Farigiraf outperforms fan-favorite in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet regionals

Recent Pokemon Scarlet & Violet Regionals offered a chance for competitors to surprise opponents, and while the meta hasn’t shifted entirely, an interesting Pokemon caused an upset in Charlotte.

One of the best elements of the Pokemon franchise is its versatility. No two Pokemon teams are ever the same, and even when it seems the competitive seen has no surprises left, along comes a wild inclusion that has everyone talking.

Pokemon Scarlet & Violet introduced plenty of new Pokemon, especially with the recent The Indigo Disk DLC, but some of the new batch have been more popular than others.

Stalwart picks like Flutter Mane haven’t dropped out of the rankings since the games debuted, and recently the return of starter Pokemon has meant returning favorites like Incineroar are back on the scene. Meanwhile, newcomer Farigiraf has been overlooked, until now.

Wolfe Glick wins Charlotte Regionals 2024 with a surprising pick

As shown in the Pokemon Charlotte Regional Championships Day 2 stream, previous World Champion Wolfe Glick won the competition, including the addition of an underdog (or under… giraffe) in the form of Farigiraf.

The Pokemon Company

Wolfey took the title, landing him his 8th Regional title win out of 11 entries total, and making him the winner of the biggest Regionals competition ever.

Fans are showering the champ with praise online, as one comment on X (Twitter) says, “Wolfey don’t win the biggest regional of the year challenge (IMPOSSIBLE)”.

Wolfey himself seems taken aback by the achievement, posting an excited comment, saying, “I JUST WON THE BIGGEST POKEMON TOURNAMENT OF ALL TIME AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA”.

Meanwhile, lots of people are commenting on the surprise inclusion of Farigiraf, a Pokemon not previously common on the competitive scene. Plus, it got the final hit of the Tournament, securing Wolfey’s win.

A comment on X explains it succinctly, saying, “More farigiraf than incineroar? What the f*** is happening?”

Finally, while Wolfey took the crown, plenty of comments online are throwing support at relative newcomer Nicholas Donnelly, who secured second place after losing in the finals after only starting to play competitively last year.

One YouTube comment under the official Pokemon YouTube Channel stream says, “Wow what a great Grand finals. Shoutout to Nicholas, he played the crap out of his first day 2 and top cut. Wolfe played out his mind all weekend. World champ diff came in clutch.”

With the Liverpool Regionals this weekend and a few more tournaments before Pokemon’s Yokohama World Championships 2024, if this surprise upset teaches fans anything, it’s that the complexity of Pokemon will always be able to surprise people.