Nearly a decade on, this Legendary Pokémon core is still totally dominating VGC events

The Pittsburgh Regional Championship was the first Pokémon Scarlet and Violet tournament of the new 2024 season, and it did not disappoint.

Like the 2023 World Championships last month, this event was filled with Regulation D Pokémon like Flutter Mane, Iron Hands, and Urshifu, but it was a certain Legendary core from eight years ago that won the whole event.

In a stacked tournament with some of the best players in the game, including the likes of Aaron Zheng and James Baek, the semifinals ended up with four veterans—Aaron Traylor, Alberto Lara, Riley Factura, and Wolfe Glick. All of these players have been competing for years, and the new champ, Factura, actually won the event with an iconic trio that goes back to 2015 when he had earned a couple of his regional titles.

Factura’s Cresselia, Heatran, and Amoonguss were all once part of the famous CHALK core of Gen VI that won the 2015 World Championships. The other two CHALK members were Landorus, who is among the most common Pokémon in the meta, and Mega Kangaskhan, who isn’t available in the Gen IX games now.

Just like the good old days in 2015, Cresselia, Heatran, and Amoonguss finally reunited in Scarlet and Violet’s Reg D ruleset and secured another huge win. Of the three, Cresselia was by far the MVP of Factura’s Pittsburgh team in the semifinals and finals.

Factura’s Cresselia found itself in a long standoff with Aaron Traylor’s Cresselia in the semifinals. After going back and forth between self-heals, stat drops, and chips of damage, it was Factura’s Cresselia who came out as the winner.

In the finals against Wolfe Glick, there was a huge moment in the deciding game that changed everything; Cresselia landed a crit hit and a 10-percent freeze on Glick’s Landorus, who was doing its best to turn the tide.

Unable to thaw out, Landorus was knocked out by Factura’s Heatran the next turn to put him in the winning position. In the end, the CHALK trio helped Factura earn his fifth regional title. This just goes to show how the older generation Pokémon can still keep up with new ones like Flutter Mane. In fact, Factura’s team didn’t even include Flutter Mane, who remained the most-used Pokémon of the tournament at 59.3 percent.

That being said, the meta is set to change again in October when Regulation E begins. While Regulation D reintroduced Cresselia, Heatran, and other familiar faces back into the meta, Regulation E will throw in brand new Pokémon from the upcoming DLC, The Teal Mask, along with even more returning ‘mons.

Given the deep history around the CHALK trio, we could very well still see them dominating this new VGC ruleset over the next few months too.