January 17, 2025 • 26 mins
In this Pokemon interview, we are joined by RotomTCG, a Pokemon TCG Trainer and former Pokemon Worlds Competitor.
RotomTCG starts his Pokemon journey with the Pokemon Trading Card Game (TCG) where he would learn the PokemonTCG at an after school program ran by a volunteer. Here he learned both the basic rules of playing Pokemon TCG and learning how to deckbuild.
RotomTCG dives into his experience playing the Pokemon video games starting in Hoenn with Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald. He gives insight into other Pokemon games he enjoyed playing and even attempted to compete in both Pokemon VGC and Pokemon TCG for a brief period.
Finally, RotomTCG dives into the competitive side of PokemonTCG. He shares what he enjoys about going to local tournaments and the appeal behind spending time with friends for an entire day to talk about Pokemon.
You also don't want to miss his experience at Pokemon Worlds 2019 in Washington D.C!
Sources
Opening Song: "Forget You" by Alex_MakeMusic from Pixabay
Connect with RotomTCG: Linktree
Connect with David Hernandez: Linktree
E-mail Me: asthepokeballturnspodcast@gmail.com
Join Our Discord Community!
https://discord.gg/AqAbD7FbRt
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
RotomTCG (00:00):
I am RotomTCG, and this is my Pokémon story.
David Hernandez (00:42):
Welcome to, as the pokeball turns, where we
interview people about theirexperience with Pokemon.
My name is David Hernandez I'mjoined by road on TCG road.
I'm welcome to the show.
RotomTCG (00:54):
Thanks for having me.
David Hernandez (00:56):
I have to ask this one question.
Cause I've really, I'm excitedto have you on here.
What is the connection betweenyou and road arm?
Like, has it always been thatconnection since the very
beginning or like.
RotomTCG (01:06):
yeah, so, when I first got into the, like, TCG scene, I
was always kind of drawn to theRotom cards, because I had begun
going to like, the PokemonLeague back then, And, I like,
started a, Rotom collection, andThey had all of these like,
different secret rare Rotomcards, And I ended up just
(01:27):
collecting, all of the differentforms, And I kind of fell in
love with the Pokemon, to behonest.
David Hernandez (01:31):
So when it comes to like different forms,
so it would be like just somevery very rare Pokemon cards
They featured the different likewe're talking mo We're talking I
think wash he all those you justwant to collect every single one
of them.
RotomTCG (01:44):
Yeah, so, The secret rares in that set were actually,
cool in that they featured theparticular rodent form, but also
in the background, they had theappliance of a different other
form.
And so if you collected themall, they did like a different
circle basically.
So you'd have like one card thathad the form, and then another
(02:06):
card that had that form as the,appliance that didn't have Rotem
in it kind of thing.
David Hernandez (02:11):
That's kind of cool It kind of reminds me.
I know this is Yu Gi Oh, but itreminds me of Exodia I'm not too
know that reference to whereconnect them all it has like the
full body
RotomTCG (02:20):
I wish they connected but you're still able to like
get a story just through lookingat the cards Which was really
cool.
David Hernandez (02:26):
I know that, you know, Rotom has a lot of
different forms.
Do you ever think about like adifferent form of Rotom that
doesn't exist that you kind ofwish did?
RotomTCG (02:33):
Well my Twitch chat would say The car would is a
bit.
It's a big popular one.
I think So if they had like acar wrote him I personally Think
a toaster wrote him would bepretty hilarious So I guess
either of those
David Hernandez (02:51):
I could see the toaster like, uh, shooting bread
as an attack.
I think that'd be kind of cool.
RotomTCG (02:55):
it kind of gives me like flashbacks to like, The
Brave Little Toaster, I guess,if you've ever watched that.
David Hernandez (03:00):
For me, I always thought that a computer
screen or plasma screen Rotomwould be very sick.
RotomTCG (03:06):
yeah, that would be really cool.
David Hernandez (03:08):
So, you know, you talked about how initially,
you know, you were collectingthe TCG cards and you're going
to the.
locals and all that, what gotyou into Pokemon TCG?
Where did that start?
RotomTCG (03:18):
I think it started actually back in kindergarten.
It kind of circled around withthe, base and jungle set cards.
and then from there, like, I hadreceived some of those cards,
but then it kind of transitionedto, me wanting to go to,
different events, so I think myfirst actual event at a,
(03:38):
Pokemon, or that was actuallylike sanctioned by Pokemon, was
a like EX Power Keepers prerelease at that pre release I
had kind of no idea what wasgoing on but I got a lot of
shiny cards which I had opened alike Jolteon Gold Star which I
know is like a lot of moneynowadays, but back then, I had
(04:02):
no idea what I was opening.
and it still, like, sticks withme to this day, to be honest.
David Hernandez (04:08):
I was about to just ask that.
Do you still have that card?
Because some people, you know,they get it, the shiny
cardboard, but they don't keepit.
So,
RotomTCG (04:14):
Uh, I, I was trying to track it down.
I'm not sure if I have it ornot, but I do have other gold
stars that I have from that erathat I have held on to.
David Hernandez (04:24):
which ones?
If you don't mind, if you don'tmind sharing,
RotomTCG (04:27):
so I have the Celebi, that I had I believe in a trade
back then, as well as, uh, wegot a Groudon, gold star that we
had actually opened at ablockbuster, which is kind of
crazy.
David Hernandez (04:40):
And it's kind of sick that you still have
them, because a blockbuster thatshows how old we are, because,
you know, most people probablydon't even know what that is
nowadays.
B would be the fact that youstill have them and you're still
able to trade for them back inthose days.
They really made it kind of.
fun though, you know, back inthe days, looking back on it.
RotomTCG (04:57):
yeah, it was definitely a special time.
David Hernandez (04:59):
you talking about how, you know, the Pokemon
TCG, you were collecting thebase set in jungle back in
kindergarten.
Now let's be honest, youprobably didn't know how to play
maybe.
So were you like just playing adifferent way or were y'all just
like collecting the cards?
RotomTCG (05:10):
Well, there was kind of a little bit, of a different
thing.
So like, with kindergarten, Iwas mostly just collecting back
then, but when I transitioned tolike elementary school, there
was actually like an afterschool program where, there was
more emphasis on like playingthe game and it was like a
little more structured.
I actually, got into moreplaying it routinely, through
(05:33):
that program, which was, reallynice.
David Hernandez (05:35):
That sounds so fun.
So was it run by a teacher?
RotomTCG (05:38):
Uh, it was actually run by a, community college
student, I believe at the time,that was kind of volunteering,
to help run it.
Uh, and so he kind of structuredit like, he was like the gym
leader, per se, I guess, and wewould have to, build up our
decks and challenge hisdifferent, monotype colored
decks and earn actual, like, gymbadges that he had, made
(05:59):
himself.
And it was actually really cool.
David Hernandez (06:02):
That sounds like such a fun experience to
where, you know, this collegestudents coming out and, you
know, he's obviously, you know,hold back.
He's just doing his monotype.
Did he like show y'all how todeck build or like what Pokemon
to use or was that kind ofsomething y'all had to explore
on your own?
RotomTCG (06:16):
it was a little bit of both.
he showed us how to, deck buildto an extent, but I kind of
learned more so how to deckbuild at my, like, local Pokemon
League when I ended up, going tothat on a regular basis.
it was a lot of justhomebrewing, to be honest.
I think my first like realcompetitive deck, I guess, well,
I say competitive, but I was, inthe junior division at the time.
David Hernandez (06:39):
Sure,
RotomTCG (06:40):
a Lucario level X and a Magmortar level X deck that
was just kind of, I took the twolevel Xs that I had and I just
kind of jammed them into onedeck and did the best that I
could with it.
David Hernandez (06:51):
That's what I love about trading card games in
general.
It's the theory crafting andtrying to figure out how to have
it works.
And sometimes you put two thingsthat you like together and see
like, Hey, maybe it works.
Maybe it doesn't.
RotomTCG (07:02):
Yeah.
For the, in that case, itactually was good enough.
I had taken it to like a city,championship back then.
And then in the top cut, Iactually ended up hitting the,
previous junior world championwho was actually playing at that
tournament.
And, uh, he ended my, ended mycareer with a four alligator
deck, but.
(07:24):
but it was a, it was a goodtime.
David Hernandez (07:26):
Did you engage with the Pokemon franchise at
any other way?
Like say the video games, theanime.
RotomTCG (07:31):
Yeah, I was really big into, both.
I still kind of am pretty muchinto the video game.
my first was the Pokemon Ruby.
I played that, growing up.
along with Emerald.
And then I kind of playedthrough a lot of the different
GBA games and into the DS era aswell.
even the spin offs like, Trozei,Pokémon Dash, and Pokémon
(07:52):
Ranger, were really fun.
Since then, I've, still played,all of the main games, I also
kind of way back when have theunique opportunity to do both
the trading card gamecompetitively and the video game
competitively because theregional champion, ships
actually had, uh, Because theywere so small, you could
(08:13):
actually play the TCG on, theSaturday of that weekend and
then VGC on the Sunday of thatweekend.
So I actually got to do a goodbit of both, back then.
David Hernandez (08:22):
That must have been like a lot of studying and
a lot of pressure because to doboth is, like, takes time and
effort just to do one.
RotomTCG (08:28):
it was definitely, I think a different competitive
landscape.
I would say, and I know I waslike still like in a younger
division, but, the one time Iwas able to do it, I actually
was able to get, top eight inthe TCG on Saturday and top
eight in the VG on Sunday.
You can hop around between themin terms of like, Say, you want
to travel to Texas and do theTCG, but then you want to then
(08:51):
go to, Canada and commit that tothe VGC.
Because the tournaments takeplace, like, simultaneously
nowadays, you have to, like,pick, and there isn't really
much chance to, split.
David Hernandez (09:03):
when you go to these tournaments, like, do you
take, like, any lucky charmswith you?
Or do you, like, just go andjust Play with whatever you
have.
RotomTCG (09:09):
I typically, I have a lot of different rodent plushes,
and so I usually will have atleast one of them on me.
David Hernandez (09:16):
That's what I was about to ask.
So you do, do you bring the roadon plus with you?
RotomTCG (09:20):
I do, yeah.
my wife got me a, like, Rotom,Frost, like, the fridge deck
box.
And you can actually, like, putthe, deck of cards inside the,
like, interior of the fridge.
And so I just carry that aroundwith me too.
David Hernandez (09:37):
do you also do like wrote on sleeves as well?
Like how deep do you go intothis?
RotomTCG (09:40):
I do have Rotom sleeves, but I typically use,
the sleeves that I'm able tomost easily shuffle with.
I really like the Katanasleeves, just because they,
glide off of your fingers andit's a lot easier to like
shuffle quickly with them But Ido like the designs that are on
the rodent sleeve.
So I definitely have a pair athome.
David Hernandez (09:58):
I actually have a Rodon Dex plushie because I
love the Rodon Dex from Pokemonso much.
I love his personality that Ihad to give me a plushie, but I
still carry it with me sometimeswhenever I like feel down, I'll
look at it and it kind of bringsa little smile to my face in a
weird way.
RotomTCG (10:13):
Nice.
Yeah, that's actually one of theones I'm missing.
Uh,
David Hernandez (10:17):
Oh, really?
RotomTCG (10:18):
Yeah, I was gonna try and pick one up at one of the
events that I went to and I Hadseen it at one of the vendors I
walked up.
I was like, This is a little toobig to carry around all day So
i'm gonna come back later, but Icame back and it was already
gone So should have jumped onthat opportunity.
But
David Hernandez (10:36):
Eh, you never really know sometimes, right?
Sometimes oh, come back and getin and somebody's like, how the
heck did somebody actually takeit?
You never
RotomTCG (10:44):
Yep
David Hernandez (10:45):
so, you know, you talked about how initially
you were playing the games earlyon.
You were in the competitive sidefor a little bit.
Did you have like a particulargeneration of games that you
really liked playing?
Like, what's your favorite outof just the video game side of
Pokemon?
RotomTCG (10:56):
I'm like sandwiched in between Gen 3 and Gen 4.
I really like the Gen 4,gameplay a lot.
but Gen 3 has that verymemorable experience of just
like playing through all thebattle frontier.
so I really love that game.
I love that generation as well.
David Hernandez (11:12):
I mean, it's tough because, Yeah, that Battle
Frontier was just so much fun,but it was also very difficult.
It was like, back in the earlydays, I felt like Pokemon games
were more focused on difficultycompared to nowadays.
And the Battle Frontier was justso memorable because there's so
many different ways to kind ofengage in the battle system that
you never thought of and reallyhaven't engaged since.
then you also got Gen 4, whereyou got the Wi Fi play, you got
(11:32):
the world building, and all thelegendary Pokemon.
It's kind of a tough choice tomake.
RotomTCG (11:36):
Yeah, my favorite part of the Gen 4 was the underground
experience.
I really liked kind of buildingmy base and having, people
travel and do all the connectiveplay with that.
David Hernandez (11:47):
Right.
you can like dig, and I thinkyou got like pearls and stuff
like that, and fossils.
I can't remember, it's been awhile since I've played them.
RotomTCG (11:54):
Yeah, it was like fossils and, plates I think were
introduced in the digging aswell to like, power up certain
moves and transform your Arceustype?
David Hernandez (12:03):
Yes! Yeah, yeah, yeah, that.
And then plus, you know, you cankind of go around, they had
games like Capture the Flag.
You can kind of go out with yourfriends and have the first
initial connectivity that way,and that's kind of what I
remember from those games, too.
RotomTCG (12:15):
Yeah, exactly.
David Hernandez (12:16):
my last question in regards to playing
Pokemon Diamond and Pearl.
If you're going to do a playthrough and you had to pick six
Pokemon, which six would youpick?
RotomTCG (12:25):
Hmm.
That's a good question.
So, while it's not the mostlike, well rounded of teams, I
would say, I, I really liked,Starraptor, so I'd definitely
stick Starraptor on my team.
I'm also a huge Garchomp fan, sothat is definitely making the
top six.
And I obviously can't forgetPokemon.
wrote him because because itcame in that generation.
(12:49):
and I really liked the Abom snowas well, so I'd probably play
with that guy as well.
I'd probably pick Bronze Song.
I really like the tank.
That and the typing that bronzesong can bring.
And then, Drifblim, becauseDrifblim has a lot of, ties to
the TCG it was always like areally versatile attacker, so, I
(13:12):
really fell in love with thatPokemon as well.
David Hernandez (13:14):
drift limb is kind of forgotten for a bit.
Like the only way we know aboutit in the main series is the
math after math ability, really,and then burden in gen five.
But I think that's the benefitof TCG to where You get Pokemon
who don't have much use actuallybe seen in some way in the TCG
meta.
RotomTCG (13:31):
Absolutely, yeah.
there's been actually differentpoints where both the Drifloon,
and Drifblim have been, seencompetitively.
with Drifloon, it's kind ofexisting in the Gardevoir EX
deck, Gardevoir EX is a stage 2,that can accelerate, psychic
energy from your discard pileonto your psychic And so
(13:55):
Drifloon being ghost, they don'tactually have ghost typing in
the TCG, so they have it defaultto psychic, so you can then put
those energy on, but when youattach those energy, you deal
damage to the Drifloon, and theDrifloon has a really cool,
attack that does 30, uh, damagefor each damage on it,
basically.
(14:16):
so you're attaching a ton ofenergy to this one small HP
Drifloon, but you're hittinglike a truck.
it's really like a glass cannondeck.
David Hernandez (14:25):
Do you kind of lean towards using glass cannon
decks, or do you have adifferent type of deck you kind
of cater to whenever you playthe TCG?
RotomTCG (14:31):
I really liked the Gardevoir EX archetype.
I actually brought it to the2023, North American
International Championships, Iwas able to get into the top 128
with that, deck, Being able tohave low HP attackers that, were
hitting heavy, in the late gamejust was too strong to not pick,
(14:52):
I think.
So I've really liked theGardevoir deck
David Hernandez (14:55):
When it comes to like the TCG, like do you
only travel to like events likeNAIC and regionals?
Do you also try to engage inyour locals?
RotomTCG (15:03):
I'm definitely a local warrior.
I've, I've loved, uh, I've lovedgoing to, League Cups, League
Challenges, all that sort ofthing.
I've been going for years andyears and years at this point.
and I love the community that,kind of surrounds this game.
Uh, so actually I'd say I'vegone to more locals, than I have
(15:24):
to major tournaments.
in the past, the.
Regionals and stuff like that.
It wasn't like superfinancially, sound for me to go
consistently.
And so I'd only go a few times ayear.
But, I still wanted to enjoy thegame and cups and local
tournaments were like the bestopportunity to do that.
David Hernandez (15:42):
So it's almost like y'all kind of go out and
y'all just play the card gameIt's usually a whole day or an
afternoon at least and y'allkind of just like I don't want
to say BS around, but then y'allkind of trade y'all do battling
and stuff like that.
Theory crafting as well.
RotomTCG (15:54):
Uh, yeah, exactly.
Some tournaments, do run prettylate and have in the past where
I've they do develop into likeall day things where I kind of
wake up at like 6am, drive a fewhours.
And I'm getting home at like,12, sometimes even 1am.
Uh, just, just because there's.
longer tournament times and, alot of people that actually play
(16:15):
at some of these events.
but, it's always a funexperience.
David Hernandez (16:19):
I think that's the one thing I've noticed
whenever I've gone to, I'vemostly gone to regionals, the
TCG side is just so massive.
Like there's so many tables, somany people playing the card
game.
And that's just for regionals.
I can only imagine.
And like you said, I remember Idid a I was attending one event
at a card shop and it literallywent all the way to close to
midnight.
And they were still trying tofinish stuff up, but people were
(16:41):
still there just, you know,playing the game.
They had already been eliminateda long time ago, but people
really just come out and enjoytalking about the Pokemon TCG.
It's it's fun to see, actually.
It makes me miss back in thedays when I used to do Yu
RotomTCG (16:54):
Yeah, I really using locals and, more larger cups, I
guess, as a way to socialize alot.
So like having played the cardgame for so long and seeing the
same familiar faces, it's almostjust like.
Having that time to hang outwith friends on the weekends.
David Hernandez (17:58):
I was wondering, so I know that you
used to, you were actually aworld's competitor back in 2019.
Can you like, talk to me aboutabout what you remember, like
building up to that and evenparticipating in worlds,
RotomTCG (18:08):
So, the season of 2019 was actually one of the more, I
think, difficult years toqualify from, what I hear, they
had this weird, like, formatstructure where in order to,
like, get points from localtournaments, you could only
have, like, up to two placementsper quarter, and that was, like,
time gated, and so a lot ofthese locals became really
(18:30):
competitive, because peopleneeded to get finishes within a
very small window.
And so I think to start thisseason, I was doing okay.
I didn't really have a ton of,major, locals wins to get, off
to the races with the points, toqualify that year.
but then I ended up going to,Texas regional and making a
(18:52):
really deep run, Kind of out ofnowhere to be honest with you.
wasn't really expecting it But Iended up getting in the top
eight of that tournament itbeing my first like regional day
two because they had startedthey kind of changed the
structure of regionals that yearto kind of have that day two
structure.
(19:12):
I wasn't like super sure what toexpect because I was treating it
like any other tournament, Iguess.
but I ended up making a reallydeep run at that regional.
and that almost put me back onthe map in terms of like, having
enough points to qualify thatyear, and then that kind of
really motivated me then to, goto some other events later in
(19:33):
the year, including, like,Madison, I believe, and, the
North American InternationalChampionships, where I ended up,
barely getting my invite off ofthe, uh, tail end of that
tournament.
I needed a certain amount ofpoints to get there and I clawed
my way back, from two losses inorder to get enough points I
needed to then qualify.
David Hernandez (19:55):
it must've been kind of defeating or maybe a lot
of pressure.
Cause you said you started Ohtwo, but then claw your way back
to get the points to get toworlds.
Did you just feel the intensityof the moment was like, this is
my chance to go to worlds thatif you didn't do it, you
probably wouldn't be back atthis spot again.
RotomTCG (20:09):
yes and no.
I was very much at that point,hungry for it, I guess, because
I had, I had never got theopportunity to play it in a
World's Tournament before, and Ifelt like it was finally my year
to break through, for that, andso, I just took it round by
round.
I focused on what I couldcontrol and I played to the best
of my ability, and it was, goodenough to get there, I guess.
David Hernandez (20:30):
When you got to Washington and you got to
participate, you know, what wasit like to kind of be at your
first world's experience and bearound all, like, I guess the
total top tier players and allthe media and all that fun
stuff.
RotomTCG (20:40):
It was pretty breathtaking, to be honest.
I had never actually attended aWorlds tournament in any
capacity up to that point.
I'd always had, friends go tothe Worlds event, and come back,
have all this cool, like, swag,and have crazy stories kind of
thing.
so, to me, it was just, like, areally exciting experience.
(21:00):
I also, like, had anopportunity, since I studied
some Japanese in college, Iactually got to, practice that
with some, players that were,coming over for the tournament.
So it was really just kind ofgetting that world's experience.
David Hernandez (21:15):
How did you do when you try to do use your
Japanese out of curiosity?
RotomTCG (21:19):
Uh, it went okay.
I would say could have, it couldhave gone better, but.
You know, I think it was like mysecond or third year of doing
it.
So it was, definitely a goodlearning point for me.
David Hernandez (21:30):
I mean, you're brave to just try your Japanese.
I'm scared whenever I try to useSpanish and that's my native
language, so Props to you to tryto, you know, it's kind of cool
though You're able to, you know,you spend time trying to study
Japanese and try to talk to theplayers who came overseas
RotomTCG (21:42):
Yeah, absolutely.
David Hernandez (21:43):
Do you remember anything when you were at
Worlds, like preparing for thetournament, you know, trying to
set your deck up
RotomTCG (21:48):
Yeah.
David Hernandez (21:49):
hanging
RotomTCG (21:49):
that, was kind of a really unique tournament where,
there was a new set that hadn'treally been discovered yet
because it was the first weekendthat it was going to be
available for play was thatworld's tournament.
and so.
I kind of early on, set my eyeson the Mewtwo and Mewtagteam GX
(22:10):
deck, which was kind of a reallyunderexplored archetype at the
time.
there was definitely just like alot of, testing and homebrewing
and collaborating, with otherpeople online to kind of figure
out what the best, 60 cards forthis deck actually look like.
I think What I ended up settlingon wasn't the actual, like, best
(22:31):
60 cards to play the deck, but,it was, I think, the strongest
deck, for that format, and itdid end up winning the actual,
tournament in the long run.
When I ended up playing in dayone, I ended up five and three
on the day, which, uh, I was onewin away from qualifying for day
two, which would have been,fantastic.
But there was one instance whereI actually got reversed swept,
(22:56):
five to one, two games in a row.
so, unfortunately, I was notable to, uh, convert that over,
but it was still a reallyamazing experience.
David Hernandez (23:06):
That's awesome.
And you get to kind of take thathome.
And I guess you got some freeswag too, right?
RotomTCG (23:11):
It's all, safari themed.
I still have the bag andeverything.
Really like that, theme now.
David Hernandez (23:16):
It's like your little badge of honor.
It's like, Hey, I got toparticipate in Worlds 2019.
Put some respect on my name.
RotomTCG (23:22):
Absolutely.
David Hernandez (23:24):
The last thing I want to touch on with this
interview is, you know, I foundyou on Twitch and, you know, you
have the Rotom avatar going,you're playing Tokwan TCG
primarily.
What made you want to try to,you know, start streaming on
Twitch?
RotomTCG (23:37):
to be honest, I've always kind of been, privy to,
playing online card games.
I played a lot of, Hearthstone,when that was first kind of
initially popular.
And I actually ended up like,streaming some of that.
and so I was kind of alreadyfamiliar with the software.
Outside of that, it was justkind of.
a way for me to, broadcast mypractice because a lot of like
(23:58):
the, local scene around mereally just wanted to see how I
operate and play and so that'skind of I guess what pushed me
to start the content creation,start, streaming and, making
decks and stuff like that.
David Hernandez (24:11):
So they kind of wanted to see how I guess your
process worked and you felt likeTwitch was the very way to
answer this instead of you justdoing people individually, you
just, Hey, come check out myTwitch.
I'll show you how I do stuffkind of thing.
RotomTCG (24:23):
Yeah, there were a few locals that had reached out to
me asking for me to, like, coachthem, kind of thing.
I wouldn't say I'm necessarily,like, the teacher type, I guess.
so, if I can just play the gamehow I play the game and explain
how I play the game, hopefullypeople can get some enjoyment
out of that.
David Hernandez (24:38):
at the time, I guess, did you have the virtual
Rotom in placement or not yet,did that come later?
RotomTCG (24:43):
Uh, no, I did have it, but it was initially kind of
hand drawn by me, to be honestwith you.
David Hernandez (24:49):
Oh, okay.
Okay.
RotomTCG (24:50):
I had, like, the mechanism for it, but, not the,
professional drawing, I guess,behind it.
David Hernandez (24:56):
So, later on, I guess you hired an artist to
kinda up the quality?
RotomTCG (25:00):
Absolutely, yeah.
And I kind of came up with theidea of just, like, being able
to spend channel points tochange the rodent form, because
I thought that just kind ofadded a different layer of being
able to interact with the actualstream.
David Hernandez (25:13):
That's what I love about it, because I think
one of the streams I caught youon, somebody actually did the
channels and they swapped it.
I'm like, this is so cool, like,I love seeing people kinda dive
into the mechanics of a Pokemon,like, you really dived into,
like, what makes Rotom sounique, you know?
RotomTCG (25:30):
Mm hmm.
Absolutely.
David Hernandez (25:31):
Now, was it humbling, I guess, in a way, to
kind of have people coming up toyou wanting this kind of advice
from you,
RotomTCG (25:37):
Absolutely, yeah.
I was not, I was not expecting,anything like that, to be honest
with you.
to me, I just play the game forfun.
It's a hobby.
And so to have people, I guess,look up is, just a really
humbling experience.
David Hernandez (25:50):
Now, for people who maybe are trying the Pokemon
TCG, what advice would you givethem?
RotomTCG (25:56):
I think at a core, I would just say to have fun with
it.
I think a lot of the results,and what you get out of the game
really at, at a root stems fromhaving fun.
So kind of grasping onto that,making the most of however you
want to play the hobby is theBest way to success in my
opinion.
David Hernandez (26:15):
Rotom TCG, thank you for coming on the
podcast before you go.
People want to check you out onTwitch.
If they want to connect withyou, where can they go?
But I'll meet, please plug away.
RotomTCG (26:25):
Yeah, absolutely.
so on Twitch, it's just, Rotom,TCG, no underscores, no spaces,
nothing like that.
and then, over on X it is thesame as well.
so definitely, follow if youwant to see updates from me or,
see when I'm next live.
I am RotomTCG, and this is my Pokémon story.
David Hernandez (00:42):
Welcome to, as the pokeball turns, where we
interview people about theirexperience with Pokemon.
My name is David Hernandez I'mjoined by road on TCG road.
I'm welcome to the show.
RotomTCG (00:54):
Thanks for having me.
David Hernandez (00:56):
I have to ask this one question.
Cause I've really, I'm excitedto have you on here.
What is the connection betweenyou and road arm?
Like, has it always been thatconnection since the very
beginning or like.
RotomTCG (01:06):
yeah, so, when I first got into the, like, TCG scene, I
was always kind of drawn to theRotom cards, because I had begun
going to like, the PokemonLeague back then, And, I like,
started a, Rotom collection, andThey had all of these like,
different secret rare Rotomcards, And I ended up just
(01:27):
collecting, all of the differentforms, And I kind of fell in
love with the Pokemon, to behonest.
David Hernandez (01:31):
So when it comes to like different forms,
so it would be like just somevery very rare Pokemon cards
They featured the different likewe're talking mo We're talking I
think wash he all those you justwant to collect every single one
of them.
RotomTCG (01:44):
Yeah, so, The secret rares in that set were actually,
cool in that they featured theparticular rodent form, but also
in the background, they had theappliance of a different other
form.
And so if you collected themall, they did like a different
circle basically.
So you'd have like one card thathad the form, and then another
(02:06):
card that had that form as the,appliance that didn't have Rotem
in it kind of thing.
David Hernandez (02:11):
That's kind of cool It kind of reminds me.
I know this is Yu Gi Oh, but itreminds me of Exodia I'm not too
know that reference to whereconnect them all it has like the
full body
RotomTCG (02:20):
I wish they connected but you're still able to like
get a story just through lookingat the cards Which was really
cool.
David Hernandez (02:26):
I know that, you know, Rotom has a lot of
different forms.
Do you ever think about like adifferent form of Rotom that
doesn't exist that you kind ofwish did?
RotomTCG (02:33):
Well my Twitch chat would say The car would is a
bit.
It's a big popular one.
I think So if they had like acar wrote him I personally Think
a toaster wrote him would bepretty hilarious So I guess
either of those
David Hernandez (02:51):
I could see the toaster like, uh, shooting bread
as an attack.
I think that'd be kind of cool.
RotomTCG (02:55):
it kind of gives me like flashbacks to like, The
Brave Little Toaster, I guess,if you've ever watched that.
David Hernandez (03:00):
For me, I always thought that a computer
screen or plasma screen Rotomwould be very sick.
RotomTCG (03:06):
yeah, that would be really cool.
David Hernandez (03:08):
So, you know, you talked about how initially,
you know, you were collectingthe TCG cards and you're going
to the.
locals and all that, what gotyou into Pokemon TCG?
Where did that start?
RotomTCG (03:18):
I think it started actually back in kindergarten.
It kind of circled around withthe, base and jungle set cards.
and then from there, like, I hadreceived some of those cards,
but then it kind of transitionedto, me wanting to go to,
different events, so I think myfirst actual event at a,
(03:38):
Pokemon, or that was actuallylike sanctioned by Pokemon, was
a like EX Power Keepers prerelease at that pre release I
had kind of no idea what wasgoing on but I got a lot of
shiny cards which I had opened alike Jolteon Gold Star which I
know is like a lot of moneynowadays, but back then, I had
(04:02):
no idea what I was opening.
and it still, like, sticks withme to this day, to be honest.
David Hernandez (04:08):
I was about to just ask that.
Do you still have that card?
Because some people, you know,they get it, the shiny
cardboard, but they don't keepit.
So,
RotomTCG (04:14):
Uh, I, I was trying to track it down.
I'm not sure if I have it ornot, but I do have other gold
stars that I have from that erathat I have held on to.
David Hernandez (04:24):
which ones?
If you don't mind, if you don'tmind sharing,
RotomTCG (04:27):
so I have the Celebi, that I had I believe in a trade
back then, as well as, uh, wegot a Groudon, gold star that we
had actually opened at ablockbuster, which is kind of
crazy.
David Hernandez (04:40):
And it's kind of sick that you still have
them, because a blockbuster thatshows how old we are, because,
you know, most people probablydon't even know what that is
nowadays.
B would be the fact that youstill have them and you're still
able to trade for them back inthose days.
They really made it kind of.
fun though, you know, back inthe days, looking back on it.
RotomTCG (04:57):
yeah, it was definitely a special time.
David Hernandez (04:59):
you talking about how, you know, the Pokemon
TCG, you were collecting thebase set in jungle back in
kindergarten.
Now let's be honest, youprobably didn't know how to play
maybe.
So were you like just playing adifferent way or were y'all just
like collecting the cards?
RotomTCG (05:10):
Well, there was kind of a little bit, of a different
thing.
So like, with kindergarten, Iwas mostly just collecting back
then, but when I transitioned tolike elementary school, there
was actually like an afterschool program where, there was
more emphasis on like playingthe game and it was like a
little more structured.
I actually, got into moreplaying it routinely, through
(05:33):
that program, which was, reallynice.
David Hernandez (05:35):
That sounds so fun.
So was it run by a teacher?
RotomTCG (05:38):
Uh, it was actually run by a, community college
student, I believe at the time,that was kind of volunteering,
to help run it.
Uh, and so he kind of structuredit like, he was like the gym
leader, per se, I guess, and wewould have to, build up our
decks and challenge hisdifferent, monotype colored
decks and earn actual, like, gymbadges that he had, made
(05:59):
himself.
And it was actually really cool.
David Hernandez (06:02):
That sounds like such a fun experience to
where, you know, this collegestudents coming out and, you
know, he's obviously, you know,hold back.
He's just doing his monotype.
Did he like show y'all how todeck build or like what Pokemon
to use or was that kind ofsomething y'all had to explore
on your own?
RotomTCG (06:16):
it was a little bit of both.
he showed us how to, deck buildto an extent, but I kind of
learned more so how to deckbuild at my, like, local Pokemon
League when I ended up, going tothat on a regular basis.
it was a lot of justhomebrewing, to be honest.
I think my first like realcompetitive deck, I guess, well,
I say competitive, but I was, inthe junior division at the time.
David Hernandez (06:39):
Sure,
RotomTCG (06:40):
a Lucario level X and a Magmortar level X deck that
was just kind of, I took the twolevel Xs that I had and I just
kind of jammed them into onedeck and did the best that I
could with it.
David Hernandez (06:51):
That's what I love about trading card games in
general.
It's the theory crafting andtrying to figure out how to have
it works.
And sometimes you put two thingsthat you like together and see
like, Hey, maybe it works.
Maybe it doesn't.
RotomTCG (07:02):
Yeah.
For the, in that case, itactually was good enough.
I had taken it to like a city,championship back then.
And then in the top cut, Iactually ended up hitting the,
previous junior world championwho was actually playing at that
tournament.
And, uh, he ended my, ended mycareer with a four alligator
deck, but.
(07:24):
but it was a, it was a goodtime.
David Hernandez (07:26):
Did you engage with the Pokemon franchise at
any other way?
Like say the video games, theanime.
RotomTCG (07:31):
Yeah, I was really big into, both.
I still kind of am pretty muchinto the video game.
my first was the Pokemon Ruby.
I played that, growing up.
along with Emerald.
And then I kind of playedthrough a lot of the different
GBA games and into the DS era aswell.
even the spin offs like, Trozei,Pokémon Dash, and Pokémon
(07:52):
Ranger, were really fun.
Since then, I've, still played,all of the main games, I also
kind of way back when have theunique opportunity to do both
the trading card gamecompetitively and the video game
competitively because theregional champion, ships
actually had, uh, Because theywere so small, you could
(08:13):
actually play the TCG on, theSaturday of that weekend and
then VGC on the Sunday of thatweekend.
So I actually got to do a goodbit of both, back then.
David Hernandez (08:22):
That must have been like a lot of studying and
a lot of pressure because to doboth is, like, takes time and
effort just to do one.
RotomTCG (08:28):
it was definitely, I think a different competitive
landscape.
I would say, and I know I waslike still like in a younger
division, but, the one time Iwas able to do it, I actually
was able to get, top eight inthe TCG on Saturday and top
eight in the VG on Sunday.
You can hop around between themin terms of like, Say, you want
to travel to Texas and do theTCG, but then you want to then
(08:51):
go to, Canada and commit that tothe VGC.
Because the tournaments takeplace, like, simultaneously
nowadays, you have to, like,pick, and there isn't really
much chance to, split.
David Hernandez (09:03):
when you go to these tournaments, like, do you
take, like, any lucky charmswith you?
Or do you, like, just go andjust Play with whatever you
have.
RotomTCG (09:09):
I typically, I have a lot of different rodent plushes,
and so I usually will have atleast one of them on me.
David Hernandez (09:16):
That's what I was about to ask.
So you do, do you bring the roadon plus with you?
RotomTCG (09:20):
I do, yeah.
my wife got me a, like, Rotom,Frost, like, the fridge deck
box.
And you can actually, like, putthe, deck of cards inside the,
like, interior of the fridge.
And so I just carry that aroundwith me too.
David Hernandez (09:37):
do you also do like wrote on sleeves as well?
Like how deep do you go intothis?
RotomTCG (09:40):
I do have Rotom sleeves, but I typically use,
the sleeves that I'm able tomost easily shuffle with.
I really like the Katanasleeves, just because they,
glide off of your fingers andit's a lot easier to like
shuffle quickly with them But Ido like the designs that are on
the rodent sleeve.
So I definitely have a pair athome.
David Hernandez (09:58):
I actually have a Rodon Dex plushie because I
love the Rodon Dex from Pokemonso much.
I love his personality that Ihad to give me a plushie, but I
still carry it with me sometimeswhenever I like feel down, I'll
look at it and it kind of bringsa little smile to my face in a
weird way.
RotomTCG (10:13):
Nice.
Yeah, that's actually one of theones I'm missing.
Uh,
David Hernandez (10:17):
Oh, really?
RotomTCG (10:18):
Yeah, I was gonna try and pick one up at one of the
events that I went to and I Hadseen it at one of the vendors I
walked up.
I was like, This is a little toobig to carry around all day So
i'm gonna come back later, but Icame back and it was already
gone So should have jumped onthat opportunity.
But
David Hernandez (10:36):
Eh, you never really know sometimes, right?
Sometimes oh, come back and getin and somebody's like, how the
heck did somebody actually takeit?
You never
RotomTCG (10:44):
Yep
David Hernandez (10:45):
so, you know, you talked about how initially
you were playing the games earlyon.
You were in the competitive sidefor a little bit.
Did you have like a particulargeneration of games that you
really liked playing?
Like, what's your favorite outof just the video game side of
Pokemon?
RotomTCG (10:56):
I'm like sandwiched in between Gen 3 and Gen 4.
I really like the Gen 4,gameplay a lot.
but Gen 3 has that verymemorable experience of just
like playing through all thebattle frontier.
so I really love that game.
I love that generation as well.
David Hernandez (11:12):
I mean, it's tough because, Yeah, that Battle
Frontier was just so much fun,but it was also very difficult.
It was like, back in the earlydays, I felt like Pokemon games
were more focused on difficultycompared to nowadays.
And the Battle Frontier was justso memorable because there's so
many different ways to kind ofengage in the battle system that
you never thought of and reallyhaven't engaged since.
then you also got Gen 4, whereyou got the Wi Fi play, you got
(11:32):
the world building, and all thelegendary Pokemon.
It's kind of a tough choice tomake.
RotomTCG (11:36):
Yeah, my favorite part of the Gen 4 was the underground
experience.
I really liked kind of buildingmy base and having, people
travel and do all the connectiveplay with that.
David Hernandez (11:47):
Right.
you can like dig, and I thinkyou got like pearls and stuff
like that, and fossils.
I can't remember, it's been awhile since I've played them.
RotomTCG (11:54):
Yeah, it was like fossils and, plates I think were
introduced in the digging aswell to like, power up certain
moves and transform your Arceustype?
David Hernandez (12:03):
Yes! Yeah, yeah, yeah, that.
And then plus, you know, you cankind of go around, they had
games like Capture the Flag.
You can kind of go out with yourfriends and have the first
initial connectivity that way,and that's kind of what I
remember from those games, too.
RotomTCG (12:15):
Yeah, exactly.
David Hernandez (12:16):
my last question in regards to playing
Pokemon Diamond and Pearl.
If you're going to do a playthrough and you had to pick six
Pokemon, which six would youpick?
RotomTCG (12:25):
Hmm.
That's a good question.
So, while it's not the mostlike, well rounded of teams, I
would say, I, I really liked,Starraptor, so I'd definitely
stick Starraptor on my team.
I'm also a huge Garchomp fan, sothat is definitely making the
top six.
And I obviously can't forgetPokemon.
wrote him because because itcame in that generation.
(12:49):
and I really liked the Abom snowas well, so I'd probably play
with that guy as well.
I'd probably pick Bronze Song.
I really like the tank.
That and the typing that bronzesong can bring.
And then, Drifblim, becauseDrifblim has a lot of, ties to
the TCG it was always like areally versatile attacker, so, I
(13:12):
really fell in love with thatPokemon as well.
David Hernandez (13:14):
drift limb is kind of forgotten for a bit.
Like the only way we know aboutit in the main series is the
math after math ability, really,and then burden in gen five.
But I think that's the benefitof TCG to where You get Pokemon
who don't have much use actuallybe seen in some way in the TCG
meta.
RotomTCG (13:31):
Absolutely, yeah.
there's been actually differentpoints where both the Drifloon,
and Drifblim have been, seencompetitively.
with Drifloon, it's kind ofexisting in the Gardevoir EX
deck, Gardevoir EX is a stage 2,that can accelerate, psychic
energy from your discard pileonto your psychic And so
(13:55):
Drifloon being ghost, they don'tactually have ghost typing in
the TCG, so they have it defaultto psychic, so you can then put
those energy on, but when youattach those energy, you deal
damage to the Drifloon, and theDrifloon has a really cool,
attack that does 30, uh, damagefor each damage on it,
basically.
(14:16):
so you're attaching a ton ofenergy to this one small HP
Drifloon, but you're hittinglike a truck.
it's really like a glass cannondeck.
David Hernandez (14:25):
Do you kind of lean towards using glass cannon
decks, or do you have adifferent type of deck you kind
of cater to whenever you playthe TCG?
RotomTCG (14:31):
I really liked the Gardevoir EX archetype.
I actually brought it to the2023, North American
International Championships, Iwas able to get into the top 128
with that, deck, Being able tohave low HP attackers that, were
hitting heavy, in the late gamejust was too strong to not pick,
(14:52):
I think.
So I've really liked theGardevoir deck
David Hernandez (14:55):
When it comes to like the TCG, like do you
only travel to like events likeNAIC and regionals?
Do you also try to engage inyour locals?
RotomTCG (15:03):
I'm definitely a local warrior.
I've, I've loved, uh, I've lovedgoing to, League Cups, League
Challenges, all that sort ofthing.
I've been going for years andyears and years at this point.
and I love the community that,kind of surrounds this game.
Uh, so actually I'd say I'vegone to more locals, than I have
(15:24):
to major tournaments.
in the past, the.
Regionals and stuff like that.
It wasn't like superfinancially, sound for me to go
consistently.
And so I'd only go a few times ayear.
But, I still wanted to enjoy thegame and cups and local
tournaments were like the bestopportunity to do that.
David Hernandez (15:42):
So it's almost like y'all kind of go out and
y'all just play the card gameIt's usually a whole day or an
afternoon at least and y'allkind of just like I don't want
to say BS around, but then y'allkind of trade y'all do battling
and stuff like that.
Theory crafting as well.
RotomTCG (15:54):
Uh, yeah, exactly.
Some tournaments, do run prettylate and have in the past where
I've they do develop into likeall day things where I kind of
wake up at like 6am, drive a fewhours.
And I'm getting home at like,12, sometimes even 1am.
Uh, just, just because there's.
longer tournament times and, alot of people that actually play
(16:15):
at some of these events.
but, it's always a funexperience.
David Hernandez (16:19):
I think that's the one thing I've noticed
whenever I've gone to, I'vemostly gone to regionals, the
TCG side is just so massive.
Like there's so many tables, somany people playing the card
game.
And that's just for regionals.
I can only imagine.
And like you said, I remember Idid a I was attending one event
at a card shop and it literallywent all the way to close to
midnight.
And they were still trying tofinish stuff up, but people were
(16:41):
still there just, you know,playing the game.
They had already been eliminateda long time ago, but people
really just come out and enjoytalking about the Pokemon TCG.
It's it's fun to see, actually.
It makes me miss back in thedays when I used to do Yu
RotomTCG (16:54):
Yeah, I really using locals and, more larger cups, I
guess, as a way to socialize alot.
So like having played the cardgame for so long and seeing the
same familiar faces, it's almostjust like.
Having that time to hang outwith friends on the weekends.
David Hernandez (17:58):
I was wondering, so I know that you
used to, you were actually aworld's competitor back in 2019.
Can you like, talk to me aboutabout what you remember, like
building up to that and evenparticipating in worlds,
RotomTCG (18:08):
So, the season of 2019 was actually one of the more, I
think, difficult years toqualify from, what I hear, they
had this weird, like, formatstructure where in order to,
like, get points from localtournaments, you could only
have, like, up to two placementsper quarter, and that was, like,
time gated, and so a lot ofthese locals became really
(18:30):
competitive, because peopleneeded to get finishes within a
very small window.
And so I think to start thisseason, I was doing okay.
I didn't really have a ton of,major, locals wins to get, off
to the races with the points, toqualify that year.
but then I ended up going to,Texas regional and making a
(18:52):
really deep run, Kind of out ofnowhere to be honest with you.
wasn't really expecting it But Iended up getting in the top
eight of that tournament itbeing my first like regional day
two because they had startedthey kind of changed the
structure of regionals that yearto kind of have that day two
structure.
(19:12):
I wasn't like super sure what toexpect because I was treating it
like any other tournament, Iguess.
but I ended up making a reallydeep run at that regional.
and that almost put me back onthe map in terms of like, having
enough points to qualify thatyear, and then that kind of
really motivated me then to, goto some other events later in
(19:33):
the year, including, like,Madison, I believe, and, the
North American InternationalChampionships, where I ended up,
barely getting my invite off ofthe, uh, tail end of that
tournament.
I needed a certain amount ofpoints to get there and I clawed
my way back, from two losses inorder to get enough points I
needed to then qualify.
David Hernandez (19:55):
it must've been kind of defeating or maybe a lot
of pressure.
Cause you said you started Ohtwo, but then claw your way back
to get the points to get toworlds.
Did you just feel the intensityof the moment was like, this is
my chance to go to worlds thatif you didn't do it, you
probably wouldn't be back atthis spot again.
RotomTCG (20:09):
yes and no.
I was very much at that point,hungry for it, I guess, because
I had, I had never got theopportunity to play it in a
World's Tournament before, and Ifelt like it was finally my year
to break through, for that, andso, I just took it round by
round.
I focused on what I couldcontrol and I played to the best
of my ability, and it was, goodenough to get there, I guess.
David Hernandez (20:30):
When you got to Washington and you got to
participate, you know, what wasit like to kind of be at your
first world's experience and bearound all, like, I guess the
total top tier players and allthe media and all that fun
stuff.
RotomTCG (20:40):
It was pretty breathtaking, to be honest.
I had never actually attended aWorlds tournament in any
capacity up to that point.
I'd always had, friends go tothe Worlds event, and come back,
have all this cool, like, swag,and have crazy stories kind of
thing.
so, to me, it was just, like, areally exciting experience.
(21:00):
I also, like, had anopportunity, since I studied
some Japanese in college, Iactually got to, practice that
with some, players that were,coming over for the tournament.
So it was really just kind ofgetting that world's experience.
David Hernandez (21:15):
How did you do when you try to do use your
Japanese out of curiosity?
RotomTCG (21:19):
Uh, it went okay.
I would say could have, it couldhave gone better, but.
You know, I think it was like mysecond or third year of doing
it.
So it was, definitely a goodlearning point for me.
David Hernandez (21:30):
I mean, you're brave to just try your Japanese.
I'm scared whenever I try to useSpanish and that's my native
language, so Props to you to tryto, you know, it's kind of cool
though You're able to, you know,you spend time trying to study
Japanese and try to talk to theplayers who came overseas
RotomTCG (21:42):
Yeah, absolutely.
David Hernandez (21:43):
Do you remember anything when you were at
Worlds, like preparing for thetournament, you know, trying to
set your deck up
RotomTCG (21:48):
Yeah.
David Hernandez (21:49):
hanging
RotomTCG (21:49):
that, was kind of a really unique tournament where,
there was a new set that hadn'treally been discovered yet
because it was the first weekendthat it was going to be
available for play was thatworld's tournament.
and so.
I kind of early on, set my eyeson the Mewtwo and Mewtagteam GX
(22:10):
deck, which was kind of a reallyunderexplored archetype at the
time.
there was definitely just like alot of, testing and homebrewing
and collaborating, with otherpeople online to kind of figure
out what the best, 60 cards forthis deck actually look like.
I think What I ended up settlingon wasn't the actual, like, best
(22:31):
60 cards to play the deck, but,it was, I think, the strongest
deck, for that format, and itdid end up winning the actual,
tournament in the long run.
When I ended up playing in dayone, I ended up five and three
on the day, which, uh, I was onewin away from qualifying for day
two, which would have been,fantastic.
But there was one instance whereI actually got reversed swept,
(22:56):
five to one, two games in a row.
so, unfortunately, I was notable to, uh, convert that over,
but it was still a reallyamazing experience.
David Hernandez (23:06):
That's awesome.
And you get to kind of take thathome.
And I guess you got some freeswag too, right?
RotomTCG (23:11):
It's all, safari themed.
I still have the bag andeverything.
Really like that, theme now.
David Hernandez (23:16):
It's like your little badge of honor.
It's like, Hey, I got toparticipate in Worlds 2019.
Put some respect on my name.
RotomTCG (23:22):
Absolutely.
David Hernandez (23:24):
The last thing I want to touch on with this
interview is, you know, I foundyou on Twitch and, you know, you
have the Rotom avatar going,you're playing Tokwan TCG
primarily.
What made you want to try to,you know, start streaming on
Twitch?
RotomTCG (23:37):
to be honest, I've always kind of been, privy to,
playing online card games.
I played a lot of, Hearthstone,when that was first kind of
initially popular.
And I actually ended up like,streaming some of that.
and so I was kind of alreadyfamiliar with the software.
Outside of that, it was justkind of.
a way for me to, broadcast mypractice because a lot of like
(23:58):
the, local scene around mereally just wanted to see how I
operate and play and so that'skind of I guess what pushed me
to start the content creation,start, streaming and, making
decks and stuff like that.
David Hernandez (24:11):
So they kind of wanted to see how I guess your
process worked and you felt likeTwitch was the very way to
answer this instead of you justdoing people individually, you
just, Hey, come check out myTwitch.
I'll show you how I do stuffkind of thing.
RotomTCG (24:23):
Yeah, there were a few locals that had reached out to
me asking for me to, like, coachthem, kind of thing.
I wouldn't say I'm necessarily,like, the teacher type, I guess.
so, if I can just play the gamehow I play the game and explain
how I play the game, hopefullypeople can get some enjoyment
out of that.
David Hernandez (24:38):
at the time, I guess, did you have the virtual
Rotom in placement or not yet,did that come later?
RotomTCG (24:43):
Uh, no, I did have it, but it was initially kind of
hand drawn by me, to be honestwith you.
David Hernandez (24:49):
Oh, okay.
Okay.
RotomTCG (24:50):
I had, like, the mechanism for it, but, not the,
professional drawing, I guess,behind it.
David Hernandez (24:56):
So, later on, I guess you hired an artist to
kinda up the quality?
RotomTCG (25:00):
Absolutely, yeah.
And I kind of came up with theidea of just, like, being able
to spend channel points tochange the rodent form, because
I thought that just kind ofadded a different layer of being
able to interact with the actualstream.
David Hernandez (25:13):
That's what I love about it, because I think
one of the streams I caught youon, somebody actually did the
channels and they swapped it.
I'm like, this is so cool, like,I love seeing people kinda dive
into the mechanics of a Pokemon,like, you really dived into,
like, what makes Rotom sounique, you know?
RotomTCG (25:30):
Mm hmm.
Absolutely.
David Hernandez (25:31):
Now, was it humbling, I guess, in a way, to
kind of have people coming up toyou wanting this kind of advice
from you,
RotomTCG (25:37):
Absolutely, yeah.
I was not, I was not expecting,anything like that, to be honest
with you.
to me, I just play the game forfun.
It's a hobby.
And so to have people, I guess,look up is, just a really
humbling experience.
David Hernandez (25:50):
Now, for people who maybe are trying the Pokemon
TCG, what advice would you givethem?
RotomTCG (25:56):
I think at a core, I would just say to have fun with
it.
I think a lot of the results,and what you get out of the game
really at, at a root stems fromhaving fun.
So kind of grasping onto that,making the most of however you
want to play the hobby is theBest way to success in my
opinion.
David Hernandez (26:15):
Rotom TCG, thank you for coming on the
podcast before you go.
People want to check you out onTwitch.
If they want to connect withyou, where can they go?
But I'll meet, please plug away.
RotomTCG (26:25):
Yeah, absolutely.
so on Twitch, it's just, Rotom,TCG, no underscores, no spaces,
nothing like that.
and then, over on X it is thesame as well.
so definitely, follow if youwant to see updates from me or,
see when I'm next live.
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