Who Kyle Livinghouse is
Kyle Livinghouse, who plays as Animus, is no newcomer. When he took the title in Puebla, Victory Road recalled that he won the Knoxville Regional in 2020, made Top 8 at the North America International Championships and the final in Hartford in 2019, and has reached Worlds Top 64 twice.
In Pokémon Champions he had already won a Victory Road online tournament in May, according to Limitless, and finished 71st in Baltimore, the first Regional of the season. In Puebla he finished 13-2 and beat Renzo Navarro, who ended with the same record, in the final.
The team
Limitless and Pokémon Zone list all six: Whimsicott, Garchomp, Kingambit, Sneasler, Charizard with Charizardite Y and Froslass with Froslassite. When we wrote about his win we had not yet been able to confirm the other four; now we have.
The only Pokémon whose full set we have seen is Froslass: Froslassite, Timid nature, which raises Speed, and Blizzard, Aurora Veil, Shadow Ball and Protect. We do not give the items and moves of the rest because we could not check them.
Whimsicott: the Tailwind that comes first
Whimsicott is Grass and Fairy type, with 116 base Speed, and its ability Prankster gives +1 priority to status moves. With it, its Tailwind goes before almost any attack and doubles its side's Speed for four turns, counting the turn it is used.
Prankster has a limit: its status moves fail against Dark-type opponents such as Kingambit or Incineroar. Tailwind is not affected, since it targets its own side, but moves like Encore or Taunt are if it runs them.
With the wind up, the team no longer depends on its exact Speed. The table shows the highest Speed each one can have, with a Speed-raising nature and 32 stat points in it; we do not know how much Livinghouse invested in each Pokémon.
| Pokémon | Base Speed | Maximum | With Tailwind |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mega Froslass | 120 | 189 | 378 |
| Sneasler | 120 | 189 | 378 |
| Whimsicott | 116 | 184 | 368 |
| Garchomp | 102 | 169 | 338 |
| Mega Charizard Y | 100 | 167 | 334 |
| Kingambit | 50 | 112 | 224 |
Garchomp, Kingambit and Sneasler: the damage
Garchomp, Kingambit and Sneasler are the team's physical attackers and cover different opponents. Kingambit, Dark and Steel type, takes a lot of hits and punishes Intimidate if it has Defiant; Sneasler, Fighting and Poison type, is one of the fastest in the format.
The catch is Earthquake, which hits the three Pokémon around Garchomp, its partner included. Charizard is immune as a Flying type and Whimsicott, a Grass type, resists it; Froslass takes neutral damage, and Kingambit and Sneasler take double. Garchomp fits best next to Charizard or Whimsicott, or with a partner that uses Protect that turn. This is our reading based on types, not something the player has explained.
What you can copy
The core idea is simple: speed control that comes first and two Megas that set different weathers, so you choose at team preview which one to bring based on the opponent. With the opponent's sheet in front of you, the Mega is the first decision: sun against Kingambit and rain teams, snow against Garchomp, Rillaboom and Salamence.
To play it you need to know Tailwind and weather turns well, as they do not always line up: the wind lasts four turns and the weather five. In the calculator you can test how much damage each attack does in sun or snow and with doubled Speed.
