The event
The Puebla Regional was played on October 24-25 with around 330 players, according to Liquipedia. Kyle Livinghouse beat Renzo Navarro, the 2021 Players Cup IV champion, in the final, and Mexico's Arthur Mosca reached the semifinals.
It is the fifth Regional of the season under Reg M-C, after Baltimore, Recife, Louisville and Nice, and the fifth won by a weather team.
| Placing | Player | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kyle Livinghouse | United States |
| 2 | Renzo Navarro | Peru |
| Semifinals | Arthur Mosca | Mexico |
Two Megas, two weathers
Victory Road describes Livinghouse's team by its two Megas, Charizard Y and Froslass. The other four were Whimsicott, Garchomp, Kingambit and Sneasler, as we cover in the article on his team.
Bringing two Megas does not let you use both at once: only one Pokémon Mega Evolves per battle. The advantage is choosing at team preview which one comes out depending on the opponent, as Louis Fontvieille did in Nice with Golisopod and Raichu X. Here, on top of that, each Mega brings its own weather, so the player decides every game whether to play with sun or with snow.
What Mega Froslass brings
Mega Froslass is Ice and Ghost, with 140 base Special Attack and 120 base Speed, and it has Snow Warning: it sets snow when it Mega Evolves. With a Speed-boosting nature and 32 stat points in Speed it reaches 189 Speed, the same as Sneasler without Unburden.
Snow deals no damage, but it changes three things. Blizzard, with 110 power, hits both opponents and never misses. Aurora Veil, which can only be used in snow, cuts the damage your side takes for five turns (in doubles, to about two thirds). And Ice-type Pokémon, like Froslass, get 50% more Defense.
| Stat | Mega Charizard Y | Mega Froslass |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Fire and Flying | Ice and Ghost |
| Ability | Drought (sun) | Snow Warning (snow) |
| Base Special Attack | 159 | 140 |
| Base Speed | 100 | 120 |
| Weak to | Water, Electric; Rock four times over | Fire, Rock, Steel, Ghost and Dark |
Sun or snow: when to bring each one
The two Megas cover different opponents, and that is the point of the team. Froslass's Blizzard hits Rillaboom for double damage and Garchomp and Salamence for four times the damage, three Pokémon you see a lot in the format. And Froslass does not fear Sneasler: it is immune to its Fighting attacks and resists its Poison ones.
Charizard Y, on the other hand, punishes Kingambit and other Steel types, which hit Froslass for double damage, and its sun wipes out opposing rain on the turn it Mega Evolves. This is our own reading based on the typings, not something the player has explained.
And since both set their weather when they Mega Evolve, both share the advantage we explain in the article on weather wars: on the turn they Mega Evolve, their weather beats any other weather set on entry.
What changes for Gdańsk
Snow joins the list of winning weathers. For the Gdańsk Regional, on October 31 and November 1, it is worth having an answer to Mega Froslass: Fire, Rock, Steel, Ghost and Dark attacks hit it for double damage, and Incineroar, with its two types, hits it hard with both.
It is also worth remembering that a freeze from Blizzard is short in Champions: the Pokémon is guaranteed to thaw by its third turn at the latest. What makes Froslass dangerous is the damage of a move that never misses and hits both opponents.
On the tournaments page you can see the teams from the Regionals and from this week's online tournaments, to check whether snow starts to catch on.
