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Pokémon fans were left surprised today after seeing one super fast Pokémon outspeed slower teams under Trick Room where slow Pokémon are supposed to move first.
In competitive Pokémon, one of the most important factors is speed. That’s why naturally fast ‘mons like Flutter Mane and Iron Bundle are so popular in VGC along with moves like Tailwind and Icy Wind for speed control. It doesn’t mean slower Pokémon are worse, though. Slower Pokémon like Torkoal shine under Trick Room, allowing them to move before speedy threats for five turns.
This week though, players have figured out a way for the fastest Pokémon to ignore the effects of Trick Room, enabling them to cut the line.
One surprised Pokémon player shared a screenshot of an opposing Iron Bundle outspeeding their Armarouge and Torkoal in Trick Room in a Reddit thread on June 7. Knowing how much faster Iron Bundle is than Armarouge or Torkoal, it shouldn’t really be possible for it to ever actually outspeed the fire duo under Trick Room.
Another player explained it’s possible if the Pokémon’s Speed stat gets above 1809: “The required speed is actually 1,809 because Trick Room doesn’t actually reverse turn order like you would think, instead it subtracts each pokemon’s speed from 10,000 and then subtracting that number from 8,192 if the number from the first calculation is greater than 8,191.”
So, if any unlucky Pokemon has a speed under 1,809, the number from the first calculation wouldn’t actually be less than 8,191 and won’t be subtracted.
If you look closely at Iron Bundle’s boosts in the screenshot, you’ll see it was at +4 Speed with an additional Speed increase from its ability, Quark Drive. Combined with a positive Speed nature and enough Speed EVs, the robot penguin was able to exceed the 1,809 Speed requirement to move first under Trick Room.
Related: How to beat Trick Room teams in competitive Pokémon
This strange gimmick has been around since Gen V, popular Youtuber Freezai said, and other fast Pokémon like Floatzel can also pull it off under the right conditions.
In particular, fans pointed out Regieleki since it’s currently the fastest Pokémon in the franchise. The Electric Legendary was recently banned from the ‘OU’ tier in Smogon single battles due to its speed and ability to cause chaos, and it would be even more broken in situations where it’s outspeeding Trick Room too.
That being said, the strategy isn’t easy to pull off with all the required setup and therefore isn’t viable in a real competitive setting. In fact, it’s near impossible to achieve in VGC since Pokémon are scaled down to level 50 rather than 100.
So, yes, +6 Speed Choice Scarf Iron Bundle can surpass the 1,809 mark in Electric Terrain with max Speed EVs and a Timid nature, but it isn’t really worth the setup.
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