Trick Room Dominates Pokémon VGC Vancouver Regional 2025 - Recap and Meta Usage
Another Pokémon event is in the books, and some interesting meta changes were hitting just in time for the 2025 Vancouver Regionals.
Running on March 8 and 9, the Vancouver Regionals saw top Pokémon VGC, Pokémon TCG, and Pokémon Go players gather at the Vancouver Convention Center to compete for Championship Points and glory. As a result, we saw another major tournament running Regulation G and highlighting some of the strongest Pokémon and team cores in the current meta.
Even though the featured Pokémon largely stayed the same, there were some changes in usage rates for Pokémon at the top of the leaderboard.
2025 Pokémon Vancouver Regionals - Pokémon VGC Usage and Meta
Meta tracker VGC Data reported that Urshifu (Rapid-Strike) actually saw an uptick in usage despite already being the most dominant unrestricted Pokémon in the current format. It was featured on 78 of 150 top teams entered into the Vancouver Regionals, sitting on over 60 percent of all squads for day two.
For comparison, that is slightly more top representation by percentage for Urshifu (Rapid-Strike) compared to its usage at the larger European International Championships in February.
Using VGC Data’s more specific, top performing roster data, Ammongus and Calyrex (Ice Rider) were the other two big winners in Vancouver, jumping from 31.6 percent and 18.2 percent overall usage to 36 percent and 25.3 percent respectively.
Meanwhile, Incineroar and Rillaboom saw the largest dips in usage while still remaining heavily relevant. Incineroar dropped almost a full 10 percent to 24 percent usage in the top cut, while Rillaboom fell to 22 percent usage and out of the top six non-restriced Pokémon.
The team that ultimately won the tournament for Behzad Muntazir was a classic Reg G speed control core, using Indeedee to assist with Trick Room and Helping Hand, along with a hard-hitting yet supportive Roaring Moon with Tailwind. Lunala was featured as a rising restricted pick on day two and Behzad’s squad, along with meta staples Urshifu (Rapid-Strike,) Ogerpon (Hearthflame,) and Landorus (Incarnate.)
Related Article: Pokémon GO Vancouver Regional 2025: Best Teams, Meta Changes & Winning Strategies
Behzad managed to win the event using his dual-core team in a 2-0 victory over Alejandro Terrazas’ Trick Room/Sun lineup that featured Indeedee, Hatterene, Gallade, and Calyrex (Ice Rider) all running Trick Room alongside a support Smeargle and Choice Specs Toarkoal.
Both teams included at least one Pokémon outside of the top 10 most used in either category, with Terrazas actually using only a single top 10 option in Calyrex (Ice Rider.) Here is the full event breakdown for Pokémon usage on day one and two of the Vancouver Regionals as posted by the official Play! Pokémon channel.
2025 Pokémon Vancouver Regionals - Most Used Pokémon Day 1
Top 12 Unrestricted
Pokémon | Usage | Pokémon | Usage |
|---|---|---|---|
Urshifu (Rapid-Strike) | 49.1% | Iron Hands | 21.3% |
Incineroar | 32.5% | Ogerpon (Hearthflame) | 21.3% |
Amoongus | 27% | Farigiraf | 19.2% |
Flutter Mane | 25.4% | Chien-Pao | 19% |
Rillaboom | 24.9% | Whimsicott | 19% |
Raging Bolt | 23% | Landerous (Incarnate) | 17.1% |
Top 8 Restricted
Pokémon | Usage | Pokémon | Usage |
|---|---|---|---|
Miraidon | 18% | Koraidon | 9.7% |
Calyrex (Ice Rider) | 17.3% | Kyogre | 9.5% |
Calyrex (Shadow Rider) | 13% | Terapagos | 6.6% |
Zamazenta | 12.1% | Groudon | 3.1% |
Day one didn't see many surprises popping up in the restricted or unrestricted usage rates. Almost every Pokémon featured in both categories has remained a staple throughout Regulation G with only slight fluctuation as some strategies are changed around for each event.
2025 Pokémon Vancouver Regionals - Most Used Pokémon Day 2
Top 12 Unrestricted
Pokémon | Usage | Pokémon | Usage |
|---|---|---|---|
Urshifu (Rapid-Strike) | 60.7% | Ogerpon (Cornerstone) | 19.7% |
Amoongus | 41% | Chien-Pao | 18% |
Incineroar | 36.1% | Ogerpon (Hearthflame) | 18% |
Rillaboom | 29.5% | Chi-Yu | 16.4% |
Raging Bolt | 26.2% | Farigiraf | 16.4% |
Flutter Mane | 21.3% | Landerous (Incarnate) | 14.8% |
You can see both Chi-Yu and Ogerpon (Cornerstone) jump into the top 12, though only one team featuring both of those Pokémon made it into the top eight. And, while Whimsicott did fall out of the top 12, three different teams using the support Pokémon made it that far too.
Iron Hands saw the largest drop off, with only one team featuring the Paradox Pokémon making it into the top 16.
Top 8 Restricted
Pokémon | Usage | Pokémon | Usage |
|---|---|---|---|
Calyrex (Ice Rider) | 24.6% | Kyogre | 8.2% |
Calyrex (Shadow Rider) | 18% | Koraidon | 6.6% |
Zamazenta | 13.1% | Terapagos | 6.6% |
Miraidon | 11.5% | Lunala | 3.3% |
Miraidon saw a massive dip on day two and only appeared on one team in the top eight. Lunala snuck onto the chart as Groudon was run out of the top placements, leading to the Alolan Legendary Pokémon winning its first major in any Scarlet and Violet VGC event.
2025 Pokémon Vancouver Regionals - Full Results
If you missed the event, here is a look at who won each event in the Masters division at the Pokémon Vancouver Regionals. If you want a full list of other winners, you can visit the official Play! Pokémon website.
Pokémon VGC Vancouver Regionals 2025 Results
Placement (Out of 426) | Player |
|---|---|
First | Behzad Muntazir |
Second | Alejandro Terrazas |
Third | Alex Qian |
Fifth | Ian Holdeman |
Pokémon TCG Vancouver Regionals 2025 Results
Placement (Out of 1,314) | Player |
|---|---|
First | Andrew Hedrick |
Second | Lucas Xing |
Third | Le Bui |
Fifth | Abaan Ahmed |
Pokémon Go Vancouver Regionals 2025 Results
Related Article: Reis2Occasion Wins Pokémon GO Vancouver Regional 2025 - Full Recap, Usage Rates and more
Placement (Out of 119) | Player |
|---|---|
First | Reis2Occasion |
Second | HaydonusActual |
Third | Doonebug97 |
Fourth | SsThorn |
Fifth | NiteTimeClasher |
Seventh | Zimmykid |
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