Hi! I’m Antonio Sánchez (Rahxen), I’ve been playing competitive Pokémon since 2010, although it wasn’t until 2017 when I started getting into VGC more seriously.
I haven’t attended any regional-level or higher tournaments, so my accomplishments besides this result are winning the VR Ultra Series Open and winning several local-level tournaments (PCs and MSSs).
Managing to qualify for the final stage of the Players Cup meant a lot to me, since I consider it my first result at a high-level event.
Shoutouts to Miguel Pedraza (Ahicodem), since we’ve been working together on this team for a long time, with the premise that “bulk will prevail ._.” meaning that we believed that, no matter the state of the metagame, piloting a bulky team was a correct choice. Hence, this report shows that “bulk prevailed”.
Teambuilding process
This was the main core, Arcanine + Gastrodon works very well defensively. Grimmsnarl added more bulk with screens and Corviknight seemed like the best defensive Steel type in the format.
Ahicodem and I built this team with which he got Top 4 at VGCStats’ Galar Weekly #3 back in December, even before Series 2 was announced. Mow Rotom was the only decent Grass type at the time and Dragapult looked like a good Pokémon to complete the fantasy core.
Fastforward 4 or 5 months later, Charizard, Venusaur, Torkoal and Lapras teams get popular, therefore it was a must to find some techs for those match-ups. Dracozolt was very good therefore.
We considered Rillaboom even before it got access to Grassy Surge. Wash Rotom was a bit troublesome, so having a way to delete it from existence with STAB Wood Hammer was a nice addition.
When it was confirmed that Rillaboom’s Hidden Ability was going to be released, it became the 6th slot immediately. Getting access to Grassy Glide was a bonus too. These are the six I ended up using in the European qualifier.
Scope Lens Togekiss, Wash Rotom + redirection and Beat Up + Justified were troublesome, so we added Amoonguss for those match-ups.
Adding a small change going into the final stage meant that my opponents couldn’t just use their flowcharts versus my team, since redirection + Spore changed the flow of some battles considerably.
Prankster screens with Light Clay fits this bulky team perfectly. Spirit Break was very good to have even more damage control and to have Fairy-type coverage on the team. Taunt was very good with open team lists, since your opponent had to respect it from turn 1.
In spite of Incineroar being legal since march, Arcanine has still a very important niche. The Speed stat lets it spam fast Snarl and Will-O-Wisp to do damage reduction before your opponent moves, which is huge. Heat Wave lets Arcanine hit both opponents without caring about redirection, letting it chip away at them.
Corviknight @ Lum Berry Ability: Mirror Armor Level: 50 EVs: 228 HP / 20 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 252 Spe Adamant Nature – Brave Bird – Iron Head – Bulk Up – Roost
Corviknight is a Pokémon that you’re forced to respect in team preview; it reminds me of Celesteela back in VGC17. It has a very good typing and decent bulk, which means that it’s not easy to take down without a super effective move. Bulk Up wasn’t super common a few months ago, since Taunt was the preferred 4th slot. It basically allowed Corviknight to exert offensive pressure and get into unbreakeable board states.
Gastrodon usage was supposed to go down after Rillaboom’s spike in usage. Without Gastrodon, it would be way more difficult to stop some opposing Water-type Pokémon from snowballing, like Rapid Strike Style Urshifu and Primarina. Storm Drain lets Arcanine exert damage reduction in front of Water-type Pokémon, which is huge.
Even though Dracozolt isn’t picked in every match-up, your opponent has to respect it in team preview. Late-game Dracozolt is very good since it can catch your opponent off guard and sweep the game from there.
This Amoonguss is somewhat speedy while still having nice defensive calcs. Once it’s at +2 Speed, it reaches 146 Speed stat, which is nice to start spamming fast Spores next to Corviknight.
Tournament run - Europe Online Qualifier
I had Rillaboom over Amoonguss here.
Round
Result
Opponent
Opponent’s team
WR1
WW
Eliott Legroux (Ethox)
WR2
WW
Roberto Porretti (Raider)
WR3
LWL
Antoine de La Forest (otékal)
LR4
WW
Andrei Muntean (Andrei)
LR5
WW
Antoine Desaegher (ApPy)
LR6
WLW
Yago Rodríguez (SrtaDoñaMiau)
LR7
WW
Francesco Deiana (Francis)
LR8
WW
Luca Marcato (Polpolpo)
LR9
WLW
Leonardo Bonanomi (Leo)
LR10
WLW
Lukas Auer (SaltySylveon)
LR11
WW
Guillermo Castilla (KastyTP)
LR12
WLW
Antoine de La Forest (otékal)
I don’t recall every single match so I’ll detail the match-ups I remember.
WR3 vs Antoine de La Forest (otékal) (result: Top 6) — LWL
Tough match-up since Dragapult + double redirection is handled with Corviknight, but Magnezone shuts it down entirely. I lost 1-2 in really close games. Losing this early meant that I had to win 9 rounds in a row to qualify.
LR8 vs Luca Marcato (Polpolpo) (result: Top 24) — WW
This was the last round of Week 2. His team had some trouble dealing with Corviknight, so I just went for Grimmsnarl + Arcanine planning for a Corviknight endgame. I managed to mitigate his Duraludon with damage reduction, which led to Corviknight + Gastrodon winning in the endgame pretty comfortably.
After going 4-0 during Week 2, my confidence was boosted considerably. Now I had a week to prepare for Week 3 and the upcoming match-ups.
LR9 vs Leonardo Bonanomi (Leo) (result: Top 16) — WLW
I realized a way to auto-win the match-up if he double-Protected with Talonflame + Lapras turn 1. Game 1 I led Dracozolt + Rillaboom and went for Max Lightning into Talonflame and switch into Grimmsnarl. As expected, he double-Protected, and I broke Gale Wings, which meant that I could just Taunt the Talonflame and attack the Lapras for free. I won 4-0. Game 2 he Dynamaxed Talonflame and I just lost. Game 3 was closer but in the end early-game Dracozolt was enough to let Rillaboom and Arcanine win in the endgame. This match was very close.
LR10 vs Lukas Auer (SaltySylveon) (result: Top 12) — WLW
He had Rock Head Alolan Marowak, which meant that I didn’t have to worry about making reads with Dracozolt. I lead Dracozolt + Rillaboom all 3 games. Game 3 I realized that he wasn’t bringing Rillaboom so I made a read in team preview. I brought Gastrodon predicting him not to bring Rillaboom. He brought a Lapras + Talonflame lead with Alolan Marowak and Porygon2 in the back all 3 games, so in G3 I just won with Gastrodon.
LR11 vs Guillermo Castilla (KastyTP) (result: Top 8) — WW
I was so excited to play against Kasty. Fortunately this match was streamed, you can watch it here from 1:03:58. Self-WOW, let’s go!
LR12 vs Antoine de La Forest (otékal) (result: Top 6) — WLW
This was the win-and-in. Winning here meant qualifying for the final stage, and losing meant that getting this far was for nothing. I had to win this, but Otékal was my only loss so far. I decide to go for Grimmsnarl + Corviknight with Gastrodon and Arcanine in the back all 3 games.
We go to game 3 and he leads Magnezone + Dragapult. He can Dynamax Magnezone and just 2HKO Corviknight, meaning that I could just go Gastrodon in that slot. I decide to make an aggresive turn 1 read by Dynamaxing corviknight in front of Magnezone and going into Arcanine to have Snarl pressure and to take a Max Steelspike. I get turn 1 right and several Snarls and Will-O-Wisps later, Gastrodon + Corviknight win the endgame.
I did it! I qualified for the final stage of the Players Cup!
Tournament run - Final stage
I made the change of Amoonguss over Rillaboom; it gave me a better TED + Wash Rotom match-ups, another tool to handle crit-‘Kiss and helped vs. Beat Up strategies.
Round
Result
Opponent
Opponent’s team
WR1
LWW
Geovanni Polanco (g r e e n)
WR2
LWL
Alessio Y. Boschetto (Emily)
LR2
LWL
Edoardo Giunipero Ferraris (Inkling)
WR1 vs Geovanni Polanco (g r e e n) (result: Top 16) — LWW
Grimmsnarl + Arcanine as a lead handles everything pretty well, which means that I can mitigate his Dynamax and then just clean up with a Dynamax Gastrodon, Dracozolt or Corviknight.
Watch it here from 1:02:58!
WR2 vs Alessio Y. Boschetto (Emily) (result: Top 6) — LWL
Tough match-up but fortunately he didn’t have a Fire move on his Togekiss. G3 endgame was a bit messy on my end, since I expected his Excadrill to survive an Earth Power and get a Weakness Policy boost. I also thought he was going to Protect Excadrill and switch into Amoonguss at some point.
Watch it here from 3:36:09!
LR2 vs Edoardo Giunipero Ferraris (Inkling) (result: Top 8) — LWL
This match up would be very ugly without Amoonguss. His Beat Up option forced me to lead Corviknight + Amoonguss, and from there I could either try and guess the turns to gain advantage, or just play it safe. I managed to call correctly the two first turns in game 3 but unfortunately Corviknight went down to a critical hit from Porygon2, which meant that my only way to win the endgame versus Porygon2 was gone.
Watch it here from 5:40:00!
Closing words
Even though I didn’t manage to get a top 4 placement in the finals stage, I’m still quite glad with the result. As I’ve mentioned, I haven’t attended any huge events so far, so getting this result in a high-scale event means a lot to me.
Also, shoutouts to Team Pechito (Juan Carlos Mateos, Pablo Gambero and José Antonio Rodríguez). Funnily enough, this team is completely legal going into Series 6 and most of its weaknesses or weaker match-ups were removed, especially Scope Lens Togekiss.
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