Top Teams from the 2025 Pokémon Buenos Aires Special Event - Javier Nain defeats Juan Salerno to become the Champion

With a well-crafted team, Javier Nain has become the 2025 Buenos Aires Champion, securing their place at the 2025 Pokémon World Championships in Anaheim, California.

The Buenos Aires Special Event is the final Regional-level tournament to take place before next week's 2025 Latin America International Championships.

Standings
This tournament concluded with Javier Nain winning in the Finals, defeating 2019 OCIC Senior Champion Juan Salerno.

Javier Nain is a Chilean player, with their earlier achievements including a Top 128 placement in the 2024 Latin America Internationals, followed by a noticeable improvement in the 2024 Europe Internationals with a Top 64 placement around 5 months later. They followed this up with a Top 64 placement in the 2024 Orlando Regionals, and a Top 16 placement in the 2024 Sao Paulo Regionals. Their next Top 8 placement was during the 2024 Lima Special Event, ultimately losing to 2017 Buenos Aires Regional Champion Sebastian Escalante. Their next event was the 2025 Joinville Regionals, losing to Luiz Lima. With the 2025 Latin America Internationals happening next week, Javier Nain is certainly a player to keep an eye on if they participate.

Javier Nain's winning team features a strong rain core, which has previously been struggling in Regulation Set H with Pelipper and Archaludon having lower usage in tournaments as the format goes on. Pelipper sets up the rain with its ability Drizzle, making use of it with its attacks Weather Ball, turned into a Water-type attack and given a boost from the rain, and Hurricane, given perfect accuracy in the rain. Archaludon's signature move, Electro Shot, is activated in one turn instead of two when the rain is active, allowing it to quickly boost its Special Attack stat and become a huge threat. This team also features a Trick Room core, with Porygon2 having the option to reverse the speed order to benefit slower Pokemon on the team like Ursaluna and Amoonguss. The former uses powerful attacks like Facade and Headlong Rush boosted by its ability Guts to quickly dispatch many opponents alongside Porygon2 being incredibly difficult to defeat thanks to its great defenses and Eviolite held item. Amoonguss uses moves like Pollen Puff and Rage Powder to support its team, as well as Spore to shut down powerful opponents by putting them to sleep. This Amoonguss also uses the attack Clear Smog, which resets stat boosts on Pokemon that prefer to set-up with status moves, like Annihilape or Dondozo. The final Pokemon on the team is Incineroar, one of the most popular Pokemon in VGC. It ignores powder moves like Spore or Rage Powder with the Safety Goggles held item, allowing it to be incredibly disruptive with its ability Intimidate lowering its opponents' Attack stats and Fake Out being able to flinch an opponent. It can deal damage with Knock Off, which has the added effect of removing the target's item, counter physical attackers even further with Will-O-Wisp, and lower the Attack and Special Attack stats of its target while also switching out with Parting Shot, allowing it to switch back in later in the battle, activating Intimidate multiple times.

Juan Salerno's team, achieving an amazing 2nd place finish, features format staples like Sneasler and Incineroar as well as slightly more niche picks in Volcarona and Gastrodon. As one of the fastest Pokemon in the format, Sneasler is a great option for a user of the move Coaching to raise the Attack and Defense of its teammate, often a powerful physical attacker in Dragonite or Rillaboom. This allows the former to fire off powerful attacks in Scale Shot, which raises its Speed and lowers its Defense, without losing any of its bulk, and allows Rillaboom to fire off powerful Grass-type attacks like Grassy Glide and Wood Hammer without taking too much damage from opposing physical attackers. This team has even more options for Pokemon setting up with stat boosts thanks to Volcarona having access to Quiver Dance, often referred to as one of the most powerful set-up moves in the game. This move raises the user's Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed stats, quickly allowing them to become incredibly powerful if the opposing team doesn't have a strong physical attacker that can deal with it. With the Fairy Tera Type, it can stay safe from otherwise super-effective attacks and fire off powerful attacks in Heat Wave and a Fairy-type Tera Blast. Incineroar features on this team as well, featuring a similar moveset to Nain's team but preferring the choice of Flare Blitz over Will-O-Wisp, and the final Pokemon on the team is the aforementioned Gastrodon. With Storm Drain, it defends its Fire-type teammates from super-effective Water-type attacks from popular Pokemon like Primarina, Pelipper, or Basculegion, and can fire off its own powerful attacks in Earth Power and Ice Beam. It also uses the status move Yawn to force the opponent to switch their Pokemon out, with the alternative being their Pokemon being put to sleep.

For coverage of future events, including the upcoming 2025 Pokemon Latin America International Championships, make sure to come back to Bulbagarden soon!