What in the Worlds? Bad title, sweet pod! Guaranteed!

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (00:05):
It's the only podcast about the
Pokemon Trading Card Game, it'sthe Trashalach attendance is
133%, Ebon, Cam, Liam, me, BrentHalliburton, I know you people
have missed my sultry voicebecause people were saying, hey
Brent, when's Mike gonna be backon the pod?
To me, like, all week.
I don't know about the Mikething, but when I told Mike that

(00:26):
you guys were saying that, hewas like, that's super
interesting, I have a cryingbaby, I'll talk to you later.
So, that's that's what's goingon with that.
Oh, you know, totally relatedbut not unrelated, you guys saw
that we had like first fatherand son, you know, it's not the
first father and son to qualifyfor Worlds together, but Diego

(00:47):
Casaraga and his son both playedin the World Championship, which
was like totally dope.
I think it was the first timethat the dad preceded the child
into Pokemon, but obviouslythat's coming.
It's coming, it's the future.
Let's see.
We're on Twitter.
I've not checked if we had anynew 5 star reviews since I last
looked, but if you leave a 5star review, we will read it on

(01:09):
the pod.
It's a thing people do, andevery other podcast says when
people leave reviews, it somehowhelps them in some way.
So it probably would help ustoo, we would appreciate it.
Speaking of helping, DragonShield, they are the sleeve of
choice.
We love Dragon Shields becausewe put our cards in them and
then they shuffle better.
Guys, Hawaii, it was great.
Any, any top level world'sreactions?

(01:30):
Let Before we, like, grindthrough a whole list of world's
reactions.

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-2024 (01:36):
I guess my initial thought is, I
still don't think Thorns is agood deck, even after it won.
I think, like, it's Dragomatchup is like, it's just not
good.
Like, the Ian Robb match aside,like, I was already thinking,
leading up to Worlds, like, Iwas, like, kind of, like,
leading towards playing Thornsmyself, until I just kept
playing the Drago matchup andkept losing in the exact fashion
we, like, saw on stream.

(01:57):
And, like, the Goudra, theGoudra just makes it look nice.
Like, you can just attack withDragapult, just, and, like, win
just as easily, right?
Like, the Goudra just makes it,like, Even more confirmed that
you're gonna win.
So like, I don't know I, I don'tthink this deck is real.
I think that guy kind of got alittle lucky, unfortunate.
And and the situation I'm surewe'll get into later too, right,
helped out.
No,

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (02:25):
went on, kinda like, the matchup got
worse and worse and worse forThorns.

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (02:31):
Guys, I think Cifuentes made it look
like he did virtually nothingand still won.

squadcaster-aafb_1_08-20-2 (02:36):
Yep,

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (02:37):
All right, guys, that's all.
That's virtually

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-20 (02:43):
but this, that was, eye opening.
If I ever lose like a match onstream, I'm like, I'm not
leaving the venue or anything.
I'll just, I'll wait it out.

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (02:52):
All right yeah, so any, any reaction
to the finals besides Thorn'snot a real deck?
I, I, although I'm on that, I,I, I feel it.
Alright, anything, anything, Idon't know if the Ian Robb
thing, like, if it's even worthcommenting about.
Is there anything anyone wantsto say about Ian that is, like,
getting off their chest?

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-2024 (03:11):
I think just the slightest thing
is, I think it's a horribleprecedent that they can just
reverse, like, matches that havebeen finished.
Like, I think that's my biggest,like, complaint.
It's like, it's one thing if hejust, like, lost his top 4 match
because of it.
That, I guess that's, like,consistent with things that
they're, like, allowed to do.
But, like, to, like, to revertit, like, just, what next?

(03:33):
Like, any match that is lost,can it be reverted, like, after
the fact?
Like, I don't know, it's justcrazy, like, I think, like, if
we're gonna, like, print outthousands of matchlips every
tournament, then they have tomean something, right?
Like, it can't be, it can't haveit both ways.

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (03:47):
my 5 second take was that that take
is completely incorrect andeverybody making that take.
Low IQ.
I was gonna say I think it'swonderful that matches can be
reverted now, this is an amazingprecedent, like, I, I, like,
genuinely, because if it turnsout my opponent was stacking
against me, you know, a videogoes online, and I lost to them,

(04:09):
they were stacking though, and Iwas gonna win if they didn't
stack.
I would've loved it for them torevert it.
Like, I think revert is makes somuch more sense than give the
next opponent a win.
Like, give me the win, bro.
I I think that's lit.
So, I'm all for that precedent.

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20- (04:24):
don't know, I, would, I would be more
down if, like, Noah didn't justget, like, ban or, like, a DQ
for, like, stacking, and thenpeople after the tournament was
like actually, like, I don'tthink he was stacking, like,
clearly they can't even tell ifyou're stacking or not, so,
like, just let the, like, justlet the match stand, right?

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (04:38):
Dude, dude, I think, I

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (04:39):
Well, I dude, like,

brent_1_08-20-2024_18064 (04:40):
proves otherwise.
There's definitely ways you canprove somebody was stacking.
There's definitely ways.

It's not guaranteed.
No,

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (04:48):
Aban, I feel like that that argument
doesn't really, like, it's moreof a defense of, like, you
shouldn't have the penalty, thenthe penalty should get applied
to the next person.
Instead of Henry getting thewin, it should be Andy Gantner
just picking up the free Wbecause Noah was stacking.
Right?
Like, I feel like it would makemore sense if you were going to

(05:09):
apply the penalty, apply it onthe match that it changed, as
opposed to like, you got stackedagainst, you're out of the
tournament, but the next guy, hegot a free

no, no, no, no, no, That's way
different because Ian, theysigned the slip and he did that.
Like, that, that does, that doesnot affect his match.
That does, oh, he got like anadvantage against Against him
because

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (05:30):
No.
yeah, yeah, I think

it should not apply to that match.
It should not because he alreadywon and he didn't do anything.
I was gonna say gross.
You know that, that's up fordebate.
But like in, in terms of gamewas gonna say in terms of like
gameplay to cheat.
himself into a win so that matchshould should absolutely count
and i do not like reversingbecause i know that you're

(05:53):
looking at it one way thatsomeone can cheat and oh they
get caught first of all no oneever really gets caught somehow
some guy had a camera on somecheater this time that's amazing
bro had amazing foresight butlike what really happens is A
match goes to a tie, the judgewalks away with the thing, and a
top player pressures a newplayer into conceding to them at

(06:17):
6 2 1.
And then the match is resolved,and the match changes because,
oh, we're allowing that tohappen?
That's, that's the more likelything to happen.
Is that a new player getspressured the second that they
walk away.
I'm telling you, it happens allthe time.
And if you can revert it, itbecomes even worse.

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-2024 (06:36):
I mean, like, I'm not sure if I'm
supposed to talk about this onthe pod, but like, didn't
Polaris have something like thathappen to him, like, at
Pittsburgh, like, at the startof the year?
Like, he,

So, no, no, no, but that was
different.

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08- (06:45):
supposed to scoop, and then it, he, like,
they played, and then hisopponent, like, everyone was
like, yo, why didn't you scoopto Polaris?
And then

squadcaster-aafb_1_08-20- (06:51):
Yeah, essentially, and then, and then
he, and Polaris didn't sign thematch slip, or he signed the
match slip without the resultbeing marked.
And he walked away, because he'slike, it's over, and then the
guy circled win for Polaris.
But still, like, that'sdifferent, like, he didn't get
pressured in, and he just signedit and walked away.
But it's different if, like,it's a tie, and I try to

(07:13):
convince the opponent, like, Ihave it, or, hey, come on, like,

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20- (07:17):
Yeah, I'm just saying that's, that
situation is like one step awayfrom like the problem situation
that you're like talking about,right?
Like what actually happened withPolaris there, like,

yeah, yeah, yeah.

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-2 (07:26):
away from like what we don't want.
Like, people like, exactly,like,

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (07:32):
you

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20- (07:32):
being like after

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (07:33):
am happy for Ian because my
impression is that could havebeen ruled a DQ and they kind of
de escalated it a little andlike DQing him because he's dumb
seems like a little too harsh soI'm glad they they de escalated
for dumbness

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-2024 (07:50):
I think at that point, it's such
so much money, like, you can getlike into like you can get into
like some legal situation,right?
Like, then like, I don't know, Ithink Pokemon just didn't
thought that would be souncomfortable trying to like,
deal with that situation.
They were like, at least givehim his top eight money, and
like, try to like yeah,

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (08:05):
right right yeah so like like it's
fair for them to say like I Ican understand them being like
well we don't want to DQ him intop four because like then it's
like free top four money for himI mean I you know it's weird

I think

brent_1_08-20-202 (08:20):
undocumented, but it was like a de escalation,
so I'm

I really think that's what
happened.
In my opinion, and I have no wayof confirming this, I think that
they put it in a top 8 matchloss instead of a top 4 is
because in their mind, theydidn't like what they saw, and
so they were like, We don't wantto give him 5, 000 more for
that.

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (08:42):
I don't know, that might be giving
the judges too much credit toactually like, have them
thinking about the money in themoment, instead of like, how
people are gonna flip out.
So

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (08:52):
Yeah, I don't

mean, there's

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (08:53):
money was their concern there,

squadcaster-aafb_1_08-2 (08:54):
There's a there's a I mean, they just
don't want him to get rewardedfor that.
Because I think there was a lotof people who saw that, right?
Like, there's a lot of pokeofficial Pokemon people in the
crowd watching, and like, that'snot potentially not a very good
look, right?
On a lot of levels.

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (09:10):
for sure.

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-2 (09:10):
believe he admitted it.
Did you guys see that?
On the like, apparently AndrewMahone talked to him privately,

brent_1_08-20-2024_180 (09:14):
already, we've already talked about Ian
and Rob too much.
We, We, gotta move on, we gottamove on guys.
Alright, so the next question onmy list is, Day 1 metashare, day
2 metashare, top 8 composition,any surprises for you guys
relative to what you expected asyou were gameplanning worlds?

Nope, GuardiaN out of the top 3
everything I expected from themeta, that's all I know.

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-20 (09:39):
But like, the crazy thing was, like,
no Zard in top 8.
Like, that was I thought Like,the meta seemed so ripe for
Zard.
Like, sure, Drago was, like,absurd.
But I assume that the topplayers are gonna have some,
like, genius answer to Drago intheir Zard list.
And then, like, every othermatchup is, like, completely
free.
Like, all, like, Bolt, Maridon,like, the Dark deck.

(10:00):
Even Thorns, I'm sure, like, Ithought Pedra's answer of, like
Fluttermane, like, We actuallyhad one of our locals suggest
that and I was pretty fli like,dismissive, but after thinking
about it more and like, seeinglike, you know, just seeing the
correct answer now that we sawAzevedo and Pedro did it, like,
that seemed like a good answerfor Thorns.
Like, I don't know, I just findit shocking that none of them
got sweeped in.
Like, Tori got 10th.

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (10:22):
Yeah, I mean, Tord, I think Tord was
like Like X12 or something,right?
Like, he was, he was he was veryclose, right?

I don't know if he, I don't know
if he, like, I don't know if itwas, like, close like he was on
win and ins.
I think it was close because hetied early in the round and then
he won out, so.

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (10:38):
yeah, Yeah, that, that was the

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-2024 (10:40):
a he tied a 60 card mirror day one
to Jesper.
Or Jesper, I don't even know howto say it.

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (10:46):
Yeah.

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-20 (10:47):
And then, yeah, I think that started
his tournament on a bad run.
You couldn't really have, youcouldn't make too many mistakes
in this world, right?
Like, X1 2, like, that's threemistakes.
One, one's a tie to histeammate, or not teammate, like,
someone who's playing the samelist somehow.
And then, like, one more naturaltie, and then you only have one
loss to give, right?
Gets out of hand fast.

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (11:06):
Yeah, yeah

I

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (11:07):
I, I thought towards

I've flopped, I don't know, like,
another one that's surprising,and that's now flopped, I know
that Rahul was on the ASIM andmissed, but it's like, two back
to back events, and I know maybeit's because it did get hyped,
but like, Lugia was the deck tobeat going into NAIC, and then
Lugia was like, talked about aspotentially the answer for

(11:34):
Arceus, Like this meta like acouple weeks before heading into
worlds and then just no top 8appearances either time And only
one top 16 probably in eitherevent.
So kind of

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-20 (11:50):
And Rahul's list was, was super
based.
I was talking to Victor aboutit, because Victor was playing
the same list.
The 1 1 Chinchito.
I liked the Raikou, I think thatwas cute.
I think,

What is that for a mirror?

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-2 (12:00):
It's it's for mirror and it's also
just like, I feel like my

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (12:03):
It's like an efficient attacker,

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20- (12:05):
Yeah, I my own theory is like, you
just don't have energies, bro.
Like, it's so nice to like, havesomething clean that like, you
just attach, use one of theArcheops and then Archeops
somewhere else, right?
For like, weirder later.

Oh,

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (12:15):
I thought, I thought it was super
cool.

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20- (12:18):
Like, that list is just base.
Like, I think the standard Lugialist will literally never be
good.
I don't know why people keeplike, trying to jam it.
It just does not work.
Like, it has no good matchups.
Like, the deck just doesn't workafter like Two turns.
You just can't find anything,right?

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (12:34):
Yeah, I mean, yeah, it takes too much
energy, and it, like, Like, evenenergy aside, you already have
this massive question of like,do I need this much single price
firepower?
The consistency trade off isenormous, and then like, you
can't even use all the singleprice firepower that you add
some games?

(12:54):
It's like, crazy.

yeah, you can run out of energy quick
Rahul got close.
So didn't

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-20 (12:57):
You can run out of energy.
You can draw the awkward handswhere you see the cinchinos
before the minchinos and youresearch them.
Like, you don't have a Pokemonrecovery.
Like, literally, like, athousand things can go wrong
when you're playing that deck.
And, like, I don't know, theonly Lugia I lost to at the
event was the one who cut thecinchinos because their deck
just worked and they just got mein two.
I was like, oh my god, aren'tyou supposed to, like, break or
something?
Like, what is going on?

(13:18):
He's, like, attacking me on two.

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (13:21):
Yeah, I feel like some of the like, oh
Lugia's a good play, Lugia's agood play, is the like, well
somebody surely will highrolltheir way to incredible success
with Lugia, and like maybe justnot enough players played it for
a good reason.
For like, and not enough goodplayers played it, for people
to, like, high roll their way toincredible

O2

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (13:39):
got super close.

squadcaster-aafb_1_0 (13:40):
Especially starting O2 or something

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (13:42):
Yeah, yeah.

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-20 (13:43):
No, that was the move.
That dodges the Thorns cleanly.
Like, that was genius by him.

You don't think there's any thorns
in the weeds at all?
They're all, they're all doingwell?
Not, not at

brent_1_08-20-2024_1806 (13:52):
They're all

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-2 (13:53):
all, they're not all doing well.
They all just have some wins.
Like, they all are just like X11or something random.
Like, their O2?
bracket was Thorns free,apparently.

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (14:02):
I Yeah, like, the entire entire
group that Mike and I are a partof, like, Besides Kieran and I
played, played Iron Thorns, Ithink, and all of them started
off like amazing, bro.
I was like, so surprised.
The

Doesn't take much.

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (14:16):
I thought Thorns was just like, I
guess like the move.
One of the guys literally beatlike three Guardians.
Like, I don't even know howthat's possible, but he's like,
yeah,

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20- (14:25):
Chow.
Yeah, rough.
That was a

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (14:28):
like,

you bro,

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (14:29):
he's like, three Guardi, bro!

for Lost City, you just start
hitting, you start lost zoningthings, They freak out, they
lose the flutter main, oh,

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (14:36):
Yeah,

spicy real quick.

liam_1_08-20-2024_1806 (14:39):
Somehow, bro, and they're like, yeah,
like, these guys are like, XO,X1, and like, oh, dude, I just
farmed another Guardi, and I'mlike, what?! I guess, yeah, the
one that's at the top tables,bro.

I mean, that's the deck, right?
Like, I know that you guys, andif you do play it very, very
well, like, yeah, this should befree for Guardi, but like, with
people cutting down, like, toone Fluttermane, like, and maybe
one Clefki, it's like, ooh, itstarts to get real, real close,
real tight, real quick, and thenyou're like, ah, ooh, maybe,
maybe it's not as good as Ithought.

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (15:12):
Yeah, the aggressive Lost City gang is
like, hard for Guardi to dealwith, just like, in general,
right?

And then also, like, if you don't
know you're playing againstThorns, like, if you open the
Clefki or Fluttermane, you'relike, oh yeah, I'll just start
it, and then you're like, oh,shoot.
I might, I might just lose it onthe spot right here my bad.

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-2024 (15:29):
I think that's the deceptive part
about Thorns is it's actually sofast.
Like, it really just takes,like, your top ten cards, like,
they mulligan maybe once, or,like, if they get, like, a lucky
hand, they just don't mulligan,or once or twice, and you just,
like, have, like, a badassortment of cards, like, the
game is over within, like, threeor four turns, because they're
actually hitting you for, like,120, and they're never, like,
missing attacks, like, there'sno stalling the Thorns from

(15:49):
just, like, hitting for 120every single turn.
Like, their deck is just so,

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (15:53):
Yeah, and they're like,

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-2 (15:54):
core thing.

liam_1_08-20-2024_18064 (15:56):
they're gusting whatever they want to,
right?
So they're like, they, if theyget like three, four attacks
off, they just like instantlywin the game, right?
Because you know, they're goingto go like, gus, gus, finish the
game off, like, just like that,right?

Something else that I think just hurt
their matchup for Guardi islike, I think a lot of them cut
Hammer.
Hammer helps a lot in thatmatchup.

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (16:15):
Yes.
Yes.

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-2 (16:24):
better, but like, the Legacy Energy
build, it gets you sometimes,like, trying to kill four
Thorns, like, I thought that wasso clearly suboptimal than
having Prime Catcher, but like,it's hard to argue with, like,
when I was playing against it,like,

And then

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-2024 (16:38):
I ran into had it,

I thought, I thought it was fake,
and then I played against it andit beat me and I realized it
wasn't so fake.

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-20 (16:44):
No, it was still fake, it was still
fake, but he got me.

I was just faker than him.
My deck was just faker than his.
It's all good.

brent_1_08-20-2024_1806 (16:56):
Alright guys, what about, what do you
guys think of the new format of,like, no day one?
Like, everything's day one?
Or,

I, I

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (17:02):
Bless up, bro.
Bless up.

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (17:05):
Yeah, it's really really good, right?
It's really good.
no question.
Okay, just making sure.
just making sure.
hahahahahahaha

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-202 (17:14):
1, I mean, I went 7 1, and like, if
they just erased it and told meI had to start over, that'd
suck.
Like It's nice to, like, berewarded for finishing, like,
getting your six wins earlierthan, like, round eight, you
know?
Yeah,

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (17:27):
only that, after they erase it, they
also tell you, bro, like, halfof the players tomorrow, they're
gonna change their list andthey're gonna be ready for you
because they just saw your 60.
Like, it's like actually socooked if you if you come in
from day one in this, like, twoday structure.
You're faked, bro.

I like it for a different reason.
I just like it because, youknow, it could happen to anyone.
I just, when you just see like atop 16 player go 0 4 and not
make Day 2, oh It's

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20 (17:56):
hates, like, Grenaphy or

No, no, I just like it.
It's not just because of GrantManley.
Like, it happened to people lastyear too, in Day 2.
And, it's just like, it's just

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (18:06):
Shema loves it.

it's a burn, right?
Like, it sucks.

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (18:10):
I mean, hey, I recognize Worlds is
hard, man.
Like, everybody who's in day onebombed.
Like, there's just people thatbombed, right?

Yeah,

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (18:19):
in day two, they bombed.
Worlds is a super hardtournament.

yeah, yeah

brent_1_08-20-2024_180 (18:22):
alright, let's, let's, let's, let's I
have a couple of thoughts, butany thoughts on swag and or the
Pokemon Center for you guys?

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (18:33):
Nah, bro.

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-202 (18:34):
I, have no thoughts.
I didn't even open up my kit,I'm not gonna lie.
I didn't go to the center.
I had the backpack, like, in myroom.
I didn't even open up the kit.

back to back years I'm not going into
the Pokemon Center at all,didn't even make the reservation
this year, I don't care aboutthat shit.

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (18:48):
You guys, you guys save yourself
some heartbreak.
Let me tell you the best thingabout the new Worlds format.
If they don't take advantage ofthe fact that there's only like,
300 competitors who qualify forWorlds next year across all the
age divisions, and give thosepeople some advanced access to
the Pokemon Center, it's a crimeagainst humanity.
It is a crime against humanity.

(19:10):
The fact that for your averagecompetitor, there was absolutely
no hope of them getting aukulele or a skateboard, and
meanwhile there are scalpers whoare selling the skateboards for
like 900 online, like, 15minutes after the Pokemon Center
opens.
It's a crime against humanity,and there's absolutely no
justice.

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20- (19:30):
Wait, Brent, how long have you been in
the game?
Because I started in 2013, thatwas my first Worlds, and that
used to be a thing.
I have no clue when they took itaway.
Like, I remember like, doingthat all the

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (19:39):
I remember, like, competitors got
early access to the PokemonCenter, and it was awesome.
And, like, I think theyessentially stopped it coming
out of COVID.
And, like, London, like, whatthey did was, they were like,
you guys get some, like,preferential access where you
can go in instead of having tobook a time, you can kind of go
in anytime you want.

(20:01):
But you couldn't really go inanytime you wanted.
Like, that's crazy.

giving access to, to the content
creators, like, you know, I knowsome of them, like, they're fine
people, like, nothing againstthem, it is like, the event is
made by the competitors, like,it should, you know, like, they
should

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (20:21):
It, it, it just felt, to me,
frankly, and, like, it's, it's,I almost feel bad saying it, but
it's how I feel, so it'stherefore true.
It's a slap in the face when thecontent creators, and the whole
point is they're contentcreators, so they have better
distribution than everyone else.
So everyone sees them postingand they're posting, got a

(20:41):
ukulele, got a skateboard, likegot all this awesome stuff.
And the whole point is evenpeople who qualified for PO for
the World Championship cannotget that stuff.
Only they can get that stuff andthey're like, bless up Pokemon
the World Championship's.
Awesome.
Got all this crazy swag.
And that swag is not available.

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-20 (21:01):
And it's like, content creators who
are not even like, Pokemonadjacent.
Like, they literally just like,people who create content, who
are

brent_1_08-20-2024_18064 (21:06):
people with distribution, right?

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-2 (21:08):
and, and like, back in the day, it
was so, like, there were, like,the store was filled with stuff,
like, you could buy, like, threecopies of everything, and now
it's, like, if, I didn't even, Icouldn't even dream that I was
gonna go, because I was like,bro, I'm not gonna sit there for
two hours, like, I want to play,like, games, like, I'm not gonna
sit in line that long.

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (21:23):
Yeah.
I mean, all, like, the, theworld's mats, those were not,
like, when I, when I got in, Iwent in on Thursday at 1 o'clock
was my slot.
So like, like, the first day,the first slot that was
available to me when I wasbooking literally 30 seconds
after the start like, when, whenit opened, you know, and, and
the whole registration thing wastotally screwed up and everyone

(21:44):
had technical issues and allthat stuff.
I was one of those people, butlike, the first day, the first
slot that was available to me,no mats, no deck boxes, no
sleeves, no ukuleles, noskateboards, and we have a
skateboard from every yearpreviously that they had
skateboards, like, we have awall of skateboards, like, we

(22:05):
don't keep them in the box, wedon't resell it, and like, the
fact that that's not availableto us, it's totally lame, it
sucks so much.
Anyway, feels super bad, man,like, that's, My son's got a
wall of skateboards, and wedon't have we don't have a
skateboard for this year becausescalpers be selling skateboards
for 900 on eBay now.

did anyone come through?

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (22:27):
No.
No.

No?
Let me, I, I, I'm not sayingit'll come through.
Let me, let me see it.
Let me ask some people.

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (22:32):
Yeah, I'd appreciate it, because it's
it's totally lame.
Alright, guys, I think we shoulddeep dive on people's world
runs.
I don't know if I have to say,like, next week, but, like, we
want to try and get through themcrisply, but everybody did good
except for Liam.
Ha ha ha ha ha

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20- (22:49):
Damn.

let's start off with the exiled from
Aura Islands.

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-2 (22:54):
Wow.

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (22:55):
Dude

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (22:55):
able to tell your story quick.

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (22:57):
no, I, I knew my, I know my run's the
shortest, but I figured weshould go in the the order of
saltiness, because that's

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-2 (23:03):
Does that

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (23:03):
are you not

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-202 (23:04):
am I first, or what?

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (23:06):
No, I think, I think Shanoi's first.
I think, I think he's the, he'sthe only one who came home from
this happy, bro.

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-20 (23:11):
Oh, oh, order of saltiness, like
reverse

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (23:13):
want to end on the oh, you want to
end

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-20 (23:15):
Oh.
Oh,

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (23:15):
yes,

You wanna end with the Saltiest

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-20 (23:17):
are you saltier than me, though,
Liam?
That's the real question.

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (23:21):
yes, yes?

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-20 (23:23):
can go salt for salt with you.
There's no way, bro.

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (23:25):
Yeah, no, no, we definitely, I think
it's, it's, definitely the TrashLantern, every podcast tradition
that Cam did the best, he getsto end, we get to end on who did
the best.
Like, you gotta keep thesuspense going.

Yeah, we, we, we sw, we swept my
ancient box front under the rug.
When, when Leo went it was like,it was like a, it was like a two
second footnote.
No, I'm

brent_1_08-20-2024_18064 (23:47):
Liam's like, I wanna end.
I gotta end it.
Tell me what it

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-2024 (23:50):
I mean,

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (23:51):
you gotta start, Liam.

squadcaster-7cb0_1 (23:52):
technically, but like, I was like, in
contention for Cash longer, so Ifeel like I should be able to
end, actually, now that that'sthe metric.

Oh my God.

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (24:01):
you objectively

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (24:03):
Abaza, real talk here, bro.
That is real talk.
If you'll notice, all of myTwitter posts, I do what round
you're out by.
That's my metric.
The ultimate metric, What?
round you're out of contentionto win by.

brent_1_08-20-2024_180 (24:18):
alright.
Give it to us, Liam.
Give us your tale.

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (24:22):
Okay, yeah, I mean, it's pretty short.
Round one, I hit a mirror, and Ikind of just hit.
I think I like, bricked one ofthe games.
Oh yeah, my deck worked, so Ilike, kind of ran them over.
Round two, I hit a Zard, andlike, this was like, maybe like,
the most unbelievable round forme.
Like, as soon as this happened,I was like, okay, not my event,
bro.
I like, both games, I don't openDrago B turn one, but I

(24:45):
basically go like, Ogre Pond,attach pass, but I had the Iona,
and I'm like, okay, so like,Rotom's coming down, and like,
you know, they're gonna Rotom,they're gonna have a 9 card
hand, but I'm good at Iono, andthen, if I don't bench, like, a
Mew EX you know, maybe I'll be,like, fine here, right?
Because it'll be hard for themto take two prizes.
I have to deal with this, like,long term Duskcloth like,
Duskull threat, but, you know,I'm gonna, I'm gonna make a pass

(25:07):
turn too, right?
And then, we'll see what happensfrom there.
But, no.
This guy, like, goes like,Brodom, no pre attach to the
Sealstone.
I don't even know why.
There's no pre attach to theSealstone, and I rip the Iono,
bench my Dragov, and I say, youknow, try to hit the Nuts.
Iono into Candy Pidge, CandyZard, Dusclops, CC, bro.
Like, it is unbelievable.

(25:29):
Unbelievable.
And one of the pieces wasgrabbed off the Pidget.
But, like, this was like a 6card combo off Iono to 6.
Like, what the heck, dude?
I I was not ready for this atall.
Yeah, dude runs me over I go toGame 2 very fast.
Literally, like, the same thinghappens.
Literally the same exact thing.
I I missed the Drago V turn 1, II ripped the Iono, because we

(25:51):
played 3 Iono, or like a 3Research, 3 Iono split in our
Drago list, I I've been standingby that for, like, a long time
because I think I think the turn2 Iono or, like, turn 1, turn 2
Iono when you're setting up is,like, the strongest supporter to
play it didn't matter.
It didn't save me, bro.
I, like The guy ripped this liketurn 2 Dusclops CC like twice in
a row on me.

(26:12):
Just unbelievable.
And there was no sealstone preattached both times, even though
of course they had the orb inturn 1, right, of course.
And there's no sealstone preattached, and I'm like, oh my
god.
Yeah, they just hit the nuts onme.
So that was round 2.
I was 1 1.
Round 3, I played, Yeah, anotherDragomir.
Yes, another Dragomir.
And this one, I like, I think Imissed the Dragov turn one games

(26:36):
one and games one and three.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, bro.
This one felt like terrible,bro.
I like, I actually, I managed towin game one.
And of course, you know, I, Iwent second, Dragomir, again.
But I managed to win game one,and I'm like, I'm like, feeling
good, I'm like, dude, I, I gotmy steal.
Like, I was going second, and Iwon this one, I, I was able to
steal one, bro, like, we're in agood spot.

(26:58):
I lost game two, and yeah, I, Ijust got like, kinda ran over.
Then game three, I just opened,like, hard brick, bro.
Just like, open, no Dragov, noOgrepon, nothing.
I like, flip over the RadiantGardevoir and just like, pass.
This guy literally, to beat me,two shots going first, and then

(27:18):
they have the round.
Like, they had to win one gamegoing first, and then I just
like, roll over Game 3.
Like, ugh, it hurts so bad, bro.
I like, I like almost managed toget there, but I was like, in a
bad spot.
I fell behind like pretty fastin Game 3.
And, yeah, so, I lost that roundas well, and I was 1 2.

(27:43):
I think like, I might have beenable to close out Game 3, if I
like, I just, I did miracles,bro.
I like, I had to do like, evenmore miracles than the miracles
I was like, already performing,but, yeah.
Round 4, I hit a Zard, and I, Ikinda just hit them nuts, like,
no V Star turn 2.
And this one, like, again, thisguy, like, the Iono was
sticking, bro.

(28:03):
I like, had no confidence inhim, but I was like, rip the
Iono, and then they go like,draw.
Instant Charge, I was like,yeah, yeah and so yeah, I was
hitting, and my deck likeworked, ran over him and then
round 5, I like, actually justlost by force, like it was like,
actually unbelievable, bothgames, I like game 1 I opened
like a little bit better, I gotlike, Ogre Pawn Attach, I didn't

(28:24):
see a Drago V either game, but Igot like Ogre Pawn Attach pass,

Matchup?

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (28:31):
oh, it was a mirror, it was a mirror.
I was going second, of coursebut then, yeah, so like, game
one I got ran over, and thengame two, I, like, didn't have a
single playable card.
Nice.
I went like Vessel, thinned mydeck, pass.
Oh, pass again.
And then like, even then, Istill have winning chances
because they pop the V Star andthey miss the switch and then

(28:52):
I'm like, Boss RadiantGardevoir.
Pass.
And like, if I topdeck Supporterthe next turn, I'm like,
actually, I actually have a realchance to win because they just
like, early V Star for zerovalue.
Nothing.
Nothing, bro.
Unbelievable stuff.
And yeah, that was my World'sRun.
Jesus Christ.

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (29:09):
All right, Iban, are you going to
give it to us?

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20- (29:11):
Yeah,

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (29:11):
The best run, apparently.
We're about to hear about thebest run.

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-2024 (29:15):
I think it was like, I don't know,
I thought it was like on parwith Shinoi's run.
At the very least, I didn't comeout of this world thinking like,
I did as good as all the otherWashington players.
Like, I think we all pretty muchdid in cash, but we all did
about that range.
I mean, not we all, but like thepeople in day two.
I think it's all prettycomparable.
But anyways, I was playingGoldango.
And if you're trying to ripGoldengo for the future, rip

(29:36):
Kobe and I's list, like, we putthe same 60 it's better than
Cameron's Cameron Kawasaki,like, every cut that Cameron
made is, like, completelytrolling, like, I don't know, I
don't even know, like, they didthe Kawasaki's, they, like,
they're from Hawaii, so whenthey landed, they they didn't
test, and, like, Kobe andCameron, Like, I told Kobe, just
play the list I'm testing.
Like, just play the 60.
And he trusted.
And Cameron's like, nah, Irefuse.
I'm playing Manaphy, Heavy Ball,and Roxanne over, like, the

(30:00):
three most go to cards on ourlist.
Like, Clefky, Tarot, and ThirdStop.
Like, man, those changes arejust terrible.
But, I mean, he went 9 3, so,who knows?
Maybe I'm wrong, but, I, I, Itrust.
Trust the Three Stop is reallygood.
And

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (30:14):
I'll vouch for that.

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-202 (30:16):
So anyways, my tournament.
So round 1, I'm playing againsta Japanese player, playing
Lugia.
Game 1, I get rolled by a 3 3Toshino, and I thought I won
when I killed the third rat,then he just drops Weirdeer and
knocks me out, and I was like Iguess I lose, right?
And then game 2, I roll himbecause I go first, I take a
Lugia B knockout on 2.
And then game 3, I mulligan 5times, and he still read the

(30:38):
wins on turn 2.
And like, he went first.
Five balls to hand, draw,attach, pass, and to read the
wind.
I can't even like, I don't evenunderstand what your hand
composition could possibly be.
He had like, he was like apretty, he was a younger player,
so he was like low keystruggling to hold how many
cards were in his hand after theread the wind.
And he couldn't, couldn't doanything.

(31:00):
I just knocked him out, rolledhim over.
And then round two, playedagainst a Raging Bull.
He ended up making Day 2 RossWarren, he's from the UK, and
when I played him, he's like, Itested Yell all the time, but
after, like, seeing Yell's list,after the fact, like, I bet,
like, I bet that's why he wasn'ton Goldango, cause Yell's list
is it's just, it's just notgood, like, it has Primecatcher,
it has a lot of other, like,issues, like, I think, Yell's

(31:24):
List, if you test against that,you'd get the impression that
Goldengo's not the move, youknow?
So, anyways, Game 1.
I don't, like, I just roll them,cause, you just, you just refuse
to bench a 2 prizer.
It doesn't matter what'shappening, like, your hand can
be terrible, just don't benchPalkia for insurance, don't
bench Paz preemptively, don't doanything, just sit there with as
many game eagles as possible,and don't evolve anything, don't

(31:46):
evolve Goldengo, don't doanything, let them take the
first prize, and then Play thegame, and, and hope you get the
knockout, and it's, it's, it'spretty good odds to get the
knockout, and the, and thelonger they're waiting, the more
you get to Greninja, the moreyou're ripping your stop, the
deeper you get, and obviously,there's an exception, like, if
you can knock out a two prizer,for sure, like, not speculative,
not like a catcher heads oranything, like, maybe play, you

(32:07):
can play the catcherpreemptively, for example, if
you rip heads, evolveeverything, knock them out.
But you need to take two.
Your first attack has to taketwo.
Or else you're gonna lose thegame.
So, I waited, he took a prize, Ipopped my Fez, took the
knockout, light work.
Game 2 my deck is terrible, soafter he took the knockout, I I
didn't see an energy off like 10cards.
And then I lost, and then game3, I rolled him.

(32:29):
Pretty standard.
And then round 3, playing asKobe, he was playing the best
Goldengo list in the tournament,so not much I could do.
You know, it's pretty flippy,who wins, you know.
50 50, he got me, so 2 1.
And then and then round four, Iplayed against a Lax, and I
actually had a very, very bigoversight going into this
tournament.
I kind of thought Klefki justlike auto won Lax, and then my

(32:51):
opponent, he attached a tool,and I was feeling really smug,
because I had the Klefki active,right?
And then he attached a mist, andI was like, oh, this completely
foiled my whole game plan, likeI thought I was going to be able
to Klefki pop the Ogre Pawn, andthen Palkia.
But luckily, like, he was underKlefki lock, but he never
pennied his Rotom, like, he justforgot or something, I have no
clue, so I just boss killed itat some point, killed the Rotom,

(33:13):
and then we went back towhatever, like, we were just
sitting there, and I Cologne'd,knocked out his Ogre Pawn, and
then It was pretty easy fromthere, like, if you get the
Rotom prize, You win the game,most of the time in that
matchup, and then game two, Iwon that game too fast, I won
that game in like 15 minutes,and then, And Game 2 doesn't
bench Rotom at all, and I Iplayed too scared.
I was like really trying tostall him out and 1 0 him, but

(33:34):
it took I had 35 minutes to likeget through, so it was it was
looking dicey, and I I used myswitch to get into Klefki,
thinking like, oh, that'll turnoff his Rotom, which will make
the game take longer.
But like, using my switch likethat was like Pretty terrible
because the next turn, heliterally just Miss Fortune
Sears my and then my hand islike, one card.
He like, Zerosis Like, my handgets a three, he Zerosics me, I
play a couple cards, and I'm atone card.

(33:55):
And he pass, I draw for turn,pass again, he Eeries me at two
cards, and I topped at Colognethat turn.
And I was like, I just discardthe Cologne.
I was like, what?
What is He I don't know if,like, maybe I have, like, a tell
or something, like, maybe myeyes, like, lit up, like, I
don't know, I have no clue,like, maybe I flashed my hand or
something,

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (34:12):
can hear your heart pounding, bro,
as soon as you rip that cologne.

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-2024 (34:15):
I have no clue how he knew, but I
had to discard Cologne, I'dalready lost Pat, I was like,
oh, no, I just lost a Kobe,like, am I gonna have to go 2 2,
and then, like, you know how,like, the last match was pretty
flippy, well, this match waseven flippier, because I had to,
like, not deck out with Sylenefor, like, damnit.
My opponent estimated it was 15.
I don't think it was that manySylenes, but I wouldn't, I

(34:36):
wouldn't, I can't lie, it mighthave been 15.
I, I just had to get, I couldnever double tails, because then
I would lose the pad, and Iwould just deck out.
And I just managed to keep,like, Sylening for pad, pad two
cards, doing that over and overagain for 35 minutes.
And I got a 1 0.
I think that matchup's actuallypretty good.
I think I kind of pe like, Ioverthought it because I was

(34:57):
trying to 1 0 him.
Like, if I didn't use my switchinto Klefki and just, like,
killed Snorlaxes when they cameup, I think I could get there
easier.
And I was actually I wasn'tdidn't have to purely 1 0 him.
If I got like, the game ended ina 1 0, but if if I flipped
another two heads on Seilene, Iactually had I had him.
Like, I could have taken all sixprizes,

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (35:13):
Dude, I saw that, bro.
You had like no energy left, soeven when you double heads on
one of them, you like, couldn't

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-2024 (35:18):
I had to grab Switch just to hit
him for 200 with Palkia and thenPalphad.
It was so bad.
I don't think I mismanaged thatthat hard.
The Mist fan is actually verypotent.
I thought, like, in my testing,I thought I was the only one
gonna be playing Mist, and Ialso just didn't consider it, so
I thought that, like, I wasalways gonna be able to Clefki
away all the tools, but when thefan stuck with the Mist the

(35:38):
energy just got stuck on myGoldango, and it was just a
hassle.
The Turo is a clutch add,though.
If I didn't have Turo, I wouldjust lose every time.
So anyways, round 5, AidenMaridon, and game 1, he benches
Raichu pretty early, and thenuses Super Rod to like, increase
his Generator Rods.
So I like, have the game lockedup, if I just like, hit it

(36:00):
catcher heads, I can Turo out myFez, and like, that's the game.
But, I double tails on catcher,so I can't kill the Raichu, but,
so I'm like cooked, I just like,Turo the Fez anyways, just for
fun, and knock him out.
And then, he Arvins, and looksthrough his whole deck.
He has he's used two generators,he's got two prides left.
He looks through his whole deck,and then he just like, sighs
like five times, and then like,just grabs something random and

(36:22):
like, passes.
And I was like, no gen?
And he goes, they're he like,taps both his prides, he goes,
they're both in there, and Ijust knock him out.
And he and he's so mad.
And then game two, he like,doesn't make that mistake and
end up using the rod early, butHe mis sequenced, I don't know
if he mis sequenced, I don'tknow his hand, but this just
can't have been right.
He Raichu'd on four, and then Ijust he had no energies on

(36:43):
board, so his hope was I wasgonna knock out his Raichu, and
he was gonna like boss with theUrsuluna and kill the Fez, and I
was just digging for the Turo.
I miss it, but I realized likehe doesn't have any energy on
board, so then I just likeCodebreaker for the Turo on top,
and just pass, and then he justhas to, has to Raichu, use the
first attack, and then I, Turo,knock him out, and he just
loses, right?
So, 4 1.

(37:04):
And then I played Alex Kreckler,who was playing Judge in his in
his Raging Bull, which made itreally dicey, because I'm
addicted to stacking my deckwith Codebreaker, like, I was
doing, like, I was doing crazywork to him with my
Codebreakers, and he would justgo, like, Judge, knockout, and
then, one game I just drew outof it, I owned him, the next
game, he, I did not draw out ofit, and he owned me, and game

(37:24):
three, he Judges me into, like,the complete nuts, I prized
Aroma that game, So I was onlyhaving one dango at a time, but
I had a bunch on the bench, abunch of gimmies, and I drew
Aroma off the prize.
He judges me, and my hand islike, SCR, like, Energy, Aroma,
and like a stretcher for anotherEnergy.
And like, I literally don't evendraw for turn, I just show him
the four cards, and he goeslike, Can you play it out for

(37:45):
me?
I was like, yeah, sure, noworries.
I attach, like, I already haveFez on the bench, I like Aroma
for two of the dangos, and thenhe's like, Oh, you have Fez too?
Nah, you're good.
And Signs of slip.
And then, oh,

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (37:59):
I give Alex a lot of respect for that
moment.
I was watching over Bon'sshoulder because I think I was
out at this point.
I was spectating.
And yeah, I think it took me awhile to just kind of accept
that this deck will like nevermiss the knockout, right?
Like, you know, when you'replaying from the other end,
you're always like, bro, what ifI like duck the Fez?
What if I like, you know,disruption, KO, remove one of

(38:21):
the dangos?
Doesn't matter, bro.
Like, you know.
Wait, once you see all that,

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-20 (38:26):
The first knockout is extremely sus.
Like, finding all the vesselsand stuff to take the first

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (38:29):
yeah,

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-2 (38:30):
very scary.

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (38:32):
When the SERs aren't, like, a
guaranteed four, it's, you know,there's some question, right?
But yeah, I thought, only threegames, and he was able to see
how that hand was a lock?
Props to him, bro, that was

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-20 (38:46):
No, once you saw, like, I turned the
fez.
I didn't even, like, start todraw.
I turned the fez on my bench.
He goes, ah, nah, you got

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (38:52):
yeah, yeah,

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-20 (38:56):
And then I played against a South
American Raging Bull player, andhe got me game one, because I
hit catch I hit everything,like, I was doing everything,
like, right, and then I, like,looked at my discard pile, and
I, like, SCR, like, I don'tthink this matters, like, the
fact that he didn't know that Ididn't have the knockout, but I
assumed my SCR was getting fourenergies, and it was only
getting three, and and I waslike, oh, I guess I just, I
lose, but, like, I couldn'thave, like, sequenced anything

(39:17):
differently, like, it was justcooked, I, I just didn't see any

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (39:20):
you were already maxing for
energies, I assume, right?
And

exactly.
So, I, like, it was just, it waslike an embarrassing moment, but
it wasn't, like, it didn'tmatter, like, I was, I missed
the knockout, right, and thengame two and three I just rolled
him because, like, that muchIt's good, like, the deck, the
deck is built to work 2 out of 3games.
Like, in those, like, beasticmatchups, you just, like, play 3
games consistently becauseyou're fast enough, and one
game, you'll just, like,randomly miss the knockout.

(39:45):
Oh, also, I got extremely luckygame 3, I, like, didn't have 5
minutes to knock out a RagingBull, so I had to drill a
Catcher Heads and kill theSquawk.
Heh, yes.
I could not believe what I wasdoing in those games, like, so
dicey, and then my round 8opponent, he was, we were 6 1 at
this point, and he sits down,and he's like man, I'm just
happy to make day 2 at thisworld, and I was like, ah, it's

(40:06):
over, I don't even care whathe's playing, like, I'll win,
like, he's like, I'veaccomplished my goal, I was
like, lit bro,

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (40:13):
Bro, bro, bro has to split off the
gas at this point, right?
You're in the driver's seat now.

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-20 (40:18):
And then he's playing Gardevoir,
which like, my best matchupanyways.
And, like, he draws bad too, andI'm hitting the nuts, like, I'm
like doing crazy stuff, like.
Oh man, it was like one of themost brutal 2 0's, like, I've
ever seen.
I was done in like 10 minactually, it was not the most
brutal 2 0, because thathappened to me, round 12.
But, it was like the most brutal2 0 I'd seen up to that point.

(40:42):
I was feeling pretty good, 7 1.
I look I sit down, and it's daytwo, right, I'm like feeling
pretty good, like 7 1, I have towin 3 to make cut, 2 to make
cash, like, how could we misscash at this point?
It's a lock.
Must be.
Sit down, play against theThorns.
Game one I draw so insanely goodthat he literally like

(41:02):
afterwards he's like shaking hishead he's like man, Goldango's a
bad matchup and I was like Iguess so.
I was actually only testing thatladder on matchup and sorry that
matchup on ladder and it waslike 50 50 but I assume that
like it's worse in person orlike against people who are good
because like a lot of those winswere like They wouldn't they
would just like not bench aThorns out of laziness, and then
I'd just like, Cologne and like,set up and knock them out.

(41:25):
And so yeah, I kind of did thatto him, and I I got him, right?
And in game two, the legacyenergy goes crazy.
Like, I I get through threeThorns just fine.
And my last prize is my lastSCR, and then I have access to
like, whatever I want, because Ihave Codebreaker, Stop, but I
just don't have enough energiesto take the knockout.
And then he just like knocks meout and I lose, right?
So the fourth Thorn got me.

(41:45):
And then game three, oh, by theway, he didn't mulligan a single
time this whole series.
The game three, once again, he'ssuch a chill, he was actually a
chill guy.
He literally told me, he's like,I was like, I wasn't
complaining, was like, man, it'scrazy.
I've mulliganed so much wholetournament, I haven't mulliganed
once against you.
You, he's like, do you want topick the seven?
He literally let me take hisdeck and just pick the seven
cards he's drawing.
And I did, just, just because Ithought it was funny.

(42:07):
Of course, he literally flipsover, I got Thorns again.
Great.
And then I have like five myhand is completely nuts.
I Pokestop.
I have like three energies andan SCR in hand.
I Pokestop away like twoenergies turn one.
Great.
Then he does whatever.
He attaches and passes.
I then Pokestop again.
And I just need to discard Ihave Stretcher in hand too, so I
just need to discard Dango or orAroma.

(42:28):
By the way, I could just havethe Supporter in hand too.
That that would also just work.
I I have, like, a million Alice.
I stop, discard more energies,but no Dango.
Great.
He doesn't bump the stop againand knocks me out.
And at this point, I justpromote the the other game on my
bench, and I have, like, anotherdraw, and then Stop to see if I
can hit it, right?
Still no supporter off the draw,and then the stop doesn't hit a

(42:49):
Dango or a Roma, and now hebumps the stadium.
Oh, and then I use my stretcherto get the gimme back, because
the stadium, there's a lostcity.
He just knocks me out, and stilla Dango wins me the game, but
there's no stadium in play, so Ijust have to raw draw it.
I miss it, I just get knockedand lose the game.
Great.
7 2.
I came in with buffer.
No worries, you know?
No big deal.
Play

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (43:07):
that out of your system.
You're going to be fine now.

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20- (43:09):
Yeah, exactly, like, no worries, you
know?
Like, I had a million outs, mydeck is lit.
Oh well, no worries, right?
Ah, dude, I play

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (43:16):
We knew we could take a loss, we
could take one.

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20- (43:18):
yeah, exactly, yeah.
Playing a Selugia with noChinchino.
I was like, no Chinchino.
Lit.
What I didn't account for isthat means his deck just works.
It works immaculately.
I start Palkia, go second, Idon't have a way to get out turn
one, and he just hands me forthree before the game even like
starts, you know?
Like, turn two, I'm gettinghands for three.
I was like, all right, well,that's that's a little bad.

(43:40):
I'll try to figure this out,right?
And so, I make things work,right?
But, he plays Flutterbane, andhe's like the most competent
Lugia I've ever played against.
Like, I'm Turrowing, and like,managing my bench really well,
so it's literally three dangosthe whole time, and then at some
point he's like, wait, I can'tget around this like, Turrow
spam, like, Turrow, pad, Turrow,like, ah, this is like, really
annoying.
He just takes a break, and justgoes like, Flutter, 90, which is

(44:01):
like, completely checkmate,because then you can just use
the bear to take a knockout atany point on one of the two
dangos, and I was like, man,this guy he's a knower, he's not
playing Ciccino, like.
Francisco, or I don't rememberhis last name, Francisco though,
you got me man.
He got me game one, and thengame two, complete brick, he
just runs me over.
I was like, what is going ondude?
Like, he has lone Lugia, and Ijust completely brick, and then

(44:25):
he just evolves, and just blowsme up, I lose.
Fine.
Game, I was like, whatever.
I can, I can still make a runfor cash, no worries, you know.
Next game, I play against theLugia, he's playing 3 3 to
Chino, so obviously, light work.
No big deal.
3 3 Genchino.
I got him in, he got me in oneof the games in the middle.
The Genchino's like, when thedeck works, it does beat you,
right?
Like, if you have 2 2 Genchinoout, and you just never really

(44:47):
miss, you win.
But, game one and three, I kindof showed, like, like, the
weakness of his deck.
I took the first two prizes.
I went second against everysingle Lugia I played, by the
way.
All three sets, and I still juststole a game going second.
It was, it was fine, because theGenchino list doesn't work.
And then, last round of thetournament, I'm sitting next to
Cameron Kawasaki, and he'splaying a Sazarin, you know, and

(45:09):
I was like, oh that's prettylit.
My opponent's taking a whileshuffling.
I was like, oh, I wonder whathe's playing.
Oh, flips over at Thorns.
Lovely.
I I get 2 0'd in 10 minutes.

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (45:19):
No mulligans, yeah, no mulligans.

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-20 (45:21):
No, no, no, he Game 1, no Mulligan.
Game 2, it was the first out of5 games against Thorns that they
Mulliganed.
And I mulligan I mulliganedfirst, so I only got one of the
two mulligans he had.
I was like, lit.
Lost in ten minutes.
The whole time he was playingLegacy, I was like, this is so
fake.
This is fake.
The guy I lost to is fake.
These are like the worstThornsless ever, bro.

(45:41):
Give me give me the guy.
Sefuentes, bro.
Oh my god.
Anyways, that was my world.
It's 8 4.

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (45:49):
legacy energy in day 2, yeah.

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-2024 (45:51):
I guess.
Oh, yeah, I did.
Yeah, yeah, I did.
Yeah.
Oh my god, I didn't play asingle Drago or Zard if you guys
could notice from my run, whichis, I think Zard matchup I think
Kobe, he messed up in his set,Game 2, I mean, we talked about
it, he messed up a little bit,but, that matchup, it's only bad
if they played the Thornton DTE,if they're not playing both of
those cards, it's like, pretty,pretty reasonably, pretty good,

(46:13):
but, all the good players wereplaying at least Thornton, and
then the DTE is like, some, waslike 50 50, so.
And then Drago, if they cut theRadzard, like like two of the
top eight listed, that matchupis like 70 30.
If they if they have the Radzardin, it's it's dicey.
It's like, probably like justhard 50 50.
I think it's slightly favored,but that might be Cope.
That's that's obviously like,you know.

(46:33):
I I I I I was looking forward toplay Drago, that's all I'll say.
It's like, even with theRadzard, I was confident that I
was I was gonna get it done.

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (46:41):
All right, Cam, you ready to give it
to us?

Sure I played the same 60 as
Halliburton.
I played the Regidrago withRadiant Gardevoir, which was
like a trash card.
But round one I played against aMirror.
And that was like the first,like, I realized, like, I
thought playing to a 1 0 was,like, Super fake, because I
tried it at like a 1k, and thenI just noticed, and it felt like

(47:05):
this, like everyone, especiallyin the early rounds of playing
the mirror, like everyone wasplaying so slow, because they
were just trying to like, managetheir resources so well, so this
game did, I, you know, hecouldn't close it out in, in in
three turns in game two and Iwas like, oh, I guess, I guess
everyone's just gonna, maybeeveryone's just gonna play the
mirror slow I played against aBlocklax, who the double Cologne

(47:27):
that we played came up, and, soit's very similar to last year,
I mean, both, both last year andthis year, like, there were
times where I was like, man, I'mone card off.
Let me Genesect for one lastyear, or let me Teal Dance for
one.
And I was just like, Teal Dance,draw one, oh, there it is, bang.
Cause I was like, I like, burneda cologne, burned a V Star on

(47:49):
him, flipped the other cologne,so I was like, I'm done.
Oh my god, I have to take, like,the colognes here off the V
Star, and I was still missing, Ithink, E Switch to attack, so I
was like, bro, if I just takedouble cologne, like, I just
wasted my V Star, I just wasteda cologne, I'm about to lose to
this Block Wax, and I was like,Teal Dance for one?
Energy Switch, and then I juststarted going crazy on him.

(48:09):
It was, it was pretty, it waspretty bad.
Like, I just kind of, like, gotbailed out there.
And I was like, oh, I just, Iplayed, like, even in my mind, I
was like, I played this turnone, turn two so poorly, but I
just got bailed out by the ESwitch topdeck.
So I guess, I guess we take

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (48:23):
makes me so mad, dude, I didn't hear
about this, this is my first

No, no, no, no, no, no, cause I,
cause I already, already testedthe Blockaxe matchup.
And even after, like, mid turnone, I was like, what am I
doing?
Or mid turn two, I was like,what am I doing?
I just played this so bad.
Like, I, I know how to approachthis and I did it.
So poorly, but I got bailed outby the thing and then when I
beat him game one, he like askedto judge how much time was left
and he's like, nah, you got it,don't worry about it.
Well, cause there's like 20,there's like 21 minutes left and

(48:50):
he's like, he's, he like thoughtabout it for like a second and
he's like, nah, nah, let's,let's go eat.
I was like, alright,

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (48:56):
that's that's so valid.
Props to that guy.

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (48:58):
this guy's the people's champion,
yeah, I appreciate that.

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-202 (49:01):
My guy made me hit like 15 Sylene
heads, bro.
What the hell?

Heheheheh and then I played against a
Regidrago.
I won the coin flip again, so Iwas like, oh I'm feeling money,
I actually had to like V Starearly and then it kind of burned
me, but yeah, game 2 I won causeI went first and I didn't miss a
beat, and game 3, he was the oneto miss, so.
I was luckily, luckily came outon top of that.

(49:24):
Played another Dragomir lost theroll on that, lost win tie.
We just, we, I actually got itin like turn 3 of time.
So I forced the tie, so at thatpoint I'm 3 0 1.
I played against a Lugia, and Iwas like, Oh yes, like Radiant
Gardevoir, this is like exactlywhat this is here for.
And then he just like 2 0 rollsme because I don't draw
anything, and he's just like,Ultra Ball double chops both

(49:46):
games, like, blow you up.
I was like, oh, cool.
Oh, like, and then the firstgame, like, I get down Radiant
Gardevoir, and then he just,like, weirdears me right away.
I, and then, like, I just, like,fumble from there.
And then game two, I can't evenget the Radiant Gardevoir out.
And then he just blows me up.
And then, like, at that point,I'm 3 1 1.

(50:07):
I play against someone who Iplayed against last year Antoine
Boulet, or Twanlay, they do alot of the translations on
Twitter.
I played them against them lastyear, I played against them this
year.
Game 1, they like, donk my onlyDrago with Moridon.
And you know, I'm like, okay,well, this is, this is not going
well, I, this actually might bethe end of my run.
Open my hand for Game 2, startRadiant Gardevoir, bench

(50:28):
Hawlucha, attach to it, andpass.
And I'm like Okay, this is, thisis definitely over, like, and, I
don't like the, I don't want toget into it too much, but like,
the craziest thing happens nextto my table, like, Sammy Sakoum,
like, calls a judge on theopposing player, wants a deck
check,

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20- (50:46):
Wait, that was Saimi Sakum that
story's about?

yeah, the story's about

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-202 (50:50):
Oh my, oh my god, that actually,
like, that's ten layers to it,what?
You never said that.

So, yeah, I didn't realize until
afterwards, because I looked soSammy Sakum calls like a judge
on a person, because theperson's deck is warped like
refuses to play the game,because he's like, I'm adamant
something's wrong with thisguy's deck, like, I want a deck
check, or I'm not playing, andthis is like, and this is
happening, like, when I'mbreaking game two, so I'm like,
I'm already like in shambles,like I'm already falling apart.

(51:18):
And then, like, The judge comesover, tells him that they deck
checked the Thai guy, there'sno, like, pattern, so they're
giving him a warning.
But, like, Sammy Sikoum's deck,they checked his deck too, and
his deck is marked, and they'regiving him a game loss for it.
And he's, like, flipping out,he's, like, he's facing my ear,
and, like, crying about it.
And I'm like, I don't mean it,like, in a bad way, like, I

(51:39):
would be, like Over, you know, Iwould be like flipping out too
if my end was run to my end, myrun was ended like that too.
But he's like facing mydirection because the judge is
in between us, like crying theentire time and I'm like trying
to piece together this magicalcomeback against Rhydon after
like getting no Regidrago Vsdown turn one and somehow I get
it because the guy started IronHands, prized his Prime Catcher.

(52:01):
So I get out of game two andthen game three.
Like once again they low roll,so I get them but the entire
time, like, I take like a minutefor the Legacy Star, I like
apologize to my opponent, he'slike, no, no, I took like a long
time too in that last turn,cause this, this, this,
whatever's happening to the, theleft of us is like going crazy
and then I play against aDragapult, 2 0 them just because

(52:22):
I, I Dragon Bolt too exceptmine's a, he, he never actually
attacked with Dragon Bolt, Ithink the entire game.
But I attacked a couple timeswith Dragon Bolt with, with
Drago.
So yeah, don't, don't, don'tplay Dragon Bolt play Reggie
Drago if you wanna, you know, do200 and put six damage counters
somewhere.
And then I played against theReggie Drago mirror again in my
win in Japanese guy.

(52:44):
Looked him up afterwards.
Apparently he like won ChampionsLeague, ichi.
And it was weird like after Ibeat him, I beat him game 1 and
then game 2 was like the onlytime Radiant Gardevoir like for
sure came up as like somethingreally strong.
I like lost Impacted put downRadiant Gardevoir, he had
already burned oh he didn't evenburn the V Star, I think that
was his mistake in game 2.

(53:05):
He was knocking out my own hewas taking the first knockout,
and my board looked pretty weakin my hand, like, he asked for
my hand size, and I was like,three cards, and, but then I
didn't have, like, an energy onthe other bench Regidrago, and
he only had one Regidrago V Starout, and I was like, if I was in
his spot, I would just pop the VStar, trying to find the second
Drago V, but I think he justthought, like, my hand was so

(53:26):
weak, that he's like, ah, I'llsave the V Star, like, knockout,
lost impact, go ahead, and thenI was like, Instantly I was like
bench Fez research, and thenhe's like and then he like
realized that that might be amistake and I just like hit the
impact off of that.
He, he had no V on the bench solike I was able to get up on him
a turn and then I was able toclose it out there.

(53:47):
So I think, I don't know if itwas like like a mistake on his
hand or like a calculated riskthat I just wouldn't hit the
impact, but that definitely bithim in game two.
And so I go into day two at 6 11.
Next round, I hit a mirror, Iwin the flip, I win, I lose, I
win, kind of just like thestandard, I win the roll against

(54:07):
Drago game, and then round 10, Iget my rematch against Vance
Kelly You know, and I'm sittingat like, table 6, Kobe Kawasaki
sits next to me at table 7, andwe like, look at each other, and
we're like, oh yeah, oh yeah,this is where we need to be.
You know, you look down, andyou're like, oh, there's all the
top players, we're right here.
Vance Kelly gets called, pulledaway after a deck check for like

(54:28):
30 minutes I don't want to getinto it, because I don't really
even know what happened he's anice guy, I've, you know, like,
I don't think he was doinganything wrong, he ends up with
a game loss.
And then like, game two, he goesfirst, he beats me, and then
game three, it was like thefirst time, and it was like,
clipped in my mind that like,Viridian Gardevoir was way worse
than Zard, because I missedenergy, so like, turn two, or

(54:50):
like, to attack two turns in arow, I have to double E switch,
to los Yeah, yeah, Dragomir,yeah, like, I didn't get an
attach, turn one at all,anywhere, so I have to like,
double E switch back to backturns just to impact and stay
ahead, and then like, I havenothing for the next turn
because, you know, I don't havea Radzard, and then he uses that

(55:11):
extra turn to blow me up and,like, that's where I was like,
oh man, like, Radzard actuallywould have just won me the game
because I had, like, the GustFire in hand, and I was like,
oh, this just feels so bad.
And like that, it kind of gotlike, not like chippy, but like
Vance started calling me on likelooking at my discard.
And there was like a judge rightthere who was like assigned to

(55:32):
watch our game because westarted late.
And, you know, it was all nohard feelings afterwards, but
you could just feel like that'swhen everyone's tension was
starting to rise a bit.
Like, everyone's, you know,you're seeing the last couple
rounds, everyone's in it.
But we were all good afterwards,you know.
We talked about it afterwards,we were all good.
And then round 11 happens, Iplay against William Acevedo.
And at some point,

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-2024 (55:53):
I love him.

I know why, because at some point
in the game, like, I think hewins game one, because I was
feeling like, oh, okay, like,like, Zard, this isn't, like,
impossible, I start Teal Mask,and I'm like, okay, like,
whatever, like, he'll hit mewith Zard or something, and
I'll, I'll go off next turn.
And the next turn, like, hepushes the NTV, he drops the
NTV, like, Zard's to it,literally has no energy on his.

(56:19):
On his charr DX, because heattached two to the V and then
one to the active that he had toretreat and like, yeah.
And then it's like, NTA V is myteal mask.
And I'm like, oh, shoot.
Like that was like the E switchtarget that I thought I was
gonna, or maybe I had anotherteal mask with the grass, but I
was like, oh, okay.
I lost two, couldn't answer it.
And then he.

(56:39):
Has Pidgeot up, bosses upanother, another Teal Mask,
BANG! Takes four prizes with theEntei, I'm like, oh my god, I'm
in shambles.
And like, he has benched anotherCharmander, so I'm like, Well,
like, it's almost checkmate ifhe just has the Pidgeot up
because he either, like, if I goafter the Charmander, he just,
like, Bosses again or, he goeslike Rare Candy Charizard and at

(57:00):
that point, like, his Zard wouldjust knock out my Drago so I
just scooped it up.
Game 2 yeah, NTV takes another 4prizes, so NTV just like, took 8
prizes over 2 games, just like,rocked my world but in between
game 1 and 2, like, I'm pileshuffling.
And he tells me not to pileshuffle, and then it like,

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-202 (57:18):
he got him.

he asks me not to pile shuffle, and
there's like a judge likestanding behind him, and so he
hears, and he like hears there'slike a little bit of a dispute,
so he's kind of like listening,I tell him like, no, like, I'm
gonna pile shuffle, we have aminute and thirty four set up,
like we're going back and forth,it gets real chippy, and like,
And, you know, you know me, Idie on the hill of pile
shuffling, so I'm like, real,you know, you hit my sensitive

(57:40):
spot, I'm like, no, no, no, no,I can pile shuffle, bro, I know
the rules, we're going at it,but at the end he, after the,
you know, I 2 0'd, I, you know,I wasn't gonna be salty about
it, like I said, you know,sorry, and he apologized too,
like, he said, like, you know,end of the round, we're getting
a little chippy, like, winningin for cash here, or potential
winning in for cash, so, um,that, you know, that was the end

(58:02):
of my cash run.
Played against an Ancient Box Imade a wet

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (58:06):
The, the pile shuffling is the hill I
want to die on is a crazy thing.

I'll die on it bro, I'll die on it.

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (58:12):
hills you can die on and that's the
one.

I was like, oh, you're gonna tell
me not to pile shuffle?
Like, nah bro.
HAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHA

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (58:23):
Like, actually calling him out, ah,
yes!

no, and then at the end of game two,
like, cause he's like, I handedmy deck to him before game
before game two, before hehanded me to his deck and I was
like, bro, like, you'recomplaining about the shuffling
thing, like, you're stillshuffling so I don't know why
you're complaining about the Pahshuffle and then like, at the
end of game three, or end ofgame two, nearing the end, I
like, The judge who's stillstanding behind him was like,

(58:47):
Hey, you wanna get the headjudge?
Because, like, I'm about topower shuffle if I happen to win
this game.
And William's like, no, no, no,no, it's all good.

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-2 (58:56):
then he got two votes, that is

No, no, no, no, no, I said, I
literally said, like, I don'tknow if I'm gonna win, but I may
win here.
Like, you might wanna call ahead, you should call a head
judge.
And then

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-2 (59:07):
nah, don't call him bro, I got it.

no, no, no, no, no, no, And then he
said, I mean, maybe he knew thathe was gonna win, but he was
like, Cause I owned him to two,so he had, like, nothing.
And he's like, no, no, no, it'sall good, like,

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-2 (59:16):
Fez, knockout.

he's like, I don't want any beef,
it's all good, like, I'm nottrying to fight.
And then he, he goes, FAST,knockout, BANG, wins the game,
I'm like, AHHH, the ultimate BMgot me, cooked me, shook me up,
like, I was like, aw, man.
See,

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-20 (59:38):
but he just knew like, you never
miss off Fez bro.
Fez is too lit.
What?

and then I played my last round
against an Ancient Box, like, Isat down, probably, Liam
Halliburton would say, this is alow ore move.
I was like, I sat down, I waslike, Hey, do you want an ID?
Like, I don't care, this doesn'tmatter to me.
And he's like, oh, what?
Like, why don't you care?
And I was like, oh, we're not,we're out of cash contention.
I don't care if I'm like, 50thor like, 90th.

(01:00:06):
Like, it just doesn't matter tome.
And he's like, oh, well, this ismy first and only world.
So, and probably my only world.
So, like, I want to play it out.
He flips over Ancient Box.
I was like, okay.
Oh, okay, like, this is fine.
I set up a 3 He discards all hisAncient Booster Capsules, so I
just set up a 3 Pies turn.
Kind of wipe, wipe him withCurem, and

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20 (01:00:24):
that's why it's his only worlds.
See,

squadcaster-aafb_1_08-20-2 (01:00:35):
Like I'm not even wearing a watch, I
didn't wear a watch the entiretime.
I'm like, I can already justtell, like a lot of times past
he, he has a slow start to GameTwo and like, like the second
his third turns starts, it'slike, time is calling! He just
looks at me, I'm like, yeah, mybad, Doug.
Hahaha

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20- (01:00:50):
like, Liam and I, like, think, like,
the round you're out is theround that's relevant.
Like, like, yeah, Shinoi gotthat win, now he's ahead of me
in the standings, but, like,what was that game?

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:01:01):
Dude, that was a, that was a game at
a, at a high table leading to asuperior outcome.

squadcaster-aafb_1_08-20- (01:01:06):
yeah, I don't know what

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:01:07):
No, there's no, I mean, and it's
worth reiterating because Ithink we saw it in this
tournament.
There was some, there was someTwitter about it so it's worth
reiterating.
I think I've always said they,they keep going like they,
Pokemon says they have the tomset up to go to Until they can
determine an appropriate top 8.
And I've always said, I feellike they should play one more
round after that.

(01:01:28):
Because we need like, slightlymore fidelity.
And, and a good example, andit's happened to Liam at all
kinds of tournaments previously,Was the Zac Lissage win and
you're in top 8, lose and you'reout of top 32.
That sucks man.
I do feel,

for your baby.

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:01:47):
yeah, I,

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-202 (01:01:48):
Oh god, that is good!

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:01:50):
all the fun, all the humor of at his
expense aside, it's happened toLiam before, and every time it
happens I'm like, man, thatsucks.
like, how can you be in asituation where, where, like a
single game is so impactful?
Why don't, you know, it'd begood if we played one more
round, just to get a little morefidelity in the rankings.

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-202 (01:02:11):
it feels a little ridiculous, like
the guy who loses a Tord, right?
Like, let's say Tord is myknight cut, and they're playing
a winning against Tord for topcut.
And the other guy who's playingsomeone who's like, who's a good
player, like the person, like,the person who's lower is like,
that guy's a good player, sure,but like, I've had I mean, I'm
playing that guy instead ofTorrid if I for 5k, like, I'd
rather that, obviously.
Like, the guy who

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:02:30):
yeah,

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-20 (01:02:31):
for example, he's, like, laughing to
the bank.
He's like, I gotta playGoldango, and then I beat him in
10 minutes, and I'm at 5k, andthen, like, Zach Lissavage is on
stream trying to, like, playWinnin loses, and now he's out
of the money.
Like, that's crazy.

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:02:43):
Yeah, yeah, that's, there's like a guy
on table five and he loses, anda guy on table 11 or table 12
and he wins, and like, oh, youknow, apparently that guy's
better.
It's like, man, I don't know,it's like, it's, it's tough to
hear.
You would like to, you'd likethere to be one more round to
just refine that data a littlebit.

I know someone who would agree,
that's Jack Moore.
He definitely would agree withthat one.

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-20 (01:03:08):
No, bro.
Jack Moore knows that if youplay another round, he's losing.

squadcaster-aafb_1_08-2 (01:03:12):
Bubbles out of top 32 two years in a
row.
Like, I actually, like, that ishorrendous.
That is horrendous luck.
So.

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:03:19):
They need an asymmetric cut on that
bag.

mean, if you're gonna win like five
grand and then all the stuff ontop, like, I'm almost down.
I'm almost down, like, causeCameron Kawasaki bubbled out I
think a top 32 he had like a 9 3

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20- (01:03:32):
There just needs to be a finite number
of bags, right?
And like, and like, they can'thave the cash, like, I don't
think they would be down to giveout another 45k, right?
Out of,

sure, but like, if you have the same
record as these guys, if thedrop off is from like 5 grand,
all this extra stuff, like apromo card, a bag, a hat that
you could probably sell foranother Thousand dollars, two

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:03:53):
Promo card, you can frame, right, you
can frame.

yeah, a promo card you can frame and
then you're like, oh, thanks forshowing up to 33rd and beyond,
like, maybe you should.

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20- (01:04:03):
think 12 rounds just felt terrible.
I don't know, like, maybe, like,maybe I'm biased, like, if I
just went like 2 and, or like,got to go 10 1 1 and made cut,
I'd be like, oh, 12 rounds wasfine, bro.
The right person made cut, butlike, I don't know.
Like,

brent_1_08-20-2024_180 (01:04:18):
Winner's gotta win.
Winner's gotta win.
But I, it's, it's a tough thingto hear.
It's a tough thing to hear.
Alright I know we've been goingfor an hour and seven minutes,
but I did want to hear

It's the

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:04:31):
I'm sure you guys have been
scrutinizing, you guys have beenscrutinizing the Twitternet and
seeing all the Regidrago liststhat did better than you guys.
Are there, besides Gardevoirbeing fake, are there other
things that you look at and yousay, oh, those guys somehow
figured out how to makeRegidrago work in a way that you
guys did not?

No, I actually, if I, if I switch
the The radiant Garver forradiant art.
I'm not sure I knew like, maybeClefa is an inclusion.

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:05:00):
I've told Shenoy I would 100 percent
play the Cleffa.
I thought the Cleffa

I, I drew, I drew nice enough that
it didn't, I, I didn't need it.
So

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:05:08):
Yeah, maybe.

So I, I never felt the need for
clefa.
Maybe I just like high rolledthis, the junk outta this
tournament.
I mean, I kind of had to, to getto, to where it was.
But I think that was the onlyother change I would make.
And

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20- (01:05:18):
think I'm more

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:05:19):
think it makes a lot of sense.
We don't have, like, a good oneprice shove, and like, a lot of
those matchups, like Raging Boltand especially Gold Dango when I
was playing a bunch with Avon,Right, like, going into a 1
prizer on turn 1 feels likesuper awkward, because then you
have to get out of it, and it'slike such a hassle.
Whereas this Kletha, like, setsyou up for turn 2, and it's a
Free retreater, right?
Like, it makes the 1 prize shovelike so much easier on turn 1.

I

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-2024 (01:05:43):
I think Cleffa was bad with like,
Monkey, right?
Like, when Guardi was a thing,and like, when that 30HP era was
like, really terrible, that'swhen Cleffa felt the worst, but
like, we're like, in thisbeatstick format again?
Ah, Cleffa's lit.

just

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:05:55):
Yeah, I mean,

I don't know where I would've cut
it though, is the issue.
Like, I really, I really likedDouble Cologne in my, I mean it
just came up for me in certain

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:06:04):
I agree, I thought Double Colon
was a good call, I think thespot would have to come from
somewhere else.
I don't know exactly where, but

Yeah, that's the thing, I don't know
where

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-2 (01:06:11):
Really?
I thought Double Cologne, it'slike, a very nice card to have,
especially if you're having toplay against a lot of Thorns,
but like, I thought the Thornsmatchup was fine with one
Cologne.
I thought the Lax matchup, theLax matchup is the one where
it's like, the second Colognegoes crazy, but I think Lax has
kind of fallen off a little bit,right?

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:06:26):
Yeah, like,

what it made the match, like, that's
why I like it right now.

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:06:30):
I thought, like, if you consider
the card, like, you know, itsignificantly changes the lax
matchup from, like, bad toamazing, right?
It's, like, a concretely goodcard for, like, a single
matchup, and then it's also,like, a consistency bump
against, like, everything that'splaying Clefky right now which
is, like, Gardevoir and Thorns,right?
But, like, Those are, yeah,

Yeah, yeah,

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:06:51):
But like, those are, those are two
significant significant decks.
Like, Garde and Thornsreceiving, like, a considerable
bump.
Even if they're already, like,fine or good matchups without
it.
It's like, you know, it's niceto play a, it's always nice to
play a card that answers blocklacks and bumps your other
matchups.
Like,

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20- (01:07:08):
yeah, yeah, the collateral aspect is
like the lit part.
I think my, my question though,moving forward to you guys,
like, cause I didn't play thatmuch Draugr.
I was kinda, I kinda knew I wasnever gonna play Draugr for
Worlds.
Like, some part of me wanted to,but then like, deep down I was
like, I'm not practiced enoughon this deck.
I don't think I'm gonna play itfor the event.
Is it in a good spot movingforward?
Like, I think it's so scary, allthese like beatsticks, like, I
don't want to play into RagingBull, Meridon, the new Dark

(01:07:30):
deck.
I don't want to play any ofthese matchups with with any
list, even with the Radzard.
I thought the Radzard, a lot ofthe good players were cutting
Radzard, and like, even the oneswho had it, like, they just kind
of got ran over, right?
Like,

squadcaster-aafb_1_08-20 (01:07:39):
that's the, that's the second thing, I
guess, it doesn't work againstRoaring Moon, but, like, cutting
second pull for Goudra to giveyourself spots.
Against those decks as well.
On top of the red zd, it waslike, okay, if you're gonna play
Red Zd and Gura and set up likesome, some knockouts, like it's
probably still not

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-2 (01:07:58):
They're not able to bundle around it,
you think?
Like, oh, Oh, maybe that's the,Cleffa.

but no, but the thing is like the,
the clef is good there and likeI was so surprised.
So when we were testing rageBull, like we were playing this
iron bundle for stretcher listthat was just like, like.
The one prizer that you push inthe active or whatever, like, it
just is so fake because I justDumble Bundle around it, or I
Bundle, like, Pokemon Catcher,like, we just ended, I looked at

(01:08:23):
these bolt lists and no one'splaying Bundle.
And I was like, oh, so like,like, if you don't flip the
Pokemon Catcher head or you justdon't find the Pokemon Catcher
and they, like, Goudra, like, inso much trouble.

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-2024 (01:08:34):
I thought about a lot of lists of
this tournament.
I think that our, our internalgroup had, like, the best list
of, like, four different decks.
Like, genuinely, it was likeweird playing some of these
matches at Worlds where I waslike, Man, your list is just so
bad.
Like, I thought, I was likeshocked that some of the Lugias
were playing against us, becauseI was used to playing against
like, Liam, like, playingagainst like his NAIC list,

(01:08:55):
which is honestly better thanmost of the lists I played
against at Worlds.
And I was like, it was likereally jarring actually seeing
these like decks not set up atall.
And I was like, this is not whatI'm used to.

I mean the the Thornton DT list

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-2 (01:09:08):
Oof, I'm sorry this

like we we were on it It was like
basically the same exact list aslike a lot of those I don't
think we had the NTV so likethey had like the extra tech But
if we had tested more on Zardlike maybe we get there right
like we

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:09:22):
Nah, bro.
I thought Azevedo's list wasbetter, and Tord's list was
better.
Tord's list, I I think he hadthe best art

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-2 (01:09:29):
They cleared our list, for sure.
I'm just saying that we had likea very, very, like, good
internal list.
I think our

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:09:34):
Yeah, no,

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20 (01:09:34):
better than the guy top 8 ed, for sure.
By the way, I think our bulletlist was way better than that.

yeah, and so I just see Like, Goudra
and Zard, if these aggressivedecks, maybe, it doesn't matter
against Warring Moon becausethey just do the thing, they
knock you out but maybe it getsyou there enough unless they
start putting in bundle.

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-202 (01:09:56):
We can talk about this more next
week, but do you guys have anythoughts about Baltimore?
I've been thinking about it alittle bit, but

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:10:01):
I've already said I'm playing a
Pidget EX deck for Baltimore,and the testing has already
started.
Garde with Pidget?
Not good, but let's see whateverything else

squadcaster-aafb_1_08 (01:10:11):
Regidrago with Pidgeot up

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08 (01:10:17):
actually, I was thinking about it a lot,
and I don't see the problem withMaridon.
I I'm probably not going to playMariner on myself, but like,
man, Jesse Parker's list, like,it feels good.
Like, a lot of ideas in therewere just like, I can't believe
it.
Like, two Squawk, two Sealstone.
I was like, this is soredundant.
Like, cards that literally, bydefinition, can only be used

(01:10:37):
once, and his list is just like,wow, Mariner, when it plays,
just wins the game no matterwhat.
And like, I thought that wasjust really interesting.
I think the other list I wasthinking about from World's,
like, Or, is the MarcosCifuentes, you know, the better
Cifuentes brother, the, the, theGOAT.

Oh, the list I posted in the
Discord, the the

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20- (01:10:54):
yeah, I was looking at that before,
too, with the secret box, oof,he did you guys hear that?
He beat Derek, and then after hebeat Derek, he was like, yo,
you, you went too aggressivehere.
Like, you just need to, like,hold back and, like, make sure
both hands are powered beforeyou go into Roxanne range.
And Derek's like, ah, oh my god,Marcos Cifuentes masterclass.
Dude, I'm next on the MarcosFuentes chopping block.

(01:11:16):
We got Liam at NAIC, Derrick atWorlds.

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:11:20):
I thought,

Oh, and I think we should, like, the
other list our group played andthey're not, like, no one from
our group who played it is onthis podcast, is, like, three of
us played Goldango, three of usplayed Regidrago, and then three
of us Derek Hu, Jordan Dumoulin,and Liam Hyatt all played
Miraidon, but they ended upplaying the Dusknoir.
I don't know if it's, like, notas good because all the

(01:11:42):
Miraidons that did well did notplay Dusknoir.
But Liam Hyatt got top 32,Jordan Dumoulin, like, low
rolled into two Zards on hiswinning end.
So like, another deck that, Ithink we were like, we were
close to playing.
I think we were all actuallyvery close to playing.

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08- (01:11:56):
Dusknoir is it's a victim of internal
testing.
It's, you need the Dusknoir tobeat a lot of these matchups,
like, internally, but inpractice, like, Maraudon's just
a good enough deck that it justruns over, like, a lot of these
decks, like, and you don't needDusknoir at all.
You just need to, you just, youjust need your deck to function,
right?
Like, we thought Zard was superimportant, right?
And we're like, oh, if you needto beat Zard, you need Dusknoir,
like, to have a chance, but,like, I was, like, listening to

(01:12:18):
Jesse Parker's interview, andhe's like, man, I just hope I
dodge the Zard.
I was like, okay, well, that'sway better.
That's a way better plan.

I mean, if you have, if Jordan
hits two Zard and like, losesanyways, like,

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20- (01:12:29):
Yeah, exactly right.
Why?
Why put the three coat?

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:12:33):
So, guys, If you had to run it back,
what deck would you play?

Oh, easily the, you know, the deck
that I was, I wanted to freeroll, which is Ironthorns.
I, like, I don't want to Like, Ifelt pretty good about our list.
I think Polaris felt really goodabout the list.
And then, like, near, like, aswe got close to, like, the time,
it really felt like, Liamoutright said it, he was like,

(01:13:00):
I'll just play whatever youplay, Cameron.
And then, it felt like Polariswas kinda trending in the same
direction, and I was like, Okay,these are two really good
players, and like, I just know,like, Liam, if Liam goes out
with Ironthorns, Like, I can'thear that.
I, I, I just can't, I can't, Ican't hear about that
afterwards.
So, let's just play Drago, like,it'll be the best deck for him.

(01:13:20):
Funnily enough, it ended up theway it did, even though we
played Drago.
So I think it would definitelyhave been, it would have been
Thorns.

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:13:28):
The second place raging, er, Roaring
Moon list.
I think that deck is lit, bro.
Like, that deck is

like, but, but like, but you didn't
know about it,

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20- (01:13:37):
Yeah.
you can't like, or is that theque the question like, with all
the lists available now,actually I, I can see it either
way.

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:13:43):
Yeah,

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:13:44):
Sure.
Without the list available now,I wish I played Zard.

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:13:46):
what you know now, what would you
play?
So,

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-2 (01:13:49):
Ooh, ooh.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Should I like re If that changedyour answer, you can

Nah, nah, I'd, I'd

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:13:54):
I mean apparently Iron Thorn's
kind of, kind of a deck thatwins World Championships, so
what's

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-20 (01:13:57):
No, it's the kind of, that could
lose in top A, but

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:14:00):
ho, ho! both!

both, or both, or both.

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:14:07):
Yeah, dude, I know.
I literally told Shinoi, like,basically every day for the week
leading up, I was like, IronThorns is not the deck to win
Worlds.
That is not the deck.

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-20 (01:14:15):
you were right And you were right.
That's the

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:14:17):
But

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20- (01:14:17):
part.

You were right and wrong at the same
time dude, it's so crazy.

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:14:22):
It's a crazy world we live in.
Bot chain, what would you do,what would you do?

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-2024 (01:14:25):
I thought, like, if you asked me
right after I lost that round tothe Thorns, like, 8 4, I would
have said, I wish I played myZard list or something to make
that.
But now that, when I got to lookat the top 8 lists, man, I would
have run this tournament if Imade cut, like, genuinely.
Like, only Thorns was a badmatchup, I would have beat all
the Beat Stick decks easily.
Two of the Zard, er, two of theDragoons didn't even have Rad
Zard.
Yeah, I would've had to like, itwould've been a little bit of a

(01:14:47):
struggle if I played Isaiah,specifically, cause I think
he's, and I guess Ian's prettygood too, like, Ian and Isaiah,
like, the two competent playersof Draugr were also playing
Radzard, that would've been adicey one, but I think, I think
I would've

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:14:59):
Isaiah gets it done,

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-20 (01:15:00):
no, no, I would've won the flip, I
would've sacked him, I would'vefigured it out, you know, and
the other,

on, Roswulf is super competent bro,
don't disrespect

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08- (01:15:07):
Radzard, that's why I was just saying,
like, it's

Oh, he didn't?
Oh, okay.
Maybe he was a little quick.
I didn't realize that.

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-202 (01:15:15):
He just had the Cleffa, bro.
What's that doing,

Oh, maybe, okay, maybe I'm wrong,
right?
Radiant Zard, Radiant Gardevoirbeat Radiant Zard in that
specific matchup, I guess.
Roswulf beat

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-202 (01:15:23):
he doesn't play either.
No, no,

Oh, he doesn't play Oh! Oh, what the
heck?
Oh, okay, nevermind.
I'll just stop talking now.

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-20 (01:15:33):
No, that's what I'm saying.
So like, with the knowledge ofwhat I, what I saw Top 8 to be,
and like what the good playerswere treading towards, Oh, I
would play Dango again.
Run it back.
I'll just dodge the thorns thistime, or just hit a Dango ever.
Game 3, win that game, get inthe good bracket, win worlds.
Easy.
No.

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:15:49):
you'd lose to the Moon player, bro,
because

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-20 (01:15:52):
No.

liam_1_08-20-2024_18064 (01:15:53):
they're gonna hit that, that, they're
gonna hit the turn 2 Roaring.

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-20 (01:15:56):
no, when you go second, you win like
every time, and when you gofirst, it's like probably a
catch your heads.
Probably, like, it comes down toa catch your heads

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:16:02):
Do you not have to catch your head,
like, both times, bro, like, youthink you're just ripping the

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-2 (01:16:07):
They don't have enough ancient
Pokemon, I counted.
He literally plays

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:16:10):
They knocked out the Gimmy,

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20 (01:16:12):
That's fine.
Wait, so they take one prize,right?
Oh, I see what you're saying.

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:16:16):
have to catch your heads.

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-20 (01:16:18):
Oh, they can knock out the ninja.
Sure, sure, but you literallycan just boss, like, enough.
Like, they knock out the ninja,so they're at 4 4.
And then you just like, you bossand there's nothing.

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:16:28):
You only get to 4 4 if you hit a
catch your heads on turn 2,right?
Like, you go catch a KO?

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-2 (01:16:34):
said it's one catcher heads.
I said like, when you go first,it's like, one catcher heads.

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:16:38):
Is that not the same going second?

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-20 (01:16:39):
No, when you go second, you have a
supporter.
It's like, way easier.
It's like, way, way easier.

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:16:43):
You think you're hitting the boss?

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20- (01:16:44):
Yeah, it, no, I actually like,
genuinely do think that.
He played Judge.
He played Judge, so that waspretty, it was pretty annoying.
Like,

split in the cypher?
Bro split in the cypher, put inthe boss as the second card, hit
in the first one, pass.
That's what, that's whatYvonne's

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20- (01:16:57):
Yeah, no, no, Liam's right.
The Judge does add layers to it,but.
I'm confident I'm getting thatdone, I'm

He's

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:17:05):
Dude, I felt like

judge me into the

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:17:06):
I felt like the the Raging Bulls
matchup would be really bad ifthe Sandysharks one hit your
Gimme Ghouls, or like, not likereally bad, but it'd be so much
worse than it is, and like,

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20 (01:17:18):
You're right,

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:17:19):
that's literally the same

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-2 (01:17:20):
But, but like that, no no no, but the
Bolt matchup's like 70 30, Ithink like this matchup's like
favoured.
I think this matchup's closer,but it's like favoured.
I think 70 30 was like anoverstatement, I think I said
that in the chat, that was justwrong.
But like, it was like, it'sprobably like 55 45.
That's my thought.

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:17:34):
I don't like it when you have to
hit the catchers, bro.

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:17:37):
We've been going for a minute 20, I
got, you got 30 seconds toanswer, we're gonna make it
really quickly because we're inthe homestretch.
Baltimore's next weekend, whatdo you play?

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20 (01:17:50):
Dango.
It's next week, everyone, Idon't have to test.
I'm playing Dango.

Yeah.
I, I, I

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:17:55):
I'm playing a Pidgey EX deck, bro.
I actually

part of it's just because I, I, I
love net testing, new formats.
I'm like, already, I'm alreadyinterested in testing LEIC
format, and like I'm just downto roll the, the Drago, like the
potential champion winner, ifyou know, not for the,

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-202 (01:18:12):
if Baltimore's in a week and a
half,

mess up

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-202 (01:18:14):
if I get like an extra half a week,
I'm probably playing WilliamAzevedo's exact 60.
Or maybe with a DTE somewhere inthere.
Like, I just need an extra,like, a week and a half
turnaround.
One week, I'm playing Dango.
A week and a half, probablyAzevedo.

Yeah.
We're already two days into the,the week off.
Then we, we can't

brent_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:18:30):
all right.
No, no, I like that because Ithink, yeah, I think the
question is like, like, how areyou thinking about preparing for
Baltimore?
So, so that's a very fairquestion.
A very fair answer.
Liam?
Pidgeot?

liam_1_08-20-2024_180640 (01:18:43):
I, I'm just trying every deck with a
Pidget EX right now, and I'mgonna play Pidget EX.
I'm playing Pidget EX.

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-202 (01:18:50):
So

ooh.

squadcaster-7cb0_1_08-20-2 (01:18:51):
bro, we gotta try that.
That's next, on the docket.

brent_1_08-20-2024_180 (01:18:54):
Alright, well, I think we can come back
with way, way more, but I knowthat this pod is already too
long.
But yeah, you guys took sometime off when I wasn't around.
We're gonna give the people whatthey want, and that's podcasts.
The Jawpulls are our outro.
We'll be back next week with,like, the real deep dive on all
this nonsense.
That was as fast as we could go,I think.

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