Game8 interviewed Hiroshi Onishi following his win at the 2026 Pokémon Japan Championships (PJCS). Find out everything he told us, with details on his team and what he thought of the Rain Dance Mega Froslass he played against.
How Hiroshi Onishi Won Pokémon Champions at PJCS 2026, In a Nutshell
Before the Finals; Left: Rintaro Arai, Right: Hiroshi Onishi.
Hiroshi Onishi defeated runner-up Rintaro Arai for the win in a nail-biting finale that featured Arai-san's Archaludon taking the lead after tanking a Light of Ruin with 4 HP, but finally losing out with Politoed getting Encore locked into Protect, and failing to survive for enough turns to take Onishi-san down with Perish Song.
The two players used dramatically different teams; Onishi-san's team was based on offensive cores everpresent in the meta, while Arai-san's team featured gambits like Perish Trap Gengar and Rain Dance Froslass which forced their opponent to play around them.
Hiroshi Onishi's Team
 Charizard |
Move Set | Heat Wave | Item | Charizardite Y |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weather Ball | Abil. | Blaze | ||
| Solar Beam | Nat. | Modest | ||
| Protect | ||||
 Basculegion (Male) |
Move Set | Wave Crash | Item | Mystic Water |
| Last Respects | Abil. | Adaptability | ||
| Aqua Jet | Nat. | Adamant | ||
| Protect | ||||
 Floette (Eternal Flower) |
Move Set | Moonblast | Item | Floettite |
| Dazzling Gleam | Abil. | Flower Veil | ||
| Light of Ruin | Nat. | Modest | ||
| Protect | ||||
 Garchomp |
Move Set | Dragon Claw | Item | Roseli Berry |
| Stomping Tantrum | Abil. | Rough Skin | ||
| Poison Jab | Nat. | Jolly | ||
| Protect | ||||
 Whimsicott |
Move Set | Moonblast | Item | Focus Sash |
| Tailwind | Abil. | Prankster | ||
| Encore | Nat. | Timid | ||
| Protect | ||||
 Kingambit |
Move Set | Kowtow Cleave | Item | Occa Berry |
| Iron Head | Abil. | Defiant | ||
| Sucker Punch | Nat. | Adamant | ||
| Protect | ||||
Onishi-san's team is frequently used in the current meta; even within the Top 8, four players including Onishi-san used the exact same 6 Pokémon, and 1 player used 5 of the same Pokémon while swapping out Kingambit for Incineroar. There's no denying that it's a powerful team that gets results.
Mega Charizard Y and Mega Floette are offensive powerhouses with their abilities; Mega Charizard Y's Drought summons Sun to power up its Fire attacks and allow it to use Solar Beam in one turn, while Mega Floette's Fairy Aura boosts its Fairy attacks, carrying a big stick of a Light of Ruin that can typically guarantee a 1HKO.
Mega Floette charging up a devastating Light of Ruin.
Whimsicott can set up Tailwind on the first turn to help Charizard or Floette sweep, and trap opponents running support moves into unintended actions with Encore.
Garchomp, Basculegion, and Kingambit can bring up the rear, all of them meta staple attackers who can switch in at an opportune time, or snag a revenge KO. Overall, it's a highly offensive team that even Stall-focused Pokémon will struggle to keep at bay.
Rintaro Arai's Team
 Gengar |
Move Set | Shadow Ball | Item | Gengarite |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sludge Bomb | Abil. | Cursed Body | ||
| Perish Song | Nat. | Modest | ||
| Protect | ||||
 Sinistcha |
Move Set | Matcha Gotcha | Item | Colbur Berry |
| Trick Room | Abil. | Hospitality | ||
| Rage Powder | Nat. | Calm | ||
| Protect | ||||
 Archaludon |
Move Set | Electro Shot | Item | Leftovers |
| Dragon Pulse | Abil. | Stamina | ||
| Flash Cannon | Nat. | Modest | ||
| Protect | ||||
 Politoed |
Move Set | Weather Ball | Item | Sitrus Berry |
| Hypnosis | Abil. | Drizzle | ||
| Perish Song | Nat. | Calm | ||
| Protect | ||||
 Incineroar |
Move Set | Flare Blitz | Item | Chople Berry |
| Fake Out | Abil. | Intimidate | ||
| Parting Shot | Nat. | Sassy | ||
| Protect | ||||
 Froslass |
Move Set | Blizzard | Item | Froslassite |
| Aurora Veil | Abil. | Cursed Body | ||
| Rain Dance | Nat. | Timid | ||
| Protect | ||||
Arai-san's team reflects his tricky style with not one, but two Perish Song users, as well as a Rain Dance Froslass, which gained some notoriety from viewers worldwide for utilizing an otherwise obscure choice in Froslass's moveset.
Gengar features a so-called Perish Trap strategy, which uses Mega Gengar's Shadow Tag ability to prevent opponents from switching out, trapping them in to faint 3 turns after Perish Song is used.
Froslass uses its Mega Evolution's Ability Snow Warning to summon Snow on the first turn, allowing it set Aurora Veil off the bat. This is a prevalent strategy – less prevalent is the addition of Rain Dance. This move works primarily because of two factors: the dominant Charizard meta, and the closed-sheet system. In PJCS, all teams are hidden to other players in matches before the Top 8, so an opponent would not expect a Rain Dance Froslass. This allows Froslass to gain the upper hand when a player thinks they have the upper hand with Charizard out, only to be hit with Rain Dance and suddenly end up on the back foot.
Unfortunately, this causes the strategy's effectiveness to diminish starting in the Top 8, when the teams are revealed to all players.
Sinistcha using Trick Room to overturn Onishi-san's Tailwind speed control.
Other mainstays include Sinistcha, who can use Rage Powder to prevent an opponent from attacking Gengar to maintain the Perish Trap, as well as healing tankier Pokémon like Archaludon and Politoed on switch-in with its Hospitality ability.
To learn more about the team, read Arai-san's article on note.com (Japanese only)
Game8's Interview with Hiroshi Onishi
Quotations are translated from the original Japanese.
His Key to Victory
A tense team selection during the Finals.
When we got the chance to talk with Onishi-san after his huge win, the first thing we wanted to know was, how did he do it?
Onishi-san's team was similar or even the same as others used in the Top 8, including one which he fought directly in the Top 4, the team used by Rinya Kobayashi, which was almost identical except for its usage of Black Glasses instead of Occa Berry on Kingambit.
So what was the key to his victory? Was there a secret in his team, or in his playstyle?
According to Onishi-san, it was “his lucky day”.
As Rintaro Arai's Politoed faints, ending the 3rd and final match of the Finals, both players collapse onto their desks.
“It really comes down to that the party I used is just particularly strong right now in high-level play. So among multiple players using the same team, the question of who will win is decided of course by play skill, but also luck, and I think that played a big role. I also feel that luck was on my side in the game against Rinya Kobayashi as well. For my part, I definitely feel that I played my best, but the largest factor was that it was ‘my day’ today.”
There's definitely some humility here from a top player. That said, Pokémon is a game where luck plays a large role; unexpected outcomes like missing a single attack, or surviving an attack that would usually KO, can change the course of a battle. For many, that's part of the appeal of competitive Pokémon; unlike predetermined strategy games like chess, Pokémon encourages players to take a risk with incomplete information. In his victory at PJCS 2026, Onishi-san took the right risks, and he reaped the rewards for it.
On the flipside, when asked separately if he uses any good luck charms, he said he actually doesn't have any, but that he's always sure to eat a filling breakfast before a tournament, and fuel up with jello and ramune candies throughout the day.
On Rintaro Arai's Rain Dance Froslass
Mega Froslass using Rain Dance against Shota Hongu in the semifinals.
Tragically, although Froslass appeared in all 3 matches of the finals between Onishi-san and Arai-san, it never had the chance to use Rain Dance. Knowing that Froslass would always set up Aurora Veil on turn 1 instead of using Protect or switching, Onishi-san repeatedly chose to focus attacks from both Pokémon on it to score a guaranteed KO.
Still, we couldn't resist but to ask Onishi-san what he thought about the fabled Rain Dance Froslass.
“It's a little bit advanced, but the other cores he used of Gengar, Politoed, and Archaludon, as well as Incineroar and Sinistcha, are well-established. The main issue there is that there isn't really a good option for the 6th slot that fits well with Archaludon, and filling that slot with a Rain Dance Froslass was extremely innovative. It was a great and original idea from Arai-san.”
Archaludon needs the defensive support from Froslass's Aurora Veil, and giving it Rain Dance allows it to handle cases where Politoed's Drizzle would get replaced with Sun on a Charizard switch-in, making it a great and unique 6th option for the team.
We wanted to know if there's a situation where Froslass would have used Rain Dance, and according to Onishi-san, it was still in the cards: “If Froslass had remained on the field, it's likely that it would have used Rain Dance, but I knocked out the Froslass before that. I realized that it would put me in a bad position if Froslass were to use Rain Dance, so I took the opportunity to seal off that option right away.”
Unfortunately, the open-sheet rules of the finals stripped the Rain Dance Froslass of its greatest strength – the element of surprise. But even if Rain Dance didn't come into play directly in the Finals, it did indirectly influence the battle, encouraging Onishi-san to focus down on Froslass instead of taking a different action.
We're hoping to see it again in some form in the future; but if not, it's still a great tactic to leave your opponents reeling on the Ranked ladder.
What's Next for Hiroshi Onishi
Celebrating a well-deserved victory on the big screen.
As the winner of PJCS 2026, Onishi-san will be invited to compete in the 2026 Pokémon World Championships in San Francisco, California.
Asked how he's feeling about the upcoming challenge, Onishi-san responded, “I've achieved fewer results at Worlds than I have at the Japan Championships in the past, which is something that's on my mind. But I'm hoping to use the momentum from this victory to leave a solid mark at Worlds this year.”
Changes in the list of available Pokémon and items may occur within Pokémon Champions before the World Championships in August this year; depending on how the metagame shifts, we're excited to see what kind of team Hiroshi Onishi has in store.
Follow Hiroshi Onishi on his Twitter (X) account at @cona_5757 for all the latest updates.
Pokémon Champions is available now on Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2, and will be available on mobile devices on June 17, 2026.
