8 finish and I was stoked!
In the last round, I had to face off with my good friend, Marcus Dion, who was on a killer run in Day 2. This match was technically a win-and-in situation, so we were chosen to be on stream. In Game 1, I made the mistake of leading Amoonguss and lost it immediately. With Amoonguss down, and only Incineroar and P2 in the back, I lacked the positional tools and damage output to get through his Tera Bug Raging Bolt and Hisuian Arcanine. Expecting him to use a similar game plan in Game 2, I dropped Incineroar for Roaring Moon who could punish Tera Bug Raging Bolt. Marcus made a hard read on turn 1 of Game 2 by double targeting my Landorus as I used Protect and was immediately super far behind. After committing Tera to Landorus and losing Arcanine, he no longer had the defensive resources to handle Roaring Moon. Game 3 was extremely close. An early Tera commitment from Marcus onto his Raging Bolt set the stage for late game Roaring Moon. I traded Landorus for damage onto Pelipper and got Amoonguss into position to put Raging Bolt to Sleep. The pivotal turn was Marcus’ decision to Flare Blitz Amoonguss in Rain instead of risking a miss with Head Smash. As a result, Amoonguss was left with enough health to survive U-Turn from Urshifu. Arcanine failing to get the first turn wake up put Marcus in a position where he would need to get a critical hit in order to win. After P2 tanked Close Combat from Urshifu, Roaring Moon took out Urshifu and the game was over. It felt great to win on stream, but that loss meant that Marcus missed out on top cut… It was a great set, but an undeniably unfortunate set of circumstances.
My Top 8 set against Brandon Davis went swimmingly with Roaring Moon putting in a ton of work. His team’s lack of Intimidate and handful of Physically frail Pokemon made Roaring Moon an absolute menace. After winning game 1, Roaring Moon and Gholdengo faced off with Indeedee and Iron Moth on the lead in Game 2. Figuring there was no reason not to, I targeted Iron Moth with Knock Off and went for Nasty Plot with Gholdengo. Brandon attempted what I assume was a Helping Hand Heat Wave, but Iron Moth got one shot by Protosynthesis boosted Knock Off. Gholdengo got off Nasty Plot for free and he was immediately too far behind. I watched Neil and Brady’s Top 8 set which would determine my opponent in Top 4. Knowing that things would be nowhere near as easy if I had to play Brady again, I prayed for Neil to take the set…
I went into my second set with Brady with some of the least confidence I had had all weekend. I knew the matchup well but I also knew that Brady was going to switch things up from our match in Swiss. I greeded for the KO onto Landorus on turn 1 and was immediately punished. A critical hit Earth Power onto my Amoonguss set me back even further later in the game, but I was not in a prime position to take the set regardless. Funnily enough, after reviewing the set, I realized that I could have definitely taken Game 1 if I had been slightly more aggressive with P2 against his Landorus on a later turn. In Game 2, I failed to correctly call out which of Brady’s Ground weak Pokemon would Tera and then proceeded to make a super aggressive read. Against his Chien-Pao and Raging Bolt, I had a super safe switch to P2 for Landorus and Parting Shot with Incineroar. Acknowledging this, I thought that he might go for Calm Mind with Raging Bolt instead of using Thunderclap to cover for Landorus staying on the field. I used my Tera Poison on Landorus and doubled the Raging Bolt, but he made the more straightforward play, I lost my Landorus and my Tera, and the game was effectively over. While I wish I could have taken the set, I don’t think that I played poorly, even now. Winning both sets would have been challenging against a player as strong as Brady, and I think the main reason I lost was my failure to get the calls correctly. Even though it sucks, I can live with losing that way.
At the end of the day, I was very happy to have finished well with this team that I spent so much time, effort, and thought on in my final event of the season!
Piloting the Team: Matchup Ideas and Game Plans
Incineroar is undoubtedly one of the strongest support Pokemon to have ever existed in the game. That being said, there are a number of new items and Pokemon standing in the way of Incineroar being able to do whatever it wants. Rapid-Strike Urshifu, Ogerpon-Wellspring, Landorus, Clear Amulet, Covert Cloak, Howl Gouging Fire, the list goes on. Despite how strong Incineroar’s toolkit is in giving the player control over the battle, it takes being highly cognizant of the position to maximize Incineroar’s effectiveness. My philosophy towards Incineroar is as follows:
- Incineroar’s favorite position to be in is on the field with Fake Out accessible.
- Incineroar’s second favorite position to be in is in the back, ready to switch in for one of its teammates.
- Incineroar’s least favorite position is when it is on the field, but does not have access to Fake Out.
Obviously, these are generalizations, There are plenty of exceptions to this theorem. However, being considerate towards where Incineroar wants to be on the following turn is a necessary element of piloting this team successfully. Sometimes, hard switching Incineroar out despite having Fake Out and Parting Shot available is the best play. Incineroar in Reg F requires significantly greater foresight than it has in previous rulesets. Be prepared to go against your instincts. Do I want Incineroar on the field or in the back next turn? Is getting the stat drop against the Pokemon I want to Parting Shot more important than getting the switch out? Do I care more about health on Incineroar or health on my other Pokemon? These are some of the key questions that you have to ask yourself when using Incineroar in this format. Incineroar being caught out of position is one of the easiest ways for this team to fall behind and eventually lose the battle.
Matchup Guide
| Opponent | Key Pokemon, Lead Ideas & Game Plans |
      (HO) | + || +  + || + One of the hardest matchups for this team. You have to lead Incineroar to pose problems to the Ursaluna. Without the option to Parting Shot or Fake Out to support the Pokemon next to Incineroar, Tera Normal Blood Moon + Taunt will completely destroy this team. Unfortunately, you generally have to make some calls and get them right if your opponent is familiar with the matchup. Incineroar being faster than Ursaluna is what makes this manageable. Gholdengo is threatening to Ursaluna, but it can be difficult to get it into a position to safely get rid of it. |
     (Balance) | +  || + + || + The reality of the balance mirror is that most of the outcome is determined by which player is more precise in coordinating their Pokemon. This is one of the matchups where positioning Incineroar well is absolutely necessary. If Incineroar winds up stuck on the field without Fake Out against Urshifu or Landorus, the game can quickly fall apart. The general game plan is to use the defensive synergy of Incineroar and Amoonguss to maneuver Landorus or P2 into a position to start threatening KOs. The double Fake Out core of this team can make reaching that position complicated, but this team absolutely has all of the tools needed to edge it out. |
 (Balance) | + || +  + || + Similar to the matchup above, precise maneuvering of Incineroar is mandatory. Especially in this matchup where Quiver Dance Volcarona can quickly get out of hand if you fail to get damage or Parting Shot into it. The goal of leading Incineroar + Landorus is to force the Fake Out Pokemon next to Volcarona to choose whether or not to stop Landorus from dealing major damage with Earth Power or blocking Incineroar’s attempt at preventing Quiver Dance. Incineroar walling out Volcarona is the key to controlling its damage output. Additionally, Roaring Moon is a useful tool to punish whichever Pokemon the opponent decides to Tera. If they burn Tera to save Incineroar from Landorus’ Earth Power, their Volcarona can no longer escape Acrobatics. If Volcarona uses Tera Fairy, Landorus can shred through its partners and gains access to super effective Sludge Bomb. When it comes to positioning Roaring Moon, it all comes down to timing. The best possible scenario for Roaring Moon in the matchup against Incineroar is for it to hit the field while Incineroar is out so that it can avoid getting Intimidated. Lastly, Attack boosted P2 can trade well with Volcarona in the endgame if you’re able to get rid of at least one of the Fake Out Pokemon. |
    (HO) | + || + This team featuring Landorus on top of Kingambit and Ogerpon makes things a little awkward. Against Ogerpon Kingambit the game plan usually involves using Tera Poison on Landorus to KO Ogerpon or force it to Tera and then lean into Amoonguss. Once things start going to Sleep, the team can control the position much more easily. However, in this matchup, using Tera on Landorus makes the team inevitably weaker to their Landorus. Depleting their defensive resources to enable Amoonguss is definitely still the key to this matchup, though. |
 (HO) | + || + _+ || + When these teams started to run Taunt on Fluttter Mane, I had to adjust my approach. Before that, Incineroar could easily lead next to P2 and Trick Room was essentially guaranteed. Against Taunt Flutter Mane, Gholdengo can lead and get rid of it with Make it Rain immediately. Amoonguss is great at discouraging the Flutter Mane from using Protect because they don’t want to let it use Spore freely. P2 as a lead next to Gholdengo is a strong option because it forces them to choose between stopping Gholdengo from KOing Flutter Mane and preventing the potential Trick Room from P2. Once Flutter goes down, P2 becomes remarkably easier to position and the team can run away with the game easily if it succeeds in getting up Trick Room. |
   (HO/Balance) | + || + In the worst case scenario, both the Urshifu and Archaludon are Tera Grass and Amoonguss cannot safely lead next to Landorus to shield it from incoming attacks. In that situation, leading Incineroar + Landorus, allows you to threaten the KO onto whichever of those two Pokemon they lead. Gholdengo and Amoonguss are crucial for their immunity to Spore and positive matchup against Archaludon. Without Tera Grass on the rain Pokemon, you can rely more on Amoonguss. |
   (Stall/Balance) | + || + The Ting-Lu on these teams with Sand Tomb and Taunt is a major nuisance to the members of this team’s defensive backbone. As a result, the early game is all about using Gholdengo to blow through Ting-Lu so that the rest of the team can utilize its support options and pivot comfortably. Once Ting-Lu is down, P2 is free to set Trick Room and deal big damage for the rest of the game. |
     (HO) | + || + One of the most important benefits of leading Roaring Moon and Gholdengo against Psyspam is the ability to double Protect to stall turns of Trick Room. A key element of the strategy for defeating these teams is denying the free switch to Torkoal or Ursaluna. Using Acrobatics on turn 1 against these teams is a powerful option for delaying the KO onto Indeedee. Gholdengo also does a really good job of making it difficult for the opponent to capitalize on Trick Room by walling out the Psychic types. Gholdengo having a Nasty Plot boost makes it very difficult for the opponent to safely get in their big hitters. If you make it out of the initial Trick Room with 2-3 Pokemon still alive and relatively healthy, you are in a prime spot to close out the game. Tera Water Amoonguss is a very strong option in these matchups to neutralize the opposing Torkoal. |
  (HO) | + || + + || + Similar to the matchup against the Hatterene version of this team, Roaring Moon and Gholdengo walling out the Psyspam mode of this team is the key to withstanding Trick Room. Armarouge being unable to deal significant damage to Roaring Moon is a major differentiator between the two matchups. The defensive synergy between Roaring Moon and Gholdengo really shines through in this matchup because each of them walls out out one of the two Psychic Terrain abusers on this team. Tera Water Amonguss is still really strong in this matchup. Landorus is a good option as well to set up a Substitute as they set Trick Room and to have a strong Special Attacker to deal with Torkoal and/or Armarouge in the endgame. |
  (HO) | + ||+ This team lacks the ability to deny Trick Room and once it’s set, Gholdengo comfortably takes care of the Ice types. Amoonguss under Trick Room can easily take control of the game as well. This is a matchup where P2’s ability to trade positively across the board is extremely beneficial. Even if you aren’t able to take out most of their Pokemon after the first Trick Room, P2 can easily tank most of the attacks that this team throws out and set another Trick Room later. |
  (HO) | + || + Taunt on Tornadus and Tera Ghost Choice Specs Overheat Chi-Yu makes it difficult to lead Incineroar + P2 because they can easily deny Trick Room. Roaring Moon + Incineroar can bait Fairy moves from Flutter Mane and Chi-Yu is forced to lock into a move that is not Overheat. This allows Incineroar to get off a Parting Shot and put P2 in a prime position to get up Trick Room. In classic HO fashion, the team tends to fall apart if it loses the Speed advantage. If you’re able to get Trick Room up successfully, Incineroar and P2 with support from Amoonguss can easily control the pace of the battle. |
 (Balance) | + || + + || + + || + The key to the Roaring Moon balance matchup is the fact that they often want to preserve Tera for the Roaring Moon. This makes it so that Landorus has a much easier time with the Ogerpon and Incineroar. If they use Tera on a Pokemon that is not Roaring Moon, Amoonguss is much more difficult for them to get rid of. Pivoting Incineroar out as often as possible in order to be prepared for the Roaring Moon coming is essential. This is a matchup where the Incineroar theorem I discussed is very pertinent. |
 (HO) | + || + + || + Like many of the other HO matchups, the ultimate goal against this kind of team is to set up Trick Room. Once they lose the ability to move first, this team is easy to take advantage of. Tera Ghost Choice Specs Chi-Yu or Choice Band Outrage from Dragonite combined with another attack can KO P2 in spite of Incineroar. There is merit to leading Incineroar + P2 and gambling on them not hitting Outrage into P2. However, Incineroar is a crucial defensive resource against Dondozo, Chi-Yu, and Chien-Pao, and leading it against Choice Band Dragonite can run the risk of losing it right out the gate. Against Dondozo + Tatsugiri, you always want to have Incineroar, P2, and Amoonguss. Those core 3 can completely destroy Dondozo as long as you keep them healthy. The only challenge of this matchup is ensuring that Trick Room goes up and that you don’t lose too much health in the process. |
Reflecting on Regulation F
Sticking to the same team for the entirety of a format showed me the beauty and the power of iterative teambuiilding. When we reached Vancouver, I was so much more experienced with my team than my opponents were with theirs. This is a ruleset that heavily rewards familiarity due to the sheer volume of Pokemon that are viable. Knowing your own team is much more feasible than having a team that can win on autopilot amidst a sea of different teams. Taking this P2 idea as my long term project in this format was not only extremely fun, but incredibly rewarding and lucrative. I strongly advocate for people to prioritize familiarity in the teambuilding process.
If you would like to try the team for yourself, here is the paste and rental Code!
https://pokepast.es/f8a4555f0015c3de
Special thanks to the P2 Crew! Y’all know who you are
One last thing: For Chongers
TremendirectionheatbowlmegahorrendongachongamingLendousge
VGC with Hats 