Announcement: https://news.pokemon-home.com/en/page/762.html
I celebrate the return of official online competitions in the single battle format even if this first one in Champions is a massive nothingburger because it uses the regular M-A regulation ruleset — the one major departure from M-1 would be the return of regular tie-break mechanics from genrations 8-9.
So maybe there would be slightly more Umbreon stuff and hard stall than on ladder. Fair enough, but I am still not resorting to any variant of the ABC Archaludon (Always. Be. Critting.).
Alright alright, at least there would be some trainer titles to play for. And with a seeming commitment by the game's producer to do more competitions in singles, it hasn't been a better time to be a singles player since perhaps sometime between late USUM and early SWSH.
Steel Beam connects with Floette-Mega.
The second-most satisfying Vacuum Wave in regulation M-A. What's number one then? Well, Meowscarada, but Lucario never got its paws on one.
Ah yes, the incalculable contribution of sheer luck to life, the universe, and everything.
No...that's not the picture I meant to post. Hang on.
Alright, found it.
Who thinks this looks good? I mean, honestly. This is an official tournament, why can't they give us a unique stage for these to make things feel a bit more special. I don't think I'm asking for too much here. Or am I crazy? Don't answer that.
Sacrifice everything in with Stealth Rock in place, use Basculegion's bulk and/or Focus Sash to get off an Agility if necessary and Last Respects away.
1) Team overview
Pokepaste: https://pokepast.es/9f4e621293ff01d4
The format for this event being the most underwhelming thing possible, and there as a consequence being no large friendly tournaments to get practice data from, I decided to keep things simple. Therefore, the team I went with is essentially just a version of Amani's double Steel Beam Last Respects cheese from Season 1.
For this reason there won't be a proper detailed team introduction here, even though I changed Gyarados & Primarina to Starmie & Corviknight, and went Jolly on Garchomp over the original's Adamant. After all, the fundamental strategy remains the same: Archaludon-Lucario-Basculegion.
As for bad match-ups and such, Lopunny and Aegislash seemed by far the scariest things to face, with opposing Basculegion also being impossible to deal with outside my own Basculegion or chip + Garchomp. So rather than try to address those issues, I decided to just take the Ls from that stuff and get my points elsewhere.
Due to the slapdash job of preparation I did for this tournament, I had only a vague notion of wanting to set a goal for myself for a finish in the high triple digits. But it's the first tournament in a new game, so even with a limit of 45 games total, I didn't have a good idea where and when to stop. Let's say...the mid-1700s?
2) Tournament
In this section, I will document my losses for posterity and present some more screenshots with accompanying musings on the tournament to lighten the mood a bit.
Since most games should be Lucario games, and the set I'm using needs to run Steel Beam and Focus Blast to actually do the big numbers, I thought it might be fun to keep a running tally of how Focus Blast would do for me. I normally try to avoid teams that have to rely on moves like Focus Blast or Magma Storm, so this should be...well...something.
Day 1
Win / Loss: 13 - 2
Focus Blast tally:
Hit: 5
Whiff: 4
Loss 1: Archaludon-Starmie-Basculegion vs. Glimmora-Scizor-Corviknight
The endgame was Scizor-Mega against Basculegion, and two rounds of Stealth Rock damage were not enough against 32 HP Scizor bulk even to a +32 Attack Last Respects. I got straight up outplayed.
Game 3, Loss 1. I'm afraid I failed to take a screenshot of the opposing team.
Sashculegion gets off two rounds of Last Respects.
Loss 2: Archaludon-Lucario-Basculegion vs. Rotom-Lucario-Meowscarada
A game against the rank 14 team from last season. Despite a massive advantage going into the game by knowing what I was playing against, I lost because Lucario missed three consecutive Focus Blasts against Rotom-W. So I lost Focus Sash going into the final 1v1 against a bruised Meowscarada.
Game 6, loss 2.
I don't have a real answer to Lopunny, but when they opened Slowbro I was free to assume they didn't bring the rabbit, so I ran everything in trying to get a Last Respects sweep without getting blocked by Iron Defense Slowbro-Mega.
Kamiyan team from Season 1. Dodged yet another bunny. Here's the logic, if you can call it such, for bringing Lucario instead of Starmie: if it's Charizard lead Archaludon can put it in range for Lucario, if it's not Charizard, Stealth Rock puts Charizard in range for Lucario. I just chose not to respect Defog. And I wasn't about to play Starmie-Corviknight into Guillotine Kingambit if at all possible.
Rating after the first 15 games. Also, why does this screen display my VP amount?
Nothing much to say about the first day of play, about a third of my games were against players who were not as deep into the game as some of us geezers are, and I saw one or two doubles teams in there, too. I suppose there was one close call where a burned Garchomp Outrage had to do slightly over 35% (approx. 36.4 - 43%) to a Basculegion in the Scarf-off endgame (Scovillain-Kingambit-Basculegion).
Focus Blast being four misses our of nine uses seems like a disaster, but Lucario always tended to get a couple of opportunities to land it.
Day 2
Win / Loss: 10 - 5
Focus Blast tally:
Hit: 5 (1 crit)
Whiff: 2
Loss 3: Archaludon-Lucario-Corviknight vs. Scovillain
Missed Focus Blast and got crit Flamethrowered in turn. A great way to kick off day 2.
Game 16, loss 3.
Loss 4: Archaludon-Lucario-Garchomp vs. Archaludon-Banette-Basculegion
Lost to Focus Sash Basculegion in the 1v1 with Garchomp. I think I made an obvious mistake in not bringing Starmie into this because its Aqua Jet would be more playable into Banette-Basculegion than Lucario is. Put another way, a Last Respects cheeser should be able to play around another Last Respects cheeser.
Barely above 1600 after those two losses.
Game 17, loss 4.
I'm fine with getting KO'd here, but if you're going to Nasty Plot in front of a -4 SpAtt Archaludon, have a Roar.
Loss 5: Archaludon-Lucario-Corviknight vs. Primarina-Gengar-Hydreigon
1500s player. Archaludon missed Draco Meteor on Gengar-Mega so I had to go in with Lucario and Steel Beam down Gengar and Primarina, leaving Corviknight to die to Flamethrower Hydreigon. Another massive loss of points put me down to 1608.
Game 19, loss 5.
The second Focus Blast miss of the day.
Loss 6: Archaludon-Lucario-Corviknight vs. Meganium-Runegrigus-Archaludon
This was a throw worthy of epic poetry. It was Lucario and Corviknight against Archaludon in the endgame. Instead of clicking Focus Blast, I clicked Vacuum Wave on a 50% health Lucario assuming Corviknight would clean up even if Archaludon somehow killed Lucario, otherwise Vacuum Wave would just 2HKO.
Well, it was +32 SpAtt Thunderbolt Archaludon with Leftovers so not only did it kill Lucario, it lived the Body Press with 4%. Losses like this where you throw against a relatively casual opponent are the most painful. But we like pain in these parts, oh boy do we ever!
Game 22, loss 6.
Water Shuriken is so underwhelming without Torrent, it shouldn't really be played. Like it wasn't here. For which I am grateful.
- "But wait, I thought you said you only missed two Focus Blast on day two?"
-" That's right, this was a missed Steel Beam". "Basculegion won anyway".
It took a massive 25 games to break 1650. This meant it was probably about time to adjust my expectations from a finish in the mid-1700s to perhaps the low 1700s for the event. Let's hope not.
Loss 7: Archaludon-Starmie-Basculegion vs. Gyarados-Aegislash-
Nozomi team from season 1. Despite going in knowing the opposing team, I had no answers. This team can't really beat Aegislash + two flying Megas and Mimikyu. And I seem to have omitted clicking the screenshot button again, sorry. According to my notes this was game 26, for what that's worth.
Rating after 30 games.
Thoughts after day two. First, I can't really be upset about losses 3 and 5, where Focus Blast and Draco Meteor missed at the key moment. At least I was making the best play available to me at the time in both cases. The same can't really be said for the other three losses, where I found a way to choke and throw (losses 4 and 6), and finally meet a virtually unplayable match-up (loss 7).
Nevertheless, ending the day on a streak of four wins helped undo some of the damage done here, so maybe 1750 is back on the table again, after all. I assume that will be enough for a top-1000 finish, which I'd be fine with.
Day 3
Win / Loss: 9 - 6
Focus Blast tally:
Hit: 3
Whiff: 2
Loss 8: Archaludon-Garchomp-Basculegion vs. Meganium-Aegislash-Garchomp
Lost the Choice Scarf Garchomp Speed tie to prevent the Basculegion sweep on bruised Aegislash and Meganium. And here I am running +32 Speed Jolly Garchomp in order to avoid that very thing!
Game 33, loss 8.
Loss 9: Archaludon-Lucario-Basculegion vs. Meowscarada-Gyarados-
Lost to lead Focus Sash special attacker Meowscarada, which oneshotted Archaludon and Lucario. Despite leading to a swift and hilarious loss like this, I don't think clicking Stealth Rock on turn one against a Meowscarada counts as a mistake. I'm afraid I was just too bamboozled in the moment take a proper screenshot beyond the one below.
Down to the 1680s after that loss.
Game 34, loss 9.
Loss 10: Archaludon-Lucario-Basculegion vs. Garchomp-Pinsir-Rotom-W
Lost to Modest Choice Scarf Rotom-W in the back due to Basculegion having its Focus Sash broken by Garchomp's Stealth Rock in the opener against Archaludon. Simply outplayed.
Third loss in a row, and I was now over 20 points below where I started the day.
Game 35, loss 10.
Showdown predicted Nium's Mega years ago!
Loss 11: Archaludon-Garchomp-Lucario vs. Hydreigon-Lucario-Pelipper
Missed Focus Blast against Pelipper. If it hit, I would still have had to get through a potential Speed tie and land another Focus Blast on a fellow special attacker Lucario.
Game 39, loss 11.
Hard stall again. Roar prevents Slowbro-Mega from getting up Iron Defenses so that Last Respects just runs through everything.
Rating peak for the event.
Loss 12: Archaludon-Lucario-Garchomp vs. Dragonite-Primarina-Kingambit
1620s player. Dragonite-Mega was fully HP-invested so that Lucario's Flash Cannon failed to kill from 45%, which meant a bruised Lucario had to Steel Beam to get through Primarina via double-KO. This meant an engame of Garchomp against Kingambit, which is an autoloss to Kowtow Cleave + Sucker Punch.
Game 41, loss 12.
Just look at all those answers to Lucario, Starmie, and Basculegion. I didn't get punished for trying to throw in team preview this time.
Loss 13: Archaludon-Garchomp-Corviknight vs. Gengar-Meowscarada-Skeledirge
I straight up threw in team preview by not bringing the Starmie-Corviknight cycle.
Game 44, loss 13.
Rating at the end of my 45 games, Sunday 31-May-2026, 13:00 GMT+3.
To sum up the final day of play, an atrocious performance by me, I can't deny it. Making what amounts to no more than three wins of progress in 15 games compared to where I started the day represents another final day collapse, which is nothing new around here.
Not getting to 1750 is a bit disappointing, but given that the highest rewards thresholds are placements 1-10, 11-100, and 101-1000, finishing in the top 1000 at least means I don't have to feel like I embarrassed myself completely.
Result
Win / Loss: 32 - 13
Focus Blast total: 21 uses, 13 hits, 8 misses, 61.5% accuracy.
Final standing, in-game view.
3) In Conclusion
A decent finish is always appreciated, and it was nice to have something other than the ladder to play in. Though I do seriously hope they do not keep holding these competitions in the regular ladder format over and over again. That is, unless, of course, they are made into qualifying tournaments for something bigger. Nah.
As for the team, well, we don't refer to Focus Blast as Focus Miss for no reason. But like with other powerful attacks with dodgy accuracy, the key is to be in a position where you are able to click it multiple times, something Lucario afforded well enough.
I think in hindsight I would have wanted Charizard-X over Starmie-Mega, and to have run a Defog Corviknight (Iron Head/Defog/Roost/U-turn) in support of both Charizard and Basculegion. This would have made for a decent alternative offensive core of Charizard/Garchomp/Corviknight, with Corviknight still being able to do the job of helping Lucario navigate the Choice Scarf landshark infested waters like it did in a number of games. Maybe I should try to play something like that for the rest of season M-2, huh.
Finally, the two next big things happening in Champions/BSS in June are the switch over to regulation M-B and the expected mobile release of Champions. I'm not sure I have much to say on either topic right now, but I'll try to cook something up team-wise depending on the ingredients available when the time comes, and there's some reason to think we will get another online competition in the near future. So, yeah, thanks for reading and have a good one until then!
- Tox
Switch FC: SW-0021-9848-8999
Champions TN: "ToxBliss": 1559 7493 6554
Champions TN: "My sub-ROM": 6313 9162 5134 ("HOMEless")
