Seattle Whimsicott Feature

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Whimsicott is an incredible support Pokémon with a diverse supporting movepool and Prankster, which make up for its lackluster stats. Historically, it has been paired with offensive behemoths like Miraidon (2024 World Champion Luca Ceribelli used Whimsicott + Miraidon) to fully use its support capabilities in the SV era, but it has been a key supportive piece for many strategies since its introduction in Generation 5, where it performed as a partner for Terrakion with Beat Up. During Gen 8, Whimsicott's role changed dramatically with the introduction of dynamic Speed, which made it an excellent Tailwind setter, and its toolkit started to include Switcheroo at times to force a harmful item, such as Iron Ball or Eject Button, onto a Dynamaxed foe. In Regulation F, Whimsicott's tools aren't as appreciated by its less powerful comrades, but it has started to gain popularity on certain aggressive compositions.

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Hyper offense takes the Seattle Regional Championships, showcasing the offensive metagame of the NA region. Carson St. Denis uses a team featuring Gholdengo and Regidrago as the main offensive core, similar to a team popularized by Shiliang and Justin Tang, as the pairing can take out their respective counters. Whimsicott provides speed control with Tailwind, being used over Tornadus because its typing matches up far better into the popular Raging Bolt, and it has Light Screen for damage control, which can allow Gholdengo to set up Nasty Plot more easily and take hits from the likes of Flutter Mane, Landorus, and Chi-Yu. Light Screen also bolsters Regidrago's natural bulk, allowing its Dragon Energy to remain relevant for longer. Incineroar on this team benefits from Whimsicott doing well into Raging Bolt, which lets it use Tera Water as a generally good defensive typing. Incineroar also holds Assault Vest to allow more offensive investment and to have a better matchup into opposing Gholdengo and Flutter Mane. Urshifu-R and Ogerpon-C round out a Fire / Water / Grass defensive core. Urshifu-R can take advantage of Tailwind turns via Unseen Fist breaking through Protect; opposing teams can't safely stall out Tailwind with Urshifu-R on the field. Meanwhile, Ogerpon-C's Sturdy allows for offensive investment while retaining survivability, and Rock-type coverage is hard to come by in this metagame. With Incineroar's Fire-type coverage, this offensive combination lures in Dragon-types for Regidrago and Gholdengo to sweep through. Both Urshifu-R and Ogerpon-C can remove a common roadblock for Gholdengo in opposing Incineroar. Notable results include Liam Saroca's T128 finish and of course, Carson St. Denis taking home the trophy.

Cade Bowles uses Whimsicott and Terrakion, a combination that has been seen throughout the generations, as Beat Up can make Justified activate multiple times in a single turn. This team has Whimsicott hold Covert Cloak and Terrakion use Tera Ghost and Upper Hand to stop Fake Out, completely preventing Incineroar from being useful against the team. Basculegion-M is an interesting choice on this team, using Focus Sash to survive many common attacks in the metagame that are super effective against it, like Shadow Ball from Flutter Mane, Grassy Glide from Rillaboom, and Thunderclap from Raging Bolt. Tera Ghost on Basculegion-M allows Last Respects to do a lot of damage, and with Fighting-type coverage already provided by Terrakion, Basculegion's Ghost-type offense is appreciated over Urshifu-R's Close Combat, justifying it over Urshifu-R as the usual partner for Ogerpon-H. Raging Bolt takes on the role of the powerful Dragon-type attacker, trading Regidrago's power for the flexibility and support of Electroweb. Galarian Moltres outputs high spread damage and is able to cover Pokémon that resist Terrakion's Rock Slide, such as Gholdengo, Iron Crown, and both Urshifu formes. To make up for the lack of teammates resistant to Flutter Mane's Fairy-type attacks, Galarian Moltres uses Tera Steel with Tera Blast to take a hit from and OHKO Flutter Mane. Cade Bowles uses this team to get top 128 at Seattle, with Whimsicott supporting a unique squad.

On this team, Whimsicott uses its excellent Fake Tears support to bolster a special offense barrage, with Focus Sash Tera Water Urshifu-R being the only physical attacker on the team. Indeedee-F notably uses a set with no attacking moves, instead valuing Imprison because the team is weak to common Trick Room attackers such as Ursaluna. Regidrago and Chi-Yu are used on this team for their terrifying special offense, with Regidrago able to take advantage of Iron Crown removing Fairy-types with Tachyon Cutter. Chi-Yu especially uses a highly aggressive Life Orb Tera Fire set, as Tera Fire Overheat can OHKO most opposing Urshifu-R. Having both Whimsicott and Indeedee-F on the same team comes with the downside that Whimsicott's Prankster moves won't work on opposing grounded Pokémon while Psychic Terrain is up, but this can be worked around by utilizing Whimsicott's support first then bringing Indeedee-F later. Estefan Luna makes the top 128 with this special attacking onslaught of a team, with Whimsicott contributing even more firepower in the form of Fake Tears.

Whimsicott plays an integral role on these teams, with two different sets used. Jason Delgadillo uses Sunny Day as the last move after the mandatory Tailwind, Encore, and Moonblast. Rohan Muthukumar, meanwhile, uses a Focus Sash on Whimsicott rather than the usual Covert Cloak, taking advantage of the fact that Psychic Terrain dissuades Fake Out and running Endeavor to reduce foes' HP to ranges where they can easily be picked off, utilizing Whimsicott's great natural Speed. Notably, Endeavor is not blocked by Psychic Terrain, making it a more consistent support option. On both of these teams, Iron Crown and Indeedee-F are paired with a Choice Band Urshifu-S, which takes advantage of Iron Crown dissuading Fairy-types from coming to the battle. For Urshifu-S's Tera type, Jason Delgadillo uses Tera Dark, as Jason is able to use Ogerpon-H and Flutter Mane to exploit the sun set up by Whimsicott and counter opposing Flutter Mane. On the other hand, Rohan Muthukumar uses Tera Steel, as opting for Incineroar and Ogerpon-W to round out the team leaves Rohan with only a single Pokémon resistant to Flutter Mane's Fairy-type attacks.

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Whimsicott's niche on hyper offense teams has become more prevalent in Regulation F, whether that be through providing Light Screen support and being a reliable Raging Bolt answer to give more leeway to teams that would otherwise be all in, or using its vast array of disruption and support options to allow even more unstoppable offense.

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