We knew Fairy-type Pokemon would be powerful at the 2017 Pokemon World Championships this past weekend, but we had no idea they would seize such key roles in the finals matches in both the Video Game Championship (VGC) and Trading Card Game (TCG). Here’s a recap of the huge tournament and how the exciting matches played out.
Unlike the 2016 season of the competitive Pokemon VGC, this season’s rules restricted “uber” Legendary Pokemon, like Lunala and Solgaleo. This increased the viability of more Pokemon, letting players choose more freely without the fear of being taken out if they chose Pokemon other than super-powerful legends.
Every team used in each division’s finals were fairly different. Tapu Fini, Tapu Koko, Garchomp, and Arcanine were all pervasive, but we saw some unexpected Pokemon like Whimsicott, and Senior Division Champion Hong Juyoung’s Mudsdale. Most notably, Masters Finalists Ryota Otsuba and Sam Pandelis shared not a single Pokemon on their teams.
We did see a lot of the Tapu Guardians and Ultra Beasts throughout the tournament though. The electrifyingly speedy Tapu Koko lead the charge as the most popular Tapu, with Celesteela tanking the spot for most popular Ultra Beast. Both of these often-seen powerhouses appeared on Japanese National Champion Otsuba’s team, but neither were the standout players—at least during the Masters Division Finals.
Besides Celesteela, Otsuba’s team was built to do massive damage, choosing Attack and Special Attack boosting Natures and Items for his Pokemon over more common defensive, conservative builds.
For example, usually when we see Tapu Fini, it has a defensive Nature and is holding healing Leftovers or a Berry, but Otsuba’s Tapu Fini held the Special Attack boosting Choice Specs and had the complementing Special Attack boosting Nature. This unexpectedly offensive build absolutely helped Otsuba claim the win, especially when it mattered most. You can see Otsuba’s full team at Pokemon.com.
In the first battle, Otsuba’s opponent, Sam Pandelis of Australia, took the lead. Panelis’ Alolan Ninetales immediately set up the incredibly defensive Aurora Veil, shielding his team with a 50 percent damage reduction for five turns, while his Garchomp boosted its Attack Stat with Swords Dance. Though Otsuba took down the Alolan Ninetales quickly, he had no immediate answer to the Aurora Veil after Garchomp landed a OHKO on his Alolan Marowak, which effectively allowed Pandelis’ team to safely ramp up with stat boosts. To make matters worse, Otsuba’s remaining Pokemon, Tapu Koko, boosted the already-fed Xurkitree even more with its Electric Terrain, allowing it to land easy OHKOs.
Confident after his first win, Pandelis very quickly locked in his team for the next battle while Otsuba carefully deliberated the best strategy, switching out Celesteela for the Fairy- and Grass-type Whimsicott. Not only did Whimsicott provide Tailwind support, countering Sam’s Mandibuzz’s Tailwind, but it also helped Tapu Fini threaten Pandelis’ menacing Garchomp.
Otsuba’s Alolan Marowak’s unexpected Brick Break, which destroyed Alolan Ninetales’ Aurora Veil twice in a row and knocked it out, stood out as a key moment in battle two. This unraveled Pandelis’ strategy and brought it home for Otsuba.
The beginning of the third and final battle featured exciting baits and predictions. To put it simply, Pandelis made an amazingly smart read which caused Otsuba to completely waste his once-per-battle Z-Move. Here’s exactly how it went down.
Otsuba lead with Whimsicott and Alolan Marowak, up against Pandelis’ Garchomp and Alolan Ninetales. However, in the first turn, Otsuba switched out Alolan Marowak for Tapu Fini, whose Misty Terrain allows Whimsicott to perform a Fairy-type Z-Nature Power. Whimsicott’s Prankster Ability makes status moves—including terrain-dependent attacks like Nature Power—hit with increased priority, pretty much ensuring a OHKO on Garchomp. Sam correctly predicted the assault on his Garchomp and switched out to Mandibuzz, a perfect counter, as Dark-type Pokemon are completely immune to any Prankster-powered attacks.
Despite this turn of events which wasted Otsuba’s nuke, he was still able to secure the win with an amazing prediction of his own. With three Pokemon left on each side, and Otsuba’s two Fairy-type Pokemon on the field, he knew Pandelis’ only choice to protect Garchomp was to literally use Protect or switch out to the already very weakened Alolan Ninetales. Instead of risking a wasted attack on Protect, Otsuba focused down Xurkitree in a single turn. After a volley of Moonblasts from both Tapu Fini and Whimsicott, Otsuba claimed the 2017 Pokemon World Champion title with three healthy Pokemon still on his side and $10,000 now in his pockets.
Check out the full team breakdowns for the Top 8 of each age division on Pokemon’s website.
Keep reading for our breakdown on what went down in the TCG finals.
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