I'd love to see analysis like "how to counter best pokemon of the current meta" as well as the "monkey punches hard" stuff

Opponent: *makes a bad play* Aaron: "Fairly ambitious"

Really glad Mankey’s evo line got some love it deserves it

As a first time PvP player, I still struggle with knowing when and how to switch Pokemon effectively. Watching how you played game 1 was like a masterclass in that. These videos are very useful, I reached rank 10 last night mostly thanks to what I learned from you ☺

Would love a video explaining how people EV their pokemon. So used to just Max Atk/Max Speed, but then getting such weird EV combos --- would love to hear what goes on through top VGC players heads when their making their spreads! Been loving all the uploads too!

I was your opponent in the second battle! You were my first opponent after hitting master ball. I was super nervous and made a bunch of mistakes that battle. Turn 1 I was worried about final gambit that’s why I made the switch into gholdengo and you were right about the fact I was worried about anhillape living a dark pulse. The Rotom barely living twice was a heart break haha. I’ve been watching since the X and Y days. It was so awesome to finally battle the person that taught me how to play VGC in the first place. GG’s man ❤

No way! I was looking for a bulk up Annilhilape for my team and used this exact set. Can't wait to watch you teach me how to use it.

Chilling Reception is my new favorite. It gives Slowking (not bro) the slow switch move it lost in Teleport, but most of all, as a lover of puns, summoning hail with a bad joke is just really funny to me. I have yet to successfully use the move though.

My favourite cross gen evolution, these really help the old mons keep up with powercreep.

I never really watched competitive Pokémon since alpha sapphire and you’re by far the most entertaining and the tips you add make it even better.

Holy crap haven’t watched your channel in a bit glad to see the consistency and your channel is flourishing. Gen 9 seems to be very popular and a lot of channels are eating, keep it up

I tried out revival blessing yesterday and it’s actually better than I expected :D Great Video, as always! I will definitely try out this team. I have been trying out a lot of different teams at the moment just to get to know the new Pokémon. Don’t care as much about my score. So thank you for your great team suggestions :)

The only KZfaq channel that I enable notification. Keep up the good content Aaron 👍

in two more years i will have been subbed for a decade. Thanks for the video Aaron!

I love tera blast ! Its making tera format very scary not knowing what tera the opponent have. Awsome video to watch while farming the ace tournament :)

Started getting back into VGC because of all the new strategies but is has been SUPER hard to navigate. My job requires me to travel a lot so I've been listening to your analysis through my 8 hour drives. Thank you so much for your content, videos are always simple, clean, and overall just fun to listen to, and I've been able to get up a couple of ranks because of them! Keep it up!

QOTD: I particularly enjoy Flower Trick. It has great competitive viability and the animation is, to borrow a classic Aaron phrase, sick. 😁

Hi Aaron, thanks a lot for the video. After watching so much content I could finnaly muster some courage and face ranked ladder. It went surprisingly well as the sheer amount of knowledge I could absorb on new pokemon and sets from you really carried me. I went 11-4 on the first day using that featured Palafin team. Maybe one day I will be able to reach Master Ball rank and eventually face you. Thanks a lot, once again! ❤️

Such a great video, I've struggled to find videos as consise as yours so it's very appreciated.

Bro the content you put out is insane once I finish one video a new one appears keep it up!!

I like watching these battles... I have never been a pro battle person in all my years of playing pokemon. But listening to the breakdown and knowing the opponents possible tactics or sets shows me how crazy the battles are

The music +your voice is hella soothing , great content bro keep it up !

That team the opponent had in Game 4 was really cool

Early enough to say thanks for the videos. As a newbie its encouraging to see a player who is a good sportsman.

these daily uploads give me so much life

I really like how you upload at 11pm pst since it’s exactly when I open KZfaq to watch videos on my phone before bed.

I like the idea of speedy Corviknight. It's like Murkrow but with some proper bulk, plus you can taunt dark types.

I have inherited your ability to analyze the enemy team using every last second of the selection timer to ensure the highest probability of a victory. Thank you my lord.

I just subscribed a week ago and have been loving your vids. Would love to see a team centered around Dudunsparce since it gets that crazy new move that cuts through protect! Shed tail and revival blessing would be cool to see too. Keep up these great vids!

Really fun seeing Annihilape do something other than Final Gambit turn one even though that's what I do lmao.

I really appreciate that you can miss a Thunder Wave and get crit and still say you got lucky with a full paralysis. I have a bad habit of getting tilted after missing 90+% accuracy moves

It's always interesting to see how long it takes for people to adopt new stuff because they get so much value utilizing the experience they have using older, existing strategies. The odds you will see a team with only one Gen 9 mon on it dominating in 6 months is pretty low. Not a bad thing, just always an interesting time. People show up and get big results using ol' faithful while everyone else is still figuring out the currently-uncharted waters.

QPTD: I love the addition of make it rain ☔

Bulk up annihilape is the overall superior set imo, final gambit is just quick and easy tech

QOTD: My favorite new move this gen is Ceruledge's signature move, Bitter Blade! I love how Ceruledge's whole body lights up in blue flames, as it slashes the opponent with its blades!

Hey man great content best vgc videos right now. Hope you get your current sub goals

My new favorite move is salt cure, i know that it’s basic but i find interesting how it deals more damage to water and steel types, i won like 10 games thanks to salt cure 😂

Primeape literally became so angry that it just died

I just started using this rental team, then I noticed this video with annihilape and now I get to learn how to properly use this

Idk if it happens everytime but i find it funny everytime your opponent throws out their mon they do a little spin after throwing the ball.

Good old morning routine, watching cybertron and doing good things for the KZfaq algorithm!

"Man literally too angry to die"

another banger cybertron vid to watch just before bed

i love the move last respects. ive never used houndstone, but i love the idea of accumulating damage on a move and avenging your teammates. i also love the name its so cool. def needs a nerf, maybe adding less damage to the move per eliminated teammate.

I love Annnihlape, mines the star of my own play through. So cool that he’s a great mon.

QOTD: flower trick for sure. the animation is just too good!

Very impressive performance from the monke! If you could, I think a team building guide for this meta would be really cool where you maybe build a sample team while you explain and use it for an episode of road to ranked would be cool. I remember you did a team building guide at the beginning of Gen 7 that was very informative

Very clean and tidy videos. Good job Aaron.

QOTD: Make It Rain. The conventional idea of making it rain has always been with cash bills, but using coins instead is a funny twist that deals ridiculous damage

Population bomb so far is my favorite. Mausholds design is one of my favorites as well.

I've been running trick room revival blessing telepathy Rabsca with Tera water adaptability Dragalge using surf, and it has been tearing things apart. Being able to instantly revive big hitters under trick room is fantastic.

Finally bulk up ape is getting some more attention! I've been telling people you get more use out of bulky ape over the one use final gambit set.

Hope Piplup is having a good day

Aaron: "I've made a mistake" - still wins against a hard match up, having forgotten loads of things... how...

Rotom really put on game 2 with that 1 HP hang on. What a winner & an OG.

QOTD: Armor Cannon, without question. Every time I see that animation I'm filled with a sort of juvenile glee

I really like this team I was gonna try and take the core and improve and make it my own but this team is so well thought out I can’t find anything to change

thanks for the good break down

Torch song is my favorite move so far. It's power-up punch but better.

My favorite new move in context is probably Population Bomb because it’s so funny but my favorite new move as a concept is Chilly Reception

Rotom-Wash has been one of my GOATs during this meta with all these Gholdengo/Garchomp/Hydreigon/Murkrows flying around. Hell, it brought me to Master Ball rank yesterday. It's always way more bulky than one expects, and it also just eats Gholdengo make it rains for breakfast while dealing respectable damage back. Albeit I run mine with Discharge for the Discharge/Earthquake memes when paired with Garchomp. But I've been meaning to make it fire tera and give it tera blast like this one. As for the QOTD: I really like Salt Cure for the simple reason that they put a move that deals extra damage onto two of the types that deal super effective damage to Garganacl back at those types being water and steel, it creates a cool dynamic of "You can kill my Garganacl, but at what cost?", especially if you want to run the cheeky set of having your garganacl feint and you bring in a bulky Gothorita to shadow tag them and force damage to be taken.

I really like Aqua Step just because it looks so cool

Maybe this could be a fun idea where you take fun / gimmick teams into some PvP (maybe not ranked lol) Example could be a paradox team or something you've always wanted to try in PvP 🤷🏾‍♂️😅

Hey all, a buddy and I are trying to put together a very casual, VGC Team that share a discord. In the discord members of the team could set up spars, share battle teams and meta knowledge, along with pooling together VGC ready mons for creating battle teams. Anybody that’s interested should reach out via DM or in the comments!

Really enjoying your videos!

my fav new move is Bitter Blade, mainly because Ceruledge is just such a cool Pokemon

QOTD: Absolutely love Flower Trick. I've always been a fan of tricksters, jesters, and shady magicians, so Meowscarada is one of my favorite new mons, and it's signature move is just downright overpowered when used effectively. Grass/Dark may hold it back, and tons will complain about it standing, but I love em to death. It was my first gen 9 shiny too!

Terra Steel Hat is hilarious 😂

Wave Crash. Swift Swim Floatzel is actually nutty right now. I reccomend getting in on it early

I think Flower trick was such a necessary move to add in the same Gen with Dondozo haha

kinda surprised i'm not seeing many setups like the old lucario + beat up setup but with annihalape.

Annihilape has been my ace mon from beginning

When April Fools comes around, I want nothing to change but Piplup to be the one on camera in your seat 😂

QOTD: Mine's also Shed Tail. I love value moves and Shed Tail is like the absolute pinnacle of value, especially combined with Regenerator Cyclizar.

I had an idea yesterday with Pin Missle Jolteon/Scarf Annihilape, Jolteon is one of the fastest mons in the format, and Jolly/Scarf Annihilape only needs 84 Speed EVs to get to Jolteon speed (Jolt 200/Ape 199). Self Pin Missle and boost Rage Fist. Just need a way to beat tailwind. Thought maybe Quick Feet/Flame Orb/T-Wave Jolteon? Possibly Quash Sableye… any suggestions?

Now we need a tropius evo next. Too bad it couldn’t be in the dlc but maybe next gen

So happy primeape got an evo, I'd use it even if it wasn't busted Also really happy more people are building bulk up variants vs gambit, I tried my hand at making a similar team with arcanine, grimmsnarl, amoongus, kilowattrel, gengar, and annihilape, and seeing a bit of a more optimized version of that team is really nice. Was having a lot of trouble getting arcanine to make an impact and to do damage outside of kilo/ape. Especially glad the haze Gengar was something I was actually right about being good, since I was worried I would have to cut it from the team for lack of synergy, but the holes were in other places really. Kilowattrel was basically my answer to murkrow and setup mons like gyarados, being a fast tailwind user that could threaten an OHKO and do a lot of damage to other threats like unaware dondozo before being taken out and I thought with all that speed and frailty I needed arcanine/amoongus support so there was no room for gar. Also kinda got destroyed by skeledirge teams if I couldn't remove it immediately, lol.

It's really sad to see how many people ive seen over multiple vgc videos default to rental teams and then immediately play it poorly due to an improper understanding of the teams basic mechanics and synergies. I've seen everything from multiple failed prankster taunts in fron of indeedee's, total disregard for obvious game winning plays, to self ko's frok not understanding how teratypes work. Though the last one could be forgiven for the freshness of the mechanic. The fact that Aaron can recite his opponents sets by heart show both what a phenomenal player he is and how common it is to run into this on the ladder.

I've been considering a beat up maushold Annhilape team. Self beat up to activate weakness policy, and ultra boost up Rage Fist. (3 hits puts Rage fist at 200 BP and you'd be at +2 attack (+3 if annhilape were intimidated)). Need to get it put together. This will be my first time getting into VGC and really looking forward to trying out some more niche strats!

It’s just insane that primeape evolves because it got so mad that it died😂

QOTD: Favorite move is definitely Gigaton Hammer. Tinkaton's attack stat is pretty underwhelming, but it's probably to balance this move. A giant BONK is just hilarious and was fun to use during the story. Not sure if Tinkaton will be that viable but hopefully we'll see it featured eventually!

I like Flower Trick because it always crits

I've been testing AV Magnezone with terra fire and having some success. He's a pretty good counter to all the gholdengo's and torkals running around.

I’ve been using this exact same rental team todayXD been having a lot of good matches

I've been eyeing how to put together a Bulk Up Annihilape. Since most of them are Scarf Gambit seems like it can catch people pretty off guard.

Is Thunder Wave generally preferable to Parting Shot on Grimmsnarl? Or is it dependent on the team? Also, I’ve been using the Garganacl team from before the rules came out and am loving it, I’ve swapped the legendary for Farigiraf as a means of protecting the team from stuff like Murkrow using Taunt. However I find that I almost never use Gastrodon and would much rather have that slot for something else. Is there a better option?

Master rank 547? Very nice sir I’m 31-28 in ultra man the grind is real 25:55

Bulk Up Annihilape sounds scary... Thankfully I have some ways around that. Namely, Weakness Police + Stored Power Armarouge and Foul Play Murkow.

Population bomb has gotta be my fav, but revival blessing has the potential to be the coolest

Small feedback: I miss having the team rental screen at the very beginning before diving into each Mon

A team Id really like to see is a kingambit team or maybe a ceruledge team. I really enjoy the content!

One way I could see use for Revival Blessing is to run it with Final Gambit Annilhilape Trade one mon T1, bring in Pawmot, next turn use the threat of Fake Out to Revival Blessing instead

swap protect for taunt and this is basically the exact ape set used in smogon OU.

Thx for the video! Always learn a lot from your content! Keep up the good work! One question though, why bring Clear Amulet anyway? I don't find it useful seeing these Pokemon Scarlet/Violet VGC Battles series

I’ve been doing this build since I first bought the game because I thought he looked funny

The bulky rage fist set is funny cuz you're spending most of the time using other moves to scale up rage fist that you hardly ever use the payoff from your 200+ power rage fist lol

This might be too niche to actually have any value, but have you thought about tera steel or rock on annihilape + self population bomb to activate rage fist?

Against the player who used Markus’ team, what are your thoughts on Tera Fire Hatterene? It matches pretty nicely against Gholdengo, Hydreigon and Garchomp + Magic Bounce is very nice against status and prankster Taunt?

QOTD: Even though it hasn’t had any appearance: Revival Blessing, imagine the one Pokémon that didn’t get to shine or realize that late game it can be useful now you can revive in the middle of battle

Let's go! More comp. content