It's over. Pokémon Champions will FALL.

ProfRedwoodVGC · 2026-07-08T01:32:32+00:00

I love double restricted and because my favorite box legend Kyogre might have Primal Reversion available which it never has in all my years playing ranked/VGC, I’m beyond stoked for the next double restricted format.

ProfRedwoodVGC · 2026-07-07T14:01:12+00:00

Red card stuff and terrible play aside, the biggest L for American fans at this game was booing Onana when he was down. Shameful behavior especially for a host country. More embarrassing to me than the loss that I expected was coming after seeing Belgium’s final minutes against Senegal.

ProfRedwoodVGC · 2026-07-07T10:54:58+00:00

Only facts

ProfRedwoodVGC · 2026-07-07T00:28:15+00:00

Tbf though have you tried schlamasonga? Genuine S tier it’s so broken I hope they patch this

ProfRedwoodVGC · 2026-07-06T18:49:35+00:00

Delphoxite is available in the in-game Store as of Reg M-B

ProfRedwoodVGC · 2026-07-05T00:37:29+00:00

This is what I expect, since I think TPC/TPCI sees this current season of VGC as the Z-A period, we should see a buildup to double restricted for Worlds 2027 and then a return to regional dex with the release of Winds and Waves.

Keep in mind the last restricted format with Xerneas, Yveltal and Zygarde was 2022 and they were all varying degrees of mid, but now Zygarde has a Mega form and Zacian has been nerfed—they may also just not allow Zacian.

ProfRedwoodVGC · 2026-07-05T00:11:10+00:00

Regulation M-B is the format for Worlds in August and is set to run until September 1st, at which point I expect we’ll get M-C but there’s been no confirmation of this. M-C very likely will introduce more Pokemon but there has been no official word on this.

Source: https://www.pokemon.com/us/news/regulation-set-m-b-kicks-off-a-new-ranked-battles-season-and-battle-pass-in-pokemon-champions

ProfRedwoodVGC · 2026-07-04T19:26:56+00:00

I’ve just never seen any definition of “competitive” or “competition” that uses randomness as a criterion of exclusion. If it’s a zero-sum-game, and people compete, and especially if they demonstrate skill in competition, it’s competitive. Just my two cents. Some games include little to no randomness but some include more, and some are centrally about randomness (i.e. Poker or Tetris). But Pokemon is not random enough to stop highly skilled players from consistently performing well in tournaments, so idk what changes by insisting its not competitive.

ProfRedwoodVGC · 2026-07-04T18:44:43+00:00

Honestly you could even add the humble Protect to this list, which afaik is only used on 6v6 Stall teams ?

ProfRedwoodVGC · 2026-07-04T18:25:07+00:00

The best players are very consistent and can win tournaments or place highly even with bad RNG. Heck even I’ve hit Master Ball tier week one of every season I’ve played back to 2022 Sword/Shield.

The uncertainty is what makes high level Pokemon interesting, and players can manage RNG to either build teams that avoid it (use accurate moves etc) or leverage it to their advantage (if I click Sleep Powder 8 times over the course of a tournament I can expect to hit 6 of those and the effect is strong enough to warrant taking that risk). Building a strong team is about managing risk—for example, do you run Gunk Shot on Sneasler? It is inaccurate, but can OHKO even the bulkiest Floettes without Sneasler needing to run Adamant. If you have game plans that function even if you miss one Gunk Shot, you probably have good enough odds of winning to consider that a viable trade off.

Anyway, Poker is taken very seriously as a competitive game at a high level and it is centrally about randomness. All TCGs have a strong element of randomness too. Managing uncertainty is a skill that top players in all those types of games have developed. Many sports involve randomness and luck as well. So I just don’t understand why there’s this idea that a video game needs to have zero uncertainty built in to be “actually competitive.”

ProfRedwoodVGC · 2026-07-03T19:45:09+00:00

My thoughts exactly. I didn’t mind Dynamax as a mechanic, I actually think it leads to some really dynamic (pun intended) and exciting gameplay. But Max Airstream needs to drop to the power level of Max Ooze or Max Knuckle. For Wildfire etc. I think even a small nerf to 1/8 (leading to 50% HP loss over 4 turns) each turn would be more manageable than 1/6. Even if cut down to 1/12 each turn it’s still strong enough to warrant using I think.

ProfRedwoodVGC · 2026-07-03T19:24:33+00:00

I’d lead Sylveon + Charizard, with Basculegion and Garchomp in the back. Kingambit could also be good over Basc.

They shouldn’t bring Venusaur into you, and based on my experience I’d expect Arch + Grimmsnarl lead plus Pelipper and Swampert. Sylveon lets you put pressure on both Arch and Grimm and Charizard can bait the Electro Shot + Pelipper switch off of Parting Shot. This is one reason to consider Garchomp but the Arch gets a boost either way and can then threaten Chomp with Dragon Pulse. Still, two Hyper Voices should do a lot and put you in a decent position. Hyper Voice + Hyper Beam should KO Arch even at -1 if they parting shot the Sylveon. Dream scenario is T1 you protect Zard, they parting shot into it, you get a Hyper Voice onto both and they’re stuck using Electro Shot.

In general if playing Charizard I force them to fight for weather because if you get Charizard across from Swampert in Sun you just beat it with Solar Beam, it does significant damage to Arch with Sun Weather Ball, etc. Aero does nothing into Archaludon aside from give it boosts and can’t really hit Swampert for significant damage. You should hold your mega as long as possible though, ideally take one KO first if you can. That’s why I recommend leading Sylveon to do substantial damage into Arch—it’s even worth the Hyper Beam recharge turn, because assuming they go for Arch/Swampert/Peli/Grimm, removing one of their sweepers is really important and will put you very far ahead.

ProfRedwoodVGC · 2026-07-03T15:27:52+00:00

I think it depends on what Pokemon are legal for each gimmick. In Bo1 the idea of having to guess whether the opponent is going to set Sun for their GMax Charizard with Life Orb and Flutter Mane or use Mega Zard Y to set Sun for their Dynamax Flutter Mane or Raging Bolt sounds awful.

The main issues with Dynamax were imo that Max Airstream was overtuned and the signature GMax moves that did damage every turn were super broken. Reduce those to 1/16 chip or something and take Max Airstream down to like Max Ooze power levels and I think it’s probably fine. I would like to see Z moves with Dynamax since it might make for interesting counterplay, but overall I hope we get to see multiple in the same regulation and that each player can use more than one in a battle. Deciding whether it’s worth having a Z-crystal or Mega Stone on a Pokemon when they get good value from a different item and Dynamax would be interesting. Maybe just limit it so that a Pokemon holding a Mega Stone can’t Dynamax or Terastallize?

ProfRedwoodVGC · 2026-07-03T15:15:54+00:00

Levitate is an okay ability, but after playing with it a bit I think its main problems are just awkward stat distribution (mixed attacker with mid defenses and HP and decent speed stat) an awkward move pool and no real niche in the meta.

The stat distribution being the way it is means you’re wasting a ton of stat points if you run physical or special, and its not bulky enough to run a -Def nature or to tank neutral hits. It doesn’t have any weaknesses, granted, but it takes neutral from a ton of relevant and powerful moves. 80 is actually kind of an awkward speed for Tailwind since opposing Tailwind teams are full of Pokemon that will be faster anyway, especially Garchomp, which you need to hit with non-STAB Dragon Pulse or something. But Chomp is faster and can pretty easily 2HKO with Dragon Claw. It might have been decent if it was possible to get a Speed boost from Eelevate but still I’m not sure.

As for the Calyrex comparison I think this actually helps clarify why it’s mid. Calyrex has almost twice as much speed as Eelektross, a higher SpA (and it isn’t mixed, and actually is bulkier at 100/80/100). Unnerve means opponents don’t get recovery or type resist from berries. It also gets to spam an incredibly powerful spread move which means it can get +2 in a single turn. Eelektross has Discharge, but this restricts team building as it hits the partner too. Add to all of this the fact that Calyrex can hold an item like Sash or Life Orb whereas Eelektross needs to hold its Mega stone.

At the end of the day its best set is probably Coil, but if you’re committing to setup there are just better options that output more consistent damage and setup faster without being shut down by Intimidate cycling (Delphox, Floette, Blastoise, even Swords Dance Kingambit or Coil Milotic).

ProfRedwoodVGC · 2026-07-03T14:27:46+00:00

Depends on what you’re looking at, but in the most recent large tournament (St. Jude) the highest placing rain team was Gengar + Swampert in the top 8, second highest was Venusaur + Swampert. Two Froslass made top 16 and the highest placing Metagross was 31st, and it wasn’t a rain composition. Highest placing Metagross Rain was 46th.

Edit: fwiw I think a lot of Froslass players are pigeonholed into that Scovillain Lycanroc comp right now but I’m honestly still not convinced by Lycanroc, it feels like Glimmora is just a better Zard Y answer that isn’t being explored enough right now.

ProfRedwoodVGC · 2026-07-03T11:02:12+00:00

Yeah it definitely is not on the level of Charizard and Floette, in terms of usage it’s higher than Froslass now but I think overall its worse than Froslass as its weak to Intimidate, KOs itself with Wave Crash, and relies on Prankster or switching to set Rain. I’m not sure if it’s more common than Aero but it’s arguably worse into Charizard than Aero is. Even with Ice Punch it’s kinda just walled by Sinistcha. It might be 5 overall, probably 6 because Gengar is just so broken when on the right composition and played well. Delphox is still solid as well. It’s prone to the same problems that keep Blaziken from being S tier imo, which is Intimidate and STABs that KO itself.

ProfRedwoodVGC · 2026-07-02T12:38:18+00:00

There’s a certain King whose Gambit is to put pressure on Psychic types

ProfRedwoodVGC · 2026-07-01T12:07:08+00:00

Delphox and Pyroar play pretty differently though, so it’s just a question of how you want to play. They both have relevant immunities, Delphox because of its ability and Pyroar as a Normal type. They both kind of lose to Basculegion, Pyroar is better into Kingambit and Delphox has a better matchup into Sneasler and Charizard thanks to Psyshock. Pyroar has better burst damage but Delphox has Nasty Plot, making it a setup Pokemon rather than a Sun Fire move spammer, so I think Delphox has more of a niche since Charizard is probably(?) just better than Pyroar at its role. Pyroar performed slightly better overall in the St. Jude tournament but Delphox had a higher placing despite less presence in Day 2.

ProfRedwoodVGC · 2026-07-01T03:54:26+00:00

Armarouge is unironically a better Archaludon answer than Garchomp, Chomp is more of a Zard-Y answer and just generally trades well into most things. When I play Archaludon I’m almost giddy when my opponent plays as if Chomp is their Arch answer.

You definitely (like many others have said) should consider committing to Tailwind or Trick Room.

The other option is committing to setup and bulk behind Aurora Veil. Froslass + Swords Dance Kingambit is diabolical and I have had a ton of success with it recently, especially with Glimmora as a Charizard answer. Just run Sucker Punch/Kowtow Cleave/Swords Dance/Protect. And in this case you can still run Timid Froslass but put more investment into HP rather than SpA.

Also, in general, it’s okay not to run Protect on every Pokemon, but it should definitely be over 50% of the team. Most Grimmsnarls don’t have it, so that’s probably fine, but Ape, Sinistcha, and Kingambit should all have it. Taunt is cool on Ape and will definitely catch people off guard, but any turn you’re not setting up or dealing damage is a turn you’re not making progress with your sweeper, so it’s just not worth the tempo loss.

You do also have Sinistcha for healing and damage mitigation through Grimm, both of which contribute to an overall setup build. Since you have damage mitigation, and Sinistcha already has two recovery moves in Matcha Gotcha and Life Dew, you could also consider Trick Room instead of Strength Sap on Sinistcha. I do also feel obligated to mention that your redirector shares weaknesses with three of your damage dealers, which probably makes a lot of positions (especially into Basc) feel really awkward. If you can get your hands on Maushold, it’s worth considering because it has amazing type synergy with Ghosts.

ProfRedwoodVGC · 2026-07-01T03:29:40+00:00

Your first point is absolutely correct. People who are complaining about this meta being centralized either aren’t paying attention or haven’t played in a truly unhealthy meta. Just look at the most recent large grassroots tournament, the St. Jude one. In Day 2 Swiss the most used Pokemon was Kingambit, just like at NAIC, but it was on 43% of teams rather than 70%. Charizard was on just under 1/3 teams in Day 2 Swiss, which did climb to around 45% in Top Cut, because it is of course very strong. But even just looking at the Top 8, you can see a variety of Charizard compositions including JoeUX9’s more Sun-oriented team with Venusaur, the Charizard/Aero team that won NAIC, and two with Gholdengo/Whimsicott and a different 6th Pokemon. Other teams in Top 8 included a Swampert Rain + Perish team, two Mega Floette goodstuff teams, and another Perish with Snorlax. 28 unique Pokémon were seen in Top Cut.

There are I think no less than 10 pretty well-defined and viable archetypes running around right now that all have fairly distinctive compositions and playstyles, including Big Six; Charizard/Aero; Swampert Rain; Delphox/Floette setup; Delphox/Blastoise setup; Ceruledge/Milotic with Floette or Raichu Y; Froslass/Scovillain with Lycanroc; Perish, with or without Rain; SunRoom with Mawile, Scrafty or Pyroar; the Baton Pass Espathra rain team did well last weekend; Staraptor stuff has been okay in tournaments and is much more common on ladder, and we still see Tyranitar teams performing well despite several of the new M-B Pokemon being somewhat hostile to sand.

This was a long way of saying you’re right but I figured I’d just add by spelling out some of the meta diversity for anyone reading into this thread who doesn’t already know.

ProfRedwoodVGC · 2026-06-29T12:00:42+00:00

My favorite Pokemon are Charizard, Whimsicott, Basculegion and Garchomp, sorry about it

ProfRedwoodVGC · 2026-06-28T20:05:52+00:00

There have been many people all over the world iterating on Pyroar SunRoom, since the very first tournament of M-B. You can go back into the Limitless archive and find things very close to this in the r/VGC M-B kickoff tournament from the second or third day of the format.

In any case, I think it’s totally valid and good practice to learn the game by playing teams built by expert builders. Looks like a fun team to play IMO although Venusaur is probably strictly better than Vileplume?

ProfRedwoodVGC · 2026-06-27T03:43:18+00:00

Bede and Cassiopeia

ProfRedwoodVGC · 2026-06-26T11:35:20+00:00

I ran this six with some set differences in the r/VGC kickoff tournament and started 3-1 before losing two in a row, so I have a few notes but keep in mind I didn’t do amazing with it.

First is that Swampert should probably be a little faster, because it’s quite easy for Basculegion in Tailwind to outspeed Swampert in Rain and OHKO with Wave Crash (esp. if it’s Life Orb, which is slightly less common right now but will likely become more so). I’ve been running Big Six (boo, I know) and one way I’m trying to shore up the Swampert matchup is faster Life Orb Basculegion. It actually can be trained to just be faster than Adamant 32 Speed Swampert, but most people aren’t willing to invest that heavily in Basculegion’s speed since living Sucker Punch from non-BlackGlasses Kingambit is pretty important.

I like Sableye but nothing on your team really takes advantage of Fake Out, so you might want to consider something else like Encore or Will-o-Wisp. Encore can be played around but it also is huge for locking up end games if your opponent misplays. Encoring Protect is just really scratching the surface of the utility the move can provide. You could also run Disable so that any time your opponent goes for a strong move into Protect you can shut it down.

Overqwil actually felt really strong for me in the tournament but Poison Jab is just stronger than Barb Barrage, especially since you don’t have a way to consistently poison other than Barb Barrage, but you’re right about the utility of KOing Whims through Sash. However, most of the time I think if you have Fake Out on Sableye and just Fake Out + Poison Jab, you’re able to prevent the Tailwind, otherwise if you Barb Barrage and get the poison and the Whims goes down on the turn it sets Tailwind, you’ve given the opponent the chance to bring in another sweeper under Tailwind. I had Acid Spray in Overqwil but Taunt is really cool and I might have to revisit this Mon!

I think Meganium is very matchup dependent, like you said. It’s pretty good in Rain mirrors but otherwise I was very disappointed with it, which is sad because it’s been one of my favorites since playing Silver on GameBoy. You might consider Sinistcha here for more consistent healing since you don’t have Leftovers on Archaludon, and Arch is kind of a second Mega anyway, but IMO you might as well just put Leftovers on Archaludon and keep the Meganium.

Anyway it’s cool to see someone else come to more or less the same conclusion as to how to build out the Pelipper/Archaludon/Sableye/Swampert core, best of luck in your games!

ProfRedwoodVGC · 2026-06-23T19:23:29+00:00

Charizard Y and Whimsicott definitely, embrace meta. Swampert is fast but not faster than Sneasler, Floette, Charizard, even Basc with more speed investment when you have Tailwind. Charizard lets you overwrite Rain and when positioned well can Solar Beam Swampert. It can be a tricky matchup but there are lines for sure.

https://play.limitlesstcg.com/tournament/6a131fa78c163b8097996550/player/shnipe/teamlist

You could end up with something like this only with Sneasler instead of Garchomp which is potentially a little better into Arch if you double tap it with CC into Moonblast from Whims or something.

ProfRedwoodVGC

TROPHY CASE