Pokémon fans can’t believe the classic favorite ‘mon is finally a winner

As children, everyone dreamed of becoming a Pokémon master, but only a few have managed to claim that title.

While Karen from the Elite Four may have told us, “Really skilled trainers try to win with their favorites.” in the real world this is usually not possible.

Pokémon like Incineroar, Flutter Mane, Wellspring Ogerpon, and Urshifu dominate the metagame, and almost every team consists of only top 20 Pokémon.

However, a recent regional tournament in Utrecht proved that players can indeed win with their favorites.

Cantonian Articuno only has 0.29% usage, meaning it’s a rare find when looking at competitive VGC.

It was popular in Pokémon Red and Blue, but in future games it was severely disrupted and no longer had the attack stats to compete at the highest level.

Nikhail Reddy and his team Articuno took home the entire tournament in Utrecht, while team building partner Emir Abdulovski finished sixth after a knockout by Reddy.

Not only was Articuno an odd choice for the metagame, but the set it had was unusual.

With Alolan Ninetails to support setting up snow and Aurora Veil to strengthen Articuno’s defenses and Evasion with Snow Cloak, Articuno was able to sit on the field without being eliminated.

Reddy and Abdulovski’s Articuno was an Ice-tera type, one of the least popular in VGC, and had Choice Specs to boost its attack with four Ice-type attacks.

This Articuno had Blizzard, Ice Beam and Freeze-Dry to deal massive damage to most popular Pokémon, but the last move was the most special.

Sheer Cold is an attack that is only 30% accurate, but will instantly kill any Pokémon it hits.

These types of moves are rarely used in VGC, and even less so with Choice Specs, but since Articuno was very difficult to take down, you get a lot of time to take out competitors.

After a huge win like this, the use of certain Pokémon usually increases, and we expect to see more Ice-types in the game in the future.

If you want to read more about Pokémon, check out all 33 ‘mons in the Pokémon Legends: ZA trailer.

Written by Georgina Young on behalf of GLHF.

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