The Trashalanche Pokemon Podcast

Birmingham Recap, looking forward to San Antonio

• Liam Halliburton

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Liam:

Welcome, everyone, to another episode of the Trash Manage podcast, uh, we're sponsored by Dragon Shield, we have a five star review, um, is

Abaan:

We'll read

Liam:

there anything else you'd like to say for the intro?

Abaan:

I mean, like, I guess you did just get the meat and potatoes without, like, any filler. So now we're

Liam:

Alright.

Abaan:

here.

Liam:

Looks like I did that. Um, yeah, this is the, uh, the week in between Birmingham and San Antonio, so we'll talk about just that. I was at Birmingham this weekend. Um, I'm doing all the EU events because I'm in London for the semester. I played, uh, Archelodon, Dialga, Pidgeot. Um, it was like a good deck, but,

Henry:

But

Liam:

you know, things just, like, went my way on day two.

Henry:

it's all good.

Liam:

I got what? I got farmed by some European people.

Henry:

got a little unlucky against these mighty European players, no worries. Yeah.

Liam:

Uh, yeah, I mean, that's like some, yeah, I guess that's some advice I would give to, like, any NA players who are, like, trying, going to try their luck in the EU circuit, bro. Like, they, uh, they really go for the throat over there, bro. Like, there's some, I, pretty, I had, like, I had four losses throughout the weekend, bro. I lost two, and, like, three of them, it was just, like, ridiculous turn twos, like, over and over and over on me. And then the, uh, the other one was to like a pure thorns, which is just like a, a full auto loss. Um, but like, yeah, man, the, the, like, the turn twos that I was seeing, bro, like, I've never seen an na player do something like that before. So just like, you know, be ready for, for some, some crazy aggression, I guess, in you, bro.

Henry:

So it's a little bit of a lower skill format, because you're just getting murdered on turn two. sort of how the E

Liam:

I mean,

Henry:

is what you're getting

Liam:

I wouldn't, I, I wouldn't say, I wouldn't say like overkill necessarily, but I would say it's definitely like a really, it is a really powerful format, right, where we're, we're bumping up on rotation right now. These decks are really just like truly insane and like every now and then they, you know, they can do some like completely disgusting stuff to you, right?

Henry:

Fair enough, fair enough. Particularly this Dragapult Duster

Abaan:

completely.

Liam:

Yeah, I mean, it's not ridiculous to say that. Yeah, that was uh, that was my Birmingham. Um, the Birmingham for other people was Interesting, I think. There was a Charizard, Pokestop, that one. Seems alright. Yeah, uh, yeah,

Henry:

Let's not get it twisted here.

Liam:

exactly. The def function is literally the exact same. But do you think it functions like 0. 1 percent better or worse with this Pokestop inclusion?

Henry:

I mean, the Pokestop has really good synergy with the Pidgeot, right? This is something that you are aware of.

Liam:

Sure.

Abaan:

I mean, maybe.

Henry:

deb,

Abaan:

I, I, I missed the collapse though. Like, it's not like you're just like getting this guy for free, but like, I'm playing the deck and I'm like, damn,

Henry:

the other

Abaan:

I wish this was a collapse. I'm

Henry:

I don't even know if the other people play The Collapse these days. They're all in like, random other

Abaan:

looking at the other side, Liz.

Henry:

placement, wait, I didn't even notice this. The 11th place was playing Grand Prix, and Jamming Tower.

Abaan:

And then the next guy was playing Headquarters.

Henry:

Yeah, yeah, see, Collapse is a thing of the past.

Abaan:

yeah, I guarantee you Pokestop is better than Headquarters. In the deck.

Henry:

what is it, is there anything in particular the headquarters is for? Yeah, I don't really understand. Is this to solidify that

Liam:

I don't know.

Henry:

Fair enough, fair

Abaan:

Maybe it's like the logic is against like, um, Drago.

Liam:

Yeah.

Abaan:

Teal Mask knock you out easily. As easily.

Liam:

Yeah, you stretch them for like one more piece.

Henry:

okay, okay. A half heroes cape? Sure, sure,

Liam:

I don't know.

Henry:

see that.

Abaan:

But

Liam:

see.

Abaan:

that's just like a, that's just horrible reasoning. Like, I, like, there's like ten reasons why that's not good.

Liam:

Yeah, I don't know. I mean, it seems like, it's like maybe a solid surprise, but like, I, I, if they know that it's in your deck, bro, I don't know, I don't know how that ever works against, like, a solid Drago player. And then it still, like, sometimes doesn't work, right? Because they just, like, they just have too many resources, right?

Abaan:

They have like way too many other alternative methods, right, of like, getting you.

Henry:

Yeah, I mean, I don't think these

Abaan:

But like, that's my conclusion.

Henry:

are winning in EU even, like, hit any Drago's, bro. Like, I think they just dodged Drago's the entire day because it was only 13%.

Abaan:

I want to talk about Braggingham

Liam:

I wouldn't say that. Like, I think you can definitely, you can definitely beat Drago with Charizard. You just need a ridiculous strength, too.

Henry:

Oh, you just need a raid against Ceren too? Okay, okay, like a Candy Pidgeot,

Liam:

Bro,

Henry:

Charizard, Duskclops,

Liam:

um, yeah bro, I, like, after seeing what some of these JGOs are like, pretty much what these EU players were doing with their decks, bro, like, I don't even think it's like, I mean, maybe I underestimate these decks, they have, like, stronger turn 2 potential than I thought, bro.

Henry:

Nah, bro, I play against this Charizard deck on ladder all the time. This deck sucks. This deck never does that. They do always find Candy Pidgeot candies hard, but like, to that, bro? No way.

Liam:

I don't know, bro, once I get the Candy Pidgeot, Candy Zara, it's like, I guess he has one more piece, I'm, like, kind of zatched here. Ehh, just one more.

Abaan:

Dude, I don't know, I saw the, um, like, I'm sorry, just to like, go back to Birmingham results, highest listing Gardevoir, Max Roberts, good friend of the pod, Baby Rattle,

Liam:

Baby Ra ooh! all for joining us today, and I look forward to seeing you all at the next

Abaan:

Where's the 4 slots?

Henry:

Nest Ball, 2, well,

Abaan:

Oh.

Henry:

play as a second Artisan, I don't even think you have to play as a second Artisan.

Abaan:

I was gonna say, the second artisan doesn't give you a spot back, I was like making sure you realize that, but like, I don't know, my issue with it though, is that like, yeah, you get the four slots back, but I don't even want to like, trolley for like, all my Pokemon inside the game. I guess the idea is that you don't really have to, you can get four and you have the artisan for whatever like, the last spot is.

Henry:

so, like, I agree,

Abaan:

I don't know, when I watched him play on ladder, he always got five. I thought that was terrible. I was like, you're just like, ruining what makes Gardevoir lit.

Henry:

Yeah, I mean, like, Like, I know some people think that Trolley's good to, like, get the monkeys, like, I don't think you have, like, an issue getting the monkey, I think it's literally, it's just the deck space. Like, the deck space is, like, so, like, getting the monkeys ahead of time doesn't actually advance your game plan that much, just, like, having the way to get the monkey, and then, like, you know, attaching the Dark Slayer or whatever, and, like, being able to cut all these nest balls and shit, that's pretty good.

Abaan:

Like, trolley functionally is just grab three rolls and a monkey, and that's like, that's what the card does, right? Like, It's not,

Henry:

Yeah, it doesn't do

Abaan:

it's not that much better than Hoffman, right? It's just like,

Henry:

think it makes your, that's what I'm saying, like, I don't think it makes your starts actually that much better, but it is still buying you deck space, for sure, just because of

Abaan:

sure.

Henry:

works, and like, that in and of itself is, like, incredibly valuable to guard for.

Abaan:

But how good are some of these cards he added? He added like, third vessel.

Henry:

don't,

Abaan:

Is that like, really like,

Henry:

I think if I were to build a trolley build, which, I think it's too late to build a trolley build for San Antonio, I would not play the same, like, power cards that he plays, like the Moonlit Hill

Abaan:

yeah, yeah, he like, he has the Crest, Moonglow, and Flutter, like the anti synergy is just like, crazy, right? Like, I don't know.

Henry:

I definitely would have some other ideas for what to put in here. He also has a D. Va, even, in the stack.

Abaan:

No, I was about to say, the D. Va's like, egregious. I hate the D. Va.

Henry:

but

Abaan:

No, like, I hate her.

Henry:

looking at this list, it's just like, he's got 4 Arvan, 4 Iona, the Tatsu, he's got the Devo, he's got a third Vessel, you know, like, he's got all these good cards, and like, maybe some bad cards, but like, all of this comes just like, getting a billion extra slots from putting Trolley in, and like, I don't know, that's pretty good.

Abaan:

Yeah, yeah, I think the, the, my issue though is like, obviously, Gardevoir's A specs are just broken, like, I wanna play Hyper Roma, I wanna play like, Seeker Boss, I wanna play like, Trolley, I wanna play Stamp, like, don't know, I just feel like, the space is good, but like, the Seeker Boss power is like, and Hyper Roma, they're like, they're just more powerful than having extra space, you know? But

Henry:

I'm

Abaan:

I don't know,

Henry:

I

Abaan:

maybe that's the problem.

Henry:

the Trolley, I kinda wish I tried the

Abaan:

You have to choose second, yeah? With the Trolley? like, have to, right? Like, there's no other

Henry:

I mean, you could, I mean, yeah, I think you would obviously blind second, but like, with the Tatu going first, it's like, not the worst thing. Tatu plus three vessel means that you're sort of open, if you go first, you're like, pretty likely to get into this Tatu.

Liam:

Don't you have issues like finding the, I mean I guess if you're playing like second artisan or something, but like,

Henry:

Yeah, I mean, yeah, I bet there's like, some hands are even like, ultra

Liam:

I don't know, yeah I don't think it's that bad, like you still do have like solid number of outs, and like play the Arven on turn two or whatever, like it's like fine, but,

Henry:

the conventional wisdom would be to play like, the Call Bell strat over the Tatu You don't want to use the whole idea is to cut Pokemon search, right? But like, the call bill is so bad, I kind of like this idea of just and playing like a, a semi standard list, but just shoving the trolley in there to save some space and being like, I'm not gonna like, fully play for this tattoo or whatever, like, I don't know how consistent it is. I think it's probably pretty consistent.

Liam:

yeah, I, I, no bro, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I,

Abaan:

this, like, I was really, like, not really sure, like, what's going on with this Trolleybill, like, I don't get the play.

Henry:

Yeah, yeah.

Abaan:

Did he tell you about the ID or no? Did you ask?

Henry:

No, he sent me his matchups, uh, actually, like, I was talking to him this morning. And he's like, tie against Tarapagos in the last round. But, yeah, I'd heard what happened, of course. Yeah, I think that's, that's crazy, but, I mean, I get

Abaan:

I see.

Henry:

it.

Abaan:

Are you sure he wasn't tricked? Like, I, that was, like, one of the leading theories.

Henry:

uh, related to this, or no?

Abaan:

Which question? No, no, no.

Henry:

000 versus 100, 000? Cause

Abaan:

Oh, no, no. First of all, Liam asked that question. But,

Liam:

Nah, I was just, I was just like a random thought that popped in my head, bro.

Henry:

yeah, so the question here is like, Top 8 versus Is it 32, or what do you vote? I don't actually know. I think, my guess would be 32, cause resistance is like, ridiculous. So do you want

Abaan:

I mean, he was 10th, so yeah, I'm assuming, yeah.

Liam:

Yeah.

Henry:

guaranteed 16? I mean, to me, that's not even like a question what I would want to do.

Abaan:

Dude, I think even if you're not making 32, it's not a question. So, like, making 32 makes it even more locked in. Like, like, I would always play even if I was going to miss 32 if I lose. Because, like, I don't know. Like, I understand everyone has different goals, but I thought the goal, like, the unified goal that we all had is, like, making top 8 is, like, the creme de la creme, you know? Like, of all the other goals. Like like the best thing you could do at a weekend in Big Top 8.

Henry:

I'm not going to blame him for it, but I think it's too bad that he did that. He should have gone for the golds, for sure.

Abaan:

Oh well.

Henry:

all good. Um,

Liam:

I don't know, it just depends on what you value, right?

Henry:

yeah, yeah, definitely.

Liam:

If you like to win, like, of course,

Henry:

like, cash EV

Liam:

to win. It

Henry:

like, the EV heavily suggests that you should play for it. The EV is probably not even, like, good enough. Even if you wait all year

Liam:

just depends on what you value.

Henry:

But yeah, yeah. Um, Archeulodon did pretty good. Uh, all the ideas we had for Archeulodon, everyone else had them as well it seemed like. Like, uh, the highest placing one was playing the, the Banette, and a bunch of people were playing the Banette, which is really funny.

Liam:

I don't know, I'd say like, our like, Binette idea is like a little different, right? Like, our Binette idea was not really like, to aggressively try and just like, 2 2 2 them, right? Like,

Henry:

were some Banettes that also played the Dialga. Yeah, our deck was bad, right? Banette, Archeulodon, Dusknoir. Or Dialga, I mean, sorry. Um

Liam:

yeah, yeah, but like, we were still playing for the combo. It was just using the Binette like, as like a weaker Pidgeot, right?

Henry:

that you played against was just sort

Liam:

Probably more accessible.

Henry:

trying to run you down. Poor

Abaan:

Wait, Liam, do you want to talk about maybe why you think ADP's better than like these other versions?

Liam:

Those ones are non serious.

Abaan:

think that anymore?

Liam:

They're just non serious. Like, there's, yeah, there's just like the general, like, uh, summary of the meta. There's, I think, I think there's three serious decks. There's Charizard, Charizard Pidgott, uh, Gardevoir, and Drago. And the serious decks are good into all the non serious decks. Everything else is non serious. Like, you should play a serious deck. And like,

Abaan:

for joining us

Liam:

semi serious decks, like ADP, but like, uh, I mean, yeah, like, your deck has to do, has to do more than just like hit the face every turn, bro, like, you have to have some like real, like, you know, comebacks, um, you know. Like, comeback's really important, bro. You can't just lose every single game you fall behind. Like, playing a turbo deck just makes no sense. Playing a deck like Lugia just makes no sense. Like, if you're just gonna, if you're just gonna hit face every turn, bro, you're, you're like, your matchup against the serious decks is never going to be that good because they all have, like, good comeback potential. I power, like, their, their Sirius decks, and you can never take a good matchup into them if you're playing, like, something, something that's terrible.

Henry:

okay, so play serious decks

Abaan:

Yeah, I think that's fair.

Liam:

Yeah, and, like, the other Archelodon lists are just, like, you know, all they do is hit, hit face every turn for 220, bro. Like That's not serious, uh, like,

Henry:

mean, to be

Liam:

you're just gonna lose, like, every single deck.

Henry:

we were talking about this, like, these aggressive Archeulodon decks, like, do have a good Dragon matchup, yeah? I

Liam:

You think so?

Abaan:

I agree

Liam:

Um, uh,

Henry:

so much likelier.

Liam:

I would feel fine with Drago into one of these decks, bro.

Henry:

sec with the

Liam:

They're like,

Henry:

with the binette and the four catchers, bro, like, it's gonna

Liam:

oh, I'm guaranteed, bro, like, I'm literally gonna kill them in that, like, on four, and then I'll just Iona them to two. And then they have to, like, guarantee Turo, like, well, that's like,

Abaan:

I just think that, like, the, of the three series decks you mentioned, Archeolodon, maybe as a good Drago, it definitely doesn't have a good, like, guardi, and then the Zardmatcher doesn't sound great either, like,

Liam:

yeah, it's not serious.

Abaan:

but the problem is, like, I'm not even sure how much ADP solves these problems, like, I think the Drago matchup is, like, good for ADP, and then, like, Other than that, like The Guardian matchup, maybe, it's definitely better than straight.

Henry:

like 50

Abaan:

It's a close, yeah. Yeah, yeah,

Liam:

Yeah, I mean, bro, I, I just think, like, you have, like, you have, like, a real chance into, like, a good player playing Gardevoir or a good player playing Charizard or a good player playing Drago when you're playing, like, ADP. Like, once you get this Pidgeot involved, you're, like, actually making, like, real threats, whereas when you're just playing this, like, oh, like, let me see if I can, like, run you over with my, like, bundle 220, like, but you don't have, like, a real chance into, like, good players on these decks.

Henry:

A Catcher 220.

Liam:

I don't know, the catchphrase is funny, yeah. I

Henry:

changer.

Liam:

just don't think, like, I mean Um, uh, uh, um, uh, uh, uh, uh, um, uh, I'm so sorry if I'm wrong, but, uh, um, but I wanted to say, um,

Abaan:

I feel like, um, the matchup is kind of cooked, like, this Zard matchup is pretty cooked for Palkia Noctowl, but I looked through that Alexander's guide, it's like matchup, matchup spread, and he was like owning Zard until Odvin came along, you know, like,

Henry:

have the, did you watch the top 8 set on stream? He destroyed that guy.

Abaan:

yeah, I did, I did, I saw the top base set, and then unfortunately I also saw the top 4 set, like,

Henry:

I watched that

Abaan:

uh,

Henry:

Did his deck not work? Oh,

Abaan:

it's the one where he like, forgot to bench the, the stuff, and then he just like, kind of crashed out after. No,

Henry:

Terapicus?

Abaan:

no, you fan rode him without getting, like, benching anything. Have we talked about this?

Henry:

Wait, what?

Abaan:

I'm pretty sure that's what happened.

Henry:

What do you mean he fan

Abaan:

Didn't he have this, like, thought, like, that was the whole thing. There was a guy who, like, fan rode him and, like, didn't bench any Hoothoots and stuff and just passed. Like, just forgot. And then like,

Henry:

No, I, well, I don't, I didn't hear about this, I believe it, but oh my god, yikes.

Liam:

That's hilarious. That's hilarious. Yeah.

Abaan:

was. They just said like, uh, after my error, it was, uh, cooked, but I, I forget the games already. Like, I watched so many games of that matchup in a row, I like, it blends all together. I

Henry:

okay.

Abaan:

have no clue.

Henry:

I remember is when, uh, the Alexander guy made a three price turn off of a stard punch into a ninja. That was pretty cool.

Abaan:

And well, I mean, Jonathan tried that in the finals and just like, gusted the czar to the bench to start his play, which did not work.

Henry:

wait, like, he forgot about Terra?

Abaan:

Yeah, yeah, that I remember. It was a tough one.

Henry:

I, I do not know all this. I, I guess I should have been paying more close attention to these stream matches, geez.

Abaan:

But yeah, I think, like, the key question is, like, where did this deck come from? Or, like, why now? Like, why is it good?

Henry:

Yeah, I mean. Damn.

Abaan:

Yeah.

Liam:

Yeah, if you ask me, I would say it's not good. It doesn't look very serious, but somehow they're getting some results, so I'm probably missing something.

Henry:

the deck is good, right? So it's not like this is just, like, one group brought it, and they all happened to do good, right? Like, this is clearly, like, multiple testing groups brought it, and it was still at, like, a couple percentage, and, like, all of them, like, way overperformed, like, so the deck is good! Like, that that's, like Or at least it was good for

Liam:

I don't know, it just seems hard to lose to playing a serious deck.

Abaan:

I don't know. I think, exactly, like, I, I understand the concept, and I, I think the only matchup that I, like, the weird thing is, all these decks, like, weird, like, the matchup you feel the most confident about is Drago, but at the same time, you can't feel that confident because you're playing against Drago, so, like, Nothing has, like, that great of a Drago matchup, like, no matter how good you feel, like, Drago can always pull some weird trick on you, so, like, I think that's, like, one of its better matchups, but then I, like, look at its Zard matchup, and I'm like, that matchup, like, I can't even conceptualize how I'm supposed to play it, like,

Henry:

Really? I

Abaan:

there's some ideas, and, like,

Henry:

I mean, like, I don't think it's favored against a good Zard player, but I think you can definitely get some of the worst Zard players. I mean, I watched it a decent amount on

Abaan:

yeah, but, like,

Liam:

I, I, yeah, exactly bro, I, I don't think like if you sit across from a good, good Zard, Drago, Guardiplayer, anyone playing like a remotely serious deck with Iono and Countercatcher, that's like a very good benchmark for whether or not your deck is serious, like do you have Iono and Countercatcher in your deck? I don't think you're gonna beat that, like, it's just brutal.

Henry:

guy who plays the best, well, in Birmingham, was playing the 1 1 Bib, which I think is probably pretty good.

Liam:

It's, it's hopeless, like, and the

Henry:

already made up your mind here. Okay, okay. Cheers for sharing.

Liam:

I mean, it's just, it's not enough.

Abaan:

idea, I like that idea, though, I, I do rock with the bib, it makes sense to me,

Henry:

trumpets to get it out of the active, too, right? Like, you don't even need to, like, commit a switch to it every time.

Abaan:

no, no, no, that's not how

Liam:

You

Abaan:

bro,

Liam:

trump it to the action, bro.

Abaan:

like, a thousand words of text, I, like, literally, like, every time I read the card, I, like, forgot about a new condition, so,

Henry:

like, a lot of

Abaan:

You have to have

Henry:

the trap because you can just throw an extra one on the bib, right, so you can't get trapped?

Abaan:

okay, sure, but like, I'm just saying, like, bro, you need a Terra in play, you need to choose two of Pokemon, benched, basic energy, I was like, dang, bro.

Henry:

reading the English language.

Liam:

I mean, I probably can. Yeah, I mean, I don't know.

Abaan:

man? It's like Seeker Box, but it's like a normal card, for some reason.

Henry:

three conditions, right? Benched, Terra. Oh, basic energy, sure, sure, sure. Okay, okay.

Abaan:

Yeah, I was trying to attach DTEs with it, you know? Smile. So many conditions.

Liam:

Like, the issue is to the series decks, even when you have like a lead, they're also like very fast, right? So they take like one turn to like destabilize your board, and the second turn is like CC Iona, and then you're zashed.

Abaan:

Like, even Alessandra, his deck, he was playing this crazy, like, Codebreaker, Quad, Mimmy thing. Completely crashed out because he just, like, kept losing to, like, Dragos and tying Dragos, like, The matchup's so good, and it's like, that deck seems like the most, like, Oh, it should have a good Drago for the simple, simple reasons of just, like, Look, I have all these Mimmys and Mists, like, how can I lose? when you Radzar, like, I can attack you, etc, etc, right? But, like, Even that guy can't get it done against Drago. Like, Drago's so resilient. It's just, it's actually crazy how good Drago is.

Henry:

did not have a good weekend though, like, let's not get it twisted, let's not, let's not fudge up the narrative here.

Liam:

Really bro? I don't know, I

Abaan:

it

Liam:

feel like you have a pretty good lead.

Abaan:

Brent got third, and like, poor Rune, he had to play against Brent. Like, you know what it is? You know how it is?

Henry:

yeah, yeah, and then in Rio,

Abaan:

they just teamkilled, you know? much you can do there.

Henry:

yeah, I mean, it didn't do bad, like, definitely didn't do, like, terrible, but it's not like it, like, significantly overperformed or anything like that, like,

Liam:

Yeah, I mean, I don't know, dude, like, I was at Birmingham, of course, bro, and like, Brent was actually just like, he was dominating the event, bro, he like, he was like, he was like 10 0 1, bro, he's like, um He's like playing his last round just to like, like impact the seeding, right? Like, and like, it's like not surprising at all, bro. Like, I'm just like, oh, he like, you know, he farmed another guy. Like, I thought like, you know, obviously he was playing Draco and he had like a ridiculously good weekend. So like, it doesn't seem, um

Abaan:

like, the third is not equal to other thirds, you know? Is that what you're getting at? Like, it says

Liam:

I don't know, yeah, like, like, when I was there, I was like, damn, bro, it must be really, really good to be, like, uh, like, the best Draco player here, like, that's like, so, so insane, like, I'm not surprised at all that this guy's just, like, beating everything he sits across from, and, like, he's gonna keep doing that for, like, the rest of the tournament.

Abaan:

I guess we'd also be remiss to not talk about this, um, this Tord Tarapagos list, like, you rocking with it? It's Tord, so, how can you

Liam:

Yeah, I mean, obviously, so, uh, it's just, like, it's just perfect.

Abaan:

But I, I think, like, I might have some gap in my understanding of the deck, but, like, have a lot of problems with it. Like, whenever I try to play it, it feels like I'm so reliant on getting this Drago guy out that, like, When they just start targeting my Drago really aggressively, like, I know you can Thorn and Stretcher into it or whatever, but just struggle with the deck, like, it just feels weird, like, maybe it's because I'm not used to it, and like, my whole thinking isn't warped around it, but it feels like I'm just, like, too light on all the stuff I need, like, where's my, like, second Stretcher at, you know, or like, uh, mainly the second Stretcher is what gets me,

Liam:

I don't know, I don't feel that way at all. I feel like I'm vulnerable to getting a bad start or getting my Pidgeot knocked out. That's always been my issue with the deck and I think the Drago is pretty good because it sort of alleviates this a little bit by giving you some really strong on board draw power after the Pidgeot gets knocked out. But like, yeah, my issue with Terapagos was always like, yeah, against like a serious deck, they're going to like Stadium Bump, Iono, kill your Pidgeot, and like, your board is literally just like a guy who is for 130. And then like, hopefully, like

Abaan:

if they, like, a lot of decks can, like, snap kill the Drago way easier than they can kill the Pidgeot, like, Mirror, and, like, all these other, like,

Henry:

to, sorry.

Abaan:

220 matchups, and, like, that's when it gets really frustrating. When the Drago doesn't live. And then, like, your deck is just so

Liam:

Yeah, I don't know, I've never felt that way, like, on the resources. I mean, you have access to like, two Dusners, even without the Drago, you have the um

Abaan:

I mean, Tord got the benefit of people, like, not really being aware of this fact, like, about his list. Because, like, in his stream game, the one he tied, game two, his opp he was just out of stuff. He, like, boss, boss prime, and his opponent just has to kill the Drago, and I think, like, I think Tord could have hit Thornton's Stretcher for game, but, like, he'd have to hit more stuff than, like, uh, than what than just, like, allowing the Drago to live, right? I don't

Liam:

Yeah,

Abaan:

it was close,

Liam:

I mean, like,

Abaan:

for something

Liam:

but that's exactly what I'm talking about, like, I feel like you have like, You have the pieces in deck, and then like if the Drago attracts the attention, you have your Pidgeot still, you have the pieces in deck to win, that's like, that's all you can ask for.

Abaan:

Yeah, yeah, I know, I think like, I think the Thorin idea of the Draco makes like a lot of your plans But then you can get into like, supporter debt, where like, your

Liam:

Yeah,

Abaan:

to get you like, your

Liam:

exactly. I feel like,

Abaan:

boss,

Liam:

I feel like on your like, go turn, it's like really hard to be like, thwarting into the Drago. But like, it might happen sometimes, right, for like the um,

Henry:

Prime

Liam:

if they're not like, killing the Duskbill or something, right? Mhm. I agree, I agree. Well like, yeah bro,

Henry:

they're just overwhelmed. Pretty lit, pretty lit.

Abaan:

I think the Laudius is a cute, uh, cute idea, by the way, I thought that was really cool. I like, when I start playing the deck, it's like, it feels really smooth, like, you start hoo hoo ing or whatever, and you just, huh?

Liam:

it lets you, it lets you like, switch on turn one, and then you don't have like this like, switch issue. Like,

Abaan:

Where you,

Liam:

it's only, it's only vulnerable.

Abaan:

every game turn

Henry:

yeah.

Abaan:

Henry, when you weren't playing Lobbyists, I felt like, I was like,

Henry:

yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.

Abaan:

yeah, yeah,

Henry:

Yeah, and he's still playing 4 4 Noctowl 2 2 Pidgeot, so, pretty respectful.

Abaan:

yeah, and I like the bump supporter count, it's been, it's been, it's like pleasant to play with, like, it makes the deck, like, the deck feel smoother than, like, his, like, other, like, more wall pickup oriented build, but

Liam:

when you have to

Abaan:

like, I don't like having to Pidgeot to bump my, like, damage guys. I want, like, a pickup in my deck.

Henry:

like a fanfic to me, I feel like I never actually see this shit happen.

Liam:

Yeah, I mean,

Abaan:

I see it happen a lot.

Liam:

yeah.

Abaan:

maybe I'm just doing it too often, maybe I just like, like doing it. But I do it, like, a reasonable amount.

Liam:

I, I saw Torrid do it on his, uh, his Win& Win. He lost, but it was like a good shot.

Henry:

But yeah, sometimes it's your only option when, like, the game is, like, hooked beyond repair, because you

Liam:

Yeah, right? No, I, it always feels like a super weakening move, right?

Henry:

in your active is,

Liam:

And your turn with Pidgeot active, and you like get rid of all the stuff on your board. Like,

Henry:

Yeah, exactly, you can't have the Fez when you do this stuff usually, you gotta get rid of all your other 2 prizes. If

Abaan:

Liam, so like, uh, yeah, how'd it feel, and like, uh,

Henry:

you mean.

Abaan:

well, yeah, I guess, yeah.

Liam:

I really like the trolley idea. The trolley's really good.

Abaan:

What's up with the picnic basket? Is it really just, like, good?

Liam:

I think it's just like, uh, like for the synergy with the Kazam, bro, and like, it like, I think it helps accomplish like, um, it helps keep the Milotic healthy against Gardevoir, um, like you can like Kazam and then basket them, and then,

Henry:

Dude, I mean, no way,

Liam:

yeah, exactly, and you like, Can't play Serena because he's playing Kazam for the, uh, the Black Hero to amplify that I guess. I like,

Henry:

but like, we were talking about

Liam:

uh, uh,

Henry:

plus the Milotic has to be enough without the Picnic Basket for Guardian, but like, you know, also the Picnic

Abaan:

Yeah.

Henry:

like a great

Liam:

and brah, I think, I think just the Milotic is enough, bro. I think like,

Henry:

like, that's definitely the

Liam:

I, I, exactly. I think this list is just like, um,

Abaan:

Overkill.

Liam:

overtaxed. I like, I, I, I don't know, I, I think you did a really good job. I,

Abaan:

either. I don't really like Fan. I think it's, like, kind of

Liam:

I, I think the fan makes a lot of sense, like, especially if you're going to play it with the Taurus, right? I think, um, I, I, like,

Henry:

it synergize

Liam:

Dragapult, but like, Like, Taurus Fan is like good vs. Polt, I guess, right?

Henry:

Taurus?

Liam:

because it has this like additional use case, I guess.

Abaan:

Dude, I don't know. Like, Alakazam, it really just for Gardevoir? Like, how can this not just be better as Serena? Or, like, just, like, cut it

Liam:

But it's Gardevoir and Drago. Like, he wants to like be able to Black Cure him and extend the The Ice Age lock, so he has more time for the tech supporters.

Abaan:

70. Oh, and, like, does he ever, like, kill it into his turn? And then 70 the next guy, essentially? Or what?

Liam:

Mmm, yeah, that's a, that's a good idea. Well, you can get them on the prize trade usually, right? Like, if they have, like, three prizes left at that point, you can, like, Kazam, and then move it back, and then jump to two, and then have, like, Pidgey outplayed Moon. And, like, even then, you might get a guy on FCC, and then, like, uh, that's why I never like to take prizes against Draco, but, like, I don't know, I guess maybe there's, like, so, you can sometimes get them on the prize trade, yeah.

Henry:

the Pidgeot down, right? Like, you probably should go there.

Liam:

Yeah, yeah, and then your CCs are live if they kill the Pidgeot, right?

Abaan:

and, and I assume it's Tauro's Devo. He said it was overteching. Do you think, like, you get it done with either piece in the Zard matchup?

Liam:

Um, yeah, I, I think so. That's what, bro, it's cause he's also playing, he's also playing, like, the Milotic, bro. Like, the Milotic gives you some, like, really good inevitability. Like, if they, like, wait too long, you can, like, Milotic Ogre Pawn, which is, like, really strong. Like, it, like, forces the Duskner at, like, a bad time, right? Or, like, if, like, they haven't popped any Duskners yet or something, or, like, even if they've only popped one, you can, like, Bravery Charm the Ogre Pawn and then, like, lock, like, Rotom or something and, like,

Abaan:

The rod pressure gets really intense. You need to shuffle all these Pokemon in, like, the rods are, like, working overtime, and if, like, a Sistos or Eerie just, like, snags a rod randomly, it's, like,

Liam:

Yeah, like, yeah, I don't know. I always like the Devo. I think it's like a bit more versatile. But if you're not gonna play the secret box, then it's like a little bit worse. Because

Abaan:

interestingly enough. I thought that was cool uh, weird, like,

Liam:

I don't know. I mean,

Abaan:

intuitively.

Liam:

like, it's like, it's like fine. It's funny, like Nora's and Nozarosik. And I think it's like, if you get like good Silene flips, then it's like fine. But like, bro, like once I need to pad, bro, I always feel like whenever I play a list like that, like you pad back some stuff early, and then once you If you, like, Selene doubletails, like, twice in a row, you just, you can actually, like, deck out. Um, or, or, like, even beyond decking out, just, like, running out of resources, and, like Yeah, I don't know, I always like, I always hated that. But,

Abaan:

agree.

Liam:

at the same time, the, like, this is why I think the Stage 1s are so cool, is that, you like, you can build, like, much stronger boards where it doesn't, it doesn't take as much to, like, get them, right? Where, like, your, like, resources are being really stressed against Drago, when you're trying to beat them without the Toad School, right? But if you just get the Toad School up, like, You only need like one Gus, two Gus, and it's over, right, like,

Abaan:

like a thorn stretcher too, like in the back pocket, like if possible.

Liam:

what do you, what do you mean?

Abaan:

Like if they try to like, um, just kill your Toad School, like that's their strategy, right? You like

Liam:

Yeah, yeah.

Abaan:

like the thorn stretcher, so like, yeah.

Liam:

Yeah, yeah, like they can still definitely try and stretch you for resources a little bit, but like, at least like the theory is like, you can, um,

Abaan:

think it's interesting. I think the idea is that if you I do like that concept of like, you can play Toad School, you don't quite need a Zerocic. just feel like there could be like, one more card in here. Like, just one more, like, to like, fix this. And like, there's plausible cuts. Like, I don't really love the fan, even after your explanation. And like, Oh, but the other thing I just think is, like, cool is, like,

Liam:

I think you need the fan or the vest. Like you need, you need something to help lock Monkey Dory, um, because like, the bravery charm is not, not good enough. Um, and if you, I mean, I guess if you play the Sirene, you really believe in the Sirene, that's like good enough, but

Abaan:

The Serena helps, too. Like, Serena makes it cleaner.

Liam:

sure, sure, yeah.

Abaan:

But, yeah, sure, if you're not playing Serena, maybe you do need the vest. I was gonna say, like, this deck, I, like, wondered how everything fits in here, but it's, like, kind of the Guardi concept from earlier. Like, this trolley, like, it's working overtime. Like, you're

Liam:

Oh yeah, the other thing is too, is Um, if you're gonna, if you're gonna play the Genesect, you need like four tools. Four tools is like, the right count. Or four hard tools.

Abaan:

of course, D. Va doesn't really count, yeah. I don't know,

Henry:

I need to

Abaan:

I feel like,

Liam:

Mmm!

Abaan:

yeah, yeah, good shout, good

Liam:

Don't even hate the shout.

Abaan:

this does seem like a good irritate list, yeah. Like, no, no Jests, actually, that

Liam:

Yeah, right? With

Henry:

I'd be down

Liam:

Shroudy.

Henry:

down here. I think that'd be good.

Abaan:

Yeah, maybe over some of these Felix slots we've mentioned. Like, any other deck could go hard.

Henry:

the Taurus. The Taurus is because I forgot it also, like, destroys Dragapult, right? Like, it's gotta be, like, insane against Dragapult.

Liam:

I don't know, but like, I don't think it's that insane as Dragapult, because Dragapult is already like, so fine if you can like, stabilize a little bit.

Henry:

help

Liam:

Like,

Henry:

Like

Liam:

Well, like, bro, like, like, what board are you, like, like, dude, when you're not stabilizing, it's because, like, they kill your Pidgey, bro, like, you, like, the Taurus is, like, kind of a fan pick anyway. I played against one recently, I've been playing, like, the, the Pulse with the Badoo or whatever on the ladder and, like, Yeah, I, like, I got my Dragapult and I, like, was sort of running him off the board and he, like, goes into the Taurus and then, like, I just, like, Crystalled. Like, and then he just lost. And, like, it's, like, it doesn't save you if you're getting, like, run off the board and if you already have the Pidgeot up, like, basically if you, like, hit with the Taurus and you already have the Pidgeot up, all you're doing is buying yourself some time to where you can, like, eventually go do something else. But it's not like the other stuff that you want to do, like attacking with the Blood Moon or attacking with the Ogre Pawn, is, like, that much more expensive. Like, you can just go into that instead of the Taurus. It's like very easy,

Henry:

Yeah, I mean, I guess you

Liam:

and like, I think it helps the matchup like a little bit, um, and

Abaan:

Like,

Liam:

like,

Abaan:

why would you ever be attacking with Tauros? Am I missing something?

Liam:

it's like,

Henry:

expensive, right? Like, you don't need the countergain and the DT.

Liam:

yeah, the black team is a little, but, but yeah, like, Avan, exactly, right, like, you already have like so many good options in the matchup, it's just about whether or not you can like,

Abaan:

It's it's

Liam:

Headgear on.

Abaan:

in this deck, like, genuinely. Like, really, it's like,

Henry:

trolling turn one, you just get the Taurus down, right? And then, like, if they, like, blow up your Pidgey, you already have the Taurus down.

Liam:

Bro, that's what, that's what Sander was trying to, like, I don't know. We talked a little bit about it, and I think Sander still kind of liked his choices, but like, I um, the definite drawback of this trolley is kind of similar to Guardi, right? Is like, you like, you like bench lock yourself really early if you, if you choose to, right?

Henry:

I know.

Liam:

But like. Yeah.

Henry:

Yeah, like, do

Liam:

Yeah, I don't know, he was like bench locking, and then he was getting locked out of like a lot of options, like he like couldn't get into the Ogre Pond because he would need to penny and boss in the same turn, and like, like stopped him from like, sort of like aggressively retreat locking me, um, which just like, it basically just like gets rid of like so many of his threats.

Henry:

Yeah, it doesn't seem like it. Like, I don't even know, like, where to start. Like, what you trolley for in turn one. If you're, like, if you're against Drago or Guardian, it's easy, because you get the Feebath or the Toad Scroll. But, like, if you're not against one of those decks, I'm not really sure what you're, like, getting.

Liam:

Well, I don't know, like, the,

Henry:

Rotom, Pidgey.

Liam:

usually they're, every, pretty much every deck in format is weak to at least one of them, right? Like, they either play Stretchers, or they play a Turo, or both, right?

Abaan:

it's both. But yeah, you just grab everything.

Liam:

like,

Abaan:

all the guys

Liam:

I don't know, like, it's pretty easy to just grab them, like, it's not because they're like particularly good, but just because it's no cost, right, and so it's like, fine to grab.

Abaan:

though, is Liam, like, like, I think, it just isn't,

Liam:

You can,

Abaan:

let's say you don't grab Fez, right? Like, I thought part of the reason that the page out list, like, felt so lit is because, like, whenever you want, like, Fez, like, teleports on the board because you're playing, like, 3 Ultra, 4 Nest Ball. But, like, I don't know, you, like,

Liam:

you know,

Abaan:

of, like,

Liam:

bro, that's like the same thing with the Guardiolus, right, like, um, that we were talking about earlier is like, I don't know, even, even though you're getting like these like free spots by cutting all your ball cards, like, these ball cards are like,

Henry:

not

Liam:

they're good cards, right, like, um,

Abaan:

Oh, I just checked, like, I guess, like, Sander's last round loss was to a Palkdorn, er, not a Palknor, but, like, a Palk Noctowl.

Liam:

yeah,

Abaan:

deck, I guess it seems like kind of a sus matchup, like, I don't really know, I don't even know how to approach it, right? Like, I have no clue. Seems bad, though.

Liam:

I, I watched their game a little bit. I mean, it's just. They're just so aggressive, like, and like, Sander, or like, this build is like, um, he's not playing any like powerhouse cards, right? Like, like, what do you do in that matchup? Like they hit you with the Palkia and like, what do you do? You're just like, boss and sob, like, try to like, like Blood Moon, Luxray, Sob, they're all terrible. And that's like the only attackers you play. Like, you, you can like try to shove the Mimmy, like, You just have like no, no good options. And like, that's not always like, um, the end all be all, right? Like it's more on them to try and like prove that they can take six prizes, right? Um, as opposed to you to prove that like You have like, some like, really good line in the matchup or something. It's like, I don't think it's the easiest thing for like, you just, you know, if you just throw up a Mimmy, or like, you know, just some random junk, you just like, ask them what they're gonna do. If they don't have like, Gust or something, you know, like, Gust, Full Bench, whatever, it's like, not the easiest for them, but, I don't know, I like, his deck is like, really underpowered, I think, um, or like, obviously, in a, in a matchup like that, cause he has no, he has no good general attacker, like a, like a Charizard or something, like,

Abaan:

Yeah, like, look at these Palkimals, they, like, even the one that won, um, the one Rio, like, everyone is on this Cheren, too, so, like,

Liam:

Yeah, I think Cheren, Switch, Prime, like it's, it's just so much.

Abaan:

have Prime back so they can get around Jenny, they have, like, Cologne, too, for, like, some other Jenny like removal, they have Switch, and, like, they're literally just sitting there with, like, four Noctiles and, like, just, like, running you down like a dog. this is not fun at all, yeah. Did Xander get a game right now?

Liam:

I have no idea. Um, but I, I know we lost game one at that point. I was like, oh, it's like

Henry:

is

Liam:

I don't know, like, yeah, exactly. Like you can try and just get them on everything. But like, yeah, I feel like they're just, they're just so aggressive, right? Like, it's so easy for them to convert like a Noctowl into two prizes, right? Pretty much every turn.

Abaan:

bro. His, like, tournament exit comes off like a random tie against Archeladon, a loss to, like, ADP, like, the most broken deck ever, and then, like, uh, Palkia, like, a random Palkia loss, like. Yeah, it seems like you

Liam:

I mean, I don't know, bro, like, yeah, it's, it's like, unfortunate, but that's like, that's why I will never, I never played a deck like this, bro, like, it's, it's just so unserious.

Henry:

he You mean like, Pidgeot?

Liam:

Again,

Henry:

Like, you're officially retiring from Pidgeot.

Liam:

well, nah, I mean, I'm gonna keep playing Pidgeot decks, but like,

Henry:

Like,

Liam:

they're gonna have to,

Henry:

control.

Liam:

they're gonna have to take some prizes, bro, like, dude, like, this is the issue, bro, like, maybe, maybe if the, if the format gets like, you know, small enough, like, condensed enough that like, you're really confident, you're not gonna hit anything weird, but bro, this format is like, so, so, so, so wide. It's like, yeah, it's just,

Abaan:

top eight out of Rio,

Henry:

bro.

Abaan:

I was thinking about the deck.

Henry:

love this

Abaan:

Okay, sure, aware, I mean, there were two, um, well, actually, no, one of them was Polish, and then there's Facundo Facio, so, like, I'm aware of this, like, American love for, for Thorns, but I'm just saying like, I was thinking about Thorns the other day and I was like, I, I, I still don't believe the Draco matchup's good. I've, I've like, from like

Liam:

Welcome

Abaan:

list was, like, cutting the Flutter and the Clefki, all I'm saying is, like, in response to this, like, uh, I put one of those

Liam:

to

Abaan:

back in. I refuse to, like, get Yeah, I refuse to just take the L, because I have lost a Thorn to like, every major I've been to, for like, I don't know, it's like on and off, it's like alternating majors, but like, uh, I'm due for an on, actually, if the alternation is correct, so, have to do it, I have to at least try to fight back.

Henry:

Yeah, well, yeah, yeah, and like, part of the calculation is like, everyone at Switch would like this Pult Thorns deck. All the people who want to play Thorns would play Pult Thorns. Which, I don't know,

Abaan:

It doesn't seem to be true. It

Henry:

Well, it depends on your

Abaan:

didn't really make sense to me when that switch happened, though, right? Like,

Henry:

deck

Abaan:

I never really, like,

Henry:

Dragonfall deck.

Abaan:

well, it can't play like Quad Thorns against certain decks, right? Like, against Guardi, for example, it just doesn't have crushing hammers and stuff, so it's just like, And its deck just doesn't work, it's not built to be

Liam:

Yeah, they have no guns and they have no hammers, like you can literally just power stuff up and like it's fine.

Abaan:

Like, exactly, like that's why I was like never that convinced about Pult Thorns, and like, I think it's interesting that people are like, like, I don't know, I've generically been telling people that Pult Thorns is better, but I'm like, like kinda weird that people are playing Thorns again,

Henry:

that Pult Thorns deck

Abaan:

but it makes sense, you know? Yeah, I know,

Henry:

the Pult Thorns deck.

Abaan:

I know, I think that now too, but I was just like, I was in a cope state where I was like, dang, like, it's like Quad Thorns but it does something, but no bro, it's like Quad Thorns but it doesn't even work as Quad Thorns. It's Quad Thorns but there's a bunch of junk in it. I'm like back

Liam:

I mean

Abaan:

circle on this minion.

Liam:

When it comes down to it, I think they're both just, like, non serious. And

Abaan:

before San Antonio is to find out who wins the Thorns cloth matchup.

Henry:

do you think is

Abaan:

Pretty sure the matchup is probably like 50 50, like I think it'll probably actually go 10 10.

Henry:

Yeah, but I agree, like, looking across the

Abaan:

Maybe we should offer a bounty, like a trash slash bounty, like every week we give a matchup and if someone like wants to do it and like let us know, we'll like shout them out or something. Well yeah, they don't submit all the footage, they can just like tell us, like I don't care.

Henry:

okay. Yeah, we'll just trust that the match was being played at a high level, this, uh, Thornscloth matchup. Fair enough, fair enough.

Abaan:

Yeah, actually, minimum placement for the Thorns player is a world's win. And then the cloth player has to have like, I don't know, can do whatever they want.

Henry:

so we need to get

Abaan:

But we need to like, get the highest level Thorns player, you know? Like, I don't want, like, some like, I only got finals at this event Thorns player, you know? not useful.

Henry:

Yeah, Thorin's probably destroys Artuladon, right? Like, pretty much any Artuladon variant. I Liam's

Abaan:

I don't know, they're playing Cologne, bro. saw they were playing Cologne, like, our child. I'm like, what's that even for? Yeah, I saw like, multiple lists with Cologne in it.

Henry:

should be favorited into, like, these Nimique decks and Snorlax decks, right? So then it's literally just for

Abaan:

Dude, that's what I thought. Dude, I literally have no understanding of why they play Cologne. I don't understand it at all.

Liam:

Polthorns, yeah?

Henry:

in, uh, Artuladon.

Abaan:

It's not earlier, why?

Liam:

And Archelodon? Or what?

Abaan:

Yeah, yeah, I've

Liam:

Yeah, yeah, but I think it's literally just for Mimikyu Dex. I don't think that Mimikyu Dex are all that good, bro, like, if you're not playing the Duskner. It's It's a hard card to get, bro.

Abaan:

Isn't doing like 60 like hella annoying for them? Or not?

Henry:

god, this guy is the Vitband, bro.

Liam:

Well, like, bro, like, the issue is, like, if You have to get into the Archelodon to get through, like, anything else that they put in the active, right?

Henry:

he has to

Abaan:

Okay.

Henry:

many times.

Liam:

And then, like, once you get the Archelodon out, like, they, uh, then they go into the Mimikyu, and then, like, it's hard to, like, keep retreating into the

Henry:

Is it true?

Liam:

The baby, uh, the baby Dura.

Abaan:

like two Turos, a Scoop Up Cyclone, like how hard can it be? Am I missing something?

Liam:

I mean, like, the thing is, they, like, bro, like, if you're against, like, uh, a lax deck, bro, and then there's just, like, Penny CC, and then you're like, oh, like, am I, like, really gonna use a Turo now and hit for 60 again, bro? Like, I don't

Abaan:

literally what if you just refuse to evolve and you hit them for 80 over and over and over again?

Liam:

know, like, if they have, like, bro, if it's, like, a lax deck, then they'll just, like, Flute you, and then, like, keep gusting other stuff, bro, like.

Abaan:

Sure.

Liam:

Or the little fan.

Abaan:

volume, it's not like they have melodic, right? So you have the volume of Turos and stuff to like, you know,

Liam:

Yeah, I don't know, maybe. Like, I probably wouldn't play the Cologne, because, like, that seems terrible. But,

Henry:

the

Liam:

I'm just saying, I don't think your, like, Snorlax matchup is, like, 100 0 right now, or something, like, I think it's like Hmm.

Abaan:

from like, um, Derek, he was telling me like, yeah, like he, he was, he just handed me the highest pla like highest performing list I was like, okay, sure. Or like, not the highest performing, but the most frequent performing list or whatever. And apparently I had clone in it. I was like, okay,

Henry:

see one of these ones at EU,

Abaan:

I'll try it.

Henry:

They even play like the Cheren, oh my god. What? These lists are really crazy.

Abaan:

Is it Mr. Clark? Matthew. Matthew.

Henry:

row 33rd, but, I mean, I'm just kinda going down the line here.

Abaan:

Oh. But this list got like four placements at Birmingham. I guess that's probably what Derek talked about.

Henry:

okay, instead of the clone. Yeah, I think I like

Abaan:

Yeah.

Henry:

1 ban out instead of the clone,

Abaan:

Makes sense to me. Yeah.

Henry:

because the banette has to help the lax matchup, like, a lot.

Abaan:

But I guess like the clone, like has side outs against thorns. Like I, I guess the, a argument is that if you get like one our child on cooking, do you just like run through thorns? I don't even know if that's true.

Henry:

vid ban for that, right? Well, I mean, it does get, like, three hit, realistically. Like, it's super hard for them to get the 160 attack off, right? I guess I can devo

Abaan:

Well, you, you only do the one 60 tech one time though, right?

Henry:

True, but like, Churen can just gust the one with like, the two lightings on it, and you're kinda, kinda screwed, right?

Abaan:

Sure, sure. I I Maybe you use the clone turn to just power, but Dega to run them over.

Henry:

Oh, yeah! Yeah, well, but even then, without the vit band, it's like, actually not that good, right? you could work a

Abaan:

Yeah, yeah,

Henry:

point, maybe. I don't know. yeah, I'm kinda down

Abaan:

maybe. Yeah. Yeah.

Henry:

Okay,

Abaan:

You just start the game hammering in everything and then like at some point you go colon yaga run through your whole board

Henry:

yeah. Yeah,

Abaan:

maybe.

Henry:

killing the Duraludon, like, you have a lot of time, because they don't even kill the Duraludon on turn two, right? It's not possible. Oh no, it is! They have to find the capsule, though.

Abaan:

Yeah, wonder, like, wait, Liam, just like to reiterate a little bit, like, did you like the engine of your deck? Like, did you think code breaking and, like, you were happy with it, or, and also were you choosing blind first or second? I think, like, that's also interesting

Liam:

I was, I was blinding second, but like, I don't know, I think that might have been like the defining mistake of the tournament, because like, yeah, exactly, I was like, going second, and then like, I would just watch them like, do like some ridiculous stuff to me on like turn two going first, and like, I would just get run off the board that way, but like, you know, at the same time, I was going second, because like, My deck function is a lot better going second. Like, even though it is kind of like, there's definitely decks that have more stark contrast between like, first and second, like, my deck still has the Ninja, still has the Pokestop, so the deck function is not like, terrible going first. Like, six draw supporters and call for family is like, that's like, uh, that only helps your consistency in your setup. So like, I felt like my chances of getting the Pidgeot turn two going second, We're like way, way, way higher, and then basically like, you know, if the, them having like a crazy turn two going second is like, not as surprising, right? They have like extra draw supporter. Um, I think Drago, Tarzahr, like all these decks, they like, they should be, it's like very expected, very reasonable for them to be like converting into a crazy turn two. Uh, on like a way higher percentage going second, so like, yeah, I basically just felt like I would be getting, um, guaranteed setups going second, and then, um, or like, much higher percentage setups going second than going first, and like, if I was going first and not getting a good setup, I'd be like, almost resigning into like, um, some crazy turn twos. Like, or like, basically like the worst case scenario that was happening to me in the tournament where like I'm going second and then they have a crazy turn two, I felt like it would be happening like way more consistently if I was going first.

Abaan:

Yeah, that makes sense, like, they're just like doing that with a supporter, and then you like kinda have to slow turn one, and like, everybody, you don't even feel the advantage going first. Yeah,

Liam:

Yeah, yeah,

Abaan:

don't see

Liam:

Like,

Abaan:

I'm

Liam:

if you get turned to Pidgeot going first, that's like, that's just unbeatable, right? And like, beat everything. But in the games that that doesn't happen, it's so, so, so, so brutal. If you're if you're offing first.

Henry:

Yeah, and getting turned to Pidgeot going first is egregious, and you apologize every time you do that.

Liam:

Yeah, I feel like that was like too much of a high roll to play for.

Henry:

Alright, I don't know how much of there is to talk about.

Liam:

It was,

Henry:

there's the 34th placelist! Everyone go ahead and take a look at the 34th placelist, shoutout to,

Liam:

um, oh, oh, wait, actually, yeah, Aban, Aban also asked me whether or not I like the engine. Um, I did, I thought, I was really happy with the support accounts, I thought the support accounts were pretty good. Um, I, I've always liked to play, like, Radiant Greninja with Pidgeot. It, it always, like, and Radiant Greninja's just broken, Pidgeot's broken, so, like, playing them together always feels good. Um,

Henry:

Die.

Abaan:

gonna copy and check, you know? I

Henry:

No, Liam isn't telling the truth because he kept on trying to make this Pidgeot deck work like a month or two

Liam:

heh, um.

Abaan:

given what I've seen with Palkia and Noctowl, that deck can't be that bad, this Palkia Pigeon.

Henry:

Dude, I don't know, that deck was like really

Abaan:

I don't know, next project, just throw a oh,

Henry:

dude. Like, there was no power.

Abaan:

no, but imagine just like a 1 on 1 list, like a 1 on 1 Pidgeot line in your, like, Palk

Henry:

Yeah, but

Abaan:

like, Noctowl list.

Henry:

Or maybe you can get away with

Abaan:

No, just play like one, bro. Get one in there. Yeah, get in there, bro. One one candy, one

Henry:

that I think I there's an idea there if you tried to like, essentially build the Palkia Dusknoir deck, or sorry, the uh, Palkia Pidgeot deck just like the, the um, the Dialga Pidgeot deck, right? Like you put a 101

Liam:

Yeah, yeah, exactly. I feel like if I built it now, I'd build it the exact same way. I'd basically just, like, copy paste it. Not the supporter line, right? You get access to Irida being insane, but,

Henry:

know.

Liam:

um, the stops, the ninja, seems really good. Yeah,

Abaan:

matter how, like, bad it sounds, like,

Henry:

good

Abaan:

Dude, anything that has a page on?

Henry:

Yeah.

Abaan:

something has to work, like I can't You

Henry:

if the deck space works, because like, at that point you're pretty much playing a Terapagos deck, but you have to play like, way more energy.

Liam:

yeah, like, would you still commit area zero? Still commit the pieces to area zero for the damage bump? You probably have to, right?

Henry:

you have to, yeah. Yeah, it would probably be a little too clunky, but idea. Yeah,

Abaan:

placeless Henry? Yes, this is one of your, uh, masterclass students.

Henry:

Playing the Gardevoir Yextec with the Shitter Cresselia and the Den. For those who don't know, the Shitter Cresselia says 3 for 160 and flip up one of your face down prize cards. pretty lit.

Liam:

We love it. We can go fishing. Go fishing.

Henry:

no, dude, looking at the prize cards is so lit, that's like the one thing I miss. I haven't really been with this deck recently, although honestly, like, well, probably because I haven't done quite enough preparation for San Antonio, but I think this deck actually is pretty good, but I pretty much am off this. didn't play with the Defiance Band, even though, like, I feel like we always knew we should have played with the Defiance Band, we never got around to putting it in. Band makes this deck a lot better. Like, this is definitely, uh, makes it a two price matchup. Way more playable. Because I, you remember that one game

Abaan:

Yeah.

Henry:

me playing this deck and I hit Turbo Moon?

Abaan:

Yes, I do remember.

Henry:

way I won is by like, trapping their Darkrai V Star, but like, other than that, like, they weren't even getting egregiously lucky, and I just had like, no plan in the prize map. So yeah, that's why you needed a five,

Abaan:

I think the cool thing about this deck too, like, I think it's funny that like, if you've been on ladder this whole time, like you've seen all these cards like go in and out of like the list, like the Dedenne and the Cresselia, and like, I don't know, it's just funny, like, I feel like now I've kind of fallen through them, but like, it's nice to see someone, like, picked up those ideas, and like, had a decent finish, like, they were very close to cashing, 34th, like, it's respectable.

Henry:

No, I really appreciated them playing this, because otherwise I don't think I ever would have, it never would have really the light of

Abaan:

The idea would just literally go to the waste, like, we had just fled like a month, and it just, like, disappeared into the void. The Den's really cool, I actually was using the Den for like a lot of, uh, weird spots, like, not just the Snorlax matchup, but I remember, like, a really funny game I had where, like, There was just two Dragos on the board, and I was just like, living to Dany for CCing, like, over and over and over again, and like, it was so funny.

Henry:

and getting like the stamp dude, oh yeah, it's actually so lit sometimes. I kind of miss the Dedenne. And like, the reason you have to play the Dedenne in this list is because you're not playing the Charm, so you don't really have an answer for Lax otherwise. So you shove the Dedenne in there and just see what it does. And it actually did so much, bro.

Abaan:

Did any of us ever lose that matchup? I know that me and Henry had these famous games where we got extremely close to losing the lax matchup, just cause like, carelessness is erotic. But like, at the end of the day, like, we'd always like, get into these really sus

Liam:

No, bro, you guys, you guys lost, bro, you guys lost, are you

Abaan:

know for sure I never lost.

Henry:

lose. I know I didn't lose.

Abaan:

I remember that game against James Closs where we thought I was gonna

Liam:

guys kidding?

Abaan:

No, no, both me and Henry had this

Henry:

lost though.

Abaan:

no, no, I did not lose, I did not lose.

Liam:

I know for a fact you lost, bro, like, the first game that you were playing it, bro, like,

Henry:

I just

Liam:

I,

Henry:

because, like, what happened, like, was

Abaan:

no, no, I guess Rewind 8962 or something, I remember that game, no way. Or Rewrite or something, I don't remember. I think it was Rewrite.

Henry:

I

Abaan:

No,

Henry:

to show my face after because I, like, I knew how egregiously I messed

Abaan:

no, Liam, I know that session you're talking about, we both beat the lags, but it was like, the most disgusting gameplay ever, like, we got to a point where we were looping, and like, we were like, one card away from Iono decking out, and then like,

Henry:

Adam

Abaan:

like, scooped it out.

Henry:

him, but he was slamming you in chat because he was like, why, did you not

Abaan:

no, that, Adam Palmet

Liam:

no,

Abaan:

masterclassed there, Adam, like, that was actually a read by Liam, like, like, it's simple, like, if your opponent expects Iono, don't Iono, like, it's actually like, level one again. Like, there was like, a moment apparently on

Liam:

Alright,

Abaan:

that extreme game,

Liam:

yeah, I mean, I don't really remember, but,

Abaan:

like, doesn't gear for the Zerocit, because he assumes he's gonna get Iono'd soon, and he, like, wants to have Zerocit in his new hand. And then, like, Liam just, like, doesn't Iono ever,

Henry:

But like,

Abaan:

and then, like,

Henry:

deck out pressure if you got through a stick, so like, it was definitely

Abaan:

yeah, and then, and then Addis is tweaking out, like, where is your Iono, man? Like, can you just Iono me? Like, oh, it was a great,

Henry:

times.

Liam:

oh my god, dude, I actually, like, oh my god, bro. I, like, you just get, if you just play without any greed, bro, like, if you, if you under index on, like, when you should be greedy, like, yeah. Oh my god, I'd actually be so good at the game, bro, but like, as everybody, bro, everybody is so greedy, they just like, always want what they can't have, bro. Completely ridiculous.

Henry:

Okay,

Abaan:

No, Val, I, I disagree. Like, if you, like, refuse to believe that, like, some things are, like, like, I don't know, like, certain turns, right, where you're just, like, well, I'm not gonna be greedy, like, I'm gonna take what I can get, like, look, this is what's possible with my hand,

Liam:

I think if you did that, like, your quality of play on average would go up, bro, because like, I don't know, I feel like almost every mistake, like, I guess this is sort of like a level one take, but yeah, like, every mistake is like, you like, want something that you shouldn't want, right? Like, I like, I really wanted to like, keep some like, extra cards in my deck, so like, I held off on the Iona for like, a little bit too long. But like, that's like,

Abaan:

I've been

Liam:

I think like,

Abaan:

a ton recently, and, like, I found that, like, my issue is, like, a, like, I have a, like, severe lack of greed, like, the games I lose, I'm, like, damn, right, I didn't get to play, because I was just chilling, because I didn't want to go in like that, And then, sometimes I send it with my V Star, and like, obviously, like, sometimes I send it with the V Star, and I have to scoop, like, almost instantly, but I was like, I was gonna scoop if I just passed here, so, may as well. And then, I've, like, stolen a couple games with the

Liam:

yeah, I mean, obviously like, it's like, you know, there is like a balance that's like correct, right? But like, I don't know, I feel like the majority of mistakes that I like see people make, and that like, I feel like I make myself, is not because I like, underestimate, um, or like, I uh, I overestimate how passive I can be. It's like, it's that I like, underestimate the drawbacks of like, Going into early, basically, or like pushing for something.

Abaan:

you always get hit with that Iona CC, and you're like, oh, well, I guess my spot is not as robust as I thought.

Liam:

Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

Abaan:

issues that popped up, yeah. I know you knew.

Henry:

that there's a punish, but you don't like, think that much about it, and then like, as they slowly start playing the cards out, you like, you know, look at the cards you got Iono'd into, you see the CC get played down, and then you're just like, ah, I guess I just threw the

Liam:

Like, damn, bro. I, I forgot these two cards are like even in here, bro.

Abaan:

Like,

Henry:

Has this happened

Abaan:

you're always sitting there at six prizes, bro, like. How can you get CC'd?

Henry:

know, you saw me boss Drifblim against Drick the other day, so you know, sometimes I get

Abaan:

Yeah,

Liam:

Drake,

Abaan:

okay,

Liam:

reference.

Abaan:

we got like 56 minutes without hearing this, but,

Henry:

Okay, so, anything else with Birmingham?

Abaan:

Oh, dude, I think the thing that like, is so offensive about this Baby Rattle ID, by the way, is like, literally, I tried playing either of these matchups afterwards with you, and like, man, I just don't like being, like, these like, Toropagos stacks in the Guardi. Like, once the Guardi comes down, like, why does it have 310 HP? That number is so,

Liam:

I know, right?

Abaan:

It's so horrible.

Henry:

What do you mean, like, anything above, like, 240 is, like, enough to be annoying, right? I mean, I guess you could

Abaan:

No,

Liam:

just, so Right, because they have like a two prize or in play and then they jump to one. And you can't even kill it, right, like,

Henry:

like,

Liam:

it's like, it's just,

Henry:

it should be, like, an Earth Lunar range or something, like, what are we saying here?

Liam:

it's just so annoying, because like, you like, think that there's like, you should be able to like, take more prize cards in one turn than you really can, because like, it's basically like, the whole deck is like, single prizes, bro, like, ah.

Henry:

Yeah, I mean, that's true.

Abaan:

Look, I'm not saying what should or shouldn't happen. All I'm saying is like, this like, I play the deck and I'm like, wow, can I kill a Guardi ever? So like, once I do my Greninja play, like, we stuck on one forever. We just take it one, one, one, one, like, let's see what happens. Like, I don't even understand how the match up's good unless you like, literally like, run them off the board completely. Like, you just take like, four prizes and then they start playing the game.

Henry:

about

Abaan:

Then I can see how you win.

Henry:

the way you win is by just killing both the Kirlians on the Evo turn, right? And then like, it's so hard to recover from that sometimes, you know what I mean? But if you can't

Abaan:

I know, of course.

Henry:

yeah, I agree with you. But, um

Abaan:

But even if you get it off, like, it's not like the Guardi player has like enough fightback, like a second Evo, and like, just like, plays the game, like

Henry:

once both curies go down, and this is especially true against trap goods, like you have to get two curies up again and like that, that's pretty hard. Like a lot of times when you sell your soul for these Evo plates, you don't actually have that much going on your hand. And that's why I like, like the

Liam:

There's also the like, the, the whole DaEva trick though, right, like the um,

Henry:

Yeah.

Liam:

just like, get a bunch of routes.

Henry:

Yeah. I, I like that. I think that's good against the Paul Ke deck. I'm not like, I don't know. I guess

Liam:

Yeah, I mean, it's not like,

Henry:

down as

Liam:

fantastic in Serapagos, right? Cause then they like, they just kill your Kirlia, and then like,

Henry:

Yeah, or especially if they're

Liam:

make you have to do something.

Henry:

threaten to like, wipe three Curlias in X

Liam:

Yeah, sure. So go after everything.

Abaan:

I mean,

Henry:

but then if you go into the EX, it's like, then your draw is like, really limited sometimes. Like, if you're, you

Abaan:

just to give people an idea, like, oh,

Henry:

go

Abaan:

yeah, go ahead, sorry. I was gonna say, just to give people an idea Oh, sorry.

Henry:

sorry, sorry.

Abaan:

You're good, you're good, you're good, you're good.

Henry:

like, you have this choice, like, they have like, if they have one Dusk or a Threat, you can choose to either Evo into a third Curlia, or Evo into one EX, one Curlia, one EX, one Curlia is like, safe for most stuff. Bye. Three Kirlia is like, way better. So you sort of have to weigh the risk there, and if they have the threat of like, having double Duskdoor, then you have to do like, this EX flip Kirlia thing, and that's like, terrible.

Liam:

Mhm.

Abaan:

I was gonna say, like, just to give people an idea of, like, what Gardevoir list we're rocking with right now, like, we don't, like, like, I was, like, kind of talking about the Baby Rattles and, like, some of my issues with it, I really love Vinny's 10th place list, like, it's not perfect, like, I think it has a very suspicious Zard matchup without the Mawile, like,

Henry:

And he's

Abaan:

uh, we're playing against the Pokestop Zard.

Henry:

Yum.

Abaan:

He does, he

Liam:

Oh my god, my bot was doing like crazy tricks on it, like he was going insane,

Abaan:

but,

Liam:

I was like completely convinced

Abaan:

I did

Liam:

that like,

Abaan:

of those words, Liam,

Liam:

Tarzar player was like, gonna do crazy tricks,

Abaan:

but I think that, like, The

Liam:

hehehe.

Abaan:

like, simple text you can fix to, like, make the deck better, and I think, like, slam an Irida in there, that's, like, lit, and I think, uh, try a Moonlit Hill over one of the Artisans, and, like, the list is already, like, close to good enough, like, maybe I, I'm not gonna say exactly, like, I'm not really sure, like, what we're gonna play from that, but, like, If you do those two changes and just send this list, your deck can't be that bad, you know? You'll do fine. Like, I think it's like one of the better guardi lists, so like, I feel like a lot of people, I, maybe they, like, maybe they tuned out because we haven't said anything for like an hour about Guard of War, like, exactly what list they should play, but like, I think if you take those changes and just send the list, like, uh, you're probably gonna do fine. You're gonna do pretty well. If you're good. Henry, do you have a, do you disagree with any of this, or?

Henry:

mean, I'm not really sure, to be honest, I'm still between, like, yeah, I mean, I think possibly the best card of our list going forward. Zekenda is just playing the full turbo build. Like, the more the meta changes, it seems like it favors the full turbo build more and more. But it's really hard to pull the trigger on that because it has an auto lost and the mirror matchup, which, ever listened to me talk about this stuff, you've heard me say that before. But every other matchup is like, the best. Pretty much just better, like you have a really concrete gameplan in Charizard, uh, you have a really good matchup against these, uh, Palkia, Noctowl, and like a pretty good Tropicus, Noctowl matchup as well. Yeah, I'm just like, I'm just going down the list here of all these, all these decks, and like, they all just kinda Lose to the Turbo deck, but, you know, so,

Abaan:

But you can get to it slow, right? Like, that's like the thing, like, other than Zard, the slow matchup is like not that much worse for any of these decks, you know?

Henry:

yeah, it's like, do you want to

Abaan:

It goes

Henry:

5 percent from your matchups across the board and not take an auto loss, or vice versa, right?

Abaan:

yeah, I'm not really sure, like, that's like a really tough question to answer, I think, like, obviously we're gonna have to decide that in the next few days, but like, it's hard to, like, really, like, conceptualize this problem fully, right, and

Henry:

Yeah,

Abaan:

it just feels so bad if you run into Slow Gardevoir after, like, all the propaganda about it,

Henry:

Yeah, exactly.

Abaan:

but

Henry:

under practiced on the Turbo deck as well, like, I really wasn't planning on playing it, but, like, the more I see it, like, the more I want to play it, and I think some other people are probably going to play it. obviously, like, if you're playing just the Turbo, well, the Turbo mirror is, like, pretty shit, but at least it's, like, not, you know, it's 50 50. Someone's got to win that one. Somebody has

Abaan:

I don't know, I remember playing it before the event, and like, we got pretty good at it, like, I thought we had, like, good lines, good

Henry:

no skill, but if both people know what they're doing, it, uh, yeah. It kind of just comes down to who can, like, re establish their Curlias. Word, word, word.

Liam:

Well, I feel like that's most matchups, like if both people know what they're doing, like especially the mirror, like the mirror matches, like if both people know what they're doing.

Henry:

sure, okay, maybe I oversimplified it. Like, if you understand, like, the couple governing axioms of the matchup, then, uh, the matchup becomes sort of

Abaan:

You can't be that bad at the matchup, is I think what Henry's getting at. Like, there's certain matchups where, like, you have, like, plenty of opportunities to make a mistake. You made a mistake turn one, turn

Liam:

Yeah, no, exactly. Like, Drick will, like, never ever lose a Drago mirror because he's him.

Henry:

definitely

Abaan:

That's definitely not true, but

Henry:

but

Liam:

That's like actual blasphemy.

Abaan:

think I'm like 50 50 to Trick Hunt in the Mirror, but

Liam:

Yeah, alright, bro. Alright, bro. Oh my god, man.

Henry:

this is coming from Liam, who got them three times in a row.

Liam:

That's, like, crazy disrespect and it's, like, completely blasphemous. This guy's, like, actually, like, moving different with his Ravie Drago deck. He, like, actually goes crazy in the mirror.

Henry:

This dragon deck is terrible, dude.

Abaan:

yeah, I don't know, like, yeah, actually, though, Henry, I will say, like, recently, I, like, I, this doesn't, there's no, like, reason for this to exist, like, I swear I draw so streaky, you know, like, sometimes I'm like, This Draco deck is terrible, like, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it. And then I'll, like, have a session, I sat down for, like, four hours, and I'm just playing it, and I'm like, Pult. Pult Detector 2. Alright, let's go again. Pult Detector 2. Alright, let's go again. Pult, like, I don't even know, like, There's no real, like, reason for it. This is a streaky deck, like, I, that's, like, obviously an idiotic, like, Are you mad? I'm just saying, like,

Liam:

No, bro, the bad hands follow each other, bro. They follow each other. Like, it's like,

Henry:

hands

Liam:

you have to like, get up and leave, bro. Like, you can't like, play your way out of these like, bad Drago hands, bro. You have to like, go take a walk, basically come back the next day, and then like, your hands will kind of get reset to like,

Abaan:

Henry, I, like, I'm very excited for you to just tell me, like, well, obviously they don't have any, like, correlation with each other.

Henry:

calculations, poker hands are considered independent trials, meaning that the outcome of one hand does not influence the outcome of the next hand. Oh!

Liam:

Bro, I'm not saying that they influence each other, I'm just saying that they come in handy.

Abaan:

clear that they don't include each other, Henry, and I don't even understand this phenomenon. But, like, at some point, I'm, like, I'm just observing what I'm, like, I'm just observing things, you know, and I'm just pointing it out, like.

Liam:

Yeah, well, exactly, bro. It's like, if you like, flip a coin, and it's like, you know, four heads in a row, and then four tails, you can be like, hey, that's like, an interesting pattern, even though it is just like.

Henry:

yeah. So instead of like, doing like a statistical test, we might say, Oh, maybe this coin is streaky.

Liam:

Yeah, we would just say the coin is streaky.

Abaan:

I'm just observing, bro. I'm just observing, bro. Like, what can I say? Jacobs is a streaky deck. You know, like those coins like that like Exactly. There's like streaky roulette tables. It's just like streaky, just like a common term that people use in like analysis. Right?

Henry:

like, stupid. Like, every time, you

Abaan:

know. I know, I know. I was, I don't know man like

Henry:

a

Abaan:

that, but I'm just saying like, what.

Henry:

mentalities

Liam:

Like,

Henry:

are

Liam:

we can recognize that there's no rhyme or reason, but we can also like, you know, that doesn't mean we have to completely throw out the data. We're like, watching these streaks happen. It's very streaky.

Henry:

important to tell the people at home that that streak

Abaan:

No, no, no, the reason I was saying that is because, like, I feel like last pod, no, no, I feel like last pod, I was, like, thinking, like, oh, man, Drago's bad, like, all I'm saying is, like, I feel like my opinion on Drago is, like, up to date with my, like, most recent streak, so, like, that's, like, why I feel like I flip flop on the deck all the time, like, literally, like, if you asked me two days ago, I'd be, like, saying, like, Drago's, like, the worst deck ever, bro, like, look, and I got O'd to my locals with it, like, listen, this deck's terrible, and then, like, uh, right now,

Henry:

disgust, bro? Oh my god.

Liam:

Oh my god!

Henry:

Like,

Abaan:

like,

Liam:

Wait, we might have to cancel him.

Abaan:

until I played this Drago deck, I, like, have never, like, I never missed out on a Local, and then I was like, oh, well, like, this season. then this Drago deck, it finds a way, bro, like, it's just, like, I got a bad streak.

Liam:

It's like he has no respect for the community over at TTV.

Henry:

That's what

Abaan:

Okay, Liam, uh, okay, Liam, like, I would like to point to some tweets.

Liam:

Oh my god.

Abaan:

you were actually a known Local hater, and

Liam:

Oh my, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Abaan:

because I would start hating Locals too. Like, I think not winning Orlando Reasons may have been, like, one of the best things that ever happened to me.

Henry:

alright. Alright, so what's happening for San Antonio today? Okay, okay, I'm gonna ask you the million dollar question. Alright, ready? We can bet on this if you want.

Abaan:

But do I get a hundred thousand if I don't answer, or what?

Henry:

You cannot catch it out and no insurance either. Okay. What name the percentages of KY and Octal? INGOs for? For San Antonio?

Abaan:

Alright,

Henry:

within a

Abaan:

think Palkia, Noctowl, I

Henry:

4.3 or you know, some shit like that.

Abaan:

gotchu, I gotchu. I think Palkia and Noctowl cruises in at a cool 6. 2.

Henry:

Whoa, that's so high.

Liam:

What?

Henry:

high. Dude. What

Liam:

That's egregious, bro.

Abaan:

Terapagos, dude, Archelodon was 6 point something at Birmingham.

Henry:

do you think? Everyone

Abaan:

Birmingham.

Liam:

That's not comparable at all. That's not comparable at all. Like, the number of people that are switching to Palkia and Noctowl right now has to be so, so, so, so low.

Abaan:

really? Dude,

Liam:

You

Abaan:

I

Liam:

really think?

Abaan:

and then, like, someone commented, like, yay, I got to play my Pulk Intel deck again, and I was like, is that, like, what these people think? Like, I I don't even know what Pulk Intel was like, but, like, maybe, like, maybe that's, like, a huge Okay, I, like, over I over indexed for that factor, like, I thought there was, like,

Liam:

Well I feel like, I feel like the people who are saying it, they're like bringing to a whole globe of fun, but, like I don't know how many people are actually, like, pulling the trigger on, like, you know, like These are people who have been, like, you know, they've been playing Raging Bullets on Live, like, you know, uh, once a day, for, like, the last, like, 3 weeks, or something, bro, and, like You think they're really gonna be like, oh, like, this Palkia

Abaan:

like

Liam:

like green and purple and purple, bro, like,

Abaan:

dude, okay, my understanding though is that that deck was like every like, everyone who played that format is like a Palk Intel spammer, right? So like, I just figured there'd be like, enough people to come out the woodworks like, well, it won everything, like, it did it did everything last weekend, bro. It won Rio, it got second, fourth, and fifth like, Birmingham, like, there was ever a reason to just like, random pivot a deck,

Liam:

sure.

Abaan:

I'm sure

Liam:

blow my percentage off, bro, but like, 6. 2 percent of the room you think is falling into this

Abaan:

Fine, fine, fine, fine, fine. You're right, you're right. That was a me just like a 4. 8 final answer. Don't change my answer anymore though.

Liam:

I'll say 6. I'll say 3. 6. Tropico set? Uh,

Abaan:

but Liam, you have to go first. Where's your Tropicus at?

Liam:

I'll give that 5.

Henry:

say mine. 5. 3.

Liam:

3. I

Abaan:

think

Liam:

think that's an incredibly respectable stat. I have it like right around there as well. I was gonna say like,

Abaan:

You

Liam:

5. 1.

Abaan:

like, you think Palkia will be less popular than Tropicus?

Liam:

Yeah. There's so many people who have literally been doing the thing where they play their ladder game. With Terapagos for the last three weeks. There's like way more people of that than I think are like switching to the Palkia diaper.

Henry:

the, the Tropicos. He's probably gonna show up with it.

Liam:

And like, yeah, I mean, exactly, like I feel like people have like more experience with Terapagos. So they're more likely to send it.

Abaan:

what they're doing and play this Palkia deck. Uh, give me a 3. 7 chip, lock it in. Final answer.

Henry:

this Palkia deck is

Liam:

that's all I've got.

Henry:

by the way. I don't think you can pick it up in a week, dude. dude, it's pretty difficult.

Abaan:

do you mean? They were playing Palkia Intel for like two whole years. Or I don't know how long they're playing here.

Henry:

Yeah, oh, yeah, I'm sure Cheren and Energy Switch and, uh, Can't Think Clone were in, well, actually, they probably were. I don't know what these decks look like. Shit.

Liam:

Oh, dude, the other thing, bro, do you know Prismatic Evolutions like arts are legal for,

Henry:

I think, yes.

Liam:

um,

Henry:

I think you're allowed to.

Liam:

yeah, for Simultaneo?

Henry:

Bye.

Liam:

Yeah, bro, the Cheren has an incredible full art that came out in Prismatic Evolutions, bro, so, I don't know. No, yeah, dude, this

Abaan:

the Palkia percentage up to 10. Straight, straight to 10. Oh, you want a

Liam:

Prismatic

Abaan:

10.

Liam:

Evolution set

Abaan:

just to be clear.

Henry:

Okay, I appreciate that.

Liam:

Oh yeah. I was going to say this Prismatic Evolution set is like one of my favorites in a while. The uh, the arts are just incredible. There's so many like nice full art supporters and I'm really in love with this set.

Abaan:

by the way, that this is like a million off question. Like, there's like the Millennium questions, like, about, like, topology, and, like, if P equals NP, and then there's just, like, what's the massive percentage of, like, Palkia knocked out at this random region?

Henry:

like, it's like the only, like, big, like, I don't even know if it qualifies as a big thing, but like, gonna compare the Birmingham meta to the, uh, to the San Antonio meta, like, that has to be, like,

Abaan:

Where does Archelodon sit, do you think? Like, what is, like, the conclusion from Archelodon people? I, uh,

Henry:

a decent tournament. I don't think it had a

Liam:

You really think so? I don't know. I think like, I think it's going to be less popular. I don't know. Like, I just don't feel like as many Americans want to play it. I think it'll be really popular in day two, but I don't think it'll be like as popular in day one. I think,

Abaan:

this whole time, like, they have seen nothing to switch, even though they didn't really make top eight.

Henry:

a good tourney.

Abaan:

they're like, oh, well, we have good results. Yeah, that's alright.

Henry:

more options to choose from now, like, it's really hard to figure out the list for that deck, right? And now they, like, at least some people have fleshed it out a bit for them. the Banette idea will probably stick pretty well.

Abaan:

Yeah, that's a good idea.

Liam:

um, I think this combo version is going to be really popular. Probably not going to be by exactly us, but. I think the combo version is going to be really popular. Uh,

Abaan:

That's like the real question, right? Is the Pidgeot going to be in there or are they just going to play the Squawk and call it a day?

Liam:

I don't know, I think it'll be like, probably more Pidgeots than not, but,

Abaan:

Dude, the

Liam:

I don't know, I don't really think that's like all that much of an important question, like, I think, um, like, I don't know, I think like, basically Bradner's build is like

Abaan:

Bradner,

Liam:

pretty good, and it's like, it's like the same deck. It's just like,

Abaan:

placements with this deck. Bradner's doing this deck?

Liam:

oh yeah,

Henry:

But the problem is, I don't think people scroll that far down the limit list, right? It doesn't even say the Pidgeot next to it, it just says Artuladon, right? Like, they might just not click it,

Abaan:

No, no, no. People, like, Sander's tweet gave Liam, like, some traction. Like, like, on its own, right? Like, Sander was like, yo, I got owned by this deck, and then people were like, eyes are out. But, it's not that many people, right?

Liam:

I don't know, I've gotten a decent number of messages about the deck basically. I don't know how much of that converts into

Henry:

right?

Liam:

it's not even that many, it's just a few. Hmm.

Abaan:

like, oh, this is just, like, a random idea, like, being, like, brought to this deck, so. I don't know. Do you wear it, like, okay, I guess, like, I don't like going through every single deck, but, like, I just wonder, like,

Henry:

Speaking of going through every single deck, sorry. take a look at,

Abaan:

yeah, yeah.

Henry:

a look at, uh, number

Abaan:

Raging Bolt Entei. Okay, this crystal idea is very cool, and, like, um,

Henry:

it's actually really funny.

Abaan:

yeah, this is a lit list. I like this list a lot.

Henry:

Yo.

Abaan:

I don't think it's better than, like, obviously, I don't think it's better than the list that, like, people are playing, but very cool.

Henry:

I respect. I just didn't see this before, and I just saw it for the first time, and I think it's really funny.

Abaan:

I think the problem, though, is you literally cannot do the only strategy that makes Bolt good, where you just have a clean, crisp board with a bunch of charms, like, You, like, have abandoned that completely.

Liam:

Well, you can make up for that by attacking with Gouging Fire for 260.

Henry:

combo.

Abaan:

and, like, just random other guys. Like, literally just random guys they pulled from the

Liam:

Oh my god, imagine

Abaan:

play for the

Liam:

if he got you with that though, bro. You're like, hit your

Henry:

the Delphox,

Liam:

ego?

Henry:

bro, I would

Liam:

He got you with that. Yeah.

Henry:

not respect the Delphox from a raging Voltec, right? And to be fair, it probably wouldn't happen, because he's not even playing Luminia on.

Liam:

Crispin, Basin, Prime.

Henry:

I guess he has to care. Okay.

Abaan:

his deck is so fragile, like, he's played nine energies, and, like, Any two of these is, like, kuh. Well, not any two,

Henry:

Do you

Abaan:

but, like,

Henry:

attack, like, twice? Well, not that that would ever happen. You just, like, wouldn't have energy to close the game out.

Abaan:

Dude, like, the Delphox, like, I might think, you might not even want to play around it as Guardian. Like, okay, you probably should. But, like, I'm just saying, if you actually do this Lost Zone 2

Liam:

You might want to bait it so that the energies go away forever.

Abaan:

played someone in the Zardmere, like, a long time ago, and they had Delphox, and Game 1, he tried it and lost, and Game 2, I had the Manaphy in my deck, and I was just like, You know what? Like, try that again, bro, like, you're good.

Henry:

This is in Paradox? Or is this in Oh,

Abaan:

Oh yeah,

Henry:

it's

Abaan:

slightly before, er, I don't know, what was Orlando, Liam? It was that format. It was that

Liam:

Yeah,

Abaan:

I just thought that was so funny. I was like, go

Liam:

try that one again.

Abaan:

it.

Liam:

Did he try it again or no?

Abaan:

Yeah! Not good, not a good stat.

Henry:

Okay.

Abaan:

It was pretty funny, though, he had the Eerie Glow or whatever, but I was playing Missed Energy. So, like, after you, like, ran out of energy, he's like, I'm trying to, like, Eerie Glow my Zard, and I was like, okay, I, like, it's fine, like, when I got my, like, yeah, I know, but once I just got a Missed Energy there, I was like, there's no D. Va on your deck, so Missed Energy's going on my Zard. Okay, I mean, it was a pretty standard issue for the time, that's why you had to put Giacomo in Zard, but,

Henry:

trying to go for like a Delphox into Devo kind of trick? You know, hit your Charizard, hit

Abaan:

just wearing the, okay, like, you're not supposed to profile your opponent, he was wearing this, like, big Charizard onesie, And like, he um, he didn't speak like, the most clearly, so I was like, kind of not worried about Devo. I like, I don't know, I just like, those things like, aren't correlated to me. Maybe that's like, not good, but,

Henry:

Interesting.

Abaan:

like, he was like, really like, there to have a good time, but I didn't think like, Devo's art enjoyers were like, you know, good

Liam:

Oh yeah, like they were not there to have a good time, they were like trying to like sweat it out and get it done, right?

Abaan:

to be fair, Henry, like, maybe this like, this profile is after the fact, because, I was playing Devo Zard and then afterwards he made a YouTube video where he talks about his report and he like complains for like 10 minutes about how I'm like a tryhard sweat.

Henry:

Wait,

Abaan:

He like, demoed his shit, and like, yeah, it's, like, it was like an hour and a half long video, but like, there's like a

Liam:

I need to go watch that bro, oh my god.

Abaan:

Yeah, like, I have to find it. It's like Sammy, uh, Sammy Ketchum or something?

Liam:

All right bro.

Abaan:

find it. But yeah, it's, it's really funny, like, he's like, this guy is trying so hard, like, like, man, I'm just like,

Liam:

Yeah, I thought we were all just gonna have a good time, and I was gonna like run him off the board with my Delphox, but he just like kept playing.

Abaan:

D. Va. I didn't even do anything yet. Like, I attached D. Va to start my turn because I knew it was happening. I just wanted to, like, let him know. He picked up his cards immediately. Like, he had, like, Candy, Candy, Candy, like, trying to, like, He kept, like, Candy starting to keep Delboxing, you know? And I was like, okay, like, you're gonna run out of Candies very soon. And I put the D. Va down after, like, the third Candy and he just picked up his stuff and just, like, stormed off, bro. Barely signed the slip, bro. It was like, uh, whatever. I don't want to play, like, maybe someone, like, knows Sammy here. I don't want to play with him too hard. He was a nice guy. Just, uh, the best Zard.

Henry:

All right, all right. Interesting, interesting.

Liam:

Oh my god.

Henry:

There's gonna be all these goons

Abaan:

But yeah,

Henry:

weekend, even though that deck sucks. It just won, so.

Abaan:

I mean, how many people are going to be playing the exact 60 from the tournament at Birmingham?

Henry:

think a lot of people who play there already have the 60 that they like, which all these decks are like two or three cards apart max, like, it's literally, it's like the

Liam:

Okay.

Henry:

choice, and like, maybe like Lost Vacuum or something, but

Abaan:

I don't know, I think you'd be surprised, bro. I think they just think, like, all Zards play the same. So like, I don't know, this Pokestop guy, he got first, then second, bro. Just, like, lock that in, bro. Like, I don't, like Leave the thingy to a higher power, bro.

Liam:

I think that's a completely reasonable thing to say. I don't know how many people like subscribe to that though.

Henry:

it's not a

Abaan:

yeah, yeah.

Henry:

see, like, no one even copied my, like, like, you think, like, if people are, like, copying just, like, the highest placing list, like, someone would copy, like, the Gardevoir list from, uh, from Toronto from either me or MD, but I don't think really anyone did that, so. That's not true.

Abaan:

yeah, I was gonna say, like, if they were doing that, they'd have to go back to your Baltimore list because that's the last time you were the highest placing guard for.

Liam:

Yeah, I, I, I don't know.

Henry:

bro. But it was a Mickey Mouse, 36.

Abaan:

Oh, great. We were the highest placing non catch finisher. Like, we were, like, the first outside the line of getting stuff. Like No, that's the

Liam:

Alright,

Abaan:

Good correction, Henry. Good correction.

Henry:

I'm glad to

Liam:

uh, this is a good place to leave it off. Y'all have anything else you want to say?

Henry:

Yeah, we'll see

Abaan:

Nah, that's good.

Liam:

Alright, uh, yeah, I'm gonna ring a bomb, we'll see y'all in San Antonio. But John Paul's our

Abaan:

John Paul's our Atra.

Liam:

acro. Bye Drake!

Abaan:

No, right, just say the Atra.