‘Unviable’ Pokémon are upsetting the meta in Scarlet and Violet Regional tournaments

Several experienced VGC pros brought many unorthodox and straight-up odd Pokémon like Electrode and Camerupt to the Knoxville and Bochum Regionals that took place over the weekend and made surprisingly deep runs in their respective tournaments.

Pokémon may be a lighthearted franchise made for children, but competitive Pokémon is a whole different world. There is a place for having fun and memeing in competitive battles as well, but if you want to get good results and snag some trophies in tournaments, you’ll have to get your head in gear to teambuild and play optimally.

So what does it say about the current competitive metagame in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet when players are using Pokémon with nearly zero percent usage to finish with top-tier results in various Regional tournaments?

Bellibolt, Stonjourmer, Electrode, and Camerupt are just a few of the unexpected and wacky Pokémon that have made their appearances in the Knoxville and Bochum Regional Championships over this past weekend and the players piloting these teams managed to achieve respectable placements throughout the tournaments.

Don’t get us wrong, we’re not complaining—seeing such a wide variety of Pokémon that naturally go unnoticed by competitive players dominating official tournaments is a delight to watch. And if this is any indication of what the competitive metagames for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are going to look like from here on out, we’re all here for it.

Related: Wolfe Glick and Markus Stadter dominate Pokémon Regional tournaments with unusual Paradox Pokémon

Let us take a closer look at a few of these off-the-wall teams that got good placements at the Knoxville and Bochum Regionals. Note that some of these teams don’t have complete information on them, such as EVs and Natures, which will be updated as the complete team sheets drop.

The most unorthodox teams in the Knoxville and Bochum Pokémon Regionals

Andrew Johnson’s Stonjourner-Electrode team

Fridge (Dragonite) @ Choice Band  
Ability: Multiscale  
Level: 50  
Tera Type: Normal  
EVs: 236 HP / 252 Atk / 20 Spe  
Adamant Nature  

• Extreme Speed  
• Facade  
• Ice Spinner  
• Earthquake  

Ston (Stonjourner) @ Focus Sash  
Ability: Power Spot  
Level: 50  
Tera Type: Rock  
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe  
Adamant Nature  

• Rock Slide  
• Low Kick  
• Wide Guard  
• Protect  

Goober (Flutter Mane) @ Life Orb  
Ability: Protosynthesis  
Level: 50  
Tera Type: Fairy  
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe  
Timid Nature  
IVs: 0 Atk  

• Shadow Ball  
• Dazzling Gleam  
• Perish Song  
• Protect  

Basketball (Electrode) @ Choice Scarf  
Ability: Aftermath  
Level: 50  
Shiny: Yes  
Tera Type: Grass  
EVs: 100 HP / 252 SpA / 156 Spe  
Timid Nature  
IVs: 0 Atk  

• Thunderbolt  
• Volt Switch  
• Tera Blast  
• Scary Face  

That Dog (Arcanine) @ Assault Vest  
Ability: Intimidate  
Level: 50  
Tera Type: Fairy  
EVs: 252 HP / 236 Atk / 4 Def / 12 SpD / 4 Spe  
Adamant Nature  

• Flare Blitz  
• Play Rough  
• Extreme Speed  
• Snarl  

H (Hydreigon) @ Safety Goggles  
Ability: Levitate  
Level: 50  
Tera Type: Psychic  
EVs: 148 HP / 4 Def / 180 SpA / 4 SpD / 172 Spe  
Modest Nature  
IVs: 0 Atk  

• Dark Pulse  
• Draco Meteor  
• Snarl  
• Tailwind 

No, you’re not seeing things wrong. That is indeed Electrode and Stonjourner on a single team, piloted by Andrew Johnson for a Top 32 finish in the Knoxville Regional. And with that, let’s talk about what the elephants in the room are actually doing on this team.

Electrode has a single niche in the current Series Two metagame for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet: outspeeding the fastest meta threat, Iron Bundle. Not only does it outspeed Iron Bundle, it also knocks it out in a single Electric move, either Thunderbolt or Volt Switch present on this Electrode set.

Well, what if the Iron Bundle is buffing its Speed with Booster Energy? That’s why this Electrode has a Choice Scarf slapped onto it, letting it outspeed even the speediest of Bundles, and by extension, everything else in the metagame as well.

If Electrode is not facing down an Iron Bundle, it can go for Speed control with Scary Face and let its teammates outspeed and pick up essential knockouts that they wouldn’t be able to otherwise. It sports Tera Grass along with Tera Blast to deal large amounts of damage to Ground-types that Electrode wouldn’t normally be able to touch.

Stonjourner is another odd support ‘mon that is mainly used for its ability: Power Spot. Just staying on the field gives its partners a 30 percent damage boost, letting hard-hitters like Dragonite and Flutter Mane pick up one-hit knockouts much more easily. It also carries Wide Guard to protect its team from threatening spread moves, rounding out its set with Rock Slide and Low Kick for consistent damage.

The rest of the team is filled out with Arcanine for Intimidate and Snarl support, and Hydreigon for a better Indeedee-Armarouge matchup.

David Koutesh’s Bellibolt-offense team

Torkoal @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Drought
Tera Type: Flying

• Helping Hand
• Overheat
• Yawn
• Clear Smog

Arcanine @ Air Balloon
Ability: Intimidate
Tera Type: Grass

• Will-O-Wisp
• Protect
• Extreme Speed
• Flare Blitz

Flutter Mane @ Choice Specs
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Fairy

• Dazzling Gleam
• Shadow Ball
• Power Gem
• Moonblast

Bellibolt @ Assault Vest
Ability: Electromorphosis
Tera Type: Water

• Thunderbolt
• Sucker Punch
• Parabolic Charge
• Muddy Water

Great Tusk @ Focus Sash
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Grass

• Headlong Rush
• Close Combat
• Stone Edge
• Taunt

Roaring Moon @ Clear Amulet
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Fire

• Breaking Swipe
• Throat Chop
• Tera Blast
• Protect

Who doesn’t love seeing this little goofball succeed? Not only did David Koutesh get a respectable result with this team, but he also took Bellibolt all the way to a 19th-place finish in the Bochum Regional.

The Bellibolt on Koutesh’s team dons the Assault Vest item, and even though we don’t have EVs available for this ‘mon, we can infer that it’s built to be slow and incredibly bulky. 

With the Electromorphosis ability and exceptional bulk owed to Bellibolt’s base stats in conjunction with Assault Vest, it can eat hits to gain multiple stacks of the ‘Charged’ status and fire off strong Parabolic Charges to hit everything on the field for massive damage and heal up at the same time.

Of course, dealing damage to your own Pokémon isn’t fun, which is why there is a Ground-type on the team in Great Tusk, that takes no damage from Bellibolt’s Parabolic Charge. Two of its teammates’ Tera types are also Tera Grass, which resists damage from Parabolic Charge, letting Bellibolt spam it with more ease.

Bellibolt also carries Thunderbolt for reliable, consistent damage, Muddy Water with Tera Water for solid coverage, and Sucker Punch to finish off opponents with low HP and also get rid of Focus Sashes.

The rest of Koutesh’s team is filled with regular ‘good stuff’ Pokémon with some interesting sets such as no Protect-Taunt-Great Tusk, Air Balloon-Arcanine, a weird Clear Amulet-Roaring Moon set with Breaking Swipe and Tera Blast Fire—unlike usual Tailwind or Dragon Dance sets—and a support Torkoal showing off Yawn, Helping Hand, Clear Smog, and Overheat.

Nathan Ortiz’s Camerupt-Hard Trick Room team

Oranguru @ Mental Herb
Ability: Inner Focus
Tera Type: Grass

• Encore
• Instruct
• Taunt
• Trick Room

Mimikyu @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Disguise
Tera Type: Steel

• Play Rough
• Shadow Sneak
• Curse
• Trick Room

Maushold @ Wide Lens
Ability: Friend Guard
Tera Type: Normal

• Population Bomb
• Follow Me
• U-turn
• Protect

Abomasnow @ Life Orb
Ability: Snow Warning
Tera Type: Ground

• Blizzard
• Energy Ball
• Earth Power
• Protect

Brute Bonnet @ Loaded Dice
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Fire

• Spore
• Bullet Seed
• Crunch
• Sucker Punch

Camerupt @ Choice Specs
Ability: Solid Rock
Tera Type: Fire

• Eruption
• Heat Wave
• Earth Power
• Sleep Talk

When we say Eruption-user, which Pokémon comes to mind? Torkoal, right? Well, not for this out-of-the-box teambuilder that finished with a 6-3 Swiss run in the Knoxville Regional. Nathan Ortiz will take erupting camels over tortoises any day.

Well, if you take a closer look at Ortiz’s team, there’s a reason he picked Camerupt as his Eruption-user under Trick Room user rather than something much more straightforward like Torkoal, and that reason is Abomasnow.

Ortiz is using Abomasnow not necessarily for the defensive properties of Snow or to set up Aurora Veil, but instead to spam fully accurate Blizzards, since this Abomasnow is meant to dish out tons of damage as it’s running a three attack-Life Orb set with Protect.

With Camerupt on the team, you don’t have to worry about Drought overwriting the Snow weather condition, letting Ortiz safely switch in Camerupt to fire off strong Eruptions while Abomasnow fires off 100 percent accurate Blizzards.

Well, strong Eruptions might be an understatement; with Choice Specs and Tera Fire, Camerupt can easily pick up one-hit KO’s on some Pokémon that even resist Fire-type moves, and to make sure it picks up knockouts on the bulkiest of Pokémon, you have Oranguru here to help.

Not only does Oranguru set up Trick Room, but it also has the move Instruct that commands its partner Pokémon go for the same move twice, and trust us when we say that you don’t want to be eating two Eruptions in a row from a max health Tera Fire Choice Specs Camerupt.

The rest of the team is filled out with Maushold for Friend Guard support to let Oranguru setup up Trick Room more safely, Mimikyu for another dependable Trick Room setter, and Brute Bonnet for an alternate form of solid damage under Trick Room that also has the option to put opponents to sleep with Spore.