Nov15
Day 1 VGC coverage of the 2025 Pokémon Latin America International Championships
Notable Players
Having already proved their experience in Pokemon battling, it's worth keeping an eye on the winners of previous years' Latin America Internationals. Ashton Cox won two of these tournaments in 2017 and 2019 in Generation 7, beating Javier Señorena, who is unfortunately not participating this year, and 4-time Regional Champion James Baek in the Finals respectively. Baek would then go on to win LAIC 2020, beating 2023 Santiago Regional Champion Javier Valdes. LAIC 2018 was won by Carson Confer, another player not returning for this year's tournament, beating 2018 Hartford Regional Champion Alberto Lara in the Finals. Lastly, the most recent Latin America Internationals in the 2024 season was won by 2-time International Champion Marco Silva, who notably has placed 2nd in the 2025 Gdansk Regionals recently.
For more International Champions and Finalists returning this year, Nico Davide Cognetta is participating, having reached the Finals of 2017 Oceania International Championships, or OCIC for short. 2018 NAIC Finalist Justin Burns, 2019 OCIC Champion Eduardo Cunha, 2022 EUIC Champion Eric Rios, 2022 EUIC Finalist and 2018 OCIC Senior Champion Oliver Eskolin, 2022 NAIC Finalist Gabriel Agati, 2023 NAIC Champion Alex Gomez Berna, and 2024 NAIC Champion Patrick Connors are all even more players participating in this event.
At the end of Day 1, the only players to have not lost a single battle are 2022 EUIC Champion Eric Rios and 2-time International Champion Ashton Cox. 14 players managed the impressive achievement of only losing one battle, including 2-time International Champion Marco Silva.
Most Used 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. Some players have also started to experiment with a set using the Loaded Dice item, guaranteeing that Bullet Seed hits at least four times.
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 features prominently 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.
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.
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.
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.
Streamed Battles
The first battle seen in the official livestream is between 2020 LAIC Champion James Baek and 2024 NAIC Champion Patrick Connors.
Baek's team features a common team core in Maushold and Annihilape. The former uses Beat Up to hit its teammate Annihilape four times, boosting the damage of its signature move Rage Fist, bringing it up to a base power of 250. Maushold also has a useful ability in Friend Guard, reducing the damage its teammate takes while allowing it to use powerful support moves like Super Fang or Follow Me. More utility is on this team, with Talonflame being able to set up Tailwind, and Rillaboom activating Grassy Terrain with its Grassy Surge ability. The team is rounded out by powerful special attackers in Life Orb Gholdengo and Choice Specs Hydreigon.
The combination of Maushold and Annihilape, known as "MausApe", is yet to win a major tournament in Regulation Set H. A less common choice in Baek's Hydreigon holding the Choice Specs has also only won a single tournament in the 2025 season, being used by Davide Miraglia to win the 2025 Dortmund Regionals.
Connors uses a well-known rain core, with Pelipper, Archaludon, and Basculegion. Pelipper sets up the rain with its ability Drizzle, boosting the damage of Weather Ball and the accuracy of Hurricane, Archaludon gets to use its signature attack Electro Shot in one turn instead of two in the rain, and Basculegion having its Water-type damage boosted by the rain as well. It also has the ability Swift Swim, doubling its Speed in the rain. While many Basculegion sets prefer Choice Scarf or Choice Band, this Basculegion is holding the Life Orb, boosting its damage while still allowing it to choose multiple different moves and use Protect. The team is rounded out by powerful Pokemon, having an incredibly valuable mix of utility and offense with Rillaboom, Incineroar, and Sneasler, with all three running the move Fake Out.
The powerful rain core that Connors uses is very well-known, but seems to have dropped in popularity since the beginning of Regulation Set H. It's still not to be underestimated, however, having won the 2025 Baltimore and Gdansk Regionals, piloted by Nicholas Morales and Federico Camporesi respectively.
Both games are won by Patrick Connors, giving them their first win.
Baek's team features a common team core in Maushold and Annihilape. The former uses Beat Up to hit its teammate Annihilape four times, boosting the damage of its signature move Rage Fist, bringing it up to a base power of 250. Maushold also has a useful ability in Friend Guard, reducing the damage its teammate takes while allowing it to use powerful support moves like Super Fang or Follow Me. More utility is on this team, with Talonflame being able to set up Tailwind, and Rillaboom activating Grassy Terrain with its Grassy Surge ability. The team is rounded out by powerful special attackers in Life Orb Gholdengo and Choice Specs Hydreigon.
The combination of Maushold and Annihilape, known as "MausApe", is yet to win a major tournament in Regulation Set H. A less common choice in Baek's Hydreigon holding the Choice Specs has also only won a single tournament in the 2025 season, being used by Davide Miraglia to win the 2025 Dortmund Regionals.
Connors uses a well-known rain core, with Pelipper, Archaludon, and Basculegion. Pelipper sets up the rain with its ability Drizzle, boosting the damage of Weather Ball and the accuracy of Hurricane, Archaludon gets to use its signature attack Electro Shot in one turn instead of two in the rain, and Basculegion having its Water-type damage boosted by the rain as well. It also has the ability Swift Swim, doubling its Speed in the rain. While many Basculegion sets prefer Choice Scarf or Choice Band, this Basculegion is holding the Life Orb, boosting its damage while still allowing it to choose multiple different moves and use Protect. The team is rounded out by powerful Pokemon, having an incredibly valuable mix of utility and offense with Rillaboom, Incineroar, and Sneasler, with all three running the move Fake Out.
The powerful rain core that Connors uses is very well-known, but seems to have dropped in popularity since the beginning of Regulation Set H. It's still not to be underestimated, however, having won the 2025 Baltimore and Gdansk Regionals, piloted by Nicholas Morales and Federico Camporesi respectively.
Both games are won by Patrick Connors, giving them their first win.
Fialdini opts for a fairly standard and reliable team composition featuring heavy-hitters in Kingambit, Dragonite, and Volcarona, followed by utility Pokemon with powerful offensive roles in Sneasler and Rillaboom, followed by a popular support Pokemon in Electabuzz.
Volcarona's place on this team composition was seemingly first noticed by Kyle Livinghouse, finishing at the Top 16 of the 2025 Baltimore Regionals by modifying the standard "Dragapult Balance" composition by adding Volcarona and Glimmora. Collin Heier would go on to use a similar composition to place in the Top 8 of the Louisville Regionals, notably bringing Dondozo to the team, followed by Joan Garcia bringing a similar team to place in the Top 4 of the Lille Regionals, and Paul Hinta and Hsuan-Chih Kuo similarly placing in the Top 4 of the 2025 Gdansk Regionals.
With the team reflecting many members of the opposing team, Salerno has chosen Pokemon similar to Fialdini's. With Rillaboom and Sneasler providing a mix of utility and offense next to Volcarona and Dragonite having the potential to overwhelm their opponents with pure damage output, Salerno's team is characterized by the addition of Incineroar, a common Pokemon used for its utility, and Gastrodon. The latter uses its Storm Drain ability to protect its team from Water-type attacks, and can use Yawn to force its target to switch out in fear of being put to sleep.
The game closes out with Salerno's victory, moving them on to an overall score of 2 wins and 0 losses.
Vieira's team features a powerful rain core seen earlier, in the battle between James Baek and Patrick Connors. As mentioned before, Pelipper sets up the rain with its ability Drizzle, Archaludon makes the most of this by using Electro Shot, a two-turn move that instead activates in one turn in the rain, and Basculegion has its powerful Water-type attacks boosted further in the rain. This Basculegion is also holding the Choice Band item, allowing it to deal even more amounts of damage. This team also features a less popular team core in Archaludon and Sinistcha. The former can become very difficult to take care of with Defense boosts from its ability Stamina, and Sinistcha can use its signature ability Hospitality and the move Life Dew to quickly restore the small amounts of damage that Archaludon takes, allowing it to stay around for much longer. It also has the option of using Trick Room to reverse the speed of the battle, enabling the final Pokemon of the team, Ursaluna, to deal large amounts of damage with Facade and Headlong Rush, boosted by its ability Guts.
In Regulation Set H, Sinistcha is most often seen as part of a strong team composition with itself, Archaludon, Pelipper, Maushold, and Annihilape. This strategy features two main offensive Pokemon in Archaludon and Annihilape who can both be made more powerful if their Maushold hits them with Beat Up. Annihilape gains more power to its signature move Rage Fist, and Archaludon gets Defense boosts from Stamina. From there, Annihilape can use Bulk Up to boost its Defense, Pelipper can support Archaludon with the rain, and Sinistcha can heal the team with Hospitality and Life Dew. Ethan Mattos used this team to finish in the Top 16 of the 2025 Baltimore Regionals, finishing the team off with Grimmsnarl to boost the team's bulk with Reflect and Light Screen, followed by the team placing in the Top 8 of the 2025 Dortmund Regionals thanks to Fevzi Ozkan.
Nain's team features two similar rain and Trick Room cores, with Pelipper and Archaludon alongside Ursaluna and Porygon2. The latter is one of the most popular choices for a Trick Room user in Regulation Set H thanks to its amazing defenses while it holds the Eviolite item. If it manages to lose too much health, it can also heal with Recover if it's not targeted cleverly. The final two Pokemon are Incineroar, providing utility with Knock Off, Parting Shot, Fake Out, and Will-O-Wisp, next to a popular supportive choice in Amoonguss.
The combination of Porygon2 and Ursaluna is often referred to in online communities as "P2 Ursaluna". This strategy was first seen in Regulation Set H in the 2025 Baltimore Regionals, with Dawei Si and Toler Webb both using these Pokemon to place in the Top 4. This was followed up with many impressive placements throughout the next tournaments, finished with a 2nd place finish in the 2025 Gdansk Regionals, used by 2-time International Champion Marco Silva.
The game was won by Victor Vieira, moving them on to an overall score of 3 wins and 0 losses.
The featured battle in Swiss Round 4 takes place between 2018 World Champion Paul Ruiz and Francesco Pio Pero, a trainer with many high placements in unofficial tournaments.
Ruiz uses a team composition described in detail above, featuring Maushold and Sinistcha as Pokemon intended to support Annihilape and Archaludon, followed by Pelipper setting up the rain to support both Archaludon, Basculegion, and notably removing Sinistcha's weakness to Fire-type attacks. This strategy often results in the team featuring one incredibly powerful and buffed Pokemon, typically Archaludon or Annihilape, given many stat boosts in Defense and their respective attacking stat. Maushold then adds extra bulk with its ability Friend Guard, and Sinistcha heals these bulky Pokemon, making them much more difficult to remove from the battlefield.
Pero's team features a similar rain core in Archaludon, Pelipper, and Basculegion, followed up by Amoonguss as a supportive Pokemon, Incineroar as a strong attacker with great utility, and Gholdengo as a powerful set-up option. Luckily for their opponent, Pero's team lacks the move Clear Smog on Amoonguss, allowing Annihilape and Archaludon, if the latter terastallizes, to set-up without the risk of their boosts being removed. Notably, however, this team's Incineroar features the move Taunt over a more popular option like Will-O-Wisp or Flare Blitz. In front of Annihilape, this allows Incineroar to block it from using status moves like Bulk Up, as well as blocking useful status moves like Follow Me from Maushold, or Rage Powder and Life Dew from Sinistcha.
The specific choice of Taunt on Incineroar is quite unexplored in Regulation Set H. It seems to do well on rain teams, with Longyu Lin's team additionally featuring Archaludon, Basculegion, and Pelipper, finishing in the Top 32 of the 2025 Dortmund Regionals.
The battle is overall quite back-and-forth, but ultimately results in Paul Ruiz winning, moving on to a total of 4 wins and 0 losses.
The featured battle of Swiss Round 5 takes place between 2-time International Champion Ashton Cox and 2-time Regional Champion Renzo Navarro.
Featuring common Pokemon in Gholdengo, Sneasler, Rillaboom, and Electabuzz, Cox's team most notably features niche picks in Kommo-o and Dondozo. As a very bulky Pokemon, the latter can use its ability Unaware to ignore the opponents' stat boosts, utilising this staying power with moves like Fissure and Yawn. On the other hand, Kommo-o relies quite heavily on its set-up. Its signature move Clangorous Soul boosts all of its stats by one stage at a cost of one third of its maximum HP, but it also activates its held item, the Throat Spray, giving it an additional boost to its Special Attack. The set is rounded out with attacks in Clanging Scales and Flamethrower, as well as the option of using Protect.
Kommo-o isn't an extremely uncommon Pokemon, but it has failed to pick up many high placements in Regulation Set H. Jack Clarke used it to finish in the Top 8 of the 2025 Dortmund Regionals alongside niche picks like Drifblim and Toxtricity. This was followed up by two Top 16 placements in the 2025 Louisville Regionals, but Baxcalibur would then struggle to break through the Top 64 of the remaining two Regulation Set H tournaments, with only Simone Sanvito achieving this, placing in the Top 32 of the 2025 Gdansk Regionals.
As another team featuring common choices of Pokemon, Navarro's choices of Baxcalibur and a Basculegion without rain stand out the most. With the Loaded Dice, Baxcalibur is guaranteed to hit at least four times with bost Icicle Spear and Scale Shot, with the latter also boosting its Speed. Even without these boosts, however, it can use Ice Shard as a valuable priority attack against strong Pokemon with key weaknesses to Ice-type attacks, like Dragonite and Garchomp. The Basculegion uses a mostly standard set with the Choice Scarf boosting its Speed, the ability Adaptability boosting its Damage, using powerful attacks like Wave Crash and Last Respects. However, this Pokemon has the option of a Fairy-type Tera Blast instead of a more common choice in Aqua Jet.
Baxcalibur's strongest performances in Regulation Set H are a Top 4 placement in the 2025 Joinville Regionals used by Juan Salerno, a player featured in Swiss Round 2 as seen above, followed by Joan Garcia using it to place in the Top 4 of the Lille Regionals. In a similar fashion to Kommo-o, it struggles to perform well outside of these placements.
Brought to a third game in the best-of-three, Ashton Cox wins the battle, moving them on to a record of 5 wins and 0 losses.
Reyes is running a fairly standard team composition, featuring popular Pokemon like Electabuzz, Kingambit, Rillaboom, Sneasler, Volcarona, and Dragonite.
This team is identical to a team used by Victor Medina in the 2025 Gdansk Regionals, used to place in the Top 8. In turn, this team was seemingly inspired by Giovanni Piscitelli's Top 16 team from the Lille Regionals, with the only difference being Volcarona's held item. Piscitelli was defeated in their tournament by a rain team, featuring Archaludon, Pelipper, and Basculegion, used by Fabian Kuhl. Medina, on the other hand, was defeated in the Top 8 by Paul Hinta using a similar team composition, most notably featuring Maushold instead of Electabuzz.
Bezerra's team features many interesting choices, with Armarouge and a female Indeedee taking centre stage. The combination of these two Pokemon is known as "Psyspam" in online communities, due to the fact that Indeedee setting up Psychic Terrain with its ability allows Armarouge to use Expanding Force, which deals a lot of damage in Psychic Terrain. The team features a glaringly obvious Trick Room theme, with Farigiraf and Indeedee both having the move alongside a common Trick Room Pokemon in Torkoal. This Pokemon can also set up harsh sunlight with its ability Drought, boosting the damage of Armarouge's Heat Wave. The team is rounded out with a Choice Scarf Annihilape with the opportunity to use Final Gambit to knock its target out in one hit, and Snorlax. The latter has a very low base Speed stat of 30, allowing it to be a great Pokemon in Trick Room. The move Belly Drum halves its maximum HP, but also boosts its Attack stat by six stages. At half HP, its ability Gluttony activates its held Custap Berry, which gives its next attack priority. Getting to outspeed its opponents in Trick Room and retaliate with powerful attacks in Body Slam, Rock Slide, and Earthquake, Snorlax can quickly get out of hand if not respected.
Interestingly, Snorlax only has one major placement in Regulation Set H. Alongside niche picks in Paldean Tauros' Blaze Breed form, Sylveon, Scyther, and Meowscarada, Vijay Sood used Snorlax to place in the Top 64 of the 2025 Baltimore Regionals, although it used a completely different moveset to Bezerra's. This team also uses Farigiraf, a Pokemon that was an incredibly great Trick Room user in previous rulesets, but has struggled in Regulation Set H. Its highest placements are Top 16 finishes in the 2025 Baltimore, Dortmund, and Louisville Regionals, being used by Aaron Wegter, Lukas Kiefl, and Zachary Mnich respectively.
Being brought to a third game, the round concludes with Daniel Marcelo Reyes winning against the opposing team, moving them on to a total of 6 wins and 0 losses.
Swiss Round 7 features a battle between 2023 Santiago Regional Champion Javier Ponce and 2-time International Champion Marco Silva.
Ponce's team most notably features Kilowattrel, an uncommon yet useful Flying-type that can use Tailwind to support its teammates, and can be used to counter Pokemon with Intimidate thanks to its ability Competitive giving it two Special Attack boosts if any of its stats are lowered. Ursaluna also appreciates its presence as a Flying-type, making sure it doesn't get hit by its own Earthquake. Porygon2 also features on this team to create a P2 Ursaluna Trick Room core, giving the team a second form of speed control on top of Kilowattrel's Tailwind. The team is rounded out by Amoonguss, Incineroar, and Gholdengo.
Kilowattrel's highest placements are two Top 64 finishes from the 2025 Dortmund Regionals, used by Juan Borreguero and Yvar Vlieger. Other players would attempt to use it in following tournaments, but none broke through the Top 128. Although it seems disappointing, it's worth noting that none of these placements feature it on a team with a Trick Room mode, so this strategy is widely unexplored in official events.
Silva uses a team archetype slowly building in popularity, featuring one of Kanto's first partner Pokemon in Charizard. With its countless damage boosts from its Choice Specs, the harsh sunlight, its Choice Specs held item, and the option of Helping Hand on Torkoal, Charizard can very easily tear through most teams with Heat Wave, Overheat, and Weather Ball. As mentioned already, Torkoal also appears on this team, offering support with Helping Hand, and setting up the harsh sunlight with its ability Drought. Jumpluff provides support as another option to set up the harsh sunlight with Sunny Day, and also offers speed control in Tailwind and redirection in Rage Powder. Alongside Incineroar, the final two Pokemon are Ursaluna and Porygon2, meaning that both teams have a powerful Trick Room option.
Charizard's potential in Regulation Set H was first seen used by Francisco Trigo to get a Top 8 placement in the 2025 Lima Special Event, featuring other common picks in Torkoal and Ursaluna. This team then got two Top 32 placements in the 2025 Louisville and Lille Regionals, followed by Marco Silva picking up the strategy to reach the finals of the 2025 Gdansk Regionals, defeated by Federico Camporesi's rain team.
Both players make a valiant effort, moving the round on to a third game, but Marco Silva eventually takes the victory to move on to a record of 6 wins and only 1 loss.
Rios uses a fairly standard team composition seen throughout this tournament, with Dragonite and Gholdengo as the main offensive Pokemon, supported by Incineroar, Rillaboom, and Annihilape's utility as well as useful moves like Follow Me and Electroweb from Electabuzz. Despite Annihilape typically taking an offensive role, this set uses Coaching to boost the Attack and Defense of its teammate, resetting Dragonite's Defense drop from Scale Shot and generally supporting the physical attackers on the team, as well as Taunt to shut down opposing Pokemon with difficult status moves. This team also features an interesting strategy with Incineroar's item. While it typically prefers Safety Goggles to counter Amoonguss, a berry to restore its health, or rarely an Assault Vest to boost its Special Defense, this Incineroar uses the Mirror Herb item. This is mainly used to counter Pokemon with Defiant, like Annihilape and Kingambit, who gain two boosts to their Attack after having their stats dropped from Intimidate. With the Mirror Herb, Incineroar is able to copy this stat boost, threatening huge damage with Flare Blitz.
Mirror Herb has very rarely been seen on Incineroar, but is instead used on other Intimidate users, like both forms of Paldean Tauros. This Pokemon helped Cary D'Ortona to finish in the Top 8 of the 2025 Louisville Regionals, followed by Taran Birdee using it to finish in the Top 16 of the 2025 Gdansk Regionals.
Severen uses common Pokemon in Annihilape, Volcarona, and Dragonite, but also features an interesting core of Tatsugiri and Dondozo. The former's signature ability Commander allows it to jump inside of Dondozo's mouth, giving it two boosts to all of its stats. Tatsugiri is unable to be hit, but also can't use any move, and cannot switch out or be replaced by another Pokemon, leaving Dondozo incredibly exposed on the battlefield. The final Pokemon on the team is Archaludon, notably using a Power Herb set to activate Electro Shot in one turn outside of the rain. This also allows it to use its Sturdy ability to ensure it survives at least one attack. Although it more commonly uses the Assault Vest, the Power Herb allows it to use Protect to stay around for a bit longer.
The combination of Tatsugiri and Dondozo is quite controversial for some trainers, but still has the results to prove its power. Lorenzo Arce used the duo to place in the Top 8 of the 2025 Baltimore Regionals, followed by two Top 16 placements in the 2025 Louisville and Lille Regionals, and three Top 16 placements in the 2025 Gdansk Regionals alone, used by Ferdinand Krammer, Frederik Hoj Nielsen, and Alberto Noguerol.
Eric Rios ultimately wins this round, moving them on to an impressive record of 8 wins and 0 losses to close out Day 1 of the 2025 Latin America International Championships.
For coverage of Day 2 of the 2025 Latin America Internationals, as well as the finals on Championship Sunday, make sure to come back to Bulbapedia very soon!
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