Pokémon 2025 VGC season opens with ‘wild and diverse’ meta featuring Hisuian heroes

Baltimore Regionals is the first major Pokémon event of the competitive 2025 season, and we’re already seeing a diverse meta with new threats on the rise.

This weekend, we’re in for a treat with Baltimore Regionals (Sept. 14 to 15), not only kicking off the 2025 Pokémon season but also showcasing the new Regulation H meta with lots of variety. This exciting format has removed all Legendary and Paradox Pokémon that were previously dominating VGC, such as Urshifu, Miraidon, and Raging Bolt, making room for new threats to emerge. These include Primarina and Archaludon, but seeing a handful of Hisuian Pokémon getting some love is also a pleasant surprise.

Looking at the top 12 most-used Pokémon at Baltimore, the most interesting one is Sneasler, who struggled to find a place in the meta since its release in Legends: Arceus. What Sneasler brings to the table in this Reg H format is incredible speed and its signature move, Dire Claw. 

The unique attack has a 50 percent chance to inflict the target with one of three status conditions: poison, paralysis, or sleep. Combined with its natural speed and Unburden boost, Sneasler is very likely to move first and potentially paralyze or put the target to sleep before they even have a chance to move. With this advantage, it crept up to ninth place on the usage chart on 18.5 percent of teams at Baltimore. Depending on how it does this weekend, we may be seeing even more Sneasler in the future.

Snealser wasn’t, however, the only Pokémon from Hisui to rise up in this format. Ursaluna is making a comeback on 14.6 percent of Baltimore teams as a ‘mon that has seen a bit of success in the past, winning the Europe America International Championships (EUIC) just last season. Meanwhile, we have already witnessed an epic weather war stream match between Hisuian Typhlosion and Basculegion.

Outside of Hisui, it’s also nice to see the return of Pokémon that haven’t been as impactful since early on in Scarlet and Violet VGC. For example, Tyranitar is bringing sand to the weather wars, Talonflame is back in the running for most valuable bird, and the infamous Dondozo and Tatsugiri duo is cooking once again. The Reg H meta is like a throwback to early Gen IX formats with new faces thrown in the mix, and it’s been a refreshing break from all the overpowered Legendary Pokémon, meaning Urshifu and friends.