Top 4 Pokemon teams used by pros at the first Scarlet and Violet Regional

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet held an exciting series of competitive double battles at the San Diego Regional 2023. Many pros entered, but only one could win the whole thing.

The winner of this prestigious tournament was Jiseok Lee. His team and some of the other top-ranking pro's Pocket Monsters might interest curious trainers seeking to become better at battling.

This short listicle will feature all six Pokemon from these teams, along with their abilities, items, Tera Type, and moveset. No IVs or EVs are readily available, but this information should suffice for those interested.

Note: This article is subjective and reflects the opinions of the writer

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Ranking the best four Pokemon Scarlet and Violet teams used by pros at the San Diego Regional

4) Aaron Brok's team

Name	Ability	Item	Tera Type	Move #1	Move #2	Move #3	Move #4
Farigiraf	Armor Tail	Safety Goggles	Fairy	Psychic	Dazzling Gleam	Trick Room	Helping Hand
Meowscarada	Overgrow	Focus Sash	Grass	Protect	Flower Trick	Knock Off	U-Turn
Kinggambit	Defiant	Assault Vest	Flying	Kowtow Cleave	Iron Head	Sucker Punch	Brick Break
Drednaw	Swift Swim	Life Orb	Grass	Protect	Liquidation	Rock Slide	Tera Blast
Pelipper	Drizzle	Sitrus Berry	Grass	Hurricane	Tailwind	Wide Guard	Hydro Pump
Hariyama	Guts	Flame Orb	Steel	Close Combat	Fake Out	Knock Off	Bullet Punch

This Pokemon Scarlet and Violet team was the highest-ranked roster not to use Gholdengo in any capacity. Keep in mind that Gholdengo appeared in more than half of the top 32 teams, which is a testament to the Ghost/Steel-type creature's immense competitive success.

Much of Aaron Brok's team is pretty self-explanatory. For example, Drednaw would synergize with Pelipper. Meowscarada and Kingambit would also appreciate Fire-type moves being weaker, thanks to rain being set up.

Hairyama was a rarely seen choice in this Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Regional, but Aaron Brok's success with the team proves that it has some good competitive viability.

Much of the top-ranked pros and their strategies can be seen in the above video, which features the 2023 San Diego Regional.

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3) Jeudy Azzarelli's team

The next Pokemon Scarlet and Violet team to discuss is that of Jeudy Azzarelli, who was ranked third in this San Diego Regional.

This pro took advantage of Pelipper's Drizzle ability, as everything on his team benefits from rain. Examples include:

• Salamence's Hurricane becomes 100% accurate
• Palafin's Water STAB becomes even more devastating
• Amoonguss, Kinggambit, and Gholdengo's Fire weakness being less exploitable
• Pelipper's 100% accurate Hurricanes and boosted Water STAB

This whole team is pretty competitively sound at first glance and shouldn't need much explanation. The main thing worth noting here is that Gholdengo's moveset is identical to the next person's Gholdengo's. However, their items are different.

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2) Chuppa Cross' team

Name	Ability	Item	Tera Type	Move #1	Move #2	Move #3	Move #4
Tatsugiri-Stretchy	Commander	Choice Scarf	Water	Muddy Water	Draco Meteor	Soak	Icy Wind
Dondozo	Unaware	Chesto Berry	Dragon	Wave Crash	Order Up	Earthquake	Rest
Pawmot	Nature Cure	Focus Sash	Electric	Double Shock	Close Combat	Revival Blessing	Fake Out
Meowscarada	Protean	Choice Band	Grass	Flower Trick	Knock Off	U-Turn	Sucker Punch
Arcanine	Intimidate	Assault Vest	Fairy	Flare Blitz	Extreme Speed	Snarl	Play Rough
Gholdengo	Good as Gold	Life Orb	Steel	Make It Rain	Shadow Ball	Nasty Plot	Protect

Chuppa Cross held second place in the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet San Diego Regional. The table that players see above is all of his Pocket Monsters and important details pertaining to them.

Tatsugiri has an ability known as Commander, which only works alongside Dodonzo. Securing second place with this team proves this gimmick is viable in a doubles metagame. For reference, the next highest-ranked person who used these two Pocket Monsters together was Wolfe Glick, who was 11th.

Second place is Pawmot's highest ranking. This Electric/Fighting-type has Revival Blessing, a move that revives one teammate. Otherwise, the rest of this team is pretty self-explanatory.

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1) Jiseok Lee's team

An image of his team (Image via Victory Road VGC)

The first place that won $3,000 was Jiseok Lee. Many common staples in the metagame, such as Gholdengo, Garganacl, and Meowscarada, were present on this team. Baxcalibur, Mimukyu, and Tauros-Paldea-Water also had good representation in this tournament.

The winner of the San Diego Regional even posted a tweet about their victory, which is shown above. He defeated Chuppa Cross in the finals 2-1 with his Baxcalibur, Tauros-Paldea-Water, and Meowscarada still being up.

The Pokemon Scarlet and Violet metagame is still in its infancy, but trainers should now have a clear idea of who the best Pocket Monsters are in the current competitive scene.

Different regionals are expected to hold different results. Pros in this scene will adapt to the shifts in the current metagame when that happens.