The 2023 Pokémon World Championships showcased all kinds of Pokémon, from Paldea natives like Gholdengo to previous favorites like Amoonguss and the Legendary genies. However among the many tons of of various choices, two particular Pokémon outlined the entire Regulation D meta—Flutter Mane and Urshifu.
On Aug. 13, the brand new 2023 World Champion, Shohei Kimura, utilized each Flutter Mane and Speedy Strike Urshifu on his winning team in a really dominant finals match to shut out the event. This doesn’t come as a shock, given how constant Flutter Mane has been since its VGC debut earlier this 12 months and the way damaged Urshifu’s Unseen Fist capacity is.
To place it into perspective, 71.7 % of the competitors ran Flutter Mane at Worlds, making it the most-used Pokémon within the event. This was additionally the case on the North America and Europe International Championships in addition to numerous regionals all through Rules B and C. At this level, the Ghost/Fairy Paradox Pokémon appears unstoppable regardless of different Ghost Pokémon like Dragapult attempting to steal its spotlight.
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Not like Flutter Mane, Urshifu solely entered the Gen IX meta a month in the past with the Regulation D ruleset. Nonetheless, it didn’t take lengthy for its influence to be felt—Speedy Strike Urshifu was the second most-used Pokémon on day two of Worlds, tied with Iron Arms at 46.9 %. Its different type, Single Strike, was twelfth in utilization at 15 %, that means it was additionally a menace to be careful for. Each types come outfitted with the Unseen Fist capacity, which permits Urshifu to hit targets via Defend. Nonetheless, extra gamers opted to make use of the Speedy Strike type to higher match their group composition.
And despite the fact that the World Championships is perhaps over, Flutter Mane and Urshifu will proceed to dominate Regulation D on the upcoming regionals subsequent month earlier than we’re hit with a potential new format change in October.
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