Hey there trainers!
We’re 2 months into the 2025 Play! Pokemon season, and now it is time for the first International Championship of the season!
My name is Martijn – you may know me as Inadequance. I am the 2024 Worlds finalist, and I’ll be writing most of these articles! The goal is to write the many tournaments that will be held globally as one big storyline.
Let’s see how far we’ve come first.
The meta has shifted so much from 2024 Worlds. Lickitung, Gligar, Vigoroth and Altaria have entirely vanished from the meta. Charjabug, Cresselia, Lanturn, Skarmory and Registeel are spice picks at most currently and only Quagsire and Azumarill have survived. The nerf of Skarmory has allowed Grass-type Pokémon to thrive again, but Water-type is such a strong defensive typing that Quagsire and Azumarill still hang on.
But Martijn, what about Annihilape? That one is extinct too, no? Well, we’ll review Annihilape later. And Primeape too. They have access to Rage Fist now, and the LAIC is the first time the Pokémon with this attack can be used. But we’ll review that later – I devoted a whole separate chapter to that.
Now if we look at the meta of the latest official broadcasted tournament – Gdansk – the meta has changed so and so much. Ariados only became popular later on but is now proving that bugs are not to be underestimated. This had lead to a slight increase to Dunsparce, Clodsire and Alolan Sandslash, but Ariados and Azumarill remain to be an incredible core.
Cool, those are European numbers though. What about the LATAM meta?
Joinville
Joinville counted 70 registered competitors. And instead of the older Android models, they now played on newer iPhone models at this Regional Championship! Which lead to much smoother gameplay for the competitors.
It’s a relatively difficult location to reach for many South American competitors, which meant that the competition consisted mostly of very passionate Brazilian PvP’ers. Out of the players top cutting, only DarknessKyu was a surprise – this was their first time making it into the top 8. They were the first one in South America to have made Pangoro work!
But the real surprise in Joinville was that the core of Diggersby + Toxapex was much more successful amongst top competitors than the common Feraligatr + Clodsire core. Introduced by TomahawkUK in Baltimore, this bulky core is somewhat of an opposite of it. Diggersby is able to take on both Feraligatr and Clodsire, and Toxapex covers Diggersby from the Grass- and Water-type Pokémon (not named Feraligatr) that counter it. The Brazilians seem to be more inclined to play ‘anti-meta’.
If you didn’t see the bracket before and asked anyone ‘Who do you think will win Joinville’, the most likely answer to receive is probably LNDsRargef. And for good reason. He lost his group winners final to LNDsKanan but picked up his crown along the way in the losers bracket and managed to defeat LNDsKanan twice in the grand finals.
If there’s anything to take from Joinville, LNDsRargef is arguably the best player in Brazil, and I think LNDsKanan and LNDsTSteinar make for very close seconds. Notice how there is an Argentinian hidden in that top 8 too by the way. Which brings us to the next championship that took place in South America.
Lima
Lima counted 60 registered competitors, and competitors played on their own phones here. A different experience that is from the Joinville Regional Championship.
And this was actually a whole different side of LATAM. Besides MartoGalde, there were hardly any competitors that also competed in Joinville. Lima took place 2 weeks after Joinville, but it showed a huge meta shift already. Either that or South Americans outside of Brazil just don’t like the Diggersby + Toxapex core.
6 out of the 8 best teams of Lima had Malamar on it. With the decline of Mandibuzz, Malamar was looking so safe. Even against Azumarill and the Shadow Drapion – two Pokémon that are supposed to be Malamar answers – the Malamar still has a lot of play and some winning scenarios. Funnily enough, the team that won it all was one of the few top cutting teams without a Malamar.
And if you didn’t notice it yet, yes there is a Shadow Ursaring in the top cut too. Desinked – the champion of Special Event Lima last season – likes to bring off meta and it’s hard to prepare for what he brings. The Chileans generally dominate the Peruvian championships as the entire top 3 competitors last season were from Chile. Not this time though. The Peruvians showed up with 4 of them top cutting, JavierV20 winning a medal a week after his 5th place finish in Dortmund and Sebasmalito running through the entire winners bracket with a Shadow Jumpluff.
They were close, but MartoGalde was able to defeat both the Chileans and Peruvians and take it all. I don’t think anyone was really surprised, but to succesfully go through the gauntlet of JavierV20, memiGRR and Sebasmalito was not exactly predictable too.
Marto carries the pride of Argentina with him, and with that we take a look at the final Special Championship that took place before the LAIC.
Buenos Aires
Whereas Lima had nearly no Brazilians competing, a few superstars actually did travel to Buenos Aires to get those valuable championship points. Buenos Aires is setting the stage for the LAIC, and this was for some competitors the final chance to even get in range of that EUIC Travel Award.
Last season Buenos Aires had 44 competitors, this season the Special Championship counted 58 competitors. There was some international representation as well! Some competitors from Europe, North America and even Oceania decided to play in Buenos Aires, which took place the week before LAIC. Rage Fist Annihilape was to be released the day of the tournament – meaning this would likely be the last tournament this season where Annihilape isn’t meta.
There weren’t many surprises in the usage in Buenos Aires. Pokémon like Galarian Moltres, Ariados, Azumarill and Clodsire were very prevalent. But what was surprising, was that it was not a South American winning this tournament.
Nesabethan is the classic ‘ABB andy’. With a double Flying- and Water-type team, he always had the option of running ABB with those typings. With this strategy, he had an incredible run at the 2023 EUIC.
He didn’t use that kind of team this time however. Now with the team Boem20 won in Lille, Nesabethan managed to take down the competition across the south side of the pond. He has become the first European to win a competition outside of Europe. LNDsAureo did manage to reset the bracket in the grand finals, but he wasn’t able to overcome Nesabethan for the third time in the tournament.
An incredible performance by Nesabethan that is likely making the South Americans more conscious that the international competition is trying to come for their medals. I can only see the LAIC become more fierce and competitive with this being the most recent result in LATAM!
Meta prediction
With such a mixture of different nationalities, competitors and Pokémon usage, the LAIC is looking to be more diverse than ever. At the time of writing, 254 competitors have registered which marks the largest tournament of the 2025 season so far.
With the Brazilian top competitors tending to play more anti-meta, it’ll be difficult to predict what will be the MVP of the LAIC. There is potential for so many Pokémon though. Drifblim has been increasing in popularity in the GO Battle League and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see some of that at the LAIC considering it is a very hard wall to the ever present Ariados. Astonish is now as strong as Mud-Slap, and Drifblim is perfect for it. Ghost-type damage is only resisted by Dark and Normal-types, which means that everything else takes a lot of damage from Astonish. Paired with Icy Wind, Drifblim is able to flip matchups it otherwise wouldn’t be able to – such as Shadow Feraligatr in the 2 shields despite taking super effective damage from the Shadow Claw!
Furthermore, rising trends currently are Gastrodon and Talonflame. I guess people really have figured out that there actually is potential in the Mud-Slapper and it’s been picking up again since Baltimore and Dortmund. Talonflame serves as a Pokémon being able to deal with common threats such as most Ground-type Pokémon, Alolan Sandslash and Ariados. With Fighting-type Pokémon making a return soon, the usage in Dunsparce may decrease which may make Talonflame even less threatened in the current meta.
And while there are anti-meta players, I would most definitely also expect the hard meta. My prediction is that Azumarill and Ariados will again be top usage, but that we may see more Clodsire (with Stone Edge), Quagsire and Feraligatr to tackle that core. The Drapion – Dewgong core that was popularized in North America by LyleJeffsIII will likely make it to top usage as well, but I expect a slight decrease. The main anti-meta Pokémon I think is Alolan Sandslash as it walls the energy of the Azumarill and the Ariados entirely.
Primeape and Annihilape
Now, there is also a new addition. Both Primeape and Annihilape received Rage Fist. This a 35 energy 50 power charged attack with a guaranteed attack buff. While I don’t think this pushes the Fighting-type Pokémon back into the meta, both Pokémon can be a very vicious safe switch. Primeape and Annihilape also have access to Ice Punch, and the combination of Fighting, Ghost and Ice coverage is extremely vicious in the current meta and can threaten even some of it’s prime counters like Azumarill, Clodsire and Malamar.
For the hardcore PvP’ers amongst us, here is a brief analysis on what Annihilape, Shadow Annihilape, Primeape and Shadow Primeape now can do with Rage Fist. The way I analyzed this, is by comparing Annihilapes previous moveset to Counter + Night Slash & Shadow Ball to Counter + Ice Punch & Rage Fist. And for Primeape that is the comparison of Karate Chop + Cross Chop & Ice Punch to Karate Chop + Rage Fist & Ice Punch.
Bare with me that this was simply the easiest way to analyse the Pokémon without any sim-hero scenario’s where Annihilape baits a Rage Fist and then lands the harder hitting charged attack. In reality, Close Combat or even Shadow Ball may be preferred on Annihilape, and Cross Chop or Close Combat may be preferred for Primeape.
With the addition of Rage Fist, Annihilape can now win:
Carbink, Chesnaught, Shadow Drapion, Gastrodon, Goodra and Toxapex in the 1 shields
Feraligatr, Shadow Feraligatr, Goodra, Mandibuzz(!) and Shadow Marowak in the 2 shields
It only loses out on Shadow Drapion and Shadow Quagsire in the 0 shields, because it requires a hard hitting Shadow Ball to knock those out. That said, once you land a Rage Fist you can shield and counter them down anyway.
As for Shadow Annihilape, these are the changes in wins:
Abomasnow, Clodsire(!), Shadow Drapion, Goodra, Shadow Marowak in the 0 shields
Chesnaught, Gastrodon, Galarian Moltres, Talonflame, Toxapex and Shadow Typhlosion in the 1 shields
Araquanid, Ariados, Feraligatr, Mandibuzz, Shadow Marowak in the 2 shields
Without Shadow Ball, you do lose out on:
Toxapex in the 0 shields, Ariados in the 0 and 1 shields (requires a bait), and Shadow Annihilape can actually flip Azumarill with 2 baits. The offsets in wins are huge, however I don’t think it’s worth giving that up. Alternatively, I think Shadow Ball + Rage Fist is also a decent moveset. Shadow Ball would hit hard resisted either way but you likely give up some flip potential against Shadow Marowak, Mandibuzz and Galarian Moltres.
Now, Primeape doesn’t have STAB (Same Type Attack Bonus) on Rage Fist. But this is where it gets interesting. Non-Shadow Primeape doesn’t look as strong on paper. These are its wins and losses:
It picks up Araquanid in the 0 shields (except if they have Water Pulse), but without Cross Chop you lose out on Arctibax, Shadow Drapion, Dunsparce, Goodra, Guzzlord and Registeel.
The 1 shields are looking better. It can defeat again Araquanid without Water Pulse, it can defeat Ariados, Shadow Marowak and Talonflame! Without Cross Chop, it does lose out on Diggersby(!) and again Shadow Drapion.
Now watch this. Karate Chop is very spammy and allows Primeape to get to Rage Fist in 8 turns, and it will show in the multiple shield scenario.
It can now defeat Araquanid regardless of its moveset in the 2 shields, it can take on Azumarill(!), Cresselia(!!), Shadow Drapion(!!!), Feraligatr, Goodra and Toxapex(!?). It still can lose to Diggersby, however.
Shadow Primeape has similar results. In the 0 shields, it doesn’t perform that strong. It can pick up Araquanid without Water Pulse once more, but will lose out on Abomasnow, Arctibax, Diggersby, Guzzlord and Shadow Machamp. It needs Cross Chop for those.
The 1 shields actually don’t change much. Araquanid without Water Pulse again is a win, and Shadow Drapion is a loss just like for non-Shadow Primeape.
Shadow Primeape has no bad offsets in the 2 shields however. It does not lose anything by getting rid of Cross Chop and instead picks up Araquanid regardless of moveset, Azumarill, Cresselia and Gastrodon.
I think the sole purpose of picking Annihilape over Primeape is to counter other Fighting-type Pokémon. Primeape’s pacing with Karate Chop allows it to pull off some more tricks. Keep in mind that all of the above matchups are on even energy, making Primeape perhaps even better when it has an energy advantage.
Personally, I think both Shadow and regular Primeape are equally good. While regular Primeape does tend to pick up more matchups, it doesn’t pressure opponents as quickly and needs to go down a shield first in most scenarios. As for Shadow Primeape, it threatens fragile Pokémon quicker and harder and affect the shielding decision a bit easier. Opponents do NOT want to clean up a buffed up Primeape, so a Shadow Primeape farming down and being able to get to 3-4 Rage Fists probably just means its game over if there’s no Wigglytuff to wall it.
That said, a regular Primeape can win some 2 shield scenario’s with like 20%-30% HP left and being triple or quadruple buffed. A charged attack coming from that would deal massive damage.
In practice, I think Annihilape may be returning to the meta with this update. Primeape not so much, and that’s just because Annihilape really makes other fighters – again – inferior as it defeats the other fighters while having a similar function. Annihilape looming over the LAIC meta may also mean we could see Wigglytuff return to keep it in check.
And of course, the shadow variants of Annihilape and Primeape are quite rare as they are relatively new – and the only moment to remove Frustration was during a brief mid-week Rocket Event.
The Stakes
The LAIC may be the second most important tournament for many South Americans to qualify for the world championships. And for the international competition, it is seen as the ‘easiest’ due to the ‘lower’ number of competitors. Notice I use quotes on those two words because this will still be a very fierce tournament to run through.
For some, this is also the tournament that will be crucial for the EUIC travel award. The top 4 of each region can win a travel award for the next International Championship, with the deadline being up until the current upcoming IC. The ICs reward a lot of Championship Points, so technically anyone within 500 points of the top 4 of the leaderboard can attain it.
Most of the LATAM tournaments are Special Events, meaning that competitors will receive little to no prize money. The increased prize money from the ICs are a very welcome addition for the South American competition!
Players to watch out for
At the time of writing, the LAIC is counting 254 registered competitors. I’m not sure if that was the cap, but last season counted 256 registered competitors (though I believe around 90 no-shows so there’s definitely room for growth).
The top 4 at the LAIC will qualify directly for the World Championships in Anaheim. These qualifications are outside of the Championship Points qualifiers (which is a set amount per region).
This means that for example, if a European were to get to top 4 at the LAIC – the European top 51 will qualify at the end of the season instead of the regular top 50, because the qualified player from the LAIC wouldn’t count for a double qualification in that top 50.
That gives not only the competitors but also the viewers extra reason to cheer for the top players from their own continent! And with so many competitors come many different nationalities. Let’s zoom in on a few.
The Brazilians
With the LAIC taking place once again in Sao Paulo, Brazil, it is only natural many Brazilian competitors will be here. And they have a lot of superstars. While top competitors like Zarddy and JWNaldo haven’t had much success in a bit, LNDsKanan, LNDsAureo and LNDsTSteinar have been very consistent in the past few tournaments. I think GaravelloAndre is not as well known, but a name to look out for as well as he has 3 top 5 finishes in 6 tournaments. LNDsTrickzinn has only competed in 3 tournaments, but one of them was the Runner-Up from last seasons LAIC and a top 5 at São Paulo.
But the player to watch is not going to be a surprise here. You know, if it was just good top cuts, maybe I would’ve considered spotlighting someone else here just for the sake of showing someone else for once. But he is the reigning LAIC champion, and the man just performs so well in the LATAM circuit overall. If there was a poll for who’d win the LAIC, I have no doubt that LNDsRargef would also win that poll.
LNDsRargef may be the best Brazilian player right now, but he is not invincible. This season, he has played against LNDsKanan in both Joinville and Buenos Aires. Kanan managed to defeat him once in Joinville – pushing Rargef to the losers bracket, and in Buenos Aires he knocked out Rargef after losing to him in the winners bracket! Kanan is making an excellent rival for Rargef and a potential candidate to do very well at the LAIC, too. On top of that, Kanan was the first player to have won an official championship with Magnezone!
Both Rargef and Kanan are competing for the travel award too, so there’s a lot of stake for both Brazilians.
The Chileans
The Chileans have a strong competitive scene and usually get to top cut quite frequently. They tend to do very well in Lima, but also had success last season at the LAIC. They have quite a few Worlds competitors in IceCr1s, ElCheasdasd, swaggron333yt, Emili0oXx and MemiGRR (not competing).
desinked was the reigning champion of Lima and Buenos Aires last season, but couldn’t make it as far this time. After an 0-2 in Buenos Aires, his EUIC travel award is very much at stake.
The player I want to spotlight however is the best performing Chilean from the LAIC last season: Bastii170. Perhaps not the name that comes up to you immediately, he is actually pretty consistent and has competed in many of the bigger tournaments.
In 2023, Basti competed at Santiago, LAIC and EUIC. That experience has clearly inspired him to perform better at the championships as he earned his first trophy a season later. He doesn’t have a medal yet though despite getting so close many times. But with two good performances on the international stage, Bastii is in my opinion THE Chilean to watch for at the 2025 LAIC.
Other South Americans
Brazil and Chile probably have the biggest competitive communities in South America. As far as I know, there are few to none from other countries competing at the LAIC. Argentina and Peru are known to have some hard hitters, however.
From Argentina, we can expect to see competitors like SergiusHernan, Andycobe, and RealDante5991. Not all of these have the same accolades as that one other Argentinian, but they are not to be underestimated. That said, MartoGalde at this point is always a name to look out for. With the many medals and the top 3 placement at the 2024 World Championships, he manifested his name as one of the top dogs in South America.
Peru has some players that had some spotlight too. Thaliwi brings the experience with her travels to many countries and tournaments, and Samyg85 is known to be able to take down anyone as well – he reached top 10 in 2023 Orlando and 2024 Stockholm!
But the Peruvian player that’s on a roll this season is JavierV20. He has competed in both South America and Europe and had remarkable results too!
After the points from Buenos Aires are added up, JavierV20 is likely sharing the top 4 of the LATAM leaderboards with MartoGalde, LNDsRargef, and LNDsKanan. They will have a remarkable lead in that EUIC travel reward race, and getting the LAIC Championship Points may be crucial to close it out.
The Mexicans
So, the Mexicans are a bit of an interesting story. Geographically, Mexico is much closer to North America and thus the North American Championships than it is to the South American regionals. They’re competing on the LATAM leaderboard however, and with South America having more championships now, it’s pretty even ground.
They have a roster of players that travel to many tournaments. Players like SpartanL17, Iomero0, VikRioja, Richie1409, Ashtonash, AndrewManjarrez and rochababyface1 have had success in many North-American tournaments, but also the international competition.
Rocha is a content creator and commentator, but he makes for a formidable competitor too. His gameplay has become more and more consistent and his list of accolades is growing. I can only see him go forward from his top 8 run at the 2024 World Championships.
The North Americans
The competition north of Mexico also has a roster making their way to São Paulo. Some of them are looking to compete for the EUIC travel award, while others just want the Championship Points to qualify and have a head start on their fellow Americans/Canadians.
I asked mister Lyle Jeffs the 3rd if he’s competing at the LAIC, but the decision is difficult. His competition in the current top 4 of the North American leaderboard is going though. Arrohh, Ilqm and Reis2Occasion are all making their way to compete there, and those are names that frequently top cut too. And not just the top 4, but also some of the direct competition is making their way over. 2024 NAIC Champion OutOfPoket and 2024 Carolina Champion TheTaurian22 made use of their LAIC Travel Award and need a good performance to snowball that into another Travel Award.
But if there’s one North American that’s really mr. Worldwide, that’s gotta be NiteTimeClasher. He has competed in North American, South American and European regionals and made a good run at last seasons LAIC too.
I call him ‘goofball’ in our Legends United server, and that’s because he uh.. he is just goofy man. Sometimes he can throw a match entirely or nothing makes sense and other times he looks like he knows what he’s doing and makes the most wicked plays that even World Champions like itsAXN fall to. So far, his understanding of this seasons meta has translated in top cuts in both Louisville and Buenos Aires. With the Championship Points earned in Buenos Aires, he now has a very good chance at getting his hands on the EUIC Travel Award.
Another mr. Worldwide that’ll be competing is CalebPeng. Though casting internationally doesn’t have the same stakes as travelling to compete, Caleb has proven he is capable of nearly winning tournaments. He has 3 silver medals to his name – all of them with Bastiodon. Trust me, that Pokémon is not even remotely easy to run in the show 6 bring 3 format.
But now that Bastiodon has been nerfed, can he still pull off those kind of results?
The Europeans
There’s a handful of Europeans attending too! All the LAIC travel awards winners – Colin6ix, Paulasha97, Sanjudigo and Pablondinas – are here. But also 2024 Dortmund Regional Champion ArceusAurelius is making his second appearance in a LATAM tournament. After reaching top 12 in Lima, he is now shooting for the stars at the LAIC.
All of these names have a good shot at topcutting at the LAIC. Paulasha needs an incredible run + quick locals to have even a slight chance for the EUIC travel award, and we already knew for a while now that the Travel Award is at hand reach for Colin.
But it actually is no longer looking that simple now. I think Colin will need a top 16 (300 CP) to overtake Kazim33. And the reason why is because of the player we showcase here.
Nesabethan got a whopping +/- 150 Championship Points from locals, and performed decent in Europe with a tied 17 in Dortmund and a top 8 in Gdansk. But what got him really up ahead of the competition is his most recent performance in Buenos Aires. I’ll admit he wasn’t initially on my radar for the EUIC travel award, but he is now and he is looking like a strong representation of the Europeans on an international level. He earned 350 Championship Points with his most recent victory, which pushes him straight to the top 3 on the European leaderboard!
The Australians
And the last players we’re looking at are the Australians. They are very remote from the Play! Pokemon circuit outside Oceania, but with the Travel Award system their top players now have some additional funding to make it to the International competition.
PvPSteveeeeeeeeeeee unfortunately hasn’t been doing so hot; a 1-2 in Gdansk and 0-2 in Buenos Aires. This will be his last opportunity this trip to get some points, and it’s the biggest stage of the tournaments he competed in so far.
Zeetarb has had a taste of the international competition before LAIC, in Buenos Aires. He ended up going 1-2 as well, though I think he should see this as merely preparation for the LAIC. I think the player with the best odds to make it very far will be RicFlareon.
Now, usually I like to list the best runs in terms of placement. RicFlareon has a couple more top 3, 4 and 5 finishes to his name besides the performances I listed above. Here, I want to make sure everyone knows about his Worlds performances. Because Oceania is so distant from other regions, their players hardly compete internationally and their tournaments are usually not as big, making it hard to measure how tough their competition really is at times.
I think RicFlareon is the epitome of PvP in that region. With his performances at Worlds, he shows that he is good at this game, and that the opponents he loses to at the Australian Regional Championships are also good at the game. I’m hoping that RicFlareon can pull of an insane run at the LAIC and inspire the Oceania region to compete for that Travel Award within their own region, so we may see more of them at the EUIC, NAIC and eventually at Worlds, too.
Closing words
I hope this article kept you entertained during your work commute, your me-time, or whatever had you read this whole thing. I think I covered most of the LAIC information, and I’m super excited for it. I’ll be casting the tournament with TomahawkUK, Lundberger & 2OButters so make sure to tune in!
If you’d like more information on the LAIC, you can find the link here to the LAIC preview show. SpeediestChief2 was the GO panelist here, and it even included an interview with LNDsRargef!
And at last and as always, you can find the link to the bracket and the broadcast here. The show will start on Friday 9 AM (GMT-3).
https://www.dracoviz.com/2025-laic
See you next time trainers!
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