The recent tiny tourney Online Competition provided a big opportunity for small Pokémon to gain their share of the spotlight. Pokémon taller than 1 meter (3’03”) were prohibited from competing, and Mythical and some Legendary Pokémon were excluded, too. Trainers were forced to leave tournament regulars like Tapu Koko, Tapu Lele, and Garchomp in their PCs in favor of tiny Pokémon and smart strategies.
The tiny tourney also prohibited Mega Stones and featured the Double Battle format, ensuring matches wouldn’t be short on variety. Trainers that completed at least three matches were eligible to receive the Galladite, Gardevoirite, and Lopunnite Mega Stones.
Trainers came up with clever strategies to combat the strange pool of Pokémon permitted in the tiny tourney. Read on to find out more about the most frequently selected Pokémon, top teams, and biggest surprises from the Masters Division of this Online Competition.
The Field’s Favorites
The Pokémon that made it to the top of the Pokémon Ranking were selected not only for their power, but also because they fit many strategies well. Mimikyu and Kartana were easy to incorporate because they could dish out lots of damage without much support. And Alolan Muk was fast enough to thrive on teams that used more offensive strategies on top of having the stats to anchor more defensive teams, too.
We typically see Mimikyu that are taught Trick Room to support Snorlax in the Video Game Championships, but most Trainers in this tournament had their Mimikyu use strategies we often see from the Mimikyu in Single Battles at the Battle Spot when Snorlax is absent. Trainers avoided the Double Battle staples Protect and Trick Room, instead opting to teach Mimikyu Swords Dance and a variety of physical attacks. Swords Dance is much more difficult to execute in Double Battles when there are two opponents to worry about each turn, but Mimikyu that were able to waltz between enemy attacks were sure to score plenty of knockouts.
The Kartana used in this competition probably looked much more familiar to Trainers experienced with Double Battles than the Mimikyu did. More than half of the Kartana in the tiny tourney were taught Protect or Detect, a stark contrast from the meager 12% of Mimikyu that knew Protect. But while the trend among Kartana in the Video Game Championships has been toward either the Choice Scarf held item or a combination of a Z-Crystal and the move Substitute, Trainers tried something a little different in the tiny tourney. Only 8.7% of Trainers gave their Kartana a Choice Scarf to hold, and Substitute wasn’t even one of the ten moves Kartana was most frequently taught. Most Trainers instead finished up with Leaf Blade, Sacred Sword, and Smart Strike, ensuring their Kartana could attack using a variety of types.
Muk’s more colorful form is found only in the Alola region, but the strategies Trainers had it use in the tiny tourney may have made it seem like it was from a different world. Muk is most frequently used as a mid-Speed Pokémon that can slow itself down using Curse to take on Trick Room teams—but only 9.2% of Muk in the tiny tourney knew Curse. Stranger yet, only 54.7% had the Gluttony Ability that has been so integral to the Sludge Pokémon’s newfound prominence. Even with its most tested tactics relegated to somewhere off the rainbow, Muk was a great fit for this competition. Its combination of the Poison Jab and Knock Off attacks hit several popular foes for supereffective damage, including Chandelure, Azumarill, and Marowak.
A Top-Tier Trio
The tiny tourney was huge in Japan—it wasn’t until fourteenth place that a Trainer from any other country ranked in the final standings. The top-performing teams that these Trainers selected had much more in common with one another than they did with the overall Pokémon Ranking. Chandelure was only the sixth most frequently selected Pokémon in the tournament, but none of the twelve highest-finishers could resist the Luring Pokémon. It was frequently paired with Amoonguss—nine of the top-10 Trainers selected the Mushroom Pokémon despite its middling 14th place finish on the overall Pokémon Ranking. And seven of the top-10 Trainers included Azumarill on their teams, creating a miniature version of the tried-and-true Fire-Water-Grass core.
Chandelure’s high Special Attack and uncommon combination of types make for an intriguing Pokémon, but few Trainers would have expected it to dominate the most hotly-contested battles of an Online Competition. Trainers went two different directions with Chandelure in this competition, making it valuable to a wide variety of teams. Many competitors trained it offensively to maximize the damage from Heat Wave and Shadow Ball, giving it only a Focus Sash or the move Substitute for protection. Others trained it more defensively and taught it Trick Room to support Azumarill and Amoonguss, allowing its teammates to wreak havoc instead.
Amoonguss may be small enough to compete in the tiny tourney, but few supportive Pokémon have had a bigger impact in Double Battles since Trainers started their journeys in Unova. The Mushroom Pokémon was particularly effective in this competition as the only real defensive Grass-type Pokémon available, and it was one of the only Pokémon that could redirect attacks, too. As long as it avoided being skewered by Kartana or fried by several popular Fire-type Pokémon, it provided a strong defense against Azumarill, Wash Rotom, Gastrodon, and Mimikyu.
The Mushroom Pokémon could also enhance an allied Azumarill’s power by protecting it with Spore and Rage Powder. The two formed a great partnership—Azumarill could douse the flames of Fire types for Amoonguss, which could redirect attacks away from Azumarill using Rage Powder to let it use Belly Drum safely. Some Trainers still avoided the risk of Belly Drum by giving Azumarill a Choice Band to hold—it often provided enough damage to take down the tiny tourney’s diminutive competitors without sacrificing HP or a turn to set up like Belly Drum.
Surprise Stars
The tiny tourney featured a smaller roster and smaller Pokémon than most Online Competitions, but Trainers still found room for big surprises. Several Pokémon stood out at tournament’s end despite flying under the radar before the competition began.
Hawlucha is rarely called upon to make a push toward the limelight in Online Competitions, but the Wrestling Pokémon laid the smackdown on its foes in the tiny tourney. Four of the top-10 teams featured Hawlucha, and the unexpected Pokémon proved to have surprising versatility, too. Most of these Trainers opted to give Hawlucha a King’s Rock to hold and taught it Fling, enabling it to cause a slower opponent to flinch during battle. Once that trick was used, it could then disable another opponent using Sky Drop—a powerful tactic in a competition with the largest Pokémon removed (Sky Drop fails against opponents that weigh 440.9 lbs. (200 kg) or more). Other Trainers went on the offense by giving Hawlucha a Flyinium Z to make the most of its Sky Attack—a stronger tactic than giving it the more common Power Herb.
Excadrill was a key player in many Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version Double Battles, but it hasn’t seen much breakthrough in recent years. It had a comeback performance in the tiny tourney, finishing fifth in the Pokémon Ranking and appearing on six of the top-10 teams, too. Most Trainers selected an Excadrill that had the Mold Breaker Ability so it could ignore its opponents’ Abilities, which had two key functions in this competition. First, it allowed Excadrill to ignore the popular Mimikyu’s Disguise and attack it directly with supereffective Steel-type attacks. Mold Breaker also enabled Excadrill to ignore Rotom’s Levitate Ability and shake it up with Earthquake—one big reason why none of the top-10 teams featured the Plasma Pokémon.
Several other Pokémon made smaller steps toward Pokémon Global Link fame in the tiny tourney. Honchkrow gained an impressive feather in its cap—it appeared on three of the top-10 teams by using Tailwind and Sucker Punch to keep itself and its team moving first. Ribombee, Azelf, Umbreon, and Wishiwashi don’t appear in many competitive battles, but each made the Pokémon Ranking this time. And Bruxish put up its strongest performance in a Pokémon Global Link tournament yet by making its first appearance on a top-10 team.
We hope you had at least a little fun in the tiny tourney! Keep checking back to the Pokémon Global Link for more information about upcoming Online Competitions and global missions. And remember to check out Pokemon.com/Strategy for more Pokémon TCG and video game tips, strategy, and tournament analysis.
Source: Pokémon Global Link
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