#41 - Pokemon Johto Draft Game

No franchise has left such a large impact on my life as has Pokemon. From the time I was 10 years old, throughout high school and even in university, Pokemon continued to have a dominating presence. Even now I still get nostalgic about the older video games that accompanied my youth; for example, Littleroot Town and Ecruteak’s theme song still make me drift back to my childhood. Whether it’s arguing with friends about the pronunciation of Groundon or my parents finally buy me a $20 Pokemon deck only for it to be stolen a few months later, this franchise has added so much colour to my life and imagination. During high school, I even played Pokemon competitively, which meant abiding by certain rules and regulations imposed by a larger community. For example, one-hit knock out moves such as Sheer Cold were banned and you couldn’t put more than one Pokemon to sleep on the opposing team. But I am not the only one in my friendship group with such a nostalgic love for this franchise, one autumn night in Sydney, 2023. Lance, Nathan and I gathered to record a round of the Pokemon Draft Game, this time we went and drafted four different generations for your viewing pleasure. And with that out of the way, let’s get to the rules. 1) You must select 6 Pokemon. 2) You can only select Pokemon that originated from that region. Therefore, you can only pick Gyarados in the first region even if you can catch it in almost every game. 3) You can only pick one starter from that region. 4) Once a Pokemon is picked, their entire evolutionary chain is disqualified. For example, picking Magikarp disqualifies Gyarados. 5) No legendaries or pseudo-legendaries. Legendaries are pretty obvious, but pseudo-legendaries such as Dragonite, Tyranitar, Metagross and Heatran are just too powerful and made the game less interesting. 6) One cute Pokemon is mandatory. They must be able to ride on your shoulder or be carried. 7) After the round is complete, everyone votes for their favourite team. They cannot pick their own team. Make sure you tell us which team is the best and make sure to catch them all.