Luca Iapichino

I've been playing Pokémon since 2000, and my first game was Pokémon Yellow. Back then I couldn't even read yet, so my dad had to sit next to me and read every line of dialogue out loud, with Pikachu following us around the screen. Some of my earliest memories are of the two of us in front of that Game Boy, him reading and me pressing A. I never really stopped playing, and years later that passion turned into a job, when I started writing as a journalist for video game outlets.

Today I'm the co-founder of PokeFeed, where I also take care of the digital marketing side. The idea came from something every player knows: the best teams are scattered across videos, posts and screenshots, and finding one you can actually copy and play takes way too long. I wanted a single place where the community could share teams and vote on them, and where anyone could jump into a game in a few seconds.

On the competitive side, I played my first ever tournament at the Turin Special Event and went 3-5. I lost more than I won, but I came home with a notebook full of lessons and a lot more respect for the players at the top. My best finish on the Pokémon Champions ladder so far is Master Ball 2. When I write about the meta, tier lists or tournament results on PokeFeed, I do it as a player first, someone who still gets nervous before a best of three and still loves this game as much as that kid in 1999.