To kick off the Pokémon Scarlet and Violet Latin America Worldwide Championships, held between Nov. 17 to 19, one Paradox Pokémon is lastly being acknowledged and utilized by extra professionals after underperforming for months since its VGC debut again in February.
Though Regulation E began off with a bang with The Teal Masks DLC’s Ogerpon main the best way, the aggressive meta has since shifted away from the cute Grass Legendary and now leans towards Dragon Pokémon. Amongst fan-favorite dragons like Salamence and Dragonite, it’s really Roaring Moon—Salamence’s Paradox counterpart—stealing the present at LAIC, the primary of the three large worldwide tournaments this VGC season. Roaring Moon is among the many prime 12 most-used Pokémon at LAIC, touchdown a spot on 18.2 p.c of groups on the occasion.
It may not be within the prime two like its fellow Paradox buddies Flutter Mane and Iron Arms, however Roaring Moon was featured in 5 of the 9 matches proven in the course of the Nov. 17 stream for day one of many event. In reality, three of these matches concerned a Roaring Moon mirror matchup, with each opponents having the Dragon/Darkish ‘mon on their groups.
This may increasingly come as a shock since Roaring Moon hasn’t been the most well-liked or frequent Pokémon within the VGC meta because it first turned authorized in Regulation B. Three rules later, Roaring Moon is now among the many most-used ‘mons at a global championship. So, what occurred? How did Roaring Moon go from zero to hero?
Pokémon professionals at LAIC are crediting and taking inspiration from prime gamers at Toronto Regionals, the place Dragon Pokémon were on the rise within the prime minimize. VGC veteran Paul Chua posted a tweet with a screenshot from LAIC’s second spherical of Swiss the place each opponents used the identical Roaring Moon workforce that earned him second place in Toronto.
Equally, former world champion Eduardo Cunha credited Toronto Regionals semifinalist Jamie Boyt for popularizing Roaring Moon with the Poison Tera Sort. “It actually allowed us to all see how Roaring Moon is usually a actually good Tailwind person and never want that a lot Assault so long as it has Knock Off or Breaking Swipe,” Cunha stated in an interview after successful his spherical six stream match.
In different phrases, somewhat than utilizing the Paradox dragon as a pure offensive risk, gamers are utilizing it extra as a help ‘mon with pace management, merchandise elimination, and a approach to decrease foes’ Assault.
Two regional champions, Joseph Ugarte and Justin Tang, additionally identified how the return of 1 fashionable TM in The Teal Masks has been a game-changer for Roaring Moon. “The addition of Knock Off is a big buff and is so related on this metagame the place objects play such an enormous position,” Ugarte stated within the VGC Preview Roundtable forward of LAIC.
We’ve already seen a variety of Roaring Moon all through day one among LAIC, but it surely’ll be fascinating to see what number of present up on day two and if one can win the entire occasion.
