Hi everyone!
I’m Leonardo (known in-game as CLeonardo77), and from time to time you will see me here on Dracoviz writing about usage data and meta analysis for the Play! Pokémon circuit.
Over the course of the last month, we’ve had four Regional Tournaments that saw some Pokémon surging to the rank of meta staples to never go away, as well as many players trying to reverse-engineer the meta at each time to try and stay unpredictable and gain an edge over the majority of the players.
Starting with Prague on the 25th of April, we saw a terrific run from TontonBatteuse seizing the crown with Aegislash, mastering its matchups at the perfection and showing for the first time how deadly the form-changing Pokémon can be in the right hands. Of course his Shadow Hydreigon deserves special mention too: his games are always a pleasure to watch, and you never know what crazy surprise he is going to bring to the next tournament.
A couple of weeks after, on the 9th of May, Arrohh wrote his name on the list of the Aegislash users to win a Regional with a solid performance in Los Angeles. Not only did he replicate what TontonBatteuse had done earlier, but he won the gold medal playing his way: Dartrix, Shadow Kanto Ninetales, and Shadow Feraligatr, which comes finally back as a Shadow to pick up the 0 shield scenario versus the omnipresent Lickilicky.
And now let’s fly to Campinas, Brazil (16th May), where TzSteinar‘s first place makes the third Aegislash in a row to win a Regional Tournament! This time, the recipe was a mix both fast and charged move pressure Pokémon to keep the opponents guessing about where to spend their shields.
And finally we go back to Europe, with Nesabethan claiming the golden medal agains this teammate and fellow brit SirKori in Utrecht. He stayed loyal to the same Sealeo/Gourgeist/Stunfisk core he brought in Prague, but he shuffled the cards a little bit, pulling a Shadow Sableye out of the cylinder, and demonstrating, along Arrohh, that tournaments can be won without Lickilicky.
Overall Pokémon usage: similarities and differences
All players – aggregate and and trio core usage
The two charts make the same basic story visible from different angles: a small, stable set of staples anchors the format, and regions then diverge by which third or fourth Pokémon they slot into those foundations.
Across the aggregate bars, Lickilicky and Forretress sit at the very top, followed closely by Quagsire, Feraligatr, and Stunfisk. Those five form the most common building blocks in every dataset: they’re the reliable pivots and bulk anchors that teams repeatedly return to.
The regional bars show clear, repeatable differences in how that backbone is completed:
- Prague: noticeably higher Fearligatr and lower Lickilicky usage compared to the other tournaments, a sign that the meta was yet to be solved back in April.
- Los Angeles: elevated adoption of Stunfisk and Corviknight, two Pokémon long known to be favourites of the NA region.
- Campinas: a stronger tilt towards Altaria, many of which in their shadow form, reflecting a more aggressive approach. Interestingly, this was the tournament with the lowest Stunfisk usage.
- Utrecht: closely tracks the overall curve, but with some notable exceptions being Tinkaton and Empoleon showing their highest usage here in the Netherlands.
Top 16: aggregate and trio-core usage
When filtering the top 16 players from each tournament, the “sauce” for the success reveals to our eyes.
In Prague, pairing Quagsire with Togekiss turned out to be a good choice: conversely, top-cutters did not believe in neither Altaria nor Diggersby.
In Los Angeles, Quagsire usage took a hit, and another fellow water Pokémon skyrocketed: Feraligatr, alongside with Grumpig and Diggersby, were three Pokémon that clearly overperformed in the top cut.
In Campinas we see Lickilicky soaring up to a crazy 90% usage among day2 players, a sign that bulk and good coverage never disappoints. Malamar and Aegislash also revealed a higher usage than their baseline.
Finally, in Utrecht three strong over-performers going by the name of Sableye, Azumarill and Cradily made their appearance. Alongside with Tinkaton, they flew under the radar for the first day and then helped many players seize points. However, it seemed that by the end of the month, players abandoned Feraligatr and Galarian Corsola, no longer deemed to have what it takes to power through the gauntlet.
Takeaway bullets
- Stable backbone, decisive third slot. Forretress + Lickilicky has been the meta’s gravity centre; the tournament identity is set by the third Pokémon (Stunfisk / Togekiss / Quagsire / Feraligatr).
- Top‑16 compresses the meta. In the day2 players, Lickilicky, Forretress, and Quagsire kept dominating. The field narrowed even more to a few repeatable, high‑value choices.
- Winners can break the template. Three consecutive Aegislash champions and two out of four Lickilicky‑less wins show that exceptional pilots and surprise picks still beat the meta when used with purpose and matchup awareness.
- What to watch next month. With a move update coming, everything is possible: personally, I am expecting some previously-unused Pokémon to get a substantial buff to shake the meta up. The developers have gotten us used to these radical move buffs/nerfs and new moves introduced to revamp forgotten Pokémon, so we are all looking forward to see what the new meta is going to look like. Players preparing for Turin in the first week of June will have little to no time to prepare, with almost non-existent prior usage data to back their teambuilding decisions with.
Well, that’s a wrap from me, thank you for reading! Enjoy the pre-update speculation and until the next time!
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