brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 0:05

Welcome to the Trashalanche podcast. It's the only podcast about the Pokegear trading card game. Guys, if I say that enough, will it become true? Will other podcasts be forced to fold?

Track 1: 0:18

Yeah.

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 0:19

Alright, that's what I like to hear. Uh, um, we are, attendance is a hundred percent. It's me, it's Liam Halliburton. It's Caden Hyatt. Mike is gonna be here in 15 minutes. He's stuck in traffic, but until then, it remains a hundred percent. Uh, we are all on Twitter. If you leave a five star review update, we will read it on the pod. We've not gotten a five star review in a while, so if you're one of those people who thinks, uh, I should probably leave a five star review so they read it on the pod now, it would be a good time.'cause we could use one. Uh, dragon Shield is a sponsor. Uh, uh, our new sleeves haven't arrived yet, but uh, we should get them before San Antonio, which is the next tournament for us. It's all good. Guys, let's jump right in. Caden, you were at Sacramento.

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 1:05

I was indeed, I went to Sacramento, um, last weekend. You know, trip, trip back home. Um, got to spend some nice quality time with my family and, um, equally importantly, play some Pokegear. Uh, so I decided to just run it back again with Chen Pow. It was the exact same 60 I played at Peoria, um, because it was what I felt comfortable with and it, there was nothing that indicated to me like it might be a bad meta call for the tournament. So I was, so I just decided, you know what, let's go for it.

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 1:37

Did you change any cards?

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 1:39

did not change a single card. No.

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 1:41

Did you do any testing in between the two tournaments?

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 1:44

I did absolutely zero testing between the two tournaments. I actually don't think I played a single game of Pokegear between round nine of Peoria and round one of Sacramento

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 1:58

Very good. There, there was not, there was not even any testing the night before for you. It was just hanging with the fam.

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 2:06

no, we arrived too late and I, so I just decided to, like, we arrived right around dinner time, so I kind of just, we had a nice, I had a nice dinner with my family and then decided to get some early sleep.

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 2:17

Did, did your mom go out to Sacramento as well, just so she could spend time with you?

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 2:20

yeah, she did

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 2:22

Aw, Megan's the goat. Alright, super fantastic. So, so you, you put in a lot of mental reps, but not a lot of physical reps, and you sit down, uh, for round one and you proceed to just tear this tournament apart. How's it go?

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 2:36

well, so, um, Maybe not tear, I wouldn't say tear the tournament apart. However, I am, I am, I will say I'm very happy. Unlike Peoria the previous weekend, I was all in all very happy with my play throughout this tournament. I think I played, I played fairly well, um, particularly once we hit the later rounds with one key exception, which I will of course mention at great length. Um, but I, so round one I played against zd and, um, I lost game one, um, largely due to just like a pretty egregious misplay by me, um, opting to, well, okay, it's one of, you know, it's one of those situations where it's debatable whether or not it was a misplay, but I ended up getting, like, punished for it. It ended up being the wrong play. Whether or not it was a misplay is, is a question. So I, on turn to Gus killed a Pidgey. His lone Pidgey on the board in hopes that he wouldn't be able to return Kako with zd. Um, however, he was able to return Kako with ard, which put me in a really bad spot for the rest of the game, um, and caused me to lose that game. Um, whether or not that was the wrong call, I don't know. Um,

Track 1: 3:53

What was the

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 3:54

it's the alternative was just waiting a turn to like what you normally do against SAR with Chimp Pal is just waiting a turn. Don't take the first knockout and then only take two prize knockouts. Um, either through, if he plays it slow, uh, trying to go for a man, uh, switcher cologne play, um, the following turn, or just one as soon as the evolves Pidgey or Zd Gus kill that. Um, but I decided, you know what? Let's just, let's just kill the Pidgey. Um, try to brick him, which I don't think was at all necessary. I, I think this matchup is very, very easy for Chi pow as long as you just only take two prize knockouts. And don't take the first Koko. So that was what I did the following two games. And, um, I won both of those. So, um, I, this was a, I think, game two of the C Zd matchup. You know, again, this is purely just me having done very little testing prior to both Sacramento and Peoria. Game two of this matchup was when I really sort of realized, okay, this is how I'm supposed to play. I'm supposed to literally just only ever take two prize knockouts. Um, and'cause taking one prize just puts you in a bad spot. Um, then, so round two I played against Lost Giratina, um, and I lost, um, game one here as well. Um, this was also due to a Misplay. Um, I also misplayed this game one, um, and I can't, I can't quite remember what I did. Um, I remember being, I. A little anno. It was a slightly, it was a little bit of a non-obvious misplay that I only really realized in hindsight. Um, so I wasn't quite as mad at myself. I don't remember exactly what the Misplay was though, but I proceeded to win, um, games two and three. Game two, I just drew extraordinarily hot. Um, and then game three I, um, I game three was like a close match, but I played it well in one. Um, so I'm 2.0, go into game three, I hit, um, lost Box Zam, which is a, um, pretty atrocious matchup for Chim Pal. I genuinely, I think it is. Um, and no, I think this matchup is very different than the Cuore Zam matchup, um, largely because that deck has a much harder time streaming. Za Zamazenta. Um, and Zamazenta are honestly really annoying for, for Chen pow to deal with. And so basically the, the strata ended up going for, um, in this, in this matchup was um, basically just never attack with Chen Pow. Uh, you kind of just try to stream gr ninjas as best as you can'cause whenever you attack with Chen Pal, you're pretty much always taking a losing trade. And so what I did against this guy was I tried to, I ran him out of super rods by Gus killing Manaphy then to the point where he could no longer stream Zam. So I basically ran him out of Zas. Um, with all that being said, uh, I should have lost this game. I should have lost game one of this matchup. However, my opponent forgot to Clara back his Manaphy and said he c Clara back just a random Pokegear. I. That didn't end up mattering, had he clawed back. So I was able to take two prizes, the following turn with Grande. Had he clawed back his Manaphy, um, I absolutely would've lost this game. And so we finished game one and then we don't end up having time to finish a game two. Um,

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 7:32

I was gonna say, it sounded like you took the long, long road to like running him out of resources before you took your prizes. Uh, hearing that there was no time to finish game two, uh, that that checks out.

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 7:44

we, we did not, we didn't, we got like moderately close to finishing game two. He, he probably, he would've won game two. Uh, and he probably needed like, um, two, two more turns to win. Um, but we didn't have time. So I'm three oh, now, um, I'm feeling pretty good. Um, and then I hit, uh, two, two of, I would say chimp pals worth matchups. They're, you know, they're the. Common medex that I was hoping not to hit going into the tournament, that being Lugia and moron. Um, so round four, I play against colorless Lugia. Um, I almost, I I win the coin flip, which is really big in the Lugia matchup. Um, but I end up Whiffing KO on the last turn. Um, in game one, I was one energy off of Koko. On, on I Lugia had, I obviously had I hit that I would've won the game. Um, I won game two, uh, very easily. This was sort of just like how I want the Lugia matchup to go where I took first K o and then he just never, he never got ahead. I just kept taking Kos. Um, then game game three, I, I lost. And, you know, this game, game three, I just like full bricked as as Chimp Pal sometimes does. I had completely awful start in just absolutely nothing. Uh, Then I play into Ride-On, um, similarly, a pretty 50 50 matchup for Chim Pal in my experience. Game one I full brick and just can't do anything. Um, game two, he full bricks and I just run through his board. Um, so we have like so much time for game three. Uh, game three ends up taking a really long time because we both kind of bricked. Um, this was, uh, game three ended up taking a really long time and I ended up lo, I ended up losing the game. Um, largely, you know, he, again, as his matchup usually goes, he was able to get first knockout'cause he was going first. And, um, I wasn't quite able to keep pace, um, and, and get a lead. So that's unfortunate. Both Lu and Mao matchup are very know, tempo based. Um, if you lose tempo or don't get the first knockout, it can, you don't have many ways to get back into the game. Um, so, and you, the one way, the one way with Mariah on that you can get back into the game is through Iono them. But I only run the one Iono, so it's really, it's kind of impossible to hit when you need to hit it. Um, so that did not work. Uh, I then played against maybe the most unlucky guardy player I have ever played against. Um, I, he, um, never got a manife down either game. He just game one, he prized it. Game two, he had a slow start and wasn't able to get it down. So neither of those games were very fast. Funnily enough, I think that this guardian match was my fastest match of the ga of the day. Um, I, all the other ones took. Like 40 at bare minimum, 40 minutes plus this one was over in probably 25 to 30 minutes. So

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 11:15

Yeah, uh, DY without Manaphy is uh, um, probably not too hard for Chin Pal.

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 11:21

yeah, so I'm four two now. Um, I'm like, not super optimistic, but I mean, I was like, you know, I mean, we'll see, we'll see where things take me. Um, I then proceed to hit Chen Pal, who, uh, fully does Chen pal things on me to, I think the biggest, I, I lost game one, um, to a full brick. Then I won game two. Sort of I'm, oh wait, no, I remember. Oh my God. Okay. Okay. So game one, um, game one. My opponent chooses not to bench a Manaphy turn one, he's going second. He chooses not to bench a Manaphy. I proceeded to whiff Greninja, and then, um, he runs through my board because I had dedicate, I burned so many resources to try to hit Greninja because I, all I needed was one more energy. If I had one more energy, I would've hit Ninja. But I drew, like, I drew nine cards on that turn and did not see a single water energy. Um, so I whiffed, Greninja, whiffed the kill, double kill, and Fri backs and lost the game because of it. Uh, game two goes basically how I want the matchup to go with me going first, where I kind of just get ahead, stay ahead, don't really give him an outback into the game. Um, and then game three, um, I'm in like really good shape. Uh, he, I have like my full board set up. Um, and he appears to be having like a pretty weak start. Um, he plays iono. To draw a fresh hand of six with like two water energy on his Chen Pal. He has a full bench, but nothing evolves. Like he has no backs, he has nothing. And he just played IO to draw six. So I'm sitting there like, okay, this guy, you know, maybe he'll hit candy backs may, but the, maybe he'll even hit a kale in the chimp pal. But like he, this guy's had a pretty slow start. Um, all in all, he proceeds off of this iono to draw fresh six, um, playing as alongside a concealed cards and a bib hit rock, rock candy backs, switcher cologne, s e r to switcher, cologne, my Manaphy, and kill both of my frit backs. And, you know, I gotta say there are, there are few things in Pokegear that like genuinely tilt me when they happen inside of a game. Um, I think one of the biggest, one of the most tilting moment of my whole tournament was when my opponent pokey stopped, flipped over a cross switcher a cologne and a water energy. Looked at me and was like, I'm sorry, like that, that I gotta say, I gotta say, that tilted me, that tilted me just a little bit. Um, so I lost that match

Track 1: 14:26

like every, like three games we play. Dude, you just like,

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 14:32

yes, I deserved it. I got Chen Paled on. Um, I got rolled. So now I am four three out of, out of contender for day two, but two more rounds. Decided to play it out. Um, round eight. I have a no-show, um, funnily enough. So I, that's, that's a quick win. Um, and then round nine, final round of the day, I play against Rapid Strike, um, again, second tournament in a row, playing rapid strike in round nine. Um, Doesn't, don't know the odds of that. But, um, I play this, I did not deserve to win this match against Rapid Strike. I gotta be honest. I played this, I played it so bad. Um, this was, I don't know why I was out of it. Let me, let me explain. So game one, um, I straight up forget to bench Manaphy. Uh, I, I fill my bench. I fully forget to bench Manaphy down. Um, and luckily for me, uh, he has a very bad start and a very slow start and I am not punished for it. And I win the game, uh, by just taking two, three knockouts on Vs. But, um, I left that, I left that game being like, oh my God, what am I doing? I really need to get manatee down. We set up for game two. I searched through my deck like, man, okay, bench, manatee, bench man. And my man, he's prized. Um, and, and. I in a bit of a flu, I in a bit of a fluer, I'm like, okay, I really have to dig for heavy ball. The only way I have a chance is if I hit my heavy ball or he bricks. So I gotta try to dig for my heavy ball. So I pokey stop to try to hit my heavy ball and I discard, um, water, energy, badoo fri backs. And I discarded the fri of backs, I realized I had, I just benched a third fri of backs. This turn, I probably would've been fine'cause he was perfectly set up to, um, like the odds of him hitting the rapid flow with Urshifu. The falling turn were like probably 90% given his board state. And so all I needed to do was just bench three GY backs on the turn. And I at least would've had like, actually a decent chance of winning the game. Um, but I was so tunnel visioned on getting the Manaphy play. I just like, completely forgot about benching three fridge packs. So, uh, I lose that match, um, very quickly. And then game three, i i play game three. Well, okay, that's not true. I played game three like fine. I didn't make any egregious misplays like I did game one or game two. Um, my opponent on the other hand, uh, fully forgets. So, okay, so my opponent turn one, attaches four seal stone to Urshifu V in the active already a misplay because he could have attached it to an in Inteleon V on the bench instead, which forces him to escape rope to get the Urshifu outta the active and bring it to the bench. Um, then, so I, I take a knockout on the active intel and he proceeds to promote another Intel draw and then pass. Um, he. I, the following turn, lost, vacuum away his four seal stone. And when I declare the lost vacuum on the four seal stone, he, um, he is like, oh my God. I completely forgot. I had four seal stone down. I, did not like, there was no world where I should have draw past last year. Uh, so I end up winning that match due to my opponent forgetting that he, they attached before a seal stone.

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 18:24

he could computer search his deck anytime he wanted to.

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 18:27

yeah, so round nine altogether, each game. Um, a lot of suboptimal plays being made, but, uh, yeah.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 18:38

like the theme of Sacramento regionals,

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 18:41

That is the shade we're looking for.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 18:44

well, hello. Hello. So, uh, that was, that was your recap. What did you end up finishing? Six three.

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 18:50

Six three. Yeah.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 18:52

Okay. Nice.

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 18:53

Uh, um, anything you'd do differently if you were gonna run it back?

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 18:59

Test more prior to the tournament as it, as it turns out, testing helps performance, um, and testing's generally a good idea. But

Track 1: 19:08

you could travel back in time, however many weeks, would you test more?

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 19:12

no, because here's the thing, here's the thing again, like I've been very focused on university. I have, there have been other priorities in my life, um, these past few weeks. So like if I could go back in time, I realistically don't think I would test more, but I do concede testing helps.

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 19:38

So, so he said he, he would not do anything differently, but if he wanted to do better, he could have tested more

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 19:44

Exactly.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 19:46

I mean, that's, uh, that's reasonable. I've had that very same thought many times.

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 19:51

Yeah. Yeah. There you go folks. So you, you wanna talk about Liam's run for a second. Caden,

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 19:59

Yeah,

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 19:59

friend of the pod, child of the pod,

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 20:03

my, my younger brother Liam Hyatt, um, so he played in seniors this weekend, um, got top four. Um, congrats. This secured him as World's Invite, um,

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 20:15

Oh wow.

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 20:16

and I think put him in stipend range for L A I C, although he's not gonna be able to go to L A I C. Um, so that's exciting. He ended up playing, uh, rapid Strike Urshifu to this tournament, largely due to, you know, anticipating large amounts of Chen Pal. And other sorts and like Lost Giratina and Dy in seniors. You know, it was a meta call. Um, and also it was what, um, all our good friend, um, Cameron Shenoy was on, and he was recommending it and pushing it. And also, um, also Isaiah Bradner had brought it up as a deck, so sort of multiple people suggesting it to him. Um, brought him to heavily considerate and ended up going for it. Uh, he, he ended up to quote, well, to quote him, um, after, after top four, he was like, I'm never playing this deck again. This deck is too stressful. Um, it's definitely, you know, due to, its sort of like kind of being very behind, feeling like the game's on the wire and then taking a bunch of prizes in, in like one to two turns. Um, it sounds like he had a bit of a stressful time, um, but

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 21:34

I mean, that's, that's his best result of the year though, right?

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 21:38

Yes. Yes. It's,

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 21:40

I mean, I, I.

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 21:41

um,

Track 1: 21:41

find that deck not stressful at all.

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 21:43

I'm just telling you what he said. Okay. Um, but I think, um, he had, I mean, he had a great time. It was a great medical there. Ended up being like, kind of in absurd amount of Chen Pow and Seniors, which he proceeded to absolutely farm. Um, that matchup is so free for Rapid Strike, uh, in my experience and in his experience. So he ended up kind of blitzing through the early rounds. Um, made, made some misplays against lost Giratina, um, to lose a, lose a match against Lost Giratina. Um, and ended up going into cut, um, I think four, third or fourth seed. Um, he hit. Uh, what was it called? He hit, um, shoot. He hit Lost Giratina in top eight, which is in general a good match, or no, he hit Turbo Loss, not lost. Giratina, he hit Turbo Lost in Top eight, which is like a quite a good matchup for, um, s Food. They don't really have a, they have very few great ways to get into the game, rather, the best thing they can do is try to like stream Riku into your Intels, um, which is like, can be hard to do given the amount of pressure that Intel ish is putting on. Um, so he won that. He won Top eight Match and then, uh, top four, he just, it was, he hit Fusion Mew, which is just an auto loss. Uh, he, he ran the, he ran the Spiritomb, but his opponent, you know, hit ESSA's. The matchups just like, got awful. So the, the top four was over very quick.

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 23:29

uh, you know, I, I, I, I feel like Uh, when, when he says, oh my God, it was so stressful. It was more like he played at a top eight and he played in the top four, and he hasn't done that much of that this year. like, you know, hard rounds under, under high pressure.

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 23:46

Yeah, that very well. The, yeah,

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 23:48

Yeah. Uh, yeah. And also maybe he had fewer reps. I don't know how much he tested in the interim week and, uh, while switching decks.

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 23:56

Well, he did not test, he did not have much time to test, um, rapid Strike prior to playing

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 24:03

Yeah.

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 24:03

He played plenty of games of other decks, but um, rapid strike was a bit tougher.

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 24:07

Yeah. Yeah. Hmm.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 24:09

One. One quick comment. I think We're currently in like the stipend period for E U I C, like L A I C stipends Were already, uh, figured out. I think so

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 24:21

Oh, okay. Okay.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 24:22

I'm pretty sure. I'm pretty sure it's E U I C range right now. So if your guys are thinking about going to U I C, then maybe it's,

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 24:30

He, I think, is going to U I C, so I'll,

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 24:34

we go.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 24:35

Yeah, so that would be good.

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 24:36

There we

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 24:36

look into it. Yeah. Good to

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 24:39

I, I will make sure his, his mother knows that, you know, uh, is so San Antonio part of E U I C?

Track 1: 24:46

Yeah, I know.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 24:46

I, I think so. It's weird though. I'm not a hundred percent sure.'cause now that there's like no O C I C I don't, I, I'm actually not exactly sure when the cutoffs

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 24:54

yeah. I don't know when the cutoffs are, but I know E U I C is like, is like 60 days before NAIC because they moved NAIC up and they pushed E U I C back. It's like total madness.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 25:04

Yeah.

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 25:05

It makes no sense

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 25:06

not sure when the

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 25:07

Yeah. Yeah. Like I recognize they used to be the cutoffs were like the tournaments, but I assume they're not now because that'd be too weird.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 25:15

Yeah, exactly.

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 25:16

Uh, that's, sorry. Worst podcast ever guys. Super, super helpful. Bringing, bringing the information people need to their attention so they can go listen to other non-existent podcasts to get the answer. Uh, who knows? Uh,

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 25:30

Well, the answer was not around until very recently I think.

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 25:34

Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, uh, um, guys, uh, comments on Sacramento generally, because Sacramento was a weird one.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 25:44

it was a weird one. Um. I wanna comment on a couple things not related to Dex and Metagame first, and I know Brent, you're gonna publish these episodes back to back, right? The one from last week. So if you listen first to the one from last week, we talked quite a bit about two things that actually came up in Sacramento. This weekend. So the first one was we praised the, uh, the stream and how the penalties have been extremely lenient on stream in the first couple of regionals. And I didn't watch all of Sacramento, so I'm not a hundred percent sure if there was more leniency, but there was one pretty egregious example of them being extremely harsh. Um, and I don't know if you guys saw this, I don't remember exactly which Oh no. I believe it was the win in, uh, the very last round Azul versus, uh, a player that I don't remember their name, um, but he was playing Mar Ride-on and the Maron player won game one

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 26:47

Yep.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 26:48

'cause Azul had a very slow start. Uh, and then as they are setting up for game two, the player forgot to pick up one of his prize cards as he shuffled and then set up for game two. With 59 card deck and the one prize card before the game even starts, they realize this and they ask him to reshuffle and set up a new game state, but they give him a two prize penalty for that. Like, that's so dumb. That literally makes no sense. There was

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 27:17

I did not hear about this.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 27:18

there was like the game had not even started. Uh, like it just goes against everything that they had done. Well, In the last couple weeks, uh, it just didn't make any sense. so unfortunate to see that.

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 27:37

Yeah, totally bizarre. Uh uh, made no sense at all to anyone involved.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 27:44

Yeah. Um, and then the second thing, which was interesting, I dunno if you guys saw this, but in the. top four. It was the eventual winner, uh, Alexander, and he was playing against, or it might've been top eight, I forget, but it was the eventual winner, um, and it didn't end up costing him the game, but it could have, and it has to do with the whole attack phase crap that we talked about last week. So there was, there was one turn where he had a Lugia, VStar active, but it was all stacked up so nobody could see the energies on it. I think he just assumed there was four energy, but there's actually three energy. So he announced, uh, Lugia, VStar attack, then they fanned out. The Pokegear saw that there was only three energy. And then he just had to pass He couldn't do anything. He had, I don't think he had attached return or he didn't use one of the Archeops, so like he could have attacked, um, if he was given the opportunity to, uh, do another action. Um, but I, yeah, it was just funny to kind of see that I don't, I, I feel okay with him not being able to take that back. Um, because like it was a really silly reason not to realize that.'cause he just like didn't check, literally, like, literally didn't check. Um, and it didn't end up deciding the game, but it very much could have. Uh, so just really funny to see that as, as well after our long conversation about it.

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 29:13

And Liam, would you let, would you have let him take it back?

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 29:18

Yeah.

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 29:18

Caden.

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 29:19

I mean, well, I, I think this is, this ruling of course, is consistent with prior rulings. I think it would've been insane for them to on stream. Like make a different call there. Um, what I, what I talked about in the previous podcast was more of whether or not it's worth making a more like structural change to how we handle the sorts of situations. It sounds like the situation was handled correctly, as it should be by current, by current rules and how these things are currently handled. Uh, so yeah, I think, I think, you know, in that case with the way we handle this stuff and think about this stuff now, um, I think they made the right call.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 29:55

Yeah.

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 29:56

Fair. Fair,

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 29:58

Yeah. All right. So that's, that's kind of my two things that I wrote down, but we can talk about, uh, the decks and metagame if we

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 30:06

Yeah. Talk. Let's talk about the Dex and Metagame.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 30:11

Lugia one word. Lugia.

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 30:14

I, I was shocked at the amount, I was shocked at the amount ride-on. Um, that was I think the biggest surprise for me going in. I was not expecting it was, I think 13% of day one, um, which I was Straight up not expecting going in. Um, it, radon was honestly a deck I was considering going in. Um, but I decided, I, I don't know, I didn't have much

Track 1: 30:39

it'd be much lower or what?

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 30:41

thought it was gonna be substantially lower. Yeah. I thought it was gonna be more in the, like eight to 10 range.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 30:47

Hmm. Yeah, it was just, just so we're all on the same page. Day one at least. Uh. Lost box and Char are both 14%. Um, lost box is a little bit higher. Um, just a couple extra people. Then my ride on at 13%, then Guardian 12 Chi and Powell at 11, and then Lugia to eight. So that was the top six decks.

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 31:09

Mm-hmm.

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 31:11

Yeah, I am trying to find, uh, where, where was the one for the prior week? Why is, uh, why is it not, uh, easy for me to find in some way? I.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 31:21

I just have them saved in my phone. So the prior week had Charar at 15, Lugia at 13. Maron at 12. So Maron actually was basically the same. It, it, it went up a little bit. Um, Lugia went way down. Charar about the same, Gardevoir, 11%, about the same. Lost box had 10%. So lost box. Had a lost box, definitely had a bump. And Q Andow is at 8%. Uh, so Q and POW also had a bump.

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 31:49

Yeah, and Lugia had a pretty distinct drop up, which is funny given how well Lugia did this weekend.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 31:56

right. I guess that's part of it. Like, um, Lugia, colorless Lugia did not do well, so people were like, oh, we don't gotta worry about it. The play went down, but like the respect for it also went down, and therefore

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 32:10

right? Right. If people cut their texts or play decks, that took a loss to Lugia, think people won't play Lugia and Lugia does.

Track 1: 32:16

my interpretation of those numbers is a little bit different. Well, I think, I think it's just. Pretty lucky day one or something like dodging my ride-ons and then it was like 25% lost box in day two. And then I, I guess they just farmed those or something. Like, I, I think that makes a lot of sense to me that like, you know, there's a bunch of lost box in day two that are beating out all the ride-ons and then Yeah, like a few Luke is just like hit loss box for like four other day, two rounds and just go.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 32:48

I mean Charlie, Charlie Kerr, who top eight, he hit 11 lost boxes Yeah. And I guess I haven't really played colorless Lugia versus uh, any lost box, but I assume it's. Slightly better than single strike against them because they have all the snore waxes, which are just extremely annoying for Lost Box to deal with. They're like single strike pretty much has to go with Tyranitar to really put a lot of pressure on. Um, and so like you're weaker into kga, I think, as well because of that. Does that sound right?

Track 1: 33:25

Yeah.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 33:27

Yeah.

Track 1: 33:28

Um, I, yeah, I, I played it a little bit. I, the other thing is like Mew, Munchlax is also like, it makes the matchup like much trickier to play. You just like have to commit a, I think, which can be awkward. Um, that seems like a little bit like, it's basically a guaranteed.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 33:47

right. Um, and then besides Luki, we also had two Arceus X doing really well. Obviously the second place, uh, player played Archus with a one one Gardas VMax, but also Braden Elford, uh, bubbled out of top eight at ninth. He was the only 35 to not make it, and he played. Archus with a one, one Darla on and two maw Do you, Liam, you know Braden a little bit. Do you know why he played two Maw?

Track 1: 34:16

I, I did not talk with him before the event. Um, but I, I saw on this Twitter post, it was actually like really, really good reasoning. Um, which is that, so like, I, I didn't realize this, but I, I, I think it is a good call, which is that most of the czar have cut their pennies or something, uh, and they're down to one rope. And then the idea is that you can boss the Mew and trap it with maw, and then they play the one rope and they get the boss for the lost city so that they, they get rid of'em all while, but then if you have second maw, you just win the game. I, I thought that that was pretty cool. Um,

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 34:51

And I guess if they don't Mew, you just judge path

Track 1: 34:54

you got Judge Pat and it came back, right?

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 34:56

Yeah.'cause they probably need, yeah, yeah, yeah. They need Mew to set up around Judge Path.

Track 1: 35:01

Yeah.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 35:03

Hmm. Interesting.

Track 1: 35:04

Yeah. I, I don't know if like, you can actually make good on the second mal. Wow. There's no like PT or anything to go infinite. Um, so I'm not sure how well you like actually, uh, make good on that threat, but the idea's kind of cool.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 35:18

Yeah. And then to Cheren's, Care in that list as well. Um, I guess that probably helps the Lugia matchup, like colorless Lugia. maybe. I know Nico, Nicola Nicolo

Track 1: 35:33

I, Cheren's, Care is like a card that's like consistently good against like people who like don't play around it or aren't expecting it. So like,

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 35:41

Mm-hmm.

Track 1: 35:42

just something I like can throw away.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 35:44

Yeah. I guess it's good against Lost too.

Track 1: 35:46

Yeah, it's.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 35:50

Mm-hmm.

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 35:53

So, Mike, I'm interested in your reaction to the, uh, I feel like there was a lot of Twitter, uh, mojo and I told, I told Liam I wanted to rant, although I'm feeling less ranty today than I was uh, yesterday. Um, about the, uh, I guess the two finalists were both people who this was their first regional ever,

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 36:12

Hmm. Yes, I saw that.

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 36:14

and, and I felt like there was a lot of people who were, um, uh, I appreciate the sentiment of like, it's must be super nice for them, but also I found it displeasing that, uh, like I, you know, I feel like if um, if two people who had never entered chess tournaments went to a chess tournament and beat Magnus Carlson, we'd be like either A, these guys are just next level geniuses. It's incredible. uh, you know, we, they'll solve cold fusion next, or, or be like, chess is a sham It's a sham game played by sham players because apparently like anyone can show up and just win. And, uh, in, in that way, it makes me sad because I like, I would like to think that this podcast we're discussing like how to build your skills because building your skills is super important and like building your skills improves your outcome. And like skills are like one part deck construction, one part tournament gameplay, and the idea that someone could go to their first regional and just like theoretically hit it all outta the park and not just one, but two. Like that's, uh, that seemed crazy to me. That's my rant.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 37:29

Yeah, I mean, I, I, I definitely see that perspective. I wonder how much V G C felt like this last year when that, uh, You guys know what I'm talking about, Justin? Something?

Track 1: 37:41

time.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 37:42

Yeah. Like he, he won two regionals, but like, I, so like obviously after the, after he wins the second one, everyone's like, oh, definitely this guy's really good. But the first one it was also, I believe his first regional that he attended. Um, right. And so I wonder if they kind of had similar discussions. Um, so I guess, I think, I think it kind of, we, it might have to be remain to be seen because if If these two players, maybe they, I like, I know literally nothing about their history and I'm sure a lot of people don't like it. Could be that they played other card games competitively and were very good. Could be that they've been grinding locals and or, or, or like played a lot over Covid and got really good and then, Decided like, oh, this was gonna be the time. And they might've played a lot and, and, and be really good.'cause that, that my understanding of Justin from V G C is kind of, that's what happened. Like he just played a lot of showdown and stuff like that. Uh, and then finally decided to come to a regional.

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 38:37

Yeah. And, and I recognize, I mean, last year I, like you could say, Andrew Hedrick kind of was that guy. Like he hadn't played a lot of competitive, uh, uh, prior to like them bringing back tournaments. And he shows up in he Winslow tournaments, but like he also won everything online prior to that. Right. And, and I, and I know some pe some people said that, uh, one of the guys played Yugi for like six or seven years previously. So like you say, oh, those skills are transferrable. I mean, I guess those skills are transferrable, but man, I wish like, uh, I don't know if they're supposed to be transferrable or if like that's, this is how it's supposed to be. I don't know. It's weird.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 39:13

I mean, it's certainly like the decks that they played are not, obviously they're good and they played them fine, uh, but they're not like Lost Box. Kegar, right?

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 39:23

right. But that's, I, you know, I mean, the fact that you can, uh, play a, uh, low skill cap deck and, and get those outcomes, I'm like, man, I wish Pokegear would allow you to build high skill cap decks that allow you to, like outplay your opponent. You know,

Track 1: 39:40

I, I really, really disagree with.

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 39:43

I, I know when, when I gave the strength to Liam earlier, uh, and, uh, Liam was like, that's just dead wrong. And like, that's a shame because I feel like Liam's the, the high skill kept guy.

Track 1: 39:52

The first thing is like, people have like very, very little insight into how strong, like their level of play was over the course of this tournament. It's like two stream games and like, I'm pretty sure like every stream match we've seen subpar play and the fact that there's like subpar play on this stream doesn't, like, I don't think that's great reason to be like, oh my God, that must have spent like, playing terribly the entire tournament because like, you know, even the best players misplay on stream, and that doesn't mean that they just play terribly the entire tournament. Uh, the second is like the other thing you can look at if you want to like, you know, discount the results is like deck construction. Um, but like, I'm, I mean, I'm pretty sure most people haven't spent like a good amount of time, like seriously considering these lists and like, I won't even lie, that r c s list is weird, bro. It's got some weird stuff going on in there, but like, you know, I don't think a ton of people have seriously considered it or seriously tested it and like, you know, so just like completely slandering the result because it's like, you know, something that like, looks a little bit strange that you don't really recognize. It's like, I don't think there's like, Um, there's been like serious enough consideration to, to justify that. Uh, the other is like, even if it was like a bad result, the other sentiment is like, oh my God, there's like, you know, bad player won a regional, like everybody knows going in like this game is like probabilities based. Like there's a chance that somebody just like could literally play a theme deck and all their opponents draw only energy 10 turns in a row. Like there's a chance of all this happening. And the fact that it happens, like doesn't, it doesn't mean that like Pokegear is like forever and ever and no skill game. Like it, it's all probabilities based.

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 41:20

I don't know. I mean, but I think, I think, uh, uh, card designers could still, could like, recognize that and try to, you know, optimize for it in some way, you know?

Track 1: 41:33

I, I, I don't think like the current form has a low skill at all. I, I actually like, good, good players see like good results very, very consistently.

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 41:43

Yeah. And mean, I recognize the zul was right there. So it isn't like, uh, it isn't like the best players weren't getting the good, the best outcomes. Right. I,

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 41:51

Yeah.

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 41:53

but it's weird to me that, that, uh, you know, uh, um, a person who probably just wanted to like make day two and would've said like, that's a great regional. It can just go all the way. And like, you know, hey, on the one hand, high role, like, let's go. You gotta get a little bit lucky.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 42:07

Yeah. Yep,

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 42:08

like the motto of the podcast, but, um, I.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 42:12

I mean, and there's like a little bit of, I mean, there's even luck within, uh, Other aspects of it. So like I was talking about before the, the winner, he had that turn where he didn't attack because he made a mistake. And then I think like Charlie just missed something. The, or it wasn't, uh, whoever he was playing against, I forget if it was Charlie or the other Lugia guy that made top four. Like the other guy just kind of missed something that next turn as well. So he like didn't get punished for his mistake, which is like kind of another form of luck as well.

Track 1: 42:42

Yes.

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 42:43

Right, right. So, so, uh, is rc ros like new meta

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 42:50

nah. I'm, I'm actually refusing to look up what Erdos v or VMax does. I'm, I like, I think, I think I heard on the stream that s the, the basic one does a, it has like a rage attack. I believe that. Um, but I'm, I'm not looking it up though. uh, I'm not looking

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 43:09

Look, look at that. Li Liam just gives an impassioned defense of like, we shouldn't discount that. They just broke the game. And Mike's like, I discounted

Track 1: 43:18

No. Yeah, I mean, like, I'm, I'm discount the results as well. I don't like, SA Sacramento was like probably the biggest mic in a minute, bro. Like, I, I, that tournament had like the wackiest list coming out and like, I'm pretty sure the only like, you know, uh, well known player there was, um,

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 43:35

That is a wild thing to say. Say.

Track 1: 43:37

the entire tournament, but

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 43:38

he, he's saying top eight. But I will say that the dude Sawyer, who he's kind of been killing it with, uh, with Lost Box in the last,

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 43:45

you're Melbourne.

Track 1: 43:46

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 43:47

or so, I, I played him at, uh, Texas regionals, like round two or three or something like that last year. And I had, you know, I never heard of him before, but I remember coming away from that game, Being pretty impressed with his play. And then over the next eight, nine months, he's definitely put up some pretty solid results. I think this is his first top eight. I'm not a hundred percent sure on that. Um, but I know he's been in like a bunch of top sixteens and 30 twos all playing in different versions of Lost Box. So, uh, shout out to him.

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 44:15

Yeah, no, uh, Sawyer Sawyer's a long, a long time player. Like I, I've, I have loosely known Sawyer since, like, since juniors. I played against him at N a I I played against him at NAIC last year. Um, yeah, he, he's, he's great and he's very, he's very good. So,

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 44:30

Yeah. Um, I guess in terms of Metagame, the two things that I'm really taking away is Lugia is a real deck. Um, I, I didn't really think it wasn't necessarily, but um, I think going into the next two weekends,'cause I believe there's a regional not in North America this weekend, and then there's Toronto. I. Uh, the last week of October. Um, and those are pretty much the last two. There might be one more event in this format. Um, I do think Lugia will go up a little bit more. Again, it'll probably end up somewhere between the two percentages that it's been at Peoria and Sacramento, maybe like 10, 11% like everything else. Uh, and I think cuo will Increase in play as well. It not, I don't think Lost Box will see a huge increase in play. I just think cuo more people will play CUO than they were before. Like some people that were playing Turbo will probably switch over to cuo'cause it's clearly having the best results of any lost box deck.

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 45:37

That was, that was gonna be my next question. Is there a best, is there a best last box deck at this point

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 45:42

Yeah, I think it's just un objectively, k.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 45:46

Yeah.

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 45:46

Zamazenta?

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 45:47

now, now? Yes. Yeah, you for sure. Now I think it might, it's a separate question. You know, if I'm thinking about Play GLO box, what is the best lost box deck for me? Um,'cause that very one might not be cuo, but I think that the strongest lost box deck is, you know, is cuo without a doubt.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 46:07

Yeah. And I think if you've been.

Track 1: 46:10

bro.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 46:11

well before, before we address Liam's comment, I do think if, um, if you've been playing Lost Box and feel pretty good about even just regular Turbo lost, you're probably in, in a pretty good position to learn cuo in the next two weeks. Like if you've been playing a lot of loss, it's not a super huge jump to also include cuo. Okay. Liam, what were you saying? You think CUO is mid

Track 1: 46:36

Iza version, bro.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 46:37

Oh, the Z

Track 1: 46:38

I dunno. It's like, it's fine. It's solid. I don't think it's like I, I don't think it stands up, but like a position where it can be labeled as like, like a best stack. Like it's. Um, you know, if people aren't respecting it, I guess it's fine.

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 46:59

Um, let me put it this way, I think without Zm lost Box, CUO stands Zero Chance Against Chen Pal. I think that matchup is near auto loss without

Track 1: 47:10

We see the whole meta begin to centralize and revolve around its 10 pound matchups and just

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 47:16

Chen Pow is 10% of the meta. Like this is, uh,

Track 1: 47:19

what, 10% of the meta, and you're like, okay. The reason that Zam is not this good. Sure. It fails against like everything else objectively, but chi matchup is good.

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 47:29

I, I don't think that's true either, though. It's great against Maura Idon as well. It's, no, no Zacian.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 47:38

Oh, oh, oh.

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 47:41

Like

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 47:42

wait, why, why is what? Why does, uh, the Zam list, why is that so much better against Chi? Uh, I've always felt chi power is unfavor into any form of lost box.

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 47:52

I, I have never had. So the reason why in pre, in the past at least, um, MAU has had zero issues with cuo lost box, um, whatsoever was just they had no way to really put pressure on you. Um, and you were in general, you, yeah. They have no way to up trade and in general, you were able to put enough, uh, put enough pressure on to just bench Manaphy in your last turn or two and you run two super odd to get back the Manaphy as well. Um, like they were, they are never able to pull off a cuo, um, just because of the amount of access you have to Manaphy. And so like, you're under no pressure. And you will be able to take prizes in time. Um, with Zam though, now they have a way to up trade. Now they have a way to actually put some pressure on you, um, that they didn't before. And it, it's, well, I don't, I would need you further testing to actually determine what the matchup is. Um, I think it is. at least have like a chance.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 48:50

Yeah. Okay. That makes sense actually. Why Chi pow is probably Better into cuo with Dragonite Raku than it is against like a Turbo loss.'cause like Turbo loss can just like, you know, whatever they, they, they, yeah, they just kill you really fast. And the CUO with the VS is a little bit slower. So, you know, they might not get SLI until turn three, turn four sometimes. So, yeah, I, I, I can see that.

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 49:14

Yeah. Yeah. The, the way Lost box beats Gen Out is just like, yeah, like you said, running down, flying a lot of pressure and Kayra has that hard time doing that. Um,

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 49:24

Yeah.

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 49:26

but. I, I think, I think saying that ZA is mid is just like a little wild, uh,

Track 1: 49:35

It's true.

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 49:35

I think it's

Track 1: 49:36

like that, that so bad, bro.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 49:39

It is. Well, I mean, I, I agree with Liam a little bit in that, like, when you look at the cards in that deck, besides cuo, well, I guess I shouldn't say that. You're still playing broken cards like Sai, but, um, like Zamazenta is pretty underwhelming, right? Uh, overall as a, as a Pokegear, um, like Dragon IV is incredibly powerful. It does a lot more for

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 50:02

Yeah. Zamazenta is definitely an example of you're not playing the best cards, right?

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 50:06

Right.

Track 1: 50:07

Like, yeah,

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 50:08

this is like the Mike Fouchet axiom. You don't look at that and say, oh my God, that card.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 50:13

Yeah. Um, it is worth noting. Sawyer did play the Dragonite Raku version. Um, so, so both, both versions made top eight here.

Track 1: 50:25

the, the way I think about it is it's like slightly better than the, the kegar Moltres thing. Like, it's like slightly better attacker, but like, it's not really, really that good. Like you get to use it a little bit earlier and, um, you get, you get to use it a little earlier and, uh, yeah, like two 20 is a really good number that it's good to hit with for consistently. And it's the, uh, the Melmetal typing, I guess, like, might be relevant against backs, but, but, um,

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 50:56

I mean, you're, you're talking about Gian Moltres, right?

Track 1: 50:59

yes.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 50:59

Yeah.

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 51:00

Okay. Uh, I feel like these serve wildly different purposes and just activate at wildly different stages of the stages

Track 1: 51:07

yes. Yeah. Yes. And that's, that's why I would say it's slightly better because you can use it a little bit earlier, but I would like the sense that they're both like one prize attackers that you're not making like immediate threats with. Uh, they're, they're similar in that sense and that like, they sort, they serve of like a similar, similar role. Um, but like it has the same weakness as like that, like Mew, Moltres, Kaga, builder, whatever, which is like, you look at the deck and it turns out it has no way to hit for more than a hundred damage unless you take a price card. Wow. What a crazy deck, bro. Like I, that true about a deck, it's just like, it's just repulsive to me. Um, if like the deck has zero disruption and it has no way to hit for more than a hundred damage until you decide to take a price card. Crazy.

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 51:55

well, yeah, but the argument for it is CUO will basically always win the long game against any deck like they do.

Track 1: 52:04

that's gig Ka dude. That's Like

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 52:06

Cuo cuo is the clock that you're putting them on.

Track 1: 52:12

no, I, I, I mean like, you know, I think one good way to illustrate this is that if you throw a Reggie Ecky in the active and you play a penny, um, it turns out they have no way to win. Funny.

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 52:23

Well, I, I agree with this.

Track 1: 52:25

exactly. E exactly. The deck sucks, bro. It has no damage output. Like,

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 52:30

okay, again, that's

Track 1: 52:32

I think there's, there's so many different ways for like, other decks to exploit this as well. Like the fact that you just do not do anything for the first, like, 10 years of the game, bro. It's like, it's, it, it's hard for that to be a BDIF because like you just give your opponents so much time to do whatever they want to you. Like

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 52:49

Like what? Name a meta name. A me deck. Like

Track 1: 52:52

Like, like I would just say like whatever decks they, they can just text us to fix this. Like,

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 52:57

what?

Track 1: 52:58

um, I said like DY or something. Like they could definitely just throw on like, eh, there's like some stuff that might work. I don't know. They're a little bit suss, but like there's definitely stuff, there's definitely stuff you could use. I'd have, I'd have to try them out. But like, some ideas that come to mind would be like, uh, maybe, maybe something like Hacha. Um, maybe,

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 53:21

What is that doing?

Track 1: 53:22

could just play a penny. The, the hacha would be be a way where you could skip over taking a prize and then KO a comfy with the Kirlia.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 53:36

like, Crest 60 on a comfy, then Hacha

Track 1: 53:40

No. No, but I mean like that's like actually like a serious issue for like a lot of lost index, is that like Yeah. They just have no way to go through Kirlia. Like you just sit there and you, they don't do anything. And I think the same thing is true of this like Zamazenta build. They

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 53:53

Well, and I listened to, uh, I listened to Raymond on Kieran's YouTube channel, and he said one of the biggest reasons that he played XTO was an efficient way to deal with Celia So it's funny you

Track 1: 54:07

as long as you hit the comfy for 60, this Zamazenta does not deal with your.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 54:14

Um, all right. Uh, I wanna We've been going a a while. I wanna mention I actually played two challenges this past week. I went to the one down in North Carolina that I talked about last week, and I played Gardevoir toward Gardevoir and I won that. I showed up to their local event and won. Uh, that was cool.

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 54:34

Who, who was the best player there? Anybody we know. And any pod shoutouts? No. Alright. Alright.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 54:40

Nope. Um, everyone was very nice, very welcoming,

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 54:44

A any listeners.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 54:46

Uh, nobody. No. Or maybe there, maybe there are, but they didn't, they didn't say

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 54:52

Yeah. Alright. Hopefully we picked up some converts. Mike came down, showed on the business, North Carolina. You don't know.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 54:59

And then I played a local challenge last night with Gardevoir as well, and I got second, I lost the last round against the Lugia deck. I put worker in over the second research because I thought there was gonna be a bunch of path there. There was, but that pretty much lost me my last round against Lu Gia because I had the worker like Turn Two as my supporter, and if I had research, I think I would've been able to reach a knockout on turn three. Uh, and I didn't, so I felt too far behind. So we're going back to research for sure, for Toronto.

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 55:36

Yeah. And and the answer is all Gardevoir all the time.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 55:39

Yep. I'm, I'm locking in guard Devore for Toronto. I, it's, I was telling someone last night, I've always enjoyed Guard Devore. Um, but I felt like until basically until Towards List came out after Worlds. I just always felt like it was missing something. Like the list wasn't quite there yet. And I really do feel like toward cracked it this time. Like the, the double reversal energy,

Track 1: 56:03

So

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 56:03

the uh, yeah, just like the mirage step, like all the, all the counts. The cards just make so much sense. Like when it, when you play the deck, it just makes sense. And I, and I haven't gotten that feeling.

Track 1: 56:14

right.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 56:15

Yeah. Yeah, and, and like, I just haven't, I haven't had that feeling with the deck, um, really since like, uh, the Pikarom where I, that I played so much where I'm like, this list just makes sense. So, uh, yeah, I'm just definitely sticking with that.

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 56:31

I had like this enthusiasm,

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 56:33

Yeah.

Track 1: 56:34

Is the D bro.

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 56:35

Caden, why are you not playing guard Devore?

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 56:38

Uh, time. Time

Track 1: 56:42

Dude, time is like towards biggest asset. I like I

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 56:45

right, right. I, I agree with it. Time is not a my greatest asset. Um,

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 56:51

Yeah. That, no, I think that's a fair point, right? I think, I think everybody would, would say tort is the best time management player in the game. A, a deck that plays into that is play to his strengths. It's just win-win for that guy.

Track 1: 57:01

replicate. Two. You just have to slow way down. Make sure you draw your cards one at a time and like don't a two. Oh.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 57:12

Yeah, so part of the re part of the reason that I'm, I'm really glad that I went to these challenges is just getting, uh, part what part of what helps with time is just getting reps in, in, in real life, regardless if you're playing best of three or not. Just playing like physical games, uh, I think helps quite a lot with that.

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 57:31

Liam and any reaction to that? I know, I know Liam felt like he did not play particularly great in Peoria, and he thought just like, like, like, uh, I don't know if it was like tournament conditions or.

Track 1: 57:43

I know, I know I said this in our chat. I, I have to play decks that are not as, uh, not as gig brain. I have to Yep. Gotta be a little bit more straightforward. Like, Gardevoir is like so hard sometimes, bro. There's like so much going on.

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 57:56

I mean, but Guard Devore seems to me, I mean, I, Hey, guy Guard, Devore is, is a hard deck to play, but like it's not lost box, right.

Track 1: 58:04

dude, it's like, I don't know, man. Especially those moments where like, you. Oh, you're like, I have to wear kind guard this turn and you like refinement twice and you're like, well, how do I figure out how not to lose this game? And like, those moments can be like so tricky and like, oh, it's one of those decks that like, man, you're like, you have like so much stuff going on. I, the other thing that, uh, like I swear to God the best thing you can do if you're gonna play guard devore is you just have to watch tor play the game over and over and over.'cause and just mimic literally everything he does. I didn't use the the tour discard pile thing where you fan out your entire discard. So it's accessible. And I think that was actually like one of the, a, a contributing factor as to why I misplay in my games, which was that like, you need like constant awareness of your discard. Well, you can try to be like, and it's hard to be super disciplined about like literally checking your discard like every 10 seconds before every move. If you just fan it out, you can just look whenever and like you have like much better awareness I think of like exactly what supporters and how many energy and what Pokegear in your discard pile like, um, at every moment. Like just mimic everything he does and you'll get like, get good practices are best practice.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 59:34

There you go. You heard it

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 59:36

Yeah. Yeah. That, that, that I feel like, I feel like this is the, uh, this is the key, uh, thing that people need to know, right.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 59:43

Copy toured.

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 59:46

Um, let's see. I'm trying to see if I have a good, uh, would you rather, but I feel like I don't this week, guys,

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 59:57

All right. Well, we'll do one

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 59:59

declare victory. Oh. Oh, alright. No, here's a simple one, guys. Your choice. Would you rather live in a world without spiders or a world without flies?

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 1:00:09

Oh, oh. Flies easy, see. Well, okay, I would need to do some more research. I know I currently know the benefits that spiders provide our world.

Track 1: 1:00:19

dude, that's, I was about to say that.

kaden_1_10-17-2023_172110: 1:00:22

I do not know the benefits that flies provide our world. I am confident they exist. I don't personally know this, which is why I'm currently choosing flies

Track 1: 1:00:31

My, my environmental science teacher would be like, Having a fit right now about how key all these, uh, species are to the environment?

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 1:00:40

you get rid of spiders as well, like flies will just be way more, there'll be way more flies, right? Because spiders catch a lot of flies.

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 1:00:49

Yeah. Yeah. I, I, I have to agree. I feel like, uh, and, and on the one hand, yeah, I think everybody, when you see a spider, you're like, that's okay. That's some dead, other dead bugs in my house that are gonna be like, slaughtered by these spiders where, whereas flies are just actively annoying and they make a bunch of noise, which I find equally grading

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 1:01:08

Agreed.

Track 1: 1:01:09

yeah. I, I do not know what goes on in those, those tiny minds, bro. Like, they get right up to your ears that you can hear'em, and then they just fly away, bro. Like,

brent_1_10-17-2023_182110: 1:01:20

Alright guys, the John Pauls are our outro. We'll be back next week with, I guess we're gonna start talking about Toronto. and you can hear about, you can hear about Mike's plan to play two researchers in guard. That's all there's to it. Alright.

mike_1_10-17-2023_183508: 1:01:34

All right.