All right. Welcome to the Trashalanche Podcast. The only podcast about the Pokegear trading card game. It's a shame people cannot find other ways to learn about the trading card game, but we are the only one, uh, attendance is weird today. We've got Liam, we've got Caden got me. Mike will be here in a few minutes as soon as his train arrives at his house or something like that. Uh, it's absolutely wild. Uh, dragon Shield is our sponsor. We gotta get some sleeves from those guys. I think they were supposed to send some, and they didn't. I, we gotta look into that, but their sleeves are the best. Uh, people say that there's like manufacturing defects and all that stuff, and like, there's always like, I like this sleeve. I like that sleeve. Dragon shields feel the best while shuffling. There's just nothing, there's nothing to do about that. They feel better than other sleeves while shuffling. Um, guys, this is a big podcast. It's the, it's the, uh, like top 10 podcast in America because. It's top 10.
squadcaster-ihg7_1_12-19-2023_142108:I, I have one quick Dragon Shield, add-on recommendation for folks,
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:Give it to us.
squadcaster-ihg7_1_12-19-2023_142108:slot in there. So while it is true, you know, the, the, the, they have been having some manufacturing issues, what I generally do, I use Dragon Shields at every tournament. What I generally do is I will sleeve up my deck. And just look at my decks and pick out any, pick out anyone's with obvious like Nicks or dents from manufacturing. And I've done that every tournament. And usually there's like around six or seven sleeves that I end up pulling out and replacing from the same box. And that works out great. So would recommend doing that if you're using Dragon Shields. But they're just by far the most resilient. And I continue to use my deck sleeve with Dragon Shields well, well after the tournament's finished.
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:I've never had to do that. To me it seems like a whole lot of, yap. I've never had like, major production issues or anything, or like the, like the people who have had the like sleeves open on both sides or something. I've never run into anything like that. Always works fine for me.
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:It's golden. It's golden. Yeah.
squadcaster-ihg7_1_12-19-2023_142108:get into San Antonio, Texas.
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:Alright. Why, why don't we kick things off, kid? And you wanna walk us through how, how your San Antonio went? We'll bury the lead.
squadcaster-ihg7_1_12-19-2023_142108:So, um, I ended up settling on Moron. Um, I, by Friday night, I was LA really between c Zd and Moron, um, for which deck I felt like playing and I ended up settling on Moron largely because I personally, and I know this is a hot take, I believe that moron is favored in Tza, um, at least the list that I was playing. Um, I did quite a lot of testing with Cameron Shenoy the night before of the czar moron matchup, and I found, um, I found moron to be winning most of the time at, in, at the very least of the games were usually in the hands of moron and so I decided to go Moron. Obviously the trade off, uh, your trading off that your Mew matchup is substantially worse. Um, obviously, and, but besides that, you have Largely better matchups across the field. So I decided to go a ride out. Um, the biggest, the only like, kind of interesting thing about the list that I ran, I ran a one one Reg likeI VMax. Um, the Reg likeI VMax was really, really great. It the damage buff and the attack helps your numbers a bunch and a countless matchups as well as being a bulky attacker that most decks can't. One shot, which can help you get ahead on the prize trade if you fall behind. Um, Probably worth trying out. Uh, if I'm running right on, I would run it again. Uh, my tournament did not go so well. Um, largely I made one mistake, which I'll talk about, one mistake in my list, which I'll talk about later. Um, but let's just go through, let's go through the, the, day. Actually I'll mention the mistake. So, um, the one big consideration that we had, cam Cameron Shano and I had going into this tournament was whether or not to add the Spiro tube to the list to help our DTM Mew matchup. Obviously, it doesn't really help against the fusion Mew matchup. The cut we would've done was cutting zap doses for the Spiro tube and we ended up deciding not to add the Spiro tube. I, that was largely because I expected more, a majority of the muse to be fusion, Mew, and uh, and or just not actually hitting a ton of Mew. uh, both Cam and I ended up hitting 2D TMU on each of our runs. Uh, losing to both the matchup is absolutely awful with Seth Spiritomb and that base that ended both of our runs. Um. to walk through my rounds round one, I played against lost Giratina. I had actually not done too much testing prior to this event. I had not played a single game of the lost Giratina matchup going into this tournament. Um, the matchup is very, the matchup iss very good, very solid. Um, as long as they don't, as long as they don't have a very fast start that you can't shut down, um, you will usually just be ahead. So th I two owed this loss Giratina. Um. It wasn't very close. The biggest thing you have to worry about in the last Giratina matchup is honestly time. Usually you'll win two outta the three games. It's just kind of up in the air whether or not you'll be able to finish them. Um, the second round already not, already not looking good. I face an Urshifu. Erie is one of the biggest matchups besides dt, MU, that I did not want to hit this event. Um, so I hit it round two. Luckily, that matchup is actually not horrible. Uh, it because As I mentioned last pod, um, Sy is a fairly inconsistent deck. It's one of the, it's one of the most inconsistent decks in this format. So my opponent, we, uh, I won game a very fast game. One as my opponent started in Inteleon and I got turned one knockout on the Inteleon, followed by another knockout turn two on his Sy, um, on his Sy v. So it was very, a very quick game. Um, game two went exactly how he wants it to go. He got ahead, he got his board with the two Ursi VMax two Auxiliary and was just able, was able to cycle Gale punches. So I conceded that very fast. Um, at that stage there's not really anything, anything, right on can feasibly do. And then game three, um, I he just kind of full bricked, um, I. I Gus killed his auxiliary. He wasn't able to hit the pieces he needed to hit. He slowed down and kind of putted out. And so I was able to take game three Round. Round three, I hit DTMU. Um, that game is over basically instantly. It's a very quick, uh, O2. He Blowns me outta the water. That matchup is completely unplayable without spirit. Two. Uh. Then the following round, I hith on mirror. This was my, uh, one of two ride on mirrors that I hit this tournament, um, this game when we tied, um, I don't, you really shouldn't be tying the Mariah on mirror. I gotta be honest. If you're tying them right on mirror, something went wrong. Um, I lost game one. It was a, all, all three games were, or the first two games were fairly close. Um, I lost game one because I wasn't able to hit a lost vacuum on the bravery charm when I needed it. That's like the number one thing in this matchup is the bravery charm is one of the main things that can throw off the prize trade, the 2, 2, 2 prize trade. So being able to hit your lost vacuums or gusts in order to get around the bravery Charms are very critical in mirror, um, in order to stay in the prize trade. so I wasn't able to do that. Game two, I was able to do that. Um, and he whiffed, uh, he whiffed a knockout one turn, and then game three, we weren't able to finish. Um, I, I think he probably would've won. He was ahead in the prize trade. There's always the opportunity for him to whiff. I was gonna io him, but it's hard to know. Um, then round five I play against Christian label, um, who is of course playing DTU. Um, this matchup was while I got very quickly and easily to O2, this matchup was one of my Mew most hilarious matchups throughout the day. Christian and I were having a delightful time, um, as, uh, he went over the course of the two games, won for 11 on coin flips between cra Matic and Crushing Hammer. And unfortunately for me, it did not matter as he drew the cards he needed. And, um. The match ups just like not, not playable. So at that point, I am 2, 2, 1, not the state you wanna be in after round five by any metric. Um, and then I hit my first ARD for the day in round six, which I very cleanly, two owed. Um, the first game I Id him like midway through the game, Gus killed his Pidgey yacht. And he wasn't able to get himself going again. Um, and game two, I passed him on turn three and he just like shut down immediately. So this is, you know, while I think you can beat the ZD matchup as moron, even if. path or IO doesn't stick and just actually straight up win the prize trade. Oftentimes the, your Games against C zd, you'll win just because you have PATH and io this is the reason why I think I would prefer the path version over the Beach Court ver version of the deck. Um, I think it helps your C ZD matchup quite a lot. It's also okay in some other matchups, but it's mostly, it's mostly sar. Um. Then I played against a Brown seven. I hit another ride on mirror. This one was one of my most tragic matches of the entire, of the entire tournament. Um, game one, I very, I get ahead in the prize trade, don't lose pace and win. Um, game two one of the most tragic, this is my biggest misplay of the entire event. Um, I lost, I lost this game largely to do with misplay my opponent. I'm going second. My opponent starts fluffy draw, attach pass, and I obviously, you know, I perk up. I'm like, oh, all I need is a Raku hit and I decide to attach prior to attaching energy to my active Mariah on pr, um, or attaching energy to my bench, riku prior to researching. Um, in hopes of hitting a switch card, a rope, or a switch cart in order to, and an egen to win the game. Uh, that was a complete mistake. I should have held the energy and seen more cards'cause the odds are I'm gonna draw into an energy with the amount of energy this deck runs. So, leaving myself options, um, just giving myself more options on how to hit the turn. One knockout would've been infinitely better. Um. I end up whiffing that knockout. He next turn, of course, immediately. Mariah, uh, draw top decks. Mariah on, has a supporter in hand, gets going and I end up, um, breaking halfway through the game, um, to an IO and, and losing. We agree at this point, neither of us can take a loss again into day two. We're both, uh, 3, 2, 1. So we agreed to a gentleman's. Um, he gus. He, uh, Gus Kaos, my bench Reg, lucky VMax, uh, on turn three of time in order to take three prizes to be ahead in prizes. So I give him the game. Um, so out of out of cup by that point, uh, my next round was a No-show, someone who probably similarly wanted day two. Um, and then I round nine, I play against Lost Giratina and I end up losing this match. Um. Win game one because, you know, he actually, he full bricks game one. Then game two, he, uh, just like hits the absolute giga nuts. Um, he gates and starts swinging with a Giratina on turn two. Um, which is, I, there's really not much I can do into that. Uh, and game three, three was a very, a similarly unfortunate game. Um, where halfway through the game, um, I io shuffle my hand to my deck and draw a handful of energy and egen and proceed to just not be able to hit anything. Um, and I'm not able to KO his, his Tina's, so I lose, um, I lose my last round and finish. Uh, 4, 4, 4, 1. Not, not the result I wanted. Um, I think I would consider playing meite on again. Um, the deck feels very, very good. It has solid matchup spreads across the field. Uh, I think you should run the al Ei, but, um, I, I haven't yet tried the Turbo version of Meh on that. Um, well this past weekend, so maybe that's better. I don't know.
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:Yeah, so those, those were the two that was the question I wanted to ask you. And, and yeah. Uh, I know, so Cam and, uh, Liam's brother Walker ran same 60 Walker went 5 3 1 lost his winning in. How'd Cam do.
squadcaster-ihg7_1_12-19-2023_142108:Uh, cam also bombed. Both him and I hit two DT Muse and an sie.
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:Yeah. Yeah,
squadcaster-ihg7_1_12-19-2023_142108:we weren't running the um, We weren't running the tomb. So he lo his three losses. The event were, he went 5, 3, 1. His three losses were 2D TMU and the
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:Gotcha, gotcha. So, so he was right there. Um, yeah. So how different was your list than Nick Robinson's list? I put it, I put it in the show notes.
squadcaster-ihg7_1_12-19-2023_142108:completely different. Um, they're, they're practically different decks to be honest. Um, Nick Robinson ran a, if, if for those. Listeners who haven't seen it. Nick Robinson is the player who got top eight with Mariah on this past weekend, and he ran a Turbo like Turbo Turbo moron list running four Poni, um, which allows you to discard your hand and draw to insert your deck for two trainer cards and add and add them to your hand. And basically just going all in on trying to hit turn one iron hands, um, for, you know, the C Zd matchup or the guardi matchup or the lost box matchup. Uh. And so our lists are trying to do very, very different things. Um, I'm playing more of a long game. I very rarely get turn one attack in this, uh, with my variant. But I think this, this list, I mean, it might be, it might, it very well might be right. It very well might be good. This might be the right direction from a ride on. Um, it's not something I have yet tried, but
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:Fair enough.
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:It's even more, it's even more Turbo than a list that got top 16 at LAIC. Like, it's even more committed to, uh, as I said in our chat, more committed to the bit
squadcaster-ihg7_1_12-19-2023_142108:Yeah. Yeah,
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:sure.
squadcaster-ihg7_1_12-19-2023_142108:and to be fair, the bit's pretty good.
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:It's,
squadcaster-ihg7_1_12-19-2023_142108:wins games.
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:good
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:Before, before we we dig into, uh, Liam's tournament run, uh, Mike, I just wanted to ask you, uh, whether or not you had any observations you had tweeted like the day, two days before the tournament, your tier lists, and, and I think we'd reviewed them a little bit and you said ARD was, uh, gonna be one of the top three decks. The number was the number one deck. You were correct
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:Honestly, like I knew ARD and were gonna be the most popular, but I, I still underestimated how popular they were gonna be. Like, I thought Boltund would be in like upwards of like 15% and they were, I think like 17 and 18. Something like that. Uh, day one. And then Char Art obviously was way more, uh, uh, day two. Radon fell off quite a bit. Going into day two. It's so hard to predict the day two meta because it matters so much what the, you know, top one to top 5% of players play,
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:Right, right? As always, the question is what are the good players play, right.
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:yeah. So, uh, so I think, uh, yeah, we are pretty accurate on day one. Um, day two is just so hard, so hard to figure out.
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:Uh uh Any thoughts on why Chy? Did I think much worse than we expected? Or maybe not worse? I don't know. Ur, she
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:I, I thought we were pretty on the dot with that one in that it didn't show up on the day One Medi-Share, it showed up on the day two Medi-Share.
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:Yeah,
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:Uh, it wasn't like, you know, 20% of day two or something, but it was
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:But, but then my impression is it did relatively bad on day two. Right.
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:Uh,
squadcaster-ihg7_1_12-19-2023_142108:I think
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:I'd, I'd buy that because I
squadcaster-ihg7_1_12-19-2023_142108:what, three? There were three in two in the top 16. Um.
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:Okay. Okay.
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:there's one at ninth. Riley was right there, uh, up until the last couple rounds. He went like oh three in the last couple rounds. Um, Harrison Levin was kind of in it like it did fine. It's just like, it's kind of matchup brulet, I think at that point where if you hit. Uhs, you're feeling good. And if you hit Snorlax, you're not feeling so good. Um, I will say the Maron matchup I think is very close. Um, it seems, I think the data has it like 50 50, so, uh, that's something else I guess to, to consider with it.
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:Gotcha.
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:think the czar matchup might have been skewed by all the jamer.'cause I, I think there was a ton of, in day two,
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:was a lot of jamer. Yeah. And especially if they're, they're not like preparing for it. I don't know if the Intel sess play rope anymore,
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:I, I don't think so. I think it's.
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:yeah. No, not really. Right. So if the Zd player's able to like time the charm at the right time, yeah. It could be pretty bad.
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:Yeah.
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:Uh, and then the last question I had was, we, we had, uh, Palkia as the very, very, very last deck,
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:Mm-Hmm.
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:is, is Palkia a better deck that we gave it credit for? Like, I don't really know what happened there. I I didn't follow, uh, um, the, uh, Joseph Noel's tournament run, but
squadcaster-ihg7_1_12-19-2023_142108:Like it has some decent matchups. Um, I just don't think it's worth playing. I like, I don't know,
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:I agree. It doesn't seem great to.
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:Yeah. Me neither.
squadcaster-ihg7_1_12-19-2023_142108:Maybe I'm missing something. I don't know.
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:Yeah, I, I don't completely understand. Uh, also props to Dan Hugger, friend of the pod who, uh, got six with Las Giratina. Even though we kept telling people not to run Las Giratina,
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:Um, yeah, I'm like looking at the Palkia metrics. The Palkia played against a lot of different stuff. Uh, yeah, I don't know. Didn't play against any Gardy, but Gardy wasn't like huge, uh, played against a good amount of Mew and it had the tomb. Um, also, yeah. I also wanted to shout out Dan. He did, he did great.
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:uh, I mean, there, there was a guy who was sitting at like table one or two for like all day, both days.
squadcaster-ihg7_1_12-19-2023_142108:Yep.
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:Uh, uh, yeah, he played, he played all the hard rounds and, uh, uh, just killed it. Um
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:Giratina.
squadcaster-ihg7_1_12-19-2023_142108:biggest surprise for me was how, I mean, the biggest surprise for me was actually how poorly Gardy did this event. Um, I was not expecting Gardy to do this quite this bad. While it wasn't a deck that I was, I. Considering playing and I didn't love its match, I didn't love its matchup spread. Gardy completely bombed this event like Gardy did awful.
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:Yes and no, right? Like it was played much less than before. It was only about 8% day one, but its conversion rate was pretty good. I think it's percentage in day two is closer to 10%. I don't have it right in front of me right now. So like its conversion rate was fine. Um, and like, yeah, no guardians were in top eight. None. The highest one is 17th, but then there's like a, a handful in top 32. Like yeah, it didn't do, like, it's not, it didn't do well for sure, but I think that's part of a consequence. Maybe more of a consequence of lower play rate and lower top player play rate than the deck itself maybe?
squadcaster-ihg7_1_12-19-2023_142108:Poten.
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:I'd buy that. I think it's, it's not like super well positioned either. Um, I think, I think Gardy actually does like pretty poorly into like really diverse metas because it's, it's really, really tight on space. and so like, I mean, I think if you're gonna hit a lot of meal, a lot of czar, a lot of Mariah on some block LA you might wanna play tarot and, um, urchin tell, like it's, it's really hard to build a list to beat all of them. Um, so yeah, it didn't seem like a super strong play this weekend, but it's obviously a really strong tech, regardless.
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:The other thing that has surprised me is I think the, or the data shows that the Gardy charge our matchup is just 50 50, which is pretty surprising and maybe a, a big reason why Gardy underperformed a little bit is that, you know, the assumption it was and kind of still is that guard's favorite against ard. Um, but ARD was the most popular deck, and if the Match's really only 50 50. Isn't quite as good as
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:Yeah. Yeah.
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:I, I, I, I chalk that up though. The list being tight. I think a lot of people are cutting this option from their lists and then that really negatively impacts the Z matchup.
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:Yeah, for sure.
squadcaster-ihg7_1_12-19-2023_142108:Yeah.
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:Alright, but let, let's talk about incredibly good decks and incredible great, incredibly good, uh, deck choices. I feel like we haven't really deep dived on Snorlax in, uh, pod, but we obviously have to now, uh, uh, Liam with the top 10 finish. Uh, I think the first question, Liam, is why Snorlax? Why now?
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:Yeah. Why Snorlax and why that variant of Snorlax?
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:Um, pt I, I went with the PT build that Alexandro Scholy played because it plays little x-Ray x-Ray is really, really good. Um, it's like a way to, to be better than just like a, you know, block LA deck. You also have like this, you know, two 60 HP wall option that's able to make a lot of progress on its own. Um, and it lets you be like way more aggressive to punish slow starts. Uh, it gives you a chance in the Giratina matchup, um, that that matchup still sucks, but it gives you a better chance than the, uh, the normals normal X variant. Um, yeah, like that, the deck just feels like more dynamic and more powerful and the pigge doesn't really have like a huge cost in most matchups, um, makes you more iono resilient. The only matchup that it's bad against is more ride-on because. They play Boss and they can one KO the Pidgey at like very low cost. Every other deck either can't one KO at at all, or, um, like struggles to reach those numbers, uh, without giving up like some sort of compensation. Um, so yeah, I went with Piot. Um, the reason I played Block Wax, I didn't actually think it was like a super good call for the event, but I wanted to play something a little tricky. I wanted to play something I was kind of comfortable with and, um, I didn't think like no matter what I played, if it was like, you know, something on the Medi-Share or like something that people knew was legit, I thought most of the decks were like, pretty equal. Um, and so I didn't really wanna look at like trying to gain like a really, really tiny advantage in meta spread. Instead, I wanted to look for trying to maximize like my comfort and, um, capitalizing on people like being unfamiliar with the matchup.
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:Um, so, so I know you said you, you decided to play the pitch at Variant. I mean, I'm, I suspect there's probably a lot of listeners that have not extensively tested the two SNL variants. So Cal Connor played the other build, quote unquote. What's the, like, what's the difference between Cal's build and your build and, and how they play? Right. I know like you've pig, so you get to get a card and you play the Lux race. So you, you just said you can kind of be a little bit aggressive with a big tanky thing, but. Are, are there other things like what's the argument for playing cow's? Build
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:Uh, Cal gets to play ca Cal's build has a better, more morale matchup. You get to play like way more sisters, which means you get to be aggressive with it early on. Um, and you like, you don't. I'm basically playing like six dead cards in the ride-on matchup Plus, like, you know, every, all the little changes that I play to, uh, to make the engine work. Um, I'm playing a bunch of Stormy mountains. Um, he, he's playing league headquarters and Tempo Ceno. I play the dt so I can't play ceno, um, or headquarters'cause I'm attacking with x-Ray. Um, so like my stadiums are, are much worse than the ride on matchup. And yeah, like I, I don't play as many sisters, so I don't hit, uh, switch cards early on. Makes the match up a little worse.
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:Gotcha. All right. So you and, and Hale o Ulti both played the Piot build. He bubbled in as eighth. You bubbled out at 10th, but there were like, like five or six card difference between your list and his list. Uh, you wanna talk about what you did different, like why you played what you played? What, why, what was good about his list? What was bad about, uh, his list?
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:I, I have to pull it up to the exact list.
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:Uh, if you look at the, uh, if you look at the show notes, I put, I put the delta in there.
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:alright. Yeah, yeah. Um, okay. He's playing the Dun Sparse, which makes the, the Miranda Unmatchable a little better. Uh, it lets, I think it lets you get the PGY it out and be, um, be safe, which is maybe a good addition. Um, he's also playing the, the card I like the most is Cheryl instead of Turro. Uh, one of the issues is like in the ZD matchup, when you have the PT down, if the boss hit the piget, you have to turro it back up or allow boss hit Piget knockout the following turn, um, both of which put you in like slightly worse positions. And either way you end up losing your pt. So IO becomes a lot better and might cause you to miss a piece. They have their own pt, so they're definitely hitting like whatever switch card or, um, like energy evolution that they need on the next turn. Um, so yeah, Cheryl's probably, uh, absolutely worth it. Um, over Turo. playing mal while over sax, which is like, I guess it kind of makes sense with the pitch yet. I don't think it comes up a ton. I probably wouldn't play it. Um, V Guard makes you a little tanker.
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:I think is probably for the mini right.
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:Yeah, yeah, yeah, because, um, I don't know. He is playing the Lost City anyway. Uh, yeah, I I mean probably fine against Mineo, um, but
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:It, it's crazy to me that, that we call it like Snorlax and he's placed two Snorlax,
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:um,
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:like you're, you're barely blocking, man, but there you go,
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:yeah. Um, two Snx is cutting it pretty tight.
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:That was my reaction. I was like, wow.
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:Yeah. Other than that, I think the lowest is pretty standard. He fit in a defiance vest somehow, uh, which is really good. Um, like,
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:cut all the pokey gears to like put in all
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:yeah, yeah. You cut all the gears. Uh, that was it. Um, I don't, I wouldn't do that. The gears are really good. Um, they're like, it's a, it's a way for your Arvin to like, better get like, uh, like resources beyond counter catcher and that like a lot of your resources are, are tied up in supporters. It lets you look for like penny and stuff, um, Arvin for the next turn. Uh, they also, they're like solid consistency cards. You wanna be playing Arvin on turn two so that you can hit the pitch. Um, more Arvin out is good. Uh,
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:I assume it just increases your early game consistency and like all these texts, it's always about stabilizing your board, right?
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:Yeah, I, I'd probably keep the gears. I, I really like them. Um, yeah, they, they're also like good cards in that they, they're good cards to throw away off Palkia. Like, um, you can go pretty light, I think on instant consistency cards, uh, in a deck like Snorlax because, you know, you basically just need like road and turn one, uh, and then you play a bunch of stormy mountains. So like, you already have that. It's, it's only playing like five ball cards. Um, so you end up going like, pretty light on these cards that you can like, dump off Palkia. And Pokegear is just like another card that you either get to play it early and it's amazing. It's a game saving, or you get to dump it off Palkia, which is actually like, pretty big because you often do wanna look for cards, but there's a lot of options that you wanna keep, um, like available. Like all, all, all your tech supporters, all your Pokegear usually want to keep all of those available and like, you can give them up if you have to, but. Uh, it feels better when you can hold all of them.
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:Um, you played a switch cart. Uh, he did not. You cut a rare candy. He played an extra candy.
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:Yeah, I definitely play a switch cart. Um, candy's good though. I, I, I think it makes like less sense though if you're gonna play the, if you're not gonna play the Toro, um, like three candy and Turo, like have like synergy together. Um, I, I I don't think you'd need three candy beyond, like consistency purposes if you're playing Cheryl. Um, so I, I probably wouldn't play candy. I, I'd keep the switch cart lets you hit Alexa right earlier. Yeah.
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:he, he prized three. So
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:Yeah.
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:surprising two doesn't seem that crazy when you see Ping three That
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:was incredibly bad luck. That was like, like the craziest thing. Alright. Alright, so, uh, I think that get that kind of paints a picture at high level. Why don't you walk us through it, Liam? How do you get, how do you get top 10?
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:All right. Yeah. I'll go round by round. First round I hit RCS. Tapu. Koko might say, wow, doesn't, uh, mimic you win that? I ended up tying, I lost game one because there's one cancel in Cologne, and after like a turn two judge, the only stadium in my hand was the lost city. I spent like a good, you know, 10, 15 seconds thinking about it. And I was like, yeah, I, I had the, wrote him on the bench and I was like, eh, I really think it's worth it to draw some cards. So I'm research away a path the next turn. And I was like, uhoh, he's trying to keep, you know, he wants the city and play. I was gonna bump in the next turn, but he hit the cologne. The mimic queue is gone and, uh, it's, it's really hard to slow down that deck when it plays like 14 energy off just block axes. Um, and so I ended up losing game one. I won game two and then we didn't finish game three. Uh. Was rough. I ended up 11 2 2 bubbling out of top cuts. So that's another instance that maybe I could have, uh, improved my play. I'm not sure if I'd changed it in that exact scenario, but I definitely did throw later on. Um,
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:Oh, and, and let's be clear. So after that, all the Mariah on players are one. Oh. And he's oh oh one tying
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:Yeah. I
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:RCS Koko and, and so every one of his friends is like, oh my God, you threw the whole tournament playing block lax.
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:Yeah.
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:we're 60 minutes in. We already know you've thrown your entire tournament.
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:Yeah. I, I was also a little worried about just being in the tie bracket because that's where the, the Los Tinos are gonna be. Um, uh,
squadcaster-ihg7_1_12-19-2023_142108:Yeah. For
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:I, I ended up hitting really good matches throughout the entire event. So, uh, pretty good next round.
squadcaster-ihg7_1_12-19-2023_142108:if you necessarily made a misplay playing the lost City,
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:Yeah. Yeah. Me neither. Um, it definitely felt.
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:co colon and Arceus is just crazy. That's just crazy though. Like, like
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:Yeah. Um,
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:I guess you should have assumed once you saw Arceus, tappa, cocoa, that there could be anything in that deck. Like anybody that's choosing to play that, like
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:yeah, exactly. But like, I was scared of losing to something else, like, um, because like I wanted to be able to get like my pennies and super rods into my hand. Um, because like, you know, I'd also kind of lose to the cologne if like, I instantly like drew past for like three more turns. Um,
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:sure. Sure.
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:Right, right. You were just, you were just like, we gotta stabilize our board as quick as we can because who knows
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:I didn't have a lot to go off of. Um, maybe a mistake, who knows. Um, round two though, I hit lost on Giratina. Um, I was able to win game one. Uh, I think that they weren't super familiar with the matchup and then they ended up making some mistakes. Game two, uh, they got it together pretty quick, but not quick enough. We were able to get there. Um, and yeah.
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:a quick, quick thought. I've only played the matchup once on live. I was playing Giratina and I queued into the Palkia Snorlax. It's not, it seems much harder than from the Giratina perspective, than playing against the regular Snorlax, uh, because Luxray is really good. Uh,
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:good.
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:Yeah. Luxray pressuring your hand as well as Fortune sisters. Pressuring the deck, uh, means that you can actually run out of switch guards, uh, pretty easily. Like I started SAB Eye. And like BLA is a pretty bad starter. Um, and so like I started bla, I got the one Giratina and they did get there. Um, they beat me because, um, they like sended away. Uh, they Sydney two jet energy away and Luxray a couple switch cards, um, early in the game. So yeah, it was
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:sense. Um, that's like,
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:I, I think it's still probably favored for Giratina, but like much harder I think, than the regular Snorlax.
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:The, the difference between that and regular Snow Acts or like the, the Luxray build in the Los Tino matchup is that, um, we don't play any temp of Cino. And so I also didn't play any crushing hammer. I, I mean, it, it doesn't even fix it that much, but yeah, the, the primary issue with my build is like, if, if they go down to like four prizes and they have four jets left and a powered up Tino on the bench, they're gonna jet energy and knock out like literally every single turn. Every, every time they draw Jet Energy, they, they knock out, and you can't get rid of Jet Energy is proactively, so they just win the game. If they ever like, reach that position, it's pretty easy for them to reach that position. Um, so yeah, like not being able to hit the Jets is, is the big down, uh, big downside of the Luxray build and the loss Giratina matchup. Um, but yeah, if they send Mewtwo early, uh, that makes much, a lot better.
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:Yeah, it was like something weird where like I. RIS and there was two jet energies in the ris, and so I had to keep both and I didn't have to switch that turn. And so then, yeah,
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:Yeah. Yeah, if you, if you just rip them all at once. Um,
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Okay. Sorry. Keep going.
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:Um, round three, I hit my ride on, uh, this was a really funny game, uh, on like turn two t uh, my opponent tandem units for Luxray V and starts hitting my hand. Uh, they hit the Arvin and the only things left in my hand are like Stormy mountains, DTE switch cart. So I Luxray them back, um, because I prized the rodo, so I, I couldn't grab the rotem. And so yeah, we just start like trading lux rays, uh, back and forth for like 10 turns. Um,
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:Nice.
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:yeah, my opponent drew a few switch cards during those 10 turns. And I, and I was able to get'em all So yeah, I, I was able to win game one. I was maybe losing game two, but I, a lot of games, I came down to this and I think the deck does a really good job of closing out game twos after you win game one because you play io counter catcher and you play PTs. So you iona you counter catcher, uh, maybe X-ray, and if they don't find like switch effects, you instantly start like shuffling your deck every single turn. Um, so you're able to buy like a lot of time with, uh, with the deck after you win like a 30 minute game one or something, which was pretty good. So yeah, I was able to do that. I think like that game, uh, or something. I, I probably didn't punch a pitch at the ride on matchup, but I did that a bunch. Um, round four I
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:How, how many, how many ga uh, games went to time.
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:um, I think every single one except for the ard Matchups.
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:Okay.
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:Yeah.
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:Okay. Good deal. Good
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:Or that, and the one guardy I hit, um, which is pretty funny, but yeah. All right. Round four, I hit, uh, yeah, round four I hit C zd. Um, the, their list was like pretty, uh, pretty bad for the matchup. They were playing like the bi version. Um, and yeah, that, that deck just like instantly folds. Um, they, they can't find like any of the pieces that they need to have any counter play. They can't io know their basics to the bottom on command. Um, they can't boss on command. Uh, yeah, that matchup is super duper good. The Luxray is also much better'cause when you hit like a trainer in their hand, um, they won't have access to it last, or like, they can't make trainer threats the same way that Pidgey it can without having it in their hand. Um, so Luxray becomes much better. Yeah. The, the matchup super-duper good. Uh, it was the bi roll version or whatever. Uh, round five I hit las. That went terribly. I lost twice in a row, very fast. Uh, around six. I hit aard. I messed up this one. It was against Pigge, and we tied, I gave up the miq too fast, um, and lost to like a, a lost city Jammer, Charmian. And then it was the PT build. So you never hit an S Uh, and I, I lost pretty quick. I won game two, and then we had no time for game three. Uh, round seven, I hit another ard. This one I played a little better.
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:So you were, at this point you were 3 1 2, right? Yeah,
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:yes,
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I like, I was like, oh, yoy, yoy. We're gonna have a lot of time to tour San Antonio.
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:Yeah. Uh, round seven, I hit zd. I, I can't really remember this one, but I wrote w so I, yeah, I won that one. Um, round eight. I hit valiant that, uh, my opponents started off pretty slow, both games. Um, the first one missed the tack for like two turns, so I was able to get Luxray, uh, and like set up my PT and everything. Got going. Um, and game two they started Radiant ARD and like nothing. Um, they started trying to power up the Radiant ARD and on like turn four, I hit it for a hundred with the pt and the game was basically over from there. Um,
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:How does that match up, you think? Go if they draw. Okay. Because they can, they can make it so that you can't get Pidgey out a lot of the time.
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:um, like. Uh, like yes and no. It's, it's kind of hard for them, especially if you have the block locks'cause that turns off the, the capsule. So they have to have a lot of switch effects to keep the PGE off the board. So like, you definitely don't bench the PGE at turn one because then they get the squawk to, to try and find the switch effects for it. after that, like, you know, if you io them to like four or five, they have to rip three switch effects off of the, that like four or five in order to keep the Pidgey off board. And even if they do that, then they have to hit like another switch to, to keep attacking with the ante. And the pings aren't going to the, the SNL ax. So might be able to tank a hit if it has like, bravery charm or something. So I, I found the Pidgey is like, um, of pretty safe in that matchup. You can also brave charm the Pidgey if you wanna keep it alive.
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:Oh,
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:Um,
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:true.
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:so it's not like a, a super massive liability as long as you bench it after term one. Um. But yeah, the, the matchup can be kind of tricky regardless because they just, you know, they have so many switch cards for something that hits like, you know, two kos consistently, and you have like, you have four counter catchers and they have like 15 switches, so it can, it can be kind of tricky. But, um, my opponent didn't draw so hot and that made it really easy. Uh, round nine I hit mirror. My build is actually like giga text for mirror. It's easily the best matchup, uh, in the entire room. I I didn't really realize it when I, uh, sat down, but yeah, as soon as I like, you know, uh, realized what the matchup was and thought about it for like two seconds, I was like, oh boy. This is, this is gonna be a, this is gonna be a good one. Um, I, the way, the way you play the matchup, at least with this list, is I. You instantly get spare. Two'em out, you turn off their roto, and then you set up a PT and you io them their hands bricked. You get a Luxray out and they basically never get to play. Um, or like, they don't get to play supporters on command and like every time they boss you have a penny and they can't recycle their bosses. Like they can't find it again for like another like, you know, 10 turns. And then you eventually spam iono them into their yell, cheers and ENSs before they get a chance to play'em and discredit with Luxray until they deck out. And then you have two'em to shut off the pt. Um,
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:How long did that game take?
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:uh, it took like 20 minutes. Uh,
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:really? Only that
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:Be like, they, they, they just scooped really, really quick. Like, you know, as soon as you bust something else and then you've discarded like all of their sas, which happens in like, you know, like 10, 15 turns. But those turns are pretty quick. Um,
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:Yeah, sure.
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:like, and they're, they're just like draw passing the whole time. So,
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:Mm-Hmm.
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:Um. And so that, that was day one. I finished 6 1 2. Day two, I started off pretty poorly. Around 10. I hit another loss on Giratina. I lost that one pretty quick. Um, I was 6, 2 2. I already kind of knew I was at a cut, um, because yeah, my re my resistance was terrible. Uh, and I was gonna be 11 2 2 max. Um, round 11 I hit, uh, a Turbo loss, which had Minio glass, uh, the super effective goggles and Roaring Moon. I think that match ups probably unfavor, but my opponent opened Iron Hands Pass Game one. And so I was able to go into Luxray and start making a lot of progress early. Um, and they had like massive issues trying to get to, um, in the lost zone and find the right basics to attack with. Game two, uh, went really fast. I I was getting like blown off the board, but they missed the escape rope on turn three of time and I was able to win. Um, in game two, they basically went like VIP mini or Moon attached to Moon Pass attached, attach, and then, you know, just started smashing through my board. Um, and there there was really nothing, uh, I like I could do to that. Um, Pidgey is really scary to go into because they were playing both hands and ryku. So I like Lost City, the Roaring Moon. I think I eventually, I eventually did it, um, because yeah, I was like the only way to slow it down. Um, but it was like really scary to go into because, and took like a lot of preparation because, you know, Mirage Gate Hands or, uh, Raku or, or I was able to play around Raku because I like cleaned my bench, but Mirage Gate hands would've then won. So it was like a really large combo I had to set up to try to keep the piget safe on that turn. Um. Yeah, I was able to get there, uh, around 12. I hit DTE meal. I was able to find the spear tomb super quickly in game one. I think I nest both for turn one and then game two I opened the spear tomb. Um, my opponent put double tails on, cram on turn one. Uh, and the game ended there both times. Um, super sick. Round 13, I hit Gardy. This was, um, you know, uh, Edwin Arroyo who was playing the same 60 as Jake, and he was, I knew he was playing the same 60 as Jake, and that 60 does not contain Turo. And so game one we were setting up and we both flipped over our thing before, uh, before time or like before Round start. Um, because like he was like making a joke that he opened Manaphy or whatever. And then I like flipped over the LA and I was like, dude, I'm, I know you're not playing Turo. I'm never gonna bench anything. I was like, uh, all right. And then we started setting up for game two. Um. Before last start, which was, was really funny. And I think that's the first time, uh, I've ever started setting up for game two before. Um, time was started pretty cool. Uh, and then game two, um, he made a, a critical error, which was he hit a Snorlax with a bravery charm for one 90 and then I switched card it into another Snorlax and counter capture to routes. And the following turn, he went, boss Snorlax teleportation burst. He thought it, he thought it was knocked out, but I, I healed it for 30 with the, uh, the switch card. And so he ended up not taking a prize that turn and it was, uh, basically fully over Um, so yeah, I got, I got that one. And then route 14 I hit Christian Franco who was playing ARD with the was city and the tool jammers and the heat tackle charm under. That card actually makes the, the matchup like way worse because it's a charm mander that eventually like, removes itself from the active in like six turns while putting on some like, decent pressure. And it also threatens to give up a prize. And so like that matchup iss actually like really scary to play. Um, says Czar's super good for block laks and it maybe it is, but it's definitely, definitely stressful to play against. Um, because yeah, they're, they're like hitting the sxs for 30, so they're threatening to take a prize. So you have to play a penny at some point, but at the same time, you wanna make some sort of progress with like sisters or Ericas. And you also wanna prevent the Tyra Mander from knocking itself out because when they knock it out, you, um, especially if this is like the first turn, right? Because they basically, like rare candies are, they take a knockout and then you counter catcher the Charmander. And so they're on five prizes and once they knock it themselves out, your counter catchers turn off. So like, you have to have the Echoing Horn boss play prepared. Um, and like. Uh, it, it just becomes like way harder. You also lose your Luxray option forever because they play jammers. I don't play vac. Um, and so they pre-attached jamer, and then the Luxray is always getting knocked out. And like, eventually too, if you take enough prizes, you're like losing counter catcher. Um, you're losing counter catcher for like a long time. And like, if you go to like two prizes, boss Kale Pidgey, it's a real thing. Um, boss Kao wrote'em e even if they locked themselves into Jamer after the trim remainder, Kao Boss Kale wrote him iss a real thing. So like, you want to stop this like heat tackle thing from, you know, just like happening over and over, uh, to where they self kl. But it's actually really hard to do that because they have Palkia for io, so they never give you an Erica's target. Um, and game one eventually came down to like, I, I just bought enough time that like, I eventually took like a random snipe with Erica and I. And it worked. Um, but you know, the fact, the fact that it worked, uh, should probably tell you how much time that was. It was a, it was a really long time. I like there, there was a lot of heat tackling and, uh, a lot of stress. Um, and game two went a lot better because I, I hit a really quick Erica and I also x-rayed the Turo on like turn one, um, which was really good. Yeah. Oh, and then I also sniped a boss at like, um, right before time to, to stop him from picking up two prizes. And then I was able to like, that was like his last boss. And so even though he is at like one prize, I was able to penny the Luxray like five times, um, to, force the, like, the game not to finish. Um, and then around 15 I hit Zd. That one went way better because I opened Luxray. My opponent thought it was DTE Mew, he went into U-turn one. Bench wrote him instant charge. I went Snorlax Snorlax Turo, and I instantly conceded he was playing a Turo, but it didn't matter because I, you know, there was a Rodo and a Mule one play. Um, and then, yeah, game two I hit a really quick s which was lucky. Um, and yeah, once there's that many targets in the field, it, I think he also made a mistake in ultra balling some targets and then forgot to like be, because I didn't have like a real echoing horn threat that turn. But then he forgot to pig it for super Rod the following turn. And then I was able to get like an echo horn and there were like five things in in play. And yeah, at that point it was just over. And yeah, that was my tournament run.
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:It's a sweet, it's a sweet tournament, Ron,
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:Yeah. Had a lot of very good,
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:but, but stressful.
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:yeah.
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:If they know what they're doing and have the cards.
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:Yeah, yeah,
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:Is there any other matchup? So like Giratina, Tina's the only deck you lost to. Is there any other deck that you think the deck is unfavor into?
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:Um, Toro, Guardi, I, that sucks. Um, yeah, I'd, I'd say Maran as well. I mariah's like an uncomfortable matchup with, with this build specifically, like, it's, it's probably fine, but yeah. I like, I mean the, the deck is like a Pidgey a deck and if you can't bench Pidgey it, um, feel, feels worse. Maybe the Dun source will fix that. I haven't tested it, but
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:Uh, just looking at Hale's matchups, he lost to a lost box early on day one. Uh, tied to Mew, tied to Intel, earthy, which seems he probably just like brick game one, right? One, game two, and then.
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:yeah.
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:'cause that match seems extremely good, I assume.
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:Uh, like, it's like kind of scary with the, the rapid flow might like run you off the board,
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:mm-Hmm.
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:yeah. I mean, miq is really good, so
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:Right, right, right. I could see losing to a lost box though. Like that seems if they like have enough
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:no. Yeah. Loss ox is, uh, I mean, especially depending on the bill. I, I told you that that mini or moon one was, that was terrifying. Um,
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:Yeah.
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:like opened with so much energy too, bro.
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:Yeah, the, uh, the match against the Palkia. I don't know if you guys watch that. Um, but like, game one was super, super good. It was really close. Uh, actually at the end, if the Palkia player didn't have his last energy in his last two prizes, he would've won the game for sure. Um, he had a turn where. He could have had enough energy to kill Piot, I think, um, to take his last two prizes. But, but yeah. Um, so that game was really good. And then Game two Hale was dominating him. Uh, and then, you know, got the random two prize penalty. So Lost Uh, yeah, I don't, I don't know. There hasn't been that much. Talk about that on Twitter. Um,
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:What, what happened? We did not, uh, we obviously left right afterwards and, uh, we did not watch anything
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:So I, it was really confusing because we're watching Game two and Hale is clearly in a position that he is going to win game two, or at least game two is not gonna finish. There's about 20, 25 minutes left, uh, after he won game one. And then all of a sudden, uh, the hockey player takes a prize with like three prizes left, and then the game ends, and, uh, so presumably Hale had gotten a double prize penalty, but it wasn't indicated on. Stream, or at least I wasn't paying a hundred percent attention, so maybe I missed it. Um, but there was no turn that I was watching that Hale seemed like he was playing slow. So it must have been like an earlier warning, maybe earlier in the day, maybe earlier in that match. And then, uh, the judge deemed that he was taking too long. I know I didn't. It didn't seem like it to me. Um, there was actually a funny moment though early, early on in game two where Hale played his suing Heavy ball took his or, or I don't know, uh, did, did he play Heavy Ball? I.
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:Yeah.
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:Yeah,
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:yeah. Yeah. So he, he played heavy ball, so he had the six prizes, and then he put the six prizes on top of his deck, and he was about to shuffle his deck with the six prizes, but the judge swooped in and saved it, um, before he could shuffle. So the judge like saved him from a game loss there. But then, uh, later on. They gave him this, uh, double prize penalty for slow play, uh, which was really unfortunate. And then obviously he's not gonna win game three. Uh, but even, even so that's when he prized the, the triple candy,
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:that that's, I would assume he has no incentive to slow play because if it goes to sudden death, he probably loses right,
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:right, exactly. Um, that's what seemed particularly weird. Um, he'd posted on Twitter about, you know, getting top eight, but he didn't really comment on it too much. Um. I don't know. I'd like to, I'd love to talk to him to see like what his perspective was. I think Hale's like a pretty chill dude, so I'm sure like he's not gonna complain, uh, about it, uh, even if he thinks it was unfair. But, uh, yeah, it seemed, seemed unfortunate and not correct from, from my perspective. But I don't know the full story.
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:Wild. Wild
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:Yeah. Also shout out to hail dude, that's like this dude has like won, I think this is his first regional since he won the regional that he played at last year.
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:It did, it made some tweet about it, which was like, yeah, he's had like three, three out of his, like the last four regionals were top eights or something.
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:Yeah. He plays like
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:Yeah, but there's, yeah, they're spread out over like a decade. Exactly.
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:Yeah. Yeah.
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:Yeah. Yeah, that's, uh, that was what he said in the tweet.
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:Yeah. Yeah, he's, he's super good. He's super good. Uh, guys, anything else? Yeah, Mike, you're about to ask something.
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:I was just gonna say, Liam, so like going, I mean, Portland's still, you know, multiple weeks away now since we have the holidays, um, you think is still gonna be in a decent position. Like is there things that. People can do because, you know, I feel like Snorlax, you know, we've seen it with like a lot of decks. The, the, like the, the sign curve of Snorlax is good, Snorlax is bad, Desi GOs is good, Dessi goon is bad. Um, is this gonna be a a a a not Snorlax tournament or is there really not that much? Is there less that people can do against the Snorlax Palkia version?'cause the matchups are a bit less polarizing.
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:I think it's, uh, I'm Crobat. I, I think it's probably always a SSN wax tournament. I think it's, it's kind of like, like Mew except to like a little bit of a lesser degree. Um, and that it's like I, I, I think it's actually really powerful, just like on its own. Um, it, it, it is definitely one of the like stronger, um, block decks that, uh, have emerged recently. Uh, obviously, right? It's the only one that's like lasting consistently through multiple tournaments. Um, and like it's, it's never worth it enough, I think for like people to counter it. Um, or like, it's not, it's not super easy to counter and so it makes it hard for like, other decks to fit in texts. Like something like Gdy now they have to think about playing dexis for their ride-on matchup. Um, and it's really hard for like, gardy to fit in Turo. Like the, the card's just not very good unless you're expecting to hit block la. Um, so like justifying it over other cards is pretty difficult. Um, and like. Maybe that means at some tournaments it's like a really bad call because, you know, it is just gonna be like Turo infested. But I, I don't think that's the case. I think it's gonna be pretty similar to Mew in that like, um, you have a lot of good matchups regardless, and you're probably not gonna see a ton of like counters just because it's, it's, it's hard for people to play. It's kind of awkward and like, um, you know, just dodge it is, is always a better strategy. So like, yeah, I mean, I, I think it's probably gonna be like, consistently solid. Um, yeah. And I, I don't see it getting much attention and like a list. And so if it's not, if it's not gonna get countered, I would, it shouldn't see a drop off or like major drop off.
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:That, that reminds me. I actually do have another question for you, Liam. You, you got, you got a big shout out on the internet from, uh, uh, Jake Gerhardt as being like one of the key people that was testing the deis build for Guard of War, that two different people piloted in day two at San Antonio. Um, fir first, I guess, do you have any thoughts on like the deis bill and how much that's like a part of the meta now? Uh, and, and then I guess the second question is why not play deis carnivore? Apparently you tested it extensively for Jake
squadcaster-j4ef_1_12-19-2023_172108:I, I, I tested it a bit. Um, it's really good against me. Ride-on. If you think you're gonna hit like 2, 3, 4 me ride-on, I'd absolutely play it. I, I think it makes that match up, like pretty favored, solidly, like at least 60 40. Um, and so like it's two cards, they don't, they don't really suck like they. They get some value in other matchups.'cause like you, you know, you have like a six energy blow a button that's kind of ation. Um, it obviously needs to be prepared. Um, but, but it also hits for like a lower attack cost. It's also, um, like a three energy, one 90 and 60, which is not terrible, uh, situationally. Um, so like, it's solid. If you think you're gonna hit a bunch of Mariah on, I'd definitely play it. But it's o other matchups outside Mariah on, like, it's, it, it, there's definitely better ways you could use the space. Um, I don't know if I'd play it or not because Mariah on definitely seemed like it was, you know, non-existent in day two. Um, so dunno if it's worth it going forward.
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:I mean, the bide on failed players failed to advance, so tells you what I need to know.
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:Shout out to Walker for losing his winning in. That's pretty sweet.
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:his second, third winning in Lost. He is, he is a, a guy that is absolutely, uh, uh, doing some kind of challenge there. I, no, I think he went 4, 4, 1 or something at the last tournament and then lost his winning at the tournament before that. And, the 4, 4 1 was, he was like 4, 2, 1, and choked it all away. Um, yeah, and, and credit to, uh, um, I think, uh, cam and uh, uh, Caden's, uh, Mariah build, he was doing the zero testing challenge. We, we stayed with my mom who lives in San Antonio. Uh, so he got it on Friday, having like, not tested at all and was like, I'm gonna go hang out with grandma. Bye. Uh, and, and then showed up for day one. In round one he played against Valiant and he walked back and was like, they flipped over that iron valiant. And I said, I've never seen this card before in my life. What does this deck do? The, the good news is as long as you don't start fluffy, it's totally fine.
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:That's funny.
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:guys, uh, I think that's the pod this week.
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:All right,
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:Very exciting stuff.
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:do we think we're gonna do a pod next week?
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:No way I.
mike_1_12-19-2023_173115:No way.
Track 1:Yeah. There's no chance.
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:Yeah. Yeah, Caden. Caden was, we were supposed to do the pod yesterday. Caden spent all day Christmas shopping, so I'm sure that they're gonna have such amazing Christmas presents at the Hyatt household. Nobody's gonna wanna take one second away from all the amazing Christmas thing they're gonna be doing. I close, Caden, amazing Christmas presents.
Track 1:in part we'll just be spending time as a family. I, I don't think, I don't think do, doing a pod is particularly feasible. There's no tournament the following weekend,
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:Do, do you have any suggestions on great gifts for moms? I
Track 1:Um, unfortunately my mom is close enough that I can't disclose
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:Oh, all right. All right. We're gonna keep it undercover and we'll be back in two weeks with information about what the best Christmas gifts you could have gotten. Moms are people,
Track 1:I.
brent_1_12-19-2023_172108:uh, the John Paul Zoroark outro. There