Pokemon VGC dominated by surprise Sword & Shield legendary

Pokemon Scarlet & Violet pro players are settling into the latest rotation rules, and with one choice of Legendary Pokemon now allowed on all teams, a Pokemon Sword & Shield underdog is becoming one of the hottest picks in the community.

The Pokemon Shield Legendary Zamazenta became one of the most popular Pokemon used in the Pokemon Scarlet & Violet VGC Regionals held in Stockholm, with 25% of Trainers using Zamazenta out of all Restricted Pokemon.

Next in the rankings is Calyrex Ice Rider with 21.9%, and Terapagos following up at 15.6%. The major upset here seems to be previous fan-favorite Zacian being pushed down to just 3.1% when in the Pokemon Sword & Shield era the dual Fairy/Steel-type Legendary was considered extremely powerful.

One Pokemon VGC fan called Cbutty posted on X discussing the recent rankings, with the comment “Zamazenta what happened?” alongside a list of the top 9 Restricted Pokemon.

Plenty of other Pokemon fans are offering up their theories on this major upset in the comments, with one person saying, “Nothing really happened, just people realizing just how much Zama hard walls Caly-I and Terapagos”.

Another user adds, “It got Body Press too which is big” while a separate comment says, “If you told someone back in the Crown Tundra that Zamazenta would have more usage than Zacian in VGC, they would audibly laugh at you.”

With more events to come this year in the lead-up to Pokemon Worlds 2024, many fans will likely already be planning the best way to prepare for Zamazenta in the future.