Pokemon: Viral Post Reveals How One Fan’s Mom Became the Very Best

A viral social media post making the rounds this weekend reveals just how important it is to share your hobbies, like, say, Pokemon, with loved ones. It also happens to reveal what occurs when the student becomes the master, as one fan’s mother ended up on a surprising journey to be the very best, like no one ever was. At least, in the Pokemon Trading Card Game.

Storyboard artist Caroline Director recently shared her story on social media about attending a pre-release event for the latest expansion to the Pokemon Trading Card Game. According to her, her mother expressed interest in maybe attending — just to watch — the tournament, but Caroline convinced her to play, and… well, that’s where things got interesting. Caroline’s mom ended up stomping people during the tournament, rolling over opponents all while calling critters names like “Rikkuhchu” and “Sizzle” and so on.

But it gets worse — or perhaps better, depending on your perspective. Caroline’s mom event went on to beat her, the person that seemingly taught her to play. According to Caroline’s post, it would appear that her mom even made Top 8 at the tournament, and earned a whole mess of trading card packs in the process. If there were ever a story about becoming the very best at Pokemon, like Ash but, you know, real, this is absolutely the start of one.

What do you think of the current state of the Pokemon Trading Card Game? Have you ever participated in a pre-release tournament with surprising results like Caroline? Let us know in the comments, or hit me up directly on Twitter at @rollinbishop to talk all things gaming!

It’s worth noting here that the upcoming Sword & Shield expansion also makes some significant changes to the Pokemon Trading Card Game. The new expansion, and those released after it, is basically eliminating an entire element from the card game. “Pokemon that are Fairy types in the Pokémon video game series will now generally be represented as Psychic-type Pokemon in the Pokemon TCG,” the Pokemon Company stated at the time. “To maintain a balance among types, Pokemon that are Poison types in the video games will now be represented as Darkness types instead of Psychic types. For the time being, basic Fairy Energy can still be used in the Standard format, but that may change in the future.”

The latest expansion for the Pokemon Trading Card Game, Sword & Shield, is set to officially release on February 7th. You can check out all of our previous coverage of the popular card game right here, and you can check out all of our previous coverage of the Pokemon franchise, overall, right here.