It’s time to get hyped for the storylines heading into the 2024 Europe International Championships (EUIC). It’s the second International Championships of the season and the first to feature Regulation Set F, which introduced Pokémon from Blueberry Academy’s Terarium as well as a few new Paradox Pokémon. We’ve seen the return of classic Pokémon like Incineroar since Regional Championships started using Regulation Set F, but there’s been plenty of variation, from the surprise Articuno to the newly discovered Raging Bolt.

We’ve gathered three amazing experts for an exciting roundtable to talk us through what the metagame has in store for fans at EUIC this year: Joe Ugarte, Lou Akcos-Cromie, and Aaron Traylor, joined by Chris Shepperd from Pokemon.com. From intriguing Pokémon to top players to surprise strategies, this group has it covered. Read on so you’ll be ready to watch all three days of action on Twitch.tv/Pokemon.

Shepperd: Hey all! I’m excited to have you back for another roundtable. Let’s get ready to begin.

Akcos-Cromie: Sounds great!

Ugarte: Great!

Traylor: I’ll be a minute late!

Akcos-Cromie: Game one loss.

Ugarte: Two more minutes and it’s a DQ.

Traylor: So sorry, I’m here now!

Shepperd: All right, let’s dive in. First, I want to know how you’ll all be attending EUIC. Who’s playing, casting, spectating, napping on the couch?

Traylor: I’ll be playing at EUIC and I am really excited to return to London! (Don’t tell my advisor. I’m defending my thesis a week later...)

Ugarte: I’ll be attending, planning to compete, and (hopefully) make it past the Top 4 this time.

Akcos-Cromie: I’m casting!

Shepperd: So, I think the first big thing to discuss is the format for this event. The new Blueberry Academy Pokédex and other Pokémon are now available for battle. What should we expect from the Pokémon pool different from the Latin America International Championships (LAIC)?

Akcos-Cromie: Incineroar! The cat king is back!

Traylor: The pool of popular Pokémon has changed a lot since LAIC! Incineroar, Raging Bolt, and Gouging Fire are the main additions from the Blueberry Pokédex, but the usage of Pokémon from the Paldea Pokédex and Kitakami Pokédex has shifted pretty drastically compared to what we saw in earlier regulation sets too.

Ugarte: I think the biggest difference has to be the introduction of the new Paradox Pokémon from The Indigo Disk, along with Incineroar. Raging Bolt has already made a huge impact on the format and totally shifted around how a lot of teams are structured and built—it’s been really interesting seeing its development. And Incineroar of course has made a huge meta impact with its support.

Akcos-Cromie: I think there has also been a massive shift, at least in Europe, towards more balanced teams—a lot of Fire-Water-Grass cores and a balance between offensive and defensive modes. Previously we saw a collection of hyper-offensive teams—however, now players tend to opt for more flexible and reliable team modes.

Ugarte: Following up on Lou’s point, I do think there have definitely been a lot of defined differences in the Regulation Set F metagame between regions, which is intriguing since we were talking about differences in regions and how they like to play the game when we discussed LAIC last time as well.

Traylor: Given that EUIC is happening near the end of the Regulation Set F format, that shift makes a lot of sense, Lou. Offense is typically more present earlier in a format, as players are still figuring the format out, and once that’s defined, more defensive compositions tend to take shape.

Akcos-Cromie: Raging Bolt and Gouging Fire (Party Entei as I affectionally call it) have really made an impact.

Shepperd: Does the presence of a strong Pokémon with Intimidate push the trend toward defensive setups?

Akcos-Cromie: I think Incineroar has always been a staple—it has excellent offensive pressure with its Fire and Dark typing, but also plays such a strong supporting role because of its moves. Fake Out and Parting Shot have been so good for slowing down opponents, in addition to other great moves like Will-O-Wisp. It now even has Helping Hand, which I haven't seen too much of, but is still a nice tool to have in the box.

Ugarte: I believe Incineroar does potentially open up the more defensive teams for success, but in general, it’s just a great enabler and works to make so many compositions better regardless of how they operate. It’s a Pokémon that condenses so many roles into one: damage reduction with Intimidate, repositioning with Parting Shot, item removal with Knock Off, and disruption with Fake Out. It does so much in one team slot, it’s hard to say it’s ever a bad addition to a team!

Traylor: At the beginning of the format, Incineroar was only on 48 of the top 128 teams from the Portland Regionals—a 37.5% usage rate. For the Utrecht Special Event, it was at 129/256—just over 50%. Not to keep talking about Incineroar—because it feels like we do that on these panels every year it’s available—but I wanted to point out that people take a while to really figure out how to use Pokémon in these formats, even if they’re years-old favorites.

Akcos-Cromie: Plus it’s a cat, so it gets points from me!

Shepperd: Don’t worry, we knew Incineroar would be a...um...hot topic. Moving on! With the rise of these more recent Paradox Pokémon, what Pokémon have seen their usage dramatically decline?

Ugarte: I think one noticeable change is the balancing of Urshifu’s usage. Previously in Regulation Set E, Single Strike Urshifu was more fringe and less used, with Rapid Strike Urshifu seeing the majority of competitive usage. Now the two have balanced out a lot—both of them are seeing pretty much equal play at this point, which is a cool shift to see play out.

Akcos-Cromie: Yes, Urshifu is constantly in debate topics. Which one is more dominant in the meta? At the moment, it’s 50/50, I think. Utrecht also had Flutter Mane in, I believe, the 6th spot on Day 2 usage. Urshifu has to have contributed to that drop.

Traylor: Iron Hands is totally gone too.

Shepperd: What are the traits of Raging Bolt and Gouging Fire that have made them so popular?

Akcos-Cromie: Raging Bolt is so bulky! With the Assault Vest or Calm Mind, it can be a proper Special Defense wall.

Traylor: Raging Bolt and Gouging Fire have very nice base stats that lend themselves well to bulk and power. In Raging Bolt’s case, its Speed is a little low, but it makes up for it with its priority Electric-type attack, Thunderclap. In Gouging Fire’s case, its Speed is high, which it accentuates with Booster Energy and really takes control of the battle with Breaking Swipe to lower opponents’ Attack or Howl to raise it and its partner’s Attack.

Ugarte: Raging Bolt has a lot of variety in what it can do. It can use a bulky Assault Vest set to act as a more defensive and supportive damage piece, or it can take over a game by setting Calm Mind to boost Thunderclap. It also can opt for more offensive items like Life Orb or Booster Energy in some cases, but I think that’s died down a bit.

Traylor: Base stats make all the difference, especially in these formats where you have lots of Pokémon from lots of generations running around (what we would once call National Pokédex metagames).

Ugarte: Also, its typing is incredible for a format where Wellspring Mask Ogerpon is everywhere and Rapid Strike Urshifu is still around. Gouging Fire is also good but also can be a lot more susceptible to passively sitting on the field. So you have to surround it with very specific partners for it to be effective and exert control in a game. That said, it’s an excellent support option if used right.

Akcos-Cromie: I think Gouging Fire with Howl is going to be a strong pick for EUIC. It can be so disruptive with Breaking Swipe but also an offensive threat with its Fire typing and Howl combination to support the team.

Shepperd: Ogerpon is another Pokémon who, like Urshifu, has several forms that are all viable. Will we see a lot of different masks being worn at EUIC?

Akcos-Cromie: Yes, Ogerpon is still around and a great choice! I would expect a lot of Wellspring Masks or Hearthflame Masks. But I am secretly hoping for someone to shake the meta with Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon!

Ugarte: All versions are viable, but by far you will see most usage being Wellspring Mask Ogerpon, with Hearthflame Mask Ogerpon as the next highest usage in my estimation.

Traylor: Agreed with Joe. The Cornerstone Mask and Teal Mask are a bit more rogue.

Ugarte: Wellspring Mask Ogerpon is just such a splashable strong Pokémon with lots of good qualities, so it’s really hard to not use it in the format right now. Almost every composition enjoys it. Typically, Hearthflame Mask Ogerpon is a more offensive pick and only really performs well on teams that support its offensive capabilities, so it operates totally differently.

Akcos-Cromie: I find Ogerpon just really reliable—Follow Me can provide great redirectional support, but also nobody wants their Pokémon to take an Ivy Cudgel to the face—especially as there are a lot of Pokémon with Fire or Grass as their Tera Type that Ogerpon can try to catch off guard.

Ugarte: Teal Mask Ogerpon and Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon do have their place in the meta, and I think a player who finds a smart way to implement them on their team could find lots of success with them.

Akcos-Cromie: We have seen Teal Mask Ogerpon in top cut before!

Ugarte: Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon having a built-in Focus Sash with the Sturdy Ability and Teal Mask Ogerpon having the Defiant Ability are two very nice qualities that are unique to them, along with still having Follow Me.

Shepperd: So far, we’ve talked mostly about the Pokémon that are very central to the current metagame. Let’s shift and talk about some of the Pokémon that we might be surprised to see do well. I have a sneaking suspicion about what might get mentioned here...

Traylor: Not a surprise to those paying attention, but Articuno just won the Utrecht Special Event. Who could have seen that coming...

Ugarte: The most recent surprise pick we saw do well was Articuno, but I believe that it performing well and becoming a more meta team actually opens up a lot more weather Pokémon to do well.

Shepperd:...There it is!

Akcos-Cromie: And Gastrodon! Except even I have to admit...it has a tough time right now.

Ugarte: Typically, as certain weather conditions become popular, others can also rise up to deal with them in the metagame. So personally, two Pokémon I have my eye on are Tyranitar and Torkoal.

Akcos-Cromie: I would really expect sun teams to do well as a “hot” take for EUIC—mostly for the point Joe just mentioned. Articuno and snow teams have done really well in Europe recently. Two teams with Articuno and Alolan Ninetales made Top 8 and one won the whole Utrecht Special Event.

Traylor: Harsh sunlight also boosts Raging Bolt’s and Flutter Mane’s insane stats further, so there’s a lot of synergy there.

Akcos-Cromie: Sandstorms are also a good shout, especially with Terastallizing giving Pokémon like Tyranitar a bit more flexibility in a meta full of Urshifu.

Shepperd: Are these Pokémon that can reshape the meta, or were they more a chance to catch the field off guard but aren’t sustainable?

Akcos-Cromie: I think the Articuno team was an off-guard type of team. People may pick it up, but I think, if anything, it’s inspired weather teams in general to rise up rather than that specific snow team.

Ugarte: I think that something like Torkoal is more sustainable, as it’s already found success before and taken advantage of compositions focusing fully on Trick Room and Protosynthesis, whereas Tyranitar seems a bit more well-placed because of the frequency of snow teams and hard Trick Room teams specifically.

Akcos-Cromie: If Joe is right, though, with Torkoal and Tyranitar picking up in usage, I know a Pokémon that can counter them well...

Shepperd: I’m here for the Gastrodon propaganda.

Traylor: I think it’s one of the factors you have to keep track of and make sure you’re strong against Pokémon like Gallade and female Indeedee. Torkoal was already invited to those parties, so people might be keeping it in the back of their mind.

Ugarte: Gallade is a really funny Pokémon to me; it has been around since Regulation Set A, but Incineroar, Amoonguss, and Single Strike Urshifu have just made it so much better now than it was previously.

Traylor: I’m not sure how everyone got the memo all at once to run Gallade.

Ugarte: To the point where it’s way more of a threat than it ever was before on the hard Trick Room compositions.

Traylor: I love Gallade! It’s such a cool Pokémon. And it’s already an American National Champion! It won in 2013.

Ugarte: Clear Amulet was made for that Pokémon.

Shepperd: Is it interesting that harsh sunlight hadn’t been popular with these Protosynthesis Paradox Pokémon everywhere?

Ugarte: As someone who has used sun before, the biggest challenge is finding a composition where you can exert lots of pressure without it coming at the cost of being super frail. With the power level increasing quite a bit, Protosynthesis spam isn’t as much of an offensive advantage as it was previously. Not to mention you boost many of your opponent’s Pokémon as well.

Akcos-Cromie: I wonder if we will see more Tornadus again. It has flexibility in weather options with Sunny Day and Rain Dance.

Ugarte: Sleep Powder is also a key part of sun teams, and a Grass- and Water-type Pokémon like Wellspring Mask Ogerpon using Follow Me makes Pokémon like Jumpluff very sad. :(

Traylor: Chris, I think that’s a really interesting point. Sun SHOULD be more popular! The issue is twofold.

• First, Torkoal and Ninetales have low base stat totals and can only be effective in certain ways. This means that they are super inflexible, which makes them hard to use for top level players.

• Second, Incarnate Forme Landorus is actually incredibly strong against all of the popular Pokémon that want to take advantage of harsh sunlight, so you have to figure out how to beat it in lots of situations: when it has Tailwind support, when it’s next to Wellspring Mask Ogerpon, when it Terastallizes to Poison or Steel type...

So the most popular form of sun, as Lou mentioned, has Incarnate Forme Tornadus, often featuring Pokémon like Chi-Yu.

Akcos-Cromie: With its Prankster Ability allowing it to bring the weather onto the field straightaway, I think Tornadus could be good support for the rest of the team depending on the Trainer’s strategy. Also, we are headed to London in April... Some sun would be welcome!

Ugarte: I think manual sun Tornadus with Chi-Yu operates really well into the metagame, but I’m not sure I would classify it as true sun. I think sun implies the whole team focuses around it as a concept, whereas for Chi-Yu/Tornadus, it's more of a bonus option.

Traylor: From the northeastern US, I’ve had enough of snow and rain! LOL

Shepperd: Before we pivot to discussing players, does anyone have final-ish thoughts on Pokémon to expect at EUIC?

Akcos-Cromie: Final Pokémon take: I want Gouging Fire to get a big win—I’m rooting for it to take it all!

Ugarte: And Tailwind in general is INCREDIBLY effective right now.

Traylor: For sure. I was commenting on when harsh sunlight is seen rather than what a true “sun” team would be.

Ugarte: Absolutely.

Traylor: Without Gigantamax Venusaur, it’s really not the same...

Ugarte: Or Gigantamax Charizard...

Traylor: Bro...

Akcos-Cromie: A moment of silence for Gigantamax Blastoise, please!

Ugarte: I miss my Life Orb- and sun-boosted G-Max Wildfires.

Shepperd: We haven’t really talked about Tailwind, but it’s now a staple of the game alongside Trick Room, isn’t it?

Ugarte: I think it has been for a long while, but with dynamic Speed, it will always be a mainstay.

Akcos-Cromie: Speed control has always been important, and I don’t think Trainers will overlook it for EUIC either. If Torkoal turns up in full force, you can expect Trick Room to pick up also.

Ugarte: Not to mention Tornadus getting the Bleakwind Storm buff—it’s an even better Pokémon now. I think it’s probably the best Speed control Pokémon in terms of how well-balanced its options are and the tools it has access to, paired with an awesome Ability. So it will never truly be bad and will only get better with time as Pokémon like Kyogre are introduced.

Akcos-Cromie: You’ve just got to hit those Bleakwind Storms...

Traylor: My final Pokémon take for EUIC: we know a lot about the popular Pokémon, and strong players are working hard every day to find new insights in the metagame. It is not an easy task to defeat Pokémon like Flutter Mane, Wellspring Mask Ogerpon, Single Strike Urshifu, and Incineroar. I think we’ll see some really nuanced takes and teams that look standard but have some tricky ways of dealing with popular compositions. For example, items such as Covert Cloak and Clear Amulet can make life really hard for the above combination of Pokémon, which typically relies on Flutter Mane’s Icy Wind and Incineroar’s Intimidate to make sure Single Strike Urshifu can output as much damage as possible. But becoming immune to stat drops can really foil their plans and force them to adapt, and a lot of Pokémon can hold those items effectively.

This is just one way that a small tweak such as an item swap on a Pokémon can force opponents on a back foot, so I think we’ll see a lot of expected but unexpected.

Ugarte: My final Pokémon take for EUIC: weather will be very important, and if you aren’t including a weather setter on your team, you will need strong options to deal with snow, rain, and sun accordingly.

Shepperd: OK, let’s talk about players! Who has had recent success that puts them in a position for good runs in London?

Ugarte: I’d probably put all my money on Aurelien Soula at this current moment.

Traylor: Aurelien Soula is kind of the person to beat in Europe right now. They’ve been beaten in finals in Special Events and Regionals three times this season if I’m not mistaken, which is wild.

Akcos-Cromie: Aurelien is an incredibly consistent player and just came off an insane undefeated run! They went undefeated all the way to the Finals in Utrecht going 16-0! But then fell at the final hurdle—I think it will fuel their determination to win it all at EUIC.

Traylor: I want to mention last year’s finalists Paul Chua and Gabriel Agati, two non-European players who had incredible runs and gave us a really exciting finals last season!

Akcos-Cromie: From Europe, I have my eye on two players: Aurelien Soula from France and Victor Medina from Spain.

Ugarte: They have had lots of success during the Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet base game era and really impressed me with their consistency. Making the finals of a Regional nowadays is REALLY hard. And the fact that they have been able to do it multiple times, along with overall strong performances across the board...I expect them to perform really well at EUIC.

Traylor: Michael Kelsch, last year’s Worlds finalist, is also operating at full capacity. He just finished 4th in the Utrecht Special Event. His teams are always awesome, so I can’t wait to see what he cooks up this time.

Akcos-Cromie: Michel Kelsch has also been tearing up German locals—he’s really putting in the grind for practice!

Ugarte: As Lou said, I feel like even though sometimes losing in the finals doesn’t feel great, it definitely makes you want to win even more. It motivates you to make the next events count.

Akcos-Cromie: Victor Medina is also very consistent at International-level events—Top 8 at 2023 Worlds in Japan, and Top 8 at LAIC. Good things come in threes, so I’d say you can expect another great result at EUIC.

Shepperd: It sounds like an exciting moment... Plenty of familiar names and new faces.

Traylor: Extremely true!

Shepperd: Has the growth in size of Regionals and Specials made the leap to Internationals less intimidating for new players? Like, they’re not as awestruck by the size of the field?

Ugarte: I think it’s just changed how the tournaments feel and the experience you gain. Regionals having more players and more rounds now makes playing an International not feel like much of a leap in comparison, since competitors have so much experience playing Day 2 in every official event nowadays.

Akcos-Cromie: I think they’re still intimidating but also just so inspiring! Even as a newer player, you are in such an electric atmosphere and battling against the best players from around the world. That experience is just something on a different level to a Regional.

Ugarte: I will say, due to the size increase, Internationals get harder every year, in my opinion.

Traylor: Well, it’s been a while since I’ve been a new player :P But on the surface, what separates an International Championship from a Regional Championship is the size of the event, the prize pool, and the point allocation. But ultimately what matters is the attention that the event is given. Winning an International FEELS like a much bigger deal than winning a Regional. Making Day 2 of an International for the first time FEELS like an earth-shattering moment, more so than making Day 2 of a Regional. I think that’s what a lot of players really care about.

Akcos-Cromie: There's also so much more to experience at Internationals: the Pokémon Center, side events, a more immersive stream experience for the audience. There’s so much to enjoy and get hyped about.

Ugarte: More and more talent and players are developing, the overall skill level of the general player base is increasing, and you need to win more rounds. And I definitely agree with Aaron; there is a certain special air to Internationals that Regionals don’t necessarily make you feel in the same way.

Traylor: Like, Joe, as active competitors—and Lou when you competed at these larger tournaments more often—we all of course would love the prizes and points that come with an International win, and that’s certainly motivation. But for me personally, and I’m sure you both feel this way too: getting an International win would mean a whole lot. Like a whole, whole lot of validation as a player. And that’s what I’m in search of, and that’s what I think these other top players are looking for, too.

Ugarte: You don’t have to tell me twice, Aaron! Winning an International is one of my biggest personal goals I’m working towards and want to achieve! It’s definitely a big milestone for players.

Shepperd: Has the world continued to get flatter in terms of knowledge and meta influence? Do geographic zones still have prominent differences?

Ugarte: Very much so, in my opinion.

Traylor: Man, it’s so hard for me to tell. I would argue not really overall, but the pool of top players that I look up to in each region has different preferences so kind of by nature of being different people, there are different things than them that I tend to really care about.

Ugarte: Where you learn to play the game very much shapes your view of the game and how you play and approach it. I do feel like the way you prep for an EUIC field is much different than how you’d prep for a NAIC or North America Regional field, in terms of the teams you expect and what you think you’ll see.

Traylor: The challenge for me is overall reading into meta trends as being “from Europe” or “from America.” I find that in aggregate, things shape out pretty much similarly.

Shepperd: I think what we’ve talked about is how the increase in streamed events boosts and influences player knowledge worldwide.

Akcos-Cromie: I think as we are quite deep into Regulation Set F, we will see less unique meta from different regions.

Ugarte: Oh, in that case, absolutely I believe the accessibility of information makes it so that regardless of where people are playing, so many different ideas and teams are readily accessible for players to explore and develop more.

Akcos-Cromie: I think the accessibility of information, teams, and tournaments means that globally everyone has access to a lot of information to help them prepare for this type of event.

Ugarte: I would expect that in EUIC’s case, the overall field would lean towards more balanced compositions.

Akcos-Cromie: I’d say we will see more uniqueness from team-building groups—we have certain groups in the community who work closely together and then all bring a version of a team archetype to the event. I reckon we will see more of that rather than archetypes for a Regional level.

Ugarte: But the accessibility of information definitely puts everyone on the same footing. I also agree with what Lou is saying; I think people save some cool ideas and compositions specifically for Internationals and Worlds, so we might see some ideas previously underdeveloped or not considered as much.

Traylor: I think you’re right, Lou. It kind of depends on which groups of people are showing up and with what sauce, which is really hard to quantify.

Shepperd: This is interesting. As knowledge gets more accessible worldwide, it becomes more important to work in smaller groups. Sort of an irony there.

Ugarte: I also do think that there is a bit of an interesting concept to explore there. I’m not sure what you think, Aaron and Lou, but I do think sometimes the desire to find the “sauce” can overtake the strong approach of developing a strong meta concept and making it better.

Traylor: The hunt for the sauce consumes us all, Joe.

Ugarte: It definitely can! I think one thing too is that as more information becomes available, it’s harder to find new or different concepts.

Traylor: It’s an interesting debate. I think fundamentally, in order to defeat strong players consistently, you have to challenge them in new ways—ways that they haven’t been challenged in before. And refining the “standard” to a high degree from that lens is difficult because the best players are spending a lot of time thinking through existing archetypes and analyzing them.

Akcos-Cromie: I 100% agree.

Traylor: But also the strong Pokémon are strong for a reason.

Ugarte: I think it’s an interesting thought experiment. Last year we saw Paul Chua take it all at the 2023 EUIC with a very meta-standard, balanced composition.

Akcos-Cromie: I think the “let them cook” attitude has almost become a badge of honour, and Trainers want to be the one who finds the dish of the day. And as we know from our sandwich-making in picnics, sometimes it doesn’t work out so successfully!

Shepperd: I briefly want to go back to team-level compositions to expect at EUIC to cap our talk. What do you think viewers at home should be watching for when the team previews are revealed? Are there Pokémon that kind of tip the hand of a team’s overall strategy?

Traylor: I would try to find the main source of damage on a team. If you spot a Flutter Mane wearing Choice Specs, or Hearthflame Mask Ogerpon, or Urshifu, or similar, try to think about how that Pokémon is going to deliver its damage to the other team. How will the other Pokémon on the team support it in its mission?

Pokémon like Incineroar and Amoonguss and Wellspring Mask Ogerpon and Flutter Mane holding a Booster Energy are all over the place, but ultimately they are support mechanisms for the damage that is needed to get all four knockouts.

Akcos-Cromie: I think—look for the Fire/Water/Grass core as usual to see where their balance is, and also for their Speed control options. How will they control the pace of the game?

Traylor: Yes, Speed control is a big one, too!

Ugarte: For teams that are meta right now, these are the main threats going into the tournament.

• Balance teams: these are compositions typically including Raging Bolt, Incineroar, Wellspring Mask Ogerpon, and Incarnate Forme Landorus as a core. There are also variations with Rapid Strike Urshifu with a Choice Scarf and Chien-Pao.

• Tailwind compositions: teams that focus on heavy offense and pressure combined with quick Speed control. These comps typically love support Flutter Mane and strong offensive Pokémon like Glimmora with Meteor Beam and Chi-Yu.

• Gouging Fire: these comps typically follow a very standard structure—Chien-Pao, Kingambit, Gouging Fire, and Wellspring Mask Ogerpon, with the two remaining slots varying for the matchups you prefer.

• “Psyspam”: both committal Trick Room teams and faster Iron Crown Psyshock spam exist, but the latter has fallen off a bit.

• Weather teams: rain Archaludon, snow, and sun Protosynthesis spam teams are all viable options.

There are definitely more but these are the main teams that are on my radar, besides stuff like Dondozo and some other archetypes.

Shepperd: Wow, Joe! The rest of you can go home! LOL!

Akcos-Cromie: Haha, Joe locks in his moves about as fast as he types!

Akcos-Cromie: I think it’s also important to look for the Speed interactions in mirror matches as the game plays out—that game-one information can be so useful for the whole set. It can lead to interesting moments when there is a surprising Speed tie!

Shepperd: This is an interesting concept for fans who haven’t done a lot of competition: you’re often setting up a team where you have one Pokémon doing the bulk of your attacking. Everything else is in support of that strategy.

Ugarte: I believe that we have found the strongest skeletons or bases for teams in the format right now. Strong cores typically include Wellspring Mask Ogerpon, a Fire type, a strong special attacker (usually Incarnate Forme Landorus), and Flutter Mane—with some variations, of course.

Shepperd: As opposed to solo battles where it’s all about even matchups.

Ugarte: I definitely think that Double Battles just open up lots of opportunities for you to build around a specific Pokémon and highlight its strengths through support from useful partners.

Shepperd: And identifying your opponent’s “specific” Pokémon is a major element to success, I imagine?

Traylor: Right. Incineroar, Amoonguss, and other Pokémon CAN deal damage, and often do, but they’re not doing too much. We see this more often in metagames with restricted Pokémon; there, you’ll usually see a much more dramatic difference within a team of the Pokémon that can deal lots and lots of damage and the Pokémon that cannot.

Ugarte: The most basic skeleton for lots of teams right now is Incineroar, Wellspring Mask Ogerpon, and Flutter Mane with Choice Specs, and it’s because the core is EXCELLENT at enabling Flutter Mane to do lots of damage between Intimidate, Fake Out, and Follow Me. And even if they know that’s what you’re doing, it’s really hard to react to it if your opponent is playing it well.

In a lot of cases, it’s really all about protecting your most important offensive pieces better than your opponent.

Akcos-Cromie: Yeah, I agree with all of the above—identifying the key mode of your opponent’s team is very important. The issue is when there is a hybrid mode and you need to call the leads correctly. Turn 0 can be a double-edged sword in some teams.

Ugarte: And I absolutely agree with Aaron. Some Pokémon are there to deal damage, and the others are there to cheer them on and help them along the way!

Akcos-Cromie: With teams like Articuno / Alolan Ninetales, it’s clear what they will try to do, but you can’t ignore the other four Pokémon either!

Shepperd: You’re all helping me put together our next battle theory article. Brilliant stuff.

Ugarte: That being said, Amoonguss and its Sludge Bomb would like to have a word with everyone’s Ogerpon.

Akcos-Cromie: Didn’t you once Dynamax Amoonguss in a Players Cup?

Traylor: Sludge Bomb Amoonguss!!! Amoonguss was my final Dynamax at Worlds in 2022.

Akcos-Cromie: When Amoonguss gets KOs on Dark types with Pollen Puff, it is always so satisfying.

Traylor: Regional Champion Simone Sanvito—also a contender to win EUIC this year who we should have discussed earlier—said to me recently, “Everyone who talks about Sludge Bomb Amoonguss talks about it like they just found a billion dollars under their bed.” And he was so right. Using Sludge Bomb Amoonguss really does feel like that.

Ugarte: LOL

Shepperd: Hey! I’m kinda surprised we’ve waited to discuss this, but we should talk about the Stellar Tera Type.

Akcos-Cromie: We can, but I don’t think it’s been a sparkling success like Terastallizing in general.

Shepperd: True, it hasn’t been super present in the format.

Akcos-Cromie: It’s mostly been on Chien-Pao, as it has good move type coverage.

Shepperd: Do we need to wait for Terapagos to get into the format before the Stellar Tera Type takes off?

Ugarte: Chien-Pao and Single Strike Urshifu are really the only users of the Stellar Tera Type, unfortunately. It is actually VERY significant on Chien-Pao, giving it some KO potential that it normally would miss out on. One of the key ones is Chien-Pao with a Jolly Nature using Icicle Crash on most Flutter Mane.

Akcos-Cromie: That’s a very valid point. It can give certain Pokémon an edge.

Ugarte: And when you have a Pokémon like Flutter Mane everywhere, that’s pretty significant.

Traylor: The Stellar Tera Type is cool in theory, but no one has really made it work yet, kind of for two main reasons.

• The damage boost numbers are tweaked so that it never gets out of control, which is nice from a game design perspective that they care about that, but also there are many elements within the metagame where there ARE numbers out of control, so it kind of can’t compare, sadly.

• Losing the flexibility of a defensive Tera Type is really painful and reduces the depth of a team, which really matters during high-level games.

Shepperd: Good points.

Traylor: Stellar–Tera Type Tera Blast doing supereffective damage to Pokémon that are already Terastallized is a really neat interaction.

Akcos-Cromie: I think your second point is really valid, Aaron, as we generally see Pokémon being Terastallized either for all-out offensive mode or for a defensive play. The Stellar Tera Type doesn’t give you the consistent offensive pressure and provides no defensive benefits.

Traylor: ...That no one has really taken advantage of in the general case. If Worlds was in two months, I would probably spend one and a half months trying to make that work, and probably end up finishing 3-3 as a result. :P

Ugarte: Responding to what Aaron said, I actually wish the Stellar Tera Type had been a little bit stronger, personally. I think the biggest thing that holds it back is the coverage moves not getting the same boost as when you would with a Pokémon that isn’t Fire type having Fire as its Tera Type, for example. I also think Stellar–Tera Type Tera Blast lowering your stats gives it a huge drawback on a move that otherwise could be incredible for the format. It holds it back a bit.

Shepperd: Maybe it’ll be an ingredient in the winning EUIC sauce.

Traylor: I think that would be very, very cool. I love it when people find out how to make new mechanics work in ways the general public hasn’t thought of before. And yeah, Joe, it necessitates being used on Pokémon with the Contrary Ability like Incarnate Forme Enamorus or Serperior, which also haven’t had overwhelming success.

Ugarte: I do think we might see it in the Top 8 though, considering Chien-Pao and Single Strike Urshifu are overall incredible Pokémon.

Shepperd: All right, we’re close to wrapping up. I want to hear your final thoughts on what to expect and what to watch for at EUIC!

Traylor: Watch for me and Joe facing off in the Finals! And Lou casting it flawlessly.

Ugarte: See you in Finals! :)

Akcos-Cromie: I wanna cast that Final!!!

Shepperd: Then you can all plug this roundtable in your post-match interviews.

Traylor: On a more serious note, I think we should expect players taking EUIC extremely seriously. LAIC is kind of inaccessible for a lot of players, especially compared to London, so for a lot of people this is the first major International-level event with the new prize pool—and there are over one thousand entrants!

Expect everything you see at the top tables to be highly polished and tested. If you do see rogue picks, expect them to be especially targeted in how they challenge high-level compositions. I personally would love to see a non-committal Trick Room take it all. I feel like I say this every time, but I’m as always rooting for strong Pokémon like Cresselia, Porygon2, Farigiraf, and if it can fit, Flutter Mane.

Ugarte: I think that you will see some of the highest-level competition of the whole year in this EUIC, and I believe that we will see a lot of satisfying conclusions to storylines built up over this year. IF Aaron and I don’t play in the Finals, I’m really looking out to see how Aurelien does. Call it a gut feeling.

Akcos-Cromie: I think we can expect to see a clash of international titans—with open team sheets, we are seeing so much consistency from top players and I honestly think Day 2 at EUIC will be epic. I would keep an eye on the teams, as I think five standard Pokémon and one spicy option that some Trainer will have discovered and unlocked will possibly take it all!

Ugarte: And I do believe that this tournament will be the culmination of a lot of hard work where you will see almost every archetype refined, as Aaron said. This is where people bring the best versions of every team they have worked on—no holding back since it will be the last tournament of the format.

Shepperd: Yeah, the sheer amount of top-tier talent convening in London will make the whole weekend worth watching. It sounds like nobody is skipping out on this one.

Ugarte: My favorite part about these Internationals is all of the top talent and players condensed into one tournament. It’s really inspiring to see everyone compete who’s put in a lot of time and hard work to do their best in this setting.

Traylor: It will be a great time!

Akcos-Cromie: There will be a lot of emotions on broadcast. I’m definitely prepping my energy as I’ll need it to do justice to the amazing gameplay we will see. Whether you’re at the event or viewing the stream, there will be so many historical moments for VGC. You don’t want to miss out! EU Trainers are also really determined to bring the EUIC trophy back to this side of the pond—watch out for Aurelien and Victor (my picks!).

Traylor: Especially because it’s so close to the end of the format.

Ugarte: There’s always something special about Internationals and Worlds, which really sets them apart, both as a viewer and competitor.

Akcos-Cromie: EUIC is my favourite event of the calendar—even more than Worlds! It’s just so magical. Being from the EU region myself, seeing all that top talent on show is really inspiring!

Shepperd: All right, I think that just about does it! This was an absolute blast.

Ugarte: Thanks for having us! Excited to see everyone here in Europe!

Traylor: Thanks Chris, I had a lot of fun!

Akcos-Cromie: It was a Tera Blast! Sorry, I had to.

Shepperd: Thanks everyone for all your enthusiasm and insight. EUIC is going to be a massive event and I can’t wait for the matches to start.