Mason Velilla – 9
A well known quote in Pokemon is from the original Pokemon Gold and Silver in 1999 from Karen, a member from the Elite Four, stating “Strong Pokemon, Weak Pokemon. That is only the selfish perception of people. Truly skilled trainers should try to win with their favorites.” Most people treated this quote as just something to have in the game as just a quote and nothing more. However, 15 years later, at the 2014 World Championships at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington D.C., this quote was proven true by one player who won using a previously deemed weak Pokemon. This person was Sejun Park from South Korea and said Pokemon was an electric rodent introduced in the Sinnoh games of 2006, known more commonly as Pachirisu.
Compared to now, the metagame of Pokemon during 2014 was very different compared to now, due to both less high-damaging Pokemons along with less options in general due to the earlier state. So, back then, it was not as uncommon to see weird picks, some examples being Machamp, Florges, Aerodactyl, and even Sawk. Though, these all had a blatant niche only they could fill. When Pachirisu showed up, nobody believed it could work in a game filled with strong Pokemon. However, Sejun Park proved everyone wrong by winning Worlds in 2014, a very impressive title to hold.
Sejun Park used Pachirisu for one main reason alone: the move Follow Me. For a brief summary, Follow Me redirects any attacks into the user, indirectly protecting its ally from any non-spread moves. Back then, Follow Me was not deemed as useful of a move, due to how shallow its dispersion was. However, Sejun Park saw hope in Pachirisu to use the move effectively, and this view paid off. Sejun also wisely did not build the team around Pachirisu, more so it treated Pachirisu like the last puzzle piece needed to complete something perfect. Pachirisu also came with Protect, a very common Normal-Type status move that blocks all attacks for one turn, but has a lower chance with consecutive uses, Super Fang, a Normal-Type move that, if it lands, cuts the current target’s HP (Health Points) in half, and Nuzzle, a normally weak Electric-Type move, but also gives a guaranteed chance of paralysis, a status effect in Pokemon that, during 2014, made the status holder’s speed a quarter of its current speed, and gave a 30% chance to be fully paralyzed, restricting them from moving at all in a battle. For recovery, Pachirisu had as an item a Sitrus Berry, which recovers 25% of the Pokemon’s maximum HP when it drops below 50% of its maximum HP, and had the ability of Volt Absorb, which heals the ability holder by 25% of their maximum HP if hit by an Electric-type move.
The rest of the team were all other key parts of a puzzle and yet were all independent from each other. The first was Mega Gyarados, a powerful physical attacker that is both Water type and Dark Type with the ability Intimidate, dropping the foes’ attacks by one stage upon entry, and the moves Protect, Dragon Dance, a move that boosts the user’s attack and speed by one stage, Waterfall, an 80 base power Water-type move with a 20% to flinch the target, making them unable to move for the turn, and Earthquake, a 100 base power spread Ground-Type move. Next was Gothitelle, a bulky Psychic type with the rare ability of Shadow Tag, preventing any grounded pokemon from switching out of the field. Gothitelle has the Leftovers item, restoring one sixteenth of the holder’s maximum HP every turn, and the moves Psyshock, an 80 base power Psychic-Type move that uses the target’s Defense instead of Special Defense, Thunder Wave, a 90% accurate, Electric-Type status Move that paralyzes the target, Tickle, a 100% accurate, Normal-type status move that lowers the target’s attack and defense by one stage, and Protect.
Next is Talonflame, a mix of a supportive and offensive Fire and Flying type with the signature ability (meaning no other Pokemon has this ability) Gale Wings, which gives priority to any flying type moves the user has. Talonflame held the Life Orb, giving a 30% boost to every attacking move but has the user lose one tenth of their maximum HP every turn, and the moves Brave Bird, a 120 base power Flying-Type move that does 33% recoil damage, Overheat, a 130 base power Fire-Type move with 90% accuracy, but drops the user’s special attack stat by 2 stages, which cuts it in half, Taunt, a 100% accurate, Dark-Type status move that prevents the target from using status move for three turns, and Quick Guard, a priority Fighting-Type status move that blocks opposing priority moves from affecting the user’s side of the field. Second to last is Gardevior, a powerful Psychic and Fairy type Pokemon with the ability of Telepathy, which protects it from an allies’ spread moves and take no damage. Gardevoir held an item called the Choice Scarf, which gives it a 50% boost to its speed, but forces it to use only one move, and came with the moves Dazzling Gleam, an 80 base power spread-damaging Fairy-Type attack, Psychic, a 90 base power Psychic-Type attack with a 10% chance to lower the target’s special defense by one stage, Moonblast, a 95 base power Fairy-Type attack with a 30% chance to lower the target’s special attack by one stage, and Swagger, a 90% accurate, Normal-Type status move that raises the targets attack by 2 stages, but confuses them. Confusion is a status condition that causes the status holder to hit themselves in confusion 50% of the time, which is calculated through an unresistable, 40 base power physical move. This effect wears off after 2 to 5 turns, or after switching out.
The final Pokemon is Garchomp, a Dragon and Ground type with the ability Rough Skin, which causes any contact moves to deal one-eighth of the move user’s maximum HP in damage back. Garchomp held the Focus Sash, making it so any attack that would KO it leave it with one HP, and came with the moves Protect, Earthquake, Dragon Claw, an 80 base power Dragon-Type attack, and Rock Slide, a 90% accurate, 75 Base Power, spread-damage Rock-Type move with a 30% to flinch the opponents.
Sejun Park was up against Jeudy Azzarelli, who used Mega Charizard Y, a powerful special attacker and a Fire and Flying Type, Garchomp, Tyranitar, a powerful physical attacker and a Rock and Dark Type, Rotom-Mow, a supportive special attack and a Electric and Grass Type, Salamence, a powerful mixed attacker (meaning they used both special and physical attacks) and a Dragon and Flying type, and Mega Lucario, a powerful physical attacker with redirection and a Fighting and Steel Type.
Match One did not have many key events that stood out in history besides the crowd’s consistently loud cheering whenever Pachirisu entered the field, but Match Two is where history was made. Sejun Park is already up by one, so if he wins Match Two, he wins Worlds, since every tournament is a best of three matchup.
Match Two starts with the leads of Salamence and Mega Lucario for Jeudy Azzarelli, the opponent and second place at Worlds 2014, and Garchomp and Gardevoir from Sejun Park. Salamence’s ability of Intimidate activates, lowering the attack stats of Garchomp and Gardevoir by one stage, or a 33% decrease. Lucario mega evolves and uses Bullet Punch into Gardevoir, getting just shy of the KO. Gardevoir uses Dazzling Gleam, cutting Mega Lucario’s HP in half, and dropping Salamence to around 33% of its HP. Garchomp uses Earthquake to KO Lucario, while Salamence uses Rock Tomb, only doing a little damage but lowering Garchomp’s speed. Tyranitar switches into the Lucario slot, setting up the sandstorm for the rest of the game. Sejun Park currently has a good matchup, being in the lead with four Pokemon against three. Turn 2 starts with Salamence using Protect to not die to another Rock Slide, and Gardevoir using Dazzling Gleam one final time, dropping Tyranitar to around half of its HP. Tyranitar then follows up with a Rock Slide, KOing Gardevoir and dropping Garchomp to around two-thirds of its max HP. Finally, Garchomp uses Earthquake, leaving Tyranitar at twelve HP. Pachirisu switches into the Gardevoir slot, and this next turn would come as one of the most remembered turns in competitive Pokemon history.
Turn 3 starts with Pachirisu using Follow Me, directing all attention towards it so moves targeted them. Next, Tyranitar uses Rock Slide, removing around a third of Pachirisu’s HP, and only 15% of Garchomp’s. Next, Salamence uses Draco Meteor, which is a 130 base power move, or 195 base power when considering the boost from STAB, or same type attack bonus, meaning if you share a type with a move you use, the move has a boost in power. Despite Pachirisu being normally seen as weak Pokemon doomed to mediocrity, Pachirisu ended up guaranteeing a win by not only redirecting the Draco Meteor, but living it too. Pachirisu lived with ten percent of its HP left, which activated its Sitrus Berry, recovering a quarter of its HP. The turn ends with Garchomp using Rock Slide, KOing Tyranitar and leaving Salamence at 2 HP, just enough for Salamence to faint from the damage from the sandstorm.
On Turn 4, the final turn, Sejun’s win is almost guaranteed. He has 3 pokemon, while Azzarelli only has one left, being his Rotom-Mow. With the help of a critical hit from Garchomp’s Dragon Claw, and Pachirisu’s Super Fang, Sejun Park won the tournament, and also won the 2014 World Championships. When Sejun was asked why he used Pachirisu, it was mainly due to the factor of surprise, as many people were to expect a different Pokemon for support. Plus, Pachirisu helped support Mega Gyarados incredibly well, so it used it.
While not the main purpose, Sejun Park showed to competitive players that if competitive players have the heart and the idea, they can find some way to win with normally weak Pokemon. This has given more people the attempt to do what Sejun did, and win with obscure picks. Shortly after, we saw another popular Pokemon player, Wolfe Glick, win the World Championships in 2016 with Raichu, a normally weak Pokemon, despite one of the strongest Pokemon being super effective against Raichu. While it’s not as common nowadays to see obscure picks, every once in a while, they still show up in high ranks, and prove that, like Karen from the Elite Four said back in Gold and Silver, “Truly skilled trainers should try to win with their favorites.”
For more information on competitive Pokemon, a recommended site is https://limitlessvgc.com. Video from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7Ki5Fo1FKQ&list=PL1gxRjCm4V786D9xfD5CcRdCRYqQ8mX8b&index=15.
