The secret to becoming the best Pokemon trainer isn’t just about consistency during competition or having the best ‘mons, but about finding a balance for your team and yourself outside the battle. But don’t take it from us—take it from former World Champion Wolfe Glick.
Crafting a team for any competitive Pokémon competition is an art that takes time to master, and a true champion has to learn about balancing their lineup to tackle the biggest meta threats and counter their own weaknesses. Even if you try to cover every angle, you can still end up facing off against a Pokémon or build you weren’t expecting, regardless of your experience at the top level.
During the 2024 Pokémon Europe International Championships, Wolfe Glick told Dot Esports about how he built his current team, noting that he dedicated two slots to Pokémon that could support four other offensive-focused choices. In this instance, the support Pokémon were Incineroar, a Pokémon that saw over 50 percent usage on day two of EUIC, and Amoonguss. With those familiar faces locked in, Wolfe brought Scarlet and Violet meta staples Urshifu Rapid Strike and Flutter Mane, along with the Incarnate formes of Landorus and Tornadus.
This team-building approach was designed to give him multiple ways to take control of games while bringing four Pokémon that could handle taking out the field with heavy-hitting, varied movesets.“I built my team around two of the strongest support Pokémon, Incineroar and Amoonguss to take control of games, and I would use them to support four damage-based Pokémon,” Wolfe said to Dot. “By having a bunch of different type coverages and strong attackers, there weren’t many people I couldn’t do damage to.”
That strategy wasn’t flawless, however, as running into a Rocky Helmet Corviknight was something he “didn’t have good ways to deal with.” Likewise, Florges was annoying for his team because it was able to prevent Incineroar’s Intimidate from lowering an Ogerpon’s Attack stat due to Flower Veil. But when faced with the situation, it came down to balancing his approach to compensate for new weaknesses. “It was just about maneuvering and positioning correctly so I could let my offensive Pokémon stick around for enough turns to get rid of the threat, ” Wolfe said.
Prepping your team is only part of the battle as you also need to ensure you are in top condition to take on these types of challenges. For Wolfe, this means finding balance in his responsibilities outside of the game and paying attention to how he feels about competing. For a while, he says it was hard to keep up with competing and creating content, but after four years of doing it full-time, he thinks he has improved at managing his “time and expectations” for himself.
“Sometimes VGC prep isn’t very fun, and I kind of lean back out of it,” he said. “But sometimes with content creation, I will have a week where I feel I’m not able to be at maximum productivity. It is a challenge but I think being intentional with breaks from the VGC end and being ahead on work, having that buffer makes things easier because I’m not just rushing to a deadline all the time.”
It also helps that his approach to Pokémon VGC changes depending on what he is doing. Wolfe notes that, while he is constantly involved in the VGC community, competing and making content use different skill sets. In one, he’s trying to win at all costs; in the other, it’s more about playing the role of an entertainer or educator for his viewers.
“[Being] more of an educator where I’m trying to convey information to an audience is very different to optimizing a team, making a meta call, or practicing. They use very different parts of my brain,” Wolfe said. “So, despite them both being Pokémon, they end up feeling different which I think helps because I can do one to take a break from the other.”
Wolfe is no stranger to providing insight into the inner workings of VGC necessities such as team building, as he and several other top personalities teamed up back in April 2022 to launch VGCguide, a website dedicated to cohesive resources for the competitive scene. If you have ever been looking for ways to improve or even start your VGC journey, that is a good place to start learning.
EUIC concludes with Pokemon TCG, VGC, and Go finals on April 7, live from the ExCeL Center in London.
