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June 27, 2024 • 33 mins
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Episode Transcript

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Cam (00:04):
I'm just outside the store.

Brent (00:07):
Alright, welcome to the Trashalanch, it's an emergency
pod, we're gonna drop a quickquick quick quick one, so people
have something that they canlisten to while they're reading
all the tweets about thereactions to Pokemon's
announcement, I thought peoplewould be all big on that.
Attendance 100%, Cam's here,Liam's here, I'm here, Yvonne's
still asleep Elo Fouchet isapparently still awake cause I

(00:28):
tried to hassle Mike to get onthe pod, but he is not here, so
I recognize, apparently, theinternet is begging for Mike to
get on the pod, but it's notgonna happen today.
Guys, let's talk about thechanges.
Let's, let's kind of scrollthrough the update a little bit
as a way of, like, getting ourfeelings out about the changes
and making sure we cover all thebases.
Let's start with The newinvitation system.

(00:53):
Reactions, guys?

Liam (00:56):
All right, yeah, so it's a it's a Top X system.
It looks like it's going to be125 Masters from US and Canada.
We're going to qualify.
This is based on, like,championship points throughout
the season.
I, I think it's a, I think it'spretty good.
I had some, some worries aboutthe Top X.
System, and I was like, ah,like, it's somewhat like what
Aban was saying earlier thisweek, like, oh, there's not a

(01:17):
lot of, like, security in that,it makes it harder to plan out
your season, but I think aboutit now, and I'm like, ooh, I
really want to be 126th, comeNAIC, like, that's really sick,
bro, you know, like, that would,that would be a pretty fire
feeling, I'm like, you know, I,I walk up to the guy who's 125th

(01:37):
at NAIC, and I'm like, I'mcoming, you know, like, that's
pretty lit, right So, I actuallythink, you know the competition
created naturally from this, asopposed to having worlds be,
like, the, the personal journey,where, like, you know, you just
try to hit milestones, like,individually it's kind of cool,
kind of cool.

Brent (01:57):
Yeah, I like that you're excited about the fighting.
I feel like this is a naturalreaction to TPCI raised the bar,
and even more people qualifiedfor Worlds, and Like, it's
interesting that the numbers areso low to me, because, like, I
recognize, I felt like TPCI wasalways trying to set the bar

(02:17):
where they were like, well,okay, our convention center is a
certain size, we need to limitthe amount of people who show up
to a certain amount.
And, like, so they set the barwhere they think they can, like,
control the amount of people whowill qualify.
So, so here, they're like, okay,we're throwing in the towel,
because apparently, like, whatare we going to do, raise the
bar to 1000?
And that's it.

(02:39):
So instead they said, okay,we're just going to tell you
guys how many people can fit inthe convention center.
It's this many.
And I'm like, that's fine.
I

Cam (02:47):
I think you have it twisted, Liam.
I think you're gonna go intoNAIC going, Oh, I'm 126th, and
129th is gonna be looking at yougoing, Nah, nah, nah, homie, I'm
taking this from you.
So, I think it's the other wayaround.

Liam (03:03):
I live for that shit, bro.
I love it.
I love it.

Cam (03:07):
Which is not a bad thing, I'm just saying that's what
it'll probably be, right,instead.

Liam (03:11):
I love it, brother.

Cam (03:12):
I think this was, like, kind of What I was getting at
last week, or like earlier thisweek now, I guess, is that I
don't think Pokemon wants worldsto be a thousand players.
They want inclusivity.
I don't even think they wantedworlds to be as big as it was at
Japan.
And then they raise the bar, andeven more people show up to

(03:33):
Hawaii, which is an even smallerisland.
We all already know all thesocial issues with whatever's
going on in Hawaii, and theyjust said, you know what, the
only way for us to control theattendance is to actually just
give a flat number of playersthat can attend.
256 for the three major regionswould probably just end up with
another 1, 000 person worlds,so.

Liam (03:55):
I,

Brent (03:58):
is you said 125 for US and Canada, 125 for Europe, and
it's 100 for Latin America.
Is Latin America that big?
Like, I felt like that it seemslike Latin America turned out to
be the big winners here whenit's like 20 from Australia, 10
from Middle East and SouthAfrica.
I was like, man, Latin America,you get a lot of people in
relative to their impact on the

Liam (04:17):
majors.
I think we got, like, the wintermajors announced on this, this
announcement, and they had,like, three, and Europe had
three, and then NA had two.
So yeah, I think Latin America'sdoing pretty good.
And then, of course, they had, Ithink they had three besides
LAIC,

Cam (04:38):
I mean,

Liam (04:38):
a lot of

Cam (04:39):
I I think LA has a relatively big scene.
I mean, it's definitely, what,third?
It's definitely third outside ofNA and Europe, but it's, it's
way bigger than Australia,right?
Like they, I don't think TPCIwould ever consider shutting
down LAIC because of attendanceissues.

Liam (04:57):
100 percent not.

Brent (05:00):
Yeah, that's fair, that's fair.
Maybe Latin America is, is sobig that they deserve, I mean, I
don't know, I guess what's funnyis they got 50 seniors relative
to 100 North American seniors,100 European seniors, but 125
North American and EuropeanMasters and then 100 Latin
America Masters, it's like Idon't know, it's interesting to
me.

Liam (05:20):
Yeah, I, I think they're definitely receiving a lot more
support than I have in the inthe past.

Brent (05:24):
Yeah, yeah.
Alright, guys, how do you feelabout the, the BFLs?

Cam (05:30):
Are we in,

Brent (05:31):
with Challenge Cup.
Oh, is there something

Cam (05:33):
Just a quick question.
Are we all in agreeance thatwhen they say six, there's no
question on whether or not it'sa six combined or like six
regional no

Brent (05:42):
No, no, it's six, it's six combined.
It's six combined.
I don't know if you can see theway the table's laid out, but
yeah, they laid out the table

Cam (05:48):
I just had some people ask in

Liam (05:51):
I, I know there's, you could definitely interpret it
like a couple different ways,but I think this is what
everybody seems to be agreeingon and we should be assuming
until, unless it's likeclarified otherwise, you know?

Brent (06:02):
No, it's, it's six combined.
They want you to go to the threeICs.
I

Liam (06:06):
the changes made, it's four BFL for challenges and cups
separate, so you can get fourcups, four challenges for
points, and then six forregionals, SPEs, and
internationals combined, solike, if you attend three ICs
and you do well at all of them,then you can only get points
from three regionals but if youonly go to one IC, you can get
points from five regionals.

(06:26):
Think, I think this change ispositive people are like,
somewhat dismayed that ICs aresuch a, such a cheat code now.
And I don't think they're wrong,but they're maybe less of a
cheat code than they were in thepast.
It just might, like, feel alittle bit worse because you're
actually competing for spotsnow.

Cam (06:43):
I don't know.
I feel like it's a bigger cheatcode than in the past, isn't it?

Liam (06:49):
how come?

Cam (06:50):
The

Brent (06:50):
top 32 in IC, it's the same as winning a regional.
Go, do, go to, if you're notgoing to ICs,

Liam (06:55):
yeah, but ICs, were super loaded before,

Cam (06:59):
more loaded.

Liam (06:59):
comparison for,

Cam (07:01):
And now they share a BFL with regionals.
So, Well, once again, this is a

Liam (07:07):
sharing a BFL is a nerd.

Cam (07:08):
No, it is absolutely not.
No, I think you're thinking onceagain about this from the wrong
So, let's say you and I arecompeting for a spot.
Now, Liam, I don't think youwould have Maybe I'm wrong.
I don't think you would havequalified.
I mean, you probably would havekept trying harder, but you
wouldn't have qualified thisseason if you had a first,
right?
If you didn't have that first.
So, then, next year,

Liam (07:28):
Yeah, probably

Cam (07:29):
doing?
You're going into university,right?
Ahem.
You know, Caden decided to dropoff from university.
That's his decision.
I don't think you will.
But, are you going to be able togo to all three ICs?
No, you'll probably sprinkle inmostly regionals, and then one,
maybe two ICs.
Now, compare that with me, whocan go to all three ICs, and
the, and all the regionals.

(07:50):
Like, it, I have just more of achance to spike.
If I place at all threeregionals, I'm so significantly
ahead of everyone else.
You can't make it up.
You can't make it up withregional, especially since it's
a race.

Liam (08:06):
I'm comparing this to the current system, where all of
that is true, except once youget three IC finishes, you can
also get six regional finishes.
In my system, once you get threeIC finishes, you only get three

Cam (08:18):
Yeah, you trade

Liam (08:19):
I get

Cam (08:19):
you, trade that for directly competing with someone
who has, like, you're directlycompeting for a spot now, which
could feel worse, right?
Because now you're like, well,what happens if, like, you know,
I think everyone,

Liam (08:33):
It's not like somebody's just buying their way into an
invite, they're, like, buyingtheir way out of your invite,
kind of, right?
Which

Brent (08:39):
mean, Chris Schumanski wrote about it a little bit
yesterday.
I didn't even read it because Ialready know what he says, but
like, what he says is correct.
I mean, the BFL stuff is all,there's an element of a red
herring, because it isn't likesomebody's going to win six
regionals and be like, alright,I'm good.
Because you'll always feel like,if I went to another regional, I
could improve my points.

(09:00):
And like, I mean, maybe the top,maybe people who are in like the
top 30 or something, don't,aren't worried about getting
squished out of their invite inthe last two tournaments, you
know, at NAIC or something, butlike, those people were planning
on going to NAIC anyway, right?
I

Liam (09:16):
Yeah?

Brent (09:16):
people, people, like, it isn't, like, you're always gonna
feel like you could get squishedout, and people will always be,
like, saying, if I go to moretournaments, I can improve my
outcomes.
So, so I, I mean, I feel likethe BFL, the, the, the best
thing about the BFL is, like, atsome level, if, if you only go

(09:38):
to eight or nine events, and youdo very well, you'll do quote
unquote better than people whogo to every, you know, who
travel all over South Americaand Europe and North America and
do Midski.
Like, it's fine.
It's fine.

Liam (09:53):
that's, that's the point of the VFL, to reward quality
over quantity,

Brent (09:56):
but but like, those people will always be tr like, I
don't think those people willchange their strategy, because
even if they're doing Midski,they keep thinking, I'm gonna
get, I'm gonna, I'm gonna get abreakthrough performance, and
like, that's when I get myinvite.
So like, it doesn't changepeople's behavior at all, I
think

Liam (10:13):
yeah, no, that's for sure.
It's just changing the therewards at the end,

Cam (10:18):
I think it actually, so from this season, last season to
this season, it feels likethere's just more people
chasing.
And like, just going to a lot ofstuff, and I wonder just now,
how many of the top, what is it,125, are going to be people who
are just like, going to almosteverything.

(10:40):
Just because you're at anadvantage just because like, you
know, I was 45th, and I went toeverything, and I had a very
mediocre season.
Like, you just, if you just goto a lot of events, you have a
lot more shots, right, whichjust matters.
Over the course of the season,so I'm curious to see like how

(11:00):
many of the 125 are just peoplewho play like all the time I
think Liam and Albon and Italked about this like we are
just three people who just likeput Pokemon as like a very Very
important part of a life.
We're always thinking about it.
We're always talking about itLike is that gonna be all 125?
It might be at this point.
Maybe that's what we and that'swhat Liam wants, right?

Liam (11:20):
mean, not, not even, I guess you know, I, I, I'm happy
if people wanna compete lessthan me.

Cam (11:25):
Just not at the World Championship

Brent (11:27):
Alright.
Let's talk about the, the nextexciting thing on here, which is
There's BFLs for LeagueChallengers League of Cups going
down.
I assume that that's all goodbecause Liam wasn't planning on
going to any Cups and stuffanyway, right?

Cam (11:39):
Did they release the points for that or not yet?

Brent (11:41):
Yeah.

Cam (11:42):
It's the same.

Brent (11:44):
Yeah, it's it's

Liam (11:46):
Yeah.
It's the same.
Yeah.

Cam (11:47):
Oh,

Brent (11:47):
Now get 13 points for a top 60, er, you can get 13
points at a Cup for a top 64finish if the Cup has more than
129 people.

Liam (11:58):
Yeah.

Brent (11:59):
Has it been like that?
Okay, good

Cam (12:01):
Yeah, just, they're, it's kind of what I wanted for
stipend race.
It's like, they're reallyminimizing locals, which I
think, like, they should havedone more for stipend than for
the average invite, but it'sdefinitely minimized.
I mean, it'll still matter, Iguess, if you're kind of in the

(12:21):
bottom 25, like, I don't know,depending on how big of a gap
there is, but it'll matterthere.
But if you're at the top, thelocals don't really matter
unless you're really pushing forthe top 16.

Brent (12:34):
They ran the points all the way down to, like, top 1024
for more than 2049 people at aregional.
But, like, I assume the wholepoint is, like, if you're the
kind of person who was gonna betop 125 North America, top 125
Europe, like, it's probablyfine.
Like, it's good that you getsome points for going, I guess.
Just keep showing up, showingup, showing up.

(12:55):
But like that, obviously, if youwere the kind of person who was
playing for a top 125, getting atop 50 percent at a tournament,
you're like, what are we doinghere?
Right?
That's a disaster.

Liam (13:05):
Yeah, dude, I've seen this now on Twitter, so this is like
a somewhat popular take, but Ithink Canvas agrees.
You don't need to go to allthree ICs to top, like, top 125,
bro, to get your invite.

Cam (13:16):
you don't need

Brent (13:17):
I mean, I,

Cam (13:17):
you don't need

Brent (13:18):
you don't need

Liam (13:18):
whole thing

Cam (13:19):
You don't need to.
do anything.
Well, you know, you can go tojust, you can probably do it
straight off in regionals.
It's always a possibility.
I'm just saying it's a whole loteasier just going to all three

Brent (13:27):
I, I know when I talked to Liam yesterday before they
made the stats, but he was like,as long as you can get your
invite off winning a regional,I'll be fine.

Cam (13:34):
Of course, of course.

Brent (13:36):
We love it.
We love it.
Cash prizing is the same.
I know there were people freakedout for a second.
Like, that's fine.
Right?
Right.

Cam (13:46):
So this also

Brent (13:47):
Winning Worlds now is 50 grand for all age divisions?
Man.

Cam (13:51):
that's what I think it is this year too,

Brent (13:54):
Yeah, it wasn't two years ago, I'll tell you that.

Cam (13:57):
unfortunate.

Brent (13:59):
Ha ha ha ha ha ha!

Cam (14:00):
But I, like, It does bring up the case that Cal, Connor,
and I were talking about.
So, this is once again, like,there is no perfect system.
There's always gonna be, like,ways to break the system.
And I was telling him, like,wouldn't it be funny if, because
him and I were talking aboutjust what events we're going to,
if our BFL is three ICs andthree Australian regions.

(14:26):
Like, because we live next toAustralia, and we're probably
the closest you can be in theStates.
It's just, there's just stillways to break the system.
It's not perfect by any means.
And the money, that's a bigpart.
The money not changing is a bigpart of why we consider going to
Australia, right?
If the money is lessened and youhave less of a chance to cash,
I'm not saying it's free, I'mnot saying it's easy, it's just

(14:47):
easier, yes, at a 250 persontournament, it is easier to cash
than at a 2, 000 persontournament, but, you know, if
they have lowered that, weprobably might be reconsidering
it now.
I think you should beconsidering going to Australia
if you're on the West Coast.

Liam (15:03):
Silence.

Brent (15:10):
is the travel prize updates.
Travel prizes.
Like, you always have anincentive to go to like tons of
tournaments in a given period ifyou think you might get
Stipends, right?

Liam (15:22):
Yeah.
I guess.

Brent (15:25):
But obviously the other thing they've done is they've
now rolled out to and, and I, Ijust had a meme y comment so I
have to make it here.
They've rolled out to the top 32priority registration for
Tournaments.

Liam (15:37):
Yeah,

Brent (15:47):
and doesn't get priority registration and then doesn't
get into an IC, that's somesalt, right?

Liam (15:54):
no, absolutely.
You're.
If you're only gonna, if you'replanning on going to one IC, and
you don't get into NAIC, andlike, that was the IC you were
planning on going to, you'recooked.
You're done for.
Like, pretty much munched upon,

Cam (16:06):
You just can't plan to go to one NAIC, that's why it
matters to go to multiple.

Liam (16:11):
yeah, yeah, you gotta go to

Cam (16:12):
And the thing for most Americans is they rely on NAIC
and it's like, that is the lastevent, if you miss, it's just
over, so that's why it's theworst one.
The bank on.

Liam (16:21):
that it's at the very end, right?
But,

Brent (16:23):
Yeah, I, well, like,

Liam (16:25):
is like the worst thing ever.

Brent (16:27):
I, I reckon, I'm glad they're extending priority
registration to top 32.
Wish they would extend itfurther, like, I mean, I guess
what's funny is, I mean, theyhave 3, 000 people going to
these tournaments,

Liam (16:40):
Mm hmm.

Brent (16:50):
126 gets in, You're cooked.
I mean, 126 is terrible, andhe's gonna get to 20 points,
because we just said, like, it'seasy to get 20 points, right?

Liam (17:00):
hmm.

Brent (17:06):
gonna extend priority registration to the top 125 in a
region, then, like, that 126thperson, they're cooked, right?
it's, it's just the rich getricher, but, like, man, oh, man,
priority registration is soimportant now, because it's so
hard to get into thesetournaments.
We did not get to go to EUICthis year.

Liam (17:26):
But you know, I mean, it all really just comes down to,
like, show up at a regional,bro.
Cop a big W, get that World'sEnd play, might work.

Brent (17:34):
Yeah, so let's talk about, let's talk about getting
that big W adjusting Swisstournament format, because I
think that was the other big,big, big announcement, right?

Liam (17:42):
Oh yeah, they switched it all to X two and you're playing
eight rounds if it's under 2000people, nine rounds.
If it's over and it's X two,

Brent (17:51):
yeah, so I mean, I think we could just assume every
tournament we go to is going tobe more than 2, 000 people but
yeah, yeah, you have to goseven, you have to win seven,
you need 21 match points, or603, right?

Cam (18:04):
we sure that every regional will be above 2000?
I think there,

Liam (18:10):
Yeah, I mean, that's where they're trending.

Cam (18:11):
I think there's like a good amount

Brent (18:13):
be less?

Cam (18:13):
I mean, there's a lot of them who were teetering on the
edge of 2000, like the 2,100,2,300.
Like how many people are notgoing now because of the change
to the season

Liam (18:24):
yeah, I, exactly, he's gonna talk about how, oh my god,
everybody's gonna quit the gamenow

Cam (18:30):
Not, it's not like, it doesn't even have to be,
everyone quits the game, butit's just like that's not that
big of a drop off, like 2000 tounder 2000, whatever it like.
That's just a hundred lesspeople not showing

Liam (18:42):
about, like, the growth, the growth of the game is like,
it's been, like, exponential,dude, like, two, or like, two
years ago, I guess, we had,like, a thousand player
regionals, and then, or, like,last year.
I guess last competitive seasonwe had 1, 000 player regionals,
now we have 2, 000 playerregionals.
Like on that

Brent (19:01):
I mean, you could have said the same thing last year
when they said, we're taking thepoints from 400 to 600.
Oh my god, people are going tothink the world's event's
unattainable, nobody's going togo.
would be crazy, man.
I think the assumption thattournaments will ever be smaller
than they were in the past.
We should not assume that.

Cam (19:18):
so you don't think there'll be, I mean, there's there's
already still a ton.
8 round tournaments on the West

Brent (19:23):
they, they, they literally added kickers for over
4, 000 people now to the chart.
Like, 4, 000 people is a lot.
Like, they're planning for aworld where somebody says, oh my
god, we have a 5, 000 persontournament.
Orlando Regional is coming toyou this spring!

Cam (19:43):
No, I agree.
It's just, I live on the WestCoast.
It's definitely not happening inVancouver.

Liam (19:47):
Yeah, no, and I think there definitely will be some
events that go under 2000,right?
I mean, that's not

Brent (19:53):
Peru special event.

Liam (19:55):
right?
That's very reasonable.

Brent (19:57):
Peru special event will be, is, is, the chance,

Liam (19:59):
Oh yeah, for sure.
All the all the SPEs

Brent (20:01):
But, But, also, let's be clear, those events will be
smaller, and they'll be soldout.
I'd be stunned if they were notsold out, you know?
Except, maybe for Lima.
But like, if it's a Europe ESP,sold out, for sure.
Mortal Lock.

Liam (20:12):
yeah, well, all the Europe SPEs already sell out.
I think we were talking aboutwas there, this was maybe my
other group chat, but, yeah,bro, you think the Cape Town SPE
is selling out now?

Cam (20:22):
Probably.

Brent (20:23):
I mean, how many people, how many people are you know,
what's the cap?
You tell me the cap, I'll tellyou if it sells out.

Cam (20:30):
60, I think it was 60, I think it was 64.

Liam (20:35):
64 was the cap?

Cam (20:36):
Yeah, I don't think they, I don't think they're ever, I
don't

Brent (20:38):
ha ha

Cam (20:39):
think it was like 64 or 128.
I don't think it was that crazy.
I was looking at it with acouple people.

Liam (20:45):
No, yeah, I know it was like, there were like 80 people
this year, and it was held inlike a card store.

Cam (20:50):
Yeah, it's not crazy.
Like, it could definitely

Liam (20:52):
yeah, but, yeah.

Brent (21:00):
was a little disappointed, and I know it
dramatically increases thecomplexity of all these charts
and all that stuff, but, like,the idea that points extend down
as the tournaments get bigger,but points don't go up as the
tournaments get bigger, like,put me off a little bit, right?
The idea that, yeah, there'sgonna be a 5, 000 person Orlando
Regional, and it's gonna giveout 350 points, I was like, man

(21:21):
I was hoping they were gonna doa little more than something
something there.

Cam (21:23):
I think what they've been saying this for the past year,
like what they should have donethis year and what they should
do this coming year and off forfuture because, I mean, it might
change a bit because the Day 2sizes are going to go down just
because the format has changedbut it feels bad when you, when
you make Day 2 and you don't getanything more than the people
who are just behind you.

(21:44):
But, you know, we're like 6 3,or whatever it is, 6 2 1 now.
Like, they should just give morepoints to people who made Day 2,
like an extra 20, 40, X,whatever it is.
That should probably be thesolution in my

Liam (21:59):
Oh, yeah, dude, also, I just forgot, but I just saw
Pram's tweet, and it reminded methat people like Pram exist.
That's actually a strat.
I don't even need to win aregional next year, because I'm
winning worlds this year, so Iget the auto invite.

Cam (22:12):
I'd be at top 4,

Brent (22:13):
you go! There you go! all this conversation will be moot
in just a matter of weeks.

Liam (22:18):
Yeah, even more ways to get the auto invite to flip.
Forgot I had that W opportunity.

Brent (22:24):
asymmetric cut is obviously awesome, and everybody
loves it, right?
Yeah, I mean, asymmetric cutsare just good.
You know, if you have a problemwith asymmetric, get good.
Like, asymmetric's really good.
If anybody denies it, it'swrong.
Love the idea of at homecompetitions.
More Players Cups.
Let's bring it back.

Cam (22:42):
I think that's VGC.

Brent (22:43):
they didn't do Players Cups.
No, no, no, I think they saidmore online tournaments are
coming, giving more peopleopportunities towards earning an
invitation to the Pokémon WorldChampionship.
I don't think that was, that wasnot, they did not

Liam (22:55):
that,

Brent (22:55):
say VG.
They did say they were going tohave Unite.

Liam (22:58):
That's for VGC.

Brent (23:00):
Really?
What makes you say that?

Liam (23:03):
It's what does it say?
Yeah, like,

Brent (23:05):
After that it says Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon
Violet players can look forwardto more global challenge events
throughout the season, but thatwas not specific to The first
sentence was very general.
Then they say Pokemon Unite willalso have online tournaments,

Liam (23:20):
yeah, I mean, there's nothing about TCG.
There's, that's,

Cam (23:22):
mean, maybe.
Maybe They can have it.
on live.
Good luck

Brent (23:26):
They should have Players Cup, everybody knows it.

Cam (23:28):
luck to anyone who wants to have an official tournament on
live.

Brent (23:33):
Dode.
I mean, try,

Cam (23:36):
is pretty

Brent (23:37):
I thought, I thought, my god, I'm still waiting for
Pokemon to call me to say Brentcome product management the crap
out of PTCG Live.
I could fix that thing in, like,six months.
We could be killing it.
All right, let's talk about theschedule.
It's, I haven't actually donethe comparison, but I feel like
fewer North American regionals,because they're like once a

(24:01):
month ish.
We got Baltimore September 13th,Kentucky October 11th,
Sacramento November

Liam (24:08):
we got events released

Brent (24:10):
Toronto December 13th.

Cam (24:12):
As long as there's three per quarter, that's normal,
which is like once a month andoccasionally,

Brent (24:18):
Yeah.

Cam (24:20):
Because it's 12.
It was,

Brent (24:21):
in a while there was two in a month,

Cam (24:22):
I mean, they've gotten better at scheduling it because

Liam (24:26):
actually pretty good pacing.
I thought there was only twoannounced for

Cam (24:29):
yeah, that's pretty normal.
Yeah, there's occasionally likeoverlapping months, but usually
it's like three a quarter.
So once every three

Liam (24:37):
so were there three announced for NA?
Yeah.

Cam (24:40):
I think so.

Brent (24:42):
There were four announced for NA.
September, October, November,December.

Cam (24:46):
But the December is not in

Liam (24:47):
wow.

Cam (24:48):
Q1, that's in Q2, so yeah, that seems pretty standard, that
would be like

Liam (24:52):
No, yeah, but I mean, yeah, well,

Brent (24:53):
No, so, so last year there were five in 2023 they had
one in September, Pittsburgh,and then in October they had
three, Peoria, Sacramento,Toronto, and then San Antonio in
December, they didn't have onein November.
So they, there's one less in thefirst half of the year.

Cam (25:10):
Maybe they're just like the NBA, getting better at
scheduling.
No no, no back to backs, or lessback to backs.

Liam (25:17):
Yeah.

Brent (25:18):
Yeah, maybe that, maybe that was the goal, I, I also did
think, I think it's I look atthis through a lens of how does
this suit my son and the answeris pretty good.
You know, Baltimore, you guyscan all come stay at our house.
That's dope.

Cam (25:32):
How far is that?

Brent (25:33):
Kentucky like 45 minute drive, hour

Cam (25:35):
Oh, wow.

Brent (25:38):
mid.
When, when, when Liam completelytanked at Baltimore and went,
what'd you do Liam?
Like one, three drop,

Liam (25:44):
2.
Okay.

Brent (25:45):
two, two, two drop.
We like, we immediately, wedidn't have a hotel.
We just drove home and it wastotally awesome.
I, I was like, yeah, I'm totallyfine with you dropping because
we're just going home.

Cam (25:55):
Nice.

Brent (25:56):
Kentucky.
Whatever.
Then Sacramento will be, like,local for Liam, yay?
And then Toronto in Decemberwill be after school lets out
for him, so, like, awesome?

Cam (26:08):
The big question is, are you going to LAIC?
Oh,

Brent (26:12):
Yeah.
Yeah, that is the big question.
And then, oh, and then, andthen, February Excel Center,
Liam will be in London.
I'm like, let's go.

Liam (26:22):
well.

Cam (26:22):
it's just working out

Brent (26:23):
then he's not gonna, he's gotta, he's gotta lock up the
priority registration beforethat, I guess, because
apparently that's a thing, butthere you go, right?

Cam (26:33):
I'm so interested to see what LAIC's is for next year,
because I don't think, like, Ididn't go to any locals, but I
did decently a lot of thethings.
Maybe I sneaked into, like, thelast lot.
Probably not, but, I don't know.
See that's good.
Whoever was

Brent (26:48):
yeah, like, are people still gonna be on the local
grind to try to get, like,travel stipend and stuff

Cam (26:53):
I mean, 17 through 32 were gifted priority registration.
This one'cause no one knew,right?

Brent (27:00):
Yeah that's yeah, the internationals, I think you've
covered the hot topics, likethey've announced it's back in
New Orleans, it's back at theExcel Center, it's back in
Brazil, LAIC is the only one inthe first half of the season all
that seems fine.

Cam (27:14):
No, OCIC said oh, and something that's interesting I
think is something that HenryBrand brought up and I wanna, I
wanna know if you wanna talkabout it or we can cut it off.
We're getting to like 30minutes, but I think the new
system, the tournament formatsystem disincentivizes ties.
Kind of heavily, like it justreally hurts ties much more than

(27:34):
the current system.

Liam (27:38):
That's it?
I mean, I, I have to see whatthe math is for the

Cam (27:42):
Yeah, we definitely need to look at it.

Liam (27:43):
it's We had stress about it on day two, right?
It's about the the top cut, andI think usually going in, like,
at least in the current system,like, there was like a brief
period where ties were prettybad because X3 made cut, but
then I think we got to a pointwhere like, X2 1 was where you
wanted to be, so like, ties wereactually not, not that bad.

Brent (28:02):
No, I, you're absolutely right, in that, like, if you, if
you get a loss, a tie after thatis a loss.

Cam (28:09):
Yeah, especially if you need to win seven, right, at
that point, especially gettingthree.

Brent (28:16):
Right, like, like, the difference, once you're six, you
know, if you're, if you're 4 1,5 1, 6 1, it has a loss.

Cam (28:24):
might as well gentleman's the whole way out.
And I, I think I've seen thatactually a lot more this season,
and I've been willing to do thata lot more too, just at some
point, just, and it's like earlyon, I like round four, you just
start, or round five, you juststart gentleman's ing with
people, just like, that's, ifyou know, like, it's just better
for

Liam (28:40):
I think it depends on where the top cut is.
Like, if the top cut is, like,X2 1, coming in at, like, X1 1
is so much better than coming inat X2.
And

Cam (28:52):
for sure.

Liam (28:54):
I think an X2 1 cut, like, might be, might be something.
Maybe an X1 1 cut, or like, X1 1Dodge the Bubble, like,

Brent (29:02):
You know, I think it'll be interesting to see, like,
whether or not asymmetric cutsmake people play to try to stop,
like, to avoid them having toparticipate in the cut, or if
it, if the result is, like,there's more weird IDs for
people who are, like, table 10or something like that, because,
like, they're going to be ableto get in on the asymmetric cut.
It might encourage people to tryto drive up points, it might

(29:24):
encourage people to start IDingsooner on day two, to like, lock
in their, their like, mojo, youknow?

Liam (29:32):
us

Brent (29:36):
if you get a tie, if you're not planning on going 6 0
3, like, what's the point of thetie, right?
Like, it gets really hard to getto day two.
I mean, they're making it harderto get to day two, they want
smaller day twos.

Liam (29:49):
event.

Cam (29:53):
And that's good, I think it's just better for the game,
like, from a logisticstandpoint, like, less people to
manage in day two, you can shutdown most of the building you
know, from, from them runningthe event, actually, which no
one really cares about, but Youknow, and things of that nature.

Brent (30:12):
well, and, and probably, I mean, if they're anticipating
a 5, 000 person OrlandoRegionals, then they're like, Oh
my god, if we have a 600 personday 2, it will be abject chaos.
We gotta, like, do what we canto start controlling that
situation, right?
And I hear that, like, if, ifthere was a day 2 with over you

(30:32):
know, 350 people, I'm surepeople would say, Oh my god,
what have we done?
Right?
And it's, like, that's, I think,super easy to imagine if you
have a regional that's, youknow, 5, 000 people.
It's crazy.
Guys, anything else we need tosay?
We're 32 minutes.

Cam (30:52):
I think those are good first

Liam (30:54):
yeah, I think that covers most of the news today.
It's a, it's a wonderful day forPokemon.
We've actually been saved.
It's safe.

Brent (31:04):
all right.
Oh, the, the things I wassupposed to say, guys.
One Dragon Shield is oursponsor.
They are sold out of IvoryMatte.
If you see Ivory Matte andyou're not buying Ivory when you
get the chance, you should,because those are hard to get.
We're trying to get a bunch ofIvory sent to us for Hawaii.
And we are waiting for thesupply lines to open up, because
Ivory is apparently the go tocolor for Hawaii.

(31:26):
That's your hot tip for the day.
We're the only podcast about thePokémon Trading Card Game.
You can read a lot of tweets,but there's only one podcast.
This is the one.
I'm committed to the bit.

Cam (31:35):
And be ready for for Liam's victory lap.

Brent (31:38):
were saying they want the bit.

Cam (31:40):
This season's gonna be, this is gonna be Liam's victory
lap.
Heh, heh, heh.
Heh,

Brent (31:44):
Yeah, I mean, we will be on the beach in Hawaii, lapping.
In the water.
Just laps, laps, laps.

Cam (31:51):
heh.

Brent (31:53):
Alright guys we'll, we will be back on Tuesday with non
emergency pod, it's that easy.
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