Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
So let’s begin with one of the first thoughts I had about Pokémon Winds and Waves: the first-partner Pokémon, Growt, Pombon, and Gecqua. Nothing against their designs, but we have previously had a Grass-type owl (or maybe it’s not an owl?), a Fire-type canine, and a Water-type lizard. That being said, I think Pombon is the very first first-partner Pokémon based on a dog—as much as people love to go by the idea that the Fire-types have been based on the eastern zodiac, they would do stuff like assign Fennekin as the dog (it’s based on a fox, which is not a dog).
At this early point though, there’s no telling what their final stages will look like—just that this time around, I feel like the base forms for all three had been done before. I don’t think they’re going to evolve into lookalikes of Decidueye, Delphox, and Inteleon, that much I’m certain.
Type: Double Battle
Opponent: Mitch
Battle Court: Naranja Academy/Uva Academy
Music: Kitakami Pokémon
My Pokémon: Zebstrika, Mightyena, Feraligatr, Hippowdon
Opponent’s Pokémon: Incineroar, Urshifu (Rapid Strike), Flutter Mane, Ogerpon (Hearthflame)
Since the last time I battled using the Safari Team, I made a few changes. One of them, seen right at the start, is thinking about how the Red Card hadn’t been working that well for me for Mightyena, who has both middling Speed and low Attack power. The original intent was to allow for Intimidate to work twice without me having to switch out manually, but it often resulted in my own plans going awry as Mightyena is sent out of battle before she could attack. As you can see, I’ve swapped it out with an Adrenaline Orb and readjusted her effort points to ensure she can outrun certain Pokémon after the Speed boost from it. This is a strategy designed specifically for Incineroar due to it being the most commonly seen species in Ranked, and thus, it also appears absurdly often in Casual as well.
On the other hand, Hard Press has been on Hippowdon since the start and was designed to defeat Flutter Mane. Might as well not bother with trying to outrun it. They already confirmed Focus Sash on Urshifu; Flutter Mane was guaranteed to have something else (Booster Energy, in this case).
The reason I used Ice Punch on Incineroar is that Incineroar is an obviously a bad matchup for Feraligatr, especially once it’s used up its Intimidate. With 3 Pokémon remaining on their side of the field, I expected them to switch out to something else—with two of the other three possible Pokémon being Rillaboom and Raging Bolt, both of whom resist Grass but are weak to Ice. I guessed wrong, and they chose to keep Incineroar. They picked Hearthflame Ogerpon though, who is a bigger risk to an incoming Water attack (though not more so than Incineroar, but losing a turn from switching in would have been a major risk for something frail like her).
So let’s begin with one of the first thoughts I had about Pokémon Winds and Waves: the first-partner Pokémon, Growt, Pombon, and Gecqua. Nothing against their designs, but we have previously had a Grass-type owl (or maybe it’s not an owl?), a Fire-type canine, and a Water-type lizard. That being said, I think Pombon is the very first first-partner Pokémon based on a dog—as much as people love to go by the idea that the Fire-types have been based on the eastern zodiac, they would do stuff like assign Fennekin as the dog (it’s based on a fox, which is not a dog).
At this early point though, there’s no telling what their final stages will look like—just that this time around, I feel like the base forms for all three had been done before. I don’t think they’re going to evolve into lookalikes of Decidueye, Delphox, and Inteleon, that much I’m certain.
Type: Double Battle
Opponent: Mitch
Battle Court: Naranja Academy/Uva Academy
Music: Kitakami Pokémon
My Pokémon: Zebstrika, Mightyena, Feraligatr, Hippowdon
Opponent’s Pokémon: Incineroar, Urshifu (Rapid Strike), Flutter Mane, Ogerpon (Hearthflame)
Since the last time I battled using the Safari Team, I made a few changes. One of them, seen right at the start, is thinking about how the Red Card hadn’t been working that well for me for Mightyena, who has both middling Speed and low Attack power. The original intent was to allow for Intimidate to work twice without me having to switch out manually, but it often resulted in my own plans going awry as Mightyena is sent out of battle before she could attack. As you can see, I’ve swapped it out with an Adrenaline Orb and readjusted her effort points to ensure she can outrun certain Pokémon after the Speed boost from it. This is a strategy designed specifically for Incineroar due to it being the most commonly seen species in Ranked, and thus, it also appears absurdly often in Casual as well.
On the other hand, Hard Press has been on Hippowdon since the start and was designed to defeat Flutter Mane. Might as well not bother with trying to outrun it. They already confirmed Focus Sash on Urshifu; Flutter Mane was guaranteed to have something else (Booster Energy, in this case).
The reason I used Ice Punch on Incineroar is that Incineroar is an obviously a bad matchup for Feraligatr, especially once it’s used up its Intimidate. With 3 Pokémon remaining on their side of the field, I expected them to switch out to something else—with two of the other three possible Pokémon being Rillaboom and Raging Bolt, both of whom resist Grass but are weak to Ice. I guessed wrong, and they chose to keep Incineroar. They picked Hearthflame Ogerpon though, who is a bigger risk to an incoming Water attack (though not more so than Incineroar, but losing a turn from switching in would have been a major risk for something frail like her).
