Going into the Pokémon Scarlet and Violet Oceania International Championships, Paradox Pokémon were expected to dominate the format, pushing the likes of Dondozo and Tatsugiri out of the spotlight.
Based on the teams from Orlando Regionals earlier this month, Flutter Mane, Iron Bundle, and Iron Hands were the Paradox Pokémon many players would be relying on at Oceania. In fact, these three Paradox Pokémon were the most used Pokémon for Day One of the tournament.
However, as the tournament reached its final stages, we were seeing less Flutter Mane and Iron Hands and more Dragonite and Arcanine (and even Roaring Moon). As expected, Iron Bundle stayed one of the strongest and most consistent Pokémon in the meta.
Iron Bundle
All of the Paradox Pokémon are arguably strong, but Iron Bundle is on a different level when it comes to VGC. With an incredible Speed stat of 136, Iron Bundle can outspeed the fastest Flutter Mane by just one point. Its Special Attack is also deadly when combined with STAB Hydro Pump or Freeze-Dry. This Water and Ice-type offense is perfect against many common Pokémon like Arcanine, Dragonite, Roaring Moon, and Talonflame.
Iron Bundle was the second-most used Pokémon on Day One of Oceania, and it snagged the top spot away from Flutter Mane on Day Two. Given its dominant performance in the past two championships, it doesn’t seem like the little penguin is slowing down anytime soon.
Dragonite
Most of Dragonite’s viability comes from one specific move—Extreme Speed. Dragonite is one of three Pokémon in Scarlet and Violet to get access to Extreme Speed, making it a valuable asset on a VGC team. The Normal-type move is so highly valued on Dragonite’s moveset because it has +2 priority, meaning the user will move first, in most cases. And on top of having priority, Extreme Speed also comes with an impressive base power of 80.
Many players will opt to make their Dragonite have a Normal Tera Type specifically to boost the power of Extreme Speed. Combine the Normal Tera Type with a Choice Band, and Dragonite will be doing so much damage on any Pokémon that doesn’t resist Normal-type attacks. Dragonite’s unique Ability, Multiscale, will also help keep it alive a little longer so it can continue to get knockouts.
Dragonite didn’t get a chance to shine in the Oceania finals matches, but it was part of Gavin Michael’s winning team alongside Palafin and Baxcalibur.
Arcanine
Another rare Extreme Speed user, Arcanine, also had a successful run throughout Oceania. Aside from Extreme Speed, the fire dog can do so much for its team. Its Ability, Intimidate, can be cycled in and out throughout the battle to constantly lower the Attack of both Pokémon on the other side of the field.
Many Arcanine will run Will-O-Wisp to further reduce the damage of physical attackers while leaving them with a burn. If the opposing side has Special attackers like Flutter Mane or Gholdengo, Arcanine’s Snarl is a great way to lower their Special Attack stat every turn.
While Arcanine is a great Pokémon for severely weakening the other side of the field, they can be built for physical offense too.
With enough investment in its Attack stat, Arcanine can deal a lot of damage with Flare Blitz and take down Pokémon like Amoonguss, Gholdengo, and Kingambit.
