Hi I’m Jeong Sang-yoon, winner of the Pokémon Trainers Cup held in South Korea. Thanks to all those that cheered for me, I was able to bring it home.
The team consists of two Porygons, three starters and Togekiss which does its job in any team, lol.
Teambuilding process
After the DLC was out, I was not sure of which team would be strong, so I tried to build on ‘fast offensive Pokémon + Trick Room’ team that I love to use. In this process, I thought Rillaboom would be a strong Pokémon to finish the game off in the end game, so I first chose Choice Band Rillaboom. For the Trick Room, I chose Porygon2 which got along well with Primarina which is strong against Fire and Dragon types which Rillaboom has a hard time dealing with.
This three Pokémon composition is weak against Rillaboom, Amoonguss and Ferrothorn. So I added Incineroar.
As three slow Pokémon were set, I lacked a fast Pokémon to finish the team, so I looked for fast Pokémon to go for a straight Dynamax with Incineroar and Rillaboom in the back.
I thought Togekiss + Porygon Z would be great against mid-slow teams which Trick Room abusers have a hard time against. Adding them, the team was complete.
At first, Porygon-Z had Ally Switch, Incineroar had Taunt giving the team more surprise factors, but I felt it wasn’t great after some use, so gave Nasty Plot for Porygon-Z and Darkest Lariat for Incineroar, giving the team more stability.
The Team
Get the team’s paste here!
Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Ability: Download
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 188 Def / 76 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
– Thunderbolt
– Ice Beam
– Recover
– Trick Room
I personally believe Trick Room Pokémon should be definitely bulky, so I used Porygon2 with max Defense EV set. Thunderbolt and Ice Beam were for attacking enemy weaknesses instead of just going for Tri Attack, since I did not invest much on offense. The damage output is quite small and it is weak against Taunt, but as there are not many Max Knuckle around anymore, it could survive most moves and it was very pleasing. Sometimes, it would go Dynamax if Max Lightning and Max Hailstorm looked nice, and Download pops the Special Attack up.
It has an HP stat of 2n−1 and enough Defense and Special Defense for physical Attack boosts in case of opposing Downloads.
Porygon-Z @ Silk Scarf
Ability: Adaptability
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
– Hyper Beam
– Thunderbolt
– Dark Pulse
– Nasty Plot
Porygon-Z is the beast in terms of damage. As it was for going against mid-slow teams, I used a fast Porygon-Z. It was a must since I had to think of ways to win mirror matches. It knocked out Adamant Urshifu and bulky Charizard quickly on the stream as well. The team actually went Togekiss + Porygon-Z and Follow Me + Max Strike in most games. Porygon-Z was truly the MVP of the team, really. I used Silk Scarf instead of Life Orb just because Primarina took it away.
It has an HP stat of 2n−1 and Special Attack and Speed stats for fast, big damage.
Rillaboom-Gmax @ Choice Band
Ability: Grassy Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Atk / 12 Spe
Adamant Nature
– Grassy Glide
– Wood Hammer
– Knock Off
– Superpower
Rillaboom was placed for end-game plays, even Pokémon that are strong against it were knocked out once their HP went below half. Not being able to use Fake Out was the downside, but as the team does not really manoeuvre around Fake Out, Choice Band was a great choice generally and often hit people off guard. Assault Vest could be a great choice if you wanted to go switch in and out with Incineroar.
It has a Speed stat of 12 to speed-creep 4 Spe EVs Rillaboom; max Attack stat for full offence, and the resting EVs were put on HP.
Primarina @ Life Orb
Ability: Liquid Voice
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
– Hydro Cannon
– Hyper Voice
– Moonblast
– Energy Ball
Primarina is the Trick Room abuser. Therefore, it had to be slow, and as there are Magnezone and Porygon2 in the same speed zone, I had to make it as slow as it can be. Hydro Cannon was mostly for Max Geyser, Hyper Voice for spread damage, and I did not think Ice Beam was required as Moonblast could do similar job. So I used Energy Ball, but come to think of it, Protect might have been better.
Incineroar @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 12 Atk / 76 Def / 84 SpD / 92 Spe
Careful Nature
– Flare Blitz
– Darkest Lariat
– Parting Shot
– Fake Out
Intimidate, Fake Out and Parting Shot switches was what it did. As the Alolan king, it did well in Galar too. It was faster than most other Incineroar, and could Parting Shot late in Trick Room. Safety Goggles were for going against Amoonguss and Venusaur, and it made the winning plan of the finals of the Trainers Cup, going for Dynamax itself. Darkest Lariat was to damage Trick Room teams immediately.
It has an HP stat of 2n−1 and, as 84 Spe EV Incineroar outspeeds Amoonguss, I went a bit faster.
Togekiss @ Babiri Berry
Ability: Super Luck
Level: 50
EVs: 228 HP / 196 Def / 12 SpA / 12 SpD / 60 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
– Dazzling Gleam
– Ally Switch
– Follow Me
– Protect
I used bulky Togekiss to support other Pokémon. Protect is there not only to preserve Togekiss, but the partner offensive Pokémon too. Ally Switch might seem unnecessary, but sometimes it did great work, so I used it instead of Yawn that I never pressed during teambuilding practice.
Common leads
The Porygon-Z lead:
- Lead: + /
- Back:+//
The Primarina lead:
- Lead: + //
- Back: ///
The Primarina lead is for when opponent cannot stop Trick Room. Incineroar leads for Fake Out or Intimidate to support Trick Room setting, while Togekiss for Follow Me when that is the only answer to setting Trick Room safely.
Tournament run
| Round | Result | Opponent | Opponent’s team |
|---|---|---|---|
| WR1 | W |  Lahanium |  |
| WR2 | W | Jeon Won-pyo (전원표) | |
| WR3 | W | tele | |
| WR4 | L | Myeong Ji-heon (명지헌) | |
| LR6 | W | Chemibeaver | |
| LR7 | W | Sandwich (샌드위치) | |
| LR8 | W | Kim Seung-il (김승일) | |
| LR9 | WW | Baik Joong-yu (joongyu) |   |
| LR10 | WLW | Han Tae-woong (오트밀_) |     |
| Losers finals | WLW | Kim Min-seok (유미) |     |
| Grand finals | WLW | Jang Won-seok (리아코짱) |    |
| Grand finals reset | WW | Jang Won-seok (리아코짱) | |
Conclusion
For many years I was knocked off at about top 16, and went runner-up in smaller tours, so this was my first official win. Thankfully the first win was what many people watched in stream, so I felt happy for it.
From what I heard from other winners, the winning day is when you can see every play of the opponent and have luck, and I think that day finally came to me.
When I went against Kim Min-seok in the losers’ bracket, I was playing badly for being thrilled for the possible finals. Game 3, I thought I had lost the game, but I tried my best and had some luck on my side to win it.
Finals was not really a great match-up for me, and opposing Jang Won-seok is a good player, so I thought I would at least enjoy the game. This mindset helped me play without much pressure. And some luck, too.
It felt like all those misplays and lucks against me in the past payed off at last. Thanks to all players in the Trainer’s Cup, and I would love to participate again next time. I leave you the rental code below.
Thanks for reading.
