BIG DATA time! Well, actually not. I just collected the team lists from the latest Berlin Premier Challenge and made some stats. It was fun, might do that every time from now. Somewhat having regrets for not starting this earlier, because this one probably wasn't the best day to do it. The competition was a bit watered down with various strong Trainers not attending this time, and a few others decided to just have some fun or simply experiment around rather than trying their hardest to get the win. There are some things that didn't change at all though: Our favorite Megas are Salamence and Gardevoir. (And Kangaskhan is actually used more than Gardevoir, but Kangaskhan rarely does well.)
We had 14 Masters, 1 Senior and 2 Juniors. I excluded no minor Division data because I'd say the Junior teams are legitimately more viable than what I'd say is the worst submitted Master team. So all right, let's have a look at what was (not) used!
Pokémon Usage
- 8 Heatran
- 6 Therian Landorus
- 5 Salamence, Suicune, Sylveon
- 4 Cresselia
- 3 Amoonguss, Bisharp, Clefable, Kangaskhan, Wash Rotom, Zapdos
- 2 Abomasnow, Blastoise, Breloom, Gardevoir, Hitmontop, Hydreigon, Milotic, Sableye, Scizor, Scrafty, Terrakion, Incarnate Thundurus, Togekiss, Venusaur, Weavile
- 1 Absol, Blaziken, Chandelure, Charizard, Cofagrigus, Conkeldurr, Cryogonal, Espeon, Excadrill, Gothitelle, Infernape, Latios, Machamp, Mawile, Metagross, Pachirisu, Raichu, Rampardos, Talonflame, Tangela, Therian Thundurus
Mega Evolutions Usage
- 5 Salamence
- 3 Kangaskhan
- 2 Blastoise, Gardevoir, Venusaur
- 1 Abomasnow, Blaziken, Charizard X, Mawile, Metagross, Scizor
Common Pokémon Data
Heatran
- Ability:
8 Flash Fire - Nature:
7 Modest
1 Bold - Item:
3 Leftovers
3 Shuca Berry
2 Life Orb - Moves:
8 Protect
7 Earth Power
7 Heat Wave
6 Substitute
1 Flamethrower
1 Flash Cannon
1 Hidden Power (Ice)
1 Overheat
Therian Landorus
- Ability:
6 Intimidate - Nature:
5 Jolly
1 Adamant - Item:
2 Assault Vest
1 Choice Band
1 Choice Scarf
1 Focus Sash
1 Lum Berry - Moves:
6 Earthquake
6 Rock Slide
5 Superpower
2 Knock Off
2 U-turn
1 Earth Power
1 Iron Head
1 Protect
Salamence
- Ability:
5 Intimidate - Nature:
2 Adamant
2 Jolly
1 Hasty - Item:
5 Salamencite - Moves:
5 Protect
4 Double-Edge
3 Dragon Dance
3 Earthquake
1 Frustration
1 Hyper Voice
1 Rock Slide
1 Roost
1 Round
Suicune
- Ability:
5 Pressure - Nature:
5 Bold - Item:
3 Sitrus Berry
2 Leftovers - Moves:
5 Scald
5 Tailwind
4 Ice Beam
3 Protect
2 Snarl
1 Icy Wind
Sylveon
- Ability:
5 Pixilate - Nature:
4 Modest
1 Quiet - Item:
2 Choice Specs
1 Choice Scarf
1 Life Orb
1 Pixie Plate - Moves:
5 Hyper Voice
4 Shadow Ball
3 Psyshock
2 Hyper Beam
2 Protect
1 Hidden Power (Ground)
1 Round
1 Moonblast
1 Sleep Talk
Cresselia
- Ability:
4 Levitate - Nature:
3 Bold
1 Relaxed - Item:
2 Leftovers
1 Rocky Helmet
1 Sitrus Berry - Moves:
3 Helping Hand
3 Psychic
3 Trick Room
2 Ice Beam
2 Icy Wind
1 Calm Mind
1 Moonlight
1 Psyshock
Analysis and Notable Facts
- The most popular individual Pokémon are clearly visible. There is no (bulky and attacking) Electric type among them because people are favoring strongly varying ones for that role, but added up they are outnumbering the Heatrans.
- Gengar and Aegislash were completely absent. Gengar is somewhat surprising, because that one was actually common at some point before. Aegislash has always been rare and that actually is really strange: We have the illustrious Salamence/Gardevoir metagame here, that'd be the perfect place for Aegislash to thrive.
- Speaking of Salamence and Gardevoir: the semifinals were a Salamence mirror match and a Gardevoir mirror match. Both Gardevoirs that were used in the whole tournament made top cut. This was also the first ORAS Premier Challenge in Berlin that was not won by Mega Salamence, ending a 6-win streak and at the same time building up a running 2-win streak for Mega Gardevoir.
- Greninja is another Trainers' favorite that surprisingly was completely absent this time. (But looking at what I personally faced in my Swiss run...I kinda longed for the Greninjas, as they at least were proper builds and not totally random stuff, haha.)
- Out of the three Kangaskhans used this time, two had Façade. Some people really want to see the world burn, if you know what I mean... ツ I think it's clear how they performed in this tournament where Will-O-Wisp wasn't even popular. At least use a real STAB next time for better results, friends!
- It's really not safe to assume a lot moveset-wise. You're seeing a few rogue picks (some good, some bad) in the details listed for the common Pokémon, but it naturally doesn't stop at them. They're out to troll you hard, beware.
Unique Pokémon per Team
If this can be a recurring thing remains to be seen, but the picture of this one tournament was painted a lot by individual niche picks to support the known metagame mainstays (or, you know, the other way around). I wanted to look deeper into that, so here's some numbers:
- no unique Pokémon in team: 5 Trainers (2 in top cut)
- 1 unique Pokémon in team: 7 Trainers (1 in top cut)
- 2 unique Pokémon in team: 3 Trainers
- 3 unique Pokémon in team: 1 Trainer (1 in top cut)
- 5 unique Pokémon in team: 1
(Have to say the the one with 5 uniques was, well, the probably worst team.) Now these numbers actually are slightly misleading, as the two without uniques actually are those who made it to the grand final. However, they both still at least have one Pokémon that was only used twice in the whole tournament, so multiple people liked the same not-so-straightforward picks independently from each other -- Gardevoir being the most striking example of this.
History: Mega Evolutions in Top 4
A fun thing to end it, all Megas that at some point got to the semifinals in this format and at this place. I reconstructed this straight from memory, so there may be a few Megas from potential double Mega teams missing. I counted results similar to how medal tables at the Olympic Games work, and in case of double Megas I just separated them from each other to add it all up.
| Mega Pokémon in: | T1 | T2 | T4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salamence | 6 | 4 | 3 |
| Gardevoir | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Kangaskhan | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| Charizard Y | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Blastoise | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Manectric | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Fun fact, 2 of the 6 winning Salamences have been used by Lajo, the others were used by 4 unique people. The 4 recorded Gardevoirs were used by 3 different people, with a win and a second place for Kintaro.
And that's it for now. Maybe we will have another PC before Nats, maybe not, we'll see. Anyway, Nats are less than 3 weeks away. See you there, at the latest!
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