Nils Dunlop was crowned the Pokémon Scarlet and Violet VGC winner at the 2024 Europe International Championships (EUIC) this weekend, but no one could’ve expected what he would say in his interview moments after his big victory.
After winning the VGC grand finals at EUIC against Tim Edwards, Dunlop spoke to host Charlie Merriman about the whole experience. The new international champion gave a special shoutout to his mother “for being the best mental coach ever.” This started out as a sweet and wholesome moment, but what he said next completely broke the EUIC stream.
“I was sh*tting bricks in the back and was super scared,” Dunlop revealed to viewers before the audio was abruptly cut from the stream. While initially watching the stream live, I didn’t catch the curse word and simply thought the audio team was having tech issues. In reality, the broadcasting team likely cut part of the interview audio in case of any other slip-ups. Other viewers pointed out how the censoring actually drew more attention to the comment and made it even more obvious.
While it’s not unheard of for players in esports and sports to accidentally (or intentionally) swear during a live broadcast, it is pretty shocking to hear it on a stream for a very family-friendly game like Pokémon. After all, major Pokémon tournaments like EUIC have junior and senior divisions for younger players, and many families were in the audience or watching from home.
This mishap doesn’t take away from Dunlop’s impressive victory. The new EUIC champ brought an interesting Trick Room team with off-meta picks Ursaluna and Porygon2, alongside four popular ‘mons—Incineroar, Urshifu, Flutter Mane, and Amoonguss. Ursaluna saw some usage in its earlier days in the Scarlet and Violet meta, but this is definitely the bear’s biggest achievement yet. I’m personally excited to see if more players decide to pick up Ursaluna and Porygon2 after watching them win an event as big as EUIC—the biggest Pokémon tournament ever.
And to close out EUIC, The Pokémon Company looked ahead to the next big international events: North American International Championships (NAIC) and Worlds. They finally announced the dates for the World Championships in Honolulu, Hawaii, which we now know will take place on Aug. 16 to 18. NAIC will take between now and then, from June 7 to 9, in New Orleans, Louisiana, meaning we are just a little more than two months away from learning who will be crowned the next international champ after Dunlop’s win this weekend.
