Sporting a Pikachu shirt with his mop of sandy-brown hair swept to the side over trendy glasses, Lucas Oldale looks like any other nine-year-old in Langley. But he speaks with confidence, does lightning-quick multiplication and strategizes two steps ahead of opponents many years his senior.
Lucas is one of the best Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG) players in North America, proudly sitting at 21st place in the junior rankings.
"I came here for my first tournament and I was the worst player here for a bit,” remembered Lucas at his regular gaming spot of Pastime Sports and Games in Langley.
He’s worked hard since starting to play as a kindergartner and has won enough competitions and tournaments to snag a coveted invitation to the prestigious 2018 World Pokémon Championships in Nashville, Tennessee later this month.
Though he’s still an elementary schooler, Lucas relishes the strategy that comes with each draw from the pile of cards populated with different cartoon characters, locations, energy sources and more – which all combine for different competitive advantages.
"It's skill, you have to know what your opponent's going to do before they can do it and win,” he explains. But Lucas also admits sometimes you need “a bit of luck, but mostly skill -- and that's what I like about it."
"My son is learning amazing life skills playing Pokémon [TCG],” his mother, Angela Oldale, told CTV News. “He plays chess, too. It's the same type of thing -- you have to think ahead. What is your opponent going to do? How are you going to beat that move?"
Angela says when Lucas first wanted to collect the popular trading cards as a five-year-old, he had no interest in reading. When his parents explained he’d have to learn to read to follow the instructions on the cards “he learned within a few months.” Lucas also does lightning-quick addition and multiplication to calculate which card combinations will win, something his mom says has had a dramatic impact on his overall math skills. But she’s most impressed with the social skills he’s developed.
“He kind of struggled in school with friends and now he's got lifelong friends all over the world," she said.
Lucas hopes to rise to at least 16th in the junior rankings. Doing so would mean his travel to future tournaments would be sponsored, which would take a financial weight off the family’s shoulders. His parents now take turns taking Lucas to competitions most weekends, even driving as far away as Salt Lake City to go head-to-head with other kids.
He’s also developing other important traits as a result of his gameplay without needing to be taught: good sportsmanship and generosity. When a certain CTV reporter was struggling to learn and keep up with the myriad complex rules of the game, he enthusiastically explained and encouraged her. She has a sneaking suspicion he let her win in the end.
“No, I played my hardest,” he insisted with a bright smile.
