New champions were crowned at the 2024 Pokémon World Championships, and one beloved Pokémon finally got its redemption arc after one whole year.
Pokémon Worlds ended Aug. 18 with an intense VGC finals match between Luca Ceribelli and Yuta Ishigaki. Both players and their Pokémon teams performed well all weekend, but it was Ceribelli who came out on top with Miraidon, Hearthflame Mask Ogerpon, Iron Hands, Whimsicott, Rapid Strike Urshifu, and Farigiraf.
In particular, Farigiraf stood out for multiple reasons. The giraffe has always been viable in VGC since its introduction, and it made it all the way to the Worlds finals last year, where it fell just short of the big trophy. So this year’s finals served as a redemption arc for Farigiraf, and it got the job done.
As seen in that epic finals match, Ceribelli’s Farigiraf played a huge part in taking down Ishigaki’s restricted Legendary Pokémon, Ice Rider Calyrex. The ice horse is a powerful physical attacker with the ability to boost its Attack stat after each knockout, but Farigiraf’s Foul Play counters it perfectly. Foul Play uses Calyrex’s high Attack stat against itself while hitting it for super-effective damage, leaving it with little to no HP.
Naturally, many VGC players were thrilled about Farigiraf winning its first Worlds after it had lost last year. “2024 IS FOR THE F*CKING GIRAFFES,” one player posted on X (formerly Twitter). And VGC veteran Jeudy Azzarelli even predicted one month ago that the giraffe would be one of the “keys to the strongest Worlds teams.”
But not everyone is happy. During last season, Donghun Youm vowed to eat a shoe if Farigiraf won Worlds. He was relieved after the giraffe lost back then, but now his words are coming back to bite him. Fellow players are poking fun at the situation, urging Youm to eat a shoe following Farigiraf’s big win.
