This unappreciated Ghost Pokémon overshadowed Flutter Mane, won huge Scarlet and Violet tournament

The Pokémon Scarlet and Violet North America International Championships (NAIC) was expected to be once again dominated by the unstoppable Flutter Mane, but it was an underappreciated Ghost-type who stole the show and took home the big win at the end of the day.

NAIC was the last major tournament to use the Regulation C ruleset before the World Championships, so players went all out without hiding any strategies or teams. That meant it was the perfect opportunity for NAIC champion, Alex Gómez, to use an unlikely Pokémon players wouldn’t be ready for—Dragapult.

The funny thing is, Dragapult actually won the first Reg. C regional tournament back in April alongside its trusty partner, Chien-Pao. Rising VGC star Justin Tang took a chance on the Dragon/Ghost Dragapult and won Fort Wayne Regionals to show everyone just how powerful it could be in the right hands. Today, Dragapult’s success in Regulation C went full circle, having now claimed the first and last tournament titles under these rules.

Despite Dragapult’s initial win, it had been very quiet at tournaments ever since. This had much to do with the overwhelming dominance of fellow Ghost-type Flutter Mane in the meta. With Flutter Mane consistently the most-used Pokémon at these tournaments, players ended up sleeping on poor Dragapult.

Thankfully, Gómez still saw the potential in Dragapult and knew precisely how to utilize it. With both the Ghost Tera Type and Chien-Pao’s Sword of Ruin to boost its damage, Dragapult was dishing out serious damage. If it wasn’t outright getting one-hit knockouts, it was taking huge chunks out of the opposing Pokémon’s HP with Phantom Force and Tera Blast. Even after being burned to reduce its attack in game two of the finals, Dragapult still put in work and proved to be the MVP of the entire set against finalist Raghav Malaviya.

Related: Pokémon Scarlet and Violet Ranked Battle Reg. D ruleset explained

Following Gómez’s big win with Dragapult, VGC players like Tang formally apologized to the Dragon/Ghost Pokémon for counting it out after its first success.

With the ruleset now swapped over from Regulation C to Regulation D, it’s unclear whether Dragapult will still be a viable pick in the new meta. But at the very least, we’ve now learned to never underestimate its power.