Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Three things have begun regarding Pokémon today. (There are also non-Pokémon things, like the release of Splatoon Raiders. I have no plans to put up a playthrough of that because the upload schedule is already full.) They are signups for the Monthly Global Series July 2026 in Pokémon Champions, the introduction of Magikarp the Unrivaled in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet (is this the first new 7-star Tera Raid Battle in over a year?), and the release of the Pitch Black set in the Pokémon Trading Card Game, which begins the TCG’s coverage of the Mega Dimensions DLC as it features Mega Darkrai ex.
If all goes as planned, I’ll have something from each of those three up by the end of this month.
For now, here are four battles where I used a similar strategy to nice effect: Chilly Reception into something with Slush Rush. I originally wanted to do this with Cetitan, but Cetitan’s not in this game, so here’s Beartic instead.
00:00 - Battle #1
Type: Single Battle
Opponent: Rush
Battle Court: Battle Arena
Music: Strong Trainer (Legends: Z-A)
My Pokémon: Socrates (Slowking) (Galarian), Juno (Beartic), Leonardo (Pyroar)
Opponent’s Pokémon: Raichu, Incineroar, Corviknight
Someone with a 4-win streak and who spends nearly the whole 90 seconds on Team Preview (meaning they think out their choices carefully…I admittedly don’t do that), meaning they’re quite imposing. I basically had to make sure Socrates (Slowking) was still standing on the end of the first turn, then use Chilly Reception, which starts snow and switches him out—if they switched to Corviknight, I would bring out Leonardo (Pyroar), and with anyone else, Juno (Beartic).
Not that it mattered that much, as after Fake Out, they went straight to Parting Shot on Incineroar and switched to Corviknight anyway. I think a switch-out to Raichu would’ve ended me there, as it would’ve been able to defeat Leonardo (Pyroar) then and there, and without him, I’d have a very hard time against Corviknight.
04:06 - Battle #2
Type: Single Battle
Opponent: BRYARQ
Battle Court: Battle Arena
Music: Trainer (X & Y)
My Pokémon: Socrates (Slowking) (Galarian), Juno (Beartic), Leonardo (Pyroar)
Opponent’s Pokémon: Charizard, Greninja, Garchomp
Different people have different styles, and I cannot tell what style they’ll have until the battle begins. When people open with Charizard, they can hold off on Mega Evolution, or Mega Evolve into Mega Charizard X, but most often, I see an immediate Mega Evolution to Mega Charizard Y, and I made my first-turn guesses based on that—and used Chilly Reception to immediately change the harsh sunlight into snow. (Again, though, this requires Socrates (Slowking) to survive at least one turn, and it seems he can withstand a Fire Blast from Mega Charizard Y.)
Icicle Crash, by the way, has 90% accuracy, so occasionally, it will miss—and against that less than 5% of all Garchomp to have a Focus Sash, as I found out later.
06:46 - Battle #3
Type: Single Battle
Opponent: ISQEN
Battle Court: Battle Arena
Music: Trainer (Ruby, Sapphire, & Emerald)
My Pokémon: Socrates (Slowking) (Galarian), Juno (Beartic), Leonardo (Pyroar)
Opponent’s Pokémon: Pelipper, Raichu, Archaludon
This is an instance of an opponent who takes action against my snow-inducing strategies, switching out Pelipper and back in to re-trigger heavy rain. Well, I had an answer to that too: sometimes, the best solutions are the simplest, straightforward ones, and I put Sunny Day onto Leonardo (Pyroar) because it overrides Ability-based weather triggers, can activate before a lot of key Pokémon can attack owing to Mega Pyroar’s 126 Speed, and stacks with the damage boost to Fire attacks with Fire Mane. As a result, my opponent got stuck with Archaludon using Electro Shot when the rain gave way to harsh sunlight, causing it to spend a turn charging and giving m the chance to scorch it with a Fire attack at about x3.375 power (x1.5 multiplier each for STAB, Fire Mane, and harsh sunlight). This puts Flamethrower’s power at about 304.
10:56 - Battle #4
Type: Single Battle
Opponent: Ck
Battle Court: Battle Arena
Music: Trainer (Scarlet & Violet)
My Pokémon: Socrates (Slowking) (Galarian),Castilla (Bastiodon) Juno (Beartic)
Opponent’s Pokémon: Blaziken, Garchomp, Raichu
My opponent spent a lot of time using Swords Dance rather than going for the direct attack, which gave me the opening I needed to not only fight their Blaziken with Socrates (Slowking) directly (despite him being a support Pokémon), but the turn needed to use Chilly Reception when it’s time for him to leave the battle. As you can see on previous battles on this video, Garchomp and Raichu are two Pokémon that Juno (Beartic) can comfortably fight, provided the attacks don’t miss (and with Mega Raichu Y, they won’t because No Guard gives anything targeting the Ability’s user perfect accuracy too).
I didn’t pick a Mega Evolution this time around, which I will sometimes do if none of the ones on the team are suited for it.
Three things have begun regarding Pokémon today. (There are also non-Pokémon things, like the release of Splatoon Raiders. I have no plans to put up a playthrough of that because the upload schedule is already full.) They are signups for the Monthly Global Series July 2026 in Pokémon Champions, the introduction of Magikarp the Unrivaled in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet (is this the first new 7-star Tera Raid Battle in over a year?), and the release of the Pitch Black set in the Pokémon Trading Card Game, which begins the TCG’s coverage of the Mega Dimensions DLC as it features Mega Darkrai ex.
If all goes as planned, I’ll have something from each of those three up by the end of this month.
For now, here are four battles where I used a similar strategy to nice effect: Chilly Reception into something with Slush Rush. I originally wanted to do this with Cetitan, but Cetitan’s not in this game, so here’s Beartic instead.
00:00 - Battle #1
Type: Single Battle
Opponent: Rush
Battle Court: Battle Arena
Music: Strong Trainer (Legends: Z-A)
My Pokémon: Socrates (Slowking) (Galarian), Juno (Beartic), Leonardo (Pyroar)
Opponent’s Pokémon: Raichu, Incineroar, Corviknight
Someone with a 4-win streak and who spends nearly the whole 90 seconds on Team Preview (meaning they think out their choices carefully…I admittedly don’t do that), meaning they’re quite imposing. I basically had to make sure Socrates (Slowking) was still standing on the end of the first turn, then use Chilly Reception, which starts snow and switches him out—if they switched to Corviknight, I would bring out Leonardo (Pyroar), and with anyone else, Juno (Beartic).
Not that it mattered that much, as after Fake Out, they went straight to Parting Shot on Incineroar and switched to Corviknight anyway. I think a switch-out to Raichu would’ve ended me there, as it would’ve been able to defeat Leonardo (Pyroar) then and there, and without him, I’d have a very hard time against Corviknight.
04:06 - Battle #2
Type: Single Battle
Opponent: BRYARQ
Battle Court: Battle Arena
Music: Trainer (X & Y)
My Pokémon: Socrates (Slowking) (Galarian), Juno (Beartic), Leonardo (Pyroar)
Opponent’s Pokémon: Charizard, Greninja, Garchomp
Different people have different styles, and I cannot tell what style they’ll have until the battle begins. When people open with Charizard, they can hold off on Mega Evolution, or Mega Evolve into Mega Charizard X, but most often, I see an immediate Mega Evolution to Mega Charizard Y, and I made my first-turn guesses based on that—and used Chilly Reception to immediately change the harsh sunlight into snow. (Again, though, this requires Socrates (Slowking) to survive at least one turn, and it seems he can withstand a Fire Blast from Mega Charizard Y.)
Icicle Crash, by the way, has 90% accuracy, so occasionally, it will miss—and against that less than 5% of all Garchomp to have a Focus Sash, as I found out later.
06:46 - Battle #3
Type: Single Battle
Opponent: ISQEN
Battle Court: Battle Arena
Music: Trainer (Ruby, Sapphire, & Emerald)
My Pokémon: Socrates (Slowking) (Galarian), Juno (Beartic), Leonardo (Pyroar)
Opponent’s Pokémon: Pelipper, Raichu, Archaludon
This is an instance of an opponent who takes action against my snow-inducing strategies, switching out Pelipper and back in to re-trigger heavy rain. Well, I had an answer to that too: sometimes, the best solutions are the simplest, straightforward ones, and I put Sunny Day onto Leonardo (Pyroar) because it overrides Ability-based weather triggers, can activate before a lot of key Pokémon can attack owing to Mega Pyroar’s 126 Speed, and stacks with the damage boost to Fire attacks with Fire Mane. As a result, my opponent got stuck with Archaludon using Electro Shot when the rain gave way to harsh sunlight, causing it to spend a turn charging and giving m the chance to scorch it with a Fire attack at about x3.375 power (x1.5 multiplier each for STAB, Fire Mane, and harsh sunlight). This puts Flamethrower’s power at about 304.
10:56 - Battle #4
Type: Single Battle
Opponent: Ck
Battle Court: Battle Arena
Music: Trainer (Scarlet & Violet)
My Pokémon: Socrates (Slowking) (Galarian),Castilla (Bastiodon) Juno (Beartic)
Opponent’s Pokémon: Blaziken, Garchomp, Raichu
My opponent spent a lot of time using Swords Dance rather than going for the direct attack, which gave me the opening I needed to not only fight their Blaziken with Socrates (Slowking) directly (despite him being a support Pokémon), but the turn needed to use Chilly Reception when it’s time for him to leave the battle. As you can see on previous battles on this video, Garchomp and Raichu are two Pokémon that Juno (Beartic) can comfortably fight, provided the attacks don’t miss (and with Mega Raichu Y, they won’t because No Guard gives anything targeting the Ability’s user perfect accuracy too).
I didn’t pick a Mega Evolution this time around, which I will sometimes do if none of the ones on the team are suited for it.
