Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
I’m still not entirely sure how many videos to a batch I should have for Pokémon Champions. The major thing is that the game encourages you to keep playing every day, and with four battles to a video (though this one has five due to there being some very short ones among them), if I have just one battle per day, a Monday-through-Friday block would have 20 matches for every 2 weeks, which is more than enough. In theory.
In practice, though, I will sometimes play a lot more than one battle per login, because I will lose some matches, and I have to make back the lost ground from that.
There will likely be more than five videos per session for now, and I will decide later on if I will reduce that quantity. Certainly, I will be more selective about which battles I’ll keep for YouTube the later into a season I go and the less unique the opponents will get. I estimate I am already only keeping about 40% of these battles during these last couple weeks of Regulation M-A.
00:00 - Battle #1
Type: Single Battle
Opponent: Ray
Battle Court: Battle Arena
Music: Trainer (Diamond & Pearl)
My Pokémon: Rex (Tyrantrum), Shirley (Meowstic) (Female), Samantha (Toucannon)
Opponent’s Pokémon: Raichu (Kantonian), Garchomp, ?
I hadn’t given much thought to Raichu using Dig (even though it turned up many times during the Pokémon Sword & Shield event “I Choose ‘Chu!”) until that mission in Pokémon Legends: Z-A where you pit your Pikachu against theirs, and the kid’s Pikachu immediately starts using Dig. It is one of the hardest missions in the game.
Well, one trait of Dig that doesn’t turn up often is that Earthquake’s power is doubled if a Pokémon who would be hit by it is underground due to Dig.
01:48 - Battle #2
Type: Single Battle
Opponent: CRG Phantom
Battle Court: Battle Arena
Music: Trainer (Gold & Silver)
My Pokémon: Dolores (Basculegion) (Female), Victoria (Victreebel), Rex (Tyrantrum)
Opponent’s Pokémon: Gary (Gyarados), Champ Tink (Tinkaton), Tyrant (Garchomp)
I should’ve figured that Gyarados would Mega Evolve, as I don’t have any moves that are effective against the Water/Dark type combination on Dolores (Basculegion). Also, it was fortunate for me that Ice Fang missed, considering I brought the wrong Pokémon for this battle.
I made the mistake of using Dragon Dance instead of going straight to Outrage; the most common held item on Garchomp currently is the Choice Scarf; an unboosted Outrage would’ve been enough to overcome Garchomp.
Gyarados’s nickname of “Gary” is likely based on fans commonly abbreviating its name as “Gyar,” which is then autocorrected into “Gary,” or is a reference to the Gyarados on Blue’s team, your rival character in the Kanto games. I don’t really understand the others.
05:38 - Battle #3
Type: Single Battle
Opponent: うるとら (Urutora)
Battle Court: Battle Arena
Music: Team MZ
My Pokémon: Samantha (Toucannon), Dolores (Basculegion) (Male), Victoria (Victreebel)
Opponent’s Pokémon: Maushold, Morpeko, Charizard
This was the first time I saw a serious use of Morpeko in Pokémon Champions. It’s a very tricky individual, as the more recent “Pika-clones” tend to be (especially if you count Mimikyu as one). You might remember me using one in a double battle team in Sword & Shield; I put full use to Morpeko switching Aura Wheel types every turn. This one works diffferently.
Charizard’s presence means they didn’t just throw a bunch of rodents at me though.
I thought I was going to lose this one when it came down to Toucannon versus Morpeko. One Aura Wheel would be enough; the Burn damage would kick in after the knockout, and I would lose. I wonder why they went with Endeavor.
09:42 - Battle #4
Type: Single Battle
Opponent: Haasman
Battle Court: Battle Arena
Music: Trainer (Gold & Silver)
My Pokémon: Dolores (Basculegion) (Female), Samantha (Toucannon), Victoria (Victreebel)
Opponent’s Pokémon: Kleavor, Mimikyu, Venusaur
Venusaur, upon Mega Evolution, gets Thick Fat, perhaps the most useful application of the Ability because it negates the Fire and Ice weaknesses of it, leaving just Psychic and Flying. That means my mistake, though I couldn’t see it coming at the time, was sending out Samantha (Toucannon) ahead of Victoria (Victreebel). Samantha would be one of the Pokémon on this team able to hit Mega Venusaur super-effectively. Victoria, while resilient and of the same type combination as Venusaur, is not quite as resilient as Mega Venusaur.
13:15 - Battle #5
Type: Single Battle
Opponent: めえめえ (Meemee)
Battle Court: Strong Trainer (Legends: Z-A)
Music: Trainer (Sun & Moon)
My Pokémon: Samantha (Toucannon), Dolores (Basculegion) (Female), Victoria (Victreebel)
Opponent’s Pokémon: Volcarona, Lopunny, ?
Remember the match where I restarted back at Poké Ball 4, getting by solely using Toucannon’s Beak Blast? Well, here it is again, only this time in Ultra Ball 3.
I’m still not entirely sure how many videos to a batch I should have for Pokémon Champions. The major thing is that the game encourages you to keep playing every day, and with four battles to a video (though this one has five due to there being some very short ones among them), if I have just one battle per day, a Monday-through-Friday block would have 20 matches for every 2 weeks, which is more than enough. In theory.
In practice, though, I will sometimes play a lot more than one battle per login, because I will lose some matches, and I have to make back the lost ground from that.
There will likely be more than five videos per session for now, and I will decide later on if I will reduce that quantity. Certainly, I will be more selective about which battles I’ll keep for YouTube the later into a season I go and the less unique the opponents will get. I estimate I am already only keeping about 40% of these battles during these last couple weeks of Regulation M-A.
00:00 - Battle #1
Type: Single Battle
Opponent: Ray
Battle Court: Battle Arena
Music: Trainer (Diamond & Pearl)
My Pokémon: Rex (Tyrantrum), Shirley (Meowstic) (Female), Samantha (Toucannon)
Opponent’s Pokémon: Raichu (Kantonian), Garchomp, ?
I hadn’t given much thought to Raichu using Dig (even though it turned up many times during the Pokémon Sword & Shield event “I Choose ‘Chu!”) until that mission in Pokémon Legends: Z-A where you pit your Pikachu against theirs, and the kid’s Pikachu immediately starts using Dig. It is one of the hardest missions in the game.
Well, one trait of Dig that doesn’t turn up often is that Earthquake’s power is doubled if a Pokémon who would be hit by it is underground due to Dig.
01:48 - Battle #2
Type: Single Battle
Opponent: CRG Phantom
Battle Court: Battle Arena
Music: Trainer (Gold & Silver)
My Pokémon: Dolores (Basculegion) (Female), Victoria (Victreebel), Rex (Tyrantrum)
Opponent’s Pokémon: Gary (Gyarados), Champ Tink (Tinkaton), Tyrant (Garchomp)
I should’ve figured that Gyarados would Mega Evolve, as I don’t have any moves that are effective against the Water/Dark type combination on Dolores (Basculegion). Also, it was fortunate for me that Ice Fang missed, considering I brought the wrong Pokémon for this battle.
I made the mistake of using Dragon Dance instead of going straight to Outrage; the most common held item on Garchomp currently is the Choice Scarf; an unboosted Outrage would’ve been enough to overcome Garchomp.
Gyarados’s nickname of “Gary” is likely based on fans commonly abbreviating its name as “Gyar,” which is then autocorrected into “Gary,” or is a reference to the Gyarados on Blue’s team, your rival character in the Kanto games. I don’t really understand the others.
05:38 - Battle #3
Type: Single Battle
Opponent: うるとら (Urutora)
Battle Court: Battle Arena
Music: Team MZ
My Pokémon: Samantha (Toucannon), Dolores (Basculegion) (Male), Victoria (Victreebel)
Opponent’s Pokémon: Maushold, Morpeko, Charizard
This was the first time I saw a serious use of Morpeko in Pokémon Champions. It’s a very tricky individual, as the more recent “Pika-clones” tend to be (especially if you count Mimikyu as one). You might remember me using one in a double battle team in Sword & Shield; I put full use to Morpeko switching Aura Wheel types every turn. This one works diffferently.
Charizard’s presence means they didn’t just throw a bunch of rodents at me though.
I thought I was going to lose this one when it came down to Toucannon versus Morpeko. One Aura Wheel would be enough; the Burn damage would kick in after the knockout, and I would lose. I wonder why they went with Endeavor.
09:42 - Battle #4
Type: Single Battle
Opponent: Haasman
Battle Court: Battle Arena
Music: Trainer (Gold & Silver)
My Pokémon: Dolores (Basculegion) (Female), Samantha (Toucannon), Victoria (Victreebel)
Opponent’s Pokémon: Kleavor, Mimikyu, Venusaur
Venusaur, upon Mega Evolution, gets Thick Fat, perhaps the most useful application of the Ability because it negates the Fire and Ice weaknesses of it, leaving just Psychic and Flying. That means my mistake, though I couldn’t see it coming at the time, was sending out Samantha (Toucannon) ahead of Victoria (Victreebel). Samantha would be one of the Pokémon on this team able to hit Mega Venusaur super-effectively. Victoria, while resilient and of the same type combination as Venusaur, is not quite as resilient as Mega Venusaur.
13:15 - Battle #5
Type: Single Battle
Opponent: めえめえ (Meemee)
Battle Court: Strong Trainer (Legends: Z-A)
Music: Trainer (Sun & Moon)
My Pokémon: Samantha (Toucannon), Dolores (Basculegion) (Female), Victoria (Victreebel)
Opponent’s Pokémon: Volcarona, Lopunny, ?
Remember the match where I restarted back at Poké Ball 4, getting by solely using Toucannon’s Beak Blast? Well, here it is again, only this time in Ultra Ball 3.
