WHILE some people think of Pokémon as just a kids’ game, there is serious money involved for those who become the very best.
The European International Championships recently took place in London, with over $100k (£80k) in prize money up for grabs.
1
Over 4.5k competitors took part in the tournament last weekend, and while veterans Tord Reklev and Nils Dunlop took home the top prizes of a combined $40k (£30k) in prize money, several newer players took home significant cash.
Joe Russell only started playing Pokémon competitively in October 2023, yet he finished EUIC in 12th place, above World Champions like Shohei Kimura, Eduardo Cunha, and Wolfe Glick.
As the highest-placing UK player, he took home $3k (£2.5k) for his efforts despite never making it to day two of a tournament before.
Russell told The Sun, “It went a lot better than I thought it would.
“I came into this tournament thinking that if I got five wins and four losses that would be a brilliant achievement.
“I’ve never done better than that. That’s my best record from the Liverpool and Utrecht Regional tournaments.
“I thought ‘If I can match that in an International, God I don’t deserve it, but it would feel so good.’”
It was a rough start to the tournament for Russell, who had just one win and two losses after the first three rounds.
He then claims he just “locked in” and ended up winning his next nine games for a record of 12 wins and three losses over the course of the tournament.
This is only Russell’s fifth official Pokémon tournament after starting to play professionally just six months ago.
In previous tournaments like Dortmund, he dropped out after just the first few rounds following disappointing losing streaks.
His first tournament was a local event in Milton Keynes which he entered on a whim.
He recalls: “I messaged my friend one day saying, ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if we tried to play this competitively instead of just doing it online?’
“They had a local in Milton Keynes, and we thought we’d go there. How bad could it be?
“It went very badly. I won one game in round one, and that was it.”
He has been using the same team since Utrecht; an unusual composition of Iron Crown, Indeedee, and Regidrago, which many of the players at the tournament weren’t prepared for.
In creating his team Russell said: “There’s a really popular team called Japan Balance, and this team digs a grave for it.
“Japan Balance is everywhere, and this is such a good team against it, I only ended up losing to it once.
“I played a lot of similar teams, but Regidrago is a brilliant Pokémon. It works great as an intimidation tactic.”
Tim Edwards started playing just one year ago, and before EUIC his biggest achievement was placing 19th at the Toronto Regional.
However, he beat out a number of veteran players including the reigning North American International Champion Alex Gómez to reach the EUIC finals and scoop up $10k (£8k) in prize money.
His first competitive tournament was the Hartford Regional in May 2023, which was within driving distance of his home.
He came 104th in that tournament, but has translated that to 2nd at a much larger tournament in less than a year.
On his way to the finals, he only lost twice, once to Víctor Medina, the top 8 Worlds player, who he later beat, and Nils Dunlop, the 2x Regional Champion, who later went on to win the event.
Despite his incredible record of 13 wins and two losses, Edwards didn’t believe he would make it into the finals.
He tells The Sun: “There were at least two times I thought my tournament run was over.
“The last round of day two, and my quarterfinals match, I thought it was going to be over for me.
“I think that’s been the theme of the weekend – just being resilient and having a team that I feel I can use to fight my way out of bad situations.
“I’ve had poor tournaments in the past that I walked out of disappointed.
“But once I get home, I just try to take away what I can do to do better next time.”
The professional competitive Pokémon scene is growing larger all the time and EUIC was the largest tournament in the game’s 13-year history.
It’s heart-warming to see new players managing to break into the scene despite the number of veterans that are still playing over a decade later.
If you want to read more about Pokémon, check out how to catch Meganium in seven-star tera raids.
All the latest PS5 reviews from The Sun
Get the lowdown on more of the latest PS5 releases from our expert reviewers.
