Nov2
Catch up on all the action from Day 1 of the 2025 Pokémon Gdańsk Regional Championships VGC
This event uses the Regulation Set H ruleset. This format bans the use of any Restricted Legendary Pokémon such as Miraidon, as well as banning every other Legendary Pokémon such as Ogerpon and Urshifu, and Paradox Pokémon such as Flutter Mane or Iron Hands. This offers a drastic change from the 2024 Pokémon World Championships!
Notably, as advertised by the official Play Pokemon account on X, this is the final regional championship in the EU region before the 2025 Latin America International Championships later in the month.
Players Moving to Day 2
Over 400 players took part in Day 1 of the 2025 Gdansk Regionals. At the end of Day 1, the only players to have won all 8 games are 2-time International Champion Marco Silva and 2023 Worlds Finalist Michael Kelsch.
15 players managed a record of 7 wins and only 1 loss, including a handful featured in the livestreamed battles below.
Defending the title of Gdansk Regional Champion was Oliver Eskolin, but they were unfortunately unable to make it into Day 2 this year. Other high-placing trainers from last year's tournament in Gdansk include 2018 EUIC Champion Simone Sanvito, 2-time International Champion Eric Rios, and 2022 Worlds Quarterfinalist Davide Carrer.
Most Popular Pokemon
With the Poison Touch ability and its signature attack Dire Claw giving a chance to poison, paralyze, or put the opponent to sleep, Sneasler can be a very frustrating opponent. Focus Sash helps with its underwhelming defenses, and Fake Out is a great option for both utility and priority. Some players instead choose to run the Unburden ability, doubling its Speed stat after it loses its item. This allows Sneasler to outspeed almost every Pokemon in the format.
Sneasler appears on a popular team composition featuring itself, Dragapult, Kingambit, Rillaboom, Primarina, and either Electabuzz or Magmar.
This Pokemon is always incredibly valuable on almost any team. Its ability Grassy Terrain allows it to support its team with healing, Grassy Glide allows for strong priority, and Wood Hammer deals very valuable amounts of damage. Fake Out is also a great utility move, as similarly demonstrated by Incineroar.
As mentioned above, Rillaboom is also a key member of a popular team composition featuring itself, Sneasler, Dragapult, Kingambit, Primarina, and either Electabuzz or Magmar.
Another commonly high-placing Pokemon, Gholdengo is very straight-forward. Its ability Good as Gold blocks strong status moves from Pokemon like Amoonguss, and its base Special Attack stat of 133 paired with a powerful spread move in Make It Rain. Steel and Ghost-type Pokemon also have a terrifying type combination with many resistances and immunities. With terastallization, Gholdengo can block damage from the few types that would otherwise be super-effective.
While very flexible, Gholdengo also features on a team used by Toler Webb to place in the Top 4 of the 2025 Baltimore Regionals. This team features itself, Flamigo, Incineroar, Amoonguss, Ursaluna, and Porygon2.
Despite being a new Pokémon in Scarlet and Violet, Kingambit has more than proved how powerful it is. Its base Attack stat of 135 paired with a powerful offensive typing in the Dark and Steel-types along with a priority attack in Sucker Punch, not many can stand in its way. Its main weakness is clearly its 4x weakness to Fighting-type attacks, but terastallization can often fix this problem.
As mentioned above, Kingambit appears on a popular team composition featuring itself, Sneasler, Dragapult, Rillaboom, Primarina, and either Electabuzz or Magmar.
Despite some players doubting its potential in Regulation Set H, Incineroar proved itself in a handful of tournaments by appearing on many high-level trainers' teams. With Intimidate, Parting Shot, and Will-O-Wisp, it can severely weaken opposing Pokemon, and can disrupt its opponents with Fake Out.
Incineroar is another very flexible Pokemon, proving its dominance by winning the 2025 Baltimore, Joinville, and Louisville Regionals as well as the 2025 Lima Special Event.
With Incineroar being less of a threat, Dragonite has more of an option to use the Multiscale ability to increase its bulk. Some players such as Paul Chua have been running a Tera Flying set to deal surprising amounts of damage with a Flying-type Tera Blast. On the other hand, a few players choose a classic Tera Normal set with Choice Band to deal even more damage with the priority attack Extreme Speed.
Dragonite is a very popular Pokemon on "Double Dragon" teams, which are rather self-explanatory. It is often paired with Garchomp, another powerful and hard-hitting Dragon-type pseudo-legendary Pokemon.
Streamed Battles
Mattie Morgan's team seems to be inspired by Toler Webb's team they used to place in the Top 4 of the 2025 Baltimore Regionals, using Gholdengo as a heavy-hitter, and Incineroar, Amoonguss, and Porygon2 as more supportive Pokemon. The team is finished off with Sneasler, an incredibly common pick in Regulation Set H thanks to its signature move Dire Claw threatening three different status conditions, as well as Dondozo. The latter is slowly picking up popularity as players figure out how best to use its great bulk without needing Tatsugiri as its partner.
Joan Garcia seems to be bringing back their Top 4 team from the recent 2025 Lille Regionals, most notably featuring a niche pick in Baxcalibur. With the Loaded Dice, it can guarantee that it hits at least four times with Icicle Spear and Scale Shot, and Ice Shard provides incredibly useful priority. The other Pokemon on the team include Dondozo, who we discussed above, as well as Sneasler, Volcarona, Rillaboom, and Kingambit.
Garcia's Baxcalibur seems to be in a good spot. As a Dragon-type, it resists Water-type attacks from Dondozo, can terastallize into the Ghost-type to avoid damage from Sneasler, and gains an Attack boost if Incineroar hits it with Flare Blitz thanks to its ability Thermal Exchange. This team also has good answers for Gholdengo, who is threatened by priority attacks from Kingambit, and Amoonguss, whose powder moves are blocked by both Rillaboom and Kingambit and is weak to super-effective hits from both Baxcalibur and Volcarona.
The first game is won by Joan Garcia, followed by him taking another victory in the next game, being able to win the second game without losing a single Pokemon.
Using a different team from the recent 2025 Dortmund Regionals, Miraglia uses an uncommon Pokemon in Bloodmoon Ursaluna, boosting its Special Defense with the Assault Vest. While most players decide to use the Life Orb to boost its already outstanding damage, a handful instead use the Assault Vest, allowing it to make the most of the wide range of moves it can learn, most notably its signature move Blood Moon and a very uncommon priority attack in Vacuum Wave. This team is supported with heavy-hitters in Gholdengo, Dragonite, and Annihilape, and utility Pokemon in Magmar and Alolan Ninetales. Notably, the Magmar has the Flame Body ability instead of the more popular choice of Vital Spirit, which is a great matchup into Amoonguss since it becomes unable to be put to sleep. The Alolan Ninetales is also a much more supportive set than seen previously in Regulation Set H, with the Light Clay item allowing it to set up Aurora Veil for eight turns, greatly reducing the amount of damage its team takes.
On the other side of the battle, Ubaghs opts for a classic "Dragapult Balance" team, featuring Choice Band Dragapult and Kingambit as powerful attackers, Sneasler, Primarina, and Rillaboom as strong Pokemon with great utility, and Magmar as the team's support. As opposed to Miraglia's team, this Magmar is using the Vital Spirit ability.
Despite their Alolan Ninetales immediately being put to sleep by the opposing Sneasler in the very first round, both the first and second games are won by Davide Miraglia, with their opponent struggling to deal enough damage through the Aurora Veil.
Sanvito opts for a Double Dragon team, but not in a very conventional manner. While these team compositions favour Garchomp or Hydreigon alongside Dragonite, this team instead uses Kommo-o. With the Throat Spray item, Kommo-o can use Clangorous Soul to raise all of its stats by one stage in return for a third of its maximum health, and then raise its Special Attack one stage further. Grimmsnarl also appears on this team, providing this already very bulky Pokemon with even more support from Spirit Break, Light Screen, and Reflect. The final Pokemon on this team are Gholdengo, Volcarona, Dragonite, and an Assault Vest Bloodmoon Ursaluna, as discussed in the previous game.
Nielsen uses a relatively unpopular team composition with the combination of Dondozo and Tatsugiri. The latter's signature ability, Commander, allows it to jump into its teammate Dondozo's mouth when they're on the battlefield together, giving it two boosts to all of its stats, but renders itself unable to attack or switch out. An interesting core on this team is also centered around the male Indeedee, who can set Psychic Terrain with its ability, and then fire off devastating attacks like Expanding Force, potentially boosted further by its Psychic Tera Type. The Psychic Terrain also activates Sneasler's Psychic Seed item, giving it a boost to its Special Defense but also activating its ability Unburden, doubling its Speed. This team has even more speed control in Trick Room as an option on Indeedee as well as priority Tailwind on Talonflame. The Psychic Terrain helps to block priority, giving more support to the Pokemon that benefit from this speed control that lack their own priority, like Dondozo and Bloodmoon Ursaluna.
While Nielsen's Dondozo can quickly become threatening with its stat boosts, they have to play around Sanvito's Dragonite carefully, since it carries the move Haze which can reset every stat change on the field, leaving Dondozo incredibly vulnerable without having the option to switch out or for any of its allies to help it.
Both games are decisively won by Nikolaj Høj Nielsen, with the first game being characterized by the insane amounts of damage from the Bloodmoon Ursaluna boosted by its Life Orb and Normal-type Terastallization paired with its incredible staying power and bulk, despite the lack of an item like Assault Vest to boost its Special Defense.
Eskolin is using a team core once again reminiscent of Toler Webb's Top 4 team from the 2025 Baltimore Regionals, featuring Gholdengo, Porygon2, and Ursaluna. This team uses heavy-hitters in an unusual Choice Scarf Gholdengo set as well as a more popular Loaded Dice Dragonite set and Safety Goggles Annihilape. The final Pokemon is Vivillon, which has picked up usage in Regulation Set H thanks to its utility moves, such as Rage Powder and Sleep Powder, having their accuracy boosted by its ability Compound Eyes.
Silva has a similar Trick Room core with Porygon2 and Ursaluna, but also features an incredibly interesting pick in Charizard, with its Choice Specs and Solar Power ability allowing it to deal insane amounts of damage with its Fire-type attacks in the sun, set up by either Jumpluff or Torkoal. Alongside Trick Room, this team also has even more speed control with Jumpluff having the option to use Tailwind.
Notably, Eskolin's team doesn't seem to have much of an answer to Silva's Charizard. Although Dragonite resists the Fire-type attacks, the sheer amount of damage means it doesn't want to take the hits either way.
The first game opens with Silva losing their first two Pokemon very early in the game, being left with Ursaluna and Porygon2. This leads to Oliver Eskolin winning the first game, although their lead is mirrored in the next game, losing all of their Pokemon to Silva's Jumpluff and Charizard. However, the round is ultimately won by Marco Silva, dealing large amounts of damage with their Charizard and hitting important Sleep Powder with their Jumpluff.
Kwiatkowski uses a powerful Fire-Water-Grass defensive core, with Magmar, Basculegion, and Rillaboom. Other popular choices appear, like Sneasler and Kingambit, as well as a notable Alolan Ninetales holding a Never-Melt Ice instead of the more common options of Choice Specs or Light Clay. As mentioned earlier, the team features even more heavy-hitters with Rillaboom and Sneasler threatening both damage and important utility, and the Basculegion with the Choice Scarf dealing insane amounts of damage with its ability Adaptability boosting its STAB, and the move Last Respects allowing it to join the battle later in the game and threaten quick knockouts.
Kaiser, on the other hand, uses a slightly niche Glimmora pick with the Power Herb item to activate Meteor Beam in one turn. The powerful Dondozo and Tatsugiri core appears as well, giving their team an option for a powerful and quick set-up.
The Dondozo, even through the Defense boosts given to it by Tatsugiri, is heavily threatened by the sheer damage output that the opposing team threatens.
Kaiser plays the first game well, using the threatening power of their Tera Steel Dondozo effectively, but is threatened by the sheer power of the opposing Basculegion, giving Kwiatkowski the first win. The second round plays in a similar manner, with Dondozo getting threatened quickly by a critical hit from Kingambit. This lets Michal Kwiatkowski win the round.
Stefanczyk is using a team featuring Charizard and Jumpluff, similar to Marco Silva's team seen earlier in Swiss Round 5. To recap, Jumpluff has a variety of support options with Rage Powder, Sleep Powder, Tailwind, and Sunny Day, all allowing Charizard to deal insane amounts of damage with Fire-type attacks boosted by the harsh sunlight, its ability Solar Power, and the Choice Specs held item. This team also features an interesting Trick Room core with Porygon2 and Ursaluna, allowing for another good form of speed control if the opposing team threatens the Charizard or Jumpluff. The final two Pokemon are Torkoal, allowing for a quicker and safer option to set up the harsh sunlight, and Incineroar to deal damage and provide great utility.
On the other end of the battle, Farzan is using a fairly standard Dragapult Balance team, featuring Dragapult and Kingambit as powerful attackers, Sneasler, Primarina, and Rillaboom as strong Pokemon with great utility, and Magmar as the team's support. As the more common ability, this Magmar is using the Vital Spirit ability.
Stefanczyk's main weakness here is that they don't have immediate options to defeat Charizard. Dragapult resists Fire-type attacks, but has such little bulk that it likely can't take a hit from Charizard. Similarly, Primarina resists these attacks, but still doesn't want to take too many hits. The best counter is Farzan's Magmar, but of course, it can't redirect spread moves if Charizard decides to use those.
Stefanczyk wins the first game with the insane damage output of the Charizard, but follows it up in the second round by showcasing the power of Ursaluna supported by Trick Room. This combination allows them to win the round.
Offering a drastic change from their victory at the 2025 Lille Regionals, most notably bringing a Throat Spray Kommo-o, reminiscent of Simone Sanvito's team from Swiss Round 4. This team opts for strong offensive Pokemon with Gholdengo, utility Pokemon with powerful attacks in Rillaboom and Sneasler, as well as interesting support picks in Talonflame and Maushold.
Calderari goes for a powerful sandstorm core on their team, with Tyranitar setting up this weather condition with the Sand Stream ability. The Assault Vest paired with the sandstorm dramatically increases its Special Defense, making it very difficult to remove. Both Garchomp and Gholdengo, both incredibly powerful Pokemon, will greatly appreciate not having to take chip damage from the sandstorm. As for supportive Pokemon, the team is completed by Amoonguss, Incineroar, and Talonflame.
Nils Dunlop is eventually defeated in both games, giving Ranieri Calderari the win, and allowing them to make their way to Day 2!
Make sure to return tomorrow to see Bulbagarden's coverage of Day 2 of the 2025 Pokémon Gdansk Regional Championships!
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