APAC West champions, RRQ completed their run at the Pokémon UNITE World Championships in 9th-12th place, taking home US$10,000 and a fresh perspective on how to approach future tournaments.

28 teams from around the world travelled to Yokohama, Japan, for the two day Pokémon UNITE World Championships for a chance to be crowned 2023 champions.

In an exclusive interview with ONE Esports, RRQ’s captain Judha “Eeyorr” Panggabean, shared the experiences and lessons he and the team learnt whilst competing at the WCS in Yokohama.

The World Championships requires competitors to give their all if they want to go far

Unlike regional tournaments where teams played against other teams within their regions, the WCS pushed competitors to the limit as the effectiveness of regional playstyles was put to the test. A team’s tempo, macro, and mastery of Pokémon all mattered in these high-stakes matches.

There is no such thing as a free win.

Eeyorr shared his feelings about his team’s performance and how they planned to be better for future tournaments: “If you want to win the WCS, your whole team really needs to give 100%.”

He believes in giving 100 percent into everything including scrims, team research, and mental preparation so that the team would be able to play at their best. Every match, including group stages, matters as well, because you never know if placements come down to tiebreakers.

“Different regions also have their own metas, and you just have to respect them instead of underestimate them. You need to think this way before the competition itself so that you can prepare way ahead of time,” he said.

Inteleon’s incompatibility with the Asia meta stunted RRQ’s pre-tournament prep

One of the most influential Pokémon played at the WCS was Inteleon, the newest Attacker type Pokémon introduced to the game. The tournament would also be its debut in the competitive scene.

Some regions were able to seamlessly adapt this Pokémon into their lineups. Unfortunately, this was not the case with RRQ.

“We couldn’t make Inteleon work when we had scrims with the Asian teams before the tournament, so we thought it was not a strong Pokémon. When we finally scrimmed the international teams, they showed us how good it was and we didn’t have enough time to really practice with or against it,” he said.

Many teams at the WCS were forced to deny pick Inteleon from their opponents as only one ban was available for each team during the draft phase. It’s situations like this that really emphasize the need for tournament preparation and mastery to play a wide variety of Pokémon.

Though the team learned some very tough lessons this year, they’re very optimistic that they’ll become even stronger when the competitive season kicks off again later this year.

Stay up to date with Rex Regum Qeon’s Pokémon UNITE team by following their Facebook or Twitter account.

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