The 2017 International Challenge May offered Pokémon Sun and Moon players a final opportunity to boost their pool of Championship Points online by competing against Trainers from all over the world in the Championships Battle format.
The main objective of many competitors was preparing for the World Championships, either by refining their skills or earning an invitation to the 2017 Pokémon World Championships. Plus, all Trainers who participated in at least three battles received a special code that could be redeemed for Tyranitarite, Abomasite, and Manectite Mega Stones.
Read on for a look at the top teams and trends in the Masters Division from the International Challenge May. We’ll focus on how the trends from this Online Competition could impact the remaining VGC tournaments as we march closer to the Pokémon World Championships. Experience from the International Challenge May could be key for Trainers dreaming to become World Champion, so don’t forget to sign up for future International Challenges if you’re looking to prove you’re the very best.
Tournament Tales
The top-performing players in most Pokémon Global Link Online Competitions succeed because of their innovative Pokémon choices. Selecting a team composed of surprising and confounding Pokémon gives them an edge against opponents using Pokémon near the top of the Pokémon Ranking. The International Challenge May was largely not like most Pokémon Global Link Online Competitions.
Beyond an affinity for Gigalith and an aversion to Garchomp and Celesteela, the top players in May reinforced trends instead of counteracting them. The top five teams each featured Arcanine, Kartana, Porygon2, and Gigalith, four used Tapu Koko, and three used Tapu Fini. The only other Pokémon to appear on any of these teams were Tapu Lele and Nihilego, which combined for the other three appearances. Just eight different Pokémon appearing in the top five teams is an all-time low, even compared to International Challenges in 2015 and 2016.
One reason for the limited variety could be that Trainers were looking to get some safe Championship Points late in the season to solidify their positions before the 2017 Pokémon World Championships. They could have selected these popular Pokémon to reduce the odds of putting up a disappointing performance, but with many top players hailing from regions that don’t use Championship Points, it doesn’t seem like this was the case. Perhaps Trainers used this tournament to test new strategies in advance of the North American International Championships and Worlds, but found that their strategies still needed more refining.
We should be clear: it’s not as if there was no variation in the upper echelons of the May International Challenge. Trainers continued a trend toward Nihilego that we’d seen in May and June’s Live Competitions. The Parasite Pokémon moved up six spots in the overall Pokémon Ranking and appeared on two of the top 10 teams. Tapu Bulu also appeared on two teams that made the front page of the Trainer Ranking, perhaps confounding its significant pool of doubters among marquee Video Game Championships competitors. Ula’ula Island’s guardian wasn’t the most surprising Grass-type Pokémon in the top 10, however—that crown goes to the rarely-seen Tsareena and its Queenly Majesty Ability. And few Trainers would have expected Kommo-o to appear on as many top 10 teams as the most popular Pokémon in the tournament overall, Garchomp. (Both Pokémon appeared on only one top 10 team, despite their popularity overall.)
The biggest story from the May International Challenge was the dominating performances by Trainers using Arcanine, Gigalith, Kartana, and Porygon2. The power of each of these Pokémon is clear, but will they continue to dominate Video Game Championships through the Pokémon World Championships? With the final International Challenge of the 2017 Video Game Championships season complete, let’s dig deeper into whether the May International Challenge was a harbinger of future success or if these Pokémon will rejoin the pack soon.
Arcanine
Why it could keep burning up the battlefield: It’s tough to deal with Kartana, Celesteela, Tapu Bulu, and Ninetales without a Fire-type Pokémon, and there aren’t many other flexible Fire-type Pokémon available. There is an even greater of shortage of Pokémon with the powerful Intimidate Ability—Gyarados is the only Pokémon other than Arcanine with Intimidate to have much success this season.
Why it could flame out: A large contingent of Trainers would need to decide that they’d prefer to use the Drizzle Ability to drown out the hot summer sun in Indianapolis and Anaheim. It’s hard to imagine the World Championships won’t feature plenty of Arcanine otherwise—Trainers are already using plenty of Garchomp and Gigalith to make battles tough for it, but it hasn’t seemed to matter.
Kartana
Why it could keep slicing through teams: The diminutive Kartana has been a huge factor all season despite Arcanine’s popularity, so it’s hard to imagine the environment getting any more hostile than it’s already been. As long as the Fairy-type Tapu remain a defining element of the Video Game Championships, there will probably be a place for the Steel-type Kartana. Gigalith’s rising popularity makes Kartana even better, and it can chop up many of Gigalith’s potential counters like Mudsdale and Gastrodon just as easily.
Why it could fold: Kartana’s paper-thin defenses make for a very tight margin for error. The most successful teams late in seasons are normally built with an even mix of offense and defense, but Kartana’s stats commit its Trainer to aggressive play. Also troubling for Kartana’s future is the recent surge in Pheromosa’s popularity. Both Pokémon are quick, frail, and powerful, but Pheromosa is quicker than Kartana and has a type advantage against it, too.
Porygon2
Why it could keep downloading its foes: With both solid natural defensive power and the Eviolite held item, it can endure enough attacks to use Trick Room reliably against most opponents. It can also restore its own HP with Recover, making it one of the only Pokémon that can often use Trick Room more than once in the same game. Few strong Fighting-type Pokémon are available to exploit Porygon2’s weakness, but it can dish out supereffective damage to some key Pokémon that are weak against Thunderbolt or Ice Beam.
Why the system could crash: Trainers continue a trend of including a couple of strange ways to get turn one knockouts against Porygon2. If top-performing Trainers continue trending away from Garchomp, much of the benefit of Porygon2’s Ice Beam would be lost. As with Arcanine, Porygon2 is such a safe choice that it would take an immense shift in common strategy for the Virtual Pokémon to exit Trainers’ battling realities.
Gigalith
Why it could rock on: Tyranitar has been one of the most consistent Pokémon in Video Game Championships history in large part because of the Sand Stream Ability that Gigalith can now possess. As long as Porygon2 remains a key member of teams, Trainers will want to pair it with a slow Pokémon like Gigalith to take advantage of Trick Room. Gigalith is one of the few Pokémon that can usually absorb a few hits from Arcanine, Tapu Koko, and Porygon2.
Why it could crumble: Gigalith is selected less because it is a dominant presence under the effects of Trick Room and more because it cripples specific opponents well. It blocks the popular Snorlax’s path with relative ease, and it eases matches against teams built around Drizzle, Snow Warning, or Drought. If these Pokémon were to be selected with significantly less frequency, it’d be tough for Gigalith to pull its own hefty weight. Most Pokémon that trouble Arcanine also beat Gigalith, so it’s unlikely to have many fantastic matchups late in the season.
Keep an eye out at the 2017 Pokémon World Championships to see which of these Pokémon perform as well as they did in the International Challenge May. Until then, keep checking back to the Pokémon Global Link for information on Global Missions and upcoming Online Competitions. And remember to check back to Pokemon.com/Strategy for Pokémon TCG and video game tips, strategy, and tournament analysis.
Source: Pokémon Global Link
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