Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
I signed up for the first Online Competition for Pokémon Champions, the Warm-Up Challenge. This simply uses the double battle rules, and anyone who plays 3 or more matches gets Gardevoir and 1,000 VP. (You will still need to get Gardevoirite yourself if you plan to use Mega Gardevoir.) A mistake I made was registering too early, resulting in an earlier version of the Aurorus Team—yes, I’ve already made some revisions to this team, namely to better deal with Incineroar, harsh sunlight teams, and Archaludon and other Steel-types. You can most easily see this in how the notification for Stamina on Mac (Mudsdale) no longer triggers, but it did for the matches in this video.
00:00 - Battle #1
Type: Double Battle
Opponent: Ash
Battle Court: Battle Arena
Music: Battle Arena
My Pokémon: Mac (Mudsdale), Rosalyn (Roserade), Lamar (Aurorus), Paolo (Quaquaval)
Opponent’s Pokémon: Dragonite, Steelix, Lucario, Zoroark (Unovan)
I don’t get it. Zoroark is the fourth Pokémon selected here, meaning Illusion does not trigger at all and shows up in battle as itself. I brought along Rosalyn (Roserade) at the beginning to use Dazzling Gleam to scout out Zoroark in case it turns up at the beginning, but perhaps I am thinking too logically.
Definitely not one of those bots that people speak about though; it wouldn’t make sense for them to be in an Online Competition, and one sign of a bot is that they do not use Mega Evolution, but my opponent Mega Evolved their Steelix.
03:37 - Battle #2
Type: Double Battle
Opponent: Akai_Inazuma
Battle Court: Battle Arena
Music: Battle Arena
My Pokémon: Mac (Mudsdale), Rigel (Manectric), Lamar (Aurorus), Rosalyn (Roserade)
Opponent’s Pokémon: Rotom (Wash), Lucario, Arcanine (Hisuian), Farigiraf
Speaking of unusual last Pokémon, I am also used to seeing Farigiraf sent out at the start (though my own Farigiraf on Scarlet and Violet’s Safari Team would show up at the beginning, middle, or end), so it was weird seeing it as their last Pokémon. Mudsdale being an even slower Pokémon than Farigiraf might have made them apprehensive about sending it out, as Trick Room would give me the advantage, even if Mac (Mudsdale) got Burned at the start. They had a 3-win streak, so I take it they knew exactly what they were doing.
My opponent’s name may be a reference to Magic Knight Rayearth; its protagonist, Hikaru, has a signature move known as Akai Inazuma (an electric attack in an otherwise fire-oriented set of moves). I do not know if that is itself a reference to something else.
09:02 - Battle #3
Type: Double Battle
Opponent: jmql
Battle Court: Battle Arena
Music: Battle Arena
My Pokémon: Rigel (Manectric), Mac (Mudsdale), Lamar (Aurorus), Paolo (Quaquaval)
Opponent’s Pokémon: Incineroar, Charizard, Garchomp, Venusaur
Unfortunately for me, this was the team updated before it had better counters to Incineroar, so I had a less efficient way to deal with the Fake Out followed by the subsequent Parting Shot. That was a risky move to switch out to Garchomp though, relying on how Blizzard’s accuracy decreases in harsh sunlight. I did get lucky with Ancient Power’s boost activating; here’s the game being more efficient with stat boosts, showing the five stat boosts going off at once. I also got lucky again with Blizzard hitting both Pokémon (I had hoped for just Garchomp).
I wonder how it feels to have Incineroar as your last Pokémon and having already used up Fake Out. Intimidate has already happened, and you can’t use Fake Out or Parting Shot.
13:42 - Battle #4
Type: Double Battle
Opponent: Ghost
Battle Court: Battle Arena
Music: Battle Arena
My Pokémon: Rigel (Manectric), Mac (Mudsdale), Lamar (Aurorus), Paolo (Quaquaval)
Opponent’s Pokémon: Ninetales (Kantonian), Venusaur, Passimian, Charizard
The Battle Arena default music must be fixed during these Online Competitions, because I had my music set to Random. If I don’t forget to do so, I’ll check. I don’t know if I even have an option to change the music.
This time, not knowing who their Drought-setter is (they picked both), I chose Lamar (Aurorus) as the third Pokémon to be switched in after harsh sunlight goes up. I played on them both knowing Solar Beam so I can switch into him and make them have to spend a turn charging it up, and at half power. It is a risk switching into someone with a 4x weakness to Fighting when Passimian turned up though.
Also, facing two harsh sunlight teams in a row really gives a literal significance to the “warm-up” part of this competition’s name!
I finished with a rating of about 1,559, which put me at 15,417th overall when this battle was finished. That places me in the top 5% overall, and it remained that way even when the competition ended. I will likely not place quite so well next time.
I signed up for the first Online Competition for Pokémon Champions, the Warm-Up Challenge. This simply uses the double battle rules, and anyone who plays 3 or more matches gets Gardevoir and 1,000 VP. (You will still need to get Gardevoirite yourself if you plan to use Mega Gardevoir.) A mistake I made was registering too early, resulting in an earlier version of the Aurorus Team—yes, I’ve already made some revisions to this team, namely to better deal with Incineroar, harsh sunlight teams, and Archaludon and other Steel-types. You can most easily see this in how the notification for Stamina on Mac (Mudsdale) no longer triggers, but it did for the matches in this video.
00:00 - Battle #1
Type: Double Battle
Opponent: Ash
Battle Court: Battle Arena
Music: Battle Arena
My Pokémon: Mac (Mudsdale), Rosalyn (Roserade), Lamar (Aurorus), Paolo (Quaquaval)
Opponent’s Pokémon: Dragonite, Steelix, Lucario, Zoroark (Unovan)
I don’t get it. Zoroark is the fourth Pokémon selected here, meaning Illusion does not trigger at all and shows up in battle as itself. I brought along Rosalyn (Roserade) at the beginning to use Dazzling Gleam to scout out Zoroark in case it turns up at the beginning, but perhaps I am thinking too logically.
Definitely not one of those bots that people speak about though; it wouldn’t make sense for them to be in an Online Competition, and one sign of a bot is that they do not use Mega Evolution, but my opponent Mega Evolved their Steelix.
03:37 - Battle #2
Type: Double Battle
Opponent: Akai_Inazuma
Battle Court: Battle Arena
Music: Battle Arena
My Pokémon: Mac (Mudsdale), Rigel (Manectric), Lamar (Aurorus), Rosalyn (Roserade)
Opponent’s Pokémon: Rotom (Wash), Lucario, Arcanine (Hisuian), Farigiraf
Speaking of unusual last Pokémon, I am also used to seeing Farigiraf sent out at the start (though my own Farigiraf on Scarlet and Violet’s Safari Team would show up at the beginning, middle, or end), so it was weird seeing it as their last Pokémon. Mudsdale being an even slower Pokémon than Farigiraf might have made them apprehensive about sending it out, as Trick Room would give me the advantage, even if Mac (Mudsdale) got Burned at the start. They had a 3-win streak, so I take it they knew exactly what they were doing.
My opponent’s name may be a reference to Magic Knight Rayearth; its protagonist, Hikaru, has a signature move known as Akai Inazuma (an electric attack in an otherwise fire-oriented set of moves). I do not know if that is itself a reference to something else.
09:02 - Battle #3
Type: Double Battle
Opponent: jmql
Battle Court: Battle Arena
Music: Battle Arena
My Pokémon: Rigel (Manectric), Mac (Mudsdale), Lamar (Aurorus), Paolo (Quaquaval)
Opponent’s Pokémon: Incineroar, Charizard, Garchomp, Venusaur
Unfortunately for me, this was the team updated before it had better counters to Incineroar, so I had a less efficient way to deal with the Fake Out followed by the subsequent Parting Shot. That was a risky move to switch out to Garchomp though, relying on how Blizzard’s accuracy decreases in harsh sunlight. I did get lucky with Ancient Power’s boost activating; here’s the game being more efficient with stat boosts, showing the five stat boosts going off at once. I also got lucky again with Blizzard hitting both Pokémon (I had hoped for just Garchomp).
I wonder how it feels to have Incineroar as your last Pokémon and having already used up Fake Out. Intimidate has already happened, and you can’t use Fake Out or Parting Shot.
13:42 - Battle #4
Type: Double Battle
Opponent: Ghost
Battle Court: Battle Arena
Music: Battle Arena
My Pokémon: Rigel (Manectric), Mac (Mudsdale), Lamar (Aurorus), Paolo (Quaquaval)
Opponent’s Pokémon: Ninetales (Kantonian), Venusaur, Passimian, Charizard
The Battle Arena default music must be fixed during these Online Competitions, because I had my music set to Random. If I don’t forget to do so, I’ll check. I don’t know if I even have an option to change the music.
This time, not knowing who their Drought-setter is (they picked both), I chose Lamar (Aurorus) as the third Pokémon to be switched in after harsh sunlight goes up. I played on them both knowing Solar Beam so I can switch into him and make them have to spend a turn charging it up, and at half power. It is a risk switching into someone with a 4x weakness to Fighting when Passimian turned up though.
Also, facing two harsh sunlight teams in a row really gives a literal significance to the “warm-up” part of this competition’s name!
I finished with a rating of about 1,559, which put me at 15,417th overall when this battle was finished. That places me in the top 5% overall, and it remained that way even when the competition ended. I will likely not place quite so well next time.
