The Victory Road August Challenge, an unofficial VGC grassroots tournament hosting high-level trainers, featured 356 players battling for a prize of $1,210 USD, with 2023 World Champion Shohei Kimura winning against Audric David in the finals. Continue reading for more information on their team!
The event ran from August 30-31, and used the Regulation Set H ruleset, banning the use of all Paradox and Legendary Pokémon. To see announcements for future Victory Road events, make sure to check them out on X (formerly Twitter)!
The following list shows all players in Top Cut, their results, the teams they used, and any prize money earned in USD. All teams and rental codes shown below can be used in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet's Online Competitions while Regulation Set H is running from September 1 to November 30, 2025.
Results
# | Prize | Trainer | Pokémon | Rental |
1st | $1,210 | Shohei Kimura |
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2nd | $605 | Audric David |
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Top 4 | $300 | Joseph Ugarte |
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David Carrasco |
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Top 8 | $150 | Shunsuke Minami |
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Marcus Koh |
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Roi Gómez |
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Jonas Nienhüser |
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Top 12 | — | Amin Lehna |
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Louis Markl |
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Daniele Seghizzi |
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Raphael Bagara |
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Top Pokémon
It's a tough day for Incineroar as it finally falls from its place as the top Pokémon in the format, being overtaken by Gholdengo and Dragonite in Day 2 of the competition while tying with Sneasler.Gholdengo reaches an impressive 53% usage in Day 2, potentially due to its ability to effectively stop certain Sneasler sets from attacking, since Gholdengo is immune to both Fighting- and Poison-type attacks. Some Sneasler run Dark-type attacks like Throat Chop to get around this, but without the extra 50% damage from the Same-Type Attack Bonus (STAB), Gholdengo can survive the super-effective attack and fire back with a devastating Make It Rain or Shadow Ball. Gholdengo also has the option of running a Steel-type Terastallization to avoid losing too much HP from Dark-type attacks.
# | Pokémon | Day 1 | Day 2 | | # | Pokémon | Day 1 | Day 2 | ||
#1 |
| Incineroar | 43.9% | ▼ 39% | #7 |
| Archaludon | 23.7% | ▼ 22% | |
#2 |
| Gholdengo | 43.1% | ▲ 53% | #8 |
| Ursaluna (Bloodmoon) | 23.4% | ▲ 27% | |
#3 |
| Dragonite | 41.1% | ▲ 47% | #9 |
| Annihilape | 21.1% | ▼ 16% | |
#4 |
| Sneasler | 40.6% | ▼ 39% | #10 |
| Amoonguss | 20.3% | ▼ 16% | |
#5 |
| Rillaboom | 31.3% | ▲ 35% | #11 |
| Pelipper | 18.6% | ▼ 14% | |
#6 |
| Ursaluna | 23.7% | ▲ 27% | #12 |
| Kingambit | 15.2% | ▼ 14% | |
