I Want To Be The Very Best – A weekend at the Pokemon EUICs in London

thesixthaxis.com:

Legions of Pokémon fans of all types descended upon the Excel in London last weekend for the European International Championships and this ‘Mon-obsessed gamer found himself among them – if only as a spectator this time. With some of the best players of Scarlet/Violet, Pokémon Go, the Pokémon Trading Card Game, and Pokémon Unite under one roof, what was the event like to attend?

To get a small caveat out of the way, I do play all of the above, but there’s no way I would enter actual tournaments in them as I’m – well – awful at them. Maybe except for the card game, but my deck is nowhere near ready to actually compete with, which is by the by, I guess.

After registration, attendees walked into a section of little life-size dioramas of Paldean life, with little standees of Pokémon dotted around including a segment of the Academy fencing surrounded by travel cases and bunting. The highlights of this section were obviously the little bridge with our favourite boy, Lechonk, next to it and the fact that music from Scarlet and Violet was constantly playing in the background. I spent a not inconsequential amount of time simply sitting and bopping along to the music.

Through the large arch we go and into the arena proper, and this place was huge. A massive inflatable Pikachu hung somewhat ominously over the proceedings, but the place was full of milling fans playing cards and grouping around the corner containing stalls selling singles of Pokémon cards, along with a variety of other Pokémon merch.

Otherwise, the huge arena at any EUIC is broken up into a TCG area, two video game areas, a Pokémon Go area (complete with Pokéstop, of course), the main stage for the four tournaments, and an area for side events and prizes. As I wasn’t