We talk about our experience at the Pokémon World Championships.

28/08/2022 15:00

Barely a week ago this editor whose text you are reading was not in front of the computer, but, on the contrary, I was in a room full of followers of what may be the most relevant video game franchise worldwide seeing as best pokemon players from all over the globe faced each other to decide who was the Pokémon Master of that year.

And needless to say, nerves were on edge as, for the first time in history, we had a Spaniard in the grand finalbeing the user known as Kasty who would represent us against Eduardo Cunha, the Portuguese player who, spoiler alert, was the one who ended up taking the victory.

Even with all this, it should be noted that this event has not only been the grand final, but also all the development it has had since the Thursday August 18 until Sunday, August 21, being so on this occasion I became the eyes and ears of all those who could not go. And it is precisely for this reason that I want to share this chronicle with you, to tell you in the first person what it’s like to live a Pokémon World Championship. And I’ll tell you something in advance: the Pokémon Center is a danger to the wallet.

All about the Pokémon World Championships in London in 2022

The Pokémon World Championship in London 2022 has been the commemoration of three years of generation

In the first place, it is necessary to put a little in context, since, although there were plans for this world championship to be held in 2020, I think it is not necessary to say that it happened at the beginning of that year, causing all the events face-to-face meetings were delayed until today, in which, for the first time, we could see how the competitive scene of Pokémon Sword and Shield faces were seen.

Needless to say, this was noted by the enormous deployment that there was in the event (more than a million dollars in costs), counting on reunions of people from all countries, as well as great nervousness because some were even the first time they participated in a venue full of people, since in recent years, due to the effects of the pandemic, this championship has been held online.

In addition, this not only affected those who had dedicated their time to building a great team for Pokémon Sword and Shield, but we could also see it materialized with the first World Cup with Pokémon GO and Pokémon UNITEthese two games being the ones that were being tested the most to see their competitive performance.

The battles and the purchases begin

London has been the venue for the Pokémon World Championship in 2022

It must be said that, whatever the game, the truth is that explaining how they work would be repeating what was said in my chronicle of the 2022 International European Championship, being that, as a reference to what was said in May, what I most you can see it’s like Pokémon has more complexity than it seemsleaving aside that classic strategy of using Earthquake with everything and getting fully into a mind game in which you don’t have to know just what to dobut also what your opponent will do, this applies to all formats.

Be that as it may, the truth is that one of the best things we could see in the venue was the well prepared i wassince even eating or sitting on one of the many terraces you could continue the battlesto the point that I literally stood for ten minutes in a corridor watching Eric Ríos (a Spanish player who was Champion at the April International) was trying to get the first victory of the day.

And it must be said that, even if it is in turns, they are games that they are entertaining to watchespecially Pokkén Tournament and Pokémon UNITE, since being the most dynamic and the ones with the most action, you can see how the situation can take a 180º turn in just a few seconds. In fact, the game that is perhaps most weighed down by this spectacularity is Pokémon TCG, which needs to use holograms to be much more colorful. But that’s already something that should come with time and the advancement of Augmented Reality technology.

The Pokémon Center and all the activities to do

Pokémon GO has had its competitive debut in this 2022 world championship

Now, don’t think that this Pokémon World Championship is just about be a player or spectatorsince he himself brought with him what may be one of the major tourist attractions for all Pokémon fans, being so that we could see how the second Pokémon Center, the official Pokémon store, in Europe opened its doors, being so that in the entire history of the franchise there have only been two stores, one of them being precisely the one that was temporarily in London for the premiere of Pokémon Sword and Shield.

Incidentally, this was a more than obvious mandatory stop, I had to control myself with excesses because the suitcase that had arrived had the capacity it had, but the truth is that I should have been the exception, since I could see from the beginning how all the fans razed with the products, which ranged from stuffed animals to electronic Poké Balls, cards, pins, figures, among many others that gradually ran out. An experience that, in the case of taking place in Madrid for the launch of Scarlet and Purple, don’t lose them.

Likewise, on the part of the games, this past weekend also featured heavy weight on contentsince we were not only able to get hold of various special pokemon in Pokémon GO, but a special Victini was distributed through a code for all those Sword and Shield players. And I have to say that, as a Shiny Hunter, I saw the missed opportunity to put, for the first time in history, the possibility of obtaining the shiny version of this Pokémon. We will have to wait for the ninth generation to see if there is any luck.

The closing ceremony brought new information about the games and a clear destination: Yokohama 2023

Clyclizar is the new Dragon-type Pokémon available in Paldea

In fact, the closing event could not have ended in a better way, as we were able to see first-hand not only the future of competitive in Pokémon TCGbut also we have a new trailer for Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Purplewhich gave great weight to the new competitive mechanics, as well as a greater breakdown of what we will see when activating the teracrystallizationthe new mechanic that can change everything.

In any case, the final result is already known by many, even though, on the one hand, we already know that the next pokemon world championship it will catch us a little further, since for that occasion we will have to go to Yokohama, the city on which the mythical Ciudad Carmón of the first games is based, at the same time that we can see how the Japanese are the most excited by this decision, since that, after all, It’s the first time in over a decade that this event will take place in the country where Pokémon was born.

Be that as it may, I can only close this chronicle by mentioning the (slight) disappointment not see that Madrid is the headquartersalthough, to be clear, it was logical if we take into account that the Spanish capital does not have the same global importance, the infrastructures, as well as the means to cover an event like this as London has done. In any case, we can only cross our fingers so that in 2024 we get to see a new European headquarters, being, after all, this the continent that seems to be gaining more and more weight in Pokémon.