The Most Used Pokémon In Esports Competitions As Of Generation 9

Although the Pokémon franchise managed to maintain a firm grip on the world in the 90s, nobody expected these games to still be a huge draw for gamers over thirty years later. With the recent release of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, the video game franchise from Game Freak is on people’s minds once more. However, fans aren’t just playing these games on their Nintendo Switches at home. They are also taking their best teams to esports competitions around the world.

The biggest annual Pokémon tournaments include the Pokémon Unite seasonal events, Pokémon Presents, and the TEC Community Cup. Anyone can have a go at one of these events, you just have to bring the right Pokémon. So, has the recent release of generation nine changed the Pokémon tournament meta? Let’s find out by looking at some of the most used Pokémon in recent esports competitions.

Iron Bundle

The recent additions to the Pokémon canon decided to bring paradox forms to the lore. These odd-looking variations of previous Pokémon designs are Pokémon pulled from the distant past or future with the stats of pseudo-legendary Pokémon. Since Delibird is a generation two Pokémon without a lot of fans, no one expected much when it was announced that the Santa-themed bird would be receiving one of the paradox forms in the form of Iron Bundle.

Old Delibird never saw much use in competitive play because it could only learn one move, present. Now, you can use Delibird to full-effect with a full move set which can include both protect and hydro pump. Since Iron Bundle is also a water type, this highly powerful hydro pump will also come with the same type attack bonus. It also earns points among players for its high speed stat.

Amoonguss

The generation five grass/poison type, Amoonguss, has never won any points with fans for its looks. This Poke ball mushroom is often found on people’s lists of the worst Pokémon designs of all time and for good reason. However, players cannot doubt the ability of this thing in battle.

Amoonguss is another Pokémon that can now benefit from a diverse move set in generation nine. Amoonguss can use a substitute and haze to stall out any opponents that want to try and raise their stats while Amoonguss is busy wasting turns. This Pokémon is also one of the only creatures in the game with access to Spore. This means that you can easily put your opponent’s entire team to sleep as you slowly whittle them down with your poison-type attacks.

Murkrow

It may seem odd to see a pre-evolved dark type on this list, but that is exactly where Murkrow has found itself in the tournament scene as of generation nine. Back in generation two, players rarely saw any point in catching this single stage flying/dark type. However, Murkrow saw a lot more love when it received a new evolution, Honchkrow, in generation 4.

Still, a new evolution was hardly reason to bring Murkrow to a competitive esports tournament. However, anyone unfortunate enough to have run into Murkrow during their time playing the new games knows that this is no longer a Pokémon you should mess with. Murkrow now gets the prankster ability, which automatically means that all its moves now get priority over the opponent. A competitive player with the right team and mindset will instantly know exactly how to use this new ability and turn it into a win.

Garchomp

The ground/dragon type and Cynthia’s ace, Garchomp, has been a staple of the competitive Pokémon meta since its debut, and that isn’t going to change with the release of generation nine. Anyone familiar with competitive Pokémon tournaments will expect to see Garchomp as much as football teams expect to see the New England Patriots represented as a threat to teams in the latest NFL odds. Garchomp is a Pokémon that just appears on a player’s team automatically, regardless of long you have been playing the game.

Another Pokémon with a pseudo-legendary stat block, Garchomp can use both earthquake and stealth rock. This means that you can use it as your set-up Pokémon or your sweeper depending on what else you plan in using. Garchomp also has access to a series of dragon-type moves. As such, you can use it as a counter to any other dragon types that often appear in esports tournaments. You may have to use it to take out other opponents’ Garchomp, for example.

Summary

You can always expect the Pokémon competitive meta to change whenever a new generation of games is released. This means that competitive players have to investigate this change every three years or so. However, there are always some great Pokémon that still get to make their mark in the esports scene long after their debut has passed.