Hey there trainers!
The 2025 Play! Pokemon season has started! We’ve had the first month of competition starting off with a tournament in North-America, South-America and Europe. This week, we have the 2nd championship coming up in Europe, Lille!
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 take a look at what happened the past month.
The almost 2 month old meta now has seen some developments – in my opinion, for the worse. That might start off negative, but I still think it’s one of the best meta’s we’ve had so far! Let me tell you why I feel this way.
Feraligatr, Dunsparce and Clodsire are the most common Pokémon in the meta. Maybe a bit stale, but I think that’s great. All Pokémon can win and lose to each other and defeat pretty much every other Pokémon in specific shield scenarios, while also being very prone to other Pokémon when they have a shield advantage. With a shorter switch clock, this allowed the meta to evolve into the most dynamic gameplay we’ve ever seen.
…Or at least, you’d think. Usually, when a new Open Great League week started, everyone started off using cool teams. But then… it quickly changed into a meta full of Bastiodon, Wigglytuff and Victreebel. I mean, I like those Pokémon, but they’re very alignment dependent and it has little room for flexibility. The opposite of Clodsire and Feraligatr (and Clodsire now kind of ended this whole core, too).
New challengers quickly approached this core though: the core of Diggersby and Toxapex. I love how flexible Diggersby is with its bulk and versatile moveset, and being able to defeat both Clodsire and Feraligatr. I am not a fan of its partner in crime though. Toxapex is a great corebreaker to the common Grass- and Fairy-type core (mainly Azumarill as the Fairy-type) while also picking up decent wins against Feraligatr, Fighting-type and Fire-type Pokémon.
That’s a whole list, and probably a good reason to bring Toxapex. The reason I dislike it however, is because its losses are very hard losses. Its only Water-type coverage is Brine, which is an awful charged attack. That’s a good thing because that makes Toxapex not even more of a powerhouse, but it’s also a bad thing because it means Toxapex can do about nothing to Diggersby and Clodsire.
The problem of the current meta also is that some of the best, appealing and cool Pokémon to use are weak to Azumarill. It’s not surprising to see Pokémon like Malamar, Talonflame, Drapion and Diggersby all combined in one team. These Pokémon struggle against Azumarill… and what covers Azumarill best? Yeah, that’s Toxapex.
The meta somewhat turns into a triangle of alignment again, and I think Toxapex is to blame.
But how long will Toxapex reign? Some competitors in Louisville really had enough of it. Top cutters TrentSzcz, NiteTimeClasher and LyleJeffsIII brought a Shadow Marowak. We already knew this Pokémon is strong, but this time it really came through. LyleJeffsIII hardly dropped any games throughout the bracket with a very versatile team.
Drapion and Shadow Marowak cover Toxapex so well and then Drapion and Toxapex neutralize Serperior, making it so easy for Lyle to protect the Azumarill. Even against the insanely spicy team from Arrohh, he managed to turn the tables when the writing was on the wall.
Is Lyle the one to make Mud-Slap finally popular, after showing its true potential? …I don’t think so to be honest. Mud-Slap is great on Gastrodon too, and that Pokémon hasn’t really worked out so far in the meta. We saw a Shadow Donphan from KhaleesiFitzy (which almost knocked down 2023 World Champion ItsAXN) and it performed well, but didn’t get further than losers round 5. While Shadow Donphan has access to Trailblaze and the low-cost energy Body Slam, it has less bulk and consistent damage output compared to Shadow Marowak.
Shadow Marowak is strong, and by that I mean REALLY strong. It can defeat Shadow Feraligatr, Azumarill and Cresselia all in the 2 shield scenario while having the perfect bulk to deal comfortably with Dunsparce, Toxapex and Shadow Drapion too. Bone Club now is a cheap and efficient charged attack, allowing Shadow Marowak to output a lot of damage very quickly.
So why is no one using it?
…We haven’t had it in the last few rocket rotations. The last time Shadow Cubone was available was right before it was possible to evolve your Cubone into Alolan Marowak. And because Kanto Marowak seemed useless and not viable at the time, many players have evolved their Shadow Cubone into Shadow Alolan Marowak.
And now there’s no way to get one until it comes back into the rocket rotation. But considering we just had a rocket event, it’s likely this won’t be for the remainder of the fall. Which is a shame that such a strong newly buffed Pokémon is so inaccessible at the moment – the non-Shadow Marowak just doesn’t perform even remotely close to its Shadow counterpart.
And Lyle said this too in the award ceremony. Make the strong Pokémon accessible.
So that’s why I don’t think the team of LyleJeffsIII as a whole will make a huge impact on the meta and on players’ teams. That said, the other Pokémon of his team are quite accessible and fair well in the meta so it’s possible we may just see the team in the next tournaments, but without Shadow Marowak.
It’s interesting to see though that Dunsparce and Clodsire had become the most common Pokémon on day 1, but dropped hard in usage on day 2. It was a good weekend for Malamar and Ground-type Pokémon and I only expect more of these to come in the next tournaments.
That will be the 3rd Regional Championship win for Lyle. Now his in-game name LyleJeffsIII marks the amount of gold medals he has! (3). Albeit a bittersweet one, Arrohh also joined the exclusive club of three silver medals, but no gold yet – the others being CalebPeng and TomahawkUK.
Alright, on to our next tournament. We’ve seen two championships in both North-America and South-America, now we head into the second championship in Europe. And Lille has the honour to host a GO Championship for the 4th season in a row!
I expect to see around 160 competitors for Lille. Which is less than in 2024, when we had 176 competitors. Unfortunate, but it should still be a good tournament. So far Lille has been dominated by competitors from three different countries.
All these trainers are going to be here in Lille as well! Galaxkobolten won last season with that notorious Leaf Tornado Serperior, and unfortunately for his opponents, it’s looking good again in this meta. As per usual, we zoom in on approximately 5 players.
Let’s start off with the French players first. TontonBatteuse has been one the best performing French battlers for the past seasons ever since his 2023 EUIC win. He had a rough 2nd half of the 2024 season, but started off strong in Dortmund with a 2nd place. TontonBatteuse and AMindJoke currently are looking to be the face of resurgence.
But TontonBatteuse has competition coming for this title. Cachton69 had a great performance last season at Dortmund and Sandodou got to 3rd place at the 2024 EUIC. Another French player looking for some redemption is lDexxBl. Ever since his dominant win in the 2022 Lille Regional Championships and a top 4 at Liverpool 2023, he hasn’t gotten quite as far anymore. But with Talonflame being this good again, maybe he can pull something off. Third place finalist of Lille 2023 Woolfpack also has ground in France and is looking to rise again in this meta.
It’s also exciting to see what some of these trainers will bring. Trainers like TontonBatteuse, lDexxbl and especially Tragicomix are not afraid to use some spice, the latter even bringing a Greedent to last season’s Dortmund.
I don’t think many Pokémon GO trainers know this French competitor. Rhobalas is a professional League of Legends player, and he is actually attempting to qualify for the 2025 World Championships! Cool to see him participate in our competitive circuit. (And he follows me on X, it’s no big deal but we’re cool like that lol)
That’s not why I have him on the list though. I mean yes it’s cool to have a professional esports player competing, but the reason I like him on this list is because Rhobalas is also one of those trainers looking for redemption. He already competed at 2022 Lille, but that didn’t go too well.
I always find it worth my time going to the championships because of the community and atmosphere, and I will always advocate and promote the circuit. But man, the double elimination format can be very cruel to newcomers as you simply are just out of the tournament after 2 losses. I’ve had fun full days of competition, but the harsh reality is that your whole tournament can be over in a timespan of 30 minutes if it doesn’t go well. From that perspective, I am rooting for a big name like Rhobalas to do well and have fun in our game and competition. And perhaps after competing, he even shares his thoughts, insight and knowledge on how to improve our circuit as compared to League of Legends. Double elimination is great for the broadcast, but a broadcast needs an appealing competition.
Moving on to competitors from other countries: this one here really needs a good day in this game. ThoTechtical is one of the most popular PvP streamers that we have had for many years and he is having an on and off relationship with Pokémon GO. Playing on Android right now is pretty rough with the frame drops going on and he’s not been able to cope well with it. Nonetheless, he will be competing in Lille. And those events usually do tend to cheer him up again. Well, except if he loses to a Night Slash boost or 1 turn forced swap in lag.
I’ve seen him play some show 6 matchups the past few weeks and I do think he is truly in form now. Quick reflexes, expert game knowledge, perfect predictions and solid strategies – ThoTechtical has it all. He hasn’t competed since EUIC and hasn’t even been on stream since 2024 Stuttgart (last year December), and the fans want to see him do well again. I think this is a make it or break it moment for him – if he succeeds, we may see him in more tournaments to come. If it doesn’t go well, we may not see him compete again until EUIC and Utrecht.
And of course, the queen of PvP is also here. Paulasha97 has 2 gold, 2 bronze medals and a 4th place trophy from the EUIC to her name, and is here to continue her success from last season. But many of the Pokémon she trusted so much from the last season – Altaria, Mantine, Magnezone, Skeledirge – are not as good in the current meta as they used to be… what can she cook up for this tournament?
Frankly, if you’ve seen Paula play on her Twitch stream – she is actually still using that Magnezone. Is it that good in a meta full with Clodsire and Diggersby? I don’t know, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she brings that core of Magnezone, Feraligatr, Cresselia and a Dragon-type Pokémon again. And somehow she makes those Pokémon look so easy to use every time we see her do well. Let’s see how Paula will do in this new meta.
There’s not a lot of Spanish representation in Lille this time, but the other Spanish trainer from the 2023 Turin Grand Finals is also competing in Lille – Andriss96. She got a top 5 in 2024 Liverpool after that, but besides that the tournaments have not been very kind to her in terms of performance. Just like many other competitors in Lille, Andriss is on that list of players looking for redemption and resurgence.
And the last few names to zoom in on is a combination of international competition and first timers. We have competitors from Australia, the United States and… Belgium! Which is right next to France.
But what makes this young Belgian competitor so special is that I think he is on par with competitors like TontonBatteuse, ThoTechtical and Paulasha in terms of skill. Does boem20 have the same knowledge and strategies though? This will be his first competition to prove so. Do not be surprised to see this new name rise to the top immediately – he already has shown to be an excellent competitor in the GO Battle League.
Another first time competitor is Lavendrunicorn! She is traveling from the United States to visit France and decided to compete for the first time in a Play! Pokemon tournament. This gives a little bit of NiteTimeClasher vibes, when he won the first European Regional Championship he competed in…….
Sorry, I don’t mean to put huge pressure on our visitors from across the pond. The venue in Lille has quite the experience of hosting a Pokémon GO championship and I think this is a cool opportunity for her to not only meet the European PvP community, but also have a taste of competing.
Across the pond is pretty far, but we can go even further. Laurenlolly has competed in 3 Regional Championships in Australia already, and now she is also competing in Lille on her travels through Europe!! I met her a few weeks ago in the Netherlands – she is great to have around and I think that just like for Lavendrunicorn, it’ll be exciting for her to meet the European PvP community.
Lille is going to be a stacked tournament, with many known names and content creators too – such as Vigevige, ClaudiaFPS, and PokeGainnnsss (not competing, but you may see him spectating). Make sure to check it out!
You can find the link to the bracket and the broadcast here:
https://www.dracoviz.com/2025-lille
See you next week!