Canada’s competitive talent isn’t limited to sports. Team Canada is battling it out at the Pokemon Video Game Championships (VGC) World Cup hosted by Victory Road.
The VGC World Cup is where Pokemon trainers duke it out to earn the title of Champion. What more could a bonafide Pokemon trainer ask for?
Fine. If that wasn’t enough incentive, competitors could also earn cash prizes, scholarships, and potentially an invite to the annual Pokemon World Championships, an invite-only tournament.
Joining the team this year is Jacob Wilkins, Cochrane’s very own Ash Ketchum. Ready to be the very best, Team Canada is competing against 60 teams consisting of 700 players from around the world.
Getting a spot on Team Canada wasn’t easy. Wilkins faced off against 80 players during the tryout process and won every single time. He is now the second Albertan to join Team Canada ever.
“I beat some players who were previous top-world players along the way, and I guess the team managers saw my performance there and figured that there wasn’t a way that they could not put me on the team,” Wilkins told Cochrane Now.
Wilkins started playing Pokemon casually in 2016. He didn’t start competing until 2020 when he qualified for the Players Cup International Tournament.
In a VGC tournament, players play Pokemon on the Nintendo Switch and compete by following set rules like team size, level limits, and move restrictions.
“My first real run at an event was at the Toronto regional this year where I was the 55th player. I was in the top 64 bracket and I think 5 Canadians above me in Canada’s biggest regional ever,” said Wilkins.
Wilkins finished the Toronto regional event with a 6-3 record.
His Pokemon team consisted of Tornadus, Therian Landorus, Flutter Mane Misdreavus, a Hearthflame Ogerpon, Iron Hands Hariyama, and Chien-Pao.
Wilkins is taking what he learned from the regional event to this year’s VGC World Cup.
“This is the fourth year they’ve done the World Cup of Pokemon. Each country is able to select a team of up to 12 players that are the best Pokemon players in their country,” explained Wilkins.
Inside Team Canada’s Pokemon VGC World Cup Roster
Team Canada’s mascot is pyukumuku, a water-type Pokemon with the unique ability Innards Out, which involves pyukumuku spitting its organs out through its mouth to deal damage.
If pyukumuku’s unsettling ability sounds familiar, that’s because it is based on a sea cucumber. Thankfully, pyukumuku is a lot cuter.
The VGC World Cup is currently in the qualifying stages, where players face off in eight versus eight sets of best-of-three games. The first week of the event finished yesterday.
Team Canada’s first match was against Venezuela and ended in a 2-2 draw. Wilkins wasn’t on the roster for this week but his teammates didn’t let him down.
Canada’s Olivia Moledzki and Daravone Souphommanychanh (Souphomm) earned two hard-fought 2-1 wins.
Souphomm’s team is particularly interesting because it takes advantage of a Pokemon called Basculegion’s ability, Swift Swim.
When it is raining during a Pokemon battle, Swift Swim doubles Basculegion’s speed, allowing the Pokemon to move first in most cases.
Moving before your opponent is a huge advantage in competitive Pokemon matches, allowing players to unleash powerful moves on Pokemon that would otherwise be faster.
Souphomm triggers Basculegion’s ability by bringing Pelipper, a Pokemon with the Drizzle ability that causes it to rain for a minimum of five turns when brought onto the field.
On the surface, Pokemon is a simple game offering very little in terms of difficulty. However, a Pokemon battle between real players is comparable to chess.
Over the years, the franchise has developed over 1,000 Pokemon and over 900 moves these Pokemon can use.
Basculegion’s synergy with Pelipper is one example of thousands discovered and utilized by talented players like Wilkins.
Team Canada is set to face off against Honduras and Uruguay next. We are excited to see what tricks Wilkins has up his sleeve to beat his opponents at this year’s VGC World Cup.
Who is your favorite Pokemon and do you think they will make an appearance on Wilkins’ team?
