Since the start of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s Regulation E, the VGC meta has been dominated by physical attackers like Ogerpon, Iron Hands, and Landorus. However, the surprise champion of the Sacramento Regionals found the perfect counter strategy with an unexpected Pokémon.
The most-used Pokémon in Sacramento were as expected, with a majority of physical attackers and only a few special attackers like Flutter Mane and Heatran. But the true star of the tournament was the Gen VII pseudo-legendary Kommo-o on Michael Zhang’s winning team.
Congratulations to Michael Zhang, the 2024 Sacramento Regional Champion! This victory adds to his previous achievements, including a Top 32 finish at the 2023 NAIC.
Kommo-o, a Dragon/Fighting-type Pokémon recently introduced in The Teal Mask DLC, proved to be the answer to defeating the prevalent physical threats in the meta. Its unique attributes allowed it to counter these popular attackers effectively.
With Fighting as one of its types, Kommo-o took advantage of the popular Body Press + Iron Defense strategy. This combination allowed the pseudo-legendary to boost its physical defense while simultaneously increasing the power of Body Press, which relies on Defense instead of Attack for damage calculation.
Given the abundance of physical threats in the meta, Zhang’s bulky Kommo-o had little trouble setting up with Iron Defense before dealing significant damage with Body Press.
Zhang’s team further weakened physical attackers with Intimidate and Will-O-Wisp from Hisuian Arcanine. Additionally, his Tyranitar utilized sandstorm to chip away at opponents’ health. With the combined effects of Intimidate, Will-O-Wisp, and sandstorm, Kommo-o could withstand physical hits and secure numerous knockouts in the finals against Riley Factura, who had previously won the Pittsburgh Regionals.
In fact, Kommo-o was responsible for seven out of the eight knockouts in the Pokémon finals, a remarkable feat in the intense VGC battles.
Factura’s second-place team consisted mostly of physical attackers, with Amoonguss serving as support. This outcome highlights the need to incorporate more special attackers into teams to handle emerging threats like Kommo-o and Hisuian Arcanine, specifically designed to counter the physical Pokémon metagame.
Flutter Mane, once the strongest Pokémon in Scarlet and Violet VGC, has been on a slight decline. Other special attackers like Heatran and Chi-Yu have struggled to keep up with powerhouses such as Ogerpon and Landorus.
Kommo-o’s impressive performance in Sacramento should encourage players to include a few more special attackers in their teams for upcoming tournaments.
About the author
Source: DOTESPORTS
