Top 5 World Cup of Pokémon Moments

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5. FlamingVictini's Cobalion

The year was 2016. World Cup's super team of the era, US East, had been in every finals since 2012. They'd won in 2013 and 2015 and seemed poised for another, much to the chagrin of the tournament community that detested their super team status. However, at this exact point, they were on the verge of elimination from the semifinals. They were facing their long-time rivals Spain, whom they'd defeated in the 2014 semis and the previous year's finals, with Spain only managing one win in the latter. They were really out for blood this time around, and had East on the ropes, with a 5-3 advantage with two games left. At worst, they'd go to a tiebreaker. The two games left: bro fist vs. Trosko and FlamingVictini against [K-12] The Madchine. The latter game would be played first.

Now, if you can get the deciding game to bro fist, you will probably be fine. FV's playing reputation playing may have been overshadowed by his dedication to fishing for activity wins—apparently he was taking strides in medicine sight unseen, which left him with almost no time whatsoever to play, making it downright miraculous that he managed to build such innovative teams as well—but he was an excellent, accomplished player with a highly consistent playstyle. Ordinarily, he would be exactly the kind of player you'd want to depend on in this situation. The problem was that, in this instance, his teambuilding was a little too innovative.

In such a critical position, any ideas of going with more experimental teambuilding choices tend to fly out the window. You do not want to be the player who lost the tournament for your team because you wanted to mess around with your favorite UU Pokémon; yes, it may be "viable", no, the fact that it is "viable" doesn't change the fact that bringing it in such a situation is almost equivalent to throwing. If you're facing Landorus-T and the gang with your back against the wall, it is not the time to get cute.

So, imagine US East's horror when they were unable to talk FlamingVictini out of using Substitute Calm Mind Cobalion, a Pokémon not seen in ORAS OU before or since, and for good reason. This writer has experienced many frustrations in attempting to persuade teammates to not bring a certain piece of junk that's almost sure to backfire, but this particular instance felt especially stupefying, given the stakes that should be clear to a player of FV's experience, and the fact that he had another team available which was perfectly fine. Amazingly, FV's final words before entering battle have been preserved:

This writer must also stress the overwhelming despair felt when Team Preview revealed The Madchine's team as the metagame-defining ABR stall. To go up against such a suffocating defensive squad with a Cobalion felt like some sort of cruel, absurd joke. And yet, the Smogtours lobby watched in amazement as not only did FV systematically threaten to disassemble K-12's team, he did so immediately, and with Cobalion; Quagsire switched into it, and Cobalion landed a Focus Blast, which threatened to 2HKO. It wasn't Cobalion against the world—Rotom-W and its burn-distributing, Volt Switching, Pain Splitting antics, alongside the passive pressure of sand exerted immense threat against K-12's attempts to keep hazards off the field with the eventual uber Mega Sableye. After a nice Pursuit against Chansey, Cobalion came in once again against a Defogging Skarmory, set up a Calm Mind on the Spikes, and seemed poised to really unleash havoc—what on Earth? It was true; Cobalion's Focus Blast was a roll against the Calm Mind-ignoring Unaware Quagsire that pivoted in for more Leftovers…but it missed.

So, not only was Cobalion used, but even though it was working, it stopped because it had to depend on hitting multiple Focus Blast, thereby meaning it was actually not favored to work from the beginning. Good grief. Oh, that's BEFORE FV Volt Switched out of the Chansey, which had yet to heal off Tyranitar's Pursuit, and now Rocks were up. FV had Cobalion staring the Chansey down at 31%. Take this thing out and Mega Alakazam goes to town—yeah, because one Focus Blast user wasn't bad enough. Quagsire had had its Leftovers removed by Landorus-T's Knock Off and was at less than 100% before Rocks–it couldn't pivot in safely. Even beyond that, if K-12 switches Chansey out, it'll be at 19% after Rocks, leaving it even less likely it'll be able to heal. Better go for another miss—and wouldn't you know it, Focus Blast misses again.

Now, as bizarre as it is to speak in praise of Cobalion at this point, its good traits—for this matchup, anyway—begin to show. Even after the miss, it is able to Calm Mind against Chansey, unafraid of Toxic, and healthy enough to take several Seismic Tosses. Still, FV almost shoots himself in the foot with a greedy Substitute that winds up eating an S-Toss and thus doing nothing but making Cobalion's job (even) harder, but afterwards he finally lands a +1 Focus Blast on Chansey; it does 43%, which isn't amazing in and of itself, but it 2HKOs Chansey from that range—and, suddenly, the game is won. Mega Alakazam has it.

K-12 has to sacrifice a Pokémon at this point and winds up letting Amoonguss go. K-12 is forced to go Quagsire; FV goes to Amoonguss to chase it out, then sacrifices his Tyranitar to Spikes as K-12 goes to Skarmory, which allows Mega Zam to set up a Calm Mind and sweep; it doesn't even have to rely on Focus Miss, as Chansey is in range of a +1 Psychic. Astonishingly, not only did FV keep East alive, but it was in no small part thanks to Cobalion. bro fist went on to defeat Trosko, East won the tiebreaker, and went on to win the entire tournament. Once again, thanks to Cobalion.

4. Earthworm toppling the Asia dynasty, becoming Earthworm

The year was 2009. The World Cup was in its first year in a format we still recognize today, but in its fourth year overall, having been played since the ADV days, and the original super team had long since been established: Asia. They were unstoppable in their time and expected to win the tournament again this year, boasting legends like goofball, MoP, imperfectluck, and Veteran In Love, who was one of the earliest recipients of the Best Player Ever title, going back to the GSC and ADV days. Their best player at this time, though, was husk, who had long been one of Pokémon's very best, and seemed to only be getting better nearly half a decade into his career; his semifinals tiebreak win against Philip7086 and his finals win against Oceania's panamaxis, legend in their own right, put his record at a stunning 7-0, unreal consistency in a DPP tier that still had Salamence running around.

Oceania were an excellent team themselves, coming off a dominant semis win against a strong US Metro team, but back then, you could have an excellent team and still be considered no match for Asia, even if their own semis series had come to a tie—that's how far ahead of everyone else they were. Nobody expected them to win—they'd put up a good fight, sure, but you were not taking 6 games off Asia. At best, you'd bring it to a tiebreaker, but then you had to face husk. That "at best" was what Oceania were faced with, as Asia brought the score to 5-3, with two matchups remaining: Stallion vs. Veteran In Love, and Earthworm vs. DawnBringer. Many thought it wouldn't even come to the latter, but Stallion played an excellent game and upset ViL. It was now up to Oceania's star player, Earthworm, to win…twice.

Today, EW is known by many as the "boomer pick" of all-time best player lists—this writer would be remiss if they didn't attempt to offer a counterpoint to this widespread mentality by mentioning such viewpoints are often held by attention-seeking loudmouths who 1) pretend all competition before (insert arbitrary, constantly changing year) didn't count, and 2) likely would've been embarrassed had they had to play Earthworm anywhere near this time; in fact, there is one tournament battle where one such loudmouth had to play EW for a tournament a year after the latter had officially been considered washed up and had stopped playing, and yet was utterly destroyed… in XY OU, a tier Earthworm had never played before.

This battle prompted awed reverie from players that had never seen Earthworm play before, the same kind of which he had been the subject of so often in his prime; however, at the time of this battle, he had not quite achieved that "greatest ever" status; he was "merely" a top-tier player, having won Smogon Tour the previous year…but there was top-tier, and there was husk. Plus, to even get to husk, Earthworm had to get through DawnBringer, no slouch in OU himself. Through luck, this writer happened to have the log of this battle saved, so you can read it for yourself.

The stage was set. With how clutch Earthworm had been in that game, seemingly impervious to pressure—he was often referred to by his contemporaries as a robot—the playerbase began to wonder. It seemed that, if anyone was going to topple husk, it would be Earthworm. The battle has been modified into replay form for us.

This battle is a superb example of Earthworm at his best—not just the laser-sharp pivoting, the safe-yet-aggressive double switching (getting Blissey against the answer to Gyarados, knowing husk's own Gyara is Intimidated so even a stay-in can be managed) but also the unusual, idiosyncratic teambuilding—Blissey offense was not a part of the metagame at all back then; in fact, so unusual was his team, there were some accusations towards Earthworm for counterteaming, which back then was one of the worst dishonors out there, but now we can see it for the uniquely precise construction it was. Whereas Lucario had effectively won the game against DawnBringer, here EW brought it again and this time fully swept with it, overloading on offensive threat to support it (MixMence and Gyarados!) knowing they were supported defensively by Blissey and the superstar of the age, Bold Wish Calm Mind Jirachi.

By winning in such heroic fashion against arguably the best player of all time, Earthworm officially started receiving consideration for that title himself, and his further exploits only further drove his reputation into the stratosphere. It was here that he well and truly became the Earthworm whose greatness is still discussed today.

3. Lady Bug giving Philip7086 the win

The year was 2011. The first round of the World Cup that year was as full of controversy, scandal and general excitement as always: MoP was caught for attempted cheating, while Team Mexico was somehow lucking every game they played, Team France puzzled the largely American playerbase with the spaces between their punctuation—there's a certain sting in losing to a guy who cheerfully posts Won, gg !—and there was a general atmosphere of railing against the brokenness of BW1 OU at the time, which was getting terrorized by Thundurus and Sand Rush Excadrill.

However, that's all generally common Pokémon stuff—even the France thing, idiosyncratic though it was, was a part of that traditional World Cup charm, where a team's nationality bleeds into their personality—see also: Brazilians spamming "porra" and "kkkkk", Italians talking to their non-Italian speaking opponents in Italian as if they could actually understand, Germany's unique, occasionally maddening use of smileys, and US West spamming LETS GET IT at every opportunity, ranging from turn 2 Stealth Rock to the latest episode of Game of Thrones.

Speaking of West, what was completely unprecedented was the match between their player, Philip7086, and Asia's Lady Bug. What actually happened in the battle remains a mystery to this writer, but at first, it seems like a pretty standard setup: Philip was going to win, but LB got some major luck and took that away. Pokémon happens, of course, and you want to win, especially in a team tournament, but you also don't want to win through luck, you want to win through being better; plus, with basic human empathy, you feel for your opponent. Plus, LB and Phil were friends and nice guys, almost to a fault—or, in LB's case, very much a fault. Wait, what? Let's just take it from MoP, one of LB's teammates:

What the shit, indeed. The past's culture of honor was one thing, but it was entirely another to actually give your opponent the win—in a TEAM TOURNAMENT, where your teammates depend on you (and, if you want to talk about your conscience, it's not too likely all your team's losses were the cleanest, either). Now, this writer can't speak for just how bad the luck in this game was, but with each passing year it seems more people find it objectionable to even apologize to their opponents after getting the most outrageous luck imaginable, making actually giving the opponent the win seem even more alien.

Obviously, Team West was delighted, and praised Lady Bug's class. Just as obviously, Team Asia was furious. It resulted in a ferocious stream of invective through the thread—no drama like WCoP drama, host Jackal proudly declared (after permitting Asia to remove LB from their roster for cancering), culminating in two particularly stunning moments: first, goofball changed his forum username to LadyBugIsAPieceOfShit. (It's a shame it was eventually changed back). Second, MoP unleashed a post of such fury, one could almost call it proto-Lavos, except MoP admirably made no pretensions towards being above the hobby, instead unleashing an all-caps tirade against those who did.

As a wonderful postscript to the event, eventually, gene/G80, Asia's replacement for Lady Bug, was subbed in (by himself). gene was one of the best players of the ADV era, but was almost entirely unfamiliar with BW. So, what did he do? He took one of his favorite ADV teams, his version of Veteran In Love's classic Superman—Tyranitar, Skarmory, Swampert, Flygon, Zapdos and Aerodactyl—and brought it to BW for his match against Spain's Kefka…and won. All because Lady Bug decided to give Phil the win.

2. xray's Triple Axel miss

WCoP was so long-dominated by superteams—Asia, Oceania, US (North)East—that there were plenty of excellent teams that never won; they may have come close, but not quite. Eventually, the major teams that become renowned yet consistently stfled in the 2010s all started winning in the 2020s; Italy won 2020, France won 2022, Spain won 2023. Now, Germany was just as feared and well-regarded as those other teams when they were coming up, yet have missed out on their own championship—but in 2021, they came oh so heart-rendingly close in their series against US South. They didn't just come within one game of the championship—they came within ONE TURN…on which they were advantaged.

Germany had last made finals in 2016, where they took US East to a tiebreaker in which xray lost to bro fist in ORAS and Conflict lost to -Tsunami- in GSC. Now, xray was back, looking to finish the job—in these 2021 finals, he had defeated FlamingVictini, who had actually been on 2016 East…and, once again, the series went to tiebreak. South's Ox the Fox defeated Germany's mind gaming, outmaneuvering a threatening Blacephalon with a Galarian Slowking that got two KOs in three turns through setting up a Future Sight, Ice Beaming a Landorus-T switch, then Flamethrowering Corviknight, which was finished off by the Future Sight. However, whatever the end result, it wouldn't be another 0-2 for Germany, as Dragon Claw defeated TDK through his hail-assisted Arctozolt going nuts, though assisted by a key endgame Blizzard freeze on TDK's correct prediction. It was, fittingly, up to xray, who had become true face of Germany, and a player unafraid of clutch situations…even if his opponent was Eo Ut Mortus, who was sporting a 6-0 record at the time.

xray got off to a bad start—his Toxapex was immediately lured and trapped by TrickScarf Whirlpool Tapu Fini. It was so bad, not only did the Fini Trick its Scarf back by the end, the two layers of Toxic Spikes Pex had set were immediately absorbed without consequence by Eo's Galarian Slowking. 6-5, with nothing to show for it—you could practically feel Germany, and everyone rooting for them, resigning themselves to the loss.

And yet... xray battled back in spectacular fashion, relentlessly making difficult play after difficult play. He pivoted beautifully around Eo's threatening Focus Energy Victini, eventually staying in with his Heatran that was in KO range of Bolt Strike in order to finish it off. xray then wielded same risked Heatran to superb aggressive effect, making one double switch after another to harangue Eo's team with Magma Storms and Stealth Rock, all the while using it to pivot around Eo's Future Sight spam—it was an incredible tightrope act, especially when Magma Storm's imperfect accuracy made itself felt, and yet xray pulled it off with the highest precision and resilience. It wasn't just spam Heatran to win, either, as xray made plays of arguably even greater foresight and cold blood with his Buzzwole; facing Eo's Galarian Slowking that threatened it, and low on timer, xray used Ice Punch and caught Eo's double switch to Landorus-T, finishing it off. Eo returned to Galarian Slowking—and xray stayed in again, this time using Close Combat and eviscerating Eo's double switch to Weavile. This battle was genuinely a gallery of gorgeous moves by xray—and in a situation where the stakes couldn't be higher, no less.

Eventually, it came down to xray's final Pokémon, Weavile, against Eo's Galarian Slowking, with a 68% Corviknight in the back. What did this mean? That if xray's Weavile got a Swords Dance unperturbed, it would sweep, Triple Axel accuracy willing, winning the game and the tournament.

Weavile Swords Danced, just barely hanging on against Galarian Slowking's Flamethrower, then KOed it with Knock Off.

Sadly, you know where this is going, as did the SS OU players reading whose skin surely was chilled at "Triple Axel accuracy willing", knowing all too well how much of a necessary evil-turned-letdown that move so often is. Weavile needed three hits to KO Corviknight, meaning it had a 72.9% chance to win…and it missed the first. Tournament over, having gone the other way.

Of course, one may point out Weavile's need to avoid a Flamethrower crit or burn from Galarian Slowking in order to obtain the necessary Swords Dance. One may also point out all the other bits of luck that affected the game at that point. That's not the point, though—the point is that very rarely, even in tiebreakers, does the tournament come down to the very last turn like it did here.

1. WCoP 2011 finals and its culmination: Philip7086's Aron & Oceania's Threepeat

As if that tumultuous round one wasn't enough, the 2011 World Cup had one of the most riotous finals of any tournament in Smogon history. US West were attempting to upset the two-time defending champions, Oceania, who still seemed as unstoppable as ever. Throughout the finals thread, it seemed as though everyone was making a conscious effort to be as dramatic as possible—the tame early trash talk (which could hardly even truly be referred to as such) quickly gave way to accusations of counterteaming (when the most known Dragon spammer on West spammed Dragons and was met with triple Steel + Taunt Will-O-Wisp Mew rain), to arguments over availability, to increasingly hostile demeaning of others' personal character…and that was just from the teams involved; spectators happily (sometimes cluelessly) poured fuel on the fire. Forget Discord arguments that take place instantly before disappearing into the ether—these forum arguments took serious commitment and burned their details into the minds of everyone witnessing them. One outsider to the tournament scene read the thread and was prompted to post asking everyone involved "what is wrong with you people".

The charged atmosphere was helped by the fact some of the best Pokémon playing ever was taking place. The two teams traded games back and forth, including a thriller of a match between Tour champion Golden Sun of Oceania and Frontier champion Bloo of West that not only lived up to the hype but surpassed it, with Golden Sun making one of the greatest plays any competitive Pokémon player ever has. The final game which sent the tournament to the tiebreaker, a grudge-fueled rematch from that year's SPL between Scofield and panamaxis—both undefeated at the time—was so hyped, several European players, including McMeghan, got up at 6 AM to watch it…and that match fully delivered on its dramatic potential. (As a fun bonus, Scofield asked if anyone would object to the tournament being decided on a winner-take-all best-of-three between him and panamaxis, to which Oceania captain Hipmonlee immediately said yes. (Oceania would win the tournament if panamaxis won.))

As such, fireworks were in the air when the tiebreaker was announced: for Oceania, World Cup tiebreak king and widely-agreed greatest-ever player Earthworm, and for US West, the captain, fellow legend of the game Philip7086, both continuing their DPP legacies into BW without missing a beat, and both having won their finals matches. This could not be scripted any better.

Oh, wait, yes, it could…well, depending on your definition of better.

Of all the chat explosions witnessed in this writer's day, it still seems impossible that anything could compare to the shell-shocked disbelief coursing through the log of the battle when learning that Philip7086 had brought an Aron. Yes, that's right, an Aron. A level 1 Aron. The thing that evolves into Lairon, which then evolves into Aggron. Also, it's level 1. Why? Well, Aron utilizes the famous FEAR strategy, which involves it being brought to 1 HP, surviving any hit with Sturdy, then using Endeavor to bring the opponent to 1 HP as well, allowing them to be finished off by the Sandstorm Aron was itself immune to. This, of course, works better if you are at level 1, to not only ensure any attack that hits you will bring you to 1 HP, but even if you don't get hit by an attack, you're probably bringing the target into sand range.

That's not all: Aron would hold Shell Bell, which recovered health based on how much damage it did. In case you're getting ideas, this item is actually terrible, as it doesn't heal nearly enough to make it worthwhile–but it works in Aron's case because the damage Endeavor deals is so disproportionate to its HP stat—it is level 1, after all—that it brings it back up to full HP, so it reactivates Sturdy and can Endeavor again.

Now, there are many, many reasons why Aron is not actually used in serious BW OU, chief among them being such a sand-dominated tier is rife with sand-immune Pokémon that leave Aron's raison d'être DoA. So, what was it that possessed the otherwise-excellent Pokémon mind of Philip7086 to bring an Aron—which was level 1, by the way—to the most important battle of his career against the best player the game had ever seen at that point? He was known for having a creative streak that sometimes went too far, but this wasn't just too far, this was in another plane of existence.

The story goes that Phil had his team picked out—it was almost identical to the team he wound up using, a strong sand team—and not long before the game, someone suggested Aron as a joke. The entire team started getting in on the joke—ha, ha, wouldn't it be hilarious—and then, perhaps overly fueled by adrenaline, the joke stopped seeming like a joke, and like a really good idea.

Many all-time great players have, with the pressure of the game looming, shot themselves in the foot with a choice that seems amazing at the time, and only in hindsight is revealed to them as the obvious what-was-I-thinking mistake only someone too close to the sun couldn't see. However, if those instances are a shot in the foot, this was Phil blowing his own leg off with a bazooka—and, just as crucially, he did so with not just the permission but the encouragement of his teammates. When your teammate gets crazy ideas close to game time, you just have to calm them down and remind them to stick to the plan, because the plan is good, which is why it was chosen in those more rational moments. Maybe West's collective nerves were fried by such a tight series, but as far as this writer is concerned, they are equally culpable in allowing their teammate, their captain, to do what he did. They probably knew they'd never have the stones to do it themselves, and wanted the vicarious thrill…as far as this writer is concerned, they pulled that bazooka's ruinous trigger themselves.

But, gimmicky as Aron—level one, and named after Earthworm's teammate panamaxis—is, even gimmicks have a purpose. Maybe, just maybe, Aron (level one) could swindle a good matchup. Could it? No, because, shockingly Earthworm had three sand-immune Pokémon, including the Poison Heal Gliscor he led off and used Substitute with, preventing Aron's leadoff Endeavor from even bringing it low on HP. Maybe if it had been non-Sub Gliscor, Aron could've done something. Sadly, Aron retreated on the second Sub, and wouldn't return to the battle until Phil desperately tried to use its Swagger to check Earthworm's Scizor…and wound up missing. Phil's team indeed felt very weak to Scizor—like a Pokémon had been changed at the last minute and nobody had realized the Scizor weakness the original Pokémon's removal created.

Considering Aron's uselessness, it was actually a very tight battle. Earthworm's Protect Toxic Heatran caused a lot of havoc early on, but Phil made an excellent series of plays to work around it; sadly, they weren't enough, because he was lacking a Scizor answer, for some mysterious reason. Earthworm walked away with the win and Oceania with their third consecutive championship trophy—but nobody would ever forget that in the deciding battle, their opponent, one of Pokémon's greatest, decided to bring an Aron…level one.

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