New Year, New Pod - just when you thought you were out, we pull you back in!

Episode Transcript

Liam (00:04):
What's up everybody, this is the Trash Life Podcast.
We haven't recorded one in awhile, but uh, you know,

Abaan (00:11):
New year, new year, new year, new podcasts.

Henry (00:13):
It's not the new

Liam (00:14):
New year, new podcast.
New year, new podcast.
Well, almost new year, newpodcast.

Abaan (00:17):
new year, bro.
Henry, you're like ruining the,like, the vibe.
New year, new podcast.

Henry (00:21):
You

Liam (00:22):
year, new podcast.
New year, new

Henry (00:23):
1125 now.
Yeah,

Abaan (00:25):
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 (00:31):
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, Europe.
Yeah, right.

Henry (00:34):
and Kywin.

Abaan (00:35):
No, even Europeans, it's like the new year, bro.
Come

Liam (00:37):
Literally, everybody except for like, people in
America.

Abaan (00:40):
Yeah,

Liam (00:41):
exactly, right?

Henry (00:42):
in the world?
Hmm.

Liam (00:49):
Oh my god.

Henry (00:50):
bad.

Liam (00:51):
yeah, new year, new podcast.
Uh Birmingham's just around thecorner.
We haven't we still haven'ttalked about Toronto yet, so I
guess we'll start with that.
Big Henry, bro.

Abaan (01:00):
said new year, new podcast, but we're like, doing
the same shit we always do.
Like, where no clue what we'redoing.

Liam (01:05):
for sure.
For sure.
Uh, let's start off with Henry.

Abaan (01:08):
but it's the side.
Alright, yes, Toronto.

Liam (01:12):
Was able to get, after getting the entire extended
family on his list, he was ableto get him and one other person
into top cut.
They unfortunately lost, butthey were both able to get to
top cut.
They were both able to get topcut.

Henry (01:25):
Yeah, I'll,

Liam (01:25):
Henry, do you want to tell us about this list?

Abaan (01:27):
Like, brutally.
Like, Cal said it was over in 15minutes.

Liam (01:31):
No, no, no.
Cal first gave him, Cal firstgave him a game for having like,
uh, bad sleeves or somethinglike that.
Like, you know.

Abaan (01:39):
no, no.
I heard, like, this is from Cal,that it was, um, he had the,
like, Ogre Pawn, he had thewrong art.
And so he got a then he justdidn't do anything.
Like, he, like, didn't go andget the right ones.

Henry (01:51):
Oh, that's how it works?
Okay.

Liam (01:52):
Oh.

Henry (01:54):
That's kind of trolled, anyway.

Abaan (01:57):
I

Liam (01:57):
Yeah, no, I

Abaan (01:59):
like, he got a warning already, like, I don't know what
he thought was gonna happengoing in the cut, like, he can
just go by.

Liam (02:03):
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 tome.
Like,

Abaan (02:11):
I mean, I

Liam (02:11):
just a crazy rule.

Abaan (02:13):
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 Itold them, like, this is a
warning, but, like, dude, if wesee this, like, if you don't fix
it, we're gonna, like, penalizeyou, like Like, I don't know.
It's like,

Liam (02:27):
I agree with this.

Abaan (02:28):
both sides.
It's like, ridiculous that it'sa rule, but they gave him a
warning, so like, I don't know,I think it's

Liam (02:33):
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, Iassume he didn't bother because
he knew he was going to get thereverse sweep, uh, and top cut,

Henry (02:45):
yeah, yeah, yeah.

Liam (02:46):
which was unfortunate.

Henry (02:48):
Okay, uh,

Abaan (02:49):
then MD, the other guy on the list, well, 58 of the 60, he
um, you can actually check outhow his game went, on like,
Pokemon.
com, or like, Pokemon

Liam (02:59):
Haha, indeed.

Henry (03:01):
so, I don't know, I sent Slowgurdy.
still don't know why we sentSlowgurdy.
Like, I actually still try tojustify it.
I actually have to justify itto, uh, the people I'm giving
the class to.
Like, I don't know, like, whenyou actually think about it, it
doesn't necessarily have bettermatchups.
I mean, the main thing is thatit's, like, way more fun than
TurboGuardi, if you start Evo 1.
Otherwise, you're just trying toput out, like, 15 fires, you

(03:24):
know, I

Liam (03:24):
Dude, I think that, I think that Drago matchup is
actually better.
Like, I, I think for fast Guardithat Drago matchup's close.
Like, for slow Guardi, bro,that's not, like, does not feel
close at all, bro.
Like,

Henry (03:33):
I agree with that.
I think

Abaan (03:34):
Well, I think, I think now we're like at a level of
stuff where it's like, now it'sgood again.
And the

Liam (03:41):
maybe, bro.
Like,

Abaan (03:42):
right?
Like that helps a lot.

Henry (03:43):
the only thing that

Liam (03:44):
yeah,

Henry (03:44):
you play it.
But like, without the Noctowl,I'm not like, cutting the
Noctowl also helps Skadi alittle bit.
Like, the Noctowl is stillannoying for the fast Skadi, so
I don't know.
think the,

Abaan (03:56):
It's annoying in a whole different way, which is kind of
funny, right?
Like, it's annoying becauselike, they're gonna be jamming
you, for sure.
And like, with Slowgoddy, it'slike, they're gonna Cologne, for
sure.

Henry (04:02):
Yeah, yeah, and obviously for slow Skadi, it's way worse.
Like, the guaranteed Cologneplay is like, horrible.
Um, but overall, I think boththe matchups are like, slightly
favored, but like, forcompletely different reasons, in
terms of guarding your Strega.

Liam (04:14):
no, I, I think what I'm saying more is, is not even like
that the, the high level matchupspread is, is way different, but
it's like, The um, poor Dragoplay 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 toconvert, bro.
Like, basically anyone exceptfor Drek.
I, I think like, they make a lotof mistakes.

(04:38):
Sure, yeah.

Abaan (04:39):
Nick Moffat.

Liam (04:41):
and Necrophos, sure.

Henry (04:42):
Oh, you got Frank, right,

Abaan (04:43):
Frink?
What?
on Pokemoner.
com, I actually have a similarlink, just scroll down a bit.

Liam (04:48):
Yes.
Yes.
Like, yeah.
So, like, you can make, um, Ithink it's a lot easier to make
mistakes against that build.

Abaan (04:55):
ton, actually, that get you, but

Henry (04:57):
Yeah,

Abaan (04:58):
with the narrative, Liam, sorry.

Henry (04:59):
agree with

Liam (05:00):
I'll continue by saying, like, Drick gets you the most.
Like, Drick, Drick, Drick.
He's

Henry (05:06):
Yeah, I don't know, like,

Liam (05:07):
insane.
I mean, he's insane.

Henry (05:08):
that, uh, like the TurboGuardi is, like, for Drago
to play against it, which I

Abaan (05:13):
Wait.
for the viewers, by the way, Iwant to point out that we made
an agenda and it was very clearthat the Toronto discussion and
Guardian analysis was going togo before the Drick Glaze, but
Liam has like, kind of like,thrown that to the wind, and um,

Henry (05:23):
Anyway, you can always segue into the conversation.
Like, I've learned this from himin the past no I could say,
like, you know, I'm, like,thinking about having Froot
Loops and Cheerios forbreakfast, and be like, trick
trick trick trick trick trickwould have Cheerios in the

Abaan (05:34):
Drick already had that.
Drick had that, and he actuallydecided that like, uh, Cocoa for
Cocoa Puffs was optimal.

Henry (05:38):
Oh, sure, sure.

Liam (05:41):
I don't know, bro.
It's just like, I guess there'ssomething about me, right?
Like, some people are like,like, oh, dude, like, you're,
like, glazing everyone.
But, like, dude, I, I'mconstantly thinking of, like,
you know, how I can be betterand when I'm thinking about,
like,

Abaan (05:52):
Oh,

Liam (05:52):
what.
What you can do to like getbetter at Pokemon, I'm like, how
do I play more like Drek?
Like, that's like a very naturalNatural jump, right?
Like, I'm like, okay, well, youknow, who can I watch to get
better?
Oh, like, Drick has a bunch ofstream games.
Like, let me go watch thisChempai Dialga game, bro.
Like, cooking up somethingcrazy, right?
And I'm like,

Henry (06:09):
anything from watching a Path format, bro.
Like, I'm sorry, that shit issick

Liam (06:12):
well, nah, nah, nah,

Abaan (06:14):
I, I disagree with this concept, Henry,

Liam (06:16):
Yeah, I completely disagree as well.

Henry (06:17):
can learn, like, something, but, like, the
comparison of, like, watching,like, a year old VOD versus
just, like, hitting a Game ofLadder, bro, like, there's no
way, bro.
Like, oh,

Liam (06:24):
No, bro, like, every time, every time I watch, like, one of
these games, I, like, you getsome insight into, like, the way
their mind works, right?
Like, I, like, I, I watched thisChen 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, approachingthe position in the same way.
He's on, he's on, like, aseparate plane.
He's, he's looking many turnsbeyond.
I agree.

(06:44):
I, like, I agree.

Abaan (06:46):
understanding, I think it's like, always valuable.
As long as you understand, like,what's happening.
Like, obviously, I can't gainanything 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 asI'm watching.
But, like,

Henry (06:58):
yeah, I understand.

Abaan (06:59):
I think you can learn stuff from any format you play.

Henry (07:01):
I don't know, like, I will say, like, maybe my memory
just sucks, bro, like, I justtried queuing up this
TurboGuardi deck today, like, Iwas already, like, fumbling
every single game, bro, like, Ialready forgot all the lines,
and I had to figure it outagain, 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 (07:16):
It's not a random bot.
It's Strick.
the way,

Henry (07:19):
sure, sure.
And, like, oh, also, like, I'vebeen playing, like, Liam and,
like, ParadoxGuardi versus Tina,bro, and, like, I remember how
locked in on that matchup I waswhen it was, like, standard
legal, but, like, ah, we wereplaying that, I had no

Abaan (07:30):
like, I

Liam (07:30):
then I took Henry outside, bro.
Like, oh my god.

Abaan (07:33):
think, Henry, that, like, in the future, like, let's say
one year from now, some guywho's, like, who was pretty good
at Draugr comes down and assistswith you, and, like, wants to
play slowguard you could cookthem a year from now?

Liam (07:43):
No.

Henry (07:44):
I think, uh, skill level would be significantly lower,
I'm not sure what my opponent's

Liam (07:50):
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 rightnow, right?
Like, it's not like a player ina year who's also pretty washed
at the matchup, but like,somebody right now who's playing
the matchup like, every singleday, like, they would probably,
probably beat you, right?

Henry (08:08):
It's

Abaan (08:08):
Maybe.
I think, I'm not sure, I thinkcertain I've, like, I, like,
obsess over so much, like, ifsomeone made me play, like,
Pidgeot for CPOW in, like, twoyears, think I could still,
like,

Henry (08:20):
I'm that like, really

Liam (08:22):
dude, that, that, that's true, but like,

Abaan (08:24):
they were good.

Liam (08:26):
The issue is, when, even when you do something like that,
you like, lose a lot of thesubtlety, right?
Because like, when you're, whenyou're thinking back about the
matchup, you're like, oh dude, Iremember this like, one like,
random principle that like,nobody else, nobody else knew
about at the time, and thenlike, you kind of like, over
lean into that principle whenyou're playing.
I don't know if that makessense, but that's something that
I've like, experienced a lotwhen I've played past four
months.

Abaan (08:46):
No, I agree, I agree.
I, I think that, like like, ifyou had to play someone who's
like, in it, like, let's saylike, Time Traveler Henry had to
play like, current day, um, Idon't know, some good Drago
player like Moffat or something?
Like, I, I don't know, like, oneyear from now, Henry versus
current day Moffat, I'm prettysure, it's, it's a close, it's a
close game.

Henry (09:04):
First of like, Muffet is, like, really good,

Abaan (09:07):
No, I was just thinking, I know, I know, I know, I'm
just, that's why I was trying topick someone really good that
wasn't named Rick or Cal, well,if I pick Cal, then like,
someone would make the obviousjoke, like, current day Henry
couldn't beat current day Cal,so then I didn't want to like,
open that up.

Henry (09:20):
Good one, good one, good one, good one.
Uh,

Abaan (09:24):
trying to protect you, and then you like, started
correcting me, but like, my bad.

Henry (09:27):
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 (09:32):
Oh, he's from New York, I didn't know that.

Henry (09:33):
yeah, well it'll lick up far from me, but I've seen him I
guess.

Abaan (09:36):
Okay, anyway, so we're getting sidetracked as usual.
Tirana, Tirana,

Liam (09:39):
yes.

Henry (09:40):
won't go through all my rounds, but uh, yeah, day one I
went 7 1 1.
Um, my loss was round threeagainst Turbo Moondeck with
Scramble Switch and Water.
He was on stream as well.
That was pretty cool.
He got top

Abaan (09:52):
He went 8 1.

Henry (09:53):
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 thisidea, like, I haven't really
been on stream, so, like, I justhave to, like, imagine what it's
like, but, like, I totallyaccept that, like, the stream
games are, like, not the sameas, like, sitting on a table,
and it's, like, so muchdifferent that, like, you
shouldn't, like, you shouldalmost 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 andyour opponent, yeah, like when
you're on stream in that sort ofenvironment and there's like
gray noise like the conversationgets a little bit disrupted and
you both go kind of likedelusional like it's the
delusion like it kind of affectseveryone bro there's nothing

(10:57):
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 bepraised, but the people who play
bad on stream, it's, like, kindof 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 gameshave 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, throwingon 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 arethrowing all the time, but no
one's watching, and no oneknows, 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, peopleplayed 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 wayhe played in his loss on stream,
it's, like, he wouldn't have, hewould have probably gone 0 9 if
he played like that, and that'snot Flame, he truly played,
like, terrible on stream, but hewent 8 1, so, Like, and I mean
that, like, I don't know, itsounds like Flame, like, the
more I'm saying it, the more I'mthinking this is Flame, but,
like, it really seemed, like,uncharacteristic.
He got you, bro, and after hegot you, he got, like, someone

(11:56):
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 onstream, like,

Henry (12:08):
he got got by the Petra, and killing something going into
his turn, that's how he swungthe 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 literallyjust Oh, oh,

Abaan (12:29):
Wait, how does the peck round thing work?
If you take a KO, can they justpromote 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, andyou 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, thestream, bro, so, the stream is
so cooked, bro.
It's, it's really hard to playon 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 atregionals versus NAIC.
Like, ICs, like, the 9 0 isguaranteed stream, like, the
first round of the next day.
In regionals, they don't streamuntil 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 setfrom him and Memma, which is
Caleb Rodgerson, because I was,it was cooked.
Basically, I had to ID my lastround because, like, I I don't
know, I, I prized a luckyHeavyball versus Lax, and so I
was like, okay, I just, I'lltake the ID, whatever, and then
I watched, uh, like, Liam'sgame, and I was like, this guy,
like, understands the matchup atsuch a high level, like, oh my
god, he's, like, goaded, and Iwatched his stream game, like,

(14:13):
on the, like, ride to the Uber,or, like, Uber to the, like,
airport, or whatever, and I waslike, this is not the same guy,
so, that, like, started my,like, theory about stream games
being, well, at the time, I justthought Liam was terrible, and,
like, this was, like, crazy, butnow, like, looking back, I was
like, oh, maybe this streamthing 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 actuallyhim, 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 wastelling, I was telling you guys
earlier, bro, I like, I,

Abaan (14:59):
had, like, a GOAT collab.
Like, we've got Henry and Drickjust 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 mygod, bro, it's like the best
thing to watch, every, everysingle 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'show

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 justinsane, 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 againstLost 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 waslike, like, I feel the exact
same way, it doesn't matter whatmy record is, like, when
something like that happens atthe 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 mylast round at 6 0 2, but like,
damn, Henry's crash out at 7 1 1was just unbelievable, it's
like, you would have thought helike, went, got in at X 2 1 or
something, like, it'srespectable, but it was like,

(16:17):
level to crash out.

Henry (16:18):
I don't know, dude.
It's just like, the differencebetween going into Day 2 at 8 1
versus 7 it's not evencomparable, dude.
Like, the fact that you getallowed a loss is just like,
increases your chances so much.
Like, you almost feel like a loI 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 wereallowed to tie, which I wasn't
100 percent sure about goinginto 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 notvery impressive.
the tournament, I chalked mydeck to lax by cutting a Bravery
Charm, so that when I paired itinto Nucci at 4 1, I was really,
really scared.
But then he flipped it over intoa pile of red jeans.
And that's, like, genuinely,I've ever played against at a

(17:10):
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 knowwhat 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 nextvideo.

Henry (17:35):
for him to do something, and he got down to, like, ten
cards in deck before he was ableto attack, dude.
Like, it took him, like, seventurns.
He couldn't find the areazeroes, and he just, like, was
researching, and I felt so bad,bro, like This is actually
pathetic.
And then, like, he finally goesin and I just stamp him, and
then I got him with the MawIsle, but, I mean, I could have
easily got him on the PrimeTrade, but, like, it's actually

(17:56):
so bad.
Oh,

Liam (17:57):
Bro, like, the, yeah, bro, I mean, I think that's the most
important thing, actually, thatI'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 onthe deck choice.
No flame.

Abaan (18:13):
Dude, we're only 18 minutes into the New Year
podcast, and we are flamingGrant Manley already.
That's like, I think that'srecord 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'llrespect it, but this deck is,
like, unbelievably terrible,like, I don't, like, I know I'm
playing Guardia, which is a badmatchup for it, bro, but, like,
was just sitting there, if Iwere 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 friendCameron Kawasaki on Archeolodon.

Henry (18:45):
Really?
Oh, well that, okay, well, thatmatchup 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 outlike some, some random, but like
this is, this is always a trapwith like non serious decks,
right?
Like you think they're goodbecause they, they have some
like solid matchups, butthey'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 allthe, 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 BennyBillinger, 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 littleClefki 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 thegame, so his draw on board was
Greninja plus Fez to an Ionoplus 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, theTurbo Tropico stack, like the,
the Tim Franklin variant withthe 1 1 Drago V Star, and like
the thicker Dusknoir line.
Um, so this matchup seems likeTalk for me, I never even tested
it, like, I kind of forgotTropicus was a deck, um, like,
like most people did, I think.
Um, but yeah, I just get my EXup both games, like, yeah, start

(20:17):
of slow starts, uh, and I justget completely bailed out.
I remember game one, I wasstaring down, like, a horrible
hand.
And then he Iona'd me, and thenI had a really good hand, and he
had a terrible hand, so I justwon the game for free.
Uh, and then game two, like, hegot to, like, attack, but I
just, I got my Guardia, becauseI'm, like, turn three or
something.
And I managed to get, like, aMonkey Darkdown early, and,
like, the moment you get doubleMonkey down, it's, like, you
can, they can be, like, threeprizes, as long as they don't,

(20:39):
like, already have a Dusknoir onboard, 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 completeprize trade.
That's an excellent point.
Um, round two, I hit Zard, and Iget 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 takethe duskull with double monkey.
Like, he didn't develop hisboard enough.
He went aggressive.
I mean, I

Abaan (21:11):
Oh, did you, you failed?
Did you try to, um, did youcharm 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'thave 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, thissegues into like a broader
discussion of the Slowgardydeck, but like, Gardevoir EX is
like the main attacker, andlike, even against Tarzan,
you're attacking with GardevoirEX a lot of the time, which is
really funny, right?
Um, so yeah, I got him with theGardevoir EX plus Kill Duskull,
and then I'm just kind ofwinning on price trade.
Um, yeah, I, I mawiled thePidget game too.

(21:43):
I think game one I was likemawiling a Rotom for a long
time.
I forget exactly how thathappened.
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 onlyis the like, the Rotom's gone,
the Tarot's still alive, andlike,

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 Zardmatchup, obviously the mawile
sort of attacked for the Zardmatchup, but even with that, it
doesn't feel, like, amazing, sogetting 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 theythink, like, number one Draco.

Henry (22:21):
messaged you about it in the group chat, like, yeah, the
idea was, like, completely forCharizard, like, the inspiration
for it was to fix the Charizardmatchup, and that was it.

Abaan (22:28):
Dude, that message was so much aura.
Henry literally goes, I went ona walk.
I have it.
Let me just come home and draftit up real quick.
I'm like, I'm sitting on theedge of my seat.
There's a mawile in there, bro.
It made perfect senseimmediately.

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 verysimilar list.
I mean, we had obviously talkeda lot about the deck before the
tournament.
He opted for, like, a Fezrodpackage, 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 upat 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 likedthe 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 away to work it in otherwise.
yeah, game one, I, okay, soyeah, so we're in a, okay, so
for the round we're at, we haveto 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, stillspeculation?
Okay.

Henry (23:41):
everyone knew that X1 2 would make it.
Um, cause yeah, we had seenlike, People were talking about
ID'ing, pretty much everyone wasjust in a group, like, talking
about what the situation was.
Um, so like, yeah, in thissituation, like, I first thought
about ID'ing, but I was like,eh, like, a little too sketchy.
Then we thought about doing bestof 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'slike, no, it's MD.
I'll just get the win now and IDnext 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 thatmade no sense, because the tie
is fine for us.
We just had to play it outnormally, which thank god I did,
because game one I prized triplerolls.
I, uh, just popped in for oneroll casually on my turn one
going first, uh, hope he doesn'tnotice anything.
Uh, and then the moment hedropped Arvin on his turn one, I
decided to pick up my cards,because, uh, it's not plus EV to

(24:33):
continue playing that game, thatis for sure.
And then, game two we have aGiga Banger, where I'm just kind
of sitting there chillin andhe's chillin and so I'm gonna
have to make the first move, andhe decides to make the first
move with a Turo Triple Monkeyplay to take two, is, uh, yeah,
definitely a good way to startthe 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 thatwe 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 usingyour Turo and like having to pad
later, then you have to eithercommit 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, Ithink.

Abaan (25:20):
Did he not pick up on this?
Did he just keep refinementing?
Or was he just, it was too fargone?

Henry (25:23):
in both the Benny B and the MD stats.
I just stopped refinementingbecause I'm like, I just can't
make the first move here.
Well, I remember the Benny Bgame for sure.
Like, I prized boss, so I knewthat there was absolutely no way
I could make the first move, soI just chilled.
Um, the MD, I don't, I prizedsomething, but it wasn't the
boss.
I forget what

Abaan (25:41):
What were your boards?
I think, I think that's likeinteresting for people, like,
what were your boards were youlike, were chilling on

Henry (25:46):
yeah, like, uh, it's somebody active and three
Curlios, two Monkeys on thebench, 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 randomguy is fine?

Henry (25:59):
what they've crafted on their board.
It depends like how, like, ifthey already committed the
Manaphy, then you don't need tocommit your Manaphy, because
they can't have Manaphy andScreamtail on their board,
right?
But if they don't have anythingcommitted and the Screamtail's
acceptable for them, then youprobably want to have the
Manaphy active.
So that's sort of like, uh, HowI 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 theflutter main, it's actually okay
to leave double monkey on theirboard, as long as you keep your
board clean, because like,you're both, both of you have
two monkeys, and they kind ofjust cancel each other out, and
you can never actually push forthe double kills, because you
don't have the flutter, um, andhe'd already used his trio, so
he had never I didn't haveTroublemonkey threat for a
while, so it allows me to justgo for his Curlia and stamp him.

(26:41):
So he has two Curlias, I go fora Curlia, stamp him, and then
like, you know, he benches aRalts, and then I kill a Curlia,
Iono, and then like, he justmisses Curlia, and like, is in
like a really tough situation,right?
Um, but so yeah, even whenstarting down to like, if you
can just get the Curlias, youcan do stuff.
He did do a really interestingplay, which, should have thought

(27:01):
of it before.
He did the thing where hemawiled the Guard Axe, which is
really, really strong.
Um, but he didn't have enoughenergy to convert on it.
If he had enough energy andconverted on that, he might have
just too much pressure on theprice 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 youattack?
Oh, you attacked with Gardeasoon 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 nogood response into it, cause I
knew he could like, pimpDrifloon that turn.
Um, and also, yeah, even if hedid Drifloon, I think it would
have been pretty sketchy forhim, but the Mawile is like a
nice way to like, pressure mewithout having to draw any price
cards, right?
Um, but yeah, no, that's He justhad no Kirlia, so he just

(27:42):
eventually kind of bled out thegame.
Uh, and then game three, wedon't even decide to play
because the only way to finishit is if someone just, like,
full bricks.
Um, so yeah, at this point, I'm9 1 2, and I'm winning in 2 8 7,
and in my pool is just like someDraegas, um, yeah, I think it
was pretty much just Draegas, soI 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 andthen, yeah, so I think I'm
sitting with like, uh, withFrank or something, and he's X2
1, and I'm like, oh man, I hopeyou 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 aboutplaying him myself, but then of
course, when the pairings go up,I got downpaired, I hit Stefan,

(28:38):
which is, uh, yeah, like, it'sa, it's a sketchy matchup, like,
sort of been consistent well, Idefinitely said this when I
played TurboGuardian, like, thismatchup is not that bad.
With SlowGuardian It's like, notideal, but like, definitely
winnable.
I mean, it's sort of the samething 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 aninteresting play where I had
prized one Evo, and I Arven turnone, and I get a bunch of Ralts
down, but then I don't rip theEvo because I know I need to Evo
directly into Gardevoir React.
So I just pass with a board oflike, Greninja quad roll.

(29:19):
and he didn't get an energy onhis Palkia V, is the key, on his
turn one.
So he's in a really awkwardposition because the only way
for him to attack this turn ishe has to commit the star
portal.
But like, using MoonlightShuriken on just two rolls feels
like really underwhelming.
Um, but that's what he has todo, because I don't think
there's any other way for him toadvance the game.
He could do something where,like, he attacks with a Palk

(29:40):
and, like, gets two on theNinja.
Um, but then I think he's at

Abaan (29:44):
Is it crazy?
Maybe he can, like, evolve abunch of Dusknoirs and, like,
try to, like, get you, like, geteverything, 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 twoKirlia's raw, essentially, in
that plan?

Henry (30:04):
Yeah.
Part of the reason I make thisplay is my hand is pretty
strong.
Um, but then he does I me thenext turn and puts the Evo on
the bottom.
But I managed to rip the Arvinfor like stamp plus Evo.
Yeah.
I, I, I drew really well.
Like the, the only way you canlike win convincingly in this
matchup is like you have to havelike 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 tous 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, sayingsomething 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 apretty 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 sameway that Henry was feeling like
after those first 10 gamesagainst Drick.
Uh, Bolt vs.
Guardi, something like that.
But like, you know, I thinkwe're all like, sort of familiar

(31:16):
with that feeling, right?
When you see someone like,actually start, start cooking
you in like, a matchup for thefirst time.
That's how I was feeling earliertoday, 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 bescheduled in.
Thank

Liam (31:30):
my bad, my bad, my bad.
I was playing, I was playingPidgeot decks.
I was, I mean, I was playingtons of different Pidgeot decks,
and he was getting me everysingle time.
I was like, I, I, I don't evenknow at this point.
I think I might have to justplay 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 bringthat 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 itwas really cool to hit him.
Um, yeah, so game one, I get himon, like, a damp CC Squawk, and
just, like, Put him in, like, anenergy deficit kind of thing,
and, like, he drew so bad offthe stamp, he couldn't even,
like, get the energy to move thesquawk, so, I just kind of got

(32:14):
him that way, which is prettyfortunate.
And then, Game 2, he just didn'topen well, and I had the Arvid,
and I just got the Guard ofReacts up.
So, like, Game 1, I had to brickhim 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'scorrect, because if I go first,
I have threat of Evo Direct andDX, 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 himto open first, does that mean if
you were going to Game 3, youwould'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 theflip 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 theManaphy 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 feelspointless, right?
But it's like, it directs aDusknoir 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 blowoutonce I stabilized, but there
were like spots where theManaphy I realized like, got a
lot stronger, because like, youstart taking away the Dusk
pieces, and then you bench theManaphy, and then obviously it's
really good, and then also like,once you get like some force on
the Prize Trade, and then youdrop the Manaphy, it's like,
you're forcing them to commit toDusk, then it's like, okay.

(33:59):
These are for like, the gameplans where they're sort of
like, Don't want to burn theirstar portal early and maintain
this ninja threat, um, which Ithink came up one of the games.
So it's like, it's like the gamewas 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 aretoo much?
Yeah, okay, okay.

Henry (34:14):
and Switch and all the Dusknerfuse.
I mean, it was like, in the veryback of my mind, but I had,
luckily I had much more robustways to win the game.
Um, but yeah, I definitely wouldnot count on that strategy in
this particular matchup.
Uh, yeah, then I like, when Iwas winning, like, I was just
converting with like, my typicalbullshit of like, putting 160 on
the Mew and like, having thisfour turn.
Four price turn pressure, whichjust instantly wins the game.

(34:35):
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 youlike didn't look very closely,
you'd like think he's losingevery single game.
He's like, that guy's still onsix?
The other guy's on three! What'sgonna happen next?
And then like, everything blowsup at once, always.

Henry (34:49):
pull.
Another great pull Vauban, theresident great pull

Abaan (34:52):
What?
Bro, I was just saying like, youknow, like, like, if you're not
like, you, like, when you walkby a regional most of the time,
like, like, you walk by a boardstate, 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'salways like, uh, Huh, looks
like, looks like he's gonna winthe game in, like, one attack,
but like, if you're not reallypaying attention, he's at six.

(35:12):
What's the, like, what's the bigdanger?

Henry (35:14):
at how empty the opponent's dice bag is, right?
If all the dice are on theboard, 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 playGuardi, I really like having my
own dice on hand, because, like,I don't know, like, you have to
put so much damage on yourboard, like, just yourself to
move around.
I hate those, like, number ones,the ones that, like, say, like,
100, 110, 120, all that, I hatethat.
I need the dice.

Henry (35:37):
just have the sixes.
Um, but like, I don't use mydice for my opponent's, unless
they like need me to, right?
Like, you just use your dice foryour board?
Or no, you're saying

Abaan (35:46):
Sure, sure.
No, no, I need it I use it on myown board, but I'm just saying
like, it's really important thatI have my like, specific like,
set, because like, I need thepips.

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, abolt, a bunch of Dragos, and
then MD on Gardy.
If I win my set, I hit, if I, ifI beat Cal, then I'll hit Hassan

(36:28):
on control, which is a prettygood matchup, or like a really
good matchup.
And then I'll hit, uh, a bolt intop fourth.
Like I, I've,

Abaan (36:35):
Did you think it was that good?
At the time, you were only onTurropad, 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 inthe day, um, or the day before,
maybe.
I don't know, it's just like, ifthey, 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 onthe Tauro or the pad early, or
somehow donking them.
Like, that's actually the onlyway.

Abaan (37:10):
Sure, sure.
I mean, it's frustrating, or notfrustrating, but it's like, any
matchup like that, where like,man, I could start Ninja, and
like, my Turo, or anything likethat, 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 socrazy, 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 goodmatchup, it's one that like, you
don't have a lot of room formistakes 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 waslike, bro, what if this happens
again, and I lose the set tothis 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 showup to the table.
Kieran grins at me when he hearsabout the game loss, cause he
was already talking about theplot 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, Ijust, like,

Abaan (38:51):
Oh, was Cheren was that's what you're talking about, I
like didn't I like didn't peepthis.

Henry (38:55):
uh, there, but he, apparently he didn't get Lugia V
down until turn three of bothgames, which is

Abaan (39:00):
Cheren had like such a monster start to the season, and
then he had like a terrible likestring in the middle, like,
like, no flame, like I'm justsaying,

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 orwhatever, or not I but like
talking about the beach, like,ah, I lost to Thorins and now
now I'm here, exploiting therest 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, butlike the SB, yeah, yeah, yeah,
he had a bad run there, and thenI 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 likea 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, orhe'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, Iguess it's funny now because Cal
is promoting Tatsu, but both myhands, they're like, hands where
I really wish I played theTatsu.
It's like the all energy Poth inhands.
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 himTatsu.

Henry (40:27):
Yeah, top 2's pretty good, I think.
I think I'm maybe adding top 2to the bag.
Um, yeah, game 1, or quoteunquote game 2, I managed to
like, kind of fake a comebackattempt 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 toa point where like, if I Iono
him and he misses switch, thinkI'm actually going to get him,

(40:49):
but then he just raw rips theswitch.
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 arealways, like, the most, like I
don't care about those sevencards, 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 Starevery single time, and I'm like,
I mean, I guess if that's your VStar, 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 liketerrible hits besides the
switch, and he, he managed tokeep the switch, but it didn't
really seem like he had to VStar in that

Abaan (41:28):
Dude, I swear, like, when you rip V Star, though, it's
like, you didn't know that therewere 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 underthe 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'mgonna have to show him exactly
where my energies are going forthe 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 itonce, 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 rawClefkit that matchup is actually
like, like, probably like adisadvantage, 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 wasunplayable 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 theTuro 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, Ican play the game.
You know what percentage ofhands that is?
It's like, not that, it's notthat 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 ballcards, 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 theDrago, 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 fragilewithout clefki.
So like, there's like definitelya lot of hands you can draft
that are not good.
And like, having, having a handthat'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 likeactually gives you like a real
chance to like, like beat themby 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 gamewith um, I don't know if we
watched it with Frank, no, wewatched it with MDE, but like,
we talked to Frank about it, theretreating 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 foranything good, and then you're
also turning off your Ninja, andyou're like, wasting energy that
could have been used for Ninja,and like, I didn't want to get,
like, there's like, ten reasonsit's not good.

Henry (44:44):
the board is just completely poisoned.
You just have no space foranything.
Like you can never get doublemonkey involved.
It is double good.
Um, yeah, he, I just, I'd justget 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 raltso I could retreat it before I

(45:04):
evolved into Kirlia, but Idecide I want to I decided I
wanted to attach the energyfirst in case I get Ionode, but
it's like, clearly a mistake.
So I do get like, punished forthis, because then I just like,
draw nothing.
I mean, theoretically, like,didn't matter, because like, you
pretend like the cards I drewwould have came from the
refinements, like, the cards Idrew for like, the next six
turns were all garbage, so itdidn't really matter.

(45:25):
It's like, a pretty bad mistake.
Um Yeah, that's pretty much it.
I just, like, kind of bouncedout of the tournament.
This is, like, I know I'vementioned this to you guys,
like, this is, like, the firsttime I felt like I crashed out
of an event where, like, Ididn't really feel like there
was anything I could do.
I mean, I did just talk about aglaring 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 shouldreflect on is like, round 9,
allowing that tie, which likeforced you into Ace Sim in like
a very long winded way.
I mean, obviously everything'sdifferent, your whole bracket's
different, but like, I'd say thetakeaway, I think taking your
last game losing loss and beinglike, 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 Iwas, like, a little disappointed
that it couldn't go deeper, butI don't know, I guess like,
yeah, like, and also like,bouncing on an Ace invention is
just like so awkward, like itfeels 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 16naturally, it's like No, no, I
actually know what you mean,because when you get top 16
naturally, it's like, it's adifferent 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, thescoreboard 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 awhile, 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 allgood, it's all good.
So I guess there are threeGuardies in top 16.
Zero in top

Abaan (47:08):
I think the important thing, important thing we should
talk about, uh, we could talkabout Liam's Pidget List, but I
think before we get to that, Ithink the people want to know,
Henry, like, maybe like mawileuses that you got out of the
event, like potential othermawile uses, and like maybe some
more, like, just like mawilethoughts.
I think that's like the thingthat stands out, right?

Henry (47:24):
actually didn't use Mawile that much in the event,
but everyone else who played itused it like a ton apparently,
and I maybe underutilized it alittle 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 youpull up the Pidget and you lock
it for a turn and force it offthe board.
Um, and, um, while also havinglike some resource pressure

(47:50):
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 tojust 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 haveto, like, tweak out it, like,
making sure you, like, don't getbelow 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 wastelling you.
Yeah, yeah.

Henry (48:33):
Oh yeah, you were there, you were there, yeah, that was
bad.
Yeah, I prized double EX, so Ican

Abaan (48:37):
I've won I've actually won surprisingly well,
surprisingly as in twice, I'vewon two different games against
Drago when I didn't haveGuardiax in my deck.
Like, just by, like, mawiling.
And, like, I don't even know howit's possible.
Like, how do you even feel like,they see the Kirlia's, and,
like, I know that there's it'scooked, but, They just, like,
freak out.
Prime, like, Cologne, like, Ineed to kill these guys, like,
they are, like, they'll,they'll, oh, I know how it

(48:57):
happens.
It's like a Prime, the firstone, and then I just, like,
barely, like, like a confuseoff, 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 getpeople 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 youropponent is playing optimally,
like, in the unknowninformation, and then, like, it
actually works out in a way thatworks for you.
Like.
I don't know, it feels like lessgood 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, theRoaring 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 waysI lost game 1, but I think I
could have.
More optimal when we got intothe play.
I only realized after one actionon 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 gooff TurboGuardi?
And like, you're kind of right.
I like, I remember one day wehad this like conversation where
it was like, the point is thatgoing second is like broken, so
we're just like trying to likemake it so that we're making the
most, playing the most powerfuldeck that we can go second and
like, we win like every timeversus like TurboGuardi, know,

(50:40):
like, I feel like somehow,because we've gone off the deck,
like, we're like, re revisionisthistory, and we're like, oh,
Termagardy, like, it's not thatpowerful, like, doesn't have all
the monkeys, and like, it's kindof like, Hyrule y or whatever,
like, at least, I never thoughtthis, 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 islike, completely being lost now
that everyone's switching.
That thing is still lit.
It's the problem is ununfortunately that now it leads
to SlowGuardi, which is like areal 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 playTurboGardy, 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 immuneto our narrative shifting.
So like, Haruki was onSlowGuardi 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, reallycontrol 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 youmight not be playing PGDX for
this one.

Liam (51:55):
uh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Great layup! We skipped over onething on the agenda.
That was trick plays.
That was supposed to be righthere.
Um,

Henry (52:04):
That was, that was worked in throughout.

Liam (52:06):
well, okay.
But, we can get that in herenow, too.
Um, up until like, maybe like 12hours ago, I was like, you know,
I was basically the same asalways.
I was like, I'm gonna play thisPidgetty X card.
It's so so good.
It has something.
Dog everything, I just gottafigure it out.
Drick was getting me with likeevery single deck I tried, bro.
Like, I played so many differentlists, and like, every single

(52:28):
one, right?
Like, you have to take somestuff out, add some new stuff
in, and like, he's right therewith 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, playsitself on the board, right?
Like, I cut the slacking, andthen like, he's like, bro, you
don't have like, a way to onehit my guy.
And like, he's like, justegregiously abusing that fact
that like, ways that like, Iwasn'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 thecounter 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 boardand then go behind on prizes
while still having a threat towin that like I couldn't stop,
and um, so my Defiance bandwasn't active so I couldn't
Radzard him because I wasplaying a Radzard build, and
then, Yeah, I like, I justcouldn't do anything.

(53:25):
Like, he had the V Star stillup, it was, it was just
shocking.
Like, he's, I mean, he's, he wasthere 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 torun 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 Cruelinto 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 toattack.
I don't, I don't know how tobeat 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 toplay D Drago, like the Drake is

(54:13):
too good and like he plays theDraco.
Gotta play a Dr.
D.
That's, that's where I'm atright 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 waslike, 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, inthe 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 feellike 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 thecountercatcher.

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 Drakeplays like any of the other
Dragos that like, or like, notany 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 soannoying.

Liam (55:14):
I'm aware, I think this is, like, the best list, but I
think, like, the punish forplaying 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, hasbeen popping up on ladder after
the Japan Championships, which Ido normally take other list
formats with, like, I, like,kind of ignore them.
Because, like, There, every listis like basically addressing
like what's going on right inthe in the room and like in the
room there's Bidu so like Ithought like all these lists are

(55:51):
kind of poisoned but I wasplaying the Japan Ancient Box
list and like so does uh allright well we we change one card
under the guidance of our uh ofthe 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 likecommon knowledge, but like,
using the backpack guy, like,spamming that guy, and, and just
one shotting you after, did notrealize, 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'sbeen 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 seemedlike this was not common
knowledge, but, like, everyone'ssaying this, but I think it's,
like, the, it's, like, what wesay about the V Star, like,
everyone loves saying they're,like, the maturest V Star
holder, until, like, You'resitting there, and you're like,
man, I'm gonna lose the gamenext turn, or like, in two
turns, and you still hold it.

Liam (56:42):
Yeah, no, exactly, right?
Like, you're like, mm, they'regonna 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 baddiscards, 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 itslightly too often.
He, like, he is the closest tothe true V Star usage needed.
It's still too, too passive.
Like, if you lose this manygames 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 yourequity.
Like, let's say, like, whenyou'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'veplayed against Drik, bro, and
like, watched Drik, there's beenlike, maybe like, a single time
where I'm like, oh, he can hitthe V Star now, and like, That
would be pretty chalk for theopponent, 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 soclose 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'ssometimes 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, oneor the

Liam (58:12):
it's once you have a win shot, right?
Once you have a win shot, Ithink is, is like, actually,
like, genuinely, like, the bestway 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 thatcaveat because I felt like,
like, It's likeovergeneralizing.
Like, literally, if I toldsomeone like, oh, all the way
you do is like, only V Star whenyou win, I think they wouldn't,
like, they would not come closeto, like, the right percentage.
It's like, or maybe they comeclose, but like, there is
definitely V Star spots thateveryone agrees is good, makes
it so that you win the game, butyou 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 ison 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 yourthing, and you're like, you have
no hope, because my deck is likethree cards, I have a Prime in
hand, my hand is like threecards, 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 areactually 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 tobring up Archuleon, because you
were talking about ChampionsLeague.
I was surprised you brought upthe Ancient Box, but now it
makes sense because you weretalking 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'mtalking 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 ScrambleSwitch like combo build because

Liam (01:00:04):
Dude, I, I felt like, um, me and Henry, I think we're
already working on thisArchelodon list before the
Champions League results, right?
And like, I like saw it and Iwas like, oh, like, everybody
else like thinks this is littoo, right now, like, like, like
a mass enlightenment, you know?
Um,

Henry (01:00:22):
I mean, it has a

Liam (01:00:25):
obviously we don't, we don't know if it's actually
like, You know, the sauce orwhatever, 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 (01:00:40):
is so obvious, but anytime an attack utilizes an X
Return tactic, like, all thelike, there's like, obvious
stuff where I take you, you takefour prizes or whatever, right?
But like, using two supportersbefore your opponent gets to
respond is actually like one ofthe most broken things ever,
like, I don't know.
You're, like, looking at allthese, like, checkmate spots,
and you can get, like, Ionodeand, like, Thornton, or, like,
you're, like, all these spotswhere you're, like, oh, I can't

(01:01:02):
get, like, boss Thornton, andthen 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 loveRapidstrike 2, where it was,
like, There's just seems likespots where it seems like it's
impossible for you to lose, butit's so hard to build a board
state that's robust to like, twothings dying, an Iona coming,
bossing your most annoyingtarget, and I can fix my board

(01:01:23):
with something, or like healsomething with Turo maybe, or
like, all these, like, how canyou build a board state that's
like, robust to that unlessyou're up like 6 1 or something?
Even then, who knows?

Henry (01:01:32):
True, we talk about supporter debt all the time, but
Dialga lets you have,

Liam (01:01:35):
Yes.

Henry (01:01:37):
you're

Abaan (01:01:37):
Next, yeah.
Supporter Debt Relief.
The new, um, yeah, new campaign.
Supporter Debt Forgiveness.

Henry (01:01:45):
Yeah, I I mean, like, I know everyone knows this by now,
but like, the craziest thing tome is like, the double fez thing
with the dialogue over, like,that thing is like,

Abaan (01:01:52):
Oh, yes, yes.

Henry (01:01:53):
ridiculous.

Liam (01:01:54):
double, double Pidgeot, double Pidgeot, too, if you
wanna play that.

Henry (01:01:57):
we'll see about that one.
Double Feds, for sure, isbroken.
But yeah, the deck is prettygood.
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 (01:02:11):
Dude, I, I actually think that's, like,

Henry (01:02:13):
But, like, yeah.

Abaan (01:02:15):
Do you really think this is Henry?
I actually like the, uh, I likethe Draco side of the Archeodon,
like, the current, like, thesuper singularness.

Henry (01:02:20):
I think that, I don't, I don't, I think that Draco is
favored.
But, you can't deny that thematchup would be a lot worse if
the Duraludon had 110

Abaan (01:02:29):
Of course, of course.
Yeah.
I, I like, I like the Gardyside.
I like the Drago side.
I think especially'cause ifthey're gonna transition to a
more poy stock list and it'sstart jamming tower, then uh,

Henry (01:02:39):
Well.

Abaan (01:02:39):
very comfortable.
You

Henry (01:02:41):
Yeah, I don't know.

Abaan (01:02:42):
what I gonna say?
So

Henry (01:02:43):
I've played it a couple times.
I don't know.
Well, I

Liam (01:02:45):
really, dude.
I, I feel like,

Henry (01:02:47):
list for a

Liam (01:02:48):
I feel like the Artanon deck is, like, really good into
Drago.
I think, like,

Henry (01:02:50):
Well, the base one or, like,

Abaan (01:02:52):
I think

Henry (01:02:52):
sauce one?

Abaan (01:02:55):
Oh

Liam (01:02:55):
The, whatever list I'm playing, uh, whatever list I'm
playing, bro.

Abaan (01:02:58):
list that Liam place has pitchy, right?
So the, the new sauce list nameis 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 hasmore potential in d Drago.
'cause like.
You can pull off crazy combos.

Henry (01:03:15):
Indeed, because you have Quicksage.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So,

Liam (01:03:21):
Yeah, I guess that's actually what Drix says too,
he's like, he says the normalone's pretty good for him cause
he just keeps spamming Iono andthen they miss a Gus and he
wins.
And then the Pidgeot builds.

Abaan (01:03:30):
with this 100%.
And the problem with the Guardimatchup, by the way, oh, I think
one thing that we should talkabout is Guardi, I think that we
fully transitioned, I don'tthink I'm ever playing Palpatine
on the deck again.
I think second Turo,

Henry (01:03:43):
yeah, I agree.

Abaan (01:03:44):
I remember this concept first when I saw Rowan's List a
long time ago in like, Paradoxformat, I think, with Gardee.
He played oh, not Paradoxformat, right before Paradox
when CC was

Liam (01:03:52):
Three boss?
No Turo?
Or no pad?
Yeah.

Abaan (01:03:55):
single time I see this pad, I was like, I'm gonna pad
in these bosses and help to drawthem.
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 likeevery game I'm like taroting and
padding and hoping to see thistarot in the next six cards like
this is ridiculous like I shouldjust play second tarot.

Henry (01:04:15):
Yeah, I mean, I

Abaan (01:04:15):
I think like I will never play pad again probably.

Henry (01:04:19):
right now, yes.
Right now, because the pad is sofocused on the Turo, but like, I
mean, even like with Rowan,like, in the Paradox format,
towards the end, when they wereplaying the no VIP list, they
played the pad because, I mean,you wanted flexibility between
the boss and other stuff, andlike, there's definitely utility
for the pad, like, in general,but I agree that right now, it's
so frequently for the Turo, andit's not for the boss, that like

Abaan (01:04:39):
Okay yeah yeah shouldn't have said a general like the
word never was like very wrong.
I meant like in the specificformat in a specific slow
guarding list two tarots lit.

Henry (01:04:48):
with that.

Liam (01:04:50):
it's so good, bro, like, you always draw it on the Turo
turn and there's like a Turoturn in every single game, like.

Henry (01:04:56):
literally just double chances of having the Turo at

Liam (01:04:58):
Yeah.

Abaan (01:04:58):
it's it's so funny when you have two tarots and like I
feel like so many game plans arerevolved and they do something
and they're like man they've gota tarot here I feel like so cut
then like I don't know, I feellike I never miss when I have
the two.

Liam (01:05:11):
Yeah, exactly, right?

Abaan (01:05:13):
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 enjoyedit.
I'm not sure if it's

Liam (01:05:21):
Really?

Henry (01:05:23):
I play

Abaan (01:05:23):
I like it, I like it.

Henry (01:05:24):
because I don't take prize cards, so I

Abaan (01:05:28):
It's not that, it's like the, um,

Henry (01:05:30):
like the discarding

Abaan (01:05:31):
like, I like having a supporter.
No, no, I like when I stampthem, and I want to draw more
cards.
I don't have to, like, Ionathem.
It's, like,

Liam (01:05:39):
Bro.

Henry (01:05:40):
the research though, right?
Like,

Abaan (01:05:43):
it's like, of course, of course, like, that's like,

Liam (01:05:47):
It's like a comforting thought he has before he uses
the stamp.

Henry (01:05:50):
I know what you're talking about.
Like, I have stamped, and thenhow do I enter in the same turn?
And I'm like, wow, what was thepoint of the stamp?
I just gave him five cards now.
But, like, on the

Liam (01:05:58):
Bro, those are so, so rare, bro.
Those are so rare.

Abaan (01:06:01):
rare.
Like, you

Liam (01:06:02):
Bro, it's so rare.

Abaan (01:06:04):
crazy play, like, you need, like, you need to get the
monkey down, and, like, thisArven card doesn't, doesn't get
you there, like, always.
don't know.

Liam (01:06:11):
I like that.
I

Abaan (01:06:12):
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 definitelythought it's pretty good,

Henry (01:06:18):
Well, yeah,

Abaan (01:06:18):
and, like, I don't know.

Henry (01:06:19):
is like, the research has more synergy with the pad,
right?
I mean, the padding in theresearch at the end of the game
is, like, very real.
Well, this is under theassumption that you're taking
prizes.
If you're not taking prizes, itdoesn't matter very much.
But

Liam (01:06:31):
mean, if you play double monkey, you can like do a lot of
trick.

Henry (01:06:35):
I agree.
Yeah, uh

Abaan (01:06:38):
just that, like, Iona off stamp is like, sure, that's like
one of the use cases, dude, ingeneral, I just don't like when
my opponent is like, clearlyhaving a bad hand, I'm like,
well, if I don't Arvin, like,obviously there's sometimes I
have to Turo or boss orwhatever, but like, if I want to
draw a ton of cards, I'm gonnahave to give them a fresh hand,
and like, there's no gettingaround that.

Henry (01:06:58):
like, I get what you're saying, but like, the one off
research isn't really fixingthat, and also it's like, dude,
this deck is like, the resourcesare so thin, like, you'd have to
change the structure of thelike, I think you'd have to go
to like a double rod package asopposed to the, uh,

Abaan (01:07:12):
Yeah, I was trying, I was playing around with Double Rod
in this list too, but yes,

Henry (01:07:16):
but I don't know, dude, the resources are so thin with
this deck, dude, like.
see it.

Abaan (01:07:23):
Yeah, of course, like, I've obviously, every, if you
play, if any deck that playsResearch has seen the Tragedy
Hands, Wow, there's like both myRod and a Research.
Hmm.

Henry (01:07:34):
I just can't imagine that many hands when I want to play
the research.
Like, it's obviously, like, Iknow this from playing Turbo,
right?
It's like, if you get a cleanresearch, like, you just kind of
win the game, like, immediately.
Yeah, all your cards in yourdeck are good, right?
It's like, I just BrilliantBlended for free.
But in this deck, it's justlike, dude, this is like, no

Abaan (01:07:52):
yeah.
That's like the funniest way todescribe it, yeah, exactly.
When you see a hand of like,somehow the only five cards in
your deck that are not good anda Research, it's like, wow,

Henry (01:08:00):
game, it's actually

Abaan (01:08:00):
And this region's about to draw me like the nuts, like
no matter what happens.

Henry (01:08:03):
and I'm just going to draw the nuts for the rest of
the game as well.

Liam (01:08:06):
I agree with this.
I agree with all of this.

Henry (01:08:08):
not new,

Abaan (01:08:08):
Actually that is like the part of the Ancient Box decks
that I like.

Henry (01:08:10):
Yeah, the Brilliant

Abaan (01:08:11):
That's like the part I like about Ancient Box, the
blender, it's so good, yeahyeah.

Henry (01:08:14):
is really good.

Abaan (01:08:15):
It's so weird because I was like, I'm a huge fan of
Secret Box, like I love SecretBox and everything I play, and I
was like, this is like such anatural Secret Box deck, and
when people were playing SecretBox, I didn't like, bat an eye.
But like, it's crazy to me thatthere's an A spec in Ancient Box
that's possible, that's betterthan Blender, or like, better
than Seeker Box, right?
Like, the card is Blender.
But like, I have played withBattle Professor too, so like, I

(01:08:35):
understand why it's lit.

Henry (01:08:37):
yeah, yeah, I think any, well, anyone who's played
Valkyrie Crusher surely willunderstand how powerful this
effect is.

Abaan (01:08:44):
Henry, Battle Professor came out, I think, in the same
set as VS Seeker, so like, Ithink like,

Liam (01:08:49):
Obviously, there were so, so many decks that had uh,
insane synergy with uh, Therewere like so many cards that had
insane synergy with the BattleCompressor, right?

Henry (01:08:58):
yeah.

Abaan (01:09:00):
I think that's one of the coolest things about Pokemon.

Henry (01:09:03):
What?

Abaan (01:09:03):
Dude, I think one of the coolest things about Pokemon was
when they had those, uh, if thisis the last card in your hand,
play this card and you like getto do some cool effect.
I thought those were like thecoolest cards

Liam (01:09:12):
Do we have those right now?

Henry (01:09:14):
Yeah,

Abaan (01:09:14):
is that Beedrill card still legal?
Like the

Liam (01:09:17):
No, we have,

Henry (01:09:18):
what you're talking

Liam (01:09:18):
we have Brandon.
We have Brandon.

Henry (01:09:20):
one, I forget what it is.

Abaan (01:09:21):
What does Brandon do?

Liam (01:09:23):
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 (01:09:33):
Liam, you know what's sad?
I was not actually talking aboutthat Beedrill.
I meant that I watched like someold VODs because I was just
interested in what was happeningand I watched Bradner's um, his
like Arc Beedrill deck that

Liam (01:09:44):
Oh, with the mustard.
The mustard.

Abaan (01:09:46):
Yeah,

Liam (01:09:46):
Oh, mhm.

Abaan (01:09:50):
I guess we're it's funny that we're talking about like
value watching old VODs.
I got nothing out of thatbecause the whole set I was just
like understanding what thecards did but I thought it was
really cool to watch.

Liam (01:09:57):
Oh, that deck was so sick.
I

Henry (01:10:00):
Bangladesh, had to, had to dig deep.

Abaan (01:10:05):
No, actually on planes I'm like a strictly movie
watcher, and TV shows when I'mlike trying to fill time too,
like I like TV shows, like, ifthere's like 30 minutes till I
land or something, or 45, butyeah, anyways.

Henry (01:10:17):
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 (01:10:24):
Oh, I think like, we should talk about the, like,
bro, where did that guy, wheredid it go?
Has anyone seen cloth

Liam (01:10:30):
think everybody realized it's like a non serious deck.

Henry (01:10:32):
two in

Liam (01:10:33):
It's a non serious deck.
At this point though, everyoneknows it's

Henry (01:10:36):
good.

Liam (01:10:38):
non serious.

Henry (01:10:39):
the ladder percentage has gone down like, tenfold.

Liam (01:10:42):
Sorry, un serious deck.
Sorry, un serious.

Abaan (01:10:45):
I've gotten to the point, by the way, like, for free, I
don't betch the second roll.
It's because the chance thatthere's cloth is like next to
zero.
By next to zero, like, it's soclose to zero, like, it'd take
like a it'd be pretty hard todistinguish, you know?
Like,

Liam (01:10:57):
It's like cloth before, um, whatever the Dalek 1
Regional was, bro.
Like, or like,

Abaan (01:11:02):
The one where it came out, yeah.

Liam (01:11:04):
yeah, or like,

Abaan (01:11:05):
is when it came out?

Liam (01:11:06):
nah, or,

Henry (01:11:07):
one, I think, the one

Liam (01:11:08):
before,

Abaan (01:11:10):
No, obviously after Sack.

Liam (01:11:13):
No, no, bro, it was the EU.
Or like, there was one likebefore the

Abaan (01:11:18):
I did

Liam (01:11:18):
EU one.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Oh, oh, yeah, yeah,

Abaan (01:11:22):
good, I guess, is Australia, but it was like first
shown to the world in SAC.

Henry (01:11:27):
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I

Abaan (01:11:29):
Whole history.

Liam (01:11:31):
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 clothdeck, bro.

Abaan (01:11:40):
Yes.
And in that case, like, what istaking its place, I guess?
Like, what is like the is RagingBull back, do you think?
Like, Drago got six of the

Liam (01:11:47):
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 inthe meta, bro, like,

Henry (01:11:55):
think Raging Bull will go

Liam (01:11:56):
it's still so wide.

Henry (01:11:57):
bit

Abaan (01:11:57):
No, but it doesn't matter,

Liam (01:11:59):
You really think so, bro?

Abaan (01:11:59):
specific type of cloth player and like, what are they
going to play

Liam (01:12:02):
Oh, oh, like, where do they pivot to?

Abaan (01:12:04):
yeah.

Liam (01:12:06):
That's a great question.

Abaan (01:12:07):
subscribe to this concept more than Liam does, but like,
there's a certain percentage ofthe player base that plays like,
the hot new like, 2 2 2beatstick deck, you know?

Henry (01:12:16):
yeah.

Liam (01:12:16):
Oh my god.
are these people?
Like, we didn't, we didn't,like, Like, who are these
people, bro?

Abaan (01:12:21):
you're like 2 2 2ing, but like, you got a 1.

Henry (01:12:23):
but it's an A to the 2 prize deck.
Make no mistake, bro.
Like, the uh, yeah, I thinkthat,

Abaan (01:12:30):
Yeah, I don't know who these people are, but I wonder
what they're playing.

Liam (01:12:33):
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 (01:12:40):
Oh, that was actually the most degenerate thing, I got
straight off my plane andliterally did not sleep all
night.
crazy, I tried to fix my sleepschedule the next day, I didn't
sleep the next night, and thentoday, I slept till like 5pm.

Liam (01:12:50):
Jesus, oh my god, bro.
Um, but yeah, bro, like, towardsthe end of that, bro, like, my
brain was, like, completelyfried, and I was like, let me
just hit some of this TurboMoon, bro.
And that, that deck was reallyhittin I've tried to play it
since, it does not hit at all,but, During those, those few
hours at the end there, I waslike,

Abaan (01:13:08):
Wow,

Liam (01:13:08):
bro, this Turbo Moon pick is lit.
Yeah, bro,

Abaan (01:13:14):
and play like 15 hours of loudest

Liam (01:13:15):
no, like, I think that's, that one, I know going forward,
Turbo Moon, bro, that's mybeatstick of choice.

Henry (01:13:22):
Really,

Liam (01:13:22):
gonna be one of the Moon players,

Henry (01:13:23):
can easily, bro.
After our session the other day,Drick was like, I actually kind
of like this Raging Bull deck.
Mmm.

Liam (01:13:31):
Oh my god.

Henry (01:13:32):
No.

Abaan (01:13:45):
reason, but like, I'm the one who like, offers to play
Bolt when anyone, anyone, anyonewants to test into it.
So like, I have like, so muchlike, random Bolt hours, but
like, my favorite deck of thoselike, B6 is Moridon by far.
It just feels so clean.
Like,

Liam (01:13:58):
I love Maraadon too, yeah, for sure.

Abaan (01:14:00):
and stuff, like, it feels like life is good.

Henry (01:14:02):
Golden Goat the most, bro.
If it counts.
I mean, Golden Goat

Abaan (01:14:05):
Ah, dude, Henry.
Uh, yeah, yeah, okay, fine, ifGoldengo counts, I kind of
forgot about Goldengo,obviously, um, like, that's my
favorite, too.
I wasn't, I wasn't consideringit, because it's evolution, you
know, and that's, like, toomuch,

Henry (01:14:17):
fake, it's hell, bro.
Technically

Liam (01:14:21):
prize board, right?
So like, that's like a real,real technique.
It's like saying likeCharizard's like a beach deck,
you know?
That's like,

Abaan (01:14:28):
Liam, I like how you called Knick knick, you have to,
like, to not present the oneprice board, you have to, like,
go out of your way, like, that'sMalthez,

Liam (01:14:34):
sure.
No, no, no, but like, That'slike a, that's like a more
serious strategy.
That's a more serious strategy.

Henry (01:14:40):
cannot be serious when you're saying Charizard and Gold
Tango, bro.
Charizard actually dropped theRotom Pair one, bro, like, what?
But it has flexibility in theprice trade in other ways.
Golden Goat, no.

Liam (01:14:48):
No, like, against like Bolt, bro.
Like, you do the same thing.
I don't, I don't think Charizarddecks should be dropping the
Rotom turn one, bro.
All these like Charizard playersthat are playing the double
Rotom, bro, and like the fourNests, they've actually like
lost their minds, bro.
Like,

Abaan (01:15:01):
should play Cleffa again.

Liam (01:15:02):
uh, yeah, bro,

Henry (01:15:03):
into the Cleffa, dude.
You play Pirate.

Liam (01:15:05):
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 allthis four Nests garbage, bro.
Like, I

Henry (01:15:16):
I

Abaan (01:15:17):
I mean, I

Liam (01:15:17):
that you, that you would play.

Abaan (01:15:18):
we, before Worlds, we were, like, I mean, I'm not sure
how much you were into it, butI, like,

Liam (01:15:23):
No, I, I, I know that we thought, we thought that, like,
this, like, 4NEST stuff was thewave.
And, like, I understand why,right?
Like, this is, there's a reasonthat everyone subscribes to it.
But, like, bro, playing 4NEST, Iwould say, particularly for this
format as well, where goingsecond is so, so, so lit, like,
why are you playing 4NEST andthen opting first?
Like,

Henry (01:15:43):
You

Liam (01:15:43):
choose second, bro.
I don't know,

Abaan (01:15:45):
I was just thinking that Henry, if you're gonna play this
No Rodent list with Cleffa, an EBoard makes perfect sense.
Thank you for your second.

Liam (01:15:51):
I think it's fine.
Obviously Tord played it at, um,whatever it was, so like,
probably good.

Henry (01:15:57):
ID board?

Liam (01:15:59):
Yeah, and his Hydrogon was at whatever.

Abaan (01:16:01):
E Board?
Was there a card called aSkateboard before

Liam (01:16:03):
Wait, his Hydrogon, let's use the same engine.

Henry (01:16:06):
Yeah, it's the one that went on the is the one I didn't
play, but I like, I've heardabout it.

Liam (01:16:10):
yeah, yeah.

Henry (01:16:12):
R Board.

Liam (01:16:13):
Rescue board.

Abaan (01:16:14):
It's

Liam (01:16:15):
board does not hit the same, bro.
We can, we can keep saying eboard.
yeah, yeah.

Abaan (01:16:21):
remembering, like, there is, like, an escape board card,
I was like, does that existright now?
I mean, I'm not even sure,Henry, were you on Flowstone, or
did you quit before that?

Henry (01:16:29):
I played one format with Blitzen in it, yeah.

Abaan (01:16:32):
Flowstone is, like, At the time, I saw nothing wrong,
but after seeing the lightafter, like, no Floatstone,
like, oh my god, that was aterrible card for the game,
like, what the hell?
You get to bench this, like, 3prize Garbotoxin guy, and, like,
oh, no biggie, I haveFloatstone.
Like, what the

Liam (01:16:46):
no, that's crazy, bro.

Abaan (01:16:50):
Oh, I'm gonna put a Vileplume in play, but no
Trapstar Lab, because I'm gonnasomehow Floatstone Vilepluming
up.

Liam (01:16:55):
Bro, you remember that, you know, NAIC match, bro?
The NAIC match?

Abaan (01:16:59):
that's my local, Paul Johnston.

Henry (01:17:01):
What, what happened?

Liam (01:17:02):
That's hilarious.
Bro, this guy was playing, hewas playing like a Vileplume
deck or whatever, bro.
In both games, he gets theVileplume up, but he misses the
Float Stone, and then the otherguy bosses the Vileplume, and he
just loses.
Like, he actually just decksout.
There was like

Abaan (01:17:20):
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 thoughtthere was AZ in the format, I
don't know why he didn't haveAZ.
Like, did he just not play it?

Liam (01:17:31):
some weird stuff that happened in that game, I think,
like,

Abaan (01:17:33):
it wasn't Henry.
It wasn't like, Boss, I lose.
No, no.
It was like, Boss, DTE,

Liam (01:17:36):
it was like boss,

Abaan (01:17:37):
Retreat, and

Liam (01:17:38):
boss again.

Henry (01:17:40):
Oh, okay, okay, yeah,

Liam (01:17:42):
Yeah.

Abaan (01:17:43):
I remember the names.
I believe it's Fred Hobon intoPaul Johnston, Top

Liam (01:17:46):
Yeah.

Henry (01:17:47):
was

Liam (01:17:47):
Yeah.
I think so.

Henry (01:17:48):
Fred Hovind, Vespiquen, 4 DTE, too easy.
But,

Abaan (01:17:54):
Wait, there's two AZ?
How many Floatstone are in thelist?
Two.
Wait, why didn't he just AZwait, like, wait for the
Floatstone

Henry (01:18:04):
He can go into the Bunnelby and wait.
Okay, I must be missingsomething.
I'm very

Abaan (01:18:11):
No, no, I think not kidding, Henry.
I think he was missingsomething.
Like, I think,

Henry (01:18:16):
like, this is not a two Bunnelbys, surely that's not a
balanced strategy, but

Abaan (01:18:21):
I think, Henry, I think we may have been in this, the
game, the concept we weretalking earlier.
No, no, the, the stream gameparalysis.
That guy did not make Top 8playing like that, I can assure
you.

Henry (01:18:32):
Oh shit.
I'm just looking at this pagewhere I

Liam (01:18:35):
Yeah, bro, I mean,

Abaan (01:18:39):
but yeah, dude, I think Liam, the reason it's so burned
in my mind too, like, first ofall, 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 (01:18:46):
it might be, uh,

Abaan (01:18:48):
Like, I feel like, I don't know why, I

Liam (01:18:50):
yeah, yeah,

Abaan (01:18:51):
like, multiple times.

Henry (01:18:52):
Y'all

Abaan (01:18:52):
Like the second Lysander.

Liam (01:18:54):
think so, I think so.

Abaan (01:18:57):
We'll, uh, we'll VOD review this game later.
I mean, I'm actually fasted innow that we've talked about it
again.
There must be something else.
Cause I thought Paul was agenius at the time, but like,
now that you're mentioningthere's like Bunnelby's and like
AZ's and Floatstones, like, howcould this have been a thing?

Henry (01:19:13):
Maybe there's a card in the resting, I don't know.
Yeah.

Liam (01:19:18):
Yeah, and saying sidetrack, what were we talking
about?
Were we talking aboutBirmingham?

Henry (01:19:21):
coming up, same format.
Um, gonna be a lot of Regi RegiDragos probably gonna go up,
cause it's had even moresuccess.
I mean, probably not that much,cause

Abaan (01:19:30):
What is Like, what is like, what are people gonna do
to respond to this?
You think this like, we're notgonna hit, like, SIT, Lugia,
Regidrago numbers, right?
Like, everyone at the eventprobably thinks that they're,
like, they have a decent Dragomatchup, right?
So, like, what is, like, thecope?
I mean, obviously the obviousanswer is Bolton, like, maybe
Moraydon, but, like, I don'tknow, I wonder if there's some,
like, higher level, like, oh, Imight be

Liam (01:19:49):
Dude, they haven't seen Drick play Drago, bro.
Like, no, I'm so serious, bro.
If you play against bad Dragoplayers, the deck is going to
seem terrible.
Like, you literally, you couldbeat, like, maybe, like, half
the players who play Regi Dragoat a given event by literally
just, like, CC or like a bossafter they like do their attack,
right?
Like that's like actually like avery real win con.

(01:20:11):
It's like a surprising number ofDraco 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 literallynothing that can beat that.
I can't, I can't do anything.
He's going to get me no matterwhat.
Um, and like,

Abaan (01:20:27):
this is actually unprecedented numbers of Drake
plays.
I don't know if I'm gonna leavethis all in.

Henry (01:20:30):
like,

Abaan (01:20:31):
This is actually insane.
Like, every conversation islike, somehow

Henry (01:20:33):
like, most V Star holding people, but before we Before we
even talked to Drick, like, weknew that, like, Drick was,
like, very aggressively supposed

Liam (01:20:39):
this is exactly what we talked about earlier, bro.
Every single person, they thinkthey'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 (01:20:50):
Dude, is Drake gonna pay or something?
Like, I feel like Drake couldjust like, like, some people
might listen to this pod, hecould 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 (01:21:03):
I'm pro, and like, you probably should join too.
Yeah,

Abaan (01:21:10):
Maybe three times?

Liam (01:21:12):
bro, I like, bro, I mean, I, there's nothing I love more
than, uh,

Abaan (01:21:17):
Drake.

Liam (01:21:18):
an incredible, an incredible kid.
I've incredibly played the gameof Pokemon, and like, every time
I watch Drek It's right there.
It's like the consistency inwhich he delivers brilliancy is,
is, uh, incredible.
I like, similar to Tork.

Henry (01:21:34):
bad this guy ties every so he crashes out.
GG's.

Abaan (01:21:38):
That is true, that's like the format, the thing is like, I
never thought this about someonebefore until like Drake where
it's like, damn, if you'replaying untimed His results
would look like so insanelydifferent.
he's going to like X one four ateverything type shit, like
currently

Liam (01:21:53):
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 timeafter he takes like a, a long
think, he comes out withsomething that like, I would
have never thought of in like amillion years, bro.
Like, he's so good.

Abaan (01:22:08):
I wonder like, not to get too deep into this, but like, I
wonder if that likepsychologically though, like
knowing that if like the an, thereal answer is out there.
Like, does that actually hurtyour tournament play?
Like play, like, I'm, I feellike Drake does think, like
during events, like I, I, I feellike I'm like kind of like a non
thinker, which is like,definitely not the best, but
like I, I think it's likethere's like a middle ground.

Henry (01:22:29):
I know what really funny the way you phrased it, like, he
thinks during the

Abaan (01:22:32):
Okay, sure, no.

Henry (01:22:34):
you know, I know it's like, not the best, but

Abaan (01:22:37):
No, no.
I thought, like, I thought youwere a fellow non thinker.
You're just your non thoughtsare better than my non thoughts.

Henry (01:22:42):
I think that is oversimplifying it a little bit.
Like, I,

Abaan (01:22:46):
Yeah, of course, of course.
I mean, obviously everyone isfucking playing the game they're
thinking, but like, think, like,I don't know.

Henry (01:22:54):
Like, I tell you that, like,

Abaan (01:22:55):
There's, like,

Liam (01:22:55):
Dude, I

Henry (01:22:56):
and stuff like that.
Like, I'm

Abaan (01:22:57):
right?

Henry (01:22:58):
it a lot of the time.
I don't think it's worth it.
Time wise.
But, in terms of like actualgame planning, I'm generally in
the lap.
Like, actually, yeah.

Liam (01:23:08):
Yeah, bro, dude, difference between me in
tournament and me on TCU, I'vebeen trying to get better about
it, but like, actively, like,trying to force myself to think
instead of just, like, goingthrough the motions, bro.
But, like, when I'm intournament, 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 veryoften, but when I do, I'm like,
damn, bro, you actually, you'relike, in there, bro.
No cap.

(01:23:28):
No self glaze, too.
No self glaze, too.
Like, we're talking about adifferent Liam, bro.
We're talking about a differentLiam.
Oh, no self glaze, thank god.

Abaan (01:23:36):
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 (01:23:45):
god.
No, but like, bro, I, I'mserious though, I like, it's
like I'm like, I'm so presentwhen I'm playing in, in
tournament, and I'm not, I'mquite as present when I'm
playing on, like, TCG Live.

Henry (01:23:58):
definitely play better in tournaments.
We had this

Abaan (01:24:00):
mean, like, do you guys not think, like, there's so
many, there's like ten actionsyou have to make that are like,
you just have to make them, Idon't know, like, you're just
going, like, I don't know, Ithink that like, the best play
is like, typically just like, Ifyou 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 (01:24:16):
between tournament versus like ladder is like when I'm
doing these like garbageactions, I'm actually thinking
about the game plan as opposedto like scrolling on my phone or
something like that, right?

Liam (01:24:26):
Yeah, bro, like, no, yeah, bro, like, I feel like, even
once I get to, like, Yeah, theselike, um, you know, going
through the motion phase, Ilike, I'm like picturing the end
board state.
Like, I like, I'm like veryactively just like, I like,

Abaan (01:24:42):
What

Liam (01:24:42):
I'm like calculating it all the way out, bro.
Like,

Abaan (01:24:46):
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 tolike, 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 (01:24:59):
I mean, we know this from our book Blink, right?
This is like There's some merithere.

Abaan (01:25:07):
I don't know, yeah, I think I oversimplify by saying I
don't think, but like, I don'tknow, I think there's like,
definitely overthinking what'spossible when you

Liam (01:25:12):
I definitely do like a lot of deep things during
tournaments though, right?
Like, just like,

Henry (01:25:16):
I don't know if

Liam (01:25:16):
take like a minute or two and just like,

Henry (01:25:18):
It's, like, hard

Abaan (01:25:21):
I know one

Liam (01:25:21):
I think I've definitely, I've definitely missed.

Abaan (01:25:23):
of SAC, I overcooked, like, super hard.
I was, like, so clearly supposedto kill Charmeleon, and I just,
like, overcooked.
I was like, what if he gets thePidgeot out and does this and
that?
I was like, oh my god, I'm suchan 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 otherstuff, too, but he, of course,
had all of it, so,

Henry (01:25:42):
yeah, well, that's how we've all been there.
But, like, yeah, the Zardots arepretty good in these kind of
spots, I feel like.

Abaan (01:25:51):
Yeah.
Anyways, do we have anythingelse we want to talk about?
I guess we didn't really getinto Birmingham, but I feel like
we don't really have that muchto say about it.
It's like the same

Liam (01:25:57):
Yeah, like you should be able to pick up a lot of our
thoughts through the From likethis entire episode, right?
Like, um, I'm probably justgonna run like a Dixie, I don't
know, maybe I'll, maybe I'll tryto make this pitch out deck
work.
Like, just on principle, butlike

Abaan (01:26:10):
yeah, and then afterwards like EF86 and I will be running
the EF8060, EF860, you

Liam (01:26:16):
e, FA 60?
Yes.

Henry (01:26:18):
Yeah, that's

Abaan (01:26:19):
good luck.

Henry (01:26:20):
yeah.

Liam (01:26:20):
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 thetwo for sure.

Abaan (01:26:26):
also I don't think we can like promise more regular
episodes because like, justknowing us, like, that's not
like, it's

Liam (01:26:32):
We we're not built for these kinds of, uh, occasions.
Uh huh.
Yeah, so I gotta think aboutwhat the genie of the moment is.
Is it

Abaan (01:26:38):
plan, but I think we're gonna have an episode definitely
between Birmingham and SanAntonio, like going over Liam's
run and like what to do for SanAntonio,

Henry (01:26:44):
over

Abaan (01:26:45):
um, yeah,

Henry (01:26:46):
Oh my god, I cannot wait.
I cannot

Abaan (01:26:48):
yeah,

Henry (01:26:49):
I and Kooser are gonna be there, bro.
You better watch out.

Liam (01:26:54):
Drixti time?
It's definitely not the EF86time.
Um,

Henry (01:27:00):
don't even understand, bro.
Like,

Liam (01:27:01):
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 (01:27:07):
three Colville, bro.
GG's.
Or play Turbo.

Liam (01:27:10):
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 buildearlier, bro, because every time
I start that guy, I'm like,ooooh.
So good.

Henry (01:27:22):
don't do that.
Do not do that.
Viewers at home, do not do

Liam (01:27:25):
Yeah.
Yeah, I know, bro.
Like, I, I don't know what, whatother, like, high impact cards I
can, I can add to, like, help,help this, like, draw Arvin on
turn one, bro.

Henry (01:27:38):
Yeah, yeah, I agree, I agree.

Abaan (01:27:40):
Alright, anyways, Liam, I think we should probably wrap it
up.

Liam (01:27:45):
All right.
Uh, bye, Drick, if you'relistening.
Like, bye.

Abaan (01:27:50):
just see Jon Paul's outro, bro, like, what are we

Liam (01:27:52):
Oh, pause our outro.
I'll pause our outro.

Abaan (01:27:54):
what the hell?
Okay, bye.