The Pokémon Scarlet and Violet 2023 Japan National Champion won using a Pokémon without an item

Competitive Pokémon was won by some unusual strategies recently, as pro player Arii took home the grand prize at the Japan National Championships with some odd choices for his team.

The stand-out option for Arii was a Talonflame that had no held item. The reason for this was because he'd given the Fire/Flying-Type the move Acrobatics, which doubles in power when the user isn't holding anything.

Usually, players would make use of an item that is quickly used up, but Arii decided they couldn't be bothered doing that. Another strange pick was using Annihilape and Maushold as his core. Even if these weren't the most meta strategies or picks, they were enough to prove that anything can happen in the Pokémon competitive scene, as Arii won his country's biggest tournament.