Welcome to VGC 2019! A sprawling arena where the weather wars never stop, your best friend might just be a giant red and black furry, and over 85% of all teams consist of 1.37% of the entire known Pokedex.

Today, I (the great and Brave Charizard) will be breaking down all the colorful and imaginative classifications of the Pocket Monster metagaming Universe for all of you wonderful VGC veterans, prospects, and the oppressed, alike (don’t worry, oppressed; I got your back).

There are countless numbers of competitive creatures out there for us to learn and understand, Pokemon of all shapes and sizes (about twelve of them solely taking up 85% of the entire VGC meta, *wink wink*). But fear not, trainers; I know what you’re thinking. With such an overwhelming playing field, there’s almost no way to hop right into the competitive game and get it going with just six of your own right off the bat, right?

Wrong! Today, my friends, take a walk with me as we tackle each one by the horns, hooves, and heels — one for each letter of the alphabet. Starting right at the top of the letter A, and finishing off our session today with the letter L, eventually making all the way to the elusive letter Z, here we will discuss what will be going down for the remainder of this year, carrying over towards the duration of the Ultra Series of 2019.

Now then, let us waste not even a second more of our time and U-turn off of this introduction, straight into our first highly coveted and fairly fashioned fungus of the day, Amoonguss!

Amoonguss

Ah, Amoongus. A Charizard such as myself, Brave as I am, would not even dare step as close as two feet near this funky facade. On first glance, this oversized plant-like Pokeball looks to be quite meek. But… look one more time.

To those who are most familiar, its spores can often induce rage, paralysis, and sleep in all opponents, encouraging trainers to often bring ‘moonguss into the game as a first-string distraction and distortion for hot and horned companions like Xerneas and Crobat to set up for a potential sweep.

Rage Powder and Stun Spore will make the battle field quite easy for even the newest novice to navigate; the former move making Amoonguss the center of attention; the latter placing enemies in a dazzling sort of trance… a trance that knocks the opponent into paralysis. Amoonguss is even known for rocking its opponents straight to sleep by just using Spore itself, crippling the competition with 100% accuracy.

Amoonguss a mainstay in so many teams, with bulky defensive stats and sparse amount of weaknesses to look out for, the primary ones being fire and psychic. Just one Payapa or Occa berry is often enough to stave away potential threats of Psychic and Fire (respectively).

Precious protection berries help keep Amoonguss narrowly out of harms way whilst all partners in crime proceed to power up and pummel away. Also, if things ever get tight for our little Amoonguss, one can easily retreat back into its proper Pokeball for a quick recovery of hit points, thanks to its ability Regenerator.

This spicy mushroom quite possibly deserves the most coverage today in our discussion of the greatest competitive Pokemon that you should look out for. Heck, as a fiery ally of the natural world, a Brave Charizard such as myself sees it right to do justice for all the Amoongi of the world, everywhere.

Amoonguss does its part to preserve the environment, all whilst preserving the momentum of its team as well. A fungi you can always depend on!

Bronzong

Bronzong is a Pokemon that is incredibly versatile defensively in combat. With abilities such as Heatproof and Levitate, it can stand strong alongside the likes of Groudon and Kyogre in any situation.

With an Earthquake user like Groudon on the field, it’s Levitate ability allows Bronzong to easily avoids potential damage as the earth quivers. Likewise, any threats of fire damage from the opposite side are warded off with a combination of Heatproof and the added rain support if ever it braves the field with the Timid yet tumultuous Kyogre.

From a #TeamCinnabar perspective, I’m not much too jaded by the bulky bell, myself. I’ve faced many Bronzong alongside my best buddies Ninetales and Houndoom. In most cases, a Solar Powered Dark Pulse does them away with relative ease.

With Houndoominite being illegal this time around, however, Bronzong is certainly a force to be reckoned with, something myself and the Cinnabar Squad need to look out for on a regular basis. It seems that there’s always a Psychic-type threat that’s hard for us to counter.

Bronzong will always be known to cause quite a ruckus with Rain Dance, Hypnosis, Psyshock (especially useful alongside Tapu Lele) and the ever present Trick Room option. It and Oranguru (discussed later) are solid members of any Sun Series squad.

Crobat

Possibly one of the most pesky competitive Pokemon in my mind, this Talonflame wannabe is known for devastating the other side with what seems to be a 100% accurate Hypnosis strike.

With Hypnosis (not really 100% accurate) constantly to be feared, this flying rodent contains not just one, but two of the most dangerous moves in the meta — the other being Super Fang. With it, Crobat can pierce right through the likes of a bulky Incineroar, a Groudon, Cresselia, or Kyogre with ease, no matter what kind of defensive investment they may have.

It also goes without saying that Crobat is one of the best Tailwind-setters in the game (with Tornadus as an honorable mention, growing increasingly well in usage). With a devastatingly high base speed of 130 (ranking it Top 20 fastest Pokemon in the world) and a Focus Sash on its back, you certainly better watch yours whenever Crobat is on the field!

Just look out for the Taunt users of the world… just one tantalizing Taunt renders almost any competitive Crobat completely unviable 😉

Dusk Mane Necrozma

Dusk Mane Necrozma is a beast of a Pokemon… I’d even go as far as to say it’s an Ultra Beast, had it not been so deeply ingrained in the folklore of Alola.

Necrozma, fused into the soul of Dusk Mane Solgaleo, takes on the traits of both Pokemon, with a Sunsteel Strike that comes down as hard and heavy hitting as ever. Along with Sunsteel Strike, Photon Geyser is the secondary weapon of its arsenal, typically packed and fully loaded with an extra clip of Life Orb energy.

Photon Geyser takes on the quality of whichever combat statistic of Necrozma is the strongest — and it’s normally physical attack for Dusk Mane, especially if one wants the added benefits of the most powerful Sunsteel Strike in the game.

Life Orb isn’t the only thing that looks good on Necrozma; almost any offensive or defensive hold item suits this lying lion’s monstrous mane fashionably well, and with the proper speed control of a Crobat crony right alongside it, one definitely wants to stay out of the jungle with this light demon stomping about.

If Dusk Mane Necrozma is ever your opponent… godspeed, with you (literally). Two words —  Speed Control. Against Dusk Mane, those are my words of advice!

Exeggutor

Our first beneficiary of the weather wars — Exeggutor is a great example of a Pokemon that increases in prowess whenever sunlight is in play. With Chlorophyll as its primary ability, Exeggutor gets a free boost of speed that doubles any time there is harsh sunlight on the arena.

Any Exeggutor sitting alongside Groudon (and its sun-setting ability Drought) is free to let off countless high-speed Solar Beams, or just simply lay in the shade and preserve energy with Synthesis, or even target down troublesome threats with Hypnosis. Exeggutor may also control the opponent’s fate with the psychic energy of Skill Swap, giving the user an upper hand by trading abilities with friend or foe, all at the speed of light!

Well…  Exeggutor doesn’t really move at the speed of light, but with its base Speed of 55 doubling to 110 under Harsh Sunlight, it will easily rival even the fastest of foes.

Some other odd perks to having an Exeggutor on one’s team is it’s various uncanny, psychic proclivities:

1. Gravity, which increases the accuracy of fellow Groudon’s Precipice Blades whilst grounding flying enemies to the pavement;
2. Telekinesis, which lifts partner or foe off the ground like a Seismic Toss from Snorlax, making it immune to a potential opponent’s Precipice Blades, along with any other array of ground type attack;
3. Trick Room, Exeggutor’s last and well known trick up its sleeve, and a well-loved move all around within the VGC meta. All of this intuitive psychic energy makes using Exeggutor at its utmost potential a walk in the park… just sand on the beach.

One word of caution: Exercise Telekinesis responsibly. This powerful move is known to make any attack (other than ground type moves) hit anyone inflicted by Telekinesis with 100% accuracy!

Oh, and did I mention that Exeggutor was a Trick Room user?

Ferrothorn

This one literally needs no introduction: Ingrain, Synthesis, Seed Bomb, Gyro Ball, Curse, Leech Seed, Gravity, Spikes, Stealth Rock, Explosion. Rocky Helmet or Pinch Berry. No Kyogre team should go without it. A VGC mainstay, and it’s not going any where, any time soon!

—–

Well, that’s all we have time for for now. Hate to cut it short, but it looks like I need to get back to Zumba *really* soon; me and Oricorio have a hot date, and she’ll have my head on a plate of Ferrothorns if I don’t show up on time once again this week.

 

Tune in next time for some of the most sought after Pokemon in the VGC meta, letters G through L. Play on, players!

— Brave Charizard, #TeamCinnabar B)

(Stats provided by pikalytics.com)