Hello, my name is Alberto Daza Islas, but a lot of people know me as Beto D. I am a Mexican VGC player since 2012, but I did not start placing top on tourneys until 2015 and started winning PCs and MSSs since 2016. I have also been playing Pokkén Tournament since 2016 and have placed great on the Pokkén LCQ for Worlds from 2016 through 2019. But my biggest achievement yet and the reason I am writing this article is the Top 4 on the Pokémon Players Cup III and the team that I used for it.
The team that I made takes a big inspiration on a team that my friend Daniel Núñez (Daibaa) shared to me that has a core of Regigigas, Weezing and Urshifu, that needed to be adapted for Series 8.
Teambuilding process
Regigigas and Weezing are besties. The ability to negate all abilities, and getting rid of a prejudicial ability, makes the duo a terror for teams that are heavily relying on abilities, like slow Pranksters, weather setters, Intimidate users, terrain setters, etc. It makes impossible for the rival to implement their strategies, and that, alongside the fact that Regigigas has the stats of a Restricted Pokémon, can give you enough power to OHKO almost everything on with the Life Orb boost.
The next step was to pick the actual Restricted Pokémon. The best choice for this team was Shadow Rider Calyrex: a ridiculous Speed, amazing Special Attack, and the move Astral Barrage can do massive damage to opposing Pokémon if they don’t resist Ghost-type attacks. But there is something better with Calyrex: its ability, As One is not denied by Neutralizing Gas, so in the scenario that Calyrex and Weezing ended paired up, Calyrex can still deny the use of Berries and increase its Special Attack while Weezing keeps denying opponents’ abilities.
Single Strike Style Urshifu was a big complement for the team. The combination of Dark and Fighting-type moves gives great coverage for finishing opposing Pokémon. The preference of Single Strike Style Urshifu instead of Rapid Strike Style Urshifu is that the access to Dark-type moves can be very useful against Pokémon like Calyrex (on both Rider forms), Solgaleo, Lunala, Necrozma, Metagross and even Indeedee; also, the preference for a stronger priority move with Sucker Punch instead of Aqua Jet.
The core of the team is already set, but there are still two open spots for the team. At the beginning of Series 8 I tried different combinations to cover for bad match-ups for the team; at first I tried to use Pokémon like Kartana or Nihilego, but when sun teams with lots of Ground-type moves became more and more popular, both Ultra Beasts became very situational and non-practical.
Later on I decided to try filling the spots with Incineroar, Whimsicott and Landorus, but the inclusion of Incineroar and Whimsicott was not as useful as somone could think, and Landorus has a hard time with Ice types and frequent Intimidate users. In the end I was able to fill the gaps by choosing Rillaboom and Thundurus (Incarnate); Rillaboom would help with Fake Out and can be a fast, strong striker with Grassy Slide, and Thundurus would be a great alternative for Dynamax and Defiant would do nice vs Intimidate users or decreasing stat effects.
The Team
Get the team’s paste here!
Regigigas @ Life Orb
Ability: Slow Start
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Giga Impact
– Ice Punch
– High Horsepower
– Protect
You know the meme: Slow Start and the 5-turn wait makes Regigigas a very bad Pokémon, but luckily for us, Neutralizing Gas makes Regigigas a good Pokémon, and… what a good one! With that big base Attack of 160, base Speed of 100, and base defenses and HP of 110, Regigigas is a strong, relatively fast and enduring Pokémon that very few things can OHKO, and even fewer if Regigigas is Dynamaxed. The goal with Regigigas is to use its Dynamax to OHKO a Pokémon per turn or do as much damage as possible to the rival team, so Calyrex and its partner can sweep and clean the damaged team.
Life Orb will help Regigigas pull off extra damage for all its offensive moves. Because Regigigas is going to Dynamax almost all the time, I am going to be referring to the moves as Max Moves:
- Max Strike cannot do super effective damage, but with STAB and an incredible 150 base power it will OHKO almost every Pokémon that is not Dynamaxed, has very high Defense and HP, or resists Normal-type moves; and can do massive damage to Dynamaxed Pokémon. The Speed decrease will help Weezing a lot on moving before non-fast Pokémon, and will help Pokémon in the back to move faster against super-fast Pokémon in case it is necessary.
- Max Quake will help a lot KOing Zacian and other Steel-type Pokémon like Metagross, Dialga or Solgaleo, and can guarantee to OHKO Incineroar; also, the move can be used to raise the duo’s Special Defense and help Weezing survive longer versus teams that have special attackers.
- Max Hailstorm will help versus Grass, Dragon, Ground and Flying-type Pokémon; hail will also help doing chip damage.
- Finally, you know what Protect does.
There can be some times that you will be losing Weezing before Regigigas can finish using Dynamax. In this scenario, Regigigas can still be used for doing decent damage, and increasing Special Defense or decreasing the rivals’ Speed. Even if Regigigas being nerfed by Slow Start can be very bad, it is not the end of the world; by using Protect wisely and with good predictions, Regigigas can still do a decent job and can endure better than other highly offensive Pokémon, so use this in your favor to overcome its Ability.
Weezing @ Aguav Berry
Ability: Neutralizing Gas
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
– Sludge Bomb
– Taunt
– Will-O-Wisp
– Protect
Weezing‘s main role is simple: stay on the field to neutralize every single Ability with Neutralizing Gas and resist as much as possible so Regigigas can do the most damage it can as fast as possible, without letting the opposing Pokémon abuse their Abilities.
The spread of Weezing has been distributed to make Weezing endure all kind of attacks and not just physical ones. The pick for Kanto Weezing instead of Galarian Weezing is that the Fairy type brings more troubles than benefits, mainly because Zacian is the most popular Restricted Pokémon and a single Behemoth Blade will OHKO Galarian Weezing, which does not happen with Kanto Weezing. Given that its main role is support, you will never Dynamax it. Finally the choice of Aguav Berry instead of Sitrus Berry is that the recovery of ⅓ of HP instead of ¼ can help endure easily protected Max Moves and the chip damage of G-Max Vine Lash and G-Max Wildfire.
- Protect is going to be the most used move for Weezing for obvious reasons.
- Sludge Bomb is a good damaging move, and the high 30% chance of poisoning is great for big chip damage or KOing Whimsicott in the same turn its Focus Sash activates.
- Will-o-Wisp will be very handy to stop physical attackers.
- Taunt will help stop rival supporting Pokémon and their moves.
Calyrex-Shadow @ Spell Tag
Ability: As One (Spectrier)
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
– Astral Barrage
– Psyshock
– Substitute
– Protect
Calyrex‘s main role is to be a late-game sweeper, and with its ridiculous 150 base Speed and 165 base Special Attack it does a very good work finishing opposing damaged Pokémon. Shadow Rider Calyrex is the 4th fastest Pokémon of the format, and since Ninjask and Pheromosa are rarely used, Regieleki will be the only Pokémon that will outspeed Calyrex without stat modifiers.
With the help of the Grim Neigh effect of As One and Astral Barrage, Calyrex can KO the four rival Pokémon by itself in the correct circumstances… but with great power, come great drawbacks: Calyrex suffers a lot versus Sucker Punch or Shadow Sneak users; struggles to KO Dark-type, Normal-type or Assault Vest Pokémon; Prankster Pokémon will reduce Calyrex’s Speed in various ways; and Trick Room will be five turns in hell for it. Because Calyrex is a late-game cleaner, you should already have Dynamaxed other Pokémon before it, but if that is not the case, Dynamax Calyrex is decent to decrease Defense or setting up Psychic Terrain.
- Astral Barrage is going to be Calyrex’s main move, with a strong 120 base power, plus the 20% boost to its power from Spell Tag, and is going to be reducing the HP of almost every Pokémon that does not resist Ghost-type moves by a minimum 50% with spread damage.
- The case when you don’t want to use Astral Barrage over other damaging moves is rare, but there are always exceptions: Psyshock is used mainly for dealing with Normal-type Pokémon or when the rival team has access to Wide Guard; the preference for Psyshock over other Psychic-type moves is making Calyrex a pseudo-mixed attacker in case that it needs to KO a Pokémon that has high Special Defense in a 2 vs. 2 situation.
- Substitute is a very versatile move: it can be used for stalling your opponent’s late Dynamax by using it alternately with Protect, it can prevent status conditions and it can help to prevent damage from Sucker Punch, giving a chance to bait the rival with mind games.
- Protect is for basic defense and coverage.
Urshifu-Gmax @ Focus Sash
Ability: Unseen Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Wicked Blow
– Close Combat
– Sucker Punch
– Detect
Urshifu is an excellent partner for Calyrex in the late game. It can give the finishing blow to a Pokémon that Calyrex did not KO with its powerful Close Combat or Wicked Blow, or switch the gameplan and prepare the field with Sucker Punch so both rival Pokémon can be taken down by Calyrex’s Astral Barrage and get As One’s +2 Special Attack boost.
Urshifu’s main role is being another late-game sweeper, but it can also work as lead for some particular picks, for example, to get an answer versus Porygon2 + Incineroar. The preference for using Focus Sash instead of Choice Band is because I give more value to having access to the four moves and not just be locked to one, and also, Focus Sash is going to be very useful to make Urshifu resistant to OHKOs and giving it an extra turn.
Besides that, and contrary to the Choice Band, Focus Sash is going to work if Urshifu needs to Gigantamax. Speaking of Gigantamaxing, the case when you should do it will be rare, but when you should, increasing your Attack with Max Knuckle and bypassing Max Guard with G-Max One Blow can be very useful.
Rillaboom-Gmax @ Miracle Seed
Ability: Grassy Surge
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 SpD
Adamant Nature
– Fake Out
– Grassy Glide
– U-turn
– High Horsepower
Rillaboom may be in a tough spot in Series 8, when fast Fire and Flying-type Pokémon are very popular, but it still has some uses. With a decent bulk and a powerful priority move, it can handle Trick Room teams very well. Rillaboom has two main goals: getting rid of Psychic Terrain with its Grassy Surge Ability, and flinch opposing key Pokémon with Fake Out.
It also has enough power to OHKO non-Dynamax Kyogre and reduce 75% of HP to bulky non-Dynamax Groudon thanks to the power of Miracle Seed. Rillaboom is going to be paired commonly with Thundurus and with that in mind, the occasion where it is going to Gigantamax is uncommon, but in case it is necessary, it has really good options for it.
Rillaboom’s moveset is very straightforward: Fake Out for a free turn 1 flinch, Grassy Glide as its main offensive move, U-turn to recycle Grassy Terrain and the Fake Out option, and High Horsepower as a useful tool versus Steel and Fire-type Pokémon.
Thundurus (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
– Wild Charge
– Fly
– Superpower
– Foul Play
If Regigigas is not going to be chosen for the game, then Thundurus is going to be the main Pokémon that you want to lead and Dynamax. Its move options can bring great advantage to the team, however keep in mind that Thundurus is much less bulkier than Regigigas, so you need to move more carefully, to help it endure a little bit more. Assault Vest will help endure stuff like Kyogre’s Water Spout: the lead of Thundurus + Rillaboom is very helpful versus Kyogre + Thundurus leads, and Defiant will be very helpful against Intimidate users and stat-lowering effects.
Same as with Regigigas, I am going to be referring to Thundurus’ moves as Max Moves, except for one move:
- Max Airstream is going to be your main attack during Dynamax because of STAB and the help it provides by increasing Speed.
- Max Lightning will be great to take down Kyogre and Flying-type Pokemon, but should be used in specific circumstances in order not to ruin Grassy Terrain for Rillaboom.
- Max Knuckle is going to be great in cases where you can KO an opponent with this move and also get an Attack boost for you and for Rillaboom or Urshifu.
- Lastly, the preference of Foul Play over Crunch is that it can punish and hit very hard Weakness Policy and Swords Dance users. Keep in mind that a Foul Play from Thundurus without Attack increases would not OHKO Shadow Rider Calyrex.
Tournament run
The road to the glory begins
The following is a chronicle of the Latin America Region Qualifier. Beside the bye earned for R1, the road to Top 16 was not as hard as someone would believe:
| Round | Result | Opponent | Opponent’s team |
|---|---|---|---|
| WR1 | Bye | N/A | N/A |
| WR2 | WLW | Hugo Pim (pim) |     |
| My round 2 rival had a mixed team of Trick Room and Tailwind but no Fake Out users. The team, however, had a wide range of strats could bring me troubles. Fortunately the team overcame the battle and pulled a 2-1 victory. | |||
| WR3 | WW | Luis Mora (Monky) |   |
| The match-up of my team was so much in my favour that I pulled a 2-0 without struggling thanks to Weezing’s Neutralizing Gas and not letting Abilities activate. | |||
| WR4 | LWW | Caio Mancebo (caiovibora) |     |
| A very standard sun team. Once again Weezing helped a lot by not letting Groudon set the sun and not letting Grimmsnarl set screens. A mistake by not Protecting to Precipice Blades made me lose Weezing on turn 1 of the first game, allowing my rival to fully develop his strat; however I learned from my mistake and ended up winning the set 2-1. | |||
| WR5 | WW |  Israel Suas (IsraVGC) |    |
| Round 5 was very interesting, since my rival was IsraVGC, one of the best players in Mexico. It was once again a Coalossal team heavily relying on Abilities, but Isra piloted his team very well and we ended up being in 1 vs. 1 late-game scenarios. Nevertheless, once again, the match-up was in my favour and ended up winning 2-0. | |||
| WR6 | WLW |  Hugo Sánchez (HUGO) |   |
| After reaching top 16, matches were going to be very difficult. My round 6 rival had a very cool team, and I really feared it because Regieleki had Screech and he could potentially OHKO Regigigas. I studied my match-up and prepared for everything; however, on the moment of playing the round something happened, and after the team check, the Regieleki of my rival was not registered correctly, so my rival could not use it and that gave me a free game. My rival ended up adapting very well without Regieleki and took game 2. Game 3 was very crucial, but a good read and a lucky crit allowed me to win 2-1. | |||
| WR7 | LWW |  Orlando Luna (orlando luna) |   |
| Round 7, the last round, was versus Orlando Luna that also managed to qualify for Global Finals. Orlando played a sun team and piloted it very well with Regieleki and Charizard, targeting Weezing and making me lose it on turn 1, which made Orlando win the game. Once again I adapted very well to that strat and ended up winning 2-1, earning my place on the Global Finals! | |||
Top 4 of Global Finals: a brief summary
The team made a nice run of 3-2 and ended placing 4th place of Global Finals, making it to both winners and losers semifinals and being the best Latin American player of the tournament. This time I am only going to be explaining round 1, because all my other games were streamed, so if you want to check them out, click the links in the table:
| Round | Result | Opponent | Opponent’s team | Stream |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WR1 | WLW |  Roberto Porretti (Raider) |  | |
| As had happened with previous Coalossal teams, the match-up was in my favor, but Roberto managed to play his team very well and ended up winning game 2. In the end, however, I ended up winning the set 2-1. | ||||
| WR2 | WW |  Yoav Reuven (gold) |  |  |
| WR3 (WSF) | LWL | Leonardo Bonanomi (Leo) | | |
| LR4 (T6) | WLW |  Gabriel Agati (Gabriel) |  | |
| LR5 (T4) | LL | Yoav Reuven (gold) | | |
Conclusions
I feel that this team had a great run and has a very meta-breaking strategy. It can handle almost all kinds of scenarios, it only struggles to hard Trick Room teams and heavy stall teams, but in the end, in such an aggressive metagame those teams are rare to see.
Some people may think that this team could be a very auto-pilot and wack-a-mole team. I am not going to deny that it can be true at some points, but to get the full potential of the team you need to know how to play with your Max Move effects and your Protects.
As Series 8 has come to an end while I wrote this article, it may be too late for you to try this team in Battle Stadium or even Pokémon Showdown. I am going to be missing this team a lot too, but with other things aside, if you liked this team, you can try it in the future if Series 8 comes back later. You can try it out!
And without anything else… REGIGIGAS AND CALYREX GO BRRRRRRR!!!
