9-1. Singapore

This episode is brought to you by Facebook. So you were scrolling on Marketplace and there it was, the bike you'd been searching for. You sent a message and it turned out the seller was Zebra chatty, kind of funny, and an avid cyclist. The next thing you know, you're in a cycling crew. Well, a community cycling group. The thing about Facebook, you might find more than what you're looking for. From a browse to a bike ride this summer. Find more on Facebook. Low energy, unfocused, foggy. You might be dehydrated. Whether it's hot yoga, over 100 degree weather or too much sun. Gatorlight with a specialized blend of five electrolytes was scientifically designed to help move fluids into the body faster for rapid rehydration. Shop now at retailers nationwide. Gatorlight hydrates faster than water. Is it in you? Symptoms noted are signs of mild to moderate dehydration. Consult a healthcare professional if symptoms persist. How's it hanging everybody? Welcome back to Tag Team Pokemon Trading Card Games Premiere Podcasting trio. My name is Riley Hobert, joined as always by my good, good friends Mr. J.B. crewall and Mr. Andrew Mahone. And folks, we got an awesome episode here today, fresh off the World Championship in San Francisco. We'll be talking about Worlds, we'll be talking about Pokemon XP and all of the fun stuff that comes with it. But before we Topps, how we doing today? How are you? Doing great. I finally feel like I am back in the swing of things. It like took me a long time to get re acclimated to the east coast after being in California for a week. I spent some time with family before Worlds and then obviously had the tournament and I finally feel regulated. Congrats, man. Yu-Gi-Oh thanks, thanks. And I'm sure we'll hear all about your experiences out there as we dive into the World championship. How about you Andrew? How you doing? Chillin dude. I am also getting settled in after the time shift. It's crazy. The whole family Woke up at 9 on like Tuesday, just 9pm like usually we're all up at like 6:30, but like you know, just. And I, we don't even set alarms anymore for anything because I mean Natalie and I work at a freaking card shop and our son wakes us up every day. So like, like, like we're all, Yu-Gi-Oh we never set an alarm so just slept until 9 which is like crazy. We like looked at each other like, dude, I don't remember the last time that we slept until nine, like in any context. So that was pretty crazy. And Yu-Gi-Oh a lot to talk about with Worlds xp. All that had a lot of, A lot of fun. It was certainly an experience of all time. I'm working on a video right now for the YouTube channel about it where I'm gonna be kind of unpacking the, the whole event in a lot of detail. So I'm gonna be releasing that this week also probably tomorrow, probably the same day that this episode's going out. So, Yu-Gi-Oh let's talk about awesome. Well, Yu-Gi-Oh I mean, I feel like we should just dive in then. Like, so much to talk about coming off the World Championship, right? We had Andrew Hedrick with this impressive one-of-one We had the first ever Pokemon xp. We have all the announcements to look ahead to. Where do you guys want to start? It's a good question. Where do you want to start? I'm thinking XP because I know the least about XP myself as someone who is watching from home. So I'm really curious to hear what I, what that whole vibe was. A year ago we were like, oh Yu-Gi-Oh it's Pokemon embracing the Pokemon side of Worlds, but segregating it from the World Championship. Like, what did that feel like? So I would say it was a good idea in theory, but didn't really play out that well in practice. Yu-Gi-Oh once the word in theory enters the equation, you know, we're going for a negative take. I, I made this, I made this post on X and I said, hey, I, you know, I wouldn't take my child to this. It was very crowded and it was largely inaccessible, right. Like, it felt like a, dare I say, like a hypercharged, like Disney World. Right? But instead of Disney World, like iterating on rides and having, you know, like just an abundance of theming, you know, you're in a convention center where it's kind of all this pop up, all these pop up displays and things, right? And so it was just very crowded. All the free events, like the pin trading, that all got shut down pretty much immediately on Saturday. So like the paid events you had to enter a lottery to get into. I didn't get into any of these, like, cool, you know, art events or, you know, any of the other things that they were holding. And then I also didn't get to participate really in any of the free events because I was either playing on Friday or they kind of just closed it all down. I mean, the pin trading was a big one or it was just extremely long lines. So for instance, I tried to go to the museum. I don't know, Andrew, if you check that out but they were like preventing people from even standing in line because the line was so long. So it felt, I say it was good in theory because it was nice that they separated this and they had a whole space dedicated to, you know, the collector or the casual fan or you know, the person that's interested in the Pokemon ip. But maybe not the competitive side. But a lot of what XP had to offer was largely inaccessible, just like Zebra crowded. I, I mean I'm making a whole video about this and there's a lot to talk about. I think like the world's experience as a whole, I mean it was like successful in that like you know, I attended Go Fest Chicago like you know, the very first one. Like that was an, that's what an unsuccessful event looked like. This was not that but like I also, you know, I, I got flown out and got to participate as like an official Pokemon partner. So like I kind of had a little bit of a sugar coated experience of the event and, and still it was just very chaotic and stressful. I would say we're like many kind of the feelings that you had kind of walking around. I mean there were maxed out lines for everything. You wanted to do a photo op, big lines, you know, photo op with like a statue. You wanted to do like you know, go to the Pokemon museum or like go to the 30th anniversary thing. Huge maxed out lines. You wanted to, you know, you wanted to go to the pin rally stations. Maxed out lines. I mean after talking with some people who, who were intent on doing everything that there was to do at xp, they said it was a weekend full of just waiting in line which like. So like my biggest, my biggest kind of thing about XP was that there just needed to be more walk up friendly events. If that meant like many stages all kind of going at once with different forms of entertainment, something to help disperse the crowds and something that wasn't like a one person at a time type of deal. Yu-Gi-Oh Cuz like there was the XP stage which was great and there was like some cool stuff going on on the XP stage which you could like watch from home because there was like the XP stream was going on. So like actually the best place to watch all of the XP content was right on a couch. That was the best place to watch all the presentations because like they were broadcasting them but like actually getting to them in real life was pretty stressful and tough to do. And they weren't like, it was like okay, so if you decided you want to go watch on The XP stage, there was, like, you know, time between the presentations where they had to, like, you know, get ready for the next set or whatever. So you Goldin just, like, sit down and kind of, like, grind out content on the XP stage all day because, like, you know, there were, like, 30 minutes between things. So, you know, you didn't want to just sit there, like, twiddling your thumbs, waiting for the next thing to come up. And. And then, like, on the wharf stage outside, which I really liked, you know, I thought, like, the music. The concept of doing, like, music outside on, like, a stage was a really good Whatnot. And the music that we got to see was really cool. But, like, again, there were times where I was outside and, like, there was nobody performing on the wharf stage, and I was like, why is there nobody out there on the war stage, like, playing music right now? Like, there should be a musical act going on the whole time. I mean, just the whole time. There should be some sort of, like. Yu-Gi-Oh just a rotation, something to enjoy out there on the wharf stage for, like, the throngs of people that are out here on Rayquaza Road, because, like, they're just. I mean, just so many people, right? Like, there should be something going on at all times. So. And if that means that you needed multiple stages outside, which is, like, something that maybe they should think about, because if you had multiple stages outside, then you could, like, be prepping the next show on one stage while one show is going on on the other stage. And then as soon as, like, that show's done, you fire up the show at the next stage, and there's just always something going on outside. So, Yu-Gi-Oh there's, like, a lot of. A lot of different points of improvement that I wanted to see it did. I agreed with JW's kind of take as someone who had a child there, you know, like, obviously Pokemon wants families to be attending these events. If you watch, like, the closing ceremony montage, almost all of the. The shots are of families. Like, there's a couple shots of competitors. Almost all the shots are of kids and families, right? Because, like, Pokemon wants to embrace that identity. They want to be known as, like, a family lifestyle brand, right, that transcends generations. They desperately want that. But, like, XP was not a great place to have your kid straight up because it was just one big line waiting simulator. And. And the crowds were too thick, right? Like, just ultimately the crowds were too thick. And if you were gonna do something with your kid, it usually meant that, like, you had to wait in line we were actually just like Zebra blessed that, like, our son was like, very tuckered out from traveling on day one and happened to like fall asleep in the stroller. So we were like, this is the time we're gonna wait in the build a bear line. Because, like, this is the one thing we wanted to do with him that involved a line. And we're like, we'll let you sleep for the 30. And it literally was like a 30 minute, 40, 40 minute line. But, like, he slept through it. So, like, that was the one line that we got to do like all weekend. And we chose that one. Yu-Gi-Oh because, like, we woke him up right when we got to the front of the line and he got to go pick his build a bear. That's like the. What is the one thing we wanted to do? So it. And there weren't like any family kind of like family spaces where like a kid could safely, like, romp around. I think it would be really cool if they had like a kid's stage, you know, I will say that. Was Pokemon XP meant to be a family event or was it meant to be for 25 year olds who are looking to spend $1,000? This episode is brought to you by Facebook. So you were scrolling on marketplace and there it was, the bike you'd been searching for. You sent a message and it turned out the seller was Zebra chatty, kind of funny, and an avid cyclist. The next thing you know, you're in a cycling crew. Well, a community cycling group. The thing about Facebook, you might find more than what you're looking for from a browse to a bike ride this summer. Find more on Facebook. Propel fitness Water with Gatorade electrolytes, zero sugar and vitamins. Propel hydrates better than water to help you get the most out of your workout and get back to your best self. What propels you propel with Gatorade Electrolytes. There's certainly things that, like, made you think that it was supposed to be a family event. There was like a big squishmallow jumbo slide outside. There was a Pikachu dance party, which, like, the, you know, age range for that is like very clearly like seven and under. There they did the Pikachu dance party multiple times. In fact, our son loved the Pikachu dance party. That was one of the things we got to watch on the XP stage, like, because, I mean, he's the perfect age range for that. Like, he knows who Pikachu is. He sees Pikachu upstairs, you know, up on stage in the Costume dancing. He's having a great time. Right. You know, and there was like the whole book corner was like very clearly like kid oriented. Build A Bear. What's the target age for Build A bear? I saw 25 year olds rocking around with Build A Bear. I mean I'm just saying like, but like it made way more sense for my, you know, for my 2 year old to be so at a heart in the Build A Bear. That's all I'm saying. Like so to me it was like they, it was kind of meant to be a family event. Like Pokemon wants to be a family brand. Right. But like it did feel like as someone who brought their family, it felt like it wasn't a great fit for families. But then honestly, I bet you, I mean I also heard from like 20 somethings who were like, you know, this event wasn't great for us either because we were just waiting in line all day, you know. So like, I don't know, I don't know that it was a fantastic fit for anybody unless you really like waiting in line. I think that very tight crowds. Yu-Gi-Oh The tough thing too there is that you know, for a lot of these people that were going adults that were going to xp, you get a one day pass and so you're trying to fit in all these different activities. And I could, you know, I imagine that there was a lot of frustration right of having to stand in line for, for the majority of the XP experience for the one day that you have. That's true. It encourages the line. It's almost when you get a one day pass. And I don't mean to like downplay it cause I think on the plus side there were some cool things. I, I just like the, it was ambitious. It was very ambitious and I applaud that. Like great. And it was, you know, again, separate from the competition. So like I didn't feel any pressure as a competitor to like wade through, you know, attendees of XP to like, you know, do what I was there to, to do in, in terms of the competition, like there, there was a very clear delineation there and that felt great. As a competitor again, very ambitious, they had a lot of activities. But Yu-Gi-Oh it just didn't feel that accessible. One thing that I do want to highlight as like a, a major positive, I had a great experience at the World Store. I thought they knocked that out of the park really compared to how they've done in the past and well, so what, at least the way that I felt and maybe it was just execution as opposed to actually what was different, but they executed the like area, the pre world store areas much better. So they had like a holding area for your time. And, and by and large they like pushed away everyone that wasn't within about, you know, 30 minutes of, of their time. And so like you didn't have a lot of people waiting around because they Goldin access the like first waiting area for getting into the store. And then of course, like one big line. It was like a pod space. It was a pod, right. And then you moved around with your pod. So you're out on the street for you know, maybe 20 minutes and then you moved indoors to a space, then you moved up the escalator to a space and then you got into the store, however many different like waiting areas. But they did that very well, I thought in a way that, you know, was very reasonable compared to some of the other experiences in the past. Of course there was also the fact that everyone could only go into the store one time. Right. They scan your badge and so, you know, you didn't have any extra crowding in that sense where you know, multiple people would come back with their friends multiple times. Right. So that I, I'm sure also contributed to that feeling as well of, of just being like very well managed. And then the store merch was amazing. So Yu-Gi-Oh I had, I had a great time at the, at the World Store this year. There were definitely. And that's the thing I want to kind of highlight is like, Yu-Gi-Oh XP itself like felt crowded and chaotic, but there were certainly like highlights. Yu-Gi-Oh And things that I really enjoyed about it. And there were very much highlights and things that I absolutely loved about worlds this year. So like, I still had a good time. Like I had a good time and I'm glad I went. But it is like I want to, you know, I don't want to like fall into the trap of just being like, oh well, I was there of like as an influencer, you know, got a, you know, a kind of swagged out trip and like, I'm just going to gloss over all of the things that certainly need to be addressed before we do this all again. Like, I think it's, it's important to kind of take a look and say like, okay, well you know, like let's, let's not do it exactly like this next time. Right. Like, let's, let's like adjust some things that are, is just going to make the experience better for everybody. And I do applaud Pokemon for kind of just throwing everything at the Wall and just seeing how it went. Yu-Gi-Oh it was a massive undertaking. There were so many different moving parts. The production of it all was amazing. Like I said, like the best place to watch XP was probably from your couch. Because I mean the production team, Paperlight, they just continued to impress. I mean they are running such a massive operation. They're streaming so many games, streaming all this different commentary over different. I mean, like, dude, like the. There's so much being produced here. It's. It's crazy really. And then taking it all the way to the Chase center at the end and the production that went on there also just absolutely nuts. And we're talking huge streams. Like, you know, YouTube cuts out at 12 hours. You Goldin even, I mean like YouTube didn't even save all of the stream from like championship Sunday. Like, which is crazy to think about. Like, you know, this, this multimillion dollar production going on at the Chaser. Like, dude, how many, how much money did Pokemon spend on this? Like 20, 26 worlds and XP, like it's an outrageous figure. Just thinking, especially in the finals. Yu-Gi-Oh you have to wonder, dude, it's crazy outrageous figure, right? Is being spent on these things. And then like all the production that's gone into the Chase center, dude, the way lit up all the custom animations for everything. Everything is custom. Every animation that goes on that LED Fleer is custom. Everything. You know, they did custom animations for the, for the freaking baseball game on Thursday, dude. Like, Yu-Gi-Oh it was, it was nuts. Everything was so cool. So, you know, from like an experiential standpoint, as far as like Worlds went, I felt like Worlds was great and you could be in like the world's tournament hall. Kind of forget that XP was going on once you were in there. Yu-Gi-Oh once. Once you were in there you could, you could. I mean, because getting in there, you did have to, have to wait. You had to wait through XP for sure. But once you were, once you were in there. Yu-Gi-Oh Then you could kind of be like, oh Yu-Gi-Oh this is, this is exactly as I know it. Yu-Gi-Oh Yu-Gi-Oh Because that's, that's something we had talked about when XP was first announced is like the fact that Worlds was trying to toe that line of being a convention versus being a tournament and how the spaces like didn't intermingle particularly well. So it's nice that like it almost created a player centric space by design with the tournaments hall versus the rest of xp. So very interesting. Yu-Gi-Oh I didn't really watch any of the XP content on stream. I Was, you know, I was locked into the tournament as I guess you would expect. So it's interesting to hear the perspectives. Admittedly, it doesn't like totally surprise me that like, there's some logistical ironing out to do both because of the scale of what we're talking about and also the organization we're talking about. So, Yu-Gi-Oh all tracks to me. I would be curious maybe then to talk more about Worlds itself in your experience. One thing I noticed, I don't know if you guys clock this too. When they announced next year's Worlds, they did not announce a Pokemon XP alongside of it. So reading between the lines, I mean, that's not happening. I guess they didn't say they're not going to do XP every single year. So. Right. I think I. I took it as. When they announced that they're not doing XP every year, I took that as an announcement that they are not doing it next year. So like, to me it was like they were announcing that they weren't doing XP next year. This like earlier this year, like way back when. And. And to me it seemed like XP would be more of like a anniversary year type thing, like maybe once every five years. That's kind of how I imagine that they will sure try, like pull out all the stops and make. Yu-Gi-Oh I mean, maybe. But you also think back to like how crowded it was in. In like Japan, for example. It's like, man, that would have really benefited from an xp. Right? So are they trying to trim down like the. Are they trying to trim down like the regular world's experience then to, I don't know, have less? We're like. Because worlds in Tokyo and in Hawaii, right. We're kind of like ramping up to what XP would be. Are they gonna like dial it back now? Can you dial it back down? So I have these questions, right? Can you dial it back now to be like less big than it was? Yu-Gi-Oh I mean, I'm sure there will be some amount of like both the lack of XP, but also the location for 2027 just kind of bag Singapore like as. I mean, it's just ostensibly it's harder to get to than San Francisco for a lot of people. So not the Singaporeans. Populous, you know, how Populous. Yu-Gi-Oh They all live actually in the city. Well, you know, it's. It's crazy because like I heard what Ishihara called it, the. The city of Singapore, and I was like, I was. Singapore's a city and a country. Yu-Gi-Oh well. Yu-Gi-Oh well, exactly. So I'm telling the story Yu-Gi-Oh I. So I. I was like, I look at Dadley and I'm like, I thought Singapore was like, a country. Natalie's like, me too. But I can't think of any cities in Singapore. Like, I was like, huh? I was like, that's crazy. So we, like, look it up, but it's like, oh, it's a city state. Like, it's literally like. Yu-Gi-Oh it's literally a city state. It is literally a city state. Like, okay. Like, I guess I didn't realize how kind of small it is. It's dense, but I didn't realize how like, like, like it's a city state. I didn't realize that the extent of Singapore was just. Was Singapore. That was it. Yu-Gi-Oh Yu-Gi-Oh I mean, that is true, though, jw, like, there will be certainly, like, an Asian Pacific draw to Singapore that, like, San Francisco doesn't have. So. Yu-Gi-Oh who knows? Maybe it ends up being, like, comparable to something like SF in the end. Yep, Yep. We can only speculate. It's great that we have some dates. Obviously, mid August is going to be tough in that part of the world with the weather, but it's going to be so hot. Just so. Singapore is always hot. It's going to be insane. I'm sure. I mean, Japan, I always say Japan in, you know, that mid to late August, that was the worst weather I've ever experienced. I am ready for more punishment. So Singapore, I think, is a little less humid than Japan. Really? Really. I mean, it's the same idea, right? It's like kind of a. On the water. Okay. But Japan's a literal, like, island. So many people are saying this. Yu-Gi-Oh Yu-Gi-Oh Yu-Gi-Oh one-of-one so for Singapore, initially, I was. I was hype. It's crazy because there were rumors going around all weekend about Singapore. I heard it. I heard it from two different sources. Yu-Gi-Oh I didn't believe, but, like. Yu-Gi-Oh but. But, like, it's so, like, if it felt like everybody was buzzing about it, you know, the world's location being Singapore, but I don't know that anybody actually believed it. Like, it did seem like the perfect kind of tall tale. Like, like, no shot, it's going not only back to Asia, but also to Singapore. Like, really is okay, you know? And then it ended up tracking. As soon as the montage came on and we were. We were flying over Singapore, it was like, oh, my God, like, we are going to Singapore. Holy crap. Yu-Gi-Oh that's. That's crazy. So it is hype that Worlds is in a different location. I gotta say. It's like so much more hype than if they were like Anaheim again. We'd be like, bro, Yu-Gi-Oh just ping pong between in different cities in California. Like, let's, let's please go somewhere else. Right? So Singapore is cool. I like that. And you know, thinking now more as like an adult, as, as, you know, these Pokemon events are often excuses to travel places that I probably wouldn't ever travel otherwise. And it's pretty unique opportunity. But I'm not sure that I'll go just because it is pretty prohibitively expensive. Like, I've never been to, I've never been to Australia for, you know, back when they had OCIC or anything like that. Just because Australia is also like prohibitively expensive to travel to. So I don't, I'm not sure that I'm going to Singapore unless I get my invite. So, like, if I get my invite, we're in but on the table for you. You think, well, it's not going to be. I'm. I don't know that I'm ever in the next couple years. I don't see myself ever trying to force an invite. Like, you know, go to all three ICs, you know, all that. I feel like if I, if I wanted to force the invite, I could always just force the invite. Like, sure. But if I go to like maybe five or six events, like, I kind of plan on going to Baltimore. I'll go to Vegas, I'll go to Naic. It's in Chicago this year. You know, maybe do a couple more regionals in the spring. Max out locals. Like, I'm not expecting to get a world's invite if I don't like top eight a regional. Like, I, I'm going to have to like, do something like that. But to me, that, that is on the table, right? Because like, dude, I could top 8A regional. Sure. Why the heck not? Did it in 2024. Like, whatever. So it wasn't that long ago. Come on now. That's right. That's what I keep telling myself, bro. Like, I one-of-one original. That was only. That was less than three years ago. That's what I'm saying. That was. That's like. That was just the other year. Really. Yu-Gi-Oh Yu-Gi-Oh In dad years. That is. That might as well have been yesterday. That's what I'm saying. Yu-Gi-Oh Now that we're up in the upper, upper echelons of 30. That was not long ago at all. Yu-Gi-Oh Some of us are. Yu-Gi-Oh Natalie loves to remind me how close I am to 38. Consequently 40, and consequently 40 Yu-Gi-Oh I mean, I'm really excited about Singapore. I think this is an exciting time for Pokemon. It's a unique location. You know, I'm somewhat in that same spot. Andrew is like, you know, Yu-Gi-Oh sure, I'm going to do my five and a lot like this year, like, if it happens, it happens. Obviously want to have more solid finishes than what I had this year. Yet another top 256 at Worlds. That was kind of the, you know, that's been the trend over the last couple years. This was the first tournament this season that I didn't day two. So that really stung at Worlds. But, you know, getting, getting back to Worlds in Singapore, that'd be cool. I like talked to one-of-one about it and you know, we've been wanting to go back to Asia and so this might be, you know, just a great excuse. You bringing the fam. Dude, I don't know if we'd bring the fam. All three. Well, it'd be, I mean, you talk about, you talk about cost prohibitive. Cost prohibitive. The crew all caravan coming with you. You talk about cost prohibitive. And you know, one ticket I was looking, it's like probably $1,000 to get to Singapore. So then me and my wife, but then you have two of our kids would have, you know, ticketed seats. So you're thinking like double the cost to get out there. It's like, probably not, but. But maybe. I don't know. I got some ideas on maybe how I can raise some money. So thinking. Never say never. You think what I'm thinking? Oh, Yu-Gi-Oh Oh Yu-Gi-Oh Exactly right. Exactly right. Yu-Gi-Oh Let's go. I also, I did fact check myself and it's basically the same heat and humidity, so Yu-Gi-Oh it's gonna kick our butts just as much. But some of the Reddit comments say that you do less walking in Singapore as opposed to bad. No, no, no. They're saying you're just, you're just walking all over the place when you're in like Tokyo and there's just less walking to do, less stuff to do. I did not think Tokyo was that. There's stuff, there's just as much stuff to do. You're just not walking as much. Dude, you're crazy. I showered like tw. You're overreacting, bro. It wasn't that bad. It was horrible. It was horrible. It was not that bad. Bro, it was horrible. I was sweating through my clothes within five minutes of stepping outside. Like it was, it was a busy. Yu-Gi-Oh I did multiple loads of laundry. I, I Showered, like, twice every day. N. I wasn't even that bad, dude. I saw there were people, like, in long sleeves and stuff out. Yes, yes. They're used to it, but they're crazy. Also, long sleeves doesn't necessarily mean that it's objectively like a Warburg outfit. True. Yu-Gi-Oh I got him. I saw people in, like, joggers for style, dude. Not for. Not for being cool. Oh, Yu-Gi-Oh You can't sacrifice swag, dude. You can't sacrifice the swag. Only stupid Americans are going to be wearing, like, their khaki cargo shorts around. Come on. True. They're. They're cargo shorts and their Triforce T shirt. Yu-Gi-Oh Stay cool. Staying cool. Yu-Gi-Oh one-of-one all right, sounds like, you know, I actually saw someone with. With cargo shorts in a Triforce T shirt, like, irl not that long ago. And I Goldin tell if it was a bit or like, if that just what was going on there, you know? And you asked yourself, how can I cop that swag, dude? That's what you asked yourself. Oh, Yu-Gi-Oh that is funny. Jw, what'd you get from the World Store, dude? Okay, the best. Well, I got this shirt. Okay. The Rain Spooner Polo. Oh, Yu-Gi-Oh Those were nice. These look nice. I haven't bought a Pokemon shirt for myself in a long time. And I was like, this is the one. Treat yourself best. The best item that I got. And I hope you got this one too, Andrew, because I loved. But just by the way, as an aside, I. I loved. I. I, like, am in love with the delicious San Francisco line that they had. I thought all of that merch was, like, incredible. But the highlight, in my opinion was the mug. This mug. What? Don't laugh. Don't laugh. I just. I just can't believe. I just can't believe it was the mug. Your delivery was good. Thank you. Yes. This mug. Yu-Gi-Oh Because you were really building up. You were really building up. Yu-Gi-Oh That was not where I expected us to land. No, it was not what we, as a listener, were expecting. And then you had the bug right there in front of you, which was also unexpected. So there were many unexpected turns there, which is what made it. What did you think I was going to say? Because I thought, like, again, I thought that the. That the San Francisco line. So at the World Store, they had the, you know, the XP line, which is like all the blue stuff. They had the. The champions line, which is all the kind of red stuff. And then they had what they called the San Francisco line, and that was like, a little bit more limited but it had that very unique design. And I just. Yu-Gi-Oh we got one of that double deck boxes that had that. Yu-Gi-Oh the double. Like, it's amazing. Like, I have all that merch basically from the San Francisco line because I just loved it. I might actually start using a playmat. That's how much I like that design. Dang. That's crazy. I know. That is crazy. I know. So that's crazy. Yu-Gi-Oh I was, I was curious. What would you guys have thought I would have said, what did you get? I mean, obviously the Beckett hat, but let's move. I just wouldn't have expected a mug. I don't know. Like, I have so many mugs. I've kind of spanned myself from buying. The thing about these mug. The thing about this mug is that it's not. I, I don't. I think it is hand. You have to hand wash. But it's like high quality about it. You know, it's not like those mugs. Remember last year, was it last year, two years ago where they. Everybody put the mug in the. In the dishwasher and then all the, the print came off. That was the NIC mugs from like a couple of years ago. And everybody was. It might have even like been the same like brand mug for a period of time. But I remember distinctly that from NAIC a couple of years ago. So this is higher quality than that. And I like the two tone. And I'm a sucker actually for cream. Like the cream color. I know what it is. It just scratches an itch. So we got, we got our Zenith, you know, the maroon baseball jerseys that everybody, like, loved. Well, we got our Zenith, the maroon baseball jersey in youth extra small. Right? Okay. He is two. That is. And, and he, he, he, he fits that thing. Like, dude, he can wear it for sure. Like, you would think a youth extra small would. He'd be swimming in it. Like. No, dude, he's got that thing on for sure. Yu-Gi-Oh So it was, it was really cute. And that was something that was cool about being at the World Store with him there was that like, you know, I was kind of not just thinking about the World Store is like, of what do I want? But like, you know, what would my son like? And that's what. We got him this Beckett hat too. This is his Beckett at. I got one from Pokemon from being part of the partner thing. But we, we got him one because, like, you know, he looks cute in a little Beckett hat. Protect his little face from the sun as well. So that's his Beckett hat. We got him the jersey. I liked the. I liked the Jimmy Paul stuff. Like, the Jimmy Paul line. And I know that that's not, like, Pokemon center exclusive, but I'd been eyeing it up online, and I'd been. And it is kind of like. It's very unique, right? Like, the. The way that the clothes are, you know, kind of designed. I mean, Jimmy Blue Ice kind of like a fashion. Fashion guy. You know, he's making artsy farts clothes, for sure, right? So, like. So I'd been looking at them online. They're not really that expensive. Like, they're very affordable, I would say, considering, like, you know, they're kind of, you know, made by a fashion designer or designed by a fashion designer. And. And when I saw the Pikachu shirt, like, the giant Pikachu head shirt, like, in person, I was like, oh, well, I just. It's like an oversized tee, right? Like a big kind of like, almost hockey jersey style, like, large, oversized tee. Yu-Gi-Oh it's got this angry Pikachu head on it. And I was like, Yu-Gi-Oh dude, this actually goes Zebra hard. So that's gonna be my. I saw you wearing that when we got drinks. I was, oh, Yu-Gi-Oh dude. I wore that to my. To my meet and greet on Friday. That's a great shirt for the meet. Better way to. What better way to represent the Pokemon brand than to wear the Pikachu shirt at the meet and greet? Yu-Gi-Oh I think the problem for me with some of that stuff, like the jersey, for instance, I was like, oh, this would be cool. And then I just Goldin envision myself wearing it in public. Yu-Gi-Oh I'd be like, oh, Yu-Gi-Oh this is sick for the Pokemon tournament. And then, like, I just wouldn't wear it casually, you know, I feel like there's some Pokemon stuff that's, like, just cool enough design that it's kind of transcends. And it's cool to wear casual, but it's a limited amount of that stuff. Well, that's why. That's why I liked this. I wore this to work today. You know, I felt like a nice little Blue Ice the move. So I gotta tread carefully because I am. I am filled with Pokemon tattoos. So, like, if I'm wearing too much Pokemon stuff, it's like. It's a little. Yu-Gi-Oh this guy. This guy wants gardevoir little, like, man, dude, you like Pokemon, man. Yu-Gi-Oh that's fair. But, you know, so I just got to make sure that I'm not, like, you know, wearing a Pokemon shirt like, every day. I do, like, It, I do it for a job and arguably, you know, my job is not very job, like, so I really can wear whatever I want. But I do have to like, keep myself in check because if I, you know, if I just like, let it get out of hand, it could just like be out of hand, I think, where I'd just be like a walking Pokemon center model. Have you seen the videos of the guy who has put on like a bunch of Sonic the Hedgehog temporary tattoos and he's like, so my wife left me. And he like keeps putting new body parts in frame and there's like more and more. No, I've never seen that. Like a nice, nice guy. Just finished last, huh? Yu-Gi-Oh that's you, Andrew. So good, jw. I see you thoughtfully prodding us towards the mailbag. Shall we, shall we hit that before we talk about the actual Worlds Tournament? Yu-Gi-Oh I think, I think we can do that for sure. Slap the bag, bro. So we had a question from Joshua saying, when playing older formats, do you play with modern rules or rules for that format? Really enjoyed the episode as I got into Pokemon in the modern era and love looking back at these older decks. Also, when building an older format, is it acceptable to use reprints of cards? I think there will be a range of answers here, but what do you think, Riley? So I think one of these questions has a definitive correct answer. The other is up to interpretation of the reader. Always play the rules of the format. Play the cards as they're meant to be played. That'll give you both the best experience and the most genuine experience. And like, you know, for example, with modern rules, no supporters turn one. Like, if you play a couple years prior to that rule coming into play, decks were built around being able to play supporters on turn one. So it's like a complete. You'd have to completely like reimagine deck building for them to be compatible outside the rule set. In terms of building an older format deck, to me, it's like up to the, the user. I'm of the opinion if you want like the true, most genuine experience, you should try and use cards that were printed in the era. But I'm not going to police that for you. You do whatever's fun for you. You know, like if you, if you want to do proxies, if you want to like play with reprints, that's all great. Like, I think the cool thing about Pokemon cards with retro formats is like, there's no regulations on it. Like it's casual play with, with friends. I. I kind of view it like it's just like Toy Story, right? Like the cards are just really happy that they're getting played in the first place. So whether it's a reprint, whether it's the og, like, they're just happy to be there, right? They're happy that you're picking them up and, and shuffling them up every couple months. So Yu-Gi-Oh I think, I think the reprints are good. We got some insight here. WOTC grappled with the masters division. This is from our Worlds episode in 2002. We were talking about how they only had like a, like a lower division, not a, not a, an adult division. From what I remember, they either did not want to provide Prizm money or preferred scholarships. And then obviously competitive players wanted money. Let's see. Definitely felt like the professional division was to keep the older players happy. Other details, Pokemon players were getting older, getting into more questionable outlets. So lots was happening to the competitive scene. This episode is brought to you by Facebook. So you were scrolling on Marketplace and there it was, the bike you'd been searching for. You sent a message and it turned out the seller was Zebra chatty, kind of funny, and an avid cyclist. The next thing you know, you're in a cycling crew. Well, a community cycling group. The thing about Facebook, you might find more than what you're looking for from a browse to a bike ride this summer. Find more on Facebook. Low energy, Unfocused. Foggy. You might be dehydrated. Gatorade zero powders have been scientifically designed to help improve hydration balance in the body with a clinically proven electrolyte blend and no artificial colors or flavors. Great tasting hydration no matter where you're going. Shop now online or at retailers nationwide. Gatorade hydrates better than water. Is it in you? Symptoms noted are signs of mild to moderate dehydration. Consult a healthcare professional if symptoms persist. Very fun. Yu-Gi-Oh very fun. Appreciate the history. Trash goat says question. If I end up seeing you guys at future regionals, is it okay to stop you for a quick pick and possibly sign a card? Is it? Yu-Gi-Oh absolutely. We love seeing the fans. The tag team fans are genuinely like the best, most respectful fans ever. You guys are so cool. So, Yu-Gi-Oh for sure. Yes, yes, yes. Feel free. Yep. You know, if I'm sitting there at the table stewing after a loss, you know, I'll, you know, I'll probably try. I'll try to turn it on for you. Let me tell you this. Andrew. Andrew. Let me, let me just, let me just tell you this. Andrew Hedrick one-of-one the World championships after starting 2 2. So think about that next time you drop it Tutu. Remember that could have been. Remember you just threw away. Threw away a tournament dub. I've had a lot of good times after dropping 22 though. There's a lot more on the line these days. That's very. I don't think that I've Tribute a 22 in the modern, modern era like post Covid, Vita Knight says 2009 and B 2013 in A, 2011 that high and 2012 in C, 2018 in S. My Lord, this is a tier list of all time. Take it that they don't quite see Yu-Gi-Oh to Yu-Gi-Oh with us. The thing is it's unclear like where any of these should be other than the fact they shouldn't be where they are. So I. Yu-Gi-Oh well, I respect the hate, but maybe stand on business harder. Yu-Gi-Oh Yu-Gi-Oh they should have. They should have appropriately ranked it for us. That person's opinions are so good. Then why don't they have a podcast? I'm saying. Yu-Gi-Oh podcasts can only possibly be had by people with good opinions. I've been saying this. All right, well, let's kick it back to the world Championships. Finishing up obviously this last weekend and we saw some really interesting story lines. I would say the top four arguably was the most stacked top four we have ever seen. Maybe rivaled by the finals in. Or the, you know, the final four in Japan that saw toward Azul and Michael Primer Watt in. In. In the final four, along with Vance Kelly, of course, the goat, the go Vance Kelly, can't forget him. But in, in this iteration of the tournament, Andrew Hedrick, Diego Casiraga, Brent Tonneson and Henry Chow, all notable in their own right for different reasons. And then obviously a finals that pitted the kind of modern era, one of the best players in the modern era, against one of the. You know, I think you could make an argument for Diego as being, you know, certainly on a Mount Rushmore or top 10 players of all time, certainly solidifying his name with. With a top finish here at Worlds. So what were some initial thoughts from you guys on how this tournament ended and specifically some of those storylines amongst top players? First things first. Andrew Hedrick, my word, storms onto the Pokemon scene after Covid and wins literally every level of tournament in the four or five years since then, like, that's just flat out insane work. And winning this tournament like basically with the same deck that he had created and full of months ago with the dragapult hammers, not a Crazy amount fundamentally even changed there. Very, very crazy stuff. Andrew Hedrick definitely goaded and is quickly rising in the like all time player hierarchy in my opinion after the last couple seasons especially. So huge props to him. And what I love about seeing Andrew one-of-one in general, like anytime he wins a tournament is you could, I could just feel like his love for this game like emanate off of him. He always looks like he's like so happy and having such a like fun time like and that just. That fills my Beckett for sure. Yu-Gi-Oh Not, not, not relief, right? It's not like relief or it's not. I wouldn't say it's even. You know that there's like an expectation necessarily. Right. Like it's not like he feels. It doesn't ever feel like it's deserved. You know what I mean? It's just a good attitude. Yu-Gi-Oh It's a very wholesome, you know, Midwest attitude I'd say. Yu-Gi-Oh So I like that for sure. And it was really cool that we also had another world champion in the finals alongside him. Personally I was kind of rooting for Henry going into this top 16 I guess or this asym. Henry had a really cool take on Dragapult. Like no one else was really playing something quite like that. Prior to Henry taking this build to the world championships his gameplay was really, really solid too. Very impressive stuff from him. I really enjoyed his stream games and I'm a big Henry Chow Stan Henry Chow believer. So I was kind of rooting for him personally. But I was, I think Andrew winning was also very, very impressive. The storyline that I was maybe not fully anticipating personally. I'd be curious for your take JW as someone who's more on the ground was Crustle. Crustle really rose quickly through the ranks in this tournament. I mean Rahul also had a I believe a winning in to Asam and that he lost. And you know it's one of those things where like if you lose the one-of-one and then you plummet down and he. He lost. Yu-Gi-Oh he lost to. To Hydrapple Grant Walworth who had a tapu bulu in in the high travel. So not unwinnable but. But about as bad as you can get for. Yu-Gi-Oh Pretty tough. Yu-Gi-Oh pretty tough. So like. Yu-Gi-Oh Yu-Gi-Oh I mean Crustal. Crustal was the deck. You know as. As I was kind of theorizing for this tournament on what to play. Crustle was the deck that I was certainly like kind of throwing my hands up and saying, you know, I don't think anyone will play this and if they do. That is a loss that I'm willing to accept. And that seems. Bro, I asked you. I asked you what about Crustle? I did, Yu-Gi-Oh Or two before. Yu-Gi-Oh I know, I know. But there's not, like, gave me all these decks. You thought it lost to. Well, it does, right? So, like, Crustal doesn't. So my, I guess, Gambit or my biggest, you know, meta mistake was that I thought that Excadrill was going to not do particularly well. I didn't think that that would be the case, but I thought it would be present. And we saw from the graphics that it was about a 4% deck in day one. Really didn't do anything in day two. I don't think there was a single excadrill in top 32 at the end of the day. So my thought was that, okay, Excadrill is like a 7 to 9% deck. That is a horrible matchup. Like, no matter which way you slice it for Crustle, right? Like, either they just deck out, you know, get rid of all your resources or deck you out, or they, you know, knock out your big Crustle with. With one of their one prizers. Like, it just no matter how you slice it, that is not a good matchup. And so my thought was that, okay, Excadrill will be a sizable chunk of the Meta and that will stifle all the Crustle. And Yu-Gi-Oh by and large, that, you know, wasn't. Wasn't accurate. Crustle here. I did play against Rahul in my round three match. Pretty abysmal matchup for the Dragapult Hammers deck. Although I will highlight that Andrew Hedrick did beat Satoshi Matsui in top eight. But it is, you know, unless things go very right for the Dragon Ball player, just a terrible matchup there. So we'll take a look here. You know, Rune, in a field that was dominated largely by unteched Alakazam Dragapult decks and big basic decks. You know, looking back in hindsight, Yu-Gi-Oh it does make sense that there were two Crustle in top eight. Oh, Yu-Gi-Oh dude. So, Yu-Gi-Oh Rune here playing, I mean, the basic box decks, I saw a lot of, you know, people just kind of. I almost feel like defaulting to this. Like, maybe they Goldin find anything that they liked more. Maybe they just were intent on not playing Dragapult. I feel like that was the deck that, you know, if you weren't gonna play Dragapult, you really had no other play. You were just kind of defaulting to basic box. A lot of these alakazams maybe in the past they would have played Dedenne and a couple of enhanced Hammer that you know, we saw when Karras one-of-one her regional this last season. That was very effective against Crustal, but by and large you know, players were cutting that package from their, their Alkazam builds. But you know, do want to highlight Diego of course playing the two enhanced Hammer and the Dene. So had no problem with that in in his top cut one-of-one there over Rune. But Yu-Gi-Oh I mean, Yu-Gi-Oh I think that's kind of where it's at. Surprise for me was that Slow King really didn't show up. But Slow King is bad. Slow King is just bad. I I was expecting Slow King to kind of be like the single Prizm deck of choice and that deck just ended up being Alakazam. Yu-Gi-Oh that was pretty surprising to me. Yu-Gi-Oh Alakazam was definitely, definitely the play for this weekend. I would say, you know, none, you know, here. I mean we do have the two in. In top eight but very different builds by the way. But Yu-Gi-Oh it was littered in the, in the top 32. The Alakazam builds were, were all over the place for sure. Yu-Gi-Oh Alakazam felt like it was the, the other kind of update upcoming up and comer at this tournament. Like especially a build like Diego's that took advantage of Crustles in a way by having the Dene package in there. Very strong matchup there. Of course it's interesting when you look at the, the raw data on Zam. Like it's still not really putting up any good numbers against Dragapult but you just steamroll everything else and I guess you just say it's like it's close enough to be acceptable in a Dragon Ball and you one-of-one every other matchup. I mean there's maybe a case for the Dusknoir variant. I haven't looked too far into this, but if you think just like card to damage output ratio, right? It's like three cards if you can get into a Dusknoir to do 130, right. So that's like pretty good on the card to damage ratio versus just having three extra cards in hand only doing 60 extra damage for, for the, for the Alakazam. So like that's maybe a player. I mean we take a look at Mateus's run here. Ties Ties. Brent of course loses the Henry. Ties. Brent, you'd expect probably to lose to a Dragon Ball Dust Nor, but he did end up beating a couple of, you know, a couple of Dragapult Dust Nor earlier on in the Day. So, you know, maybe that's the, maybe that's the sauce, right, For Mateus. Maybe. I mean, you look at like you look at. Well, Angus also had beat a couple dragon bolts in his journey. Yu-Gi-Oh maybe, maybe that's the move. I don't know. Yu-Gi-Oh I mean that's four wins against Dragapult. Like you lose to Henry Chow playing a pretty unconventional Dragon Ball Dust Nor, I would say with, you know, just more recovery than we've ever seen in Henry Brand lost to two dragon bolts in a row on the deck. So Yu-Gi-Oh Yu-Gi-Oh I'd have to take a look at the, you know, the overall data, but you know, certainly, certainly not as doom and gloom, I'd say, for, for the Dust Nor variant as maybe, you know, historically has been for Alakazam. I mean, I, I think realistically, like probably both variants still aren't favored in the Dragon pole. And it's that calculated risk, right. I mean, people would do the same thing when Night March was Zebra popular too. Like, I can take a slightly unfavorable matchup into Night March, but I'll beat everything else and that's good enough, you know, and if I can one-of-one the coin flip and, and some change and be the Night March, like, I'm Goldin you know. Yu-Gi-Oh sure. Because even if a deck is as popular as Dragapult was and Drag Bolt was really freaking popular at this tournament, a lot of your rounds are going to be against other decks. Right. Maybe even a vast majority of them. You know, it just. Tournaments get weird, you know, so like 40% popularity doesn't even mean 40% of your rounds necessarily. Yu-Gi-Oh Yu-Gi-Oh And it's so true, right? I mean, I have so many anecdotes over the years of, you know, oh, I'm so worried about this deck showing up and then it does absolutely nothing. And I was worried for nothing. And I, you know, overthought the matchup or overthought my deck list. But Yu-Gi-Oh I mean, are we entering this kind of two deck format? Like, are we entering like a Dragapult Alakazam everything else. Is there still room for other decks like Zorark? I would say underperform. You're forgetting crust. Oh Yu-Gi-Oh the Dragapult Alexam Crustal triumvirate. The promised format. The big three everyone is hoping for. Yu-Gi-Oh Crustle did kind of bro. Kind of come. All right, I'm gonna play. I'm playing the. Applying the Sea King festival lead deck to Baltimore. Dude, that deck was sick for sure. Yu-Gi-Oh 33rd place. Also I saw also I saw what the 2024 world champ. What's his name? Fernando. Fernando, Yu-Gi-Oh Yu-Gi-Oh I saw Fernando was also. He played like round one on stream. Yu-Gi-Oh Yu-Gi-Oh he played C. Yu-Gi-Oh And he got. He tied. It was really sad. It was really sad. He was like routing, you know, and then like off the red card, like drew bangle and like needed to be able to like secret box to get a Bengal but also had to discard the bangle and there wasn't a second bangle in the deck and just like it was a tie. Well, it was also like game. So like he was also just completely molly whopping game three and then he kept over and over getting his thwackies stuck in the act. But okay, so like this, this version of the deck plays missed energy, doesn't play diplin. So you were just using sea King and then. Well, Fernando did play a gladiation with diplomat. Oh, Fernando played a one one. The version that's in 33rd place. So. All right, so the best non top 32 finisher played this seeking festival lead deck. Yu-Gi-Oh So top 64 finish. This is the best 32. Crazy. Basically almost top 32. When you think. Yu-Gi-Oh basically if you squint like if, if, if one of the top 32 finishers had gotten DQ'd, then this seeking better finish than you've ever had. No, no, that's not actually. That's not true. I did get a top six. Yes, it is. I did get a top 64. How come when it comes to me didn't get 33rd? How come when it comes to me, it's like this is a better finish than you've ever had. And then, and then we can't just, you know, call it the blanket. The blanket finish like everyone else. It's a top 64, dude. No, it's 33rd. Oh my gosh. This episode is brought to you by Facebook. So you were scrolling on Marketplace and there it was. The bike you'd been searching for. You sent a message and it turned out the seller was Zebra chatty, kind of funny, and an avid cyclist. The next thing you know, you're in a cycling crew. Well, a community cycling group. The thing about Facebook, you might find more than what you're looking for from a browse to a bike ride this summer. Find more on Facebook. Propel fitness water with Gatorade, electrolytes, zero sugar and vitamins. Propel hydrates better than water to help you get the most out of your workout and get back to your best self. What propels you propel with Gatorade electrolytes. Listen, my opinions are formed by the fact that I bubbled out of Worlds at ninth place. I one-of-one calling that 16th. No. Yu-Gi-Oh it's a top 16. Like I freaking. That's the top I bubbled out. There was no ASIN back then, dude. Yu-Gi-Oh okay. Get bodied. You should have been. You should have had. You should have gotten record place guy. You should have gotten ninth in, you know, in the modern era. Right. Back then you were playing against plumbers. Playing against Plumbers. Oh, okay, okay. I was playing against Plumbers, dude. Yu-Gi-Oh sure. Well, in 2023, I still got top 32 at Worlds. 21st place. Thank you. But who's. What was your best finish again? But who's counting? Hey, listen, listen. Worlds is not the end. All 60th. Okay, listen, listen. Actually, many consider it to be. Yu-Gi-Oh many consider it, but you know, I'll take consistency over the arrows as opposed to spiking. Oh, you're consistent. Top five twelves or whatever. Yu-Gi-Oh top 256. Hey, top 256. Thank you very much. I'm the master at turning 70. $70 entry into the most middling day two finish of all time. 16 booster pack. Nah, bro, when it comes to turning $70 into 16 booster box it's not even 16. I'm your guy. It's nine. Thank you very much. First off, get your facts straight. It's less than that. Yu-Gi-Oh Yu-Gi-Oh It's worse than what you're saying. one-of-one gentle ribbing aside, is this. Yu-Gi-Oh bro, I'll play this to Baltimore for sure. Okay. I'm going to need a new testing partner, the Moltres and all. Maybe I'll tweak it a bit, but like conceptually. Yu-Gi-Oh no, this looks. You're going to want a new testing partner because I'm going to be frying you up. You're not going to be able to take it. What do you think are the weaknesses here? I think it's probably just set up nothing. I mean, okay, you had one person that didn't even, you know, make cash. All right, so they started with two ties. First up, they rode the fucking wave. Andrew would have Tribute by that point, by the way. I would have been. I would have been long gun. Long, long gone, dude. Yu-Gi-Oh That's actually crazy. This player rode the wave without a doubt. Starting with 0128. I start 012 and I played that tournament out, no shots. And you know that this, you could have been the first top 30, the first non top 32. Finisher Andrew. If you ride those waves out, dude. I mean, just to think, like, they went on a tear and like, they were on their way to a cash finish. If it wasn't for. For Chun there. Say it. What? Say it. I don't know how to pronounce the rest of it, but I can pronounce Chun. That's for sure. Chun was the one to put an end to the run. I know. The dream run. I know. Yu-Gi-Oh I. I just don't think that this is a legitimate deck. Yu-Gi-Oh well, it's good enough for a world champ. It's very interesting. It appeals to me at some level. The Goldin final battle, giving your Sea King just, like, an insane amount of damage potential. Got the break. I can fix this list. I can fix it. Yu-Gi-Oh I don't know. Can you fix it in three weeks? Like, this is not beating. Let's be honest. This is not beating Dragapult. You're not beating Dragapult. Yes. Okay, maybe you are. Did you see Fernando? He was supposed to one-of-one All right. All right. You think hand trimmer makes the cut? No. Hand trimmers. One of them cards that's getting out of. No, no. You need to play hand trimmer for the Alakazam matchup. What are you talking about? So they could draw one card and kill you. Don't you draw their card for turn. Don't you beat Alakazam. I guess you're doing 140 with the sea King. Yu-Gi-Oh If you play Goldin you definitely own Alakazam. I feel like you just own Alakazam. Yu-Gi-Oh The hand trimmer that goes. The hand trimmer, I think, actually might be to cut your hand out. Oh, that's a good point. Oh, that's swag for Gladiation. Yu-Gi-Oh Yu-Gi-Oh Wait. It might actually. The Seaking's drawing you a bunch of cards, so you just need to get rid of. Get rid of them. Yu-Gi-Oh Because you're gonna have seven in hand. You're gonna have seven in hand on your next turn, dude. Because your two prizes, your four draws, and your drop return. Yu-Gi-Oh All right. Yu-Gi-Oh The hand trimmer might stay. I just can't imagine playing a worse card than hand trimmer. That has to go. I'm telling you. I saw Fernando playing this round one, and I was immediately intrigued, enthralled. Because. Because one of the issues with the festival lead deck is. Is the inconsistency. Right. But, like, when you actually just have a ton of Goldin in the list. Right. And you don't have to worry about Your applins evolving into diplons, right? And you've got Sea King, which can have the mist energy on it. So, like, that's an extra level of protection against dragapult. I was like. Okay, okay. Like, we're actually. We're checking some boxes here. Now. I do think that this list, like, desperately wants three brave bangles. That's like something that I don't know where. Okay, you put in. There's just simply no room for that. No, no. Take out the dog. You don't need the moltres. You don't need the mouth. You don't need the two extra energy. You don't need the boss. What do you need boss for? How could you possibly need boss? What are you talking about? Why do you need boss? You have never played this deck before. What do you mean? Definitely. Okay, one boss. That's fine. Actually, look, Boss does seem worse with a Sea King focused variant. Yes. Thank you. Finally, someone's speaking. Definitely need one boss. You're gonna boss for 180, I guess, maybe once. Exactly. You play one boss. Yu-Gi-Oh You can get rid of me. It is. It is. You get rid of one meow. Now, if you play the 11 diplomat, I could maybe see it. Interesting. I see. See, we're. We're really sitting here talking about the deck. That's okay. You can play fourth. Wacky. Yu-Gi-Oh You can play the third brave bangle. You could play the third. The fourth Gladiation. Okay, maybe there is no. No, no, no. This might be broken. Yu-Gi-Oh Yu-Gi-Oh this is broken for sure. Confirmed. Fernando played four gladiation, for what it's worth. Did he? Yu-Gi-Oh Good enough for. Good enough for a world champ. What a beast. And he played the third bangle. And no hand trimmer, mind you. That's probably where he fell short. Probably. Yu-Gi-Oh If he had a head trimmer, he wouldn't. He wouldn't have gotten boss stalled there, I don't think. No. And he only played one boss. Man, I didn't even look at this list, and I already know how to build it. Sheesh. You're right, JW. Sheesh. All right, so let's move off of the 33rd place list at Worlds. And if we talk about half some more, I guess. All right. Is there anything else to talk about? Well, I mean, we could talk about one. It was. He's the best player. Okay, well, he, like, completes. Okay. I just want to say. I just want to say him and I were right on. Both. Both. Andrew Hedrick and I both played two Badoo. How about that? In Our stream. Yu-Gi-Oh I told you that in the cast beforehand. I know. It's so broken. I told you two Badoo. Two Badoo is great. I also told you two Monkey. Now I was, I was three Crispin. But you know, I think two Crispin and Rosa, I have to concede. Fine. It's too Crispin and Rosa. Sure. Yu-Gi-Oh Rosa's way too good. It's way too sure for sure. Yu-Gi-Oh Yep. Double risky. Yu-Gi-Oh I love the double risky. Everybody was cutting the third, the fourth Ultra ball that seemed to be kind of like the, the in vogue thing to do. Well, I think what I learned from this list and what I've, you know, if you look back on Andrew's list, you know, I'm not a part of the Meta 5 but I'm sure he is talking about this is he very much prioritizes the energy. If you remember back to his original Hammers list, I believe he had 10 energy in that list. Right. And like now we're seeing 9 energy plus 3 night stretcher where some other builds that you know, did well, maybe have eight energy and three night stretcher or even eight energy and two night stretcher. Like really being greedy about that. But certainly, you know, what Dragon Ball wants to do, right, Is to have an energy attachment every single turn. And just playing more energy means that you're going to guarantee that you're playing three Dark so you can, you know, one-of-one them the badoo wars. I'm sure that was a big point for Andrew, you know, over the course of his tournament where he's playing against dragapult decks that maybe only have one badew or because he plays the third Dark Energy, he's able to set up his monkey dory under item lock a little bit easier. And so that's, you know, certainly a takeaway that I have from this list. Yu-Gi-Oh this definitely is a list that feels like it was constructed with the understanding that this is going to be a Dragon Ball heavy meta. Right? Like Yu-Gi-Oh Yu-Gi-Oh Yu-Gi-Oh for sure. And you know, starts two and two, pretty mid start, continues to ride the wave. Knocking out dude, four players in a row makes it all the way. I mean what I am surprised with and, and what I would love to have seen, you know, I played against Azorg, I played against Vinnie Fernandez. That matchup felt horrible. I think that build was, was a little bit different than, than the Liam Lucas Zorc build. But that, you know, just felt abysmal to play against. And then I would have loved to see how Andrew routed the crustle. I thought that was for sure gonna get him in the. In the top eight match. But do you think he was land crushing with his dudun sparse? Not likely, but I suppose it's possible. Yu-Gi-Oh You could. You could trade like pretty decently there, I feel like. Why do you think. Actually I feel like that that is kind of likely. It's you. I mean you can shuffle it away when it gets damaged. So you preserve your single Prizm attacker. That does 90 damage. Yu-Gi-Oh maybe. Yu-Gi-Oh I guess it does the most damage to a crustal. So you just try to like get through a. Get through. I'm just trying to think through this. Maybe he just completely sacked it. But I'm just trying to think about it. Well, that's what Ethan said is he sacked him with the hammers. He said. He said the hammers were paid. What paid actors, I think was the exact quote. Yu-Gi-Oh man. So in any case, that's very interesting. I think that the Dragon Ball dustinor is very interesting as well. We looked at this a little bit, but just playing fortnite stretcher, playing one stadium like those both jump out to me as no monkey curious Illusions And then. Yes, yes, good call out the Patrat which, I mean that saves you so much spot. So much. So much space. Right. So many spots. I tried the Patrat a bit heading into worlds. Didn't love it. Felt like the monkeys were better by and large. But you know, certainly Henry with his deck building choice wanted to free up the Darks. Wanted to free up, you know, the. The one or two monkey dory that this. These Topps of lists have historically played. So Yu-Gi-Oh kind of curious on that. That inclusion patch. Right. 1 Crispin was interesting as well. 1 Crispin 1 Rosa day. That's crazy. Yep, yep. Very interesting stuff. And then. Yu-Gi-Oh we know about the crustle. The basic boxes didn't really excite me. But this was again pretty popular. You got the Iron Crown Ex. I think a lot of players that played the big basics deck were pretty hip on this card. Can do 50 snipe to 2 of your opponent's Pokemon. So koing to Abraham through Shame as well. Certainly. Yep. Yu-Gi-Oh Getting through Shaman certainly or no, sorry, it doesn't get through Shaman. I'm stupid. What it places damage. It does. Yu-Gi-Oh it does. Wait, this attack does 50 damage now. You're right. Okay. Does not go through Shame. I thought it got through Shaman. That's what I like gaslit myself for a second. I think it did. And then. Yu-Gi-Oh no, it goes covered. No, it goes through Shaman. If you. If you Attack an ex. So true. Thanks. Some people were playing the Tauros in the. That is true. So I was talking a bit with Makani and he was worried, you know, for. For the grass players, for the Crustles against. But Yu-Gi-Oh this Tauros is just. I went against Crustal Cato played that obviously in his build. And I think a lot of the basic players, like switched off of the James Kowalski winning Naic winning list to accommodate for of course, Zoroark. Right. Go to matches. Go to matches. A lot of players were thinking Zorok would be a big, big deck for the tournament and did cross a holy crust also beat a slow king. True. It beat Makani's. Beat Makani's brother. Right. That's right. Beat Makani's brother. Exactly. But then, Yu-Gi-Oh you see beating a couple of Zoroark and so, you know, certainly if you're worried, if you're. If you're into the big basic decks and you're worried about Zoroark, I mean, I. I do think that the. Despite all the moltres, I think, you know, probably including a grass package is smart from here on out. Yu-Gi-Oh sure. Up that, that Zork matchup. Zork players will love to tell you like, no, no, you like, you're good against the. You're good against those basic decks, bro, you just trade. You trade, you trade. You could do it. That's what the Zora players say. I've heard him Zebra. Like, no, if they got the grass guys in there, it's. It's just. It's very hard. It's very hard. There are ways around it. It just like, it gets really hard. Right. If you start a nonzeroa because then they just sob and then. And then if you don't evolve, then they just torrential pump and take two things. And if you do evolve, then they just knock it out with the ogre pond. Right. So that's like the first hurdle that you have to cross with these or arc. And then the second hurdle is just set up generally. Right. Like you're saying, Andrew, they can one-of-one if they are able to trade two for two and they initiate that first two Prizm trade. But if that doesn't happen, then they just get steamrolled. So. Cool. Anything else? Anyone want to see my list? No. What place did you get, by the way? 230th. So another 256 in the books. Let's go. I'm not gonna lie. It wasn't my. It wasn't my best tournament. Didn't didn't hit, you know, the greatest matchups. Gotta say, I beat all of my dragapults though. Okay? I did. I played straight Dragon Ball. The two Dragon Balls. I played six rounds. Yu-Gi-Oh Yu-Gi-Oh Six rounds before I played it out. Yu-Gi-Oh Yu-Gi-Oh I played one in my last round. My for fun round that I tied. That I tied. Okay? But I was going to one-of-one Trust. Okay? So. Yes, yes, yes. Okay. Yu-Gi-Oh Not my. Not my. Not my favorite meta ever. Lost to Crustal in. In round three, lost to Rahul and then one-of-one the next round and then lost to like a very. I was not hip to the Vinnie Fernandez version of Zork. And maybe you guys can say, oh, you're a. Like, I've seen this build all over the place. But he had the punk helmet. Yu-Gi-Oh Yu-Gi-Oh Which I. I don't know that this is. That this is like the. This is certainly not the most popular variant, but it no, like, it just a variant. It screwed me. It screwed me. And I think certainly, like this is looking to just body Dragapult, right? So game one, he was able to just item lock me under Badoo and like set up three Zor gra turn two. And then he attached two punk helmet. And I like, had her. I actually did have her out in game one, I think because I had almost run him out of like, he had almost run himself out of resources. So there was a line where I could have like bossed a reshiram, but I missed the hammer flip to knock off the energy that was attached. And he had like already committed his air balloon and most of his other energy. And so, like, I had a. I had a one-of-one condition there. I think Vinnie might see it differently, but I do believe that there was one there. And then in game two, I just like, Goldin get around the punk helmet. So the punk helmets do. If you attack. Okay, if you attack, not if you, like, knock it out. It's like if you attack it. So even if a Badoo knock, you know, swings into a Zorua and they have a punk helmet, that Pokemon takes 40 damage. And I'm like, oh my gosh, this is insane. So, like, the real use case is against. Against Dragapult. You swing in with the Dragapult, you take 40 damage. If you don't knock out the Zorark and you leave 30, they move 30 back with monkey and then it's already at 70 damage and they just swing for 250 with the end Zekrom and knock you out without needing a supporter. Right. They don't need the black belts training. They don't need to, like, set up pec around. Obviously there's none in this list, but they don't need to get the Pecron binding mochi combo, which can clog the bench. So that was. That was definitely. That was definitely rough. I'm curious how many. How's the one? Okay, he beat two dragapult. Yu-Gi-Oh that. That tracks. Because that just felt. That felt abysmal. Not gonna lie. Felt horrible. He also beat an ogre bond arbolivia. That is true. Yu-Gi-Oh But he did beat an Arboliva. And then my last l was to. Yu-Gi-Oh just like a slop. Basic slot box. So this episode is brought to you by Facebook. So you were scrolling on Marketplace, and there it was, the bike you'd been searching for. You sent a message, and it turned out the seller was Zebra chatty, kind of funny, and an avid cyclist. The next thing you know, you're in a cycling crew. Well, a community cycling group. The thing about Facebook, you might find more than what you're looking for, from a browse to a bike ride this summer. Find more on Facebook. Low energy, unfocused, foggy. You might be dehydrated. Gatorade zero powders have been scientifically designed to help improve hydration balance in the body with a clinically proven electrolyte blend and no artificial colors or flavors. Great tasting hydration no matter where you're going. Shop now online or at retailers nationwide. Gatorade hydrates better than water. Is it in you? Symptoms noted are signs of mild to moderate dehydration. Consult a healthcare professional if symptoms persist. Maybe next year. Hey, Singapore. We're going hard, right? Andrew, We're. We're. We're testing for this, man. This is our year. I'm going, dude. This is our year, bro. Yes. Okay, because you guys are both going to Baltimore. I'll be at Baltimore and then I cannot make it to Louisville. But I want to make it to Vegas. And uic. No, UIC with the boys. See, I feel like I'm more likely to go to UIC than, like, any other tournament in the immediate future. Because Baltimore is like, the week after the wedding. That feels like a weird time. Yu-Gi-Oh that way. You're getting married, dude. Louisville is one week after we get back from the honeymoon. Probably. That's also kind of tough. Las Vegas. I have a work, like, go live that weekend, so I have to be at that. Yu-Gi-Oh so I can't go to Vegas. So, like, my first tournament that I actually could maybe get to is Atlanta. Like, at that point, might as well also hit uic. Like, if I'm missing all these other tournaments, you know? Yu-Gi-Oh Come on over, man. Let's do that cursed city of London. Let's freaking do it. Let's run it back. Let's get Covid again. No, no. Let's get covered. And the Fox could not. Let's do it. That's funny. I'll go to London. If you see a show with me. Jw. Yu-Gi-Oh What do you want to see? See a show? I don't know. It depends what they're. What's on. Depends, I would say. Apparently, Paddington is very good, but obviously that's now in. In the US because they only have one actor that can. Or either. They only have one actor that can do the Paddington Bear. They only have one bear because the bear himself has to play Paddington. Yu-Gi-Oh There's only one Paddington dude. Well, no, no, it's like a. It's like a. Like a puppet suit. Almost like there's a guy in a suit, but it's kind of puppet like. You know what I'm talking about? It's Paddington. It's like, you know, it's like the Muppet, you know, it's not Jim Henson. It's. No, but it's one. It's like one. It's one actor, though. That's what makes it so good. That's why people are really. They really like it, because they feel like the actor of Paddington very much imbibes the essence of the character. So. Imbibe. Did you say imbibes? Yu-Gi-Oh Doesn't that mean to drink? No, I'm sure it doesn't mean. I think it means, like, to soak in. To imbibe is to drink, absorb ideas and knowledge. To absorb. To soak up moisture or a fluid, like a sponge or a plant, to receive information to take in. I feel like that still is not. It doesn't fit in the sentence you're using. No. What do you mean? What are you talking about? Yu-Gi-Oh it wasn't like you're just going. You're just going for embodies and. No, no. I was going for vibes. You're going for embodies, and you. You whiff the landing and now you're committing that never meant to do that. No, no, no. English teachers in the comments let me know that you're gonna get farmed. You were going for embodies. Yu-Gi-Oh I just. Listen, man, we've all been there. You said. I feel like it really imbibes this that's what you said. I have an art degree. He said, you feel like I have a fine arts degree. That literally means X drinks Y. You said, that's not what it means. I just read you the Webster's dictionary definition. Look, man, back in high school, I said gumbo when I meant gung ho, and that was tough, too. So we've all been there. Gumbo, like the soup. I was like, no, no. Like, when you're, like, really enthusiastic about something. Oh, Yu-Gi-Oh you got fried for sure. I stood my ground real hard. Well, think about it. It's one of those things you think about when you're falling asleep. Well, it was tough back then because you Goldin just whip out a phone and prove it, right? Like, there was, like, a social thing. Like, you had to go around to all the. All your peers, and, like, maybe you would ask the teacher or you'd consult the dictionary. Like, you didn't just get that immediate feedback, you know, it's really messed up. What's that? I'm, like, scrolling through, like, flight, you know, like, scrolling through championship. No, I'm scrolling through championship Sunday, like, looking for a good frame for, like, the thumbnail for this update. And they, like, the production team. I mean, the production team did absolutely incredible, like, all weekend, obviously, but, like, they do. They did not have, like, the victory shot of, like, Andrew Hedrick, like, standing, like, right after his game with Diego, kind of just, like, stares awkwardly down at the table for, like. For, like, you know. Yu-Gi-Oh the handshake. Fifteen seconds. Yu-Gi-Oh well, and then. And it never cuts to Andrew Hedrick's face. I know it does. Like, it's like a big zoom out. Yu-Gi-Oh it's a big kind of. I mean, I think maybe they were trying to get the stadium, like, the stage animations. The stage animation. No, I don't know. I'm, like, watching. I'm, like, looking at it and, like, the. The, like, you know, the. The side things. The sidebars, like, move away and, like, the camera shot is just, like, top down at the table, and you're just sitting there looking at Diego's, like, hand as he's shuffled his deck. Andrew Hedrick is, like, clearly walked off, you know, away from the table to, like, go pump up the crowd. And, like, like, dang, I'll have to, like. I have to find a. To find a shot. I'm sure they ended up using, like, you know, finding some pictures, you know, some video footage of him to, like, splice elsewhere in the production, you know, because they just have all that footage. So I'm sure they like used it somewhere. But. Yu-Gi-Oh Anyways, that's just kind of a funny on top of Shout out to. Yu-Gi-Oh go ahead. Shout out to Luke Giffen, dude. West Virginia native, junior world finalist. Plays in our full grip. 3Ks. Sometimes it's two hour drive up to full grip from where he's at. You know, big shouts to Luke. That's a. He one-of-one NAIC in juniors division this year. Got second at Worlds. I mean like in his insane, insane year. So, you know, Zebra proud of him for sure. Yu-Gi-Oh that's pretty cool. Mickey Mouse Club President. The Prez. Mr. President. I love it. I love it. That's so good. That's so good. I. I was thinking about this the other day. Isn't it interesting that 2. The two big children's IPs are just mice? The whole mice has on society. Yu-Gi-Oh they're just mice. one-of-one there were some other things revealed. I think we can close up our episode with some of the other things that were revealed. On the final day in the arena, we had some cards revealed. We had some cards hinted at a new mechanic potentially hinted at. And the Ex Star. And then a. I think maybe the most surprising of all. A feature film with Pokemon cards. An animated film with Pokemon cards. But let's talk about the revealed cards. We have some Mega. We have a Mega Lucario Z EX and a Sigilyph Ex. Mega Lucario Z. E X is a metal Stage one Aura Seeker is the ability Once during your turn, if this Pokemon is in the active spot, you may use this ability. Search your deck for a supporter card, reveal it and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your deck. This reads crazy to me. And then for 2 steel dancing fist. 120 damage plus. If your opponent's active Pokemon is a Pokemon example, this attack does 120 more damage. So potentially 240 for two. And then the Sigilyph Ex with the ability Mega Protection Protect. Prevent all damage done to this Pokemon by attacks from your opponent's Mega Evolution Pokemon Ex with the power Cyclone Attack three Colorless move in energy from this Pokemon to one of your benched Pokemon. Classic Wall strategy. Dude, you thought that Lucario was good, bro, this reads very good to me. You don't think so? Really? Wait, you. You don't like a reusable tutor of a supporter on a stage? One's decent. At least it's at least a card you think about. See Tutor Supporter. It's got to be in the active spot. I mean you're playing air balloons already. It evolves from Riolu. It's just going to get the supporter that you want. Like shouldn't I think with a thing with a card like this and you know, maybe the sense of being a Zebra bad take later. But you. You build your deck around the fact that you can tutor your supporter every turn. You play a lot of power supporters instead of willing every single turn. Yu-Gi-Oh Like, okay, imagine this. Like. Like I'm reading this and I'm going okay. I mean immediately is the is you just get boss. Right. So you're doing 240 onto a Meowth or a Fez. Right? That's like the obvious one. And then like wallies. Like you use freaking wallies. You play four wallies in your deck and we're just gonna. I guess you get free retreat with the metal energy. Okay. So we're playing a metal deck. I guess at first I was thinking about this is like a one of in a Mega Lucario deck because it evolves from Riolu as well. So we're playing a metal deck and we're attacking with this thing doing 240 damage. I think so. Like why not, right? I don't know. It looks to me like Victini V Max with a little ability on it. I mean, I guess it you've got the. The metal supporter guy who accelerates two energy so you can go get that idiot for sure. You know, I guess accelerates them and so you don't really need an energy accelerator. You just play that thing and then you've got the special metal energy which gives your boys free retreat. So that's nice. I suppose you always have the option to go search for Cheryl to heal yourself. Like that's kind of cute, right? So is it Cheryl Wallace, Compassion, Sharon, Wallet, Whatever. Dude. Cheryl, like I said, you know, I just said brother. Yu-Gi-Oh Wally. Yu-Gi-Oh Yu-Gi-Oh you get the Wally. Dude. Cheryl is. Yu-Gi-Oh man. Better. Yu-Gi-Oh So like okay, like I guess. I mean I'm not saying that. I'm not saying this is like a stage. I'm not saying this is like an S tier deck. But what I am saying is, you know, certainly after Dragapult rotates like what you know, in the mega block. Like what is really comparing Dragapult is forever. Dude. Dragapult will never rotate. Okay. Except in April. But I mean what are you like in. In the post dragapult world? What, what like what is rivaling this? It's got a great weakness. I use my. My Mega Lucario Nazi to punch your face. Off and kill you in one hit. Yu-Gi-Oh true, true. It's gonna be the Mega Lucario Z exes against the Mega Lucario Ex decks. Or my stupid Chungus extra drill. Well, in one hit too. Oh, I was looking at some replay. Okay, never mind with the. The zoom out. I was looking at some replay of the Andrew Hedrick finals moment. All right, I got it now. It's like a 12 hour bro. It's a. It's a 12 hour VOD, bro. Listen, all right. Hey, JW told me I had to have the freaking thumbnail tonight. I did. I gave you all day. I texted you at 7:30. This. Yu-Gi-Oh I was busy during the day, okay? I had things to do. Okay, well, well, maybe, maybe, maybe this can be found next week one-of-one Sigil. I found it. I found. I found his one-of-one moment. I found it. I found it reading Riley. Terrible, terrible kill bad bro. Yu-Gi-Oh in the current context. But after we move to an all. If it's an all mega format one-of-one then. Then the format's ruined, so it doesn't matter. Like Sigila. Ferdinand Sigilif. I think these cards are kind of good. I. I'm really surprised by how underwhelmed you guys are. I'm not saying that these are the best cards ever printed, but why are you looping at me with it? I'm fine with the Lucario. I think Sigilif probably sucks though. Yu-Gi-Oh Sigil is probably not the greatest. Yu-Gi-Oh the Sigilif is like really, really bad. Like I'll, you know, I mean, I'll follow along with the Lucario talk. That's fine. But the Sigilif is nothing to talk about, dude. Some of the new arts look pretty sweet. I'm a big fan of the Rayquaza. That looks so sick. Follows along with, you know, some of these arts that we've already gotten for the Megas. But I'm glad that they're continuing on with these. This art style looks great. They did a sneak peek at the next TCG series and so we can postulate on what that might be. But the Ex Star, some people are thinking this might be like a, you know, series of Pokemon that have a one time usability or attack, much like the V Stars. Some people are postulating that these might be a card that you can only play one of. Right? Like a Radiant or a Gold Star Pokemon. You can only play one in your deck. What kind of vibes are you getting from the Ex Stars? I do like the R. So I was. When they first revealed it, I was of the mind that it would be like a gold star callback thing. And part of the reason I think that is because the lowercase ex feels kind of like a call to the original exs, right? Where they evolve up and then they're a lowercase ex. And gold stars were around that time as well. So that's why I think it's like more of a one protect thing. And plus, we just did GX and V star, like kind of back to back. So we've played out that concept very recently. All right, I've got something for you. Okay, hit me. Thank God you didn't take my comment, bro, because I. I had a comment, okay. And I was like really wrapped up and ready to say it. He's rev. All right, jw got that logo there. Okay. Pull up zoom and gold star. Pull up a gold star, dude. Any of them. Okay. Yu-Gi-Oh man. Look at that star, dude. Yes. No, I. I totally agree. I should have said this too. Yu-Gi-Oh Thank God you didn't. Yu-Gi-Oh sorry. I give you a layup. I give you a layup. You did give me a layup, bro, because look at the star. Look at the star. Did look at the star. Okay, but you. But you didn't actually see it when we were chatting on Discord at first. I was the one who deployed all this out for you, by the way. Yu-Gi-Oh well, you know, I'm the one getting credit in class, so that's crazy. So the star is pretty similar now if you think about V stars, right? Like, V stars are styled, the word star written out. But these Pokemon are notably not styled with the word star written out. They are styled with the star, which makes me think that they will be a combination of Pokemon Ex and Pokemon Gold Star. Now that's not to say that there one-of-one be like some sort of token that goes with them to be some sort of once per game thing. But I don't foresee that being the case. I think that there are going to be one per deck. Ex Pokemon that are like Radiance, but they're exs. That's kind of how I imagine them being. Now, something that does kind of go against this theory is that the Pokemon star from the original Ex era are all shiny. These Suicunente and Raikou are not shiny. So that, you know, maybe not a one to one kind of recreation, but I do feel like the star there is kind of calling back to the original gold stars. This star is not gold. So they are stars. They are not gold stars. They are just stars. Maybe that's why they're not shiny, because they're not gold. Yu-Gi-Oh maybe so, maybe so. But either way I'm interested. Yu-Gi-Oh what if it's. What if you're limited to two per deck? What if Pokemon did something like that? That would be interesting. We have. That would be interesting. That would be genuinely interesting actually. Like you can only have two, you know, EX stars in your deck. Like that would be cool, right? Combos. Yu-Gi-Oh Yu-Gi-Oh dude. Like you could play two different ex Stars. You could only. You could have two. They could be the same one or they could be different ones or whatever like that. I don't know how they're gonna one up the Raiku Ex though. Like they already printed peak Raikou. I mean if, if we're going on that, can we just. Can we actually just expand that to three? Right? Like they have the Entei Suicune Raiku. Surely they're trying to tell us something. Three is just. Three is basically four. Yu-Gi-Oh Yu-Gi-Oh One is basically two. 33rd is basically 32nd. Like what are we doing here? Yes. I don't know what you're doing, but I know what I'm doing. They're all numbers. You're right. And they're all close to each other. That's so true. Many are saying, but what. Why would they. Why would they tease the legendary beasts? Because they're freaking sweet, dude. But what do they have to do with the EX Star? They had original gold stars. Ignite your taste with new NOS Energy Grand Prix Guava Foot to the Fleer Energy with high speed tropical flavor that'll shift you and your day into top gear. So keep your foot on the gas and your hand on the NOS Energy Grand Prix Guava and get after it. The most memorable gifts aren't found. They're made. Zazzle is a custom marketplace where you pick any product, a mug, a card, a tote, a phone case, and make it personal. A photo, a name, an inside joke. The kind of gift that actually fits the person. That's what 30 million customers have been coming back to Zazzle for over 20 years to find. Right now. Save 25% on your first order@zazzle.com. that's zazzle.com make it zamazing. Maybe this is like a, like a legends thing and it's Entei Raikou Suicu and legend type situation. Yu-Gi-Oh huh. Where they come together. So it's like a tag team. No shot. We're getting star. Oh wait, that would be cool. Oh Yu-Gi-Oh Or it's like a, like a combo card. No, there's no way, because they just did the stadium, by the way. Imagine your deck is full of cards that clump together. Wait, that would be kind of cool. That would be hype, actually. Oh, Ex star. Yu-Gi-Oh no, it's an ex star because it's three Pokemon on one. Yu-Gi-Oh So it's Suicune Entei, Raikou Ex star. Yes. Tag teams. Yu-Gi-Oh Okay, that's. That's my theory. I think it's tag teams. Tag teams are Beckett. What? Getting tag teams are back from this. From just this logo? Yu-Gi-Oh they're star. They're like. They're, like, incredible, logically. Well, they're not just. It's not an ex. It's an ex star. Right. So a single ex might be Raikou ex, but a Raikou Ex star is actually Suiku and Raik Ex star. What if it was a. This is, like, so. So far. What if it's a card like those ones in Magic where you can, like, flip them over or, like, summon. Pivot them out or, like, summon a token? Yu-Gi-Oh no, no, it's like. Or, well, maybe someone. A token. But maybe it's like, you could swap between them. You know, like, you can side them in and out. Almost like a side. Like, the Entei, like, runs away. Okay. The suun comes. No, no. Pokemon is like, like, really, really weird about the backs of cards being matching. That will never be a mechanic in our game. But what about a side? Well, maybe it's just, like, you can swap this card and play for a, like, Entei. Like, from your sideboard, you know? From your sideboard? Yu-Gi-Oh You think Pokemon going sideboard? Oh, Yu-Gi-Oh I think. Oh, Yu-Gi-Oh No. Pokemon literally just made a rule that you're not allowed to have. Have extra. If you have anything in your deck box, they kill you on the spot. Yu-Gi-Oh literally. Dude. It's like summary execution. If you've got. If you've got, like, three extra cards and a double deck box that are in the side, that's like, not your deck side. That's like a dqable. I got a question. Thank you. You're out of here. I'm making things up. I do think that that might be a thing. Now, I got a question for you. Why do you think the logo. Why do you think the logo is bisected into a light and a dark side side? I think that that is simply a design choice. JW then that. That was part of the gradient that the graphic designer used to make it look metallic. We all know this was Yu-Gi-Oh Generated? But why do you think. No, dude, there are actual artists who work at Pokemon who make these things. Like, please be serious. Do you think that they're Pokemon Ex logo? Yu-Gi-Oh You think an actual artist is making this? Come on. Yes. When they could just. Yes, when they can just get a. When they could just ask Claude. Jw. Jw, you are the only one here on this cast who is, like, artistically deficient enough to think that anything Yu-Gi-Oh generated is passable in the field of graphic design. You know, the second you look at it, dude. Yu-Gi-Oh well, it's. It's interesting. You were posted about some, like, team that you're on or something that's got some Yu-Gi-Oh generated thumbnail on Twitter. You didn't even know, bro. I have no idea what you're talking about. one-of-one why is it bisected like this? I literally just told you. I don't know. It makes you think. I mean, this. I think Riley would agree. Like, this is something that Chad GT could come up with. So one-of-one we'll have to see. It's curious. It is interesting. It's like a different font than the regular ex. What's up with that, folks? Why is the font different? Right, Claude? Many, many mysteries yet to solve. All right. And Claude can solve them all for us. Last. It's so true. Last. Last piece of this. We got a Pokemon card movie trailer. Let's watch. Boom. Crazy. Oh, wait. All right. JW. All right, we're back. 2027 and beyond. Note that hype moments and aura. Dare I say crazy. Okay. What do you think Wild card means? I think it's a, you know, a title for the movie that they came up with. So. I like that. I like that. The punk. The characters looking a little punk. He is looking a little bit of a mischievous guy. Maybe he's the wild card. Or she. Well, Yu-Gi-Oh that's what I feel like. Some people. They're a little bit of a wild child. Yu-Gi-Oh Some people are saying that this might be a GLC movie. I did see that. Yep. Because. And. And there is no evidence to support that it is not a GLC movie. All evidence so far points to glc. They have basic Pokemon, Right? This is definitely a Mimikyu with the filch and copycat attacks some unknown Pokemon in that. In that discard pile. But. But hey, those are one prizers. So that's for sure. No ex is there. And it does tie in with the 2027 and beyond this season. He's maining psychic type 2028. Maybe he will switch to colorless 2029. All the badges. Right. He's accruing the badges over time. I think that would be. That's an obvious storyline. There's drama there, right? I mean, it's the same. It's the same reason that you have the store badge placard that everyone gets. Right, Andrew. Like, that is. That is drama. It is drama, dude. I will be very interested how they translate the Pokemon TCG into like a compelling. They've already done it. That's a thing. Remember that. Remember that Oddish short? Oh, Yu-Gi-Oh dude. That was sick. Course. That was so cool. Remember Oddish, like stun spores and wins the world championships or whatever three years ago? I do remember. So, Yu-Gi-Oh I think it could. Unfortunately, Oddish is no match for Dragon Ball. I think that can translate. Oh, well. Especially when the Pokemon can, like, freaking hop off the cards, you know, because it's an animation. Well, that's. I'm actually curious. So is this set in, like, the Pokemon world and Mimikyu is like a real creature? Like, imagine playing like the animal card game, you know, where like, your zebras are going against your rats and stuff. Like, is that what's going on or is it like a hologram Yu-Gi-Oh Gi. Oh type situation? That's a really good question. It's a really good question. I think that they are going to set this in the. In the. The real meat world. But you see Mimikyu, like, walking around on the banister. Yu-Gi-Oh That's like his hallucination. Because he's like, oh, he's like crazy. Or they. Or she. Or you know, know. You know, I think, like, the character is kind of intentionally a little androgynous right now. Could end up being whatever. So you think it's in the real world and you think that the Mimikyu is some kind of vision or hallucination of the main character. I think Pokemon is allergic to the idea of making media that's not set in the Pokemon world. I don't think people play cards in the Pokemon world. They could. They could. Now, I don't. I think it's interesting, right? Because, like, okay, from what it seems like to me, like, they're never gonna show, like, Misty or Brock or like Sabrina playing with Pokemon cards. That to them. I don't think that that's something that they're like. Are you just going based off that you can't use, like, official Pokemon character IPs in PTCG Live, for instance. Is that your kind of basis for this? Like, for instance, like. Yu-Gi-Oh well, like my. Yes. So, like, in tcg, in the entire history of tcgo, and in all of TCG Live and in all of Beckett there are no, like, characters that you meet in those games who are like, you know, characters that you would know from the anime. None of them. Right. So to me, it seems pretty evident that they like to draw a hard line there. Like, the cards are not in the Pokemon universe, but it could be an alternate universe where it's still the Pokemon universe, but the one where they play cards. So like, if we're splintering off Zelda style, then that is pretty cool. Yu-Gi-Oh Where we've got like, you know, parallel universes. Alternative universe. Zelda is not parallel universe. They're different timelines. Okay, so let's get that straight. First off, if this. What if this is like. What if this is the Pokemon universe where there are no Pokemon and all gym leaders only battle with cards? Yu-Gi-Oh this is the universe where Link died fighting Ganon. That's the. That's what I'm saying. Wait, so it. I'm. So it is gym leader challenge. This is like starting to sound a little more. More plausible. Yu-Gi-Oh it's like a spin off universe where instead of battling with Pokemon, they battle with Pokemon cards. Yu-Gi-Oh huh. So it is gym leader challenge. The morality of. Of actually fighting Pokemon was brought into question sooner in this timeline. Or. Or. Oh, oh, oh, okay. Or this does look a little futuristic. What if in the future, this is the same timeline, they reject the ownership of Pokemon. Yu-Gi-Oh And. And they release them all back into the wild, but their one link remains that they have like cards. Right. That they can remember Pokemon by. Yes. But instead of owning. That's interesting. Oh, that's actually good. They play with cards. Yes. Bygone. What if they all died in like a poke apocalypse? A Pokemon extinction event. You're like deep on the Mimikyu as a hallucination. Well, maybe. Okay, maybe the Mimikyu is ghost type. Right. That actually does kind of fit. I'm saying, bro, I just am not convinced that there are cards and a real Mimikyu in the same show yet. I'm not convinced that there yet. Because to my knowledge so far, the cards don't really exist in the Pokemon world. Like really not in the anime world one-of-one Or in the video game world. I mean, in the video game. I guess in the video game world there are some references to like cards and binders, aren't there? There's like a couple eggs. I don't know. Grok. They got. They got video game consoles and they do. They surely do in your Bedroom? Yes. I guess that's why they call it a wild card, dude. All right, the Google Yu-Gi-Oh says no, bro. No to what? Oh, there are no references to the Pokemon tcg. I asked Google, I said, are there references to Pokemon cards in the video games? The Yu-Gi-Oh overview says, no, you're no better than me. Sometimes, though, Google Yu-Gi-Oh says something and then you click any link and it just directly contradicts it. Yu-Gi-Oh the Google Yu-Gi-Oh is probably the Yu-Gi-Oh that I would trust the least. Well, that's the only one. I'll. You know, Google Yu-Gi-Oh is basically just like the Reddit Summarizer 3000. Well, that's. That's what I want. Is that one Reddit summarized. I don't actually want to ask a bot, dude. I just want Google to go pour through Reddit and find the answer. Interesting. I mean, maybe it's not a hallucination. Hold on, hold on. Now I have another kind of layer here. Maybe it's not this. What if he is Mimikyu? Yu-Gi-Oh Yu-Gi-Oh that. That's actually kind of where I was going. Okay, so Mimikyu, this person is not. Actually. Does not actually know about Mimikyu because the wall behind him is the same wall that Mimikyu is on. So there's. There's plausible, there's a plausibility that this character doesn't, like, ever see the Mimikyu. Right. What if they're both hallucinations? Why are you so deep on everything being hallucination? It's like, you know, kind of seems like the vibe. Like, what if they're, you know, what if they're both. I feel like the movie cue is real and it's, like, tailing this mysterious young character because it's, like, interested in him and wants to be his friend or whatever. Okay. And this person just is really into Pokemon cards. Yu-Gi-Oh Like, they're kind of an outcast loner. Like, all they do is play cards. Like, they don't have any, like, close friends and. But Mimikyu wants to be their friend, you know, like, that's. That seems like more Pokemon coded to me, like, the type of story they would tell. You mean versus a Pokemon mass extinction event Versus? They've all been massacred. Okay. In. I don't know, man. In my defense, Pocopia as a game is like, the humans went extinct, dude. Okay. But, Yu-Gi-Oh they only massacred the humans. The Pokemon are chilling. Yu-Gi-Oh well, Pokemon died. You remember the. The Lavender Town. Freaking city. Lavender Town. Yu-Gi-Oh dude. Thanks, jw. Lavender Town. Yu-Gi-Oh Gary's Raticate. Gary's Raticate. Yep. There was Like a Stoutland in the anime that died. I think there was. Yu-Gi-Oh And Son of Man. There we go. See? So I'm just saying. But you notice they don't get massacred at mass. Also, did you notice the dark side of the Pokemon Ex Star logo kind of could mean dark things ahead. Yes. Meaning that, yes, we're kind of like basking in the light right now, but darkness lies in front of us. Right, right. And what if the plot of this movie is like cyberpunk, but it's Pokemon cards, You know, not really getting cyberpunk from the architecture here, but oh man, we've really Hyper analyzed these things. This is. I mean, what else is there to do? And people are here for the content. That's right. That is some people, they don't have sleeve. They never invented sleeves in this universe. So that's interesting. Yu-Gi-Oh Shout out to all the listeners right now who are on a long drive or working a long day's work at their job and are like, dang, thank goodness they're really milking this, you know, because I just really needed something to get milked tonight. And with that, What do you say we call it Boys? I'm thinking it's time. If you enjoyed that episode and you want to hear more, please make sure to like and subscribe or follow. If you're on a podcast audio only platform. If you're over on YouTube, please make sure to like and subscribe. That really helps us out grow over there. If you want to get in touch with us over on X, find us at realjohnwalter. For myself, Miles with rilesforeilly and at enjoyfriend for Andrew if he still has it. And at Tag Team Pokemon for the podcast. Thank you all so much for listening and for your continued support and we'll catch you next time. Peace. The most memorable gifts aren't found, they're made. Zazzle is a custom marketplace where you pick any product, a mug, a card, a tote, a phone case, and make it personal. A photo, a name, an inside joke, the kind of gift that actually fits the person. That's what 30 million customers have been coming back to Zazzle for over 20 years to find. Right now. Save 25% on your first order@zazzle.com, that's zazzle.com make it zamazing.