Button today.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Yeah,
Track 1:Yeah, I'm hitting the button. Welcome to the Trash Alan Podcast. Attendance is 133%. Mike Fouchet, Liam Halliburton, Caden Hyatt, me Brent Halliburton. Uh, the only podcast about the Pokegear trading hard game. I. We are recording this on Halloween, so everybody's got a dog. You'll hear their dogs notify you of trick-or-treating that is happening. As we record the pod, we're all on Twitter. If you leave a review or tweet at us or stuff like that, we will read it on the pod. Uh, it's a great way to ask whatever questions have absolutely been burning on your mind. Dragon Shield sponsors us and sends us sleeps from time to time, and we very much appreciate it. But, uh, without further ado, let's talk about Toronto. Mike, you want to kick us off?
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Sure. Uh, I went, I,
Track 1:less than enthusiastic kickoff That tells you all you need to know people.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:I had a good time. Uh, I played Gardevoir. Um, I went five four, uh, I started five two, so which was fine. And then I lost round eight, so that's when I got knocked out. And then round, so round nine, I Didn't really matter. It wasn't taking it too serious. Um, I played against six lost zone decks out of nine rounds. So playing guard devore, not exactly what you wanna see. I don't think the matchup is unfavor, but it's definitely not favored. Um, I went three and three against it. Two of them were kind like. Uh, blowouts, or at least game one was a blowout, blowout. And game two, uh, whatever, um, four of them, we played just basically one single game, like 35 minutes or so, 40 minutes. Um, and I won three outta four of those. So I, I felt like if I got to play an a, a game, I won more often, obviously, than I did not. Um. And they were all really fun games. Like, uh, those four games were super, super interesting, super intricate, uh, really cool. Um, so I had fun playing them for sure. Just unfortunate, uh, I think to hit six lost box decks. Uh, and then I. The other three rounds, two of them were against rapid strike, which again, is not exactly the matchup you wanna see. It's not super bad, but it's not great. Uh, and I beat one, one of'em was round one. Uh, it was listener of the podcast, so shout out to, uh, to that guy. Um, he made, he didn't play bad at all, actually played pretty well overall. Just kind of made like one or two small mis sequencing or Uh, things, um, which kind of gave me an opening and the matchup is really close if they don't just overrun you. So those like small things kind of cost him the game. But overall I thought he played pretty well. Um, and then the other Inteleon FU is the last round where one of the games I just got super overrun. And then the other one I. Got pretty unlucky. Like my second boss was in my last two prizes where I immediately win the game. And then I have like a, maybe like a 70% chance to win the game, uh, later on. Um, so eight outta nine rounds, like not great. Matchup wise, but they were fun and interesting. And then the ninth round, I played against a Lugia, colorless Lugia. Um, I got convinced to put Temple of Cino in last minute. I had League HQ in until the night before, which probably would've been better, uh, based on my matchups. But, uh, I played temp lasano and the Lugia Machu was also really cool. Um, a couple, just a couple highlights from it. Um, The game, the first game he started weird ear, so it was pretty easy for me to just go 2, 2, 2 on prizes. Um, but I made some cool plays that game as well. Like I prized three psychic energy. So it was really hard. It was basically gonna be impossible or really hard for me to one shot of Lugia. So I was able to like crest it for 60 damage kinda in the early game, which made it easier. I was able to put a collapse down the turn After he, uh, summoning starred. So his bench was, he had weirder active, and then Archeops Archeops lu minion Lugia on his bench, and he couldn't collapse that term, so I just collapsed. And then, uh, that kind of like screwed him over from getting rid of his stuff. So those were some good plays. And then game two was super sick that this might've been the coolest, uh, game that I played the whole tournament. So, um, this will be the last thing that I talk about with my run, but it, it's really cool. There's a lot of interesting things that happen, so, It's game two. He goes first. Um, he, you know, does stuff. iStar, teleportation, burst rals. I get all four rolls out. Turn one, and I have the option to retreat to Mew. And kind of helped my setup, but I had a IO in hand, so I had a play for next turn. So I opt to just do teleportation bursts for 10 and switch back to the Mew because it, it's one less energy that you need to kae Lugia. The 10 damage matters a lot there. Um, so I do the teleportation burst to Mew. He actually misses the turn to summoning star. So he just reads the wind. I set, I spend another turn setting up. Uh, then he gets, um, Lumion for Burnett summoning star fills his bench with uh, two Snorlax and then collapses on the same turn. So he has a weaker turn two, but a very strong turn three. Um, where only has the one two Prizer on the board in Lugia. Um. And he kao's. My Mew. I don't really have that much going on. I think I only got one Kirlia out on my turn to, um, maybe, maybe two curs. But I don't, I definitely don't have a way to KO the Lugia, so I kind of just, I think I might send up Chris Elio or Ninja. Uh, and, and, and pass. Um, so even though he missed a turn, it's kind of, it's kind of the same thing going on. So then on his turn, he bosses up a Kirlia and koss it with Lugia. Um, I, again don't have the response KO on the Lugia Estar, so I use my guard EX to boss KO and Archeops. So now it's four five. He has, uh, an energy in hand and a way to get Drap Eon V out. So he, uh, is able to power up the DRAP Eon V even with just a single Archeops KO's, my guardian X. So now he's at three prizes. I'm at five. I. I had got, I had put two extra ener, I had preloaded a couple energy on arcana, Gardevoir, anticipating that the Guardia might get kd. So then I have a reversal energy to, uh, KO his drape on. Uh, so now it's three, three. He uses Snorlax to kill my arcana to go to, to wait. Is this right? No, no, no, no. He's at two prizes. No, no. He took out, yeah, he goes to one prize, right?'cause he took two prizes early. Kto U Kyoto Kirlia, Kyoto Guardia X, and then Kes my car to go to one prize. I'm at three prizes, so now I have the temp of Cino. So we're kind of, we're kind of in an okay spot. I use my new Guardia X. To KO his Snorlax and Iono Cinccinno on the same turn to put him to one card. If he has a boss, he wins the game. Um, but he does not draw a boss off those. So I'm able to then power up a Zacian. To boss his Lugia VStar that is on the bench. But I did not have enough energy to do 280 damage. I only had enough to be able to do 270 damage. So that 10 damage from the teleportation burst on turn one won me the game. So that was pretty sweet and that was turn three at time actually as well. Not that it really mattered for me,
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:That was, that was one thing I was wondering about. You hit six lost, and I don't think you had any ties.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:size. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because, because like I said, we played long
Track 1:play one game
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Yeah.
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:Oh, okay.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:I feel like there's a, uh, there's kind of like an unspoken agreement that happens somewhere around like 15 to 20 minutes into, uh, one of those games where it's like, okay, this is best of one now
Track 1:Um,
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Um,
Track 1:I didn't see a Medi-Share for Toronto. Did anybody see any one get published?
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:I didn't see it on Twitter, but I did see it, um, on like the stream when, just like when I was walking around loss was first. Okay. Loss was 15%, Sosa was 13. Dard was still number two. Luie and Chi empower both 11 guardian moron were both 10. I'm pretty sure that's accurate.
Track 1:All right. All right. I was just trying to get a sense of just how incredible it is for you to hit that much lost box. Pretty incredible,
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:I mean, pretty incredible. I mean, yeah, I mean, it's the most popular, but hitting six is
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:Yeah.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:way over what you would expect.
Track 1:Right. Did you play any lost boxes that ran? Uh uh, cross switchers,
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:I did. Yes.
Track 1:Alright, that's what I'm talking about.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Yeah, I played a lot of different types of Last box. I played against two one ki actually, they were all kind of different. Like I played against one that was basically the little list. I played one that had, uh, a bunch of vengeful punch, like a just three sli and a bunch of ventral punch town store type of build. I played against two cu yogas, but one of them was the V build. One of them was the Zeba Zamazenta build. Uh, and I played Just regular Turbo with Vs. And and I played Giratina Lost zone. Yeah, so six, six different variants of lost zone actually. Technically,
Track 1:Absolutely wild.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:yeah.
Track 1:All right, uh, let's talk a little about, about, um, uh, how the, uh, how the tournament went. Any, any like outcomes that baffled you guys. Do we have to stop making fun of Mariah and Dex now?
kaden_1_10-31-2023_170951:I mean, I feel, I feel like Mariah Don has always been a deck that's been, oh, okay. How do I, how do I frame this? Um,
Track 1:so
kaden_1_10-31-2023_170951:don't think anyone has really, I don't think anyone has really questioned whether or not Mariah Don was like a good deck. I don't think that's what people have been in question about. It is certainly a deck that has sort of a very linear game plan. Um, that you don't really have many options to deviate from in your given matchups. At least that's been my experience with the deck. Um, so while, while I think I have not run into people who have really argued that moron was a bad deck, um, more so just, it is a very linear deck that doesn't really have a lot of room to counter play.
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:That gets way too much hate. Like everybody always talks about how like, oh, like you want like a non-linear deck or like, you have to be able to like go down different game plans, but like that obviously isn't like a real, something that like actually changes your outcomes. Like I. It, it, it's not like an actual thing. Like the complexity of the deck isn't like an actual decision. It should just be win rate. And like when you look at that like, uh, well at least JW and Jesse now have like two top eights and they both got it back to back. Uh, both went to like, deck deck is amazing. I'm like, I don't think there's any reason to slander it because it's like non-linear, uh, people do that too
kaden_1_10-31-2023_170951:I mean, I, I just think, I think that's a reason why some people opt, choose not to play it. Like I, I think that's why some people choose not to play it, and I think that's fair. You know, some
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:No, no, no. My whole point is that's not fair. That's, that's a, that's a terrible
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Well, well, no, no, no,
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:terrible
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:but you, but you gotta understand like some people, like for myself, I am playing to do well, but I'm also playing because like to have fun and work my brain in interesting ways and whatnot. And like ride on for me just doesn't do that. Right. Um,
Track 1:See Li Liam would say, your desire to work, your brain is causing you to take lss. Why would
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Right Which is fair. Which is fair. Which I, which I could agree with and I can get on board with that. But like, there are like, uh, I'm be, I'm, I have a somewhat of that, uh, have you guys ever read that scrub? Uh, it's like old, it's a really old article. It's like, uh, a like what is a scrub article? Um. and it talks about how people that are not really people that are, you know, scrubs or, or nubs, they're like, they handicap themselves, uh, in, in various ways. And that is what I'm doing for sure.
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:Jesus man. Yeah. Like, that sounds so terrible. I, yeah, man. Like, like, like are you telling me that like if I told you the night before Toronto, you would be guaranteed top eight, if you played my ride on, you'd be like, my brain won't be worked in an interesting
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:I, I'd, I'd play it, then I'd play it. Then
Track 1:I, I mean, I guess that the trick is if, if like, what, what you're implying Liam is that Mariah is just like, it, it has a, like an objectively high win rate right now, but like, uh, uh, people don't play it.
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:I like, I don't, I don't really know, and I mean, I'm moving on Paradox. All I'm saying is, dude, there have been, there's been like one group who has been sending this deck to every tournament the entire season. There's like been one group of like established good players who have been sending this to every tournament the entire season, and they've had like amazing results. Like, like amazing results.
Track 1:so, so here's, here's my question. Uh, like I feel like
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:not be part of the gang, bro?
Track 1:uh, I mean, uh, you know, uh, uh. I, I, here's my question. Um, is this the same thing we said about Lost Box like six months ago when like Grant and Nazo were just full sitting it to every tournament and, and what we were saying, and I felt like the narrative then was if they played Mew, they'd probably get the same results.'cause like they're just very good, like JW and Riley and Mahon, they're just very good at Pokegear. And like if they showed up with Chen Pal, would we be all like Chen pal.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Maybe
kaden_1_10-31-2023_170951:I. mean, I mean, I think, I feel like my, my opinion on Ride-on is just that it is a very linear deck, and for some people that is, you know. There's no doubt that for I think most top players out there, you know, no matter how linear or if people feel a deck is like boring to play or whatnot. At a certain point, if it's that much better than all the alternatives, they will then people will pick it up. But we're in a meta right now where I don't, I would not say that there is any clear best deck. And actually there are a lot of decks that are like about, even in terms of win rate. Um, so people are choosing to pick a, to play a more non-linear deck because they enjoy playing that sort of deck more. Um, and I don't, I don't think there's, there's no. You know, to Li's point, there's no knock on any type of play style there. It's, there's just different preferences that
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:No, I, I, I think that's actually the one thing that you can knock, which is chasing out complexity. Um, I, I played, I, I think, a pretty complex deck, uh, guard war at my last 1, 5, 1 event, and deck was too hard. I misplayed a bunch. Um, why would you do that to yourself when you could have an equal win? Right. And guarantee perfect play? Because the deck is easy to play because it's really linear. I like you're, you're begging to hurt your win rate. If you're like, all the win rates are even, but I'm gonna play the deck. I'm most likely to misplay with that rule.
Track 1:Right. I mean, I guess the question is, are the win rates generated with the, based on the assumption of perfect play, or are the win rates based on the assumption of like, quote, average play and you're like, you're like, if, if this deck, I mean, I, I assume like the whole Zoroark is you, you pick a deck that's hard to play because you're like, well, I'm gonna play it better than other people. So like when you look at those win rates, those are not my win rates kids.
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:I mean, like, I, I think it's what, what does matter is the win, right? Um, win rate against like, yeah, like in the tournament. I think it's hard to judge because obviously, like, I don't think you can assume. There, there's going to be super perfect play, but it's really hard to gauge what you are like supposed to assume your opponents play. Like obviously if you take it to both ends, like if you assume there's perfect play, you're probably gonna get rolled no matter what you play because you know, perfect play, you get smoked, um, and if it's terrible, terrible play, you're just gonna win no matter what you play. So like. I, you have to try to take a guess as to where you think like average play is going to be, or like the play that you'll hit and probably on the higher end, right? Because you don't wanna lose to like every good player you hit, you wanna be able to beat them, and you want to guess what? Like the play level is there and that's a difficult thing to do. And I think that probably only comes with experience.
Track 1:Yeah. Uh, and you know, uh, you, you, you build all these models and you say, well, 15% of the tournament's gonna be lost box. And then you play lost box every round the entire tournament. And you say, wow. Did not go how I thought it was gonna go, like
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:that's, that's difficult.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Right. I do wanna shout out, I wanna shout out one of, uh, well, two, two of my buddies that, uh, played in the event. One of them, Sebastian Crema, is a, is a old school player. He got, um. Top eight at Worlds 2009. Yeah, the year with the Fly Gone Memory Buried deck. Uh, and just like a, a good buddy, um, he, he played Guard Devore as well. He got top, he made day two, I think he didn't do super well that got top 1 28. But check out his list when, uh, when it gets released. He, he only played one battle, VIP pass in Gardevoir. So, uh, check it out. And then, uh,
Track 1:And how'd he do?
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Uh, he got top 1 28,
Track 1:Oh, nice. Nice.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:not too bad. Uh, he played some nest balls instead of VIP pass And then, uh,
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:Did he like not have the cards or something, or what?
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:no, no, no, no. He, he chose to do that
Track 1:Yeah, just imagine the kinda result he could have had if he played the optimal list.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Yeah, right. Um, and then my other buddy that I drove up with, Mike Natto, uh, he kind of got back into the game, uh, late spring last year and, uh, has been playing a bunch. So happy to see him do well. He, he got top 32, I think he got like 19th or something like that. So he was in contention for top eight for, for quite a while. He played charr. Uh, very similar list to the Azul group. Um, but he played a Roam V instead of ante V to help, uh, set up at the beginning of the game. He said it was very, very strong. So, uh, so look out for his list as well.
Track 1:Uh, I was gonna ask you guys if you had any reaction on the, uh, uh, in a's list,
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:I mean, it's pretty standard, right?
kaden_1_10-31-2023_170951:I mean, I think it tastes good. Um, I feel like I would probably, I would probably run it.
Track 1:like, I feel like it's that it's that 59th or 60th card where like some people play it, some people don't. Like I. so much of the rest of the, I'm like, you're definitely playing those like 55 cards.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Right, right, right, right. Um, yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh, like my friend Mike played the road on v instead of that, I, I, it's good against lost box, I think like going to nta and then they, if they're, if they have to hit into it, then you penny it, like you win the game. Um, I think that's the main reason for it.
Track 1:Yeah. All right. Um, I. Liam, you had a fantastic, uh, uh, uh, um, uh, philosophy you wanted to share related to a Rowan Stows tweet. Did you guys all see Ro the Rowan Stow tweet?
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:The warped energy,
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:Um, I can't.
kaden_1_10-31-2023_170951:the Warped energy one?
Track 1:Yeah.
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:I don't, I don't know.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Before we get into it, anti shoutout to Rowan, Kieran, and Jeremy for playing one one SB Beyond VMax in their Gardevoir. Not a good idea,
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:Yeah. They all bombed, right?
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Yeah. Well, Rowan lost his winning in, but yeah, they, none of them made. None of them made day two. Yeah. Oh, for three on day twos, so not great. Um, but yeah, so Rowan Round one played against some dude that had a hole in Phantom Energy, which warp like crazy. Uh, and his opponent like, didn't get any penalty, blah, blah, blah. Um, yeah, I don't know. Liam, what, what did you think of that?
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:Yeah. Um, I, I, I don't know what philosophy my dad was referring to as great. Uh, that's not what people typically describe my philosophies as, but, uh, yeah. Um, I, I've said this before. Uh. People, like people do it to themselves, man. Like it, like I, you know, I, I know whoever Rowan's opponent is has a box of perfectly normal, scarlet violet energies printed like three, three months ago that do not have a single bit of warp. But, you know, just for kicks, were gonna rock with the insanely warped energy. And like you already know after dude like pulls up with the most warped energy that they could find. If they got a DQ or a game was, or something, they'd be all over Twitter, just like, you know, letting it loose about how terrible like game wass and stuff are. When like, just like dude, like these, like they're obviously war, bro. Like, and like Yeah man. Like the snapping bro. Like kids do the most insane snaps every time they play a card and they're like, oh my God, I can't believe my card's worked by the end of the tournament. Like. Yes, you can. Look what you did. Do it. It's terrible. Um, yeah, man. Like give him a game loss. I don't, I don't care, bro. Like you brought the energy. That's absurd. And like, especially if it has like such a massive impact on the game, like Rowan's case, I, I can't believe there was no penalty.
kaden_1_10-31-2023_170951:I mean, I don't, I don't even think, I think it's irrelevant whether or not it has an impact on the game. Um, I think if card, if cards are warped, it deserves a pen, like it, it, it shouldn't matter. You know, you, you understand what I'm saying? It shouldn't matter whether or not it had an impact on the game. It's about whether or not they're warped and whether or not that's a problem. Um, I, you know, one of my, Connor Peterson, one of my good friends, um, was playing in a cup. I remember a, a little while ago where, you know, they handed out a bunch of penalties for. Um, for having warped cards going into top cut of this cup. And I think I talked about it on the pod and I remember, um, you know, he had all those hollow psychic energy in his deck and he was the first person to get a penalty and like, you know. He was like, yeah, honestly, kind of fair. Because the truth is like they are warped and they do warp and like I ju I think you're just asking for a penalty if you use them. A part of me honestly believes that Pokegear, given how prolific energy cards are, part of me feels like Pokegear should just ban them. Um.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Hmm.
kaden_1_10-31-2023_170951:Because of, you know, it's not like you're preventing and you're, there's no risk of like, preventing people from playing the game, um, because you're banning this card. Like you might fear if you ban some other, like hollow for seal, storm for seal stones and force everyone to get the non hauls, like that would, that would be a problem. But for something like psychic energy, like that's, that's not an issue. So part of
Track 1:say
kaden_1_10-31-2023_170951:just like
Track 1:We're banning hollow Greninja. There are no Greninja.
kaden_1_10-31-2023_170951:Well, yeah, but I, I just
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:The upside would
kaden_1_10-31-2023_170951:case is something like psychic energy. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Like the upside. The
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:No, no. I'm saying, I'm saying for banning Greninja, like those cards are the most warped cards in the deck and they're fantastic to like open, rip off like the upside
kaden_1_10-31-2023_170951:there's no, there's no non hollow option. And, and even for the case, like Foreal Stone, where there is a non hollow option, like the non hollow option is hard to get ahold of. Most people have Mew, more people have the hollow option than the non hollow option. So the downside of banning it is really high. But with something like hollow psychic energy, like everyone has plenty of psychic energy. There's, you're not hindering anyone in that sense. So part of me feels like they should just ban hollow energies. I mean, at least those tho those old hollow energies, um, obviously not the like new secret rare ones'cause those are honestly higher quality. And I haven't really had much problem with the warping or seen many cases of bad warping in those. But yeah, I don't know, I just think Pokegear should ban them, to be quite honest. It's too much of a problem.
Track 1:Uh, let's, let's, let's move on to talk about paradox Drift. But I want to end this by saying, I mean, they do look sick.
kaden_1_10-31-2023_170951:Oh, absolutely, without a doubt.
Track 1:It's crazy how awesome they look. I think everyone that's ever seen one is like, man, I wish my deck was full of those energies. They like banging. I, alright, so, uh, I think to kick off, uh, uh, talking about paradox rift, guys and, and what we think is gonna happen for LAIC, we should talk about, uh, Shintaro Ito. He won some tournament in Japan. I don't know what, apparently some big tournament.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:With what? Where did you see this information?
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:I, I think it was like a city league. Um, I, I checked yesterday and run a champions paradox.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Did he tweet about this?
Track 1:Yeah.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Okay, let's
Track 1:2016 World Champs Tarro. Guido won the event I went to today with this Chen Pow iron hands list. Hard to tell. Uh, but this, uh, and city league results, iron hands might be living up to the hype. I dunno, maybe he just went to some local thing. But the moral story is Shinx Tarro Guido is playing Chen Pal iron hands. And apparently that's a thing.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Where Send, send, send me the link to this tweet.
Track 1:Dude, look in the pod. Look in the podcast show notes, man.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Oh, okay. Got it.
Track 1:Mike's like, oh yeah. Oh yeah. We already rewrite this stuff
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:we haven't done those in a long time.
Track 1:What are you talking about? Dude, just last week we had like five lists from, uh, was it Sacramento? What was it?
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:true. Okay.
Track 1:the show notes are the greatest.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Hmm. So this is basically, uh, the current chio list with like two or three car changes fitting a one i, one iron hand, one lightning energy.
Track 1:Uh,
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:no super rod either.
Track 1:yeah, he cut all the super rods and went to 10 waters and a lightning, and that seems like, um, not something I would probably do, but you know, I'm bad.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Hmm.
Track 1:Now I know everybody makes fun of Japan list and says, well, it's Japan list. But I thought we should start by saying, uh, and we have, uh, you know, America's premier Chen pal player on the pod. We should get some like reaction to this list. I
kaden_1_10-31-2023_170951:Um, I'm, I'm trying to find it as well. One sec. Um,
Track 1:you looking at the show notes?
kaden_1_10-31-2023_170951:I'm, I'm pulling them up actively.
Track 1:Google Docs.
kaden_1_10-31-2023_170951:Yeah, I know. Uh.
Track 1:It's amazing.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:No. Super odd seems would, would I, I don't hate no. Super odd if you weren't like playing the heavy poker stop, but like you're trying to poke stop like most turns. So not having some, uh, protection there for like discarding y. Yeah, right. Exactly.
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:Is.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Yeah.
kaden_1_10-31-2023_170951:Yeah. Okay. Um, so I hate this list. Uh,
Track 1:Yeah, I mean may, maybe it's Japan, best of one, and they're just like, yo, yellow, yellow, yellow.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Yeah,
kaden_1_10-31-2023_170951:Um, that very well might be it. I think this list is, um, I mean, what I'll say, I think this list would be awful over the course of a best of three day in, in a regionals. Um, I think not running any, I, I think not running any of the, um, basin. What, what's the card? What's the card? The one that searches out to the professor's letter. Um.
Track 1:Earth and
kaden_1_10-31-2023_170951:Not running any Earth and vessel is kind of egregious. I think Earth and Vessel is a better addition to the stack than Iron Hands is. Um, I think the stack should absolutely run Earth and Vessel. I, I agree with Mike. I think not running Super Rod is really greedy. Um, I think you kind of have to run Super Rod. Um. top of this. I, I think those are the two big things. I would make sure to add One, probably one to two vessel, one to two super odd. Um, I would make sure to add cuts probably being in the ultra ball count. Maybe the vacuum. Um, I haven't, I haven't, I haven't, yeah, I mean, probably I would cut one in IO as well. Um, but I, I,
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:if we're playing hands, we could probably cut cologne.
kaden_1_10-31-2023_170951:is what I was thinking as well. That's what I was gonna say. I, I feel like I don't, I haven't tested, um, much paradox for rty. Um, been busy with school and whatnot, but I think if the guardi matchup and the lost box matchup is good enough with hands, if hands fixes it enough, especially with if you have super odds, you can cycle hands. Um, I would absolutely cut, at the very least, the cologne. Um, I could maybe see a world where you don't need cross switchers either. yeah, so I, I feel like this sta this list. I do not personally like this list. Um, but I think it makes some interesting choices and I would, the four Ultra Ball is, is honestly, it feels so good to play with, uh, ultra Ball is in a phenomenal card in this deck, but, um, I think there are other things I would put in there before the Ultra Balls.
Track 1:Uh, you know, I, I think it's, instead of the super rods and the fourth pocus top, he plays like the heavy ball, I think. I feel like the heavy ball's in and outta most, uh, Chen pal list.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Right.
kaden_1_10-31-2023_170951:Yeah. I like heavy ball.
Track 1:Yeah, yeah. Desperate to be able to find his iron hands when he needs it. So, so I, I understand you, you look at this list and you say, this is not the list I would play. Here's a question though, is, is iron hands in one lightning energy, the future of Chen Pal?
kaden_1_10-31-2023_170951:think this is gonna be very meta dependent. That's my feeling
Track 1:like once you start throwing vessels in, like theoretically one lightning energy gets even better, right?
kaden_1_10-31-2023_170951:oh, absolutely. I mean, I think. I think the question is just whether or not iron hands is a worthwhile addition to the deck and better than like say switcher cologne. Um, and I think this comes down to what you anticipate the meta to be like. I think if you're expecting way more single price decks, you know, my gut feeling, and I haven't tested any of this, but my gut feeling is that if you're expecting more single price decks, you're gonna wanna go for or slash like Yeah. If you're expecting more single price decks. You'll wanna go, um, with the Iron Hands version, if you're expecting more, you know, like Iron Valley and or Roaring Moon or whatnot, those types of things, you wanna lean to a, just a more streamlined straight Gem pal variant. Um,
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:So like, the thing is like, like iron hands, like, doesn't help with any of that. Like
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Yeah.
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:I, I I was talking about this there. I'll go pull it up because, um, in, in our chat I said. What is it? Oh yeah, you're, you're basically like the deck already out, trades every other deck, like assuming that you hit your backs, turn two, assuming that you power up your attackers like on command. Uh, you already out trade literally like every other deck. Um, and like the exception would be like getting 2, 2, 2 out of the game. By like Lugia and Maria on and stuff, but like Iron Hands doesn't fix this at all because it's of course a two Prizer as well. Um, unless you're able to hit like a Squawk and Lumin, like back-to-back turns with iron hands somehow. Um, so like you're like adding the ability to trade with more stuff and like, that's not like what the deck needs. Like, especially for, um, and like I, I'd say like one of the biggest upsides of Iron Hands is that like it keeps your energy in play. So. Isn't as bad'cause they have to deal with iron hands. But like all of the decks that boss backs are like stuff that iron hands doesn't want to out. Like,
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Right.
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:so yeah, it just seems really, poor.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Like, imagine if a gardy like bosses backs or with guard X.'cause like that's a thing that can
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:Yeah, exactly.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:even even against Gardy, right? And you're like, oh well, uh hmm.
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:Yeah.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:I have this fully powered iron hands Yeah. Uh, that's kind of my thing too. And that's, uh, yeah. I just don't think it changes chi and Powell's matchups at all. Like your weakness, Against lost boxes. Not that you like, you, you, you can lose to lost box because you don't set up or you get, and this doesn't change that, right? If you get set up, you beat'em with switcher clone or you beat'em with iron hands, doesn't really matter.
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:I.
Track 1:So, uh, how did Sari do well with this? Is it just like Japan? Its
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:I, I, I mean, dude, of course it's not a bad list. Like it's two cards off of a list that we know to be like, incredibly dominant and able to out trade everything. Um, like you, you, you can't mess it up. Um,
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:It's just like, it's, it's the same, it's, it's the same deck. It just, maybe it's like, maybe slightly better or maybe slightly worse than the, what we have right now, but it's not like a, a, a big, huge game changer for that archetype specifically.
Track 1:will, will people, uh, no. People will definitely do it. Will, uh, um, Will they not regret it if they say, I'm gonna put a lightning energy in an iron hands and Gardevoir.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Uh, guard. Ofor can only accelerate to sidekick. So
Track 1:Uh oh, okay.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Hey, I've put multiple people have already suggested that to to me putting Thorton
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:Yeah. I mean, of
Track 1:It's the best. It is the best deck in the game. Yeah.
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:like, yeah, I think I iron hands. I think, um, everybody knows if you could power it up, um, quickly and consistently, uh, it's an insane attacker, but like there's, there's not a lot of decks that do that super well or like that.
Track 1:Gotcha.
kaden_1_10-31-2023_170951:I also think there are actually, you know, the way, I mean, again, we have not really had any real tournaments in Paradox Rift yet, but, you know, the way I've seen Twitter talk shaping up, um, it doesn't seem, it seems like there's gonna be a lot of multi prize decks and less single prize stuff going on, which is not favorable for iron hands.
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:I've played a few games of Paradox riff now. I played my first games last night. Um, the meta is like incredibly, incredibly fast. Um, iron valiant, like I, I honestly don't know if 10 pal's gonna be able to stick around and like, if it does, it probably needs the 70 HP for give. Um, because like I was hitting turn one meta like basically every game. Um,
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Love to hear that
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:yeah.
kaden_1_10-31-2023_170951:Yeah, I agree. I actually. Think, I actually think CHIMP felt might be dead.
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:yeah. Um, Roaring Moon is like, it, it brings like the 2, 2, 2, um, matchups to like a whole nother level. Like it basically every game does end in, um, four turns. Not, not really because of iron hands, like how Jake predicted, but like, yeah. Um, there's two prizes happening basically every turn. Um, no, no matter what you play, like. The bench sniping is on a whole nother level, and like there's a one, hey K attacker that gets powered up on turn one, but it's also a two prizer, so like, yeah, the games are like incredibly, incredibly fast.
Track 1:So, what, what do we wanna do? Do you, do we wanna talk about like a couple of key cards, like Iron Valiant, or do we wanna like just jump right into set review? Or do we wanna save set review for next, uh, uh, podcast. I.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Um, I'm down to just talk through some like, like I have Ethan's Twitter pulled up still right now and I'm just kinda like looking at some of the different decks. I dunno, maybe we can just talk about some of the ideas that are coming out of Japan and how we think what decks could be good or Definitely, yeah. I don't, I don't know. Does that
Track 1:I like it. I think that sounds great.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:about like decent decks. So like, um, uh, a concepts that, a concept that I'm super interested in is brute bonnet decks. So brute bonnet is the, I think, ancient Pokegear that if it has the ancient tool on it, it poisons both active Pokegear. Um, and so there's a, a list that won one of the city leagues. That runs cloth, which is a 120 HP fighting Pokegear that is in this new set that for, uh, two colorless does 190 damage, 30 plus one 60 if, uh, I don't know. Which, if, if cloth has to have a special condition or the defending Pokegear has to have a special condition, but, uh, I think its cloth has to be affected by special condition. Um, either way. So you're, so you're hitting for one 70 for ADTE. Uh, poison brings up to 180. If you have sneezing rat, that's 200 and it's a single prizer. Um, so that's pretty cool. And it runs the Hasian electrode V, which we've had for a while, which, uh, does for no energy, 200 for each special condition on it. So you poison it, you play spicy season curry, which burns your active Pokegear. Um, so it's doing like pretty good damage for really low energy costs. So this list is really, is really cool. Um. I dunno. What do you guys think of brute bonnet decks?
Track 1:I looked at this briefly and I'm down with it, but I was also like the fact that I'm down with it tells me nothing about it. It's a good deck.
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:Yeah, I, this card looks terrible. It looks terrible. Um. I mean, yeah, I just, I, I have zero clue how this beats, like, something like Iron Valiant, like you just get shredded. I, I was playing with the Urshifu version, which is definitely worse than like the Ztu version or whatever people play, um, or like a worse matchup for this. But yeah, uh, I mean, like, it like doesn't seem to have like anything super strong going for it. I don't think you're one hitting most two prizes, right. Um,
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Uh, with, with sneeze of the, with el, with electrode. You are maybe not cloth with
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:Yeah. But like if you're
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:it's a
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:hand with the electrode is two, like I don't see how this ever like takes a favorable train to anything except like, yeah. I, anything really, I was gonna say Iron Hands, but they get two prizes as well. So like Yeah. I just, I like you get the first attack, right? It's really, really lean and like that's if you draw well'cause you have to hit this like tool too. Um, and one of your. Uh, it's, it seems if No, yeah,
kaden_1_10-31-2023_170951:I agree.
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:it probably is a deck. I don't think it's gonna be, it's definitely not gonna be like, um, a dominant deck. I think, like, it might have like placements every now and then, but yeah, it's not, it doesn't have like BDIF material.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Sure.
kaden_1_10-31-2023_170951:I feel like a lot of people are underestimating. Exactly just how much the power level of the game has increased with the release of Paradox Rift. Like I, you know, Jake, Jake was making a whole fuss previously, um, prior to the release about, you know, iron hands, increasing pace of game and whatnot. But like, like Liam said, you know, I mean, I, I don't think iron hands to the real culprit here, but I think I agree with what Jake was saying. You know, without a doubt, the pace of the pace of the game has picked up dramatically. Um, we are no longer in the. I would say actually decently slow format that we had pre previously.
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:I.
kaden_1_10-31-2023_170951:Um, we are now, yeah, we are now back to, um, you know what I think a lot of players are used to, which is, you know, games are over in four turns. And, and I think, I
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:what do you guys
kaden_1_10-31-2023_170951:think if you can't keep pace with that?
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:What do you, what do you, is, is there any particular
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:they, they printed busted cards at Paradox Surf. I think that's why it's like. Fun for people to build with. Like, other people are like, oh my God, there's like creativity back in the game. But, you know, I mean, in, in three weeks after LAIC everything will be like solved again. And then, um, the format's just gonna be like insanely fast as like, you know, one agro deck turns out to just like Blitz everything else off the field. Um, you know, everybody's gonna go back to complaining, but like, paradox just has a ton of really, really insane cards. Um, and all of those, like, they're, they're insane because they let win faster.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Okay, so, so which, which cards like is Roaring Moon and Iron Valiant the, the two biggest culprits of this?
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:I'd say those two right now. Um. Yeah, I, I'd just say those two, like and tho those two and then they drive everything out. Oh, earth and Vessel as well. Earth and Vessel as well. Yeah. Um, that, that card just makes decks like go really, really fast. You thin out really fast. You like, um, yeah, yeah. You fill your hand with energy. It's really good card. Um, and like the format just gets faster when, like other decks drive decks to be faster, like. I, I, I think like other decks are like forced to compete by trying to be faster on their own as well. Like I think, um,
Track 1:This is the, this is the battle VIP conundrum, right?
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:yeah, a little bit, uh.
kaden_1_10-31-2023_170951:Yeah, I, I agree. I mean, I think, I think Roaring Moon and Iron Valley are probably the two biggest culprits. Um, and I, I think, uh, like, I don't know. I don't know how, I don't know how Dex. Like, I don't know how small, small decks like guard. I don't know how stuff keeps pace, honestly. Um, you know, I don't know how Gardy beats Gardy feels. I think Gardy iss still strong. Um, I think, you know, I've seen talk of, I. People, people talking about sort of the guardi variant that I, I remember I played to UICA while back. Um, the cle, the good old clef hating, um, which might be the direction Guardi has to go to.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Well, okay, so that actually is a good segue'cause that was gonna be my next question. So if the format you guys feel is so, so, so fast, is clef key, a way to slow down the format and KF Key gets significantly better now with the, with the Tmm because it actually can do something so. Like that's an engine that I'm interested in trying, whether it's like clef town store, clef, Arvin, I don't know for sure yet, but, uh, I don't know. That seems
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:Yeah. Click you with the tms. Do the TMS go away after you use it?
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:They, they go away at the end of the turn, regardless of if you use it.
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:Wow.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:unfortunately,
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:makes sense. Yeah.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:yeah, definitely worse.
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:Uh, yeah, CL key's probably pretty good. Um, like I think it still has some issues like, uh, building, I think for the clef key engine, um, does feel very weird in that like, step one is you play a bunch of cards that are like all really terrible after turn one, turn two, like yeah. Um, a bunch of town stores and like. Evolution, TMS or whatever it's like, and a bunch of clef key, like you're just filling your deck with like bad cards.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Yeah, it's true
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:um,
kaden_1_10-31-2023_170951:I just feel like this might be the direction Guardi has to go into to stay, to stay playable. I don't know.
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:it like,
kaden_1_10-31-2023_170951:I'm, I'm, I'm scared.
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:also like the other thing is like the clef key you'd like. You think it's best because like you, or like you think it's like really well applied when you throw it in the deck, like, uh, gold dango or guard of war where you like bench all these 60 HP Pokegear and you protect it with cleft teeth. But like, you know, step one is you play all these 60 HP Pokegear and all that means is like 30, 40% of games. Like when you start with one of these Pokegear, you just get dunked by valiant, which is like, you know, even though you're like teching for it, it feels pretty bad if you just lose to it like 30% of the time or something.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Yeah, that's, that's fair.
Track 1:Uh, well, and I can't remember. I mean, I guess. Uh, may, maybe it was like, uh, um, dark rye. Like what was the last deck? The, the fast rate. La Dios was the last deck where you could like realistically potentially don someone before they get a turn. Right? Like this is a thing now.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Yeah. Right.
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:Yeah.
Track 1:That's wild kids.
kaden_1_10-31-2023_170951:It's,
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:Yeah.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Now you actually have to bench two things if
Track 1:Yeah. Yeah. Like before, yeah, like, yeah. For the last year, we've played a format where like, since people can't play supporters turn one, you're like, you do not want to bench a second thing. You wanna wait and chill and gather some information before you go bench in something else. But now if you got two Pokegear in your hand, you're like, well, I better put these down.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:unfortunate.
Track 1:That's crazy.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:We haven't really seen too many. I don't think Ethan has like any iron valiant decks
Track 1:Uh, that was, that was gonna be my next question is like, like when I look at all the lists that he posts of things that did well in Japan, there's like, there's no iron value, there's fricking zoro work, so like single prize decks alive and well, because apparently no one's playing iron t.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Hmm.
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:Um, valiant like it EE even though I was hitting turn one meta jam with it, uh, a good chunk of time. It also feels like pretty vulnerable to basically like everything that you don't just win instantly against. Um, because like, at least for the list that I was playing, and I think, I think most of the lists that I've seen, like the entire engine is squawk and steel stone. So like after turn one, you, you basically just don't draw any cards. Like,
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Hmm.
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:like you, you know, it's like a really combo heavy deck. So like you just run out of steam really, really quickly. Um, which I mean yeah, like, feels terrible to play. Um. You have to add a ton of switch cards or something if you wanna get like any damage to stick on the field. And uh, yeah, I didn't have the for it because after, to use the squawk, I after to use the seal stone, like the whole deck just stops going.
kaden_1_10-31-2023_170951:Yeah. Huh.
Track 1:so any predictions for LEIC?
kaden_1_10-31-2023_170951:I think, I think, um, I think Iron Valiant Roaring Moon or Sard is gonna win the event. I.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Iron Valiant, roaring Moon or Charr. Okay,
kaden_1_10-31-2023_170951:This is largely unfounded and I don't, I could not make a solid case to back up this claim,
Track 1:this hot take.
kaden_1_10-31-2023_170951:is my current.
Track 1:we go.
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:I, I do not think roaring mode's that good. Um, yeah, it's, I, I told you I played some games with it, and it's just like, it also is a deck that feels like it runs outta steam. After turn one, you're drawing three cards a turn, and that's if you hit like one of your four supporters. Um, I guess, uh, some will start playing the bi like, like fine. But yeah, like the, the deck just feels like, eh. Um, it's kind of like Maria ride on. You're just like running it down with this, uh, like two prizer. Um,
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Yeah. I think it's funny the, uh, that more Pika is seeing play. It is like just free or treat basically
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:I, yeah, I played the Mew EX free, free retreats obviously needed, uh, for all the bench acceleration, but I mean, I guess the one prizer better. Yeah, that makes a sense.
Track 1:Do you own more Pybas, Liam?
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:No, these are paradox.
Track 1:Oh, uh, guys, any other stuff we wanna talk about or do we want to like just set review next week and, and give people all, all the crazy deeds?
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Yeah,
kaden_1_10-31-2023_170951:I think I'm feeling, I'm feeling pretty good. I don't think I have much else to say.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:yeah, we, it'll give us another week to like think about and maybe play some games. I don't know if I'll play any games this week, but I definitely will be Next week. We'll see. I'll probably at least have thought about some more stuff.
Track 1:Uh uh, are you thinking at all about flying down to Brazil, Mike, that's the big question.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:definitely, definitely not.
Track 1:Uh, um, what's the over under on you doing in Europe, Mike?
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Um, 50 50?
Track 1:I'm all right. Uh, 50 50 I think is pretty good.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Yeah.
Track 1:Uh, maybe a better question because I was talking with, uh, uh, uh, my wife about this, uh, today. Um, health tilting, would it have been if you were still teaching and you had to deal with the new NAIC schedule?
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Oh yeah, that'd be pretty awful.
Track 1:Like, it's just like it's, it's like untenable.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Yeah. Yeah.
Track 1:mean, I assume it's related to booking a convention center, but I don't know what they're thinking. Like it's just objectively bad.
kaden_1_10-31-2023_170951:Yeah, I mean, I'm confident they wouldn't have made the change without good reason, and I kind of, I kind of trust them on this sort of, this sort of logistical front.
Track 1:Uh, but having said that, they, they should be aware that like, whatever reason it is, is probably not good enough because like, it's too soon. It's too soon.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Yeah, it's gonna be really hard for lots of kids to convince their parents, well, I don't know, like anybody that's competitive won't, it won't be that hard. But like anybody that's like, you know, just, you know, I'm in high school or middle school and I just want to go have fun at my first big. tournament, like you're not gonna be able to convince your parents to miss like your final exams or whatnot.
Track 1:Right.
kaden_1_10-31-2023_170951:Yeah.
Track 1:I mean, I mean, the crazy thing is, uh, uh, is that even true? Like, I mean, uh, for, for people who are like, I don't know. I mean, I guess maybe it just goes show we're not hardcore enough, but like, uh, So, uh, we, we can wrap up the pod with the, with a would you rather for Liam Halliburton.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Ooh
Track 1:Liam, if it turns out that your high school graduation is that Friday. Are you going to NAIC or are you going to your high school graduation? Yeah. All the way right.
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:I, I, I am general bro, like, people with way too much emphasis on these like, like little moments. That's not even like, it's, it's, it's not even like part of the thing like, you know, like, it, it, it's kinda like a celebration for like everything you already did. It's not like a. It's, it's not like a thing in and of itself. Like
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Sure
squadcaster-7g6j_1_10-31-2023_180951:I'm, I'm happy celebrating what I already did from NAIC me.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:I, uh, I was in that situation actually. Um, my graduation from high school was the same weekend as US Nationals, 2009. Um, I had to go to my graduation though because I gave. I gave a speech, so I was pretty, I like, I, I guess I could've gotten out of it, but like it was, there was much more, uh, on the line, I guess for me.
Track 1:Uh, and what was your speech about?
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Well, it started off by, uh, basically saying that they were lucky for me to be there
Track 1:because you should be playing Pokegear. That's what, alright. That, you know, that was really where this whole, like the punchline of that whole joke was going. So I'm glad to hear it.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:yes.
Track 1:Exactly. All right. Fantastic guys, the John Pauls are our outro. We'll be back next week with, uh, a little bit of a set review of Paradox riff. We'll grind through all these cards and talk about'em because I think everybody agrees it's a big set.
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Yeah.
Track 1:Done guys in and out. That's how we like to do it. Anything else going on?
mike_1_10-31-2023_180951:Um, I, I, I, I didn't wanna mention this on the podcast, but this is, uh, Liam and Caden. I don't know if you guys heard about this, but this is so funny to me.