This event is extremely noteworthy due to it being the first official event using the brand new Regulation Set H ruleset. This new format bans the use of any Restricted Legendary Pokemon such as Miraidon, as well as banning every other Legendary Pokemon such as Ogerpon and Urshifu, and Paradox Pokemon such as Flutter Mane or Iron Hands. This offers a drastic change from last month's 2024 Pokémon World Championships!
Following from yesterday's shocking turn of events resulting in Pokemon such as Primarina, Sneasler, and Tyranitar entering the Top 12 most used Pokemon, today's rankings are quite similar, but with a few key changes.
With a powerful signature attack in Make It Rain and an amazing defensive in typing as a Steel and Ghost-type Pokemon, Gholdengo has already made many appearances in Day 1 of the Baltimore Regionals. The Pokemon features on the teams of successful players such as Jo Costagliola and Riley Factura, who both went undefeated in Day 1.
Rillaboom has always been a reliable Pokemon whenever it's been available in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's competitive scene. It featured on Justin Tang's team when playing against Christopher Han in Swiss Round 6, dealing large amounts of damage with well-timed attacks with Wood Hammer. It also appears on Riley Factura's team, as mentioned earlier, undefeated in Day 1.
A new player in Scarlet and Violet, Kingambit has proved time and time again that it is incredibly threatening. With the Black Glasses held item and STAB on Dark-type attacks, it can deal terrifying amounts of damage with its signature attack Kowtow Cleave, and can be made even scarier thanks to its access to the priority attack Sucker Punch. Notable players bringing Kingambit to Day 2 of the 2025 Baltimore Regionals include Bo Quel, Justin Tang, Zhe Zhang, James Evans, and Paul Chua among many others. These players all had 7 victories and only 1 loss throughout the first day.
This Pokemon has effectively been a huge threat since its introduction in Pokemon Black and White. With access to Spore to put enemies to sleep as well as Rage Powder and Pollen Puff to support its teammates, Amoonguss should never, ever be underestimated. It features on Jeremy Parson's team, as well as Paul Chua's and Christopher Han's.
Many players expected Incineroar to fall off in Regulation Set H, and while it's undeniable that it's not performing as well as it used to, it can still easily be a threat for unprepared teams. Incineroar can run Safety Goggles to become immune to Spore and Rage Powder from Amoonguss, or an Assault Vest to boost its Special Defense stat even further. Incineroar appears on both Jo Costagliola's and Riley Factura's teams, undefeated in Day 1.
With Hyper Voice boosted by its signature ability Liquid Voice, Primarina made many amazing performances in Day 1 of the 2025 Baltimore Regionals. Notably, its Hyper Voice attack hits through Substitute, which seems to be quite common on Ursaluna. Once again, Primarina appears on both Jo Costagliola's and Riley Factura's teams.
Although well-known for its shenanigans with its ability Unburden doubling its Speed stat when it loses its item, trainer Justin Tang has been using a Focus Sash Sneasler with the Poison Touch ability. Another high-ranking trainer running Sneasler is Collin Agarwal, winning 7 games in Day 1 with a more classic Unburden set. The ability gets triggered when Sneasler loses its item, so Agarwal uses the Grassy Seed with Rillaboom's Grassy Surge activating Grassy Terrain, giving Sneasler a Defense boost and activating Unburden.
Surprisingly, Ursaluna manages to keep up its high ranking, still beating its Bloodmoon counterpart. Holding a Flame Orb, it can use the attack Facadeboosted by its burn, dealing extra damage with its ability Guts, and dealing even more damage thanks to STAB. Additionally, players such as Zachary Mnich have chosen to run a Normal Tera Typeon Ursaluna, boosting its damage even further. Ursaluna is very popular on teams with reliable Trick Roomsetters, mainly Porygon2, but also including Indeedee or Farigiraf on some teams.
Many players considered Archaludon the number one threat coming into the 2025 Baltimore Regionals, but perhaps it isn't as powerful as some had believed. Paired with Pelipper setting rain with its ability Drizzle, Electro Shot attacks in one turn in contrast to it typically being a two-turn attack. Its ability Stamina is also very powerful if left unchecked by the opponent. As its Defense stat raises by one stage each time it's hit, Body Press is also a common attack, using the Defense stat to deal damage instead of either of the Attack stats.
Making sure every player knew it was still a threat, Dragonite made some impressive performances in Day 1. 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, players like Bo Quel opt for a Tera Normal set with Choice Band to deal even more damage with the priority attack Extreme Speed.
Often paired with Archaludon, Pelipper seems to face the same struggles too. Archaludon is threatened by a lot of top-tier Pokemon such as Ursaluna and Sneasler, and Special Attackers like Gholdengo, making it less viable than anticipated. Despite this, players like Ethan Mattos have still decided to use these two Pokemon, and seeing a great amount of success with it, with Mattos only losing one game in Day 1 despite tough match-ups against countless Ursaluna and a few Sneasler.
Typically living in the shadows of more popular Pokemon such as Farigiraf or Indeedee, Porygon2 has never really been seen as the most mainstream Trick Room setter until now. Since it still has the potential to evolve, Porygon2 can use the Eviolite held item to boost both of its defensive stats by 50%, making it very difficult to take off the battlefield. As mentioned earlier, Porygon2 is very effective on teams with Ursaluna. Christopher Han notably used these two Pokemon in this event, beating a scary match-up against Justin Tang.
On the left are the standings before the official Day 2 livestream had begun. Notably, Wolfe Glick was the only player to have won all 10 of their rounds. Other players achieved a similarly impressive run, winning 9 battles and only losing 1. These players are 2024 Senior Division Vancouver Regional Champion Christopher Han, Zee Costagliola, 5x Regional Champion Riley Factura, 2x Regional Champion Justin Tang, 2023 Europe International Champion Paul Chua, and Ethan Mattos.
With a limited number of players making it to Day 2, only one player was able to win the entire event this year. Here are the final standings for the 2025 Pokémon Baltimore Regional Championships - including the winners, and runners-up!
As seen on the right, Top 8 consisted of 2024 Senior Division Vancouver Regional Champion Christopher Han, Dawei Si, Lorenzo Arce, Nicholas Morales, Zee Costagliola, 2023 Europe International Champion Paul Chua, Junxi Zhu, and 2024 Knoxville Regional Champion Toler Webb. Dawei Si and Nicholas Morales move on to the semifinals, with an intense battle between the two described in the Streamed VGC Matches paragraphs below. The other semifinals sees Paul Chua and Toler Webb against each other. After crazy predictions, plays, and intense battling between these teams, Nicholas Morales and Paul Chua move on to the finals of the Pokémon Baltimore Regional Championship! The finals resulted in Paul Chua barely missing out on a victory, and Nicholas Morales becoming the 2025 Baltimore Regional Champion!
Streamed VGC Matches
Tyler Rutledge's team features an interesting archetype in a duo of Torkoal setting the sun with Drought and Hisuian Lilligant gaining a speed boost from its ability Chlorophyll. Hisuian Zoroark is another intriguing addition, running a Life Orb with Hyper Voice, Shadow Ball, and Focus Blast. The final three Pokemon are Kingambit, Clefable, and Talonflame. Cayden Owens' team features a more standard variety of Pokemon. Choice Specs Gholdengo is paired with fellow Steel-type Kingambit holding the Black Glasses. Rillaboom and Paldean Tauros Aqua Breed are two more common Pokemon that are built to deal damage, and Volcarona is prepared to set-up with Quiver Dance. Owens' final Pokemon is Clefable.
The first game features a strong performance from Rutledge's Kingambit. Getting Intimidated by Tauros, it gets an Attack boost from its ability Defiant, and knocks the opposing Gholdengo out in one hit. Tauros uses the Mirror Herb to copy the stat raises, however, and retaliates with a Close Combat to knock it out in the same turn it terastallizes into the Grass-type. Cayden Owens' ability to keep their Tauros alive with the Water-type terastallization helps them to deal with the opposing Clefable and Hisuian Lilligant, winning them the game. The second round opens with the Zoroark disguised as Clefable, going for a Stellar terastallization to boost the damage of Hyper Voice to deal a large amount of damage to Clefable and Volcarona. Despite this early advantage, the end of Game 2 seemed to come down to a prediction that Rutledge had to make. They went with an Upper Hand into Tauros to block Aqua Jet and a Sucker Punch to knock-out Gholdengo, but both attacks ended up failing. Tauros used Close Combat to knock-out Kingambit in one hit, winning Cayden Owens the round.
In the post-match interview, Cayden Owens was asked about the match-ups against their opponent. "Going in to Game 1, I realised that against [Lilligant and Torkoal], [...] Tera Dragon Gholdengo does amazing into that match-up, so I'll just kinda start with that and see where I go."
Toler Webb is using a familiar team with the Ursaluna and Porygon2 Trick Room core joined by Amoonguss, Flamigo, Incineroar, and Gholdengo. This team has been used by a handful of other skilled players, such as Jeremy Parson, Christopher Han, and Zachary Mnich. Riley Factura is another very skilled player, getting through Day 1 undefeated. Their team features two hard-hitting First Partner Pokemon in Assault Vest Rillaboom and Mystic Water Primarina. Other offensive Pokemon are Annihilape and Gholdengo, supported by Whimsicott and Incineroar.
Game 1 begins with an insane play from Riley Factura. Knowing Annihilape's Rage Fist wouldn't be enough to defeat the opposing Gholdengo at half health, they use Rillaboom to target Annihilape with Grassy Glide, dealing a small bit of damage, but also boosting the damage of Rage Fist, giving it enough power to knock out the Tera Dragon Gholdengo. With Annihilape using Bulk Up, it's now in a great place in terms of staying power. Drain Punch quickly knocks out Porygon2 after it sets up Trick Room. Both players are now left with their last Pokemon. Gholdengo frustratingly misses a 2nd Protect in the last turn of Trick Room, allowing Ursaluna to knock it out in one hit with a Guts boosted Headlong Rush. Webb gets an early Trick Room, but is still threatened by the bulky Annihilape on the other side. Factura seems to look for the Trick Room turns to end, moving in Rillaboom and Whimsicott to set up Tailwind once it's over. Unfortunately, Whimsicott goes for Tailwind, and the Rillaboom barely misses a knockout on Porygon2 with Wood Hammer, allowing it to go for a second Trick Room to guarantee their team moves first. Toler Webb wins the entire game, and makes it into Top 8.
In a post-match interview, Toler Webb speaks on his team's match-up into the bulky Annihilape. "I'm Tera Normal Ursaluna, our big coverage moves are Facade and Tera Blast [...] we can't hit the Annihilape with our core plan. But I think once you get to high level Pokemon, the way that you play isn't defined by how you execute your core plan, it's defined by how you execute your counterplay."
Dawei Si is running a strong Trick Room core that's proved itself time and time again with Porygon2 and Ursaluna. Annihilape and Gholdengo are two strong damage-dealing Pokemon in Regulation Set H, and the team is supported by Grimmsnarl and Volcarona. Alex Imbufe's team on the other hand is very interesting. Two bizarre picks are the first many people notice, being Volbeat and Espathra. The team continues with a less common Power Herb set for Archaludon, as well as Hisuian Typhlosion, Indeedee, and Primarina.
Dawei Si gets a great start to the first game. Volcarona using Struggle Bug deals great amounts of damage to Espathra and Hisuian Typhlosion while also lowering their Special Attack, making Eruption a much weaker move. Volcarona faints early, but not before lowering the damage from Primarina and Indeedee too. With Light Screen set up, nothing stops the Tera Fairy Ursaluna from sweeping the rest of the team to give Si a win for the first game. Tera Dragon Volcarona in the second round proceeds to repeat its strengths. Struggle Bug, Light Screen from Grimmsnarl, set up Trick Room and sweep with Ursaluna. This allows Dawei Si to win this round.
In a post-match interview, Dawei Si was asked about their Volcarona. "Everyone is thinking Quiver Dance Volcarona is very strong, but also, everyone is countering that, so I just want to use, like, a different kind of Volcarona. [Alex Imbufe] had a very, very Special [Attacking] team."
Notably, Zee Costagliola has brought Vivillon to this competition. It has the ability Compound Eyes to boost the accuracy of Sleep Powder and Hurricane, as well as Rage Powder for re-direction. This team features strong attackers in Life Orb Garchomp, Primarina, and Gholdengo, featuring support from Porygon2 and Incineroar. Paul Chua is running a familiar team, as they were featured on-stream in Day 1. Most notably, their Alolan Ninetales is lacking the move Aurora Veil that it typically uses. Other than that, the team's heavy-hitters are Dragonite, Kingambit, and Garchomp, supported by Incineroar and Amoonguss.
Game 1 features a fast-paced back-and-forth between the two players. Although the first few turns make it seem like Chua has the advantage, an effective prediction from Costagliola allows them to play the advantage. With a Special Attack boost, Porygon2 offers a powerful Ice Beam that knocks out Amoonguss and threatens the Tera Flying Dragonite, allowing Zee Costagliola to win the first game. In Game 2, Chua makes more use of the Amoonguss on their team. Putting Primarina to sleep gives Incineroar and Kingambit more reign over the battle, as well as supporting the latter with Pollen Puff. This effective adaptation from Paul Chua's end allows them to win the second game, moving the round on to a third and final game.
Facing against Ninetales and Incineroar, Costagliola's Garchomp immediately terastallizes into the Fire-type to avoid any super-effective attacks. With an Attack drop from Intimidate and Ninetales having a Defense buff from the snow, Garchomp fails to knock-out either Pokemon with Earthquake. Chua goes for the Tera Flying Dragonite that has been very reliable so far. Targetting Costagliola's Incineroar, Dragonite gets a key critical hit to defeat the Incineroar through the Intimidate drop. It continues to deal great damage, it barely misses a knock-out on Garchomp, resulting in Zee Costagliola forfeitting the game and giving Paul Chua the win.
Nicholas Morales is using a strong core of Pokemon, Pelipper and Archaludon are a very popular duo thanks to rain's effect on Electro Shot, but Morales has also brought Basculegion to deal extra damage in the rain with strong Water-type attacks. An offensive Maushold set is seen too, with Technician and Wide Lens, Population Bomb can do a great deal of damage to many opponents. The team is supported further by Amoonguss and Incineroar. On the other side of the battle, Lorenzo Arce has decided to bring a Dondozo and Tatsugiri team. The latter's signature ability Commander allows it to jump into Dondozo's mouth and pilot it like a mech, giving Dondozo a 2x boost to all of its stats. The team is further supported by offensive options in Dragonite, Annihilape, and Kingambit, as well as support from Clefable.
Dondozo goes for the boost from Commander instantly, gaining three Attack boosts from Order Up followed up by a Grass-type terastallization to counter Amoonguss. The Dondozo is worried about a Clear Smog from Amoonguss clearing all of its hard-earned stat boosts, so goes for a Wave Crash to knock it out in one hit. It faints shortly after, but has already dealt a lot of damage to Morales' two remaining Pokemon, securing Lorenzo Arce a win in the first game. The second game features a similar opening, getting an early boost from Commander and immediately defeating Pelipper. However, Amoonguss is able to use Clear Smog this time, resetting Dondozo's stats to normal. This immediate advantage allows Morales to knock out Dondozo, put Tatsugiri to sleep, and then earn a victory in Game 2.
Arce goes for an identical opening move. Annihilape switches out using U-turn, replaced by Tatsugiri, and Dondozo uses Order Up for more Attack boosts. Instead of Clear Smog coming out from Amoonguss, Morales goes for pure power to defeat the Dondozo in this turn, with Hurricane and super-effective Electro Shot. Annihilape faints itself by using Final Gambit, and Arce is left with two Pokemon. Multiple attacks into Archaludon boosts its Defense and damage with Body Press. Kingambit misses a knock-out on the boosted Archaludon by 3 health points, and Archaludon secures the round for Nicholas Morales.
In a post-match interview, Nicholas Morales was asked about if he was prepared for a Dondozo match-up. "No." They continue, "Every time I played a Dondozo, it feels like if I don't get the lead right, I'm on the back foot immediately."
The first Top 4 round takes place between 2024 Knoxville Regional Champion Toler Webb and 2023 Europe International Champion Paul Chua.
As both of these teams have been discussed in this article, we'll instead discuss how they match up against each other. Ursaluna is clearly threatened by strong Ice-type attacks coming from Alolan Ninetales as well as its Defense boost from the snow. Webb's Gholdengo is a good counter to this Pokemon, however, as it's 4x weak to Steel-type attacks such as Make It Rain. Webb's team also need to be careful around Incineroar, making sure to avoid too many Attack drops from Intimidate.
Webb opens with strong pivotting between the four Pokemon brought to the battle, Porygon2, Ursaluna, Incineroar, and Amoonguss. It's clear that they want to set up Trick Room with Porygon2, and Incineroar is helping to reduce the damage from Garchomp and the Tera Flying Dragonite to accomplish this. Surviving a Flying-type Tera Blast, Porygon2 gets to set up Trick Room, allowing Ursaluna to deal scary damage with Tera Normal Facade. After defeating Chua's Incineroar, Amoonguss, and Dragonite, Garchomp retaliates with a powerful Earthquake to defeat the last of Webb's team, giving Paul Chua the first win. An early Trick Room opens Game 2, but the Alolan Ninetales threatens damage on both Ursaluna and Amoonguss. With a Parting Shot, Ninetales' damage is dropped, giving Ursaluna a chance to switch in with powerful Facades. More fast-paced pivotting from both trainers results in Webb's Incineroar being locked in to Fake Out by Encore, Porygon2 asleep, and Paul Chua winning the round.
This victory allows Paul Chua to move on to the finals of the 2025 Pokémon Baltimore Regional Championships!
The next Top 4 match takes place between Dawei Si and Nicholas Morales.
Dawei Si's Volcarona with Struggle Bug has proved to be useful against teams featuring many Special Attackers, but with Basculegion and Maushold on Nicholas Morales' team threating a lot of physical damage, it may not be as useful as before. Si also has the option of Trick Room to allow Ursaluna to sweep, as we have seen it do in many previous rounds on other trainers' teams. The Archaludon on Morales' team should be wary of Ursaluna and Annihilape, if it's unable to gain too many Defense boosts, it could get taken out in one or two hits by a super-effective Headlong Rush or Drain Punch.
Game 1 opens with a familiar Grimmsnarl and Volcarona opening from Si. After setting up both Light Screen and Reflect, Grimmsnarl is defeated, replaced by Ursaluna. A double-up with Heat Wave and Headlong Rush defeats Amoonguss, dealing another strong blow to Morales' team. Unfortunately, Volcarona stays asleep for a few too many turns, leading to it and Porygon2 to faint without being able to set up Trick Room. Sensing their defeat, Dawei Si forfeits the first game. A slight change in Game 2 is clear in Si's opening, immediately bringing in Porygon2 instead of Grimmsnarl. Si goes for an extremely risky play. In front of Amoonguss, their only option to set up Trick Room is by Volcarona using Will-O-Wisp to burn its own teammate, meaning it's unable to be put to sleep with Spore. Despite its low accuracy, Will-O-Wisp lands, and Trick Room is set up with Spore failing. Immediately after, Morales predicts the burned Porygon2 to switch into Ursaluna. Since the Flame Orb hasn't activated yet, as Ursaluna switches in, it immediately gets put to sleep. This incredibly entertaining back-and-forth results in Ursaluna's Flame Orb getting removed by Knock Off, dramatically reducing its damage potential.
After many impressive predictions and plays from both trainers, Dawei Si is defeated, and Nicholas Morales moves on to the finals of the 2025 Pokémon Baltimore Regional Championships!
Amoonguss and Incineroar on Morales' side give Chua's Kingambit a Defiant boost from Intimidate, as it stands next to Dragonite. Fake Out comes out towards Dragonite to break its Multiscale, and Amoonguss puts Kingambit to sleep. Morales' Archaludon enters the battle in place of Amoonguss, threatening a powerful Body Press on to Kingambit. The Body Press connects, misses a knock-out, and Dragonite gets hit by a Parting Shot with Incineroar switching back into Amoonguss. Incineroar switches back in, gives the sleeping Kingambit another Defiant boost as it wakes up, dealing a ton of damage to Archaludon with Sucker Punch. Dragonite finally terastallizes into the Flying-type as Body Press finishes off Kingambit. As Garchomp switches in, threatening a super-effective Earthquake against both Archaludon and Incineroar, Amoonguss replaces the latter, and Archaludon terastallizes into the Grass-type. Earthquake comes out, does respectable damage, but Garchomp is still defeated by a Dragon Pulse. Morales' Amoonguss and Archaludon are defeated despite this, being left with Incineroar and Pelipper against Alolan Ninetales and Tera Flying Dragonite. Fake Out connects into Ninetales, Pelipper sets up Tailwind, and Chua's Tera Blast barely misses a knock-out on Incineroar thanks to Attack drops from Intimidate. Dragonite goes for a Protect on the next turn as both Pelipper and Incineroar attack into it. Ninetales brings Pelipper down to 1 HP, freezing it as well to add insult to injury. Extreme Speed defeats Pelipper, and Freeze-Dry defeats Incineroar, securing Paul Chua a win for Game 1 of the finals.
The two trainers switch up their opening in Game 2, with Archaludon and Maushold on Morales' side against Chua's Garchomp and Dragonite. Chua terastallizes their Dragonite, once again, into the Flying-type. Maushold goes for a brave play by using Population Bomb on Archaludon to boost its Defense by 6 stages. Earthquake connects from Garchomp and Tera Blast from Dragonite, but Archaludon easily holds on. A Dragon Pulse lands into Garchomp, which barely survives. An Extreme Speed comes in to defeat Maushold, with Garchomp falling to Life Orb recoil. Morales' Amoonguss replaces Maushold, and Chua's Amoonguss replaces Garchomp. Incineroar replaces Amoonguss on Morales' side, dropping Dragonite's damage potential against Archaludon even further. Amoonguss is able to use Spore against Archaludon, hoping to shut it down for enough turns to defeat it. Amoonguss switches out on Chua's side, replaced by Alolan Ninetales. This Pokemon is worrying for Archaludon, since its Special Attacks aren't affected by the Defense boosts from Stamina. Incineroar hits it with Flare Blitz as its brought down to its Focus Sash. In the next turn, a Blizzard barely misses its knock-out on Archaludon, as Incineroar retaliates with a Knock Out to defeat it. Amoonguss switches back in, once again defeated by a double-up from Archaludon and Incineroar. Understanding their defeat in Game 2, Paul Chua forfeits, giving Morales a win and moving on to the third and final game of the finals.
Game 3 begins with the same opening, Maushold and Archaludon against Dragonite and Garchomp. Archaludon switches out instead, being replaced by Incineroar as Maushold's Population Bomb goes in to one-shot (or ten-shot) the Dragonite in the same turn it uses up Chua's terastallization. Ninetales replaces Dragonite, as Maushold protects itself. A double-up from Ninetales and Garchomp knock Morales' Incineroar out, being replaced by Archaludon. Chua withdraws Garchomp, replaced by Amoonguss. Population Bomb once again connects into Alolan Ninetales, hitting another knock-out. As Garchomp returns to Chua's team, Archaludon threatening a Grass terastallization, Paul Chua forfeits, giving Nicholas Morales the win.
Nicholas Morales is your 2025 Pokémon Baltimore Regional Champion!
