Day one of the 2023 Pokémon Oceania International Championships is now underway in Melbourne, and with the recent addition of Paradox Pokémon in VGC, the meta has seen a huge shift when it comes to teambuilding and preparing for tournaments.
Before the Paradox Pokémon, we were seeing a lot of Maushold, Murkrow, Gholdengo, Dondozo, and Tatsugiri in VGC. While some of these Pokémon have become a lot less viable in the current meta (sorry Murkrow), a few are still able to hold their own against the powerful Paradox Pokémon.
From just the first day of Oceania, we’re seeing a fair amount of familiar faces along with five specific Paradox Pokémon that have been dominating the meta. Here are the top 12 most used Pokémon from day one of Oceania.
Most used Pokémon from first day at Scarlet and Violet‘s Oceania International Championships
- Flutter Mane – 53.19 percent
- Iron Bundle – 43.26 percent
- Iron Hands – 34.40 percent
- Arcanine – 31.21 percent
- Great Tusk – 27.66 percent
- Amoonguss – 27.66 percent
- Gholdengo – 24.11 percent
- Talonflame – 21.99 percent
- Dondozo – 18.09 percent
- Roaring Moon – 17.73 percent
- Kingambit – 17.02 percent
- Tatsugiri (Curly Form) – 15.60 percent
Paradox Power
Five Paradox Pokémon made the cut for Day One of Oceania—Flutter Mane, Iron Bundle, Iron Hands, Great Tusk, and Roaring Moon. Flutter Mane and Iron Bundle are both super fast and hard-hitting Special Attackers. Iron Hands is great for Fake Out pressure and strong physical attacks. Great Tusk has proven to be the superior Donphan Paradox relative over Iron Treads with physical power, bulk, and a strong offensive typing. Meanwhile, Roaring Moon is still getting some love after a shaky start at Orlando Regionals.
A huge reason for the recent competitive success of Paradox Pokémon is their impressive base stat totals. Every Paradox Pokémon has a base stat total of 570, which is almost on par with Mythical Pokémon like Mew, Manaphy, and Celebi who all have base stat totals of 600. Even Scarlet and Violet’s golden child, Gholdengo, is more than a few points behind Paradox Pokémon when it comes to base stats.
Familiar Faces
Aside from Paradox Pokémon, seven others have emerged as popular picks at Oceania—Arcanine, Amoonguss, Gholdengo, Talonflame, Dondozo, Kingambit, and Tatsugiri. Amoonguss is one of those Pokémon that never seems to go out of style because its ability to put foes to sleep, redirect attacks, and heal is too good to pass up. In fact, it’s even seen more usage than its Paradox counterpart, Brute Bonnet. Likewise, Gholdengo also seems to be another Pokémon that isn’t going away any time soon.
Arcanine excels with its Intimidate Ability along with Snarl to lower its foes’ Special Attack and Extreme Speed for priority. Talonflame has reclaimed its title of “Most Valuable Bird” over Pelipper since it has great synergy with Paradox Pokémon like Great Tusk. Kingambit is just an overall strong physical attacker with the Defiant Ability to punish anyone bringing an Intimidate Arcanine.
And although Dondozo and Tatsugiri aren’t as dominant as they once were, they’re still very much alive in the current meta. Together, the duo can still tear through teams if their opponents are not prepared for them.
