5 best Pokemon VGC teams from 2024 World Championships

The Pokemon VGC's best and brightest just completed their competitive runs at the 2024 Pokemon World Championships, and plenty of different team loadouts were seen throughout three days' worth of battles. Some teams were adherent to the Scarlet and Violet Regulation G meta to a T, but others had a few twists and spicy picks that proved to be both effective and surprise spectators.

With that in mind and the Pokemon World Championships in the books for 2024, it doesn't hurt to examine some of the best Pokemon VGC teams seen across all three days of the championships.

Note: This article is subjective and the entries are arranged in no particular order.

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Five of the best Pokemon VGC teams seen during the 2024 World Championships

1) Team Luca Ceribelli

Luca Ceribelli's Pokemon VGC team secured a Pokemon World Championships victory (Image via The Pokemon Company)

No list of the best Pokemon VGC teams from the 2024 World Championship would be complete without mentioning the one that won the Masters tournament. Played by Italy's Luca Ceribelli, there aren't many secrets to this meta-heavy team, though the inclusion of Whimsicott is a somewhat more niche support role pick. However, it's a perfect synergetic partner for the physically dominant Rapid Strike Urshifu.

As with many meta teams, the advantage could be easily pressed by the versatile and powerful Hearthflame Mask Ogerpon, one of the various mask-wearing forms of the Teal Mask DLC's titular legendary. The team is fleshed out with the powerful combo of Iron Hands and Miraidon, providing immense firepower. Meanwhile, Farigiraf offers Trick Room strategies to prioritize the team's slower Pokemon.

It's an airtight team that can find many ways to win, and it's no surprise that this team did exactly that during the Pokemon World Championships in 2024, though this team will unfortunately not survive the recently-released Regulation H Pokemon VGC rules due to the heavy reliance on legendary and Paradox Pokemon.

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2) Team Ferreira

Diego Ferreira's Pokemon VGC team utilized more than a few unconventional picks (Image via The Pokemon Company)

Australia's Diego Ferreira may not have pushed beyond the quarterfinals of the Pokemon World Championships this year, but considering the Pokemon VGC team Ferreira used, it's surprising just how far it was capable of advancing. While the lineup features meta picks like Ice Rider Calyrex, Indeedee, and Wellspring Mask Ogerpon, Ferreira incorporated plenty of unconventional Pokemon too.

For example, Ursaluna, while it was heavily favored as a physical sweeper in prior regulation sets, has fallen heavily out of favor. Moreover, a Pokemon pick like Gallade is even more unusual, but it clearly worked to Ferreira's advantage. This is because the process of countering the likes of Ursaluna or Gallade isn't likely as heavily studied compared to countering more conventional meta picks.

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3) Team Joshi

Canada's Navjit Joshi turned in a strong showing with his Pokemon VGC team (Image via The Pokemon Company)

By and large, Canada's Navjit Joshi performed well during the second day of the Pokemon World Championships. While his team featured plenty of the usual suspects like Cornerstone Mask Ogerpone, Ice Rider Calyrex, and Rapid Strike Urshifu, Joshi also incorporated lesser-known options like Incarnate Forme Landorus and Regieleki.

Landorus with a Poison Tera Type proved to be a fantastic counter to the Fairy Tera Type Miraidon-heavy meta seen throughout the championship. Meanwhile, Regieleki's Speed stat allowed for rapid Electric-type offense and setups. Even though this team fell short in the quarterfinals, it deserves credit for taking a different approach from the teams that had become commonplace.

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4) Team Chenyue

Zeng Chenyue had plenty of surprises with one of the more unconventional Pokemon VGC teams in Worlds 2024 (Image via The Pokemon Company)

When it comes to a Pokemon VGC team that didn't use the same meta collection of Incineroar, Calyrex, Flutter Mane, Rillaboom, Ogerpon, Raging Bolt, etc., then Zeng Chenyue of China was a player to watch. Incorporating under-the-radar picks including Dondozo and Tatsugiri alongside lower-tier options like Dragonite, Gholdengo, and Chi-Yu, this team was anything but boring.

All things considered, Miraidon was likely the highest-tier pick in this entire Regulation G team. The Dondozo + Tatsugiri sweeper combo has largely fallen out of favor in particular, but Zeng Chenyue showed that there's still a little blood to be drawn from older stones in the Scarlet and Violet VGC.

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5) Sejun Park's Pachirisu Team

Sometimes a Pokemon VGC team includes a trainer's favorite despite the meta (Image via The Pokemon Company)

While it used the conventional meta picks that most expected including Iron Hands, Rapid Strike Urshifu, Miraidon, and Farigiraf, Sejun Park delighted longtime Pokemon VGC fans when Pachirisu made the cut for the team as well. For those who may not recall, Pachirisu was a core component in Park's Worlds 2014 first-place finish, which was quite a hit of nostalgia for plenty of fans.

Sadly, Park's Pachirisu wasn't built for Regulation G competition, and it didn't last long against Aaron Zheng's Crowned Shield Zamazenta, Chien-Pao, and Rillaboom. Still, Park deserves credit for building a team willing to use Pachirisu in the first place a decade after it won a Pokemon World Championships series.