From Casual to Competitor: How Chance Encounters Created a VGC Fledgling
It’s 1998, Pokemon is everywhere, school lunchboxes, a TV show, toys, trading cards, and even boxes of Kraft mac and cheese. Among all this, you receive your first video game, Pokemon Red, and the classic brick-sized Game Boy. Charizard is plastered over the cover with the Pokemon logo in an impactful font with a yellow color. Your brother, or perhaps your cousin if you were an only child, receives the Blue version. His Blastoise and its blue color create a polar opposite to your fiery red Charizard. Both popping out of their respective borders. This creates a rivalry that ignites a passion for competition at a very early age. The very same energy that derives from the point of the game, to battle, to catch them all, and to be the very best.
Every Journey Begins With a Choice
Pokemon was made with a competitive spirit in mind, and that’s the very same environment I was in around that time. As a fresh 7-year-old boy back in the day, I had this very same moment on Christmas in 1998 alongside my cousin. Little did I know that this franchise would push me toward my passion for the games industry as a whole, with a momentum that has not stopped to this day. From playing games, to writing about them, and even developing them. Pokemon had a much bigger influence on me beyond the games themselves.
From a Casual Witnessing the World's Strongest Trainers…
Far into the future in 2015, in the town I lived in within the greater Boston area, I heard about a huge Pokemon event happening in the city that weekend. Curious, I decided to hop on the MBTA and see what the hype was about. Little did I know the biggest tournament in the world was happening that year at the Hynes Convention Center, the 2015 World Championships. I watched all the battles I could that day and was enthralled by the sheer level of skill I’d never seen or heard of before at that point. Before then, I had no idea the VGC existed. I’ve heard rumblings of competitive Pokemon events but thought of them as nothing but casual competition. I did some research the day after and started battling on Showdown in the OU format for some time.
It wasn’t until 2018 that I met Adrien Hurley in a college classroom when I started to take the VGC format more seriously. At that time, I thought the doubles ruleset was dumb and the true game was played in a singles format. As I watched Adrien’s achievements at major tournaments and his rise in the VGC community, I was convinced otherwise. Soon after, I took some time to learn the format online in the early Sword and Shield days. I slowly gathered a skillset that blossomed during the unrestricted format late into that generation's lifecycle.
…to a Chance Encounter That Sparked a Flame to Compete
At PAX East 2020, Adrien and I both saw the opportunity to enter my first VGC tournament. It was mostly casual, no CP, no Pokemon ID, nothing. Just a bunch of fans of the competitive format clashing in a low-stakes tournament. Adrien stomped out the competition for first place. I placed second after some grueling battles, facing off against Adrien at the very end. We both won some PAX East tournament medals as our prize. Mine being silver, Adrien’s being gold.
Then, the pandemic hit, and the big old virus shut down the world. I became an online warrior on the cartridge version of the game, and Showdown as well. Years later the VGC community eventually blossomed once more from the ashes that killed the local scene. Locals were back, and a new generation of games hit. Scarlet and Violet launched my VGC career with my first Massachusetts local in Waltham last year. Then another in Malden, then Connecticut, and another in Maine. I made plenty of friends in the scene this way, and that’s how I met Ryan Hebert and started writing with him here at Devon Corp Press.
Journaling the Stories of Trainers Worldwide
If it wasn’t for me stumbling onto Worlds in Boston, or meeting who are now some of my best friends. I probably would never have had these opportunities or even met Ryan to help with this site. I’ve found my niche in the community logging its experiences and growing pains, but it won’t stop me trying to fulfill the competitive urge to play in the VGC. Until then, I’ll be running sets on Showdown preparing for the next local.
Look forward to more stories from myself and many others here on Devon Corp Press!
Disclaimer: The opinions/stories expressed in the blog post are those of the author and are not necessarily reflective of the platform or its affiliates.
