Track 1 0:05

Welcome to the Trashalanche podcast, the only podcast about the Pokemon trading card game. Attendance is 100%. It's me. Liam Halliburton, Mike Fouchet, all three of us here. We're gonna do the thing. Um, no five star review update this week, which is good since Caden and Brit are not here. Caden, probably still stuck in New York City, but we look forward to having him back soon. If you all have been following us on Twitter, you know that he was traumatized by the LaGuardia flight cancellations, and even though his dad flew all the way from California to hang out with him right before he left for college, he was unable to make it to Pittsburgh, and that's probably the Pittsburgh... Uh, highlight that Caden had to share with us. Uh, so the schedule for this week is we're going to talk about Pittsburgh, and then we're going to do a little set review so people know, uh, what's going on. Um, oh, Dragon Shield's a while, Dragon Shield sends us sleeves, and we super appreciate it because we always use Dragon Shield sleeves. Uh, there's Dragon Shield sleeves literally all over Liam's room. We could construct the second floor of just Dragon Shield sleeves. And it would be great for because they are very strong and would protect the floor well. Even from our dog.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 1:15

I want to say real quick, Dragon Shield, I used the pink diamond ones this weekend, really liked them. They were probably my favorite ones that I've used so far, I don't know, they just felt a little different. Um, I think they got destroyed a little quicker, but they felt much better, which was good. So that was good, that was cool. And, side note, I'm probably gonna need more Dragon Shields soon, so.

Track 1 1:40

I will, I will reach out to the Dragon Shield people and let them know that sponsorship comes at a cost.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 1:45

Yeah, dude, the pink is my, my current personal favorite. I like the black ones for a little bit, but, yeah, I, I've rocked the pink, uh, I guess, I guess I skipped a tournament, but yeah, um, NAIC and Pittsburgh, so it's felt like a long time, so it's been like a few months, um, and then Worlds was the exception where I played with some Japanese sleeves. They were like awful, but they looked pretty cool.

Track 1 2:09

Uh, but before we talk about you guys runs, did you, did you get any, uh, uh, podcast people chatting to you at the tournament?

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 2:17

Yes. I had a couple. Um, I had someone in line when I was waiting for food, who I think, maybe, maybe he knew my face, but like, he turned around when I was speaking to, uh, to Isaiah Cheville. Um, so that was cool. And then a couple other random people. Um, like, there was this one dude that I played, he beat me, and he was, like, pretty friendly the whole time, but didn't say anything, and at the very end of our match, he's like, Oh yeah, by the way, I like the podcast.

Track 1 2:48

Is that, is that the best or is that the worst? That's a rough stuff.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 2:52

yeah, yeah, both, I guess.

Track 1 2:54

oh, and he was basically playing your list, right?

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 2:56

This was a different guy, um,

Track 1 2:57

Oh, oh, oh,

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 2:58

yeah, I can talk about that in a minute.

Track 1 3:01

alright. Uh, um, there was one other, there was, I, I had, I had a interaction, I want to say, on the, the, the Twitter net. But I cannot remember it. Liam, do you get any podcast love?

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 3:14

Uh, there's a few people, it's just like random comments.

Track 1 3:18

Just okay, just okay. Um, I gotta remember, I apologize for not knowing right off the top of my head exactly what, uh, it was. But, um, let's jump in. So, Mike, you want to talk about your whirlwind visit to beautiful Pittsburgh?

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 3:40

Uh, yeah, sure, so, I ended up deciding to play Fusion Mew, um, I didn't... I don't remember exactly what I said in the podcast last week, but I know I said Mew was a decent play, because Charizard wasn't that great. Um, so, I haven't really played too much since Worlds, since I stayed there for a while. Um, I could have played Giratina again, but Giratina was super exhausting to play, and I just felt like I was... Uh, a little bit out of practice, not that I feel like I played Mew 100 percent perfectly, definitely made some mistakes throughout the tournament, but I do think it's a bit easier to play, uh, easier to play than Giratina. So I played a list that was one Kardov Xander Pro's list from Worlds. Uh, I think it was a, a fine play. One Mew made top 8. I think Mew did okay in general. It overperformed a little bit in terms of percentages going from day 1 to day 2. Um, so not really disappointed in the play. Um. But, didn't have the greatest run, I did okay, um, I ended up going 6 3, um, but I started 1 3, so I kind of rallied back from there, uh, notable, some notable games, uh, my My first loss was to Christian Chase, um, round one, and for those of you that don't know who Christian Chase is, well he got 32nd at the event, so good for him for not bubbling top 32, um, but funny story, Christian Chase was the person that I played with. To qualify for that Players Cup Finals, when I made the, uh, the top four of NA, I had played the very last round of, uh, that bracket, where the winner of our match went to the Global Finals. Um, so, uh, and we had chatted a little bit online. Before that, um, but I hadn't talked to him or played him at all since then. So that was kind of a funny way to start the tournament. Um, we had a good match, but, uh, he was playing Turbo Lost, so favored against me and he beat me. Um, my second loss was also funny. I played against the guy that I lost to in the League Cup to get my invite at the end of last season. His name is Matt, and he, uh, had talked to me quite a bit leading up to Pittsburgh about... Blossom, Giratina, and he ended up playing basically my list from worlds, I think, one or two cards off. So he played four path, no waters, um, so that was cool. I mean, he beat me, so that wasn't cool, but uh, it was cool that he played, uh, my deck. Uh, and then I ended up losing one other round to a Canadian dude with Lugia, and then I rallied back. Uh, five wins to finish six and three, um, and get some top 250 six points, um, which for me, if I end up do getting the invite, will be relevant, cause it's very unlikely that I'll even go to six regionals, so this finish will definitely count.

Track 1 6:37

Liam, how about you, man?

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 6:40

I played Bennett. Um, I, I don't regret it. I think it was, I think it's actually a good deck. Um, and I, maybe I'd run back like something else, but I, I definitely wouldn't play it over any of the meta decks. Um, I guess, I guess since we're moving on to the next format, I think, I think the deck that I would have picked is like, Uh, like a Zardy X deck, especially seeing how, like, at least Slepton I felt like it was at the tournament. Um, like, none of the Lugias were playing, like, the Cobalion, there wasn't, like, much Urshifu, like, um, uh, like, like, you just didn't get the sense that, like, people were, like, thinking about Zard or wanting to counter it that much. And, like, I probably could have told you that, but I think I was a little bit scared of, like, running my Zard list, um, and I should have had a little bit more confidence. Uh, but yeah, I think Binette was a good play. Um, well, what were my matches? I, I won against, er, alright, I guess I'll go through my losses

Track 1 7:43

so, just assume that of the hundreds, thousands of listeners to the podcast, 1 percent has actually played with the Banette deck. Can you just, you want to talk just about what the deck does for two seconds before you walk through your matchups? Because this is, this is some real rogue

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 7:58

Sure, I guess I'll, yeah, I can go through the list a little bit. Um, it's, it's like a Banette Torment lock, um, mix. Those are like the two primary strategies that the deck chases down. Uh, it's playing 4 3 Banette, um, the Shuppet's flip item lock, and then 4 3 1 Curlia, Gardevoir EX line, and then four Torment routes. Um, and the... Yeah, okay, so I guess, like, your general strategy is, like, uh, against Lostbox and Lost Sentina, you use Binette, you boss Comfey, you play Calamitous Wasteland, which increases the retreat of Comfey by one, uh, and this makes, like, for a deck like Turbo Lost, getting out of the active is basically just impossible, um, it's like Stadium Bump Attach Retreat is, like, the only way they got out of the active, um, And for Lost Stone Tina, they have the Forget, um, as well as their Stadium Bumps. Um, Lost Stone Tina, like, if you think about it just like that, you'd guess that Lost Stone Tina is, like, a bit harder of a matchup, but you do have, like, um, advantages in the matchup that you don't have against Turbo Lost, which is that they go, like, way, way slower, so you can... Not always, but usually get Banette up before they hit their first Mirage Gate, so like, even setting up Attackers is a bit of a task for them. The other thing that Banette's really good at, just naturally, is it enables Hammers because it turns off Super Rod and um, Energy Recycler, if that's relevant. Uh, which makes Energy Recovery Index, like Lost Box, really, really hard. That's also what makes the Chen Pao's matchup super good, is that even if they get Backscaliber out, and you're not able to Banette them out of Rare Candy, If you just attack with Binette, it takes 6 or 5 energies for them to KO, and they can't use Superior Energy Retrieval. So all the lists playing 9 energy just can't KO 2 Binette. Like, it's just impossible for them. Um, and then, like, you can use Boss to stall it out if they go for, like, a slower attack. Or, like, maybe the backs, maybe the Palkia or something. Or, like, the Arceus. Palkia's not very popular. Palkia's a little bit worse. They get 3 energy back. Um. So, yeah, Banette's really good at making Crushing Hammer stick, it's good at turning off switch effects, and boss stalling. Um, Torment's really good at disabling attackers like Arceus and Charizard, which makes those matchups really good. Um, the deck's playing 2 Pal Pad, 2 Hammer. Um, it's basically just a way to get back hammers. You play four hammers, you play two Silene, you Pal Pad back the Silenes, and you're able to, like, if you assume Silene gets one card, you're able to get back one card with every, you're able to loop Silene and get a hammer back every single, um, every, like, two turns or something. Um, so yeah, it's basically just a way to keep spamming hammers. This is how you beat Lost Stone Tina. You just chase one color because they can't power up the Tina in one turn, right? If they have, like, a Psychic on a Tina, they can't both play Jet Energy. And Attach a Grasp, so they always have to commit one early, and you can use Boss or Crushing Hammer to counter whatever they commit to. Um, so that's like generally the matchups for Red. Gardevoir and Lugia, those matchups are like really awful. Um, Gardevoir, I do play one Dreepy, which is like a tech. Uh, you just pray they don't know about the Dreepy, they bench Greninja and you boss it. Uh, and Penny's like, not very popular right now. Um, you have like some chances at winning games 2 and game 3, which is that like, If you open Banette, and they go pretty slow, you might be able to take like first prize, maybe two prizes, that's the dream. And then you can just trade with them using Garde EX, Alakazam, and Grenette. Um, Alakazam's also good for having them like walk into traps and stuff, where you can just like, Alakazam, Penny Alakazam, so if they put like 20 on a Mew, you can just kill the Mew, kill the active, and you're able to like, somewhat stay in the prize trade. Um, are those, are those the important matchups? Yeah, I, I think that's everything. Um.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 11:45

So, I know you talked a little to me, but why play Dreepy over Mawile?

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 11:51

Uh, the re I mean, there's not a huge difference. The reason I played Dreepy over Mawile was just because it does 10 damage, so you're able to slightly speed up your win condition against Gardevoir instead of having to wait for them to like, fully deck out their Iona. You can, if you attack like, uh, 8 times, you get a Kayle and a Kirlia, I don't know, whatever. Um, so like, yeah, if they have 30 cards in deck and 4 Ionas, you can, uh, like, win the game a little bit faster. And like, the 30 HP difference and the extra 90 are like... Not really massive considerations. Um, the 10 damage also helps you strand stuff against, um, against, like, Guard of War a little bit better. Like, if you can just get damage down, it lets you boss it back up and deny, uh, Psychic Embrace to the target. So, like, damage sometimes maybe goes, but, yeah, I mean, it's really a marginal difference. Jeremy was wondering about playing the deck, and he, he was like, oh, dude, I don't have a Dreepy, and I was like, you can just play Mobile, it doesn't matter. Um... Probably won't affect many games.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 12:51

I wonder if it's even faster, though, because you have to do more actions, right? You like, double your actions by, by like, having to use Alakazam every turn? I guess you can use it every other turn. It's

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 13:05

yeah, I mean, maybe.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 13:08

it's probably the original.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 13:13

still, but maybe not. I don't know. Um, yeah.

Track 1 13:21

So despite the fact that it was better than all the meta decks, how'd your tournament go?

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 13:25

Um, I went 3 3 2, I lost 2, I went 0 1 1 against Tina. 0 1 1 against Lugia, and I lost to a Guardi. Um, I think the, the Tinas, I, I just, I think I played pretty bad. I got, like, I got a little bit scared of allowing Mirage Gate, when, like, really, it's not the end of the world. Like, that's, I think, what makes the matchup so good, is that, like, you can literally allow them to hit Star Requiem, or even if they just hit Mirage Gate, like, Lost Impact, and then they lose their energy, and, like, if they go, like, Star Requiem, Lost Impact, they go down to two prizes, they lose their energy, and then they're out of the game completely. Um, so, like... Even if they do get like some tempo like that, it's fine. I wasn't, a big part of the deck's consistency is Cleffa. It's obviously really, really item heavy. I'm playing 4 VIP, 4 Ultra Ball, 3 Level Ball, 2 Fog, 1 Heavy Ball. So like, I mean, this is with the general trend of no supporters turn 1. I'm only playing 6 supporters and tons of ball cards, so being able to turn items into draw is really important. That means that I'm playing Cleffa, um, I wasn't using Cleffa as much as I wanted to because the obvious drawback is that you have to give up your turn, and sometimes I was just like chasing turn 2 Binet, even if it meant sacrificing my setup, but then I wasn't able to like, create long term locks by using, by like, streaming Crushing Hammer, finding Sidneys, finding Ionos, finding Cherrels, and important pieces like that, um, so I think, I think I played a little bit poorly in my Lost Tina matches, Um, I also, like, I'll say, like, God, I'm lucky. It's not, uh, we knew this might happen, but I prized my Garde EX in one of the games, and the Garde EX is the only way that you retreat out, and it's kind of on me. I, um, I Heavy Balls literally turn one. And I just like, I saw it, because I prized it, and I just like, didn't clock it in, so I didn't change my play at all by like, pre attaching to Kirlia's, avoiding benching, Alakazam. I also prized my Penny, I knew that, but, um, yeah, I didn't realize I prized the Guard EX, so I didn't play around Boss Stall. Um, so yeah, but the Guardi EX games, we were already kind of throwing those away because it was like 1 in 10, I didn't want to play Peonia or second Guardi EX. Um, but yeah, that happened in one of the games, then I wasn't able to finish a game 3. I think I was winning that game 3 though, but that's besides the point, it doesn't matter. Um, and then I hit two Lugia. Lugia is just, just straight bad matchup. Um, and, what was the last one? Oh yeah, and then Guardi. Uh, the decks I beat were, I beat an Arctina. Um, that game went, like, basically perfect. I hit hammer turn one, so the game was just, like, kind of over. Um, and then, yeah, and they didn't scoop very fast. Uh, and then I, uh, I beat a Zard. This was, like, probably the best version of Zard I could've hit. It was playing the Bibarel instead of the Pidgeot, which meant that if they want to keep digging through their deck, they have to give me, like, a really strong boss target. It was also not playing Jett Energy. It was playing, I think, just one DTE. Um, it was playing two Super Rod, but the first game, I got Bennett up before they went Charizard, and I just, like, steamrolled them. Um, and then the second game, they Ultra Balled a Super Rod turn once. They just did not have the resources to close the game out. It's not like the Super Rod would've made a difference, because... One really important thing is that Zard runs out of energy acceleration, um, right, they have very limited energy acceleration, so I just want, like, you just keep bossing Bibarel and then eventually they have to attach retreat, and that's when you just spam crushing hammer and you just win the game. Um, and you can obviously pair that with Binette to, like, force them out of energy acceleration and switches. Uh, like, boss Binette is still super good in the matchup, uh, even if the Binette does get one hit by Zard.

Track 1 16:58

So, um, Like, for listeners of the podcast, are there, are there things you would do differently leading up to the tournament to result in a different outcome? Like, was the problem that you didn't test versus Lost Tina, which was probably the most popular, it was the most popular play, and we knew it was going to be the most popular play at the tournament, or was it, would you... Have, like, realized some shortcoming with the deck before you had put weeks and weeks of time into building it, or did you just misplay during the tournament, and there's something you could try to do to

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 17:31

Yeah, I got, I got a little scared, dude. I, I got a little scared, um, on one of the Tina games, so I think that was a throw. Uh, yeah. Yeah, I mean, I I think if I don't lose that Tina game, my, my tournament maybe goes a bit different. I lost two, I hit two Lugia, which is like, I was, I was really hoping I didn't hit more than one, um, and I hit two. And I hit a Gardevoir. Um, I mean, I was expecting a Gardevoir, so I guess only hitting one is pretty nice. But yeah, I hit a Gardevoir, and I'd, the Gardevoir player, I'd played their friend earlier. Uh, they didn't bench Greninja. Um, but they played the matchup like super duper well. It was Adam Calumet, props to that guy. Um, uh... But yeah, I mean, I think if I hadn't thrown that round, I'm much better off the way it is.

Track 1 18:26

Fair, uh, fair enough. Um, so, uh, did you guys have any reaction to, like, the final tournament outcome? I mean, one thing that I thought would be interesting to get you guys reaction to is, um, it was a big tournament, it had a lot of people bubbled. Top 8.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 18:41

vicious, dude.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 18:43

Yeah, 35 points, like, basically bubbling in, right? Not, not really bubbling out.

Track 1 18:49

Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly. Like, I was like, so, uh,

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 18:52

pretty tough.

Track 1 18:54

mean, if you, if you were 6 2 1, you were already eliminated.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 18:58

Well, you, what do you got? You have to go, I mean, Rahul came, oh no, Rahul came at 612.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 19:03

actually exactly what happened to Moffat, I think. He came in at 6 and missed.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 19:08

you have to go, so you have to go 6 0, if you're 6 2 1. Yeah, it's rough, man.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 19:16

I actually think probably, like, the worst part is, though, um, is, like, the, like, you know, those guys at least got, like, the top 16 prizing, which is, like, much better now because of the prize increase. But, like, there were a bunch of people who, like, going into their last round, It's winning in for top 8, lose and you get no cash, and like, deciding to play that round out is like, freaky, dude.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 19:38

yeah, well, it, it's not quite winning into Top 8, like, like Jeremy's situation, it's like, it's like Winning maybe in, but still, totally agreed, like, like, our buddy Jeremy, uh, was a 32 pointer, he, if he wins his game, he's on the bubble for Top 8, he lost and got, what, 38th? Something like

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 19:57

although,

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 19:58

that?

Track 1 19:58

Yeah, I mean, I know somebody had said that they, they, uh, were playing a winner in the top 8 and then lost in, with top 64 and got, like, loose packs. And we're like,

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 20:07

Well, no, no, no, you can't, you can't whiff Top 64, but, uh, whiff, whiff Top 32, for sure. Yeah, it's... This is really crazy. So like, I don't know, I have two thoughts that obviously will not be implemented this year. Um, prizing based on number of points, um, could be a good compromise between having like 32 and 64 prizing. Um, and similarly, I feel like, and we've talked about this before, but Like, doing an, like an asymmetric cut by number of points, so just like how you, how they, uh, you know, you need 19 points to make day two, uh, if a tournament is this many players, you will take all 35 pointers, or better, um, into top cut, and then do asymmetric cut. That would be... That'd be cool. Easy, relatively easy, uh, fix, I feel like. But maybe it's just too hard structurally,

Track 1 21:06

I mean, asymmetric cuts of slam dunk, right?

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 21:09

you know. The,

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 21:11

I really like, uh, I think Mace's idea on Twitter, which was, like, somehow get rid of ties, because obviously everybody hates ties already, like, you know, um, yeah, no, nobody likes ties, dude, like, every single tie is, like, Yeah, it's just a loss for both players, and like, one of the players is like, three minutes away from winning every single time, and like, you know, the ties only come around because somebody doesn't want the game to finish, and like, it's not bad on them, I'm not telling them to like, lose faster, bro, like, we need you to lose or something, um, everybody's like, doing the best they can under the current system, but, yeah, ties really suck, get rid of ties, and then, it's probably much easier to structure a tournament that has like, much cleaner cuts, and like,

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 21:54

hmm,

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 21:54

Um, yeah, like, if there's no tie rate, it's, um,

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 21:59

yeah, that's true.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 22:00

you can just sort by wins, like, way easier, I think.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 22:03

Yeah, another component to this of why, like, an asymmetric cut is maybe just not even feasible logistically is, like, the tournament didn't end until, like, Eight o'clock, like day two did not end until like eight o'clock or something like that. Um, so day two is already really long now. It's already six Swiss rounds plus top eight, which is basically the same as day one, uh, nine rounds, right? Uh, it goes a little bit faster because you have less people, um, but not that much faster. So, uh, adding even a single round might just push it too far.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 22:39

It's true.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 22:41

Um, speaking of logistics. Day one was not the most well run, uh, regional, uh, and I'm, there's gonna be growing pains when you, when you have, uh, a new season coupled with an extremely large event. But definitely, definitely not the, uh, not as good as even like Hartford, which was run by the same organization.

Track 1 23:06

I will say, um, uh, I may have like, I think somewhat mixed feelings about Pittsburgh, generally speaking, but, um, great convention center, beautiful convention center, uh, uh, I mean, I, most people probably remember the start of last season was like in a basement in Baltimore, and, and like this time, anytime you stepped out of the connexion, you were incredibly large convention center where the tables were spaced generously apart. You had gorgeous views of the river and it made me appreciate Pittsburgh a little bit, which was nice. Like, I felt like I had a little bit of the flavor of the city, even though I spent all weekend in a convention center.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 23:46

Totally, totally agreed with that.

Track 1 23:50

Um, guys, let's talk about the next set because who cares about that stuff, right?

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 23:56

Yeah. Oh, I guess we should just mention Maradon did really well, um, this weekend, but, um, that was kind of like.

Track 1 24:02

we cannot, we cannot give a respect to Morriden,

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 24:04

That was kind of like the standout, I feel like, um, both here as well as in Japan, uh, Maridon did really well, despite people hating on it, despite us hating on it, um, and it is a good segue though into, uh, Pokemon 151, which is the next set. Perhaps Maridon gets even Better with Zapdos EX and Mew EX, and I feel like Mew, we could go type by type, or we could just start with Mew EX because it's the best card.

Track 1 24:39

Let's start with MeWeX then.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 24:43

booga, that card's insane. Um, yeah. Draws three, copies any attack for three colorless energy. Uh, Zard, Gardi, Lugia, literally anything can power it up. Chen Pao, um, and it has Free Retreat. That card's insane.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 25:02

Um, I feel like it probably fits best in moron and colorless lugia. I feel like those are probably the standouts. Moron. Can't power it up with the electric generator, but can power it up with fluffy. I don't know if the Japanese list played a rhan or not. Um, but otherwise it's a, it is a little awkward to power up in r i on it. Uh, Because you either need to, like, have two Fluffy out or attach to it preemptively. But, Miriodon plays, has always played, like, one free retreat Pokémon anyway. Um, we've seen a lot of them play the Zeraora, uh, Jessie and that crew. As well as Seijin played the Flying Pikachu V. So Mew X kind of just fills that spot anyway, because it has Fury Treat, and it's just way better than all of those other cards. Um, because it can attack. It also, Maraudon, like, loves the draw ability more than any other deck. Like, most other decks don't really care about the, uh, draw to three, I think. But, Maraudon has no built in draw power. So, even though it's not super strong, it's... You're going to feel it way more in Maridon than any other deck. And then Colorless Lugia. Colorless Lugia, like, sucks, right? It's not really a good deck, except I think Mew pushes it into being a real deck, because the one thing that Colorless Lugia couldn't really do, except for Weirdeer once a game, is one shot stuff. So, like, a Giratina could just come up and, you know, take four prizes pretty easily. Um, but Mu EX, uh, counters that just straight up. So I feel like, I feel like Mu EX makes colorless Lugia a lot better. And Lugia is like the best way and easiest way to power up Mu in the whole format. So, uh, so yeah, I feel like those are the two decks that definitely gain the most. But like, but like Liam said, it can be played in literally, literally anything.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 27:06

That card's gonna see play throughout, like, its entire lifetime. Obviously not, like, a meta defining card, it's not gonna be a whole deck, but... It's, it's gonna see play in every single format.

Track 1 27:17

Right, would you splash one of those in your Gardevoir deck? I don't know why you wouldn't.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 27:24

Maybe. Like, it's main use case, I feel like, is, um, killing a Tina, but you still have to put a bunch of energy on it. I do think the math works out in such a way, though, that you only have to put three energy on the Mew to one shot a Giratina. And so, puts the Mew to 120 HP, which is killable by a Sableye. And they take two prizes, but they don't have any leftover damage. And that's kind of the problem when you go to one shot a Giratina, is that they kill whatever your attacker was, and they have often enough, they have enough leftover damage to take another KO on like a Kirlia or something like that. So it may give it that benefit, but we haven't mentioned the really cool thing you can do with Mew EX.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 28:13

Mhmmm,

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 28:14

You know what I'm going to say, Liam?

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 28:15

and uh, the Ninja.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 28:16

Greninja. You can boss Radiant Greninja and copy Moonlight Shuriken. So, I feel like that's almost maybe the bigger reason to play it in Guardi is it totally changes the dynamics of how the Guardi Mirror match could play out or the Guardi Lost Box matchup could play out. Um, and really, any deck against Gardevoir or Lost Box has this option and it will create these... Uh, I don't know, mind games to some extent, uh, of, like, do you play the Radiant Greninja down? If you do, do you play the Manaphy down? Do you just opt to not play the Radiant Greninja down and slow your own setup, but prevent a devastating turn?

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 28:57

Uh, I think that's something that you like, absolutely have to build for and prepare for like, because Mew can be played in like literally anything. Um, I, I wouldn't ever play, like, Radiant Greninja without at least, like, being prepared for Mew or something, or, like, walking, like, walking into Mew. I, be prepared for it or something, bro. It's, like, it's too easy to do. Um, I, yeah. Like, Greninja, three comfies on your board is not, not very safe, I think. Like, the fact that you can just lose, it's like, not benching Manaphy first any deck that plays Radiant Greninja just seems insane. I think you just always have to bench Manaphy. Um, if you know there's Mew.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 29:40

Lost, like, Lostbox could play Mewtwo, right? Like, I don't think it will, but it could.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 29:48

And,

Track 1 29:50

All right, all right, should we, should we wind it back now and go through the set a little bit?

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 29:53

Okay, yeah, yeah.

Track 1 29:55

All right, all right, here we go.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 29:58

Uh, I'm going all the way up. Oh, so the way that Justin Basil is set up is it just goes through the Pokémon in order, not by type. What does PokéBeach do?

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 30:10

um, I think, yeah, PokéBeach does it by, like, set number, so yeah, it is sorted by type, I think.

Track 1 30:17

No, we, I mean, we can go through, we can go through by number. I feel like, uh, the fact that it's numbered like that, like, it is what it is. This is, uh, Pokemon, 151 is a weird set in that way.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 30:25

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, uh, yeah, this is a cool set. I'm excited for it, even if... There's not a whole lot of great cards. So, uh, okay, let's just talk about the starters in general. None of them jump out to me as being playable.

Track 1 30:45

Uh, you know, Walker was impressed the Charizard EX hits for 330. He was like, the power, here's the power creep. Hittin for 330.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 30:52

I think the Venusaur is kind of interesting, um, probably not in a format with Chimpal and Gardevoir, but there's... Um, if you scroll a little bit down, there's like this item that gives stage twos for your retreat, and like, you obviously need some sort of like, boss protection, but, you know, you can just like, jump between 340 hitpoint, uh, heal 60 cards, which is kind of cool. Um, Confused is also a good status condition, as always, so,

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 31:21

Yeah, the Venusaur scene, yeah, I think that's a good point. Probably not in this format, but maybe, maybe after rotation, maybe Garde, like Garde loses Arcana, right? So we, I don't even know if Garde will be a deck after, it probably will still be some, somewhat, but maybe not in the same form it is right now. And yeah, if Chi and Pal, like, it's just like a tier 2 or tier 3 deck, and, and there's nothing that can take a huge one shot. I mean, and this really has to be a huge one shot. Um, it does have a lot of HP. So, yeah, you're right. Um, some type of stalled deck could be cool with this. Um, Charizard doing 330. Yeah, it's cool, but how are you powering that thing up?

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 32:04

Yeah, the other one's just always better too. You can do literally anything with three fires anywhere.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 32:10

The Blastoise, I remember when the Blastoise came out, people were also saying that this was, like, good and tanky.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 32:15

It

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 32:16

It could be okay, but I don't know. I feel like it, there's just not really a place for it in the format.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 32:24

seems so weak, like, it's stage two attacker, which is like, always a little bit rough, like, if you, having to stream stage twos, like, just always sucks, like, when you, you throw them into the active. Um, also, like, I mean, yeah, it literally hits, like, every, every, like, principally bad aspect about a card. It's attack comes from hand, making it, like, super vulnerable to Iono. Um... It's a stage 2, it's, and, it's lightning, which is not great right now. It's also got, um, yeah, 280 damage cap, which is like, it can't be limiting. Motorprey's

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 33:00

Yeah.

Track 1 33:00

felt like you just attacked Butterfree. What, streaming stage 2 attackers is hard? How am I gonna play this Butterfree deck?

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 33:12

kind of cool.

Track 1 33:14

Butterfree, Butterfree has a, uh, is a stage 2 with a double colorless attack, bye bye flight. Choose one of your opponent's bench Pokemon, shuffle that Pokemon and all attached cards into their deck, and then shuffle this Pokemon and all attached cards into your deck. If your opponent has no bench poke on him, this attack does nothing.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 33:31

This would be... Good in a format where, like, people set up, like, one big thing, but that's not where we are.

Track 1 33:38

yeah,

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 33:38

Um, the, the only, the only thing I see out of it is that it makes the the strategy of targeting Archeops a little bit easier. Um, like...

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 33:49

That's

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 33:50

The Golduck Reversal Archeops or something like that is, this is better I guess, but this strategy sucks anyway, so,

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 33:58

could be a

Track 1 33:59

unplayable.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 34:00

much space.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 34:01

really bad Duraludon counter. Um,

Track 1 34:04

I'm gonna set up this stage two a couple of times and then you get a lose.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 34:09

Uh, it is worth noting the 70 HP Charmander. I know everybody knows that by this point, but that is definitely, uh, uh,

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 34:17

And that's in this set, not in like the, you know, the sets four years in the future that people talk about on Twitter.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 34:23

Yeah,

Track 1 34:24

Yeah, yeah. And, and you know what, the first attack on that Charmander is like, discard a stadium in play. That's like a vaguely You're like, okay, that's a thing I could do. It's good to keep that in mind.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 34:35

yeah, yeah, absolutely, that was good.

Track 1 34:37

right. Like, you won't regret playing that Charmander. Like, I feel like with Ralts, you're like, oh, well the good attack is on the 60 hitpoint one, and like, you have all these issues. This is a better

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 34:48

Um,

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 34:49

I've gotten my, my Cleffa donked though by the 30th Charmander.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 34:55

that's funny. Speaking of other good basics, Pidgey gets a reduction in HP down to 50, but it has Call for Family. The difference between 50 and 60 I don't think is super relevant. Um,

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 35:09

It's a little bit relevant if you start playing the 70 Charmanders.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 35:13

70 plus 50 is still 120 I guess, which is unfortunate. But probably,

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 35:18

really so good, so.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 35:19

you probably just still play it though. Um, Beedrill? Auto paralyzes, not the Nescafé, but it's stage 2, so probably not good enough,

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 35:29

gotta get your hands to zero too. Like, and that's like, kind of fine in this format, but you need to be doing a little bit more than auto paralyze. The damage is also a little bit too high. Um, so like, yeah, you can't like permanently lock something like you could, I think, with Articuno. Um, yeah.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 35:47

Articuno. Brattata is, it probably never sees play, but I think whenever a basic has this attack for colorless, it's like, worth noting. Um, 20 plus 10 more damage for each damage counter on your opponent's Pokémon, so, like, it, it, it finishes a 2 shot as a, as a single prizer, which is, could be relevant at some point in some deck.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 36:09

Maybe when Jinx rotates or something, right?

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 36:11

Yeah, a lot of interesting cards. Nothing that, nothing is jumping out so far, but definitely way more interesting effects than, than the last set.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 36:20

Yeah.

Track 1 36:21

Speaking of an effect that's been absent for many, I feel like many, many sets, the Arbok EX has got to make Liam think I've got ideas.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 36:31

Too much damage.

Track 1 36:32

For three darks, 150 damage, your opponent discards two cards from their hand. I mean, if you take a KO on the active and Iono them and then discard their hand,

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 36:44

oh, it's not even random. I don't know, that attack actually kind of sucks, man.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 36:48

But it doesn't

Track 1 36:49

it obviously is only good if you Iono them and then do it.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 36:52

Yeah, yeah. I mean, and like, like, it'd obviously be a lot better if it was random, but just think about delinquent, like getting delinquented sometimes you just like lost the game because you're like, oh, I

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 37:02

well, like, Delinquent, you then paired with, like, an attack that did something cool. Like, this is, like, 150 damage. Um, the draw engines are also, like, really heavily ability based right now. Um, right, because we're in the no turn one supporter format. So, like, yeah, it's, it's really hard to do hand locks. And there's a lot of ability based draw support. All

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 37:25

Sandshrew is cool, the anti control card ability, trainer cards in your opponent's discard pile cannot be put into their deck by an effect of your opponent's item or supporter card. So stop Silene, uh, Palpad, so it's kind of really just like anti stall, anti control.

Track 1 37:45

I mean, how bad is this for, uh, uh, just like, like decks like Chen Pao and Lostbox? Like, if you're just like, you can't use Super Ruts. Oh.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 37:52

right, because it only stops trainers going back. Doesn't stop energy.

Track 1 37:57

Oh, oh, oh, oh, okay, I'm sorry, I, I'm unable

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 38:01

yeah, like, mm hmm. It stops, like, Palpat for Worker or something, I guess, and Guardi, if you wanted to do that really badly. Yeah. Man, that actually is, like, a notable use case, maybe. It gets Crest, though, so easily.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 38:17

yeah.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 38:18

Uh, no.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 38:19

It's probably just worth noting, uh, if control ever becomes good, but by the time, I feel like by the time, like, control becomes good, you're, it's already too late, right, because then people will, can just do other things than tech this card, and then control wouldn't be good the next

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 38:34

No, yeah, exactly. Control right now is, like, so reactive, it's not objectively sound at all.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 38:40

you know.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 38:40

it's

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 38:41

Um, we got Nidoqueen and Nidoking, Nidoking attacks for free if you have Nidoqueen in play. Unfortunately, it only has one attack. Uh, and it does 190 and Poison, um, they do got a lot of HP, 170 HP, so if you can get out, if you can stream Nidokings and keep the Nidoqueen in play,

Track 1 39:01

Yeah, yeah, all you have to do is stream multiple stage twos, and you're just gonna be, like, rolling people off the board.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 39:06

yeah, but you do have to play energy

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 39:08

basics have 60 too.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 39:09

760 is probably the worst part, but at least you don't have to play energy, so you do have a lot of space for, uh, First stuff, I guess. It's probably bad, but it's cool.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 39:21

I will say on that, like, playing energy is actually such like a positive thing in this format because of the rating for ninja, which is like,

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 39:28

Yeah

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 39:29

kind of lame, but, yeah.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 39:32

Clefairy, Clefable? Clefairy has got

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 39:37

I think that Clefable's insane. That's...

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 39:40

Clefairy searches for a bunch of Clefairies, which is probably is that other Clefable still in format?

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 39:45

The... Which one?

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 39:47

Wasn't there one that like attached an energy or something like that?

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 39:50

Um, oh, oh, yeah, the other Clefairy, yeah, um, it accelerates all your bench Clefairy, but the thing is, like, playing like a, like a 2 2 split or 3 1 split seems, like, so awkward. Um,

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 40:03

that accelerates?

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 40:04

yeah, yeah, the basic. But, like, yeah, I don't know, getting a bench

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 40:09

Oh, yeah,

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 40:09

accelerating is meh.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 40:12

yeah. And they all got 60 HP, which sucks. But the Clefable, if you do get it powered up, 50 damage for 3 psychic, take an extra prize card if it knocks something out. So, if you can set it up. What'd you say?

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 40:26

seems so good.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 40:26

You think so?

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 40:27

Yeah,

Track 1 40:28

Yeah.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 40:29

What do you think?

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 40:30

and Gardia, like, I mean, dude, like, if you, attacking with that is like, if you ever take a knockout it's, it's just so good and it's like so easily accessible on stage one, like,

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 40:43

true. Reversal is a very good point. You gotta,

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 40:47

and then like Cleansing Gloves gets you Stabilize and Comfies and Curlias, like, uh, and taking an extra

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 40:55

you gotta evolve it, though, from a Clef... I mean, yeah, you gotta evolve it, though, from Clefairy. Like...

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 41:01

I mean it's a Zoroark target maybe, um,

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 41:04

Yeah, maybe this is a ways or it could actually be Lost Box. Maybe,

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 41:09

it's hard to implement, but yeah, taking extra prize cards is unfair.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 41:16

it's true. Um, alright, Wigglytuff EX, 250 HP, if it's got a special energy on it, it's got 350 HP. Unfortunately, it only does... 180 damage, with 3 colorless, if you played a supporter that turn. So, super tank, but,

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 41:37

And the tank gets shut off by Path.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 41:40

true, yeah, I forgot, uh, yeah,

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 41:44

Who's

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 41:44

all are not good, these Zubats and Golbats are worse than the ones that already exist,

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 41:51

I don't know, Zubat's kind of cool, um,

Track 1 41:53

think the Zubat is absolutely fascinating. It's completely insane.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 41:58

yeah,

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 41:59

could have Brewery Retreat, but.

Track 1 42:03

Yeah, if it had free retreat, it would be bonkers and everyone would play one.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 42:06

yeah, so

Track 1 42:07

If it was, if it was free retreat, let's be clear, it would be completely broken and that tells you it's a pretty strong card,

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 42:12

So,

Track 1 42:13

right? Like,

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 42:14

it's ability is once you're in your turn, if Zubat is in the active spot, you may have your opponent reveal their hand,

Track 1 42:20

so, so it has one retreat so that keeps you from Just putting, splashing it into every deck and saying, Why don't I start off my turn by looking at his hand before I get to start it?

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 42:31

yeah.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 42:31

So good. The thing is, in this format, like, 40 HP is like massive liability, and there's too much, uh, too much card draw. Like, the hands change too much to make, like, really informed decisions off of it. That, like, affects a lot. Like, I don't know, you look at a Guardian player with like a 17 card hand, and you're like, oh, you don't have boss in hand, oh, there's like two Curlias and two Arcanas on your bench, like, but... It's definitely a cool card, I maybe would have played it in Binette, um, but also later we get an item which does like the same thing, and... has, like, maybe some stronger disruption potential, so.

Track 1 43:10

You could combo that with Beach Court if you felt like, Oh my

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 43:13

Yeah, exactly.

Track 1 43:14

look at the time.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 43:16

Banette, this set has Venomoth, which for 1 Grass Energy does 30 damage, your opponent can't play items next turn, and they are confused. Is this a better Banette, Liam?

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 43:28

Uh, it lacks the tankiness. Um, the basic doesn't flip. Confuse is amazing, though. Good condition. Uh, maybe in some situations it's better. Maybe in some it's worse.

Track 1 43:39

who needs tankiness when you have confusion?

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 43:41

And it's a Synchronizer too, so

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 43:43

Binette died to Cram, I probably would not have played it this weekend.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 43:47

that is very fair. Interesting. Interesting. Interesting.

Track 1 43:52

if you confuse the Cram, then you'd be like, Wait a second,

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 43:56

Oh, they took another 30 damage, and I had a 55th chance of losing.

Track 1 44:00

that's right,

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 44:01

I wonder if you could play, um, the, the stadium. Well, no, cause cramp still caused zero. Nevermind. Dang.

Track 1 44:13

Yeah, uh, Cram, Cram is definitely a problem. Uh, it's hard, it's, it, for all of Liam's hard work, it does not feel like the format. Uh, for, Pittsburgh was super friendly for control.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 44:25

It was, it was all good for a minute.

Track 1 44:29

There we go.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 44:30

Golduck is a pretty strong recovery attack. Put up, for one colorless, put up to four Pokemon from your discard pile into your hand. So, I don't think there's, there's like no... I don't have a use case for that right now, but, um, there could be at some

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 44:44

I mean, we just got a Super Red reprint, and the format's so fast right now, this card has never seen play. Psyduck Might, that card's pretty sick.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 44:53

Treat the result of all, oh, colorless turn your opponents next turn, treat the result of all coins they flip as tails.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 44:59

I'm pretty sure the way it works is it makes Confusion, like, uh, an infinite paralysis, which is kinda cool.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 45:04

Aw, but they can retreat, right?

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 45:07

Yes, yes, uh, and, uh, self knockout, but, or like, uh, Guaranteed Disable or whatever.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 45:13

Sure.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 45:14

Card sucks.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 45:15

Hmm. Um. Scrolling. Alakazami X, I know people are hyped about it, to me it looks like it sucks.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 45:26

Card looks amazing, dude!

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 45:27

What? Why? It's a stage 2!

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 45:30

Yeah, it doesn't matter. Um, yeah,

Track 1 45:33

I mean, you got time to get your stage 2 out if you put Miltank in the active and say we're just chillin 320?

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 45:38

I mean, like, um, what was the idea? Like, alright, maybe make, yeah, it's, it's obviously the, the best strafe card that we've seen with Tinglu, um, basically, yeah, like, ever, um, because Tinglu is for a treat, uh, so, like, that's probably the best partner for Tinglu at this point, um, yeah. I think, oh yeah, and then like, the fact that it has Mind Jack too, um, which is what now, it's

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 46:10

90 plus 30. Yeah, it's 240. 240. 240 Thank you.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 46:14

Um, it, yeah, it just, it just seems strong to me in that sense, like, I, like, obviously anything that can make Tinglu, uh, work as like an attacking Pokemon without like, Just losing the first time your opponent sets up an attacker, uh, is interesting to me. Um, that's what I said.

Track 1 46:34

think, to the point you made earlier, Mike, uh, uh, both this card and, like, uh, yeah, the Psyduck, like, there are a lot of good examples. I wonder if there's a new head card designer or something. this set just feels more interesting in some way.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 46:53

I agree.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 46:55

peace.

Track 1 46:55

there's a, there's a lot more, like, weird, uh, attacks, or attacks that are not like previous attacks. And I know we've complained in prior set reviews about how they're just recycling the same attacks over and over again, you know?

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 47:07

The Abra card art is sick. I really like that Abra. What else?

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 47:13

like, the way that differs from like something like the Karaidon Tinglu deck is like, you can throw a Bravery Charm on the Tinglu, and like, obviously this would take like a pretty insane engine, um, but like, you could just penny it like three turns in a row while smacking for 120. And like, it seems good, like, any deck that can do that, fully shut off abilities, heal at 290, I mean, that's probably too many ideas to work together, but if you could do that, that'd be pretty sick. Yeah

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 47:42

Yeah, it's fair. Magneton has got Junk Hunt for a Lightning. It's a Stage 1 though, so...

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 47:56

dude, we've gotten that card like every set, sucks.

Track 1 48:00

Now, I, I mean, once again, I, I think this is an example of design I feel like I haven't seen from Pokémon. The Magnemite has a, uh, explosion that does 60 damage, and it does 60 damage to itself, and it has 60 hit points. It's

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 48:13

Yeah.

Track 1 48:17

like, there's things you could do there! You could put an emergency jelly on that bad boy or something, I don't know, like,

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 48:21

You put the Bravery charm on there, but,

Track 1 48:23

Yeah, slap a charm on, like, you could, there's stuff you could do, but it is pretty funny.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 48:28

60 damage,

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 48:30

I remember when I saw this card, I... I messaged our group and I said, is this broken? To Dodrio. So Dodrio has an ability that says you may put one damage counter on this Pokemon once during your turn. If you do, draw a card. And then its attack is one colorless, ten plus thirty more damage for each damage counter on Dodrio. Uh, to me that seemed really good at first because... Like, what do you cap out at? You cap out at

Track 1 48:56

270? 280? Yeah, 280.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 48:59

plus, yeah, so 280 for one colorless, and you get a draw engine from it, uh, which seems really good in theory, but then these guys reminded me that there's really no way to manipulate damage on your field, except, what, damage pump? Is that the only card?

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 49:14

Yeah, dude, even Even if there was a basic that, like, you move damage counters when you field anywhere you want. I mean, alright, that card would be insane, but just imagine for a second that that could only be played with Dodrio. That card sucks. You lose the Sableye, and what you get in exchange is draw one card every turn, and maybe at the end of the game, you can promote an attacker with 10 health and might take a KO. That card sucks.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 49:43

Yes, I think I agree now, but it was funny that my first reaction was this, is this broken? For

Track 1 49:51

You're like, as long as I never run into Lost Box, I could like, really hurt somebody bad. Alright, how about Muk?

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 49:59

a dark

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 50:00

My card sucks. We already have that.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 50:02

30 damage during your opponent's next turn, attacks by the defending Pokemon cost one more, and its retreat is one more. You don't think it's good, Liam?

Track 1 50:12

bad.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 50:14

I'm pretty sure we already have a card that like, literally does the same thing except for two. Um, uh, no, actually, I think the effects are different, but no, yeah, that like, oh no, actually, no, it's on Mawile. It's literally on Mawile. Uh, it's on a basic. It does the exact same thing.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 50:30

Dang.

Track 1 50:31

I'm sorry to hear that.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 50:34

You know what also sucks? My favorite Pokemon, Gengar. They did not. They did not print a good Gengar. But the art is cool. I bought a Japanese version of this card when I was in Japan. What else we

Track 1 50:47

Alright.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 50:50

is probably bad, but worth mentioning when you play it to evolve. You put your opponent's active asleep. If it was, like, Paralyze, it'd be good, but obviously it's not a Hypno theme. Electrode could be comboed with Rotom V or Rotom V Star for one lightning, does 20 damage. You can discard as many tools as you want from your Pokémon and do 40 more for each one. Again, probably bad, but the, I'm sure we'll see an LDF video from that.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 51:22

I don't know. My card like, caps out at 220. Er, 220 is a little six.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 51:27

can play the, the, who's the, who's the homeboy that can attach four, four tools, yeah.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 51:32

Yeah, like, but it doesn't work into Spiritomb or whatever. It doesn't matter, in Code 16, it doesn't matter.

Track 1 51:40

Yeah. Yeah. It's not a good card, that's the moral of the story.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 51:43

Man, the Cubone and Marowak could be so

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 51:46

Yeah, it's such a cool effect, right?

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 51:48

If, if it worked to all of your opponent's Pokemon. So Cubone says, uh, as long as this Pokemon is on your bench, attacks used by your Marowak do 30 more damage to your opponent's active Pokemon. But Marowak has an attack that does 30 and 30 to one of your opponent's benched Pokemon as well. So if it did both, like, that would be pretty sick. It probably wouldn't even be, like, that good, but it would be playable.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 52:12

Yeah, like, you could try to build an idea there. Cards aren't playable right now.

Track 1 52:17

It's bad. It's a sad, sad story. Let's see. Is Weezing good? No.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 52:26

The Hitmonlee is like, kinda cool for Tinglu.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 52:30

Oh yeah, it gives it, uh, finally, we didn't really have this, right? An attack that did 10 spread?

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 52:35

It was on a Liligant, but the Liligant took a DTE, but it only dealt 20, and the DTE doesn't... turns off the damage everywhere.

Track 1 52:43

Hitmonlee's got a spread attack for 1 fighting energy, but the spread is 10 damage.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 52:49

Wait, and you get to switch it. And you get to switch

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 52:51

I mean,

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 52:51

Okay, okay, okay. Okay, this, yeah, this card was literally made for Ting Lu. yeah,

Track 1 52:57

but it's, but

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 52:58

work on Manaphy though, unlike the damage counters with Lugia.

Track 1 53:02

I don't know, I feel like, I feel like the, um, I feel like 20 spread is still not enough in the current, uh, uh, format.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 53:10

Yeah.

Track 1 53:12

Going 10 spread, I mean, Tinglu, Tinglu has to have them so locked up, there's like almost no point playing.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 53:18

It's just, it would just be the initial hit, you'd have to transition into something else.

Track 1 53:22

Yeah.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 53:24

Can you just call dx? Um, I think I saw Cyrus post on Twitter within the last couple of days that she, she likened it to the, the lapis, uh, gx, like, uh, for one energy

Track 1 53:41

a bad card.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 53:42

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But like, it might enable some like weird, like, not exactly control, but like some type of, um, run your opponent out of resources like war of Attrition type of deck. Um, I mean, it has 230, which is like, just above the threshold of always getting one shot. Uh, and it has colorless drop in cards.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 54:04

I mean, it's not above that threshold.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 54:06

And

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 54:08

Yeah, it's,

Track 1 54:10

Alright, is, uh, uh, is the Starmie a thing you would do something with, Liam? Or is it totally useless?

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 54:17

we have, I mean, we have better stuff, like, you'll look at it and you'll be like, oh, it's a way to make, like, gold. go going infinite, uh, like make progress on your opponent's board or something, like.

Track 1 54:29

Yes, its ability is, once during your turn you can put two damage counters on one of your opponent's Pokemon. If you place any damage counters, discard this Pokemon and all attached cards. I

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 54:37

Like, it does a few things, I guess, like, it does get damage counters down anywhere, so, like, kinda enables, like, Ting Lu or something, maybe, um, and it also, it opens up bench space, if that's ever relevant. Yeah, that card sucks.

Track 1 54:50

mean, I think the only thing it'd be relevant for is if you had some plan to stream infinite Starmies forever. That seems excruciatingly painful.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 55:01

I'm surprised y'all skipped over the Chansey.

Track 1 55:04

Uh, I'm sure Mike would not have skipped over it.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 55:06

it says, it says flip a coin, so...

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 55:12

Dude, like...

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 55:15

If you put,

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 55:15

mean, you need so much bench space for it too,

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 55:17

yeah, you have to take Chansey as a prize card. You have to have a bench space, and

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 55:23

we're easily in the best format though for that right now, because Peonya just lets you like throw three in.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 55:29

a coin. And then it's effect is if you flip heads after all of that, you can take

Track 1 55:33

Then you flip a coin.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 55:34

Yeah, flip a coin, and heads, then you get to take

Track 1 55:37

Yeah, yeah. Spend, spend ten minutes setting up a play,

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 55:41

Dude, I won't even lie,

Track 1 55:42

see if it works or not. I

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 55:43

pretty insane, dude. Like, taking a surprise card is obviously just like such a busted effect. Like, if Gar like... It costs Garde literally nothing to like, I mean, I guess the biggest thing it costs is a bench space, but like, if they're just like, Peonia, throwing two Chansey and they just flip, like, there's like, is there like a 50 50 chance they just like, rapidly outpace you at that point?

Track 1 56:05

mean, uh, the crazy thing about that though is, like, so, so you have what, like, probably six or eight cards in your deck that you put in there so you could do this thing?

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 56:14

It's like two

Track 1 56:14

You gotta take a prize!

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 56:17

It's like two cards. And the Peonia is like, pseudo consistency.

Track 1 56:20

mean, wait, wait, no, you put the Peony in, and then how many Chanseys did you put in?

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 56:25

You just put like, one, you take a 50 50 chance at like, taking an extra prize. Could be good.

Track 1 56:31

I don't know. Sounds like, sounds like a struggle.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 56:36

People think that this ditto is gonna be playable. It seems completely unplayable to me.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 56:41

Dude, that card looks insane to me.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 56:43

Like, what are you, what are you even searching out?

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 56:46

Dude, that card looks insane!

Track 1 56:48

Alright, the ability is, uh, this can only be used if your Pokémon is in the active spot and only on your first turn. Search your deck for a basic, except any Ditto. If you do, discard this Pokémon and all attached cards that put that Pokémon in its place, then shuffle your deck.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 57:00

I, like, it's hard to say, um, because all of, all of my, like, search cards serve such a unique purpose because I was so reliant on Ultra Ball for Turn 2 Binette, but this, like, might be a card that I'd play 4 of in Binette because it, alright, the way you think about this card is that it's, it's a ball card, it's a thin card, and it creates options, and it gives you, um, initial, And it gives you, like, more starters, so it decreases your mulligans.

Track 1 57:27

Yeah, gives you, gives you perfect starter turn 1 every time.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 57:30

alright. It lets you keep your options open pre Iona. You can, like, pre bench it, and you can get any basic after Iona. That's, like, pretty negligible. It also, like, but when you open it, it's basically, like, always a ball card in your hand. It thins your deck a card, right? Like, every time you VIP, you VIP two Ditto, you dump two cards from your deck, and then you, you, like, instantly dump all the Dittos from your deck, and your deck is, like, fully thinned. Um,

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 57:54

It's not, it's worse than a ball card though. It's worse than a ball card because, like, you could just...

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 58:00

Oh, dude, it's only in your first turn.

Track 1 58:01

Yeah,

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 58:02

well, well, I

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 58:03

Oh, and it's only active? Jesus Christ, this

Track 1 58:07

only good if you start it.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 58:09

Well,

Track 1 58:10

But if you start it, then you're like, oh, we're doing a thing now.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 58:13

yeah, and

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 58:14

that's such a cool card, baby! Oh!

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 58:16

if one of those conditions wasn't true, probably the first turn condition is probably... It would probably be too good if you could use it on any turn, but the fact that it has to be active is so limiting. Because, like you said, you could just do the VIP thing, which would be great, but, uh, you can't really do that.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 58:33

Yeah, mm. Yeah, like, I was oh my god, it like I was thinking it, like, you play basically, like, four more outs to opening Cleffa, while also playing four ball cards in general.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 58:44

yeah.

Track 1 58:45

No, no, that is not

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 58:46

That card sucks! Oh my

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 58:50

Glad we're on the same page now.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 58:52

god! Because it's so good!

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 58:55

Moving on, Aerodactyl, uh, is a cool card, colors, colors, 100 damage and devolves the active Pokemon. I think people have talked about this potentially in Lugia, uh, probably doesn't make the cut though, like getting two Archeops out is just broken, so.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 59:11

The Eeveelutions are kind of cool. There's Vaporeon, Jolteon, Flareon, which are all just like Reversal 180 on,

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 59:18

Oh yeah,

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 59:20

EX or V, so. Yeah, if it's good in weakness and you want to commit space like that, it's probably good.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 59:27

that's true. Good point. Arid, could you do arid? Oh yeah. Arid Acto could be a Zoa card too if you wanted.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 59:36

Yeah.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 59:37

Hmm. It's probably better in Zoa than it is in Luga. yeah,

Track 1 59:45

Do any of the legendary birds not stink? They seem like they all stink.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 59:49

the Zap CX was played in the Japanese winning Marad on deck. Um,

Track 1 59:54

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's a, that's a good Maraudon thing.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 59:56

it's

Track 1 59:57

you have a lightning energy attached, it has no retreat, which is nice. It does a 120 and a 90 snipe.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 1:00:03

that has any damage counters on it though, so you have to like, yeah.

liam_1_09-12-2023_181816 1:00:08

would never play this card. I'm sure Maridon players would play it, but I would never play Maridon, so.

Track 1 1:00:13

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I mean, Maraudon's always just looking for, like, lightning splashable attackers. It's fine. You can put one, we can put one on whatever deck you're building.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 1:00:21

it um, like you have to play like Hawlucha to really get the bonus effect, or like it just cleans up something you already hit, but

Track 1 1:00:29

Yeah, yeah, it's a clean up thing, right? You're like, I mean, you boss something and then you take a double KO and you're like, well, we did a thing.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 1:00:39

yeah, not super great, um, Dragonite sucks,

Track 1 1:00:44

Alright, let's hold off on the trainers, guys. We're at an hour, let's call it a day and do trainers next week.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 1:00:49

yeah, cause there's a bunch of cool trainers, so

Track 1 1:00:51

yeah, yeah, there's definitely a bunch of cool trainers. We've already hinted at amazing trainers coming soon to a set near you.

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 1:00:58

Um, sweet!

Track 1 1:01:00

Guys, any cups or challenges coming up?

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 1:01:03

I am running my cup on Sunday.

Track 1 1:01:05

Oh my god, how are we going to get to Philly? It's going to be hard. Um, and, and no Peoria for you, right, Mike? Or Peoria?

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 1:01:14

No Peoria, no Sacramento, but I did register for Toronto.

Track 1 1:01:18

Oh, yeah!

mike_1_09-12-2023_181816 1:01:21

about you guys? You guys are doing Peoria?

Track 1 1:01:24

Yep, we are, we are locked in for Peoria, because theoretically, once again, that's another tournament Caden is supposed to attend. He's, he's going to be going to school in Chicago. You would think we could somehow make it happen. But we are gonna, we're gonna fly to Chicago and then drive down to Peoria with him and see what we can do. Toronto, as I think I've said, I have a software engineering team in Toronto. But, uh, so I had been thinking I was gonna go to Toronto for like the week and just chill in Toronto. So... But, now I've been told I have to be in New York that week, so. Uh, it appears getting work to pay for my travel is not working out the way I had hoped it would. We're gonna have to continue to work on that. Uh, uh, send in your hot tips, guys. We will talk about them on the pod. And, the John Paul Zero outro.