Hi everyone!
I’m Leonardo (known in-game as CLeonardo77), and I’ll be writing here on Dracoviz about usage data and meta analysis for the Play! Pokémon circuit.
Three more regionals have now taken place: two in Europe (Lille, France, 25th October, and Gdańsk, Poland, 1st November), and one in Oceania (Brisbane, 1st November). Like the past year, Lille and Gdansk events took place one week after the other, instilling doubts (or consolidating certainties) on the players’ meta reads. Brisbane, instead, was the first tournament event in the APAC region this season.
Hikhami seized the crown in Lille with a terrific run followed by a one-way bracket reset in grand finals: he is used to run off-meta teams, and this time round he did not disappoint either. The biggest surprise of the regional was seeing Zweilous up in usage dethroning his cousin Guzzlord as a preferred Dragon/Dark. This regional clearly stands up for its high diversity among the top cut usage, but Lille meta was completely different from what players chose in Gdańsk only a week after- we will go more in depth about this later on.
On the other hand, meta in Gdańsk revolved around a number of team archetypes that relied on some bulky staples paired with some corebreakers. Still, meta was quite unpredictable as players could develop a team in dozens of different directions, each one with a sound and solid logic behind. Here, PvPDavid07 mastered the winner bracket since the beginning, winning in the grand finals with an exhilarating but skilful mirror match against boem20.
And let’s finally move to the other side of the planet, where g0nE1001 bested his opponents and claimed the first spot. Meta was not so different from that in Europe: good confidence around meta staples, but more fantasy and trust given to spicy picks.
Overall Pokémon usage: similarities and differences
All players – aggregate and and duo core usage
Across the board, Cradily, Galarian Corsola and Gastrodon remained crowd favourites: comfortable, safe, and picked a lot. But comfort didn’t always translate into trophies.
Lille and Gdańsk told two different stories: Corviknight and Furret surged in one city’s lists, Florges, Talonflame and Empoleon climbed in another, and Kanto Marowak and Blastoise suddenly fell out of favour. That split killed the idea of a single “Europe meta” this weekend.
Brisbane sat between the two European styles but kept higher love for Azumarill, Annihilape and Dusknoir. It also had the highest Cradily + Gastrodon combos and the lowest Cradily + Corviknight pairings.
Top 16 – aggregate and and duo core usage
When we filter to the top 16, the real story becomes crystal clear: some Pokémon are being picked by the masses, and others are actually carrying players to wins.
What was the sauce? Best 3 overperformers per Regional
Lille
Empoleon: 10% -> 31%
Talonflame: 12% -> 31%
Stunfisk: 21% -> 31%
Empoleon and Talonflame jump strongly: top players leveraged Empoleon’s defensive and offensive coverage profile and Talonflame’s aggressive pressure to close games; Stunfisk was a consistent defensive pick with good play across the meta.
Gdańsk
Altaria: 11% -> 38%
Stunfisk: 22% -> 44%
Corviknight: 38% -> 56%
Altaria and Stunfisk showed the biggest deltas: Altaria has been a central win condition for many top teams: with a very useful converage for many central Pokémon in the meta, it is the only feasible Dragon type able to steal the 0 shield scenario off Florges, the currently most used Fairy; while Stunfisk provides tempo and match control, Corviknight was a reliable, widely used anchor for success.
Brisbane
Blastoise: 26% -> 38%
Pangoro: 11% -> 19%
Galarian Corsola: 45% -> 56%
Blastoise and Galarian Corsola were the highest duo core, suggesting strong team-synergy roles (Blastoise as bulky spammer/energy play; Corsola as disruption/damage sponge/tempo). Pangoro slightly rose among top players, probably as a targeted anti-meta choice – and it proved it’s good the hard way!
Are they being pushed out? Worst underperformer per Regional
Lille
Cradily: 62% -> 38%
Cradily was very popular overall, but much less common in top results: this suggests it was often picked by the field as a perceived safe and/or defensive option, but it failed to deliver versus refined team constructions, or got bullied by anti-meta choices.
Gdańsk
Gastrodon: 37% -> 13%
With more flyers on the rise (Corviknight and Altaria), Gastrodon was a liability: it got replaced by Stunfisk or Clodsire, ground types with better win conditions against flying types.
Brisbane
Annihilape: 18% -> 6%
A comfort pick for many, but it saw little success at top level, suggesting it struggled against the region’s common cores.
Takeway bullets
- Popularity does not mean performance. Cradily and Gastrodon were common but ended up underperforming at the highest level overall.
- Europe is split. With its large and stacked player base, every regional shows a different meta, and this time we saw no exceptions.
- Build around your hero plus a tempo/defensive anchor. Carefully choose something that with energy or shields can take you out of trouble, and pair it with bulky stallers that can soak damage without going down shields.
- Counter the overperformers. There is a reason why their usage soared among top cut players: their opponents were not strong enough against them. Have clear answers to Altaria, Corviknight, Stunfisk and Empoleon.
- If you keep an underperformer, make it a specialist pick. Pressure its worst counters with your bench and rehearse matchups, timing and switch windows.
That’s a wrap from me this week. We watched three unique metas unfold and some beautiful skill expression; take what worked, refine it, and I’ll catch you at the next event!