Hey there trainers!
We’re 4 months into the 2025 Play! Pokemon season, and we just had our first two tournaments in the new Dual Destiny meta!
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.
All tournaments from the LAIC, up until and including the EUIC will count for the NAIC Travel Award. This means that all players start with a ‘clean sheet’ for this race (that includes the points from locals, even if players are already capped on 4), but the current points are retained and used for the Worlds Travel Award.
Generic intro blablabla. Here’s what we all want to see and know; let’s see how the new meta started off in the first 2 championships of the last weekend.
Perth recap
The first Regional Championship for the Australians! Finally! Perth is on the west coast of Australia, and counted 40 competitors this time around. The tournament was played in one long single day. We were even lucky enough to have a community broadcast stream hosted by PvPSteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeve so we could see some of the battles! And there’s a usage graphic made by Dracoviz, woah!
So, at the time of writing I am not entirely sure yet if this is how it will shape up in tournaments to come. My own practice tournaments did have similar numbers in Azumarill, Clodsire and Annihilape, but way more Serperior (which I personally think is one of THE best Pokémon in the meta currently) and far less non-Shadow Feraligatr, Mandibuzz and especially Dunsparce. Perhaps the amount of Serperior I’ve seen myself is offset by the amount of Jumpluff this tournament had as the Grass-type to use. Perhaps not a bad call considering the increase in Annihilape and Primeape – but Jumpluff does do worse than Serperior versus Pokémon like Diggersby, Azumarill, Feraligatr and Clodsire.
The tournament also didn’t exactly shape up the way we expected it to. Tournament favourite RicFlareon dropped relatively early on while Zeetarb and avrip managed to get far in the losers bracket. The Championship Points earned in this regional will be extremely important in the race for the NAIC Travel Award, but also for the World Championships qualification and Travel Award.
With 2 groups of 20 competitors leading to a top 4 final stage, there was only 1 (satur)day of competition. What players globally thought may happen in Australia, was almost happening; the Japanese were looking for an opportunity to qualify outside of their own circuit. But the only way they can do this is by winning a Regional Championship or getting to top 4 at an International Championship. pokemonemaker made it to the losers finals. They dropped their second round to Zeetarb but managed to win 7 consecutive rounds after that, eliminating staple names such as FishOnAHeater, avrip and they even won the grudge match vs Zeetarb later on.
In the end, it was the youngsters fighting for the crown though. 89CGYFlamesFan lost the winners finals to TheyLuvJy – who brought their signature Pokémon Shadow Alolan Ninetales again – then knocked out the Japanese competitor pokemonemaker, and closed it out by resetting the bracket vs TheyLuvJy by winning 3-0. In the end he won it all by winning another set by 3-1.
While I do have my doubts about Perth setting the stage for the new meta, I do think that the team of 89CGYFlamesFan may be a preview of what a new meta team will look like. I too have found in my teambuilding thoughts that a Jumpluff + Marowak core looks incredibly strong now. But so does the Jumpluff + Shadow Drapion core. Hmm, but so does the Azumarill + Shadow Drapion core. This group of Pokémon complement each other so well, and I think that strong composition is what helped 89CGYFlamesFan get past all the off meta and spicy teams in Perth. Along with pretty solid gameplay too, of course.
I can’t stand the idea of Jumpluff now winning 3 tournaments already though. Argh
Bogotá recap
In the same weekend, there was also a Special Championship in Bogotá, Colombia. Last season counted 17 competitors, this season we had a whopping 57 registered competitors! It seems that the thirst for qualifying or even earning the NAIC Travel Award has really drawn in more competitors to some of these tournaments.
To start with the good news – I heard the venue connection was very fine, and we had a community stream too! So we could see most of the battles. On the other hand, in one of the first matches of MartoGalde, we saw an app crash in the middle of the game. Urrrr…… I believe he said something about that at LAIC…
At the time of writing, we don’t have the usage of the entire tournament – but we do have a top 8 graphic from Dracoviz! Overall, I do think that these teams represent the meta to come a bit better than the teams of Perth did. There’s a lot of Diggersby, Jumpluff and Annihilape and far less Dunsparce – just as expected. I expected a decrease in Clodsire, but Clodsire actually makes perfect sense as one of the very few corebreakers to Azumarill, Jumpluff and Drapion.
The Colombians had a strong showing in all of this international competition showing up at their Special Championship; half of the top 8 were from Colombia! But they didn’t manage to keep the title in Colombia. Some of the Mexican competition coming over had a really strong showing too. Richie1409 got to top 3 at the LAIC, and in his very next tournament after he won it all! After losing the first best of 5 against Deaquis, he got back up and won 3-1 to close it out.
Richie is the champion, but I need to give Deaquis some more praise than that 2nd place right there. Because if you look at the teams, he didn’t have a SINGLE Galarian Corsola answer. Yet somehow he beasted through the team of Richie in the first set with very aggressive gameplay, and it was an absolute sight to see how this story unfolded in the bracket reset.
The teams of 89CGYFlamesFan and Richie1409 are very different, but will set the stage for the meta in the next 3 months. Drapion is a very safe pick, and the Jumpluff + Azumarill core is looking to be the meta to play or to target. Unbelievable that Jumpluff won 2 tournaments this weekend. While Primeape also was on both winning teams, I do think that Annihilape is more consistent into matchups like Clodsire, Drapion and Diggersby. Primeape on the other hand handles Azumarill, Galarian Corsola and Feraligatr a bit better.
Now, let’s move on to the last tournament of the 2024 calendar year.
Players to look out for
Toronto is one of the more accessible cities in North America hosting a Regional Championship, and it will draw competitors from all over Canada and the United States. A couple highlights of last seasons Toronto – counting 112 registered competitors – were JJan11 sweeping the tournament, SsThorn and a Clefable, and I believe this is where Magmarman with a CRAZY spicy team made a name for himself. He got the 3rd place medal with THIS team right here.
But in my opinion, Magmarman needs to show us on his hometurf that he still has it. His latest performances did not get even remotely as close (his spice definitely did), so I’m excited to see what he brings this time (please don’t be something that corebreaks my entire team).
At the time of writing, Toronto counts 126 registered competitors.
Let’s talk about the prodigy of Toronto. It’s this Clefable guy. SsThorn hardly competed in Play! Pokemon Championships, but he is like Boem20. Young, meticulous, smart (I think?), and good at the game. Everyone who knows SsThorn is probably expecting something here.
Now, there’s a trap though. And that’s his craving to succeed with spice. He got away with that Clefable last season (which now is even better with Fairy Wind), but he didn’t do so well in Vancouver with a Shadow Gyarados. Use that Clefable again, I bet you won’t!!
Jokes aside, he did barely qualify for the World Championships last season but couldn’t make it. It would be great to see him compete there in the 2025 Season. Maybe with Boem20 even?
Next up is a fallen warrior. Probably the most washed up Canadian around currently. My favourite person whose name I like to say with a Venom voice. DaiLapCheurng used to be one of, perhaps even THE, best player in the world at some point. Between season 6 and 11, he consistently peaked between rank 1 and 4 on the GBL leaderboard and won multiple grassroot tournaments. It was no surprise that he finished as Runner-up in his first official championship, with a whopping 23 wins in this tournament.
But later on in the season, Dailap lost his touch. His performances at the World Championships were far below his standards, and he got busy with this thing called ‘real life’. As a result, he didn’t defend his title in Vancouver 2024. I however, am a believer of Dailaps return. Hopefully not at my own expense – but I am feeling a comeback from the king.
To become the king, you have to defeat the king first though. The Best Bald Battler (from here on known as the BBB) is competing in Toronto to defend the hometurf from all the invaders. LyleJeffsIII is arguably the best Canadian competitor and a challenge for anyone facing him.
The BBB has 3 gold medals and a silver medal to his name. Very impressive – but where are the trophies? Aside from his second NAIC (in which he qualified for the 2023 World Championships), LyleJeffs has not been doing too hot on the big stage. He already has won Louisville in October, now let’s see if he can keep up this level until his next International Championship. Toronto will be an excellent challenge for him.
But if you were impressed by those gold medals, check out this guy. Doonebug97 has four gold medals, a silver medal and trophy, and two bronze medals to his name. If I’m not mistaken – that’s more than anyone else in terms of quantity in prizes.
Just like LNDsRargef, Doonebug seemed invincible for a while. The favourite to win the World Championships. But once the last meta shift before the World Championships happened, he lost all feeling for the competition. We saw a glimpse of the old Doonebug back in Louisville and at the LAIC though, so perhaps that was just a low period and now he is slowly rising back up. Doonebug in form is absolute cinema to watch and I’m hoping to see it in Toronto.
Just, again, not at my expense please. Go play everyone else.
Now if it wasn’t clear yet, yes I will be competing too!! I was hesitant about putting myself in the Stuttgart article but after my 4th place there, I will be cocky enough this time to – kind of – put myself as a player to look out for. Along with 3 more wicked Europeans that are looking to nab some North American prizes.
There is so much silverware spread amongst all of us. Especially TomahawkUK who literally has 3 silver medals to his name. That said, he may also be the one who knows the NA meta the best – in fact, this will be his 3rd tournament in North America while he competed in only one European tournament this season!
Myself and Zzweilous actually competed in Toronto last season as well, but we didn’t get very far. So for us, we are looking to avenge ourselves here. Or avenge each other?
And of course, Colin. The guy won 3 Championships so far and reached the grand finals 5 times in total. That’s gotta be a name to fear.
All of these competitors have reached at least tied 17th or better at the 2024 World Championships – so if there’s any moment for a European to win gold in North America, this would be the time. Tomahawk – it’s time to get (y)our revenge on NiteTimeClasher!
Closing words
I would like to close this article with two words: Jumpluff bad. Don’t believe SJayP12, MartoGalde and Richie1409, it’s just propaganda!
Real talk, my prediction is that the meta will shape up into a circle of Grass (Jumpluff or Serperior), Azumarill, Alolan Sandslash and a fighter. Perhaps Shadow Drapion could fit in there as a safe pivot? Everything around that is anti-meta (such as Clodsire or Talonflame). And I do think the Diggersby – Toxapex core can still put in work, but Diggersby looks kind of rough now in this hostile environment of all the counters to it that I just named. It’ll still be good with it’s versatile coverage and extreme bulk though.
That’ll be it for this week! It’ll also be the last one for this month. Toronto is the last championship of this calendar year, so I’ll be on a break before writing the next one that will be for Rio de Janeiro and Birmingham! Those take place on 18th and 19th of January.
As always, you can find the link to the bracket and stream here.
https://www.dracoviz.com/2025-toronto
Happy holidays in advance and see you next year!