If you’ve been keeping up with our Pokemon coverage recently, you’ll probably already know that A🅷sh Ketchum has finally managed to complete his dream team in season 23 of the iconic series. However🎶, I wasn’t satisfied with the si⛎mple fact that these Pokemon are supposed to be good - I needed first-hand proof. And so, I decided to build the exact same team as the one Ash is currently rocking in order to try it out for myself.
At the moment, Ash has a Pikachu, a Dragonite, a Gengar, a Lucario, a Galarian Farfetch’d, and a Dracovish. At face value, that’s a pretty solid squad - however, there’s so much more to competitive Pokemon than how things might appear at first🦄 glance. It’s like chess except all the pieces spit fireballs and punch each other with elect♔romagnetic claws. Also some of them look like this.
Anyway, I put together a team that leans into the strengths of each and eve🍎ry one of Ash’s new Pokemon. For what it’s worth, I don’t particularly like the synergy - Galarian Farfetch’d and Lucario both being Fighting types annoys me, and I’m not quite sure what to be doing with Gigantamax electro mouse when there’s an enemy Genesect doing my nut in. I tried my best, though, and I reckon the results were actually pretty promising.
Here’s a look at the entire team:
Pikachu (Gigantamax)
Item: Light Ball
Ability: Light𒈔ning Rod (one person said this sh𒀰ould be Static but shhh)
Nature: Lonely
Stats: 252 Atk, 200 SpA, 56 Spd
Moves:
- Volt Switch
- Knock Off
- Surf
- Extremespeed
Dragonite
Item: Weakness Policy
Ability: Multiscale
Nature: Adamant
Stats: 252 Atk, 4 SpD, 252 Spd
Moves:
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Claw
- Extremespeed
- Fire Punch
Gengar
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Cursed Body
Nature: Timid
Stats: 252 SpA, 4 SpD, 252 Spd
Moves:
- Hex
- Will-O-Wisp
- Sludge Wave
- Taunt
Lucario
Item: Expert Belt
Ability: Justified
Nature: Jolly
Stats: 252 Atk, 4 SpD, 252 Spd
Moves:
- Bullet Punch
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Meteor Mash
Galarian Farfetch’d
Item: Eviolite
Ability: Scrappy
Nature: Adamant
Stats: 252 HP, 252 Atk, 4 SpD
Moves:
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Brave Bird
- Final Gambit
Dracovish
Item: Choice Scarf
Ability: Strong Jaw
Nature: Jolly
Stats: 252 Atk, 4 SpD, 252 Spd
Moves:
- Fishious Rend
- Outrage
- Crunch
- Psychic Fangs
As you can see, this team has absolutely no walls, and only Gengar counts a﷽s a status specialist. Due to the lack of synergy, the team is based around tactical immunity switches and high damage output. The stars are Dragonite, who can eat a super-effective attack for massive damage buffs thanꦺks to its Multiscale/Weakness Policy combo, and Dracovish, whose exclusive access to Fishious Rend with Scarf-boosted speed allows it to knock the crap out of anything it deals neutral damage to.
Out of five matches I played with the team, I won three and was only beaten b🉐y gimmicks. One player ran an Endeavor Aron, which isn’t too unusual, but I wasn’t aware it also held a Shell Bell. With Gengar being my only status inflictor, there was no way for me to touch the Aron - it constantly used Endeavor to get me down to 1HP, while its own low HP pool thanks to being level 1 allowed its Shell Bell to bring it back to max health time and time agai🍬n, meaning Sturdy was constantly active. It took out three of my Pokemon, stacking the odds heavily in my opponent’s favour (Sandstorm was also active, meaning my Pokemon who were brought down to 1HP via Endeavor were wiped out before their next move due to residual weather damage). Had I known about the Shell Bell earlier, Dracovish could have easily swept the entire enemy team.
The onl𒐪y other battle I lost was purely down to bad luck. We had gone 🍌down to 4v4 and I had a double Dragon Danced Drago💃nite ready to sweep. The enemy Dragapult critted me with Dragon Darts and was scarfed, allowing it to easily take out my remaining three ‘mons.
The battles I won were much cleaner fights. I beat the first person so quickly that they got really pissy with me in chat after. Another person I beat noticed I was using Ash’s team and got annoyed because my Pikachu was female, which I obviously hadn’t even noticed. They proceeded to correct the gender of every singl𓆉e Pokemon I was using and demanded a rematch after I beat them. My last victory, which meant I ended up going three for two, is fully watchable in the clip below.
Obviously five matches is not the largest sample size in the world, but it did give me a feel for the team. It hasn’t got the best synergy in the world - or at all - but it’s made up of some𝓀 pretty powerful ‘mons. As I stated earlier, Dragonite and Dracovish make for a pretty mean combo. Even against Fairies, a Dragon Danced, Weakness Policy-boosted Dragonite can hit two and a half times harder than its already monstrous Attack stat. Dracovish is also able to hit anything it outspeeds - which is most Pokemon when it has a Choice Scarf - with double the power thanks to Fishious Rends and Strong Jaw-buffed Crunch and Psychic Fangs. The coverage, damage potential, and speed of these two Pokemon alone are frighteningly good.
This is why I’m going to reit💦erate something I’ve already written in another article: Ash is going to beat Leon at the end of Pokemon’s Galar arc, and once he does, he’s likely going to pack it in. There༺’s nothing left for him to do after assembling a team this strong - well, unless the writers decide to have him complete the National Dex, which would not make for particularly riveting television.
As a result of that, it’s likely we’ll see a new protagonist enter the fold in the near future. That idea might seem weird at first, but I think it could be great. Pokemon Twilight Wings was far better t🌊han Poꦅkemon Sword and Shield, and genuinely 🔯needs to be the gold standard for all Pokemon games going forward. Outside of the games, though, it introduced a protagonist that exem�🐟�plifies everything a new Pokemon main character needs to be. I’m coꦉnfident that the series is in good hands, and that Ash will take this tried-and-tested team straight to the top. After that, I reckon he’s earned himself a nice b൩reak. I mean, he’s been ten for 24 years. Let the kid celebrate his 11th birthday in peace.