Liam 0:04

What's up everybody, this is the Trash Life Podcast. We haven't recorded one in a while, but uh, you know,

Abaan 0:11

New year, new year, new year, new podcasts.

Henry 0:13

It's not the new

Liam 0:14

New year, new podcast. New year, new podcast. Well, almost new year, new podcast.

Abaan 0:17

new year, bro. Henry, you're like ruining the, like, the vibe. New year, new podcast.

Henry 0:21

You

Liam 0:22

year, new podcast. New year, new

Henry 0:23

1125 now. Yeah,

Abaan 0:25

What if the viewers are like, not in like, America, bro? Like, what if they're in Hawaii? Oh wait, no, I'm an idiot. What if they're in Europe?

Liam 0:31

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, Europe. Yeah, right.

Henry 0:34

and Kywin.

Abaan 0:35

No, even Europeans, it's like the new year, bro. Come

Liam 0:37

Literally, everybody except for like, people in America.

Abaan 0:40

Yeah,

Liam 0:41

exactly, right?

Henry 0:42

in the world? Hmm.

Liam 0:49

Oh my god.

Henry 0:50

bad.

Liam 0:51

yeah, new year, new podcast. Uh Birmingham's just around the corner. We haven't we still haven't talked about Toronto yet, so I guess we'll start with that. Big Henry, bro.

Abaan 1:00

said new year, new podcast, but we're like, doing the same shit we always do. Like, where no clue what we're doing.

Liam 1:05

for sure. For sure. Uh, let's start off with Henry.

Abaan 1:08

but it's the side. Alright, yes, Toronto.

Liam 1:12

Was able to get, after getting the entire extended family on his list, he was able to get him and one other person into top cut. They unfortunately lost, but they were both able to get to top cut. They were both able to get top cut.

Henry 1:25

Yeah, I'll,

Liam 1:25

Henry, do you want to tell us about this list?

Abaan 1:27

Like, brutally. Like, Cal said it was over in 15 minutes.

Liam 1:31

No, no, no. Cal first gave him, Cal first gave him a game for having like, uh, bad sleeves or something like that. Like, you know.

Abaan 1:39

no, no. I heard, like, this is from Cal, that it was, um, he had the, like, Ogre Pawn, he had the wrong art. And so he got a then he just didn't do anything. Like, he, like, didn't go and get the right ones.

Henry 1:51

Oh, that's how it works? Okay.

Liam 1:52

Oh.

Henry 1:54

That's kind of trolled, anyway.

Abaan 1:57

I

Liam 1:57

Yeah, no, I

Abaan 1:59

like, he got a warning already, like, I don't know what he thought was gonna happen going in the cut, like, he can just go by.

Liam 2:03

agree, this is like, this is not a crazy thing to happen, but it's more like, this rule, that like, you have to have the right arts, is like, crazy to me. Like,

Abaan 2:11

I mean, I

Liam 2:11

just a crazy rule.

Abaan 2:13

you the first time they notice, and, like, I do that moment change your list, but, like, if that's their rule, that's their rule, like, I I told them, like, this is a warning, but, like, dude, if we see this, like, if you don't fix it, we're gonna, like, penalize you, like Like, I don't know. It's like,

Liam 2:27

I agree with this.

Abaan 2:28

both sides. It's like, ridiculous that it's a rule, but they gave him a warning, so like, I don't know, I think it's

Liam 2:33

Yeah, no, if they tell you that it's a rule, you should just, like, go with it, right? Like, just go fix it, right? Um, but, either way, Cal, I assume he didn't bother because he knew he was going to get the reverse sweep, uh, and top cut,

Henry 2:45

yeah, yeah, yeah.

Liam 2:46

which was unfortunate.

Henry 2:48

Okay, uh,

Abaan 2:49

then MD, the other guy on the list, well, 58 of the 60, he um, you can actually check out how his game went, on like, Pokemon. com, or like, Pokemon

Liam 2:59

Haha, indeed.

Henry 3:01

so, I don't know, I sent Slowgurdy. still don't know why we sent Slowgurdy. Like, I actually still try to justify it. I actually have to justify it to, uh, the people I'm giving the class to. Like, I don't know, like, when you actually think about it, it doesn't necessarily have better matchups. I mean, the main thing is that it's, like, way more fun than TurboGuardi, if you start Evo 1. Otherwise, you're just trying to put out, like, 15 fires, you know, I

Liam 3:24

Dude, I think that, I think that Drago matchup is actually better. Like, I, I think for fast Guardi that Drago matchup's close. Like, for slow Guardi, bro, that's not, like, does not feel close at all, bro. Like,

Henry 3:33

I agree with that. I think

Abaan 3:34

Well, I think, I think now we're like at a level of stuff where it's like, now it's good again. And the

Liam 3:41

maybe, bro. Like,

Abaan 3:42

right? Like that helps a lot.

Henry 3:43

the only thing that

Liam 3:44

yeah,

Henry 3:44

you play it. But like, without the Noctowl, I'm not like, cutting the Noctowl also helps Skadi a little bit. Like, the Noctowl is still annoying for the fast Skadi, so I don't know. think the,

Abaan 3:56

It's annoying in a whole different way, which is kind of funny, right? Like, it's annoying because like, they're gonna be jamming you, for sure. And like, with Slowgoddy, it's like, they're gonna Cologne, for sure.

Henry 4:02

Yeah, yeah, and obviously for slow Skadi, it's way worse. Like, the guaranteed Cologne play is like, horrible. Um, but overall, I think both the matchups are like, slightly favored, but like, for completely different reasons, in terms of guarding your Strega.

Liam 4:14

no, I, I think what I'm saying more is, is not even like that the, the high level matchup spread is, is way different, but it's like, The um, poor Drago play is like, punished way more often. It's much more easier to like, make mistakes against slow Guardi with Drago, I think. Like, it's like, way harder to convert, bro. Like, basically anyone except for Drek. I, I think like, they make a lot of mistakes. Sure, yeah.

Abaan 4:39

Nick Moffat.

Liam 4:41

and Necrophos, sure.

Henry 4:42

Oh, you got Frank, right,

Abaan 4:43

Frink? What? on Pokemoner. com, I actually have a similar link, just scroll down a bit.

Liam 4:48

Yes. Yes. Like, yeah. So, like, you can make, um, I think it's a lot easier to make mistakes against that build.

Abaan 4:55

ton, actually, that get you, but

Henry 4:57

Yeah,

Abaan 4:58

with the narrative, Liam, sorry.

Henry 4:59

agree with

Liam 5:00

I'll continue by saying, like, Drick gets you the most. Like, Drick, Drick, Drick. He's

Henry 5:06

Yeah, I don't know, like,

Liam 5:07

insane. I mean, he's insane.

Henry 5:08

that, uh, like the TurboGuardi is, like, for Drago to play against it, which I

Abaan 5:13

Wait. for the viewers, by the way, I want to point out that we made an agenda and it was very clear that the Toronto discussion and Guardian analysis was going to go before the Drick Glaze, but Liam has like, kind of like, thrown that to the wind, and um,

Henry 5:23

Anyway, you can always segue into the conversation. Like, I've learned this from him in the past no I could say, like, you know, I'm, like, thinking about having Froot Loops and Cheerios for breakfast, and be like, trick trick trick trick trick trick would have Cheerios in the

Abaan 5:34

Drick already had that. Drick had that, and he actually decided that like, uh, Cocoa for Cocoa Puffs was optimal.

Henry 5:38

Oh, sure, sure.

Liam 5:41

I don't know, bro. It's just like, I guess there's something about me, right? Like, some people are like, like, oh, dude, like, you're, like, glazing everyone. But, like, dude, I, I'm constantly thinking of, like, you know, how I can be better and when I'm thinking about, like,

Abaan 5:52

Oh,

Liam 5:52

what. What you can do to like get better at Pokemon, I'm like, how do I play more like Drek? Like, that's like a very natural Natural jump, right? Like, I'm like, okay, well, you know, who can I watch to get better? Oh, like, Drick has a bunch of stream games. Like, let me go watch this Chempai Dialga game, bro. Like, cooking up something crazy, right? And I'm like,

Henry 6:09

anything from watching a Path format, bro. Like, I'm sorry, that shit is sick

Liam 6:12

well, nah, nah, nah,

Abaan 6:14

I, I disagree with this concept, Henry,

Liam 6:16

Yeah, I completely disagree as well.

Henry 6:17

can learn, like, something, but, like, the comparison of, like, watching, like, a year old VOD versus just, like, hitting a Game of Ladder, bro, like, there's no way, bro. Like, oh,

Liam 6:24

No, bro, like, every time, every time I watch, like, one of these games, I, like, you get some insight into, like, the way their mind works, right? Like, I, like, I, I watched this Chen Padialga game, and I'm like, oh my god, Drek is, like, he's not even thinking, like, the same way I am. He's not even, like, approaching the position in the same way. He's on, he's on, like, a separate plane. He's, he's looking many turns beyond. I agree. I, like, I agree.

Abaan 6:46

understanding, I think it's like, always valuable. As long as you understand, like, what's happening. Like, obviously, I can't gain anything from watching, like, the Henry Brand games from, like, his worlds, because, like, I didn't play that format. I have no clue what's happening. I'm, like, learning the cards as I'm watching. But, like,

Henry 6:58

yeah, I understand.

Abaan 6:59

I think you can learn stuff from any format you play.

Henry 7:01

I don't know, like, I will say, like, maybe my memory just sucks, bro, like, I just tried queuing up this TurboGuardi deck today, like, I was already, like, fumbling every single game, bro, like, I already forgot all the lines, and I had to figure it out again, so, like, just watching a random VOD from, like, what, like, 8 months ago, I don't know, I don't know if I would, uh, really be able to, like,

Abaan 7:16

It's not a random bot. It's Strick. the way,

Henry 7:19

sure, sure. And, like, oh, also, like, I've been playing, like, Liam and, like, ParadoxGuardi versus Tina, bro, and, like, I remember how locked in on that matchup I was when it was, like, standard legal, but, like, ah, we were playing that, I had no

Abaan 7:30

like, I

Liam 7:30

then I took Henry outside, bro. Like, oh my god.

Abaan 7:33

think, Henry, that, like, in the future, like, let's say one year from now, some guy who's, like, who was pretty good at Draugr comes down and assists with you, and, like, wants to play slowguard you could cook them a year from now?

Liam 7:43

No.

Henry 7:44

I think, uh, skill level would be significantly lower, I'm not sure what my opponent's

Liam 7:50

No, Aban, I think there's a necessary caveat that like, this, this like, guy is A, like, at least somewhat good, and B, it's like a current player right now, right? Like, it's not like a player in a year who's also pretty washed at the matchup, but like, somebody right now who's playing the matchup like, every single day, like, they would probably, probably beat you, right?

Henry 8:08

It's

Abaan 8:08

Maybe. I think, I'm not sure, I think certain I've, like, I, like, obsess over so much, like, if someone made me play, like, Pidgeot for CPOW in, like, two years, think I could still, like,

Henry 8:20

I'm that like, really

Liam 8:22

dude, that, that, that's true, but like,

Abaan 8:24

they were good.

Liam 8:26

The issue is, when, even when you do something like that, you like, lose a lot of the subtlety, right? Because like, when you're, when you're thinking back about the matchup, you're like, oh dude, I remember this like, one like, random principle that like, nobody else, nobody else knew about at the time, and then like, you kind of like, over lean into that principle when you're playing. I don't know if that makes sense, but that's something that I've like, experienced a lot when I've played past four months.

Abaan 8:46

No, I agree, I agree. I, I think that, like like, if you had to play someone who's like, in it, like, let's say like, Time Traveler Henry had to play like, current day, um, I don't know, some good Drago player like Moffat or something? Like, I, I don't know, like, one year from now, Henry versus current day Moffat, I'm pretty sure, it's, it's a close, it's a close game.

Henry 9:04

First of like, Muffet is, like, really good,

Abaan 9:07

No, I was just thinking, I know, I know, I know, I'm just, that's why I was trying to pick someone really good that wasn't named Rick or Cal, well, if I pick Cal, then like, someone would make the obvious joke, like, current day Henry couldn't beat current day Cal, so then I didn't want to like, open that up.

Henry 9:20

Good one, good one, good one, good one. Uh,

Abaan 9:24

trying to protect you, and then you like, started correcting me, but like, my bad.

Henry 9:27

for calling Moffat good bro, my bro, my New York local, I call him good. That's not allowed these days. Then I just,

Abaan 9:32

Oh, he's from New York, I didn't know that.

Henry 9:33

yeah, well it'll lick up far from me, but I've seen him I guess.

Abaan 9:36

Okay, anyway, so we're getting sidetracked as usual. Tirana, Tirana,

Liam 9:39

yes.

Henry 9:40

won't go through all my rounds, but uh, yeah, day one I went 7 1 1. Um, my loss was round three against Turbo Moondeck with Scramble Switch and Water. He was on stream as well. That was pretty cool. He got top

Abaan 9:52

He went 8 1.

Henry 9:53

yeah, end of top 32. Um, yeah, I played pretty bad. Well, game 2 I got rolled. Game 1 was pretty winnable. Didn't play great. Um,

Abaan 10:04

think that guy might actually have suffered from stream nerfs, like, I think, like, I don't know, I'm like, more and more opening up this idea, like, I haven't really been on stream, so, like, I just have to, like, imagine what it's like, but, like, I totally accept that, like, the stream games are, like, not the same as, like, sitting on a table, and it's, like, so much different that, like, you shouldn't, like, you should almost not judge, like, bad or good someone plays on stream.

Henry 10:23

excuses.

Liam 10:25

No, I, I agree with the bottom. The way I think about games is, it's like a, it's a conversation between you and your opponent.

Henry 10:32

Oh, and when

Abaan 10:33

And then, like, the stream is like,

Liam 10:35

And when, yeah, no, but like, no, bro, it's like, it's more about like, um, You and your opponent, yeah, like when you're on stream in that sort of environment and there's like gray noise like the conversation gets a little bit disrupted and you both go kind of like delusional like it's the delusion like it kind of affects everyone bro there's nothing really to do about it bro

Abaan 10:58

I like to think about it is, like, people who play great on stream still, they should be praised, but the people who play bad on stream, it's, like, kind of a wash, like, like, whatever. Like, we can talk about the

Liam 11:07

agree with this i i know i i just think bro henry i'm i'm blown away bro your stream games have been like incredible bro yeah

Abaan 11:13

Yeah, like,

Liam 11:14

i'm blown away

Abaan 11:15

is, like, a testament to just Henry being good, but, like, everyone, like, throwing on stream, that's, like, not, like, they're not bad players, like, that's, like, a different, it's just a different skill.

Henry 11:22

is whether people are actually throwing on stream more, or like, people just are throwing all the time, but no one's watching, and no one knows, and they never know, and the

Abaan 11:27

No, no, I truly don't believe that, like, some of the games I've watched, like, people played that bad, like, there's no way, like, that guy can go 8

Henry 11:34

I don't know.

Abaan 11:35

Henry, that guy went 8 1, like, I know he was playing Turbo Moon, but, like, the way he played in his loss on stream, it's, like, he wouldn't have, he would have probably gone 0 9 if he played like that, and that's not Flame, he truly played, like, terrible on stream, but he went 8 1, so, Like, and I mean that, like, I don't know, it sounds like Flame, like, the more I'm saying it, the more I'm thinking this is Flame, but, like, it really seemed, like, uncharacteristic. He got you, bro, and after he got you, he got, like, someone else, like, who was good, I

Henry 11:58

he got, uh, he got someone, I think,

Liam 12:02

Yeah, like,

Abaan 12:02

Lashmid, Zard, versus Moon. You think that guy played, like, like, literally somebody played the deck for the first time on stream, like,

Henry 12:08

he got got by the Petra, and killing something going into his turn, that's how he swung the prize trade. Oh, oh my god, dude, nasty

Abaan 12:14

yeah, masterful, that, the guy on stream would not have pulled that off, but that guy, like, in, on, over the board, off stream, he's

Liam 12:20

I agree with this, I agree with this, like,

Henry 12:22

like, I don't know, I guess I can only speak for myself. Like, the white noise is, like, a little annoying, but besides that, I mean, it's literally just Oh, oh,

Abaan 12:29

Wait, how does the peck round thing work? If you take a KO, can they just promote it and you take eight?

Liam 12:34

uh, yes, yes.

Henry 12:36

oh, wait, what are you, no, no, do I, what are you saying?

Liam 12:41

No, like, if you're poisoned, you take a knockout, and they promote the Pekka, and you die, yes. Yeah, like,

Henry 12:46

if there was already poison on it, you mean.

Liam 12:48

yeah, yeah, yeah, if there's already poison.

Henry 12:49

that's not what happened. He,

Abaan 12:51

Oh.

Liam 12:52

Yeah, no, no, no, he hit with the attack, he hit with the attack, right? Mm

Henry 12:54

like, that's the reason why it's in the deck. The, see, the attack.

Abaan 12:58

No, I understood that part. I know, I was just wondering if, like, maybe this promote thing is what happened, but okay, sure.

Henry 13:02

yeah, yeah, no, no, he's just, like, shot going random, like a, you know, like a

Abaan 13:05

So everyone's just basically playing Mawile, and they're playing Dark Mawile. Okay.

Henry 13:09

Yeah, sure, you can take it like that.

Liam 13:12

hmm. Yeah, I'm, bro, yeah, like, the stream, bro, so, the stream is so cooked, bro. It's, it's really hard to play on stream, bro.

Henry 13:20

had in Masters, and do you think you play better or worse?

Liam 13:24

Uh, I've only had one in Masters, and that was at Orlando.

Henry 13:25

only streamed me on the in stream on Swiss at all?

Liam 13:29

Nah.

Henry 13:29

9. 0? They didn't

Abaan 13:30

Henry, when did you go? No, no, it's different at regionals versus NAIC. Like, ICs, like, the 9 0 is guaranteed stream, like, the first round of the next day. In regionals, they don't stream until round 12, and by then the 9 0 is, like, typically has, like, already made cut,

Henry 13:41

Or they first few rounds of the day and had to struggle to get back on top.

Liam 13:47

Indeed.

Henry 13:48

But they did get back on top, which is all that matters.

Liam 13:50

Indeed, bro.

Abaan 13:51

No, but I, at that event, I don't want to mean to glaze him too much, I watched a set from him and Memma, which is Caleb Rodgerson, because I was, it was cooked. Basically, I had to ID my last round because, like, I I don't know, I, I prized a lucky Heavyball versus Lax, and so I was like, okay, I just, I'll take the ID, whatever, and then I watched, uh, like, Liam's game, and I was like, this guy, like, understands the matchup at such a high level, like, oh my god, he's, like, goaded, and I watched his stream game, like, on the, like, ride to the Uber, or, like, Uber to the, like, airport, or whatever, and I was like, this is not the same guy, so, that, like, started my, like, theory about stream games being, well, at the time, I just thought Liam was terrible, and, like, this was, like, crazy, but now, like, looking back, I was like, oh, maybe this stream thing is, like, cooked.

Henry 14:28

is not

Liam 14:29

Oh my god, bro.

Henry 14:31

Pretty sure Vodafone, everyone

Abaan 14:32

No, Drick, I think Drick's not terrible, I think Drick's goaded.

Liam 14:34

DRAKE! DRAKE! DRAKE! DRAKE! DRAKE! So good, bro. Oh my god.

Abaan 14:38

Henry, that was a great question, though, out of you.

Henry 14:40

I was

Liam 14:41

He has it.

Henry 14:42

but you guys beat me to the punch before I could even say that.

Liam 14:45

Oh my god. Nah, bro. Yeah, like, this guy's actually him, bro.

Henry 14:50

Okay.

Liam 14:51

I've literally never seen I've never seen someone punish plays the way he does, bro. Like, I This is what I was telling, I was telling you guys earlier, bro, I like, I,

Abaan 14:59

had, like, a GOAT collab. Like, we've got Henry and Drick just playing, like, game after game. And, like, I literally feel, like, honored to watch. Like, I'm, like, sitting and, like,

Liam 15:07

I swear to god, bro, it's like, yes,

Abaan 15:09

to see this or something?

Liam 15:11

bro, yes!

Abaan 15:11

allowed? Like, I just got to watch,

Liam 15:13

It's literally, it's like,

Abaan 15:15

What?

Liam 15:16

this is what I always say, bro, it's like Courtside 2016 Warriors Cavs, bro, like, oh my god, bro, it's like the best thing to watch, every, every single night, bro, I like,

Abaan 15:25

But imagine if after the block by James, they, like, played, like, 10 more games. Like, that's how, like, that's how

Liam 15:30

exactly, bro, every single night, bro, like, oh my god, bro, it's, it's so good, bro. Yeah, Drake Force Henry is just insane, bro.

Abaan 15:38

Okay,

Liam 15:40

back to Toronto.

Henry 15:42

Okay, Day 1, I went 7 1 1, lost to Moon, my tie is in last round of the day against Lost Fox. I also terribly in this set. Didn't play very good overall.

Abaan 15:51

for the viewers, Henry at this point, at 7 1 1, like,

Henry 15:54

I

Abaan 15:54

I actually commend Henry for this, because like, I, no, no, I understand, because I was like, like, I feel the exact same way, it doesn't matter what my record is, like, when something like that happens at the end of the day, you're just like, sad, but like, I mean, even as recently as SAC, I was crashing out for my tie in my last round at 6 0 2, but like, damn, Henry's crash out at 7 1 1 was just unbelievable, it's like, you would have thought he like, went, got in at X 2 1 or something, like, it's respectable, but it was like, level to crash out.

Henry 16:18

I don't know, dude. It's just like, the difference between going into Day 2 at 8 1 versus 7 it's not even comparable, dude. Like, the fact that you get allowed a loss is just like, increases your chances so much. Like, you almost feel like a lo I think if I went into 8 1, I

Liam 16:31

Dude, really? Yeah, I agree,

Henry 16:34

7 1, it's like, just one thing goes wrong. Luckily, at this event, you were allowed to tie, which I wasn't 100 percent sure about going into Day 2, but that is what ended up happening, um,

Liam 16:45

it really does affect your chances a lot. Oh

Henry 16:47

an insane amount. Um, yeah. Day 1, like, my wins were not very impressive. the tournament, I chalked my deck to lax by cutting a Bravery Charm, so that when I paired it into Nucci at 4 1, I was really, really scared. But then he flipped it over into a pile of red jeans. And that's, like, genuinely, I've ever played against at a Major, dude. Like, I

Abaan 17:12

Dude, someone asked me, how do you beat the Regis with Guardi? And then, I like, didn't know what to say. I was like, uh,

Liam 17:16

Bro, who was that, bro? That was somebody in the chat, bro. Alright, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, oh, oh, no, I

Abaan 17:22

think

Liam 17:23

bro. I think it was Caleb.

Abaan 17:24

it. and I will see you in the next video.

Henry 17:35

for him to do something, and he got down to, like, ten cards in deck before he was able to attack, dude. Like, it took him, like, seven turns. He couldn't find the area zeroes, and he just, like, was researching, and I felt so bad, bro, like This is actually pathetic. And then, like, he finally goes in and I just stamp him, and then I got him with the Maw Isle, but, I mean, I could have easily got him on the Prime Trade, but, like, it's actually so bad. Oh,

Liam 17:57

Bro, like, the, yeah, bro, I mean, I think that's the most important thing, actually, that I've, like, come to realize is, like, make sure you have, like, a serious deck, right?

Henry 18:06

as a, like, sort of corollary of that, maybe don't take advice from Grant Manley on the deck choice. No flame.

Abaan 18:13

Dude, we're only 18 minutes into the New Year podcast, and we are flaming Grant Manley already. That's like, I think that's record time, like, let's try to get it down to 17, maybe 15.

Henry 18:23

I mean, bro, like, I mean, respect to Gran if he still believes in this Regipyle, bro, you know, if he shows up to San Antonio playing this, I'll respect it, but this deck is, like, unbelievably terrible, like, I don't, like, I know I'm playing Guardia, which is a bad matchup for it, bro, but, like, was just sitting there, if I were playing any other deck, the same thing would've happened, bro, he would've literally just

Abaan 18:40

No, that's not true, Henry, because the round before that, Nucci beat our friend Cameron Kawasaki on Archeolodon.

Henry 18:45

Really? Oh, well that, okay, well, that matchup sounds pretty good for him, I would think, but,

Liam 18:49

Oh my gosh.

Henry 18:50

you need a third game because your deck is just guaranteed to shit

Liam 18:53

No, the deck is like, yeah, it's like actually not that terrible at beating out like some, some random, but like this is, this is always a trap with like non serious decks, right? Like you think they're good because they, they have some like solid matchups, but they're, they're not serious. So you end up losing, but like,

Henry 19:09

like, the

Liam 19:10

yeah, right?

Henry 19:11

not reasonable with that deck in a, like, a major event, bro, like, I don't even know.

Liam 19:15

Hmm. Hmm. Oof,

Abaan 19:17

not to, not to sidetrack, but back to your day two, because I need to talk about all the, there's only like four rounds, right, so, so

Henry 19:22

okay, Uh,

Abaan 19:23

that report,

Henry 19:24

match in day one, real quick, is that I had a, we agreed to best of one with Benny Billinger, and, um, got him with a little

Abaan 19:30

oh, Benny B Squad.

Henry 19:31

this is day one, this is like, uh, maybe six one or something, got him with a little Clefki shove, uh, killed his

Liam 19:37

oof. Oh,

Henry 19:39

and, uh, I had, I had been sort of focusing Curly as his game for the majority of the game, so his draw on board was Greninja plus Fez to an Iono plus a Clefki kill, and then he was not able to find, like, uh,

Liam 19:49

I'm in love with that play. I'm in love with that play. Yeah,

Henry 19:54

7 1 1, uh, Day 2, I hit some really sus matchups. Uh, so, first I hit, uh, the Turbo Tropico stack, like the, the Tim Franklin variant with the 1 1 Drago V Star, and like the thicker Dusknoir line. Um, so this matchup seems like Talk for me, I never even tested it, like, I kind of forgot Tropicus was a deck, um, like, like most people did, I think. Um, but yeah, I just get my EX up both games, like, yeah, start of slow starts, uh, and I just get completely bailed out. I remember game one, I was staring down, like, a horrible hand. And then he Iona'd me, and then I had a really good hand, and he had a terrible hand, so I just won the game for free. Uh, and then game two, like, he got to, like, attack, but I just, I got my Guardia, because I'm, like, turn three or something. And I managed to get, like, a Monkey Darkdown early, and, like, the moment you get double Monkey down, it's, like, you can, they can be, like, three prizes, as long as they don't, like, already have a Dusknoir on board, like, they have, like, no pressure on you.

Liam 20:42

because you can, like, loop that Duskull spot a little bit, right?

Henry 20:45

Yes. Yes! You were given complete prize trade. That's an excellent point. Um, round two, I hit Zard, and I get him with a mawile both games. Uh,

Abaan 20:59

I get him, what was his response to Mawau Pidget? Did he turn up?

Henry 21:03

he did not tarot. He just passed. And then I went kill and take the duskull with double monkey. Like, he didn't develop his board enough. He went aggressive. I mean, I

Abaan 21:11

Oh, did you, you failed? Did you try to, um, did you charm Drifloon, or, because you double monkeyed the Duskull?

Henry 21:17

No, no, sorry, I killed him with EX. Sorry, did I say Drifblim? No, I killed him with you don't have the board space.

Abaan 21:21

oh no, no, I was just asking,

Henry 21:23

I you kill with EX, yeah. It's like very funny, well, this segues into like a broader discussion of the Slowgardy deck, but like, Gardevoir EX is like the main attacker, and like, even against Tarzan, you're attacking with Gardevoir EX a lot of the time, which is really funny, right? Um, so yeah, I got him with the Gardevoir EX plus Kill Duskull, and then I'm just kind of winning on price trade. Um, yeah, I, I mawiled the Pidget game too. I think game one I was like mawiling a Rotom for a long time. I forget exactly how that happened. Um, I think he had already used, like, his Thorn Nurse. So, Yeah,

Abaan 21:52

Yeah, because that's the most frustrating thing. If they Thorin, like, not only is the like, the Rotom's gone, the Tarot's still alive, and like,

Henry 21:58

and they can

Abaan 21:58

uh, it's like, everything's in play.

Henry 21:59

Like, it's pretty

Abaan 22:00

Yeah.

Henry 22:01

Um, yeah, so that was pretty fortunate. I, uh, I don't know, the Zard matchup, obviously the mawile sort of attacked for the Zard matchup, but even with that, it doesn't feel, like, amazing, so getting a clean two on that felt pretty good.

Abaan 22:12

You know that's lost on a lot of people? A lot of people think it's like, it's purely a Draco tech, which is kind of funny to me.

Henry 22:17

Yeah, the

Abaan 22:17

But like, maybe they don't think it's purely a Draco tech, but like, that's what they think, like, number one Draco.

Henry 22:21

messaged you about it in the group chat, like, yeah, the idea was, like, completely for Charizard, like, the inspiration for it was to fix the Charizard matchup, and that was it.

Abaan 22:28

Dude, that message was so much aura. Henry literally goes, I went on a walk. I have it. Let me just come home and draft it up real quick. I'm like, I'm sitting on the edge of my seat. There's a mawile in there, bro. It made perfect sense immediately.

Henry 22:40

sure, no fanfic, no fanfic. Um,

Abaan 22:43

a non fiction. This happened, like, what? No fanfic.

Henry 22:47

um, and then, second to last round, I hit Michael Davidson, who is playing a very similar list. I mean, we had obviously talked a lot about the deck before the tournament. He opted for, like, a Fezrod package, which, uh, we had talked about for a while, um, where I had the stretchers. Uh, game one.

Liam 23:02

Do you recall what he said after the event? Do

Henry 23:04

Wait, wait, wait, wait, what are you referring to?

Liam 23:06

you recall what he said after the event about that package?

Henry 23:09

Actually, didn't like it? He my list was better?

Liam 23:12

Yeah, bro. He said, oh my gosh, I messed up at Sopranos.

Abaan 23:15

he said that I want second stretcher.

Henry 23:16

Okay,

Liam 23:17

Yeah,

Henry 23:18

think, yeah, I, I,

Liam 23:19

yeah. I know he was saying he liked the Fez. He liked the Fez, right?

Henry 23:23

you have to pick between the Fest and the second stretcher. I don't think there's really a way to work it in otherwise. yeah, game one, I, okay, so yeah, so we're in a, okay, so for the round we're at, we have to get one win, one tie to make it into cut from this point. Obviously, two wins gets us

Abaan 23:37

Were you guys aware of this, like, for sure? Like, a fact? Or was this like, still speculation? Okay.

Henry 23:41

everyone knew that X1 2 would make it. Um, cause yeah, we had seen like, People were talking about ID'ing, pretty much everyone was just in a group, like, talking about what the situation was. Um, so like, yeah, in this situation, like, I first thought about ID'ing, but I was like, eh, like, a little too sketchy. Then we thought about doing best of one, but it actually

Abaan 23:59

That's not what Henry thought, bro. That's literally Henry's, like, lying for free, bro. He thought about IDing and he's like, no, it's MD. I'll just get the win now and ID next round.

Henry 24:08

professional instigator of bottom end going at it, once again, generational

Liam 24:12

then what happened, Henry?

Henry 24:13

Uh, yeah, so then, yeah, we were also thinking about doing a best of one, but that made no sense, because the tie is fine for us. We just had to play it out normally, which thank god I did, because game one I prized triple rolls. I, uh, just popped in for one roll casually on my turn one going first, uh, hope he doesn't notice anything. Uh, and then the moment he dropped Arvin on his turn one, I decided to pick up my cards, because, uh, it's not plus EV to continue playing that game, that is for sure. And then, game two we have a Giga Banger, where I'm just kind of sitting there chillin and he's chillin and so I'm gonna have to make the first move, and he decides to make the first move with a Turo Triple Monkey play to take two, is, uh, yeah, definitely a good way to start the game off, but I'm just able to target his

Abaan 24:53

I think it's, don't know Henry, I think it's a good way to start the game off now that we play second Turo, but I mean, we'll get into this more later, but I think with just the pad, it's like, he lost, right? Like, it's kind of scary using your Turo and like having to pad later, then you have to either commit the pad to get the Turo back, or like,

Henry 25:09

uh, is there a better way to start the game off?

Abaan 25:13

he going to deck out first? Is that what happened?

Henry 25:14

so I, I, I stopped refining things at a certain point, just sitting there, I think.

Abaan 25:20

Did he not pick up on this? Did he just keep refinementing? Or was he just, it was too far gone?

Henry 25:23

in both the Benny B and the MD stats. I just stopped refinementing because I'm like, I just can't make the first move here. Well, I remember the Benny B game for sure. Like, I prized boss, so I knew that there was absolutely no way I could make the first move, so I just chilled. Um, the MD, I don't, I prized something, but it wasn't the boss. I forget what

Abaan 25:41

What were your boards? I think, I think that's like interesting for people, like, what were your boards were you like, were chilling on

Henry 25:46

yeah, like, uh, it's somebody active and three Curlios, two Monkeys on the bench, that's pretty much it, uh, with Darks on them.

Abaan 25:54

Is Manaphy the best one, or do you think, um, anything is, like, fine? Like, Screamtail or any random guy is fine?

Henry 25:59

what they've crafted on their board. It depends like how, like, if they already committed the Manaphy, then you don't need to commit your Manaphy, because they can't have Manaphy and Screamtail on their board, right? But if they don't have anything committed and the Screamtail's acceptable for them, then you probably want to have the Manaphy active. So that's sort of like, uh, How I think of the chessboard is looking like, um,

Abaan 26:18

Yep.

Henry 26:19

so then he takes two, and then I'm just able to, so it's like interesting, without the flutter main, it's actually okay to leave double monkey on their board, as long as you keep your board clean, because like, you're both, both of you have two monkeys, and they kind of just cancel each other out, and you can never actually push for the double kills, because you don't have the flutter, um, and he'd already used his trio, so he had never I didn't have Troublemonkey threat for a while, so it allows me to just go for his Curlia and stamp him. So he has two Curlias, I go for a Curlia, stamp him, and then like, you know, he benches a Ralts, and then I kill a Curlia, Iono, and then like, he just misses Curlia, and like, is in like a really tough situation, right? Um, but so yeah, even when starting down to like, if you can just get the Curlias, you can do stuff. He did do a really interesting play, which, should have thought of it before. He did the thing where he mawiled the Guard Axe, which is really, really strong. Um, but he didn't have enough energy to convert on it. If he had enough energy and converted on that, he might have just too much pressure on the price trade and got me. It's like, definitely possible. Um, but yeah, that

Abaan 27:17

How'd he do that? Because he went up two. Did he just boss it, or did you attack? Oh, you attacked with Gardea soon after the contest, man.

Henry 27:21

like how you have to offset the price trade if you throw it off down too. And I thought there would be no good response into it, cause I knew he could like, pimp Drifloon that turn. Um, and also, yeah, even if he did Drifloon, I think it would have been pretty sketchy for him, but the Mawile is like a nice way to like, pressure me without having to draw any price cards, right? Um, but yeah, no, that's He just had no Kirlia, so he just eventually kind of bled out the game. Uh, and then game three, we don't even decide to play because the only way to finish it is if someone just, like, full bricks. Um, so yeah, at this point, I'm 9 1 2, and I'm winning in 2 8 7, and in my pool is just like some Draegas, um, yeah, I think it was pretty much just Draegas, so I was feeling

Abaan 28:03

No, no, it was a ton of Pidgeots, I remember. It was at least Dylan Gunn,

Henry 28:06

one Pidgey, right, right, right.

Abaan 28:08

uh, Jeremy Gibson, I think one other.

Henry 28:12

Okay,

Abaan 28:12

Gibson was your bracket, or one of you was for sure getting down paired.

Liam 28:15

Yeah, I think that was his last one.

Abaan 28:17

paired,

Henry 28:17

so maybe it was three Draegers, or something like that. Um, but then I get downpair and then, yeah, so I think I'm sitting with like, uh, with Frank or something, and he's X2 1, and I'm like, oh man, I hope you don't hit Stefan, like that, that would be pretty terrible, because he's like the one Palkia Duster in the entire tournament. Um, I wasn't even thinking about playing him myself, but then of course, when the pairings go up, I got downpaired, I hit Stefan, which is, uh, yeah, like, it's a, it's a sketchy matchup, like, sort of been consistent well, I definitely said this when I played TurboGuardian, like, this matchup is not that bad. With SlowGuardian It's like, not ideal, but like, definitely winnable. I mean, it's sort of the same thing with Tropico, it's like, if you

Abaan 28:52

If a Guardian EX hits the board in any of these matchups, you win.

Henry 28:55

but uh, can be a little tricky to get that. Um, but game I do sort of an interesting play where I had prized one Evo, and I Arven turn one, and I get a bunch of Ralts down, but then I don't rip the Evo because I know I need to Evo directly into Gardevoir React. So I just pass with a board of like, Greninja quad roll. and he didn't get an energy on his Palkia V, is the key, on his turn one. So he's in a really awkward position because the only way for him to attack this turn is he has to commit the star portal. But like, using Moonlight Shuriken on just two rolls feels like really underwhelming. Um, but that's what he has to do, because I don't think there's any other way for him to advance the game. He could do something where, like, he attacks with a Palk and, like, gets two on the Ninja. Um, but then I think he's at

Abaan 29:44

Is it crazy? Maybe he can, like, evolve a bunch of Dusknoirs and, like, try to, like, get you, like, get everything, all the Kirlias at once.

Henry 29:51

is I

Abaan 29:51

Or, like or, like,

Henry 29:52

maybe, even, right?

Abaan 29:55

yes, yes, I I I understand this.

Henry 29:57

but

Abaan 29:58

sketchy part for you, though, is getting the Kirlias without evo ing ever, right? Like, you have to get two Kirlia's raw, essentially, in that plan?

Henry 30:04

Yeah. Part of the reason I make this play is my hand is pretty strong. Um, but then he does I me the next turn and puts the Evo on the bottom. But I managed to rip the Arvin for like stamp plus Evo. Yeah. I, I, I drew really well. Like the, the only way you can like win convincingly in this matchup is like you have to have like Arvin plus another piece kind of starts. Um,

Abaan 30:23

what did Henry what did, um, Stefan have to say after this game? Do you remember?

Liam 30:27

I think he said that Henry was the best Gardevoir player in the world and an inspiration to us all, which I won't disagree with.

Abaan 30:32

I wanna I I can't I can't disagree with this either. This is Stefan was, like, saying something extremely factual.

Liam 30:37

I agree. I agree.

Abaan 30:38

jest. actually, like, that was, like, dude,

Liam 30:41

Yeah, I, I mean,

Abaan 30:42

someone and having them say, like, wow. Like, I was just masterclass. Like, oh my goodness. Like, that's so

Liam 30:49

no, I mean, bro, it's like kind of the same way that like, maybe,

Abaan 30:53

I got you?

Liam 30:54

um, yeah, yeah, maybe, maybe like that, where like, you know, going into the event, you're like, you know, this is probably like a, this is a pretty good matchup for me, I'm like, happy to hit it. And then after you're like, Hmm, this is like, this is a lot closer than I thought. And like, maybe it's the same way that Henry was feeling like after those first 10 games against Drick. Uh, Bolt vs. Guardi, something like that. But like, you know, I think we're all like, sort of familiar with that feeling, right? When you see someone like, actually start, start cooking you in like, a matchup for the first time. That's how I was feeling earlier today, when Drick was getting me with Draco, bro. I like, oh my god.

Abaan 31:26

Once again, Liam, please check the agenda for where the Dricklaze is supposed to be scheduled in. Thank

Liam 31:30

my bad, my bad, my bad. I was playing, I was playing Pidgeot decks. I was, I mean, I was playing tons of different Pidgeot decks, and he was getting me every single time. I was like, I, I, I don't even know at this point. I think I might have to just play Drago, bro. Like, uh, Drix is too insane. I, like,

Henry 31:42

you on Guardi. Um, yeah,

Abaan 31:46

sorry, sorry for interrupting, I just wanted to really I really wanted to bring that Stefflon quota in, that was so fun that

Liam 31:50

for sure, for sure. pull.

Abaan 31:52

masterful.

Henry 31:53

I mean, I was not happy to hit him in the last round, obviously, but, uh, yeah, like, he, he played my, uh, my Turbo Guardi deck for multiple events, and he had, like, DM'd me, and we had talked for a while, so it was really cool to hit him. Um, yeah, so game one, I get him on, like, a damp CC Squawk, and just, like, Put him in, like, an energy deficit kind of thing, and, like, he drew so bad off the stamp, he couldn't even, like, get the energy to move the squawk, so, I just kind of got him that way, which is pretty fortunate. And then, Game 2, he just didn't open well, and I had the Arvid, and I just got the Guard of Reacts up. So, like, Game 1, I had to brick him off the stamp, Game 2, he just kind of bricked

Abaan 32:23

Did you choose second Game 2?

Henry 32:24

No, no, no, he opted first. Which, I think is, I think it's correct, because if I go first, I have threat of Evo Direct and DX, like, naturally, right, which is a little sketchy. But, I don't know, the, the,

Abaan 32:37

Wait, but if you Henry, then we're in a conundrum. If you think it's good for him to open first, does that mean if you were going to Game 3, you would've opened first?

Henry 32:43

yeah, I think so, yeah, yeah.

Abaan 32:45

Oh, you would have. Okay, okay. That's what I was gonna ask. Okay.

Henry 32:47

opted first. Um,

Abaan 32:49

Did he win the flip? Uh, sorry, like, did he win the flip in one? Okay, yeah, yeah.

Henry 32:54

is the one where I got, like, the four rolls out, no Manaphy. Um, I actually milled the Manaphy off my stomp, uh, but it was, like, fine, because, like, I don't even want Manaphy in that situation, really. Well, I mean,

Abaan 33:05

The Manaphy is literally the most

Henry 33:06

Like, it's

Abaan 33:07

he's like, okay, like, obviously, sure.

Liam 33:10

exactly. It's just another route.

Abaan 33:11

sits there, and he just gets blown up, like, every time you put him down. Like, okay. He's like, like, it almost feels pointless, right? But it's like, it directs a Dusknoir away from a Kirlia. So it's

Liam 33:20

Yes, yes.

Abaan 33:21

do, but it's like, kind of funny that he doesn't All he does is like, hit that like, Amoongus follow uh, it's not just Amoongus, but like, follow

Liam 33:26

Yeah, yes, yes. Great pull, boy, great pull.

Henry 33:30

Yeah, he's embarrassed, babe, right? That's true.

Abaan 33:33

I don't know why, like Amogus sticks out to me. Or the Sage and Park Pachirisu, that one

Liam 33:36

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Abaan 33:37

me.

Henry 33:39

There were spots where, the game was already like, I was already pretty much a blowout once I stabilized, but there were like spots where the Manaphy I realized like, got a lot stronger, because like, you start taking away the Dusk pieces, and then you bench the Manaphy, and then obviously it's really good, and then also like, once you get like some force on the Prize Trade, and then you drop the Manaphy, it's like, you're forcing them to commit to Dusk, then it's like, okay. These are for like, the game plans where they're sort of like, Don't want to burn their star portal early and maintain this ninja threat, um, which I think came up one of the games. So it's like, it's like the game was like, completely chalked for him, but it was like,

Abaan 34:09

Is there any mawile pressure? Is it prime multiple switch? Or the fact that Dusknoirs are too much? Yeah, okay, okay.

Henry 34:14

and Switch and all the Dusknerfuse. I mean, it was like, in the very back of my mind, but I had, luckily I had much more robust ways to win the game. Um, but yeah, I definitely would not count on that strategy in this particular matchup. Uh, yeah, then I like, when I was winning, like, I was just converting with like, my typical bullshit of like, putting 160 on the Mew and like, having this four turn. Four price turn pressure, which just instantly wins the game. Um, so yeah,

Abaan 34:36

I love the fact that if you walked over to any one of Henry's games and let's say you like didn't look very closely, you'd like think he's losing every single game. He's like, that guy's still on six? The other guy's on three! What's gonna happen next? And then like, everything blows up at once, always.

Henry 34:49

pull. Another great pull Vauban, the resident great pull

Abaan 34:52

What? Bro, I was just saying like, you know, like, like, if you're not like, you, like, when you walk by a regional most of the time, like, like, you walk by a board state, you just like, you don't have to look very hard. You're just like, oh, prizes. Oh, there's like an attacker. It's probably fine. But like Henry's boards, it's always like, uh, Huh, looks like, looks like he's gonna win the game in, like, one attack, but like, if you're not really paying attention, he's at six. What's the, like, what's the big danger?

Henry 35:14

at how empty the opponent's dice bag is, right? If all the dice are on the board, that's when

Abaan 35:17

Yeah, yeah.

Henry 35:20

you know it's lit, bro.

Liam 35:21

Henry's favorite

Abaan 35:22

own I, like, I'm a, I think, like, this is, like, a minor thing, but when I play Guardi, I really like having my own dice on hand, because, like, I don't know, like, you have to put so much damage on your board, like, just yourself to move around. I hate those, like, number ones, the ones that, like, say, like, 100, 110, 120, all that, I hate that. I need the dice.

Henry 35:37

just have the sixes. Um, but like, I don't use my dice for my opponent's, unless they like need me to, right? Like, you just use your dice for your board? Or no, you're saying

Abaan 35:46

Sure, sure. No, no, I need it I use it on my own board, but I'm just saying like, it's really important that I have my like, specific like, set, because like, I need the pips.

Henry 35:53

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean, I do the same, for sure, yeah. Um, okay, so, I speak in a 1012, oh, it just turned, uh, New Year, by the way. Happy New Year. Um.

Liam 36:04

Oh, Happy New Year!

Abaan 36:05

I'm in Seattle, so I'm cooked. Three hours.

Henry 36:08

Um, I go ten one two. I'm in Asim and I hit Cal. The Asim bracket is like the, the, the top cut's pretty good for me. There's like a, a pitch it, a bolt, a bunch of Dragos, and then MD on Gardy. If I win my set, I hit, if I, if I beat Cal, then I'll hit Hassan on control, which is a pretty good matchup, or like a really good matchup. And then I'll hit, uh, a bolt in top fourth. Like I, I've,

Abaan 36:35

Did you think it was that good? At the time, you were only on Turropad, right? Like,

Henry 36:38

Yeah, I

Abaan 36:39

definitely losing out since then, right?

Henry 36:41

out to it, like, Liam was to me, like, he was telling me the matchups were pretty good, and I know BennyB got Hassan really convincingly earlier in the day, um, or the day before, maybe. I don't know, it's just like, if they, they just have, like,

Abaan 36:51

I never feel comfortable when they have Eirikas, and like Bad things can happen.

Liam 36:56

It's literally like a 95 5 matchup for a Tauro pad, bro. I'm not even gonna bat, bro, like, it's The only way you win is by getting a Fang Snipe on the Tauro or the pad early, or somehow donking them. Like, that's actually the only way.

Abaan 37:10

Sure, sure. I mean, it's frustrating, or not frustrating, but it's like, any matchup like that, where like, man, I could start Ninja, and like, my Turo, or anything like that, like, like, it's like, the first deck search is stressful, I think. And then like, after that, you're like, oh, okay, nice.

Henry 37:24

of, but think, even if you have, like, one liability, like, that's why the pat is so crazy, right? Like, one liability, you're

Liam 37:29

No, I know what you mean, and even though it's a really, I think it's a really good matchup, it's one that like, you don't have a lot of room for mistakes in either, right? Like

Abaan 37:40

I had that exact situation against a Pidget, where I like, started a Ninja, prized Turo, and like, that first deck search was just so, like, so heartbreaking. I was like, wait. But then I got on the next two, but, like, I don't know, that, that was so stressful. Like, game two and three, I was like, bro, what if this happens again, and I lose the set to this matchup? But anyways,

Liam 37:58

I think the matchup is

Henry 37:59

Pidget, bruh.

Liam 38:01

Into the blue though, this was actually pretty good, bro. I think.

Henry 38:04

for sure, yeah. That, that list was thin on, like, everything, dude. Um

Abaan 38:12

Sam Tran.

Liam 38:14

Jesus. Oh my lord. Oh my god.

Abaan 38:20

Anyways, Henry, sorry, sorry, not to get sidetracked. Hey, Sam, 15 minutes. But

Henry 38:23

Ace him, he has a game loss, game one, so I'm feeling pretty good, right when I show up to the table. Kieran grins at me when he hears about the game loss, cause he was already talking about the plot armor, cause I got

Liam 38:34

No. Oh my god.

Henry 38:36

cause he bricks, so it's like, okay, well, looks like

Abaan 38:38

was reading, like, the wrong, like, Wikipedia page, like, different plot.

Henry 38:42

Yeah, well, I think I heard that had a very similar experience to me, where, I mean, he just got completely shit rolled in two games, like, I just, like,

Abaan 38:51

Oh, was Cheren was that's what you're talking about, I like didn't I like didn't peep this.

Henry 38:55

uh, there, but he, apparently he didn't get Lugia V down until turn three of both games, which is

Abaan 39:00

Cheren had like such a monster start to the season, and then he had like a terrible like string in the middle, like, like, no flame, like I'm just saying,

Liam 39:06

Bro.

Henry 39:07

It was just ST and

Liam 39:08

was like, yeah, it was literally two events, bro. And like,

Abaan 39:10

two?

Liam 39:11

yeah. Yeah, it was like, it was Dude,

Abaan 39:12

back to back, and it was like, the tweets were just like him like at the beach or whatever, or not I but like talking about the beach, like, ah, I lost to Thorins and now now I'm here, exploiting the rest of the city, I'm like, damn,

Liam 39:22

he had um, he had his run in his top 8's, he had, and then he went to, I have no idea, but like the SB, yeah, yeah, yeah, he had a bad run there, and then I think he had a bad run at LAIC, and then,

Henry 39:35

right? He also skipped

Liam 39:36

this one, right, yeah, and then he went to this one,

Abaan 39:38

yeah. Yeah, like, like, that was like a crazy take, and it just, because he was on such a heater, it was like, so, it was like such a crazy, Like,

Henry 39:45

though. Like, literally in top cut, or he's, like, hard day one, right? Like, I think he got hard day

Abaan 39:50

Yeah,

Henry 39:50

in, uh, in both

Abaan 39:51

twice, yeah.

Henry 39:52

yeah, like, I think he was, like, 3 3 drop or something in both these events.

Abaan 39:55

Yeah, it's only crazy, it's like, it's not crazy flame, it's more just like, compare, like, the juxtaposition, you know? But anyways,

Liam 40:01

It's juxtaposition!

Henry 40:03

Um, yeah, so I literally, like, dude, it's actually so bad. Like, it's, this is, uh, well, I guess it's funny now because Cal is promoting Tatsu, but both my hands, they're like, hands where I really wish I played the Tatsu. It's like the all energy Poth in hands. It's just, like, unplayable. Um, game

Abaan 40:21

know, I've been talking to Cal, he's the biggest Tatsu glazer ever, he loves Tatsu, like, literally every conversation I have with him Tatsu.

Henry 40:27

Yeah, top 2's pretty good, I think. I think I'm maybe adding top 2 to the bag. Um, yeah, game 1, or quote unquote game 2, I managed to like, kind of fake a comeback attempt because I draw the stamp one turn and I'm able to like, Evo, and then he like, aggressively rips a V Star. And I actually managed to get to a point where like, if I Iono him and he misses switch, think I'm actually going to get him, but then he just raw rips the switch. So that was pretty Pretty sad.

Abaan 40:53

Like, Cal's V Stars, like, extremely clean? I've, like, no one gets, like, disproportionately lucky, but I swear, like, Cal's V Stars are always, like, the most, like I don't care about those seven cards, I just thinned. Like, I don't know.

Henry 41:06

Yeah, his V Star was definitely pretty

Liam 41:08

bro. Shenoy2, bro. I literally look at his V Star every single time, and I'm like, I mean, I guess if that's your V Star, you can still, like, get it done here, somehow. But, like, I guess?

Henry 41:19

sounds to me. Um, but he didn't have like terrible hits besides the switch, and he, he managed to keep the switch, but it didn't really seem like he had to V Star in that

Abaan 41:28

Dude, I swear, like, when you rip V Star, though, it's like, you didn't know that there were hits like that until, like, you do it, and you're like, wait, I'm out of, like, fire energies, like,

Henry 41:37

mean, because like when you

Liam 41:38

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, bro.

Henry 41:39

sometimes you hit like a three card combo that just like fucks you over,

Abaan 41:42

yeah.

Liam 41:43

Mm hmm, mm hmm.

Henry 41:44

sure that was open there, like he could have like fired

Liam 41:46

I know, but every single time you V Star, and like, at least the TCG Live experience, you're like, scrolling through it, and you see like, two under the super rod, and you're like, oh my god, bro, like, oh,

Abaan 41:55

Or, like, you look at your E Switches, and you had, like, two left, and you're like, huh, if I don't grab an E Switch, I'm like, and then you, like, mow both, you're like, if I don't grab an E Switch, I'm gonna have to show him exactly where my energies are going for the rest Hmm.

Henry 42:07

up. I see.

Liam 42:08

I know, bro. So bad.

Henry 42:11

Yeah, and then, three, I just, I don't even refine it a single time. This game, oh no, I do refine it once, I make like a pretty bad mistake

Abaan 42:21

told me you raw opened Klefki both games, is this true?

Henry 42:23

true, but I did rock

Liam 42:25

Bro, we were, we were literally talking about this, though, and like, opening raw Clefkit that matchup is actually like, like, probably like a disadvantage, bro. Like,

Henry 42:33

that is not true.

Liam 42:35

it's, it's an advantage.

Abaan 42:35

did he out of it both games, or Prime out of it, or what?

Henry 42:38

it, well, game one he got out of it, and then game two, he drew pass, but my hand was unplayable and I had Ryono, and then I had Ryono unplayable, then he got

Liam 42:49

dude, Henry, I, I, I actually think that's like, that's pretty defensible, like, bro, every single time they open Klefki, I like, I'm like, thanking God, bro. Like, if they don't find the Turo quickly, bro, just like, win every single time.

Abaan 43:03

okay, it's only, you're thanking God if you look at your hand and you're like, okay, I can play the game. You know what percentage of hands that is? It's like, not that, it's not that many.

Liam 43:11

Bro, bro, bro, like, which outs are affected by Klefki that like, you can't play the game, bro? Because like, if you have ball cards, you just grab the Klefka, and you're like, you're fine, bro.

Abaan 43:19

okay, let's I mean, this might be like, Data 2 into the

Liam 43:22

Yeah, yeah, bro, we have to go like into the fanfic, bro. Like, oh, we're starting the Drago, and then like we need the Squawk or something, bro. But like, it's like crazy work, bro.

Abaan 43:29

fanfic because this Draconek is like, opening hands going first are kind of fragile without clefki. So like, there's like definitely a lot of hands you can draft that are not good. And like, having, having a hand that's a clefa hand going first into a clefki is like, they, they see an Arven, they win the game. Like what?

Henry 43:46

I agree, I completely agree. I mean,

Liam 43:50

Yeah, no, like,

Henry 43:51

like amazing.

Liam 43:52

I know, I know what you're saying, but I mean, yeah, I don't know. I go second a lot, so like, um,

Henry 43:57

Yeah, yeah, yeah,

Liam 43:59

it doesn't affect me as much. Uh, and like, bro, I, it like actually gives you like a real chance to like, like beat them by like going slow, bro. Like,

Abaan 44:07

Yes, yes.

Liam 44:08

The khaki on the board is so good.

Abaan 44:10

the Klefki promote is horrible. Going first, and like, dude, that was like, that was the, we like, did watch the Frank game with um, I don't know if we watched it with Frank, no, we watched it with MDE, but like, we talked to Frank about it, the retreating into Klefki on your first turn is so bad. Like,

Henry 44:25

already

Abaan 44:25

it's like, it's like,

Henry 44:27

double, triple, quadruple bad. But um,

Abaan 44:33

there's two problems, right? Like, your board has no room for anything good, and then you're also turning off your Ninja, and you're like, wasting energy that could have been used for Ninja, and like, I didn't want to get, like, there's like, ten reasons it's not good.

Henry 44:44

the board is just completely poisoned. You just have no space for anything. Like you can never get double monkey involved. It is double good. Um, yeah, he, I just, I'd just get completely rolled this game. I, I, I make a mistake where I, I should have held an energy in my hand too. Pivot off, uh, a boss up my ralt so I could retreat it before I evolved into Kirlia, but I decide I want to I decided I wanted to attach the energy first in case I get Ionode, but it's like, clearly a mistake. So I do get like, punished for this, because then I just like, draw nothing. I mean, theoretically, like, didn't matter, because like, you pretend like the cards I drew would have came from the refinements, like, the cards I drew for like, the next six turns were all garbage, so it didn't really matter. It's like, a pretty bad mistake. Um Yeah, that's pretty much it. I just, like, kind of bounced out of the tournament. This is, like, I know I've mentioned this to you guys, like, this is, like, the first time I felt like I crashed out of an event where, like, I didn't really feel like there was anything I could do. I mean, I did just talk about a glaring mistake I made, but, like, this one

Abaan 45:42

I mean,

Henry 45:43

Yeah,

Abaan 45:45

not sure if this is helpful to you, but I think the mistake is that you should reflect on is like, round 9, allowing that tie, which like forced you into Ace Sim in like a very long winded way. I mean, obviously everything's different, your whole bracket's different, but like, I'd say the takeaway, I think taking your last game losing loss and being like, well, this one was truly forced, I don't like doing that.

Liam 46:03

I agree with BonBon.

Henry 46:06

yeah,

Abaan 46:06

But yeah, anyway, uh, BL, BL, BL. It's unfortunate.

Henry 46:12

Yeah, so that's pretty much it for me. It was, like, alright. Like, the deck was, like, really, it felt really good going into the tournament, so I was, like, a little disappointed that it couldn't go deeper, but I don't know, I guess like, yeah, like, and also like, bouncing on an Ace invention is just like so awkward, like it feels so weird, like it's just like, like a top 16, it's like, I don't know,

Abaan 46:32

Yeah, right? Because when you get top 16 naturally, it's like No, no, I actually know what you mean, because when you get top 16 naturally, it's like, it's a different feeling than, like, making cut and, like, losing, but then you get top 16 prizing. Like, what?

Henry 46:42

exactly, exactly. Um,

Abaan 46:46

Like, it feels like you get a better event than, like, a top 16 event, but it's like, the scoreboard doesn't care. You got top 16.

Henry 46:54

well, um, and yeah, I think he was out of cut contention for like quite a while, um, but he managed to squeak in, he's like, damn bro, you got the same, same as me, but, it's all good, it's all good, it's all good. So I guess there are three Guardies in top 16. Zero in top

Abaan 47:08

I think the important thing, important thing we should talk about, uh, we could talk about Liam's Pidget List, but I think before we get to that, I think the people want to know, Henry, like, maybe like mawile uses that you got out of the event, like potential other mawile uses, and like maybe some more, like, just like mawile thoughts. I think that's like the thing that stands out, right?

Henry 47:24

actually didn't use Mawile that much in the event, but everyone else who played it used it like a ton apparently, and I maybe underutilized it a little bit. Uh, especially like, as I said, like, I thought of it as a tech for the Zard matchup, specifically as like a tempo card against the Zard, where you pull up the Pidget and you lock it for a turn and force it off the board. Um, and, um, while also having like some resource pressure against Drago. So those are like the

Abaan 47:51

Yeah, I guess, by the way, in those matchups, if you have both your tarot pad open, you're typically not trying to deck them out. Like, I mean, you can.

Henry 47:58

Yeah, you on just Raw, Turo, and do it again. And you should have enough to just win on the prize trade. Um, obviously these stacks

Abaan 48:10

and it makes it less stressful, because, like, especially against Maraudon, like, if you know the tarot pad's in deck, you don't have to, like, tweak out it, like, making sure you, like, don't get below them in cards while you're trying to find your mawile. Like, you can literally, like, refine it with ease, and it's like, okay.

Henry 48:23

Oh yeah, I don't think you were there, but I had Drake and a Mawile lock in one game, but I somehow didn't even realize until this

Abaan 48:29

No, I watched that. No, I watched that, and I was telling you. Yeah, yeah.

Henry 48:33

Oh yeah, you were there, you were there, yeah, that was bad. Yeah, I prized double EX, so I can

Abaan 48:37

I've won I've actually won surprisingly well, surprisingly as in twice, I've won two different games against Drago when I didn't have Guardiax in my deck. Like, just by, like, mawiling. And, like, I don't even know how it's possible. Like, how do you even feel like, they see the Kirlia's, and, like, I know that there's it's cooked, but, They just, like, freak out. Prime, like, Cologne, like, I need to kill these guys, like, they are, like, they'll, they'll, oh, I know how it happens. It's like a Prime, the first one, and then I just, like, barely, like, like a confuse off, like a mind bend, and they switch out of it. And then it's already, like, looking kind of bad for them.

Henry 49:09

Yeah, yeah, I don't know, I don't know, how many games have I won with double the XP? I think I like used to get people with just like turn to your mind and try to draw it, but besides that I don't think. Oh, actually, I've got

Abaan 49:21

I think nowadays we can only mind bend, right?

Henry 49:22

up their Duster and then I draw my EX and I'm like, let's go. I

Abaan 49:27

At least on that, in that case, they're not making a mistake. It's like, nothing really to, there's, like, yeah, they can just think you're whiffing it. Like, it feels nice when your opponent is playing optimally, like, in the unknown information, and then, like, it actually works out in a way that works for you. Like. I don't know, it feels like less good when they're like, they're just trolling.

Henry 49:47

Uh, what's next on the agenda, guys? Let's take a look here. Um, we got Yeah,

Abaan 50:00

Um,

Henry 50:00

almost got, oh yeah, in my tournament I could have got the instant, or sorry, the Roaring Moon guy by, because he had a board with no pets around, so then like I bottom decked my CC, so that was one of the ways I lost game 1, but I think I could have. More optimal when we got into the play. I only realized after one action on my turn that he didn't have space for the Petra run. So, yeah, that was my bad.

Abaan 50:20

I mean, I guess we don't have a good answer for this, but I think like the main question, we addressed it a little earlier, is like why do we go off TurboGuardi? And like, you're kind of right. I like, I remember one day we had this like conversation where it was like, the point is that going second is like broken, so we're just like trying to like make it so that we're making the most, playing the most powerful deck that we can go second and like, we win like every time versus like TurboGuardi, know, like, I feel like somehow, because we've gone off the deck, like, we're like, re revisionist history, and we're like, oh, Termagardy, like, it's not that powerful, like, doesn't have all the monkeys, and like, it's kind of like, Hyrule y or whatever, like, at least, I never thought this, but like, I feel like this is, like, the narrative that, like,

Liam 50:53

The narrative.

Abaan 50:54

it, right? Like,

Henry 50:55

less powerful. The monkeys give the power of, like,

Abaan 50:58

sure, sure, but like, I feel like the like, consistency of how lit TurboGuardi was is like, completely being lost now that everyone's switching. That thing is still lit. It's the problem is un unfortunately that now it leads to SlowGuardi, which is like a real deck we must know.

Henry 51:11

Which, uh, yeah, I have some power over it, and I don't really know what to do. I kind of want to play TurboGardy, but SlowGardy's also good. It's like, you know, how do I?

Abaan 51:21

Unfortunately for dude, I can't believe this, but like, Japanese players, they're immune to our narrative shifting. So like, Haruki was on SlowGuardi when everyone's on Fast. And I got cooked.

Henry 51:28

has always been very consistently on Slugarty,

Abaan 51:30

We need to might need a Japanese translation for the Trash Lynch to like, really control our meta better. I next thing is the Birmingham, right?

Liam 51:45

Cheren, don't worry. Um,

Abaan 51:49

so,

Henry 51:49

Yeah, Liam, thinking, bro? You, uh, you sound like you might not be playing PGDX for this one.

Liam 51:55

uh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Great layup! We skipped over one thing on the agenda. That was trick plays. That was supposed to be right here. Um,

Henry 52:04

That was, that was worked in throughout.

Liam 52:06

well, okay. But, we can get that in here now, too. Um, up until like, maybe like 12 hours ago, I was like, you know, I was basically the same as always. I was like, I'm gonna play this Pidgetty X card. It's so so good. It has something. Dog everything, I just gotta figure it out. Drick was getting me with like every single deck I tried, bro. Like, I played so many different lists, and like, every single one, right? Like, you have to take some stuff out, add some new stuff in, and like, he's right there with the punish.

Abaan 52:33

or was he just feeling it?

Liam 52:35

Um, I was like, I was kind of telling him, but like, like, it also kind of like, plays itself on the board, right? Like, I cut the slacking, and then like, he's like, bro, you don't have like, a way to one hit my guy. And like, he's like, just egregiously abusing that fact that like, ways that like, I wasn't even ready for. Like. Oh my god. Um,

Henry 52:54

Oh, like, he wasn't taking to use the double turbo, like you couldn't use the counter again, you mean? Oh,

Liam 53:01

Like, no, okay.

Henry 53:03

the

Liam 53:03

Yeah, yeah, I had no slacking. I had no slacking in my deck, so, and then he managed to get down to like a solo Drago board and then go behind on prizes while still having a threat to win that like I couldn't stop, and um, so my Defiance band wasn't active so I couldn't Radzard him because I was playing a Radzard build, and then, Yeah, I like, I just couldn't do anything. Like, he had the V Star still up, it was, it was just shocking. Like, he's, I mean, he's, he was there with the Punish every single time. I, like, I don't even know, like, what 60 cards I can, I can create, um, with, uh, Senna to run the Pidgeot Yaks to defeat Drek on Drago. It's, uh, like,

Henry 53:39

you don't think that the, the Tyrannolith is not a favorite into that? I feel like,

Liam 53:44

Maybe, maybe the

Abaan 53:44

And

Liam 53:45

around list, like maybe the

Abaan 53:46

I is so annoying. Like, this 110 on Toad's Cruel into Hawlucha V Star is so anno is, is really,

Liam 53:52

I mean, like, uh, the attack, like trying to attack, trying to attack. Um, but like, like trying to attack. I don't, I don't know how to beat him when he is using Drago. I'm trying to attack with the, with the Pitch IX and like, I mean, dude, it is just, he's so. I like, I feel like I have to play D Drago, like the Drake is too good and like he plays the Draco. Gotta play a Dr. D. That's, that's where I'm at right now.

Henry 54:21

Okay.

Abaan 54:23

did

Liam 54:23

s for Birmingham.

Abaan 54:25

I think it was like, less of a stretch when we were saying like, Henry's NAIC list was like, the best list in the room because he top aided. Yeah. Like, I truly believe Drix, like, Tyranno less is, like, the best Drago less, for sure, in the whole room, and, like, it's kind of funny that he got, like, 27th, and, like, it, like, feels like a hot take to say that, but, like, it doesn't even feel close, like, it doesn't feel like other Drago less.

Henry 54:44

Yeah, but the

Liam 54:45

I dunno, I think it feels kind of close.

Henry 54:47

and the is really good. Everyone should play the countercatcher.

Abaan 54:49

I think the Holy Tree's at a high level, like, it's so good, too. The Hawlucha plus the CC. Like, it's a package, but yeah.

Liam 54:53

I think it's fine. Like, I, I think, I think Drake plays like any of the other Dragos that like, or like, not any of them, but like. A good chunk of the Drago lists, um, and like, he could still probably do, like, top 32, whatever, like, it's, like,

Abaan 55:09

Like, somehow he always, like, tries to, like, guide you into the CC like, ah, this is so annoying.

Liam 55:14

I'm aware, I think this is, like, the best list, but I think, like, the punish for playing a bad Drago list is, like, it's pretty small, like, I,

Abaan 55:23

I agree with this.

Liam 55:27

yeah,

Abaan 55:28

So, I guess more into general Birmingham thoughts, I think one deck that, like, has been popping up on ladder after the Japan Championships, which I do normally take other list formats with, like, I, like, kind of ignore them. Because, like, There, every list is like basically addressing like what's going on right in the in the room and like in the room there's Bidu so like I thought like all these lists are kind of poisoned but I was playing the Japan Ancient Box list and like so does uh all right well we we change one card under the guidance of our uh of the latter warrior Togikisu. I

Liam 56:01

he's,

Abaan 56:03

I don't know, I was talking to some Ancient Box players, and it seems like common knowledge, but like, using the backpack guy, like, spamming that guy, and, and just one shotting you after, did not realize, like, how powerful this is, until I saw someone, like, it to, like, a fault, you know? I,

Liam 56:15

no, but, like, also, guess what, bro, we were telling Drick about this, and he says he's been on this type of timing for months, and,

Abaan 56:23

to be fair, I've heard this from other people who play Ancient Box, so, like, it seemed like this was not common knowledge, but, like, everyone's saying this, but I think it's, like, the, it's, like, what we say about the V Star, like, everyone loves saying they're, like, the maturest V Star holder, until, like, You're sitting there, and you're like, man, I'm gonna lose the game next turn, or like, in two turns, and you still hold it.

Liam 56:42

Yeah, no, exactly, right? Like, you're like, mm, they're gonna get the first two prizes unless I V Star here, so like, let me just rip that joint, and like, I don't even have any bad discards, right? V Star! Like, oh my god. And it's just always full troll, right? Um, the other thing is too, I

Abaan 56:56

don't know. Drik does it, he does it slightly too often. He, like, he is the closest to the true V Star usage needed. It's still too, too passive. Like, if you lose this many games with V Star

Liam 57:08

really, dude?

Abaan 57:09

you could have done something with, and gotten lucky, right? Like, you're not realizing your equity. Like, let's say, like, when you're V Star, like, you

Liam 57:14

Oh, bro, I don't know.

Abaan 57:15

Like,

Liam 57:16

I don't know, dude. In like, all the games I've played against Drik, bro, and like, watched Drik, there's been like, maybe like, a single time where I'm like, oh, he can hit the V Star now, and like, That would be pretty chalk for the opponent, bro. Like, his V Star, his V Star

Henry 57:32

He

Liam 57:32

usage is like, I agree, I agree he leans too far towards being passive, but like, it's so close to optimal, it's like, it's almost, uh,

Henry 57:41

the correct is like

Liam 57:43

like,

Henry 57:44

of the time, like on the last turn of the game and he does it like a hundred percent. Right. So whereas everyone else is

Liam 57:48

yeah, yeah, exactly, like, it's like,

Abaan 57:51

The correct piece of action is not always on the last turn of the game, but it's like, it's like when you're about to create, like, no, no, there's sometimes where the game continues, but it's like a

Liam 57:57

yes, this is perfect.

Henry 57:58

Yeah. Yeah.

Liam 57:59

Exactly, right? Like,

Abaan 58:00

over.

Liam 58:01

you can V Star for like, boss, prime, and like, the game's over. Right? Like, you prime, and then like, you have the boss, and you just win.

Henry 58:06

is that the usage is always when you have less than like seven cards in deck. Right. Feels, you winning the game, one or the

Liam 58:12

it's once you have a win shot, right? Once you have a win shot, I think is, is like, actually, like, genuinely, like, the best way to describe it, right? Um, like,

Abaan 58:20

shot, you like this turn, but like

Liam 58:23

yeah. 100 percent win, right? Mm hmm. Yes,

Abaan 58:26

exactly. I know, I just want to make that caveat because I felt like, like, It's like overgeneralizing. Like, literally, if I told someone like, oh, all the way you do is like, only V Star when you win, I think they wouldn't, like, they would not come close to, like, the right percentage. It's like, or maybe they come close, but like, there is definitely V Star spots that everyone agrees is good, makes it so that you win the game, but you don't, like, You don't win that turn.

Henry 58:47

like, yeah, I agree, like, you're making a little less dinner, but like, you know, when I say win on, like, winning on this turn of the game versus, like, win shot, I mean, most of the times, like, a win shot is on that turn, and, like, I agree there are, like, turn sequences, but, like, like a minority,

Abaan 59:00

I disagree with this, like, I find a lot

Liam 59:02

Those are pretty common, those are pretty common, right?

Abaan 59:04

a lot of sequences where you grab the CC and the Prime, and you CC, and you do your thing, and you're like, you have no hope, because my deck is like three cards, I have a Prime in hand, my hand is like three cards, there's Gamu on board, like, and I have Prime left. Good luck.

Liam 59:16

Yeah,

Henry 59:17

yeah.

Liam 59:23

you already have, like, another Guston hand, and, like, yeah, it's just locked up, right? Yeah, I think those spots are actually pretty common.

Abaan 59:31

The Birmingham, Birmingham, Ancient Box. So I think Ancient Box, like,

Henry 59:34

I I

Abaan 59:35

I think the monkey tech is lit.

Henry 59:36

Oh, the monkey, yeah. I thought you were going to bring up Archuleon, because you were talking about Champions League. I was surprised you brought up the Ancient Box, but now it makes sense because you were talking about it before, but when I heard about

Liam 59:46

I agree with this, Henry, I was on the same page as you.

Henry 59:48

yeah.

Abaan 59:49

I

Liam 59:49

Yeah, the Ancient Box does

Abaan 59:51

Archealdon list right away, because I didn't think like, it's that good. It's like, it is what I'm talking about with the reflection of like, Bidu, right? Like, it's like, I don't know, it's like, It can't be more like this or more like Scramble Switch like combo build because

Liam 1:00:04

Dude, I, I felt like, um, me and Henry, I think we're already working on this Archelodon list before the Champions League results, right? And like, I like saw it and I was like, oh, like, everybody else like thinks this is lit too, right now, like, like, like a mass enlightenment, you know? Um,

Henry 1:00:22

I mean, it has a

Liam 1:00:25

obviously we don't, we don't know if it's actually like, You know, the sauce or whatever, right? But, like, what I mean about, like, I think it's coming out more about because people are, like, seeing, like, its potential, as opposed to, um, like, being, like, specific attainment for the more.

Abaan 1:00:40

is so obvious, but anytime an attack utilizes an X Return tactic, like, all the like, there's like, obvious stuff where I take you, you take four prizes or whatever, right? But like, using two supporters before your opponent gets to respond is actually like one of the most broken things ever, like, I don't know. You're, like, looking at all these, like, checkmate spots, and you can get, like, Ionode and, like, Thornton, or, like, you're, like, all these spots where you're, like, oh, I can't get, like, boss Thornton, and then it's, it's just possible now, like, that's ridiculous, you know? I think that's, I think that's, like, one of the coolest parts of the deck. I, that's why, like, I love Rapidstrike 2, where it was, like, There's just seems like spots where it seems like it's impossible for you to lose, but it's so hard to build a board state that's robust to like, two things dying, an Iona coming, bossing your most annoying target, and I can fix my board with something, or like heal something with Turo maybe, or like, all these, like, how can you build a board state that's like, robust to that unless you're up like 6 1 or something? Even then, who knows?

Henry 1:01:32

True, we talk about supporter debt all the time, but Dialga lets you have,

Liam 1:01:35

Yes.

Henry 1:01:37

you're

Abaan 1:01:37

Next, yeah. Supporter Debt Relief. The new, um, yeah, new campaign. Supporter Debt Forgiveness.

Henry 1:01:45

Yeah, I I mean, like, I know everyone knows this by now, but like, the craziest thing to me is like, the double fez thing with the dialogue over, like, that thing is like,

Abaan 1:01:52

Oh, yes, yes.

Henry 1:01:53

ridiculous.

Liam 1:01:54

double, double Pidgeot, double Pidgeot, too, if you wanna play that.

Henry 1:01:57

we'll see about that one. Double Feds, for sure, is broken. But yeah, the deck is pretty good. I mean, the, the Draco, I mean, dude, just, just the fact that HP, bro, like, that makes it, uh, this deck a lot better. I mean, like,

Liam 1:02:11

Dude, I, I actually think that's, like,

Henry 1:02:13

But, like, yeah.

Abaan 1:02:15

Do you really think this is Henry? I actually like the, uh, I like the Draco side of the Archeodon, like, the current, like, the super singularness.

Henry 1:02:20

I think that, I don't, I don't, I think that Draco is favored. But, you can't deny that the matchup would be a lot worse if the Duraludon had 110

Abaan 1:02:29

Of course, of course. Yeah. I, I like, I like the Gardy side. I like the Drago side. I think especially'cause if they're gonna transition to a more poy stock list and it's start jamming tower, then uh,

Henry 1:02:39

Well.

Abaan 1:02:39

very comfortable. You

Henry 1:02:41

Yeah, I don't know.

Abaan 1:02:42

what I gonna say? So

Henry 1:02:43

I've played it a couple times. I don't know. Well, I

Liam 1:02:45

really, dude. I, I feel like,

Henry 1:02:47

list for a

Liam 1:02:48

I feel like the Artanon deck is, like, really good into Drago. I think, like,

Henry 1:02:50

Well, the base one or, like,

Abaan 1:02:52

I think

Henry 1:02:52

sauce one?

Abaan 1:02:55

Oh

Liam 1:02:55

The, whatever list I'm playing, uh, whatever list I'm playing, bro.

Abaan 1:02:58

list that Liam place has pitchy, right? So the, the new sauce list name is a DP, you know, ar, or not r what is it? Aladan dga. Pitch it like, I don't know. I think that, uh, that deck has more potential in d Drago.'cause like. You can pull off crazy combos.

Henry 1:03:15

Indeed, because you have Quicksage. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So,

Liam 1:03:21

Yeah, I guess that's actually what Drix says too, he's like, he says the normal one's pretty good for him cause he just keeps spamming Iono and then they miss a Gus and he wins. And then the Pidgeot builds.

Abaan 1:03:30

with this 100%. And the problem with the Guardi matchup, by the way, oh, I think one thing that we should talk about is Guardi, I think that we fully transitioned, I don't think I'm ever playing Palpatine on the deck again. I think second Turo,

Henry 1:03:43

yeah, I agree.

Abaan 1:03:44

I remember this concept first when I saw Rowan's List a long time ago in like, Paradox format, I think, with Gardee. He played oh, not Paradox format, right before Paradox when CC was

Liam 1:03:52

Three boss? No Turo? Or no pad? Yeah.

Abaan 1:03:55

single time I see this pad, I was like, I'm gonna pad in these bosses and help to draw them. Why are we not just like, playing a third boss, like And I think, one day, I was like, playing with like this I was playing tarot pad and I was like every game I'm like taroting and padding and hoping to see this tarot in the next six cards like this is ridiculous like I should just play second tarot.

Henry 1:04:15

Yeah, I mean, I

Abaan 1:04:15

I think like I will never play pad again probably.

Henry 1:04:19

right now, yes. Right now, because the pad is so focused on the Turo, but like, I mean, even like with Rowan, like, in the Paradox format, towards the end, when they were playing the no VIP list, they played the pad because, I mean, you wanted flexibility between the boss and other stuff, and like, there's definitely utility for the pad, like, in general, but I agree that right now, it's so frequently for the Turo, and it's not for the boss, that like

Abaan 1:04:39

Okay yeah yeah shouldn't have said a general like the word never was like very wrong. I meant like in the specific format in a specific slow guarding list two tarots lit.

Henry 1:04:48

with that.

Liam 1:04:50

it's so good, bro, like, you always draw it on the Turo turn and there's like a Turo turn in every single game, like.

Henry 1:04:56

literally just double chances of having the Turo at

Liam 1:04:58

Yeah.

Abaan 1:04:58

it's it's so funny when you have two tarots and like I feel like so many game plans are revolved and they do something and they're like man they've got a tarot here I feel like so cut then like I don't know, I feel like I never miss when I have the two.

Liam 1:05:11

Yeah, exactly, right?

Abaan 1:05:13

Uh, Henry, I didn't tell you about this, but in like, our flex spot in our current list, I've been trying to research again, and I have really enjoyed it. I'm not sure if it's

Liam 1:05:21

Really?

Henry 1:05:23

I play

Abaan 1:05:23

I like it, I like it.

Henry 1:05:24

because I don't take prize cards, so I

Abaan 1:05:28

It's not that, it's like the, um,

Henry 1:05:30

like the discarding

Abaan 1:05:31

like, I like having a supporter. No, no, I like when I stamp them, and I want to draw more cards. I don't have to, like, Iona them. It's, like,

Liam 1:05:39

Bro.

Henry 1:05:40

the research though, right? Like,

Abaan 1:05:43

it's like, of course, of course, like, that's like,

Liam 1:05:47

It's like a comforting thought he has before he uses the stamp.

Henry 1:05:50

I know what you're talking about. Like, I have stamped, and then how do I enter in the same turn? And I'm like, wow, what was the point of the stamp? I just gave him five cards now. But, like, on the

Liam 1:05:58

Bro, those are so, so rare, bro. Those are so rare.

Abaan 1:06:01

rare. Like, you

Liam 1:06:02

Bro, it's so rare.

Abaan 1:06:04

crazy play, like, you need, like, you need to get the monkey down, and, like, this Arven card doesn't, doesn't get you there, like, always. don't know.

Liam 1:06:11

I like that. I

Abaan 1:06:12

Like I said, I'm not even sure it's correct. I'm just saying, like, this new, I've been trying research again, and, like, I've definitely thought it's pretty good,

Henry 1:06:18

Well, yeah,

Abaan 1:06:18

and, like, I don't know.

Henry 1:06:19

is like, the research has more synergy with the pad, right? I mean, the padding in the research at the end of the game is, like, very real. Well, this is under the assumption that you're taking prizes. If you're not taking prizes, it doesn't matter very much. But

Liam 1:06:31

mean, if you play double monkey, you can like do a lot of trick.

Henry 1:06:35

I agree. Yeah, uh

Abaan 1:06:38

just that, like, Iona off stamp is like, sure, that's like one of the use cases, dude, in general, I just don't like when my opponent is like, clearly having a bad hand, I'm like, well, if I don't Arvin, like, obviously there's sometimes I have to Turo or boss or whatever, but like, if I want to draw a ton of cards, I'm gonna have to give them a fresh hand, and like, there's no getting around that.

Henry 1:06:58

like, I get what you're saying, but like, the one off research isn't really fixing that, and also it's like, dude, this deck is like, the resources are so thin, like, you'd have to change the structure of the like, I think you'd have to go to like a double rod package as opposed to the, uh,

Abaan 1:07:12

Yeah, I was trying, I was playing around with Double Rod in this list too, but yes,

Henry 1:07:16

but I don't know, dude, the resources are so thin with this deck, dude, like. see it.

Abaan 1:07:23

Yeah, of course, like, I've obviously, every, if you play, if any deck that plays Research has seen the Tragedy Hands, Wow, there's like both my Rod and a Research. Hmm.

Henry 1:07:34

I just can't imagine that many hands when I want to play the research. Like, it's obviously, like, I know this from playing Turbo, right? It's like, if you get a clean research, like, you just kind of win the game, like, immediately. Yeah, all your cards in your deck are good, right? It's like, I just Brilliant Blended for free. But in this deck, it's just like, dude, this is like, no

Abaan 1:07:52

yeah. That's like the funniest way to describe it, yeah, exactly. When you see a hand of like, somehow the only five cards in your deck that are not good and a Research, it's like, wow,

Henry 1:08:00

game, it's actually

Abaan 1:08:00

And this region's about to draw me like the nuts, like no matter what happens.

Henry 1:08:03

and I'm just going to draw the nuts for the rest of the game as well.

Liam 1:08:06

I agree with this. I agree with all of this.

Henry 1:08:08

not new,

Abaan 1:08:08

Actually that is like the part of the Ancient Box decks that I like.

Henry 1:08:10

Yeah, the Brilliant

Abaan 1:08:11

That's like the part I like about Ancient Box, the blender, it's so good, yeah yeah.

Henry 1:08:14

is really good.

Abaan 1:08:15

It's so weird because I was like, I'm a huge fan of Secret Box, like I love Secret Box and everything I play, and I was like, this is like such a natural Secret Box deck, and when people were playing Secret Box, I didn't like, bat an eye. But like, it's crazy to me that there's an A spec in Ancient Box that's possible, that's better than Blender, or like, better than Seeker Box, right? Like, the card is Blender. But like, I have played with Battle Professor too, so like, I understand why it's lit.

Henry 1:08:37

yeah, yeah, I think any, well, anyone who's played Valkyrie Crusher surely will understand how powerful this effect is.

Abaan 1:08:44

Henry, Battle Professor came out, I think, in the same set as VS Seeker, so like, I think like,

Liam 1:08:49

Obviously, there were so, so many decks that had uh, insane synergy with uh, There were like so many cards that had insane synergy with the Battle Compressor, right?

Henry 1:08:58

yeah.

Abaan 1:09:00

I think that's one of the coolest things about Pokemon.

Henry 1:09:03

What?

Abaan 1:09:03

Dude, I think one of the coolest things about Pokemon was when they had those, uh, if this is the last card in your hand, play this card and you like get to do some cool effect. I thought those were like the coolest cards

Liam 1:09:12

Do we have those right now?

Henry 1:09:14

Yeah,

Abaan 1:09:14

is that Beedrill card still legal? Like the

Liam 1:09:17

No, we have,

Henry 1:09:18

what you're talking

Liam 1:09:18

we have Brandon. We have Brandon.

Henry 1:09:20

one, I forget what it is.

Abaan 1:09:21

What does Brandon do?

Liam 1:09:23

Oh, oh yeah, there's the, there is the B drill that has, if you have no cards in hand, you auto paralyze. There's the Brandon, where it's, uh, it's like, uh, you draw one for each bench Pokemon in play, if you have no cards in hand.

Abaan 1:09:33

Liam, you know what's sad? I was not actually talking about that Beedrill. I meant that I watched like some old VODs because I was just interested in what was happening and I watched Bradner's um, his like Arc Beedrill deck that

Liam 1:09:44

Oh, with the mustard. The mustard.

Abaan 1:09:46

Yeah,

Liam 1:09:46

Oh, mhm.

Abaan 1:09:50

I guess we're it's funny that we're talking about like value watching old VODs. I got nothing out of that because the whole set I was just like understanding what the cards did but I thought it was really cool to watch.

Liam 1:09:57

Oh, that deck was so sick. I

Henry 1:10:00

Bangladesh, had to, had to dig deep.

Abaan 1:10:05

No, actually on planes I'm like a strictly movie watcher, and TV shows when I'm like trying to fill time too, like I like TV shows, like, if there's like 30 minutes till I land or something, or 45, but yeah, anyways.

Henry 1:10:17

Um, okay, yeah, I don't know what else. I mean, yeah, so Birmingham, it's gonna be a lot of Reggie Drago. It's gonna be a handful

Abaan 1:10:24

Oh, I think like, we should talk about the, like, bro, where did that guy, where did it go? Has anyone seen cloth

Liam 1:10:30

think everybody realized it's like a non serious deck.

Henry 1:10:32

two in

Liam 1:10:33

It's a non serious deck. At this point though, everyone knows it's

Henry 1:10:36

good.

Liam 1:10:38

non serious.

Henry 1:10:39

the ladder percentage has gone down like, tenfold.

Liam 1:10:42

Sorry, un serious deck. Sorry, un serious.

Abaan 1:10:45

I've gotten to the point, by the way, like, for free, I don't betch the second roll. It's because the chance that there's cloth is like next to zero. By next to zero, like, it's so close to zero, like, it'd take like a it'd be pretty hard to distinguish, you know? Like,

Liam 1:10:57

It's like cloth before, um, whatever the Dalek 1 Regional was, bro. Like, or like,

Abaan 1:11:02

The one where it came out, yeah.

Liam 1:11:04

yeah, or like,

Abaan 1:11:05

is when it came out?

Liam 1:11:06

nah, or,

Henry 1:11:07

one, I think, the one

Liam 1:11:08

before,

Abaan 1:11:10

No, obviously after Sack.

Liam 1:11:13

No, no, bro, it was the EU. Or like, there was one like before the

Abaan 1:11:18

I did

Liam 1:11:18

EU one. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, oh, yeah, yeah,

Abaan 1:11:22

good, I guess, is Australia, but it was like first shown to the world in SAC.

Henry 1:11:27

yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I

Abaan 1:11:29

Whole history.

Liam 1:11:31

yeah, you're right, you're right, you're right, yeah, yeah. Before SAC, mm hmm. I would say before SAC, yeah, like That's, that's the rate at which I'm expecting this cloth deck, bro.

Abaan 1:11:40

Yes. And in that case, like, what is taking its place, I guess? Like, what is like the is Raging Bull back, do you think? Like, Drago got six of the

Liam 1:11:47

Nah, there's no, there's no real, like, taking its place, bro. It's just, like, yeah, everything else goes up, like, a little bit, bro. There's still, like, 20 decks in the meta, bro, like,

Henry 1:11:55

think Raging Bull will go

Liam 1:11:56

it's still so wide.

Henry 1:11:57

bit

Abaan 1:11:57

No, but it doesn't matter,

Liam 1:11:59

You really think so, bro?

Abaan 1:11:59

specific type of cloth player and like, what are they going to play

Liam 1:12:02

Oh, oh, like, where do they pivot to?

Abaan 1:12:04

yeah.

Liam 1:12:06

That's a great question.

Abaan 1:12:07

subscribe to this concept more than Liam does, but like, there's a certain percentage of the player base that plays like, the hot new like, 2 2 2 beatstick deck, you know?

Henry 1:12:16

yeah.

Liam 1:12:16

Oh my god. are these people? Like, we didn't, we didn't, like, Like, who are these people, bro?

Abaan 1:12:21

you're like 2 2 2ing, but like, you got a 1.

Henry 1:12:23

but it's an A to the 2 prize deck. Make no mistake, bro. Like, the uh, yeah, I think that,

Abaan 1:12:30

Yeah, I don't know who these people are, but I wonder what they're playing.

Liam 1:12:33

Uh, no, dude, but I was really feeling it, bro. Me and Abom, we had a, uh, like, uh, 14, 15 hour ladder session the other day.

Abaan 1:12:40

Oh, that was actually the most degenerate thing, I got straight off my plane and literally did not sleep all night. crazy, I tried to fix my sleep schedule the next day, I didn't sleep the next night, and then today, I slept till like 5pm.

Liam 1:12:50

Jesus, oh my god, bro. Um, but yeah, bro, like, towards the end of that, bro, like, my brain was, like, completely fried, and I was like, let me just hit some of this Turbo Moon, bro. And that, that deck was really hittin I've tried to play it since, it does not hit at all, but, During those, those few hours at the end there, I was like,

Abaan 1:13:08

Wow,

Liam 1:13:08

bro, this Turbo Moon pick is lit. Yeah, bro,

Abaan 1:13:14

and play like 15 hours of loudest

Liam 1:13:15

no, like, I think that's, that one, I know going forward, Turbo Moon, bro, that's my beatstick of choice.

Henry 1:13:22

Really,

Liam 1:13:22

gonna be one of the Moon players,

Henry 1:13:23

can easily, bro. After our session the other day, Drick was like, I actually kind of like this Raging Bull deck. Mmm.

Liam 1:13:31

Oh my god.

Henry 1:13:32

No.

Abaan 1:13:45

reason, but like, I'm the one who like, offers to play Bolt when anyone, anyone, anyone wants to test into it. So like, I have like, so much like, random Bolt hours, but like, my favorite deck of those like, B6 is Moridon by far. It just feels so clean. Like,

Liam 1:13:58

I love Maraadon too, yeah, for sure.

Abaan 1:14:00

and stuff, like, it feels like life is good.

Henry 1:14:02

Golden Goat the most, bro. If it counts. I mean, Golden Goat

Abaan 1:14:05

Ah, dude, Henry. Uh, yeah, yeah, okay, fine, if Goldengo counts, I kind of forgot about Goldengo, obviously, um, like, that's my favorite, too. I wasn't, I wasn't considering it, because it's evolution, you know, and that's, like, too much,

Henry 1:14:17

fake, it's hell, bro. Technically

Liam 1:14:21

prize board, right? So like, that's like a real, real technique. It's like saying like Charizard's like a beach deck, you know? That's like,

Abaan 1:14:28

Liam, I like how you called Knick knick, you have to, like, to not present the one price board, you have to, like, go out of your way, like, that's Malthez,

Liam 1:14:34

sure. No, no, no, but like, That's like a, that's like a more serious strategy. That's a more serious strategy.

Henry 1:14:40

cannot be serious when you're saying Charizard and Gold Tango, bro. Charizard actually dropped the Rotom Pair one, bro, like, what? But it has flexibility in the price trade in other ways. Golden Goat, no.

Liam 1:14:48

No, like, against like Bolt, bro. Like, you do the same thing. I don't, I don't think Charizard decks should be dropping the Rotom turn one, bro. All these like Charizard players that are playing the double Rotom, bro, and like the four Nests, they've actually like lost their minds, bro. Like,

Abaan 1:15:01

should play Cleffa again.

Liam 1:15:02

uh, yeah, bro,

Henry 1:15:03

into the Cleffa, dude. You play Pirate.

Liam 1:15:05

You should be going second, bro. You should be going second, bro. Like, just play like the Tord, the Tord world's list is probably better than like all this four Nests garbage, bro. Like, I

Henry 1:15:16

I

Abaan 1:15:17

I mean, I

Liam 1:15:17

that you, that you would play.

Abaan 1:15:18

we, before Worlds, we were, like, I mean, I'm not sure how much you were into it, but I, like,

Liam 1:15:23

No, I, I, I know that we thought, we thought that, like, this, like, 4NEST stuff was the wave. And, like, I understand why, right? Like, this is, there's a reason that everyone subscribes to it. But, like, bro, playing 4NEST, I would say, particularly for this format as well, where going second is so, so, so lit, like, why are you playing 4NEST and then opting first? Like,

Henry 1:15:43

You

Liam 1:15:43

choose second, bro. I don't know,

Abaan 1:15:45

I was just thinking that Henry, if you're gonna play this No Rodent list with Cleffa, an E Board makes perfect sense. Thank you for your second.

Liam 1:15:51

I think it's fine. Obviously Tord played it at, um, whatever it was, so like, probably good.

Henry 1:15:57

ID board?

Liam 1:15:59

Yeah, and his Hydrogon was at whatever.

Abaan 1:16:01

E Board? Was there a card called a Skateboard before

Liam 1:16:03

Wait, his Hydrogon, let's use the same engine.

Henry 1:16:06

Yeah, it's the one that went on the is the one I didn't play, but I like, I've heard about it.

Liam 1:16:10

yeah, yeah.

Henry 1:16:12

R Board.

Liam 1:16:13

Rescue board.

Abaan 1:16:14

It's

Liam 1:16:15

board does not hit the same, bro. We can, we can keep saying e board. yeah, yeah.

Abaan 1:16:21

remembering, like, there is, like, an escape board card, I was like, does that exist right now? I mean, I'm not even sure, Henry, were you on Flowstone, or did you quit before that?

Henry 1:16:29

I played one format with Blitzen in it, yeah.

Abaan 1:16:32

Flowstone is, like, At the time, I saw nothing wrong, but after seeing the light after, like, no Floatstone, like, oh my god, that was a terrible card for the game, like, what the hell? You get to bench this, like, 3 prize Garbotoxin guy, and, like, oh, no biggie, I have Floatstone. Like, what the

Liam 1:16:46

no, that's crazy, bro.

Abaan 1:16:50

Oh, I'm gonna put a Vileplume in play, but no Trapstar Lab, because I'm gonna somehow Floatstone Vilepluming up.

Liam 1:16:55

Bro, you remember that, you know, NAIC match, bro? The NAIC match?

Abaan 1:16:59

that's my local, Paul Johnston.

Henry 1:17:01

What, what happened?

Liam 1:17:02

That's hilarious. Bro, this guy was playing, he was playing like a Vileplume deck or whatever, bro. In both games, he gets the Vileplume up, but he misses the Float Stone, and then the other guy bosses the Vileplume, and he just loses. Like, he actually just decks out. There was like

Abaan 1:17:20

I think that like, you just don't involve Vileplume there. But there's no like, Henry, there's no Turo or anything. Or I, I don't know, I thought there was AZ in the format, I don't know why he didn't have AZ. Like, did he just not play it?

Liam 1:17:31

some weird stuff that happened in that game, I think, like,

Abaan 1:17:33

it wasn't Henry. It wasn't like, Boss, I lose. No, no. It was like, Boss, DTE,

Liam 1:17:36

it was like boss,

Abaan 1:17:37

Retreat, and

Liam 1:17:38

boss again.

Henry 1:17:40

Oh, okay, okay, yeah,

Liam 1:17:42

Yeah.

Abaan 1:17:43

I remember the names. I believe it's Fred Hobon into Paul Johnston, Top

Liam 1:17:46

Yeah.

Henry 1:17:47

was

Liam 1:17:47

Yeah. I think so.

Henry 1:17:48

Fred Hovind, Vespiquen, 4 DTE, too easy. But,

Abaan 1:17:54

Wait, there's two AZ? How many Floatstone are in the list? Two. Wait, why didn't he just AZ wait, like, wait for the Floatstone

Henry 1:18:04

He can go into the Bunnelby and wait. Okay, I must be missing something. I'm very

Abaan 1:18:11

No, no, I think not kidding, Henry. I think he was missing something. Like, I think,

Henry 1:18:16

like, this is not a two Bunnelbys, surely that's not a balanced strategy, but

Abaan 1:18:21

I think, Henry, I think we may have been in this, the game, the concept we were talking earlier. No, no, the, the stream game paralysis. That guy did not make Top 8 playing like that, I can assure you.

Henry 1:18:32

Oh shit. I'm just looking at this page where I

Liam 1:18:35

Yeah, bro, I mean,

Abaan 1:18:39

but yeah, dude, I think Liam, the reason it's so burned in my mind too, like, first of all, he's my local, but I think they keep showing that clip. Isn't it, like, weaved into, like, a lot of montages? like,

Liam 1:18:46

it might be, uh,

Abaan 1:18:48

Like, I feel like, I don't know why, I

Liam 1:18:50

yeah, yeah,

Abaan 1:18:51

like, multiple times.

Henry 1:18:52

Y'all

Abaan 1:18:52

Like the second Lysander.

Liam 1:18:54

think so, I think so.

Abaan 1:18:57

We'll, uh, we'll VOD review this game later. I mean, I'm actually fasted in now that we've talked about it again. There must be something else. Cause I thought Paul was a genius at the time, but like, now that you're mentioning there's like Bunnelby's and like AZ's and Floatstones, like, how could this have been a thing?

Henry 1:19:13

Maybe there's a card in the resting, I don't know. Yeah.

Liam 1:19:18

Yeah, and saying sidetrack, what were we talking about? Were we talking about Birmingham?

Henry 1:19:21

coming up, same format. Um, gonna be a lot of Regi Regi Dragos probably gonna go up, cause it's had even more success. I mean, probably not that much, cause

Abaan 1:19:30

What is Like, what is like, what are people gonna do to respond to this? You think this like, we're not gonna hit, like, SIT, Lugia, Regidrago numbers, right? Like, everyone at the event probably thinks that they're, like, they have a decent Drago matchup, right? So, like, what is, like, the cope? I mean, obviously the obvious answer is Bolton, like, maybe Moraydon, but, like, I don't know, I wonder if there's some, like, higher level, like, oh, I might be

Liam 1:19:49

Dude, they haven't seen Drick play Drago, bro. Like, no, I'm so serious, bro. If you play against bad Drago players, the deck is going to seem terrible. Like, you literally, you could beat, like, maybe, like, half the players who play Regi Drago at a given event by literally just, like, CC or like a boss after they like do their attack, right? Like that's like actually like a very real win con. It's like a surprising number of Draco players, but like, yeah, but I mean, obviously like when, when a player like Drake plays the deck, it's like, you know, of course you're like, dude, there's, there's literally nothing that can beat that. I can't, I can't do anything. He's going to get me no matter what. Um, and like,

Abaan 1:20:27

this is actually unprecedented numbers of Drake plays. I don't know if I'm gonna leave this all in.

Henry 1:20:30

like,

Abaan 1:20:31

This is actually insane. Like, every conversation is like, somehow

Henry 1:20:33

like, most V Star holding people, but before we Before we even talked to Drick, like, we knew that, like, Drick was, like, very aggressively supposed

Liam 1:20:39

this is exactly what we talked about earlier, bro. Every single person, they think they're mature until they see Trick, and they're like, oh, this is what real maturity is. Like, he, he never uses it. I like,

Abaan 1:20:50

Dude, is Drake gonna pay or something? Like, I feel like Drake could just like, like, some people might listen to this pod, he could like, release a class for like a hundred bucks, and like, I think he could probably get like 30, 40 people in there. Like,

Liam 1:21:03

I'm pro, and like, you probably should join too. Yeah,

Abaan 1:21:10

Maybe three times?

Liam 1:21:12

bro, I like, bro, I mean, I, there's nothing I love more than, uh,

Abaan 1:21:17

Drake.

Liam 1:21:18

an incredible, an incredible kid. I've incredibly played the game of Pokemon, and like, every time I watch Drek It's right there. It's like the consistency in which he delivers brilliancy is, is, uh, incredible. I like, similar to Tork.

Henry 1:21:34

bad this guy ties every so he crashes out. GG's.

Abaan 1:21:38

That is true, that's like the format, the thing is like, I never thought this about someone before until like Drake where it's like, damn, if you're playing untimed His results would look like so insanely different. he's going to like X one four at everything type shit, like currently

Liam 1:21:53

Yeah, bro, Trick plays way too slow, bro. That, that is like, it's, it's, it's, it's pretty insane. But like, every single time after he takes like a, a long think, he comes out with something that like, I would have never thought of in like a million years, bro. Like, he's so good.

Abaan 1:22:08

I wonder like, not to get too deep into this, but like, I wonder if that like psychologically though, like knowing that if like the an, the real answer is out there. Like, does that actually hurt your tournament play? Like play, like, I'm, I feel like Drake does think, like during events, like I, I, I feel like I'm like kind of like a non thinker, which is like, definitely not the best, but like I, I think it's like there's like a middle ground.

Henry 1:22:29

I know what really funny the way you phrased it, like, he thinks during the

Abaan 1:22:32

Okay, sure, no.

Henry 1:22:34

you know, I know it's like, not the best, but

Abaan 1:22:37

No, no. I thought, like, I thought you were a fellow non thinker. You're just your non thoughts are better than my non thoughts.

Henry 1:22:42

I think that is oversimplifying it a little bit. Like, I,

Abaan 1:22:46

Yeah, of course, of course. I mean, obviously everyone is fucking playing the game they're thinking, but like, think, like, I don't know.

Henry 1:22:54

Like, I tell you that, like,

Abaan 1:22:55

There's, like,

Liam 1:22:55

Dude, I

Henry 1:22:56

and stuff like that. Like, I'm

Abaan 1:22:57

right?

Henry 1:22:58

it a lot of the time. I don't think it's worth it. Time wise. But, in terms of like actual game planning, I'm generally in the lap. Like, actually, yeah.

Liam 1:23:08

Yeah, bro, dude, difference between me in tournament and me on TCU, I've been trying to get better about it, but like, actively, like, trying to force myself to think instead of just, like, going through the motions, bro. But, like, when I'm in tournament, bro, like, oh my god. What can I say, bro? Tournament time, Liam. He's a different breed. Like, I don't speak to him very often, but when I do, I'm like, damn, bro, you actually, you're like, in there, bro. No cap. No self glaze, too. No self glaze, too. Like, we're talking about a different Liam, bro. We're talking about a different Liam. Oh, no self glaze, thank god.

Abaan 1:23:36

Yeah, that, Liam, I think you and him should sit down for some or something and like, uh, Hey man, I'm sorry for what I've been doing to you recently. I

Liam 1:23:45

god. No, but like, bro, I, I'm serious though, I like, it's like I'm like, I'm so present when I'm playing in, in tournament, and I'm not, I'm quite as present when I'm playing on, like, TCG Live.

Henry 1:23:58

definitely play better in tournaments. We had this

Abaan 1:24:00

mean, like, do you guys not think, like, there's so many, there's like ten actions you have to make that are like, you just have to make them, I don't know, like, you're just going, like, I don't know, I think that like, the best play is like, typically just like, If you play enough, like, the best plays is like, it's like, obvious to you. It's just, you're just doing it, right? Like,

Henry 1:24:16

between tournament versus like ladder is like when I'm doing these like garbage actions, I'm actually thinking about the game plan as opposed to like scrolling on my phone or something like that, right?

Liam 1:24:26

Yeah, bro, like, no, yeah, bro, like, I feel like, even once I get to, like, Yeah, these like, um, you know, going through the motion phase, I like, I'm like picturing the end board state. Like, I like, I'm like very actively just like, I like,

Abaan 1:24:42

What

Liam 1:24:42

I'm like calculating it all the way out, bro. Like,

Abaan 1:24:46

I don't know, what I more met is like, I feel like, I like, I overcook. If I like, sit there and like, lab out like, all these like, random things, sometimes I like, I don't know, I feel like I see ghosts. Like, I sometimes just have to like, stop. Like, I'm like, I don't know, I'll just play, I'll like, I do, I know what the best play is, I'm just

Liam 1:24:59

I mean, we know this from our book Blink, right? This is like There's some merit here.

Abaan 1:25:07

I don't know, yeah, I think I oversimplify by saying I don't think, but like, I don't know, I think there's like, definitely overthinking what's possible when you

Liam 1:25:12

I definitely do like a lot of deep things during tournaments though, right? Like, just like,

Henry 1:25:16

I don't know if

Liam 1:25:16

take like a minute or two and just like,

Henry 1:25:18

It's, like, hard

Abaan 1:25:21

I know one

Liam 1:25:21

I think I've definitely, I've definitely missed.

Abaan 1:25:23

of SAC, I overcooked, like, super hard. I was, like, so clearly supposed to kill Charmeleon, and I just, like, overcooked. I was like, what if he gets the Pidgeot out and does this and that? I was like, oh my god, I'm such an idiot. Like, the Pidgey, and then just, like, off I ended up on, like, Evolve's Lizard, and I'm like, ugh, and then retreats with it. He had to do a bunch of other stuff, too, but he, of course, had all of it, so,

Henry 1:25:42

yeah, well, that's how we've all been there. But, like, yeah, the Zardots are pretty good in these kind of spots, I feel like.

Abaan 1:25:51

Yeah. Anyways, do we have anything else we want to talk about? I guess we didn't really get into Birmingham, but I feel like we don't really have that much to say about it. It's like the same

Liam 1:25:57

Yeah, like you should be able to pick up a lot of our thoughts through the From like this entire episode, right? Like, um, I'm probably just gonna run like a Dixie, I don't know, maybe I'll, maybe I'll try to make this pitch out deck work. Like, just on principle, but like

Abaan 1:26:10

yeah, and then afterwards like EF86 and I will be running the EF8060, EF860, you

Liam 1:26:16

e, FA 60? Yes.

Henry 1:26:18

Yeah, that's

Abaan 1:26:19

good luck.

Henry 1:26:20

yeah.

Liam 1:26:20

Yeah, it's like EFA 60 or dr. Or bus basically, like you're, you're kind of trolling if you're not Probably one of the two for sure.

Abaan 1:26:26

also I don't think we can like promise more regular episodes because like, just knowing us, like, that's not like, it's

Liam 1:26:32

We we're not built for these kinds of, uh, occasions. Uh huh. Yeah, so I gotta think about what the genie of the moment is. Is it

Abaan 1:26:38

plan, but I think we're gonna have an episode definitely between Birmingham and San Antonio, like going over Liam's run and like what to do for San Antonio,

Henry 1:26:44

over

Abaan 1:26:45

um, yeah,

Henry 1:26:46

Oh my god, I cannot wait. I cannot

Abaan 1:26:48

yeah,

Henry 1:26:49

I and Kooser are gonna be there, bro. You better watch out.

Liam 1:26:54

Drixti time? It's definitely not the EF86 time. Um,

Henry 1:27:00

don't even understand, bro. Like,

Liam 1:27:01

but I, I, I don't like the slow build, bro. I don't like the slow build. It's like, it's too fragile, bro. I don't like the slow build.

Henry 1:27:07

three Colville, bro. GG's. Or play Turbo.

Liam 1:27:10

I, dude, like, it may be, bro, but the call builds are so bad. So, like, I, like, I do wanna, like, bro, I was thinking about playing, like, a 4 tattoo build earlier, bro, because every time I start that guy, I'm like, ooooh. So good.

Henry 1:27:22

don't do that. Do not do that. Viewers at home, do not do

Liam 1:27:25

Yeah. Yeah, I know, bro. Like, I, I don't know what, what other, like, high impact cards I can, I can add to, like, help, help this, like, draw Arvin on turn one, bro.

Henry 1:27:38

Yeah, yeah, I agree, I agree.

Abaan 1:27:40

Alright, anyways, Liam, I think we should probably wrap it up.

Liam 1:27:45

All right. Uh, bye, Drick, if you're listening. Like, bye.

Abaan 1:27:50

just see Jon Paul's outro, bro, like, what are we

Liam 1:27:52

Oh, pause our outro. I'll pause our outro.

Abaan 1:27:54

what the hell? Okay, bye.