Hello trainers, here we are again!!
We’re 6 months in the 2025 Play! Pokemon season, and next up is going to be… the Europe International Championship!
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.
Cutting to the chase real quick; I’m very much restricted in time this week, so I will be keeping this article a bit short. Of course, I need to at least write something about the biggest tournament to date; 400 registered competitors!
The meta
This Play! Pokemon season, the meta has evolved a lot from the very beginning. For the worse, in my opinion. We went from a Feraligatr-Clodsire meta to a Malamar-Ariados meta, and that all seemed very accessible and flexible, but it has now turned into a power creep. Me and my team have been hosting quite some practice tournaments the past few weeks and I think that the top meta is solved.
I keep track of the top 10 Pokémon usage in these practice tournaments, and it usually aligns well with what is used in the Championship Series. In this case, the top 6 Pokémon are pretty much settled and can be a team on its own.
So, why for the worse? I think that the power creep of these top 6 Pokémon is so immense, that it’s nearly impossible to introduce corebreakers. And while some of these are relatively accessible – Galarian Corsola is absolutely NOT. And to say it as politely as possible, that’s… silly. The moveset of Astonish and Night Shade is one of the most efficiënt set in the game.
What’s the problem then? Just hatch one and score some XL candy? Yeah… you kind of want to invest in a REALLY good Galarian Corsola only, because some of its matchups can be heavily reliant on the IVs (attack, defense and HP stats) of the Pokémon. An extremely high defense and HP can allow you to win in more scenarios versus Feraligatr, Azumarill and Shadow Marowak.
And to get a good IV, you need to do low level friendship trades and get lucky there. But those are only limited to as many as you can hatch. Yikes…
On a more positive note, I have seen some interesting Pokémon come by that attempt to corebreak the top meta. Examples of Pokémon we may see come along are:
Being able to shut down Annihilape is a gold asset in the current meta. Many trainers rely on double shielding Annihilape and just Counter and Rage Fist through even some of its worse counters, but Wigglytuff makes this impossible.
Threatening cores that include Azumarill, Feraligatr, Annihilape, Grass- and Flying-type Pokémon. Zapdos still a fragile Pokémon, so down a shield or energy it won’t do too well in even some of the matchups its supposed to win.
I am personally not a believer because of its terrible matchup into Annihilape when shields are in play, but players have been able to make Corviknight work. The defensive Steel- and Flying-type of this Pokémon is extremely valuable, but a mediocre moveset does set it back in most neutral matchups such as Azumarill, Shadow Drapion and Diggersby.
Players to look out for
I have again jotted down some names of players to look out for. With the Travel Award in play, competitors from multiple regions are coming to try and take the throne in London. After all, Doonebug from North America got so close last time…
From Europe, I have noted down ArceusAurelius, TontonBatteuse, Colin6ix, Paulasha97 and MEweedle. I think they’re pretty obvious names to put on that list, but they all have something specific going for them too.
ArceusAurelius may be the European with the most and most recent experience in this meta. He’s gained a good chunk of Championship Points – but not in Europe! He competed in Merida and got 5th place, and then competed in Puerto Rico to get to 3rd place. They’re not wins, but they are solid placements and with his experience in this meta, I think it makes him a top pick to look uot for.
As for TontonBatteuse – he always brings something off meta. He topcut in almost every single Championship he competed in this season so far, but he stands out the most for bringing interesting corebreakers. I’m curious to see what he has this time.
Paulasha gained her fame in the Championship Series with an outstanding performance last season at the EUIC – a 4th place with Shadow Magnezone on the biggest European stage. Colin6ix on the other hand, has never really reached that far in an International competition. However, with a top 5 at the LAIC this season, he got super close to getting his hands on a trophy. Perhaps this time?
And last of all – MEweedle, the 2024 EUIC Champion. Look, I like the guy, but we Dutch are quite blunt. His season sucked so far, and I think he knows that. If there’s anything he is good at, it’s defending Europe from international competition. We’ll see if he can take down Doonebug again..
Speaking of, I also noted down some names from the North America region!
Doonebug97, LyleJeffsIII and OutOfPoket are some hot shots coming over, and all three have shown before they are capable of winning tournaments on the highest level.
Doonebug is trying another time at winning an International competition; last season he got to second place at the EUIC – and this season he also got to top 8 at the LAIC! LyleJeffs hasn’t been as successful yet – but his first worlds qualification was actually off a top cut at the 2023 NAIC.
Out of these three, OutOfPoket has the most experience with success on the big stage; he is the 2024 NAIC Champion and also reached top 5 at 2024 Worlds. He is coming fresh off a San Juan sweep from last weekend, too!
Next up, the LATAM region! These trainers are no stranger to the bigger competition. MartoGalde has won Merida two weeks ago through a wicked losers bracket sweep and brings quite the experience with him. Hopefully not with Jumpluff again though, we can’t have that win the EUIC.
And while they haven’t won an International Championship so far like Marto has, Javier and LNDsKanan have won Regional Championships before and tend to make good runs.
Last up, the battlers from the Oceania region! The Travel Award has been extremely valuable for these trainers, as this prize allows them to travel from the furthest corner in the world to the International Championships in all regions!
We’re likely going to see RicFlareon, GOHubavrip and JiNz8810 represent this region. The first two have experience at International Championships and the World Championships – but for JiNz, this will be their first!
Closing words
I’ll be there as well, competing this time, and uh yeah I have prepared some whacky stuff. It’s so tempting to make last second changes but at this current moment in time, my team should have none of the top 6 expected meta – and probably only 1 that’ll be in the top 12. It’s a recipe for disaster.. for my opponents, I hope 🙂
That said – this is starting on Friday already, so it’s time for me to prepare and take off… As always you can find the link to the stream and bracket here.
https://www.dracoviz.com/2025-euic
See you next time!!