Type: Single Battle
Opponent: PK
Battle Court: Naranja Academy/Uva Academy
Music: Tera Raid Battle
My Pokémon: Zoroark (Hisuian), Trevenant, Dusknoir
Opponent’s Pokémon: Skeledirge, Annihilape, Houndstone
All three of the Pokémon my opponent used were pretty popular selections for this competition. Skeledirge was a particularly popular choice, likely because it’s a starter Pokémon native to this region, and so lots of people would readily have one available to bring into this event. Coincidentially, “Trick Magic” was held on the first weekend of November, when the Day of the Dead celebrations are held (so as to avoid having them on school nights and, for many people, work nights), though officially, the day itself is on November 1st. Skeledirge is based in part on Mexican icons of this holiday, such as its head resembling a sugar skull, the bright coloration resembling an alebrije, and the markings on its underbelly resembling a mariachi suit.
Annihilape is a general go-to Pokémon for competitive battling due to the insane power Rage Fist can achieve, as well as a type combination resisted only by Hisuian Zoroark (who, of course, can participate in this event) and a secondary type good against all those Normal-type Terastallizations. And, of course, there’s Houndstone, who’s popular for having Last Respects, which hits super-effective against most Pokémon in this event (but is not that practical in regular single battling due to the move having a power cap of 150 in single battling).
Of course, that’s all rendered moot when none of them can move as fast as Hisuian Zoroark, and who’s disguised as a slow Pokémon to throw them off.
Here’s another battle, because I could fit a second one into this video:
Type: Single Battle
Opponent: Gabo
Battle Court: Mesagoza (Central Plaza)
Music: Titan
My Pokémon: Typhlosion (Hisuian), Dusknoir, Froslass
Opponent’s Pokémon: Zoroark (Hisuian), Skeledirge, Mimikyu
When someone has Zoroark, of any kind, in their lineup, even just seeing it in Team Preview can open up to many kinds of misdirection. Though I used Hisuian Zoroark in the previous battle, as you can see, I didn’t select him at all for this one, which is itself a type of misdirection. More often than not, both with the Zoroark Team I used in Pokémon Sword and Shield and this one, I had more matches where I didn’t select Zoroark than matches where I did, so I would assume the same of my opponents and call their bluff…only to see that, in this case, it WAS Hisuian Zoroark out in front. That put me on the back foot quickly, but I predicted Hisuian Zoroark would be a popular Pokémon for this event, so I planned out this team to have ways of identifying them and putting them at a disadvantage.
For the record, this is not the same Hisuian Typhlosion from the 7-star Tera Raid Battle. I bred Cyndaquil until I got the one I wanted (and ensured this one had the Hidden Ability), then sent him to Hisui to have him trained and evolved, then brought him back to Paldea. He was bred specifically for this competition, and thus this Hisuian Typhlosion is a free agent.
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