Riley Factura Interview after Pittsburgh Regional Win

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Riley Factura Interview after Pittsburgh Regional Win

We got to run down Riley Factura's first Regional win of 2023 following the event.

How are you feeling after that last game with Wolfe went to Game 3?

“I mean I feel good that I won and I also feel bad because I got a little bit lucky, if anyone watched the finals there was a bunch of crits and a freeze at the end.”

Why do you think Cresselia did so well in the last Regulation D Regional?

“I think because Landorus usage has popped up, so Cresselia can do a four times effective move with Ice Beam. It's also very bulky and can set up Trick Room with all the Tailwind users running around we can have the speed advantage.”

Were you leaning towards more supportive Pokémon with the Crecelia, or was it to counter the Landorus?

“The Trick Room mode in Cresselia is the last option. The team was first built around Urshifu and Chien-pao. Those are really strong Pokémon, and Amoongus who's a good sponge. I tried Tailwind originally, but I wanted (Iron) Hands and Heatran to counter the rise of Gholdengo, but I felt like they were in an awkward speed tier. Cresselia is pretty much there for me to move all my Speed EVs on Heatran and Iron Hands to bulk.”

How do you go about playing Trick Room into Trick Room like you did in your top four game?

“In the Cresselia mirror, I think I have to look at the Pokémon they bring as well and see if I either need to do as much damage in Trick Room as possible based on the speed tier, or I don't set up the Trick Room and go with the fast mode with Chien-pao or Urshifu but have that (Trick Room) option just in case things go South with the fast mode.”

Many players are using the same teams they used at Worlds. Do you think making adjustments to your team helped you win this Regional?

“Yeah, I don't think I would've won with the team that I brought to Worlds. I brought Regidraco and Gholdengo. It was a team that was popular in the grassroots tournaments right before Worlds, but I just don't think that team was super optimal and I think this new team really helped threaten the meta even more now that it's more defined.”