Happy New Year to you all! Hope you’re all as happy as we are to kiss 2016 goodbye, and with that we bring you the teams from the final Premier Challenge held in Melbourne on the 30th of December. Here we saw Chris Kan take out the event, with rising star Arvin as our runner-up. Also of note was the glorious return of local hero Ty Power to the scene, who went 12-0 before having to leave the event prematurely.

VGC17 Melbourne Premier Challenge | 30/12/16

1. Chris Kan

2. Arvin Banerjee (@EspyyVGC)

3. Sam Hughes* (@sam_slugmeister)

4. Sam Pandelis* (@ZeldaVGC)

5. Ben Suski

6. Ben Veltemeyer

7. Ty Power* (@SarkastikVGC)

8. Tim Walsh (@2girls1muk)

dropped from event

Usage Statistics for Top Cut

Usage Usage % Pokémon 5 62.5% 4 50% 3 37.5% 2 25% 1 12.5%

Porygon2 dominated this event, with all of the teams it was used on identifiable as semi Trick Room teams. With so little speed control available in the format, a well played Porygon2 was a very successful addition to many teams here. With very few weaknesses and great coverage options, Porygon2 is also reasonably splashable on teams with a range of speed tiers. Arvin’s team is a good example of this, with Sam Pandelis’ being another combining some slow members like Araquanid with fast ones like Tapu Koko.

Other interesting usage trends include; a rise in Gastrodon usage to manage electric-types and rain teams, alongside a huge decrease in usage of Celesteela and Marowak. Clearly players have found better ways to deal with this duo.

Thanks for reading! We hope that this article can help everyone preparing for coming Premier Challenges this January!