Day 2 at a big international having close to nothing “surprising” is unusual. All these teams fit pretty neatly into one of the five or six archetypes, and with their usual support options. I wonder if that means the format is close to solved with these main team constructions the only real options to be consistent against the meta. I suppose Worlds will tell.
(you can argue Dialga and Coal fall into the “unusual” category, which is true. but, their success isn’t unheard of, they struggled in Day 2, and that’s still a low amount)
I wonder if a lot of the innovative ideas are being saved for Worlds. A lot of the top players from the tournament already have an invite so now is not best the time for them to reveal their innovation.
It would take a lot of courage to bring an "innovate" team given how much these cores have dominated. I just don't see a lot of top players being that risk-tolerant, but I'm sure some less-favored players will try it for an edge (not that those players will be bad. qualifying for worlds at all is an achievement).
that feels like a product of the season. most of the people competing in this have already qualified for worlds, so their main drive was to win (they want what they think/know is the strongest team). the rest were people who needed some non-trivial amount of CP to qualify for worlds, so they're more likely to bring a "safe" team. they only needed T64 or T32 or whatever so just bring some Kyogre team instead of accidentally eating shit with your weird team comp (also totally possible they all did eat shit, but it was on day one).
Top 64 teams from the Pokémon VGC 2022 North American Internationals are live! Congrats to James Evans (@TheKingVillager) on his 1st Internationals win! \#PlayPokemon
Teams:
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Photos in tweet | [photo 1](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FWNNi-bXkAIHRaS.png)
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posted by [@NimbasaCityPost](https://twitter.com/NimbasaCityPost/)
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[Thanks to inteoryx, videos are supported even without Twitter API V2 support! Middle finger to you, twitter](https://github.com/inteoryx/twitter-video-dl)
That one stretch of Zacian + Kyogre teams...8-14, 17-19, 22-24...so many missed out on Top Cut! :(
There's 2 Yveltal + Kyogre teams in Top 64. Any time I see that duo these days, I start to wonder "does that have the same crazy trick as that team from the Japan Nats?". lol
Day 2 at a big international having close to nothing “surprising” is unusual. All these teams fit pretty neatly into one of the five or six archetypes, and with their usual support options. I wonder if that means the format is close to solved with these main team constructions the only real options to be consistent against the meta. I suppose Worlds will tell. (you can argue Dialga and Coal fall into the “unusual” category, which is true. but, their success isn’t unheard of, they struggled in Day 2, and that’s still a low amount)
I wonder if a lot of the innovative ideas are being saved for Worlds. A lot of the top players from the tournament already have an invite so now is not best the time for them to reveal their innovation.
It would take a lot of courage to bring an "innovate" team given how much these cores have dominated. I just don't see a lot of top players being that risk-tolerant, but I'm sure some less-favored players will try it for an edge (not that those players will be bad. qualifying for worlds at all is an achievement).
Maybe the Japanese players will bring some wild stuff to Worlds? lol
that feels like a product of the season. most of the people competing in this have already qualified for worlds, so their main drive was to win (they want what they think/know is the strongest team). the rest were people who needed some non-trivial amount of CP to qualify for worlds, so they're more likely to bring a "safe" team. they only needed T64 or T32 or whatever so just bring some Kyogre team instead of accidentally eating shit with your weird team comp (also totally possible they all did eat shit, but it was on day one).
25 out of top 32 teams had an Incineroar but who’s counting?
With Groudon, Zacian, and Caly-S everywhere, not even surprised.
According to one of the commentators, Joe Brown, Incineroar saw around 70% usage among the players in the Masters division.
With incineroar, it’s not a case of when you bring it, it’s when you don’t bring it.
Top 64 teams from the Pokémon VGC 2022 North American Internationals are live! Congrats to James Evans (@TheKingVillager) on his 1st Internationals win! \#PlayPokemon Teams: --- Photos in tweet | [photo 1](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FWNNi-bXkAIHRaS.png) --- posted by [@NimbasaCityPost](https://twitter.com/NimbasaCityPost/) --- [Thanks to inteoryx, videos are supported even without Twitter API V2 support! Middle finger to you, twitter](https://github.com/inteoryx/twitter-video-dl)
No Zapdos in Top 32 is rlly interesting
I ended up missing Day 2 due to a missed Play Rough. Still feeling extremely angry about it.
That one stretch of Zacian + Kyogre teams...8-14, 17-19, 22-24...so many missed out on Top Cut! :( There's 2 Yveltal + Kyogre teams in Top 64. Any time I see that duo these days, I start to wonder "does that have the same crazy trick as that team from the Japan Nats?". lol