How Pachirisu Won the Pokemon World Championships

A huge thank you to Sejun for looking over the script and providing insight for this! Check him out on:
Twitter: twitter.com/pokemon_tcg
Twitch: www.twitch.tv/sejun_park

how did a small squirrel beat a bunch of monsters, dragons and a possessed lawnmower

Always wondered why Hitmomtop had intimidate, is like “he’s just spinning there, menacingly!

I think its more impressive that he found a "weak" pokemon that fills an incredibly specific niche as opposed to him picking a weak pokemon and still winning. Shows a ton of game knowledge and a deep understanding of the metagame, as opposed to battle skill.

I think the main reason people love the Pachirisu so much, is less because of the "use your favourites" thing, but more so because it's nice to see non standard teams and good meta pick calls.

His friends believed in him

I remember just being a normal pokefan without an idea of competitive, and the whole hype made me just watch the entire match. I didn´t understand a lot of the plays or strategy, but oh boy, that pachirisu did take a Fu***g Draco Meteor from a Salamance, I was hyped

"no exclusive tournaments, no parades, no merch, no overcrowding concerns :("
I'll throw a parade for you Mr. Wolfe Glick 2016 World Champion. I'll hold it in my bathroom where 1 person counts as overcrowding too

I went to school with jeudy, he was the best smash player at our college. There was legit a rule in the game room you couldnt ask about this match cause it'd upset him

I remember playing showdown at the time and literally EVERYONE was trying to copy sejun

The name Amoonguss just hits different after finding impostors lol

Something really awful about this event was how many people, in seeing Sejun as the underdog, suddenly decided Jeudy was some evil person who represented the bad side of competitive Pokemon. People psychoanalysed him and spoke about him like some evil movie rival and not just a guy who plays Pokemon. They also conveniently ignored that if anything, Jeudy was the underdog with less wins than Sejun but that wouldn't make the narrative as compelling I guess. It felt outright racist at points with how much slander and abuse Jeudy got and I genuinly feel bad that he was cast as the "villain" in the public's eye for not using an unusual Pokemon :/

Lol you can hear Wolfe resisting the urge to mispronounce the Pokémon names

Mega Kangaskhan: "You took everything from me"
Pachirisu: "I dont even know who you are"

Cybertron jumping in the crowd is adorable

Real ones know that Raichu winning the world championship was just as iconic

OG’s remember the first video about this

*Dragon uses Draco Meteor*
Pachirisu: Weak sauce man *proceeds to lick tail*

I love how Pachirisu's Smogon page for XY not only obsesses over how cute it is, but also references this very victory and even recommends sets similar to that of Se Jun Park's Pachirisu.

Sejun’s strategy was actually great. He knew that once ttar was helpless, Talonflame and Garchomp could rip apart the opposition. So he used a small squirrel to reduce big scary monsters to complete helplessness, and then let his pet eagle and shark loose.
I think that’s wonderful.

There will be overcrowding concerns when Wolfey wins Worlds with Celebrate Vaporeon.

The last time I was this early, tailwind didn’t take effect until the next turn

Pachirisu is the reason why, for 7 years now, I've told myself time and time again that when Sinnoh remakes finally grace us with their presence, I WILL use one on my in-game team and train it for competitive play using Se Jun Park's Pachirisu as inspiration.

I remember playing a Platinum nuzlocke some time ago. Found a Pachirisu and hated it, but still I named him Pachinko and added to the team, and oh boy, he ended up being my win condition at the Pokèmon league. He survived almost until the end, when I sadly had to sacrifice him to safely take out a Bronzong. But still, Pachinko will forever be in my memory.

"and well, we've only been talking about gyarados and this is supposed to be about pachirisu..."
*continues to talk about gyarados and other pokemon*

So Pachrisu is the tank
Now imagine a mega Gyarados hide behind that monstrousity

wolfey sad there were no overcrowding concerns when he won

The garchomp is litteraly just "I-is this a cosmic joke???"

Finally. A really good analysis on Pachirisu's success. It was a truly polarizing pick in 2014. People were talking about it, even a year or more later. And no one could elaborate on the opinion they had on it - whether it be positive or negative.

Amoongus: Who are you?
Pachirisu: *I am you, but stronger.*

I went to college with Jeudy, that man is nuts and does not take loss lightly. He switched to smash in college and was constantly the winner of our tournaments

Better analogy for the Pachirisu: Know how, where, and when to use your favorite pokemon so that when the time comes, you can make use of it's unique strengths and weaknesses. This is why pokemon make resurgences as anti-meta picks throughout competitive history. Although it's hard to just come up with something like that, if you can manage to do enough work with a pokemon, there is a niche for it somewhere. Maybe not in VGC, but in smogon at least, I've found my greatest successes with this attitude. Using things that your opponent won't expect while choosing them specifically to counter pokemon most commonly used in the metagame is exactly how and when a meta progresses, and I think that's what's happening in this case.
Also this format is super cool, and I'd like to see more like this covered by Wolfe who has a keen understanding of how this metagame works.

Yes, I EAT:
E: Extremely
A: Addicted
T: To Wolfey's wideos

Pachurisu: The squirrel that faced down dragons and lived.

Sejun Park and his Pachirisu are icons, there will never be a more memorable champion than Sejun’s championship win in 2014. It completely changed the game. Sejun is an icon.

Pachirisu as well as Se Jun's team is a perfect example of how the META of a game is what goes against the current META.

It is strange how wolfey is capable of making the same face over and over for the thumbnails

LMAO I love how he makes fun of his own Registeel and Hippowdon team that he hates

I remember being about a year into competitive Pokemon and watching live as a Pachirisu player walked up...I hadn't seen much of the previous matches but this single win (and the ensuing art) really sparked my love for the game as the unpredictable ALWAYS happens

The dude won a tournament with a Pikachu clone and went home with a Roman Triumph

You forgot to mention the removal of gems.
Dragon Gem Salamence does like 60% to Pachirisu. That makes a big difference.

I think the pachirisu plush helped. He sat it down on the table with him. That helped push the narrative.

Excellent video. It's wild listening to you speak clearly and concisely from a script instead of the wonderful chaos when you're steaming. Both are great content, and I'd definitely like to see more scripted content from you when you have the passion to give focused insight.

Fun fact Jeudy now plays smash under the tag SoulSur and mains Pokémon Trainer, he’s nuts

Thanks for this. I like watching VGC players’ content to try to understand their thinking so I can apply it to do better in competitive myself, but I’m often lost on what their thinking process is with team building that sets them up to be effective. This was a really excellent breakdown, really gave me some good insight on that.

I love the change to this channel. You’ve been putting out some really good stuff man.

This is a great follow up/sequel/spiritual successor to your other video on this topic and is very well-done! I really appreciate seeing a serious Wolfe, it's a neat contrast compared to your normal fun-loving personality. Hope to see more videos like this alongside your normal content!

I really love this video format. Planned, clean, well put together. I’d be much happier watching 2 or even 1 video a week like this over the older ones but that’s just me

Finding unexpected tech choices in metagames that seem "solved" is always exciting.

Pachirisu has been my #1 since the release of gen 4. I'm happy it got some love. I've frequently used Pachirisu on teams, it's quite nice. Weak compared to other things for sure, but it has a lot of utility.

Love these format history videos! I’d love to hear more of your breakdowns and analysis of previous VGC formats as a whole, or specific players, teams, and tournaments!

I've never been a competitive player so most of this in general was hard to keep up with, but this was very interesting. It seems to me that doubles are easier than singles bc of support members that don't need to be switched in. Which is interesting bc 90% of Pokemon at least in game involves single battles.

I really love these style of videos, would love to see more of these “history of VGC” videos in the future

Phenomenal video. That set has always been one of my favourite competitive Pokemon moments

This video was so formal until he said “Marcus Stadter”

This video was so good , I watched the ads as my thank you.
No seriously , Wolfe. I like this format. Good job !

8:50 i cant fucking take it anymore

I was there live for that big win! What a special Worlds to go to! Even got a picture with him ~
Cool stuff, very nostalgic for the time when we could gather like this Wolfey.

I fell in love with Pachirisu after watching the finals of that match. Went out of my way to get a Pachirisu plushie at the next con I attended.

Loved this! A detailed breakdown of VGC history is such a good way to learn VGC as well. There's so many lessons to take from this ideo alone. Suggestion: I'd love to watch a video on all (or some at least) nerfs that has been made in pokémon, like you mentioned with Talonflame, and why they came about.

That was a great video idea, I would love to see one on other great teams and players, especially 2016, as I think the team you built with markus and other was an amazing meta call that surprised everyone by breaking a meta core that looked unstoppable all year long.

Sejun won Korean Nationals that year with Mega Gyarados and Aerodactyl. Also Sejun made Pachi popular but it wasn’t that uncommon of a Pokémon in the South Korea circuit and he wasn’t the first person to use it there. South Korea was known for pioneering interesting and uncommon meta calls. Ray Rizzo won a regional that year using assault vest competitive wigglytuff which he got the idea from the Korean players who pioneered it

Thanks for the wideo Wolfey! No matter how many times I hear this story, I always wanna hear it again.

Pachirisu used to be my childhood favourite, i though it was so adorable. Learning about this makes me so happy

"Pachirisu was perfect for mega gyarados" was NOT a sentence I expected to hear today

In my experience, squirrels usually don’t fare well against lawnmowers... this is the anomaly

Bro that artwork at 2:46 always gets me. Such a great representation of all our collective minds being blown at that time.

Love this style of content Wolfey, I can't wait to see more wideos like this

14:00
"What if the real battle was the friends we made along the way?"
-Alpharad

Professional analysis from Mr Wolfe pogchamp

Can we talk about the fan art for Pachirisu for a second? Like DAMN!

I’ve been enjoying this new type of video from Wolfey. Very cool to hear about the intricacies of the choices Segun made.

I literally don't follow competitive pokemon at all, and I barely play enough to even know all of the type matchups, but this was honestly one of the most interesting videos I've seen in a long time. great job :)

It wasn't because it was his favourite. It was a very specific Pokémon along with a lot of luck and skilled predictions through rounds was what ultimately got him the win.
There's many situations where when team building, you'll end up with one, overlooked Pokémon that fit your team magically.
I.e. my weirdest pick was normal weezing and I got 3rd in an online tournament because of it.

Awesome explanation man, this is some great insight into how the best players consider what tools to bring to a tournament. Context is everything

I love this kind of content, it's really informative and interesting. I hope we see some more of these video essay type videos

This was what really made me interested in the comp side of Pokemon
I was always a normal Pokemon fan and had no clue that it had such a competitive side

wolfey with the mystery dungeon music at the start, just got smacked with some nostalgia

Dude I'm so happy you put that PMD soundtrack as background music. Really, so happy

I’m loving this new style of Wolfe content, keep up the good work!

I loved the video! Finally an explanation for why the electric squirrel fit in the metagame!

I feel like I learned more in the 15 minutes than I have in hundreds of hours of other Pokémon videos

damn, you and your team of editors are absolutely killing it!! keep up the phenomenal work

LOVE this video format. Would love to see you react/comment on other VGC historical moments and championship wins!

Hey Wolfe, hope you’re doing well and having a great day! 😊 this looks like a great wideo!!

I love where youre taking the channel Wolfe! Very cool, very entertaining and i feel like it still feels like your videos rather than a crazy shift into left field :)) thanks for the good time

Really loved this style of video, your commentary was super interesting to listen to

This was a really well crafted video. Hope to see more of these at some point :)

Fun fact: in legends Arceus there’s a quest to beat an ursaluna with only a pachirisu

Ya know, this new format looks really professional. But, I feel like I’m missing the person-ability we’d get with your unedited videos. I guess it’s just something to get used to. Still always love your content! 💕

I love the way you are moving your channel, keep it up!

This was an incredible video. I love analysis videos

This was the only year I ever went to a competition, to be there LIVE with the hype was incredible.

8:52 Man I didn’t think that was going to happen gotta say it was a really suspicious play, I guess The Mega Gyarados strait really came in clutch!

This was really interesting and great commentary. Great video!

Great video! Real thorough information about the state of the game at the time. Really enjoyed it.

As a kid pachirisu was my favorite because of the d and p anime, and it felt like this events results happened just for me I was so happy :,)

Sejun Park will be the most memorable champion in Pokémon history. He is iconic. Sejun is a legend.

Thought this was a reupload at first. Great analysis!

Production value is now off the charts!! Awesome!!