Episode 40: POKEMON FROM A NON-MASTERS PERSPECTIVE

Hello and welcome to the Battlefrontier podcast where we aim to help you level up in your competitive journey as Pokemon TCG players. My name is John, Aaron can't join us this week, he had a family emergency so thoughts and prayers go out to him, but he'll be alright, he should be back next week. But today we have a special episode, we have Omar Cortes and Edgardo Cortes. Omar most recently second at the North American International Championships, congratulations, and then his father is here with us today. We wanted to have them as part of our discussion of the invite system outside of the Masters Division. But before we get into that discussion, it feels like we should let the audience know you guys a little bit better. So Omar, how did you get into playing Pokemon? Yeah, so I started playing casually probably in like 2018 and then I played for like a year or two until COVID and then I like quit basically until 2022 and then I came back and I've been playing competitively for like three years ever since. Yeah and who got you into Pokemon, was it one of your friends or your dad? I mean, I kind of started collecting cards and then learned how to play at like a local league and stuff. Cool, do you know which league you went to to start with? No, it was like, it wasn't around here, it was like a couple hours away, it's like where I used to live. Okay, I forgot you guys moved to Richmond pretty recently, yeah currently you guys live in Richmond, Virginia, so kind of my locals which is cool, Omar comes to my league cups and challenges quite a bit. Edgardo, do you know how to play the Pokemon TCG, did you learn with him, anything like that? I did, I actually had to learn in order to help him learn, so I had to learn it so then I could teach him but also so he'd have people to play with, yeah. Completely surpassed. The shade, all right, how did you guys do this season, like how many majors did you guys go to as a family or as Omar individually and then how was your tournament season this year? I know, I mean the spoilers is pretty good but I'll let you guys in your own words describe it. I don't remember exactly how many tournaments, we only went to like a couple as a whole family and it was mostly just like me and either my mom or my dad at most of them. In terms of like most of the tournaments are just either me or my wife taking Omar but we try to, usually for like the ICs and the bigger tournaments or the ones that are super close by, we try to go the whole family. Yeah, it's always cool to see the family in tow whenever I'm judging, sometimes I'll spot mom or dad or your little sister at the events so that's always fun to kind of see how the whole family gets into it. Real quick, did you guys have any specific highlights or memories from your time with the game that really stand out to you? So it doesn't have to be from this season. I think definitely getting like my first top cut at a regional, it's like a big one. It happened in juniors, like leading up to that I'd gotten like a bunch of top 16s and I was pretty close so like finally breaking through was pretty nice and it also happened to be my first regional win, which just made me even better. Oh wow. Yeah. Yeah, I think for me it's been like the different places we've gotten to go, both as a family but then just like me and Omar sometimes hopping on a plane to go really, really far in a very short amount of time. Yeah. What's your favorite place you've been to? I really like Hawaii Worlds. I really, I think I really like, I think I like the Worlds in Japan. Oh yeah, that's cool. So Worlds is like your highlight every year, you know? Yeah, for sure. Yeah, it's definitely, it's been a while since I've been to a World Championship, truthfully. I went in 2019 when I was in DC and before that, it was back when I was in Boston in 2015 when I played at that one. But I'm excited to go this year in Anaheim, I'll be judging. So I'll be seeing you guys there for that for sure. So do you have a favorite card or do you have a card that you would really want banned Omar? Favorite card is probably like Refinement Corellia. I really, really liked using Refinement Corellia and like especially with Shining Arcana when that was legal. That was like my favorite deck. For a card I want banned? I actually think the meta is pretty balanced right now. I don't think there's like anything I really want banned. Yeah. So you said you started playing before COVID. Did you feel like the V-Star format was cool? Like did you want to, would you want to go back to three prizes or are you worried about like, just I want a senior stake I guess, worried about the impending megas coming out? Well, okay. I say like I've played before COVID, but like I was like terrible. Like my decks I would build had like 20 energies in them. Like I was like so lost. Like I had like, like I knew how to play, but I didn't know anything about like competitive Pokemon or anything like that. Yeah. So I'm curious is for like a senior that's getting into the game or for you when you started out, you said you weren't a good player. So what caused the change to get to where you are today? Is it your parents motivated you or were you self motivated a lot of it? What do you think really contributes to getting to that higher level as a competitive player? So like I went to my first regional and I did like pretty decent, like a lot better than I thought I would. I like lost my winning end. And then after that I went to another regional and I didn't do as good and that really motivated me because I didn't want to do bad again. So then after that I started practicing a lot more. And when you practice, do you, how do you, how do you practice? Do you like just go online and play or is there other people that you practice with? Yeah. So I have like a testing group, but I also play a lot of ladder. I really like playing ladder. You can just get like a bunch of games in really quickly and like the higher you get, you can get like some pretty high quality games. But I also do like some testing games with testing partners. Did you just meet them at other tournaments or did you, how did you get to be a part of the testing groups that you're part of, I guess? Yeah. So one of them, like my locals, well kind of locals, he's like a couple hours away, but I like saw him at a cup and then we like started talking on discord and then he invited me to the testing group and then I kind of met the other people in the testing group once he invited me. So just through locals pretty much. Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's a cool thing. I mean, that's, I think how a lot of players progress is you start out playing locally and then kind of get your teeth kicked in and then you just get the hunger. You want to keep doing better. You want to keep improving. Edgardo do you think it's been a journey for you as well to see how like he's progressed competitively? Oh, definitely. No, it's been a big, I mean the change from the, from the beginning to now is, is a pretty big change. I mean, I think, you know, obviously he's gotten better at, he's gotten much better at Pokemon since he started, but I think, I think he has also learned a lot of other skills along the way. Right. So like Omar has, I think he has matured a lot and he has raised a lot more resilient. I mean, it takes a lot like to lose at a tournament, right? Like if you're, you're at this tournament, especially if it's, if it's a top cut or, or in finals or something like that, like losing is tough. And so like getting to the point where you can lose and take it in stride and kind of learn from it as opposed to just, you know, having a tough time dealing with it. I think, you know, it's been a big, a big part of that growth. I think knowing how to, knowing how to win in, you know, in a, in a way where it's like you've won, but you're also showing that sportsmanlike behavior, right. And like that camaraderie with the other players. And then also just his, you know, the friendships and stuff that he's made. You know, Omar now, he talks about the testing group, but like he now knows and tests with and, and plays with like players from around the world, right? Like they're not just all over the state, but like all over the country and all over the world that he gets to interact and, and play with. So it's definitely been, there's definitely been a lot of growth there and a lot of improvement, not just in the game, but just kind of in, in his ability to, to take stuff on more generally. Yeah, I can only imagine, like, I know me as a master, it's really difficult when I've played to compartmentalize and say, okay, next game up, you know, I just got my, I got, I got two owed by my auto loss or even by an opponent that I know is not as good as me after like playing them. And you just got to like compartmentalize that packet away, you know, deal with it later because you got a next game to play. And that's always the toughest part of, you know, taking those losses in stride and keeping your head in the game and all that kind of stuff. I know it's got to be tough for me, but it's got to be even harder for somebody that is younger, but also like just less experienced, you know, that's definitely a skill in itself. One that we don't always talk about when we're talking about competitive Pokemon or anything like that. You think there's anything else in your life that's like helped you with that? Like does it help in school, I guess, like to, when you, you know, have to take a test and like have performance anxiety about that, or like, do you play any sports or anything like that helps kind of balance that out and helps lend itself to Pokemon at all? Yeah, I do like swimming and it's definitely pretty helpful, like to not get nervous before races. Like I don't really get nervous before tournaments anymore. So it's definitely helped with the nerves and stuff. Yeah, I can imagine. That's cool. I really, yeah, I mean, I think this kind of like sells Pokemon to a wider audience, if you will, for, you know, would you recommend Edgardo Pokemon to a parent that's like looking for their kid to have an outlet for competitive that's, you know, or would you, would you say maybe it's not quite worth it? I think it's, I think it's worth it. I think, like I said, Omar has grown a lot over the time he's been doing competitive play. But I also think, you know, we also have, you know, he also has gone to a level of competitive play that maybe not everybody can, can get to or has the, has the opportunity to be able to access or, you know, being able to take time off being able to miss school like that. There's a lot of things that go into that. But I think you, you know, there are different levels that people can join in and play competitively and I do think it helps. Like I said, it's helped Omar grow a lot. But I think it also, you know, when you're looking at things, you know, when Omar was, was very little, you know, and juniors and, you know, he was maybe in like second grade or something, second or third grade, learning to play, he had to learn math, right? Like he had to be better at math to be able to know how to count damage and how to figure out what the attack do. So there's like a lot of skills depending on how old somebody is and, and like what their, where their interests lie that, that you can get out of Pokemon. Like there are a lot of different opportunities to, to grow both like, you know, like I said, simple things like figuring out math for younger kids to like being resilient and, and figuring out how to, you know, take a loss and like still learn from it and, and move on to the next one and, and know that like losing is not the, is not the end of it. But there's other, you know, there is a way to keep going, keep playing. And so like, depending on the age, like I think there are a lot of benefits for kids and young adults to play and to be competitive. Yeah, you touched on just kind of what it's like as a competitive senior, just a little bit as a family, I kind of want to dive deep into that and that'll be kind of the main topic of our discussion today. We'll be just looking at the invite structure, the competitive circuit in general, especially from the perspective as a senior and then as the parents of a senior. So currently it takes, there's only the top 100 of the seniors in North America, which is interesting because if we look at from year to year, 2025, you had the top 75 juniors and top 125 masters and then top 100 seniors. But coming into 2026, the number of juniors and seniors, masters went up, juniors went to 80 and seniors went to 130 or sorry, not seniors. Masters went to 135, but seniors stayed the same at 100. Now I'm curious because you've played in both before we had that 100 player cap or threshold, if you will, and then you had the CP threshold where you had to like earn a certain number of championship points in order to qualify for the world's invite. From your perspective, which one was harder or which one did you like more? I know it's kind of a little bit difficult to say. I don't know. Was there ever like, I know maybe at the beginning there might've been a fear of missing out on world or something like that, but yeah, let's just talk about which one did you prefer real quick. We'll go into some other stuff after that. I think I preferred the top X system a little bit. You can definitely make an argument for both. The point system is pretty nice to like plan out your season from the start and like have a set goal about how many points you need to get. But I prefer the top X system because I think it keeps the game more competitive the entire way through the season, where you can't invite and chill, and you have to keep playing. I think that's pretty valuable for competitive integrity at tournaments. Sure. Yeah, I can see that. The one thing I do have to ask, though, I know that you're kind of at a top level right now, like you're top 16 in North America, if not, I think, top four at this point. But I know that you have some friends that might not be quite at that level. Did you catch that they were really anxious about, you know, making that Worlds invite at the end of the season this year? And how do you think they'll fare, like, moving on into when we get more growth in the game, more seniors coming in, and it just becomes harder and harder? Is that something you guys think about? Or I know, maybe not you, but for your friends or something like that? Yeah, I have a couple of friends that are first-year Masters this year, and they were definitely a bit more worried about if they were going to be able to get their invite. Sure. It's definitely stressful in Masters. Did you guys, Omar, did you feel like throughout the season, more pressure to continue to keep attending events? Or, I mean, I guess you said you didn't really feel too much pressure at tournaments, but was there a lot of, like, oh, I just need to keep going, I need to go to every single tournament. Did you feel a lot of that, or did you feel any burnout or anything like that? No, I mean, I love playing Pokemon. I didn't really feel any burnout. And there was definitely a couple times where I opted not to go to tournaments so I wouldn't burn myself out. I didn't really feel any pressure to keep playing. My goal is just to do the best of the tournaments I go to. So if that means not going to one so I can have more practice time for the other, that's definitely a sacrifice I'm willing to make. That's cool. Yeah, I get that a lot. Edgardo, I know that maybe we don't talk about it as much as we probably should, but like the finances of it. Was there more pressure, like, oh, we need to get that travel stipend for an IC, or we need to hit up all these cups on the weekends to, like, just make sure that he's still at contention for all of that? Did that become a lot at points? So the cups and kind of local play thing I think does come into play. Like I get on Omar about it because a lot of times, you know, we are out and traveling to regionals because we go, we don't just go to North America regionals, we go to events in other places. And so a lot of times we will be out of town when there's cups and challenges and things going on here locally. So we end up sometimes having to go further away to get those cups and challenges in. But you know, at the end of this last season, for instance, you know, the travel award for next season for LAIC, I think came down to the fact that Omar was able to, you know, max out cups and challenges during that period. And that gets, that gets to be tough on top of all the other travel. But I think it's, I also think it's important to go to the local stuff because it keeps him kind of, you know, in contact with the local players and kind of with everybody that's around and supporting him at other times. I think from, you know, for the, I think for the seniors that are kind of at the top level and the juniors too, I think, I think you see a lot of, I think a lot of times it comes down to, you know, parents being able to take time off. Like I know that Omar has friends that, you know, can't go to tournaments sometimes because folks either can't get time off of work or the travel schedule is too difficult, or, you know, you have, you know, kids have siblings, there's all sorts of things going on. And so it can become difficult to, to be at that level to kind of balance out the travel needs and the, you know, all those things. I mean, I think Omar, we've never pushed him to kind of compete to get prize money or to get travel awards or, you know, for any of those things. We really, our approach to Pokemon and to Omar's competitive play has been to support him doing something that he likes and to figure out what we can do to help him improve and to be good at it, right? The same way we, we kind of looked at this when Omar started to really increase his competitive play and like, you know, it's like, well, if he was on, and Omar was at one point, like on a travel soccer team, or if he does like other sports, like, it would be the same thing. Like we would support him and we would get him, you know, figure out resources and do all those things. And so we've just taken that approach to Pokemon. But it can definitely get difficult. It can absolutely get expensive, you know, especially, you know, the reason we travel as a family to ICs is usually, you know, we're able to book far out or able to kind of figure out, you know, being in Richmond, we have access to a couple of larger airports within a couple hours from here, right? So that can help with that we, you know, I have a lot of airline miles and hotel points and things that we've used for travel, that we've had the privilege of being able to use for those sorts of things. So, so it can definitely get difficult. We also have over the past season, we have taken some of Omar's friends with us on trips, you know, when their parents are not able to travel, but they're available to go to tournaments, you know, for going we will we have taken one or two or I've met them there and kind of been responsible for them over the weekend to make sure that they get everything done. I think it's a it's a very supportive. I think it's a very supportive community. I think especially in juniors and seniors, the parents are all very supportive of each other. People are always, you know, helping out or offering to help out, you know, communicating about who's going, you know, where people are staying, where, you know, what tournaments people are going to. So I do think there's also a big kind of community support when it when it comes to the parents. Yeah, it's really cool to see, like you've started locally. And then now after playing for only a few years, realistically, at the competitive level you have been playing at now, you have like a global network of friends and family that you can rely on and they can rely on you. And that's really just a really cool thing to see. And that helps. Yeah. Like you said, defray some of that. OK, well, I don't have enough PTO to help my, you know, to take my kid to this tournament. But like this parents that I know and I trust will be able to help my child or whatever like, you know, they can room with their friend and then we can save the PTO for a bigger tournament or something like that. That's really cool. Yeah. I mean, we talked a little bit about it. Omar, do you feel like the pressure of going to these events kind of weighs on your performance at school or anything like that? Like has that impacted your grades at all or has it been kind of like a mutual you can work it out and then it helps you out in the long run? I think last year, like my grades were affected a little bit in the first part of the year, but I kind of like learn to manage it. And then by the end, my grades were really good all around. It didn't really affect. Yeah, I can see. I mean, it's got to be a big kind of change up to go from, you know, just hanging out at the house to now you're traveling to South America and Europe and all this stuff and getting used to different time zones and all that. Has that been really stressful for you as a player to just kind of go from one extreme to the next? It depends like how quick the turnaround is usually. Because if I have a little bit of time to adjust, it's usually not that bad. But if I get there like the day of the tournament or like the day before, then sometimes it can be a little bit stressful. Yeah, and I know, Lindsey and you guys, Edgardo, you guys do a decent job of supporting, I'm sure. But is there any challenges with like, you know, balancing school and all that stuff on a on a scheduling basis? Oh, yeah. I mean, you know, Omar does, you know, Omar's in in-person school, you know, he goes to public school. So, you know, we usually at the beginning of every school year have just gone and sat with the administrators and and talked about like, here the, you know, here's more, here's what we know about the schedule and, you know, we let them know in advance when he's going to be out. So he can, so he can make sure that his work gets done, gets covered. And then, you know, I think the the biggest impact that has on travel is that we really try to minimize how many days he's out. So that a lot of times means to travel, you know, we usually for tournaments, depending on how far it is, we will leave either Thursday night or Friday morning. So we can be there, you know, in time to check in and do that stuff prior to the tournament. And then we are usually out of there on on the latest flight we can find on Sunday, if at all possible, which means, you know, sleeping on planes a lot, a lot of red eye flights, if they're further, further away, and, and getting back and, you know, being very tired when when he goes back to school on Monday, but he's, he's gotten much better at managing that part of it. And kind of knowing that he needs to get his work done, because ultimately school comes first. And so for sure, you know, he knows if his school is not, you know, if his grades aren't where they need to be, and, and things are lacking at school, he knows that's gonna result in in less ability to, to go and travel and play Pokemon. So he makes sure to, to kind of have everything done and have his grades where they need to be. Yeah, yeah, I can only imagine, I mean, just trying to balance all that. It's got to be quite, quite the calendar filled up with all the different regional schedules and all the different family events and extracurriculars and all that at school and tests. And, yeah, do you have a tutor or anything like that? Have you guys used anything outside of public school to help with managing all that? Or is it just, you know, get kitchen table meetings and stuff like that to figure it all out? I mean, I had a math tutor for a little bit. But I think, like, towards the end of the school year, I didn't really need her, but... Oh, that's good. Okay, just go back to the invite structure and as a competitive senior, do you think 100 invites is enough? Or would you want more invites, you think, to reflect a growing game? You know, we had the juniors and seniors, juniors and masters increased. Would you have hoped that there would be more senior invites? Are you cool with 100? Like, you're, you're, you're cool with it as it is? Oh, I mean, I'm assuming a lot of thought was probably put into the number of invite slots that were allotted to each age division. And I kind of, like, have some faith in Pokemon that they think 100 is enough. And I, like, I agree with that. 100 is, like, a good amount. Where it's not like you have to go to every tournament, like, if you can, like, get, like, a solid, like, couple finishes and max out your locals, like, you should be good to qualify. Yeah, I'm trying to think. Where did Luke Sullivan finish? Like, I know that's, like, a good local to, did he get into the world championship? Yeah, yeah, he's definitely there. I don't know exactly where he finished. So I think, I don't know, there's some players that I'm trying to remember, like, it's got to be tough if you parents can't travel and all that. But, like, I'm trying to, like, math, math wise, it was like for a master's invite, it was, you know, you had to spike one finish, I'd say. And then you could do decently at the four other, like, regionals or international championships. It helped, obviously, if you're at international championships. But is it like that for seniors? Like, do you know what the math was like for getting a world's invite this year for a senior? Um, I think it was around, like, the same amount of points as masters, like, around that, like, 700 cutoff. And you guys get the same amount of CPs for your results, right? Yeah, just the prize. Yeah, the prize amount is lower, but yeah, the prize amount is a little bit sad. Well, it's a smaller field, so they can make the argument. But, you know, something to work towards, I guess, when you get into masters. But no, I think it's, yeah, that goes into, I know that the travel awards are mean a little bit more because there is that inclusion for families. And I think that's a good move. Do you think you would want the prize awards to be increased for seniors and juniors then? Um, I think for ICs, it should definitely be increased. Because getting 32 at worlds is the same as getting finals at an IC, which I, like, don't agree with, like, prizing wise. I think it should definitely be a little bit higher ICs. But I think regional prizing is, like, more or less all right. Okay, that's fair. Edgardo, do you think that there's, like, the structure of, uh, the current structure prices a lot of families out of the game due to just how many tournaments that you're forced to attend to? And like, we talked about BTO, do you think that's, like, something that could change from your perspective? I think it can definitely have an impact. So I think, you know, for the seniors, um, you know, I think for for juniors, too, I mean, I, you know, the the system that was in place before with, like, the set CP, I think at least let people, um, especially, you know, for juniors and seniors, like, and the parents, they have to, you know, figure out work and school and all that. It let you plan out your season a little bit better. And you had like a, especially for younger players, like you had a specific goal you were working towards. And you knew like if you hit that, you could advance to something like the World Championships. Whether there were adjustments needed and what that number was is another point of discussion. But I think from like, especially younger players, knowing what that threshold is versus, oh, I need to keep playing because I, you know, even though I did well before, like I may still fall out because somebody does better at the one I don't show up at. Right, so I think it does present some challenges there from a, especially from a planning perspective. I think Pokemon tried to balance that out with changing the best finish limit and having the ICs, you know, having the international championships and the regionals kind of lumped together for the best finish limit. Whereas before they used to be like separate categories. Cause it definitely is, you know, I mean, North America being one thing, but like EUIC and LAIC, like those are tough places to get to, you know, and they can be expensive. Like getting down to Brazil is not a short trip, right? It's like, you know, it's probably like 12, 14 hours of travel from here and we're on the East coast, you know, and it can get very expensive and it's an IC. So it's a longer tournament and, you know, requires more time off and more travel. So it can get expensive for sure. And it does get expensive depending on what you need to travel to. So I think, you know, the CP for me, the big difference was that you had like a specific goal you could work towards and you knew like, this is what you need to work towards. And if you don't make it, you know, okay, but at least you knew what the goal was, rather than it'd be a moving target throughout the season. Right. And the fact that the CPs were lower for seniors than it was like the threshold was lower for seniors than it was for masters. Whereas now, like you said, Omar, the threshold is the same as masters. I think kind of hints that like, you know, maybe we should have adjusted it a little bit or something like that. Like, I mean, it's tough because we want, you know, the Pokemon trading card game started as a game for kids and we want to ensure that like a family of, like a middle-class family that just, you know, mom and dad are working or somebody like, if you got like two other kids in the family or something like that, like it can just be very prohibitive to like try to, especially go to like an IC, like you're talking about, like if you got to buy five plane tickets, forget it. Or like four plane tickets, it's, you know, that's your whole trip for the year for one tournament. And if you don't do well in it, I'm sure that places some of the like, you know, stress on the kid, right? Like that's kind of feel pretty bad if like, you know, the whole family's riding on this one kid and it kind of creates weird stresses that we don't really talk about too much in Pokemon, but I'm sure like, I mean, you guys, I think you guys do a good job of not having that be the focus, obviously, but I'm sure there are families where that, kind of boils over at points. Have you seen that before in other families where, you know, they attach, I know I can think of a couple examples back in the past where we've had like a dad not really doing it for the right reasons or whatever you want to call it of trying to use their kids as like a way to help travel or whatever. Have you seen that in your, have you, I don't know, is that a common at all or am I just like being kind of shooting from the hip? Have you guys seen that at all? So I think the point about pressure, I don't know. So a lot of times I don't know that it's the parents putting pressure on as so much as like the kids, the players put pressure on themselves. Like Omar puts a lot of pressure on himself to do well. And yes, I can, I mean, even though we have the ability to go to a lot of these, like when we're all there and it's like, a lot of people are there and we're going and we're watching him, like if Omar doesn't do well at a tournament, like he puts a lot of pressure on himself because there's people there to watch him and going and support him. And not just isn't happy about his performance maybe during a tournament, but the fact that like he didn't play well when somebody was there to watch him. So I think a lot of the juniors and seniors put pressure on themselves on that front. I don't know that, I do think what you'll see is, because it can be cost prohibitive depending on where the tournament is and what kind of tournament is like, you often don't see the whole family unless it's the ICs or world championships, right? Where it's like, all right, this is a much bigger stage and like we're all going to support, but like on the weekend tournaments, it's also when you have younger kids, right? Omar has a younger sister, like it is a lot harder for them to travel, to turn around on a Friday and come back on a red eye on Sunday night. Like there's a lot more difficult for them to adjust to and to handle than it is for a teenager, right? So there's some differences there in terms of what, even if you can afford or have the resources or could go to all of them, you still probably wouldn't because it's just like, it is a lie, especially if they're not playing. The younger kids aren't playing in the tournament, like hanging out at a convention center all weekend can be like super boring if you're not playing. For sure. I mean, there's some activities to do, but yeah, definitely. You're not too invested in a card game if you don't know really the rules or you don't really know what's going on, that you're happy that your brother's happy or something like that. But yeah, I'm sure that it can be pretty boring for an eight year old or however young a sibling might be. Omar, do you feel extra pressure when your family's there? Like, is that part of it that plays into it or do you just play the game in front of you and just kind of take that off? Like you can't think about that at that point. Like where do you feel like you sit with all that? Um, I mean, I don't really feel any more pressure. I mean, for Worlds last year, I felt kind of bad because my sister stayed longer because I was doing well at the tournament and missed her first day of kindergarten which she was looking forward to. So I felt pretty bad about that. But other than that, no. I like when my family's there to support me and they don't really put any other extra pressure on me. That's good. Yeah, I guess that's, I mean, you guys are, I think, a good example of what it can look like. I'm sure there's some bad examples out there but we don't really, thankfully, have a whole lot of that in our community. Well, I think that's about as much as I had planned to talk about. Is there anything else you guys were thinking about as we were talking that you want to talk about? Can't think of anything, no. Okay. Real quick, Omar, do you have a favorite Pokemon? Yeah, I'd say, like, Rowlet for sure. And you can see it on my background. Like, I have a couple of them. Yeah, I see it back in the very back. Yeah, it's pretty cute. Edgardo, do you have a favorite Pokemon? Yeah, I mean, I like, I like Blastoise. I found his Blastoise shirt at the last tournament we were at, which was great because I don't ever see that. And then I think probably Onix. Oh, that's cool. But those are, I think those are two of my favorites. But, you know, we have, we have a lot of Pokemon stuff in this house. Yeah, I bet. Oh, that's cool. Yeah, I mean, yeah, it's been a pleasure to get to know you guys throughout the years and just, you know, contribute in my small way to kind of help Omar with testing a little bit where I can. And just, you know, you guys have been really good in the community. And it's the cool thing, like, like we talked about, like, it starts out locally and then it goes globally. But the cool thing is, like, it stays locally too. Like, you guys come back to locals and everybody's so hyped to see you guys, especially after, you know, Omar does well at a tournament or, you know, basically at this point, you're like a mini celebrity, Omar, you know, but it's, it's been a pretty cool thing to see just getting to know you guys and to know about your family and all that stuff. And I'm glad I got to share it today with you as the audience. Omar, I guess we didn't really talk about it. Do you want to give any shout out or, well, I guess we could talk, do you want to talk about NAIC at all or anything like that? Yeah, sure. Yeah, I guess we got a little bit of filler. We can, we can go into that a little bit. So just tell me about your run. Like how, how was it like going so deep into an international championship? Yeah, so like kind of coming into the tournament, I picked the deck pretty early, like basically as soon as I got home from Portland, which is like the last regional, I just kind of started playing with it. I didn't like practice that much actually compared to most tournaments that I practiced for, as I did for NAIC, because like summer had just started and I was doing kind of stuff with my friends. So I just picked the deck, like locked on it basically instantly. And then just like, it was like, this is a good deck. I know how to play it well. It's going to see how it goes. And then, so like going into the tournament, I started off like 1-1, which is like not great. Like not really where I want to start. My mental is like a little bad after that. But then I like brought it back to like a 5-1. They like split it up into two days, which is kind of weird. They did like six rounds day one, but then they did like the other two rounds of day one in day two. I'm not really sure why they did it like that. It was kind of a weird way to split it up. But I lost my last round of the day one kind of, which definitely like killed the momentum I kind of had going. So then going into day two, I didn't really have like that high of expectations because I was like 4-2. I had to win like a bunch to go super deep. But I ended up like winning my last two to make day two. And then in day two, I hit like some pretty questionable like decks. It was definitely like not the hardest day two I've ever had. What did you play against? I don't remember. I hit a Crustle Ironthorns. Okay. And a Straight Frost last deck. And both of them I would say are like 70-30s for the deck I was playing. You're playing Dragapult Dusknoir, right? Yeah. Like versus the Crustle, I was able to go like Luxurious Cape Dusknoir and attack with it. Oh, okay. And they just like can't deal with it. And then versus the Frostlass, like game one is kind of funny because I just like set up one Dragapult. Like I was like full bricking, but I just set up like one Dragapult and a Monkey Dory. And then they just like still couldn't respond to that. And then like game two, he pricked. And then going into cut, it was pretty unfortunate because I hit one of my friends and testing partners like on the same 60. And again, he didn't draw too great in asymmetrical. But then I was in top eight and I was like one more win for my Pikachu trophy. I'd been here like a couple of times before. Like I had like Worlds, NAIC a couple of years ago and EYC this year. I remember talking with your parents. Like I think they said you had like three goals for the tournament. It was one like to win a trophy. And the other two were to beat Justin Templar and then to beat Gabriel Fernandez or something like that. So that was pretty hype. Yeah, so tell me about your top eight match. Top eight, I hit like this pretty good Brazilian player and he is playing Poltzard. And I don't know, I like set up a little bit better than him both games. So I actually think the matchup is like pretty favored for me. So I two owed him. And then I went to top four against Justin Templar, like really good player. And coming into this, like I'd like never beat him. So I was like, I was pretty sure my run was over here. But game one, I got like a really good play where I was able to go like Dusclops and then boss kill both his Draculukes on board. And that got me like a lot of momentum in the game. And he wasn't playing like unfair stamp, which made the play a lot better. Cause then even when he outed me, I still like was drawing four, which is like pretty reasonable. And then the turn after that, he like evolved into Draculuke. He only had like one on board. And then I like a reconned into my second boss, which is like pretty sack, but I was able to like kills like his Draculukes. And he was down switch at this point. So like him making a comeback with like Dusclomar, Blood Boon was pretty impossible. So he just like scooped it up. And then game two, I'm going first again. My start is like a little bit less good this time. He gets like the first three by killing my caved buddy on the active and a Duskull on the bench, which like puts me pretty far behind. And so I go like unfair stamp, punch into his Dragapult and then KO like his Duskull on the bench. And he wins with like Dusclomar, Hawlucha on this turn cause there's a Dusclops on his board. I didn't find counter catcher with unfair stamp, which would have been really good. But thankfully he whiffed Dusclomar, Hawlucha, which forced him to make a pretty awkward play where I was threatening game on the next turn with just a Dusclomar. So he had to kill my Dusclops. with his dustclops which then gave me the opportunity to win with luminous monkey dory plus killing the active polt that I already punched into and so I like shuffle my deck because he put like my last luminous energy at the bottom and then I have two recons or two dracoliths I can use and my first recon is into luminous energy but my second one is into research which is like not what I wanted to see like not the order I wanted to see it in so I have a lucha in my hand and at this point he has a buddy on board that has 20 on it already and I know one of my night stretches is prize and I have like a 25% chance to hit it and even if I don't hit it it kind of breaks down to where like I could go like attached to my drac look that on the bench that already has an energy and like evolve it and just kill his drac look and not take another knockout and keep us both at 2 to 2 so he doesn't have access to counter catcher and he has no dustclops or anything on board to give him access to it again and he's already done a boss at this point so he would need to find his last boss in deck plus energy plus pole evolve to win the game so I decide like there's really no punish you can make for me going for this lucha play and I lucha kill the buddy and I take the night stretcher off my prizes to get back monkey dory and then I have luminous in hand already from the other recon so I'm able to take that game and then going into finals I mean I was pretty hyped after that win sure yeah yeah we'll come back to finals in a minute but I'm sure I want to hear from your perspective Edgardo how was it like seeing his tournament run like kind of a slow start you know losing this one of the first two rounds and then losing that last round day one I know that we were we were talking a little bit throughout the tournament and all that stuff but how is it for you guys as a family to spectate all that you know I think so I told them on that Friday night right cuz they split it up and I did not the first time I told him this but I was like oh it's it's no problem all you got to do tomorrow is win out and you're fine right like something he never wants to hear but you know what it's possible and and so you know we we just encouraged him you know we made sure that he had you know something good to eat it was able to get some rest and kind of reset for for that second day but no it it's tough I think you know one of the I talked a little bit I mentioned kind of about his resilience and kind of like learning how to deal with stuff better but I think also the you know his friends I think the not just as his testing partners but kind of all the different players that that they're all friends I like it it is it is nice to see them all like even though they're competing against each other be so supportive of each other right and so it's you know so when somebody's head has had a tough day or has had some losses to see the you know to see his friends see the other players kind of go by and and like say supportive things to him or you know talk about some of the some of the matchups and you know kind of who he's gonna be up against or those sorts of things like it's really good to see that and to see those interactions and and for him to have other people there to kind of lean on and and help him through when he's hit kind of those tough stretches but but yes it was a it was definitely a long a long evening after that first day and being like right on the cusp of you know one more loss or even a tie taking him out of contention so so but he woke up the next day and he he did he be one out on Saturday yeah and that's so cool I mean like just speaks to yeah again like you were saying to your resilience Omar but also like to your support as a family I know like just putting him in the right headspace not putting him and well you know you're you're probably out of it you know not not focusing on that aspect of it but just saying you know like late you just got to win it out you know it's gonna be it's gonna be tough but like you've done it before it's possible and like I think focusing on that is huge just going into going from I guess you so you end day one with the low spirits but then end day two with high spirits I mean you got to be stoked both of you guys going into the main stage on championship Sunday how did how was that for you Omar like before not talking about your game quite yet but like how was it just having that experience yeah I was super hyped and like when I saw my friends like after top four everyone was like super excited and that was pretty cool and I was definitely excited to be on stream that was like one of my goals for the season for sure yeah yeah it's definitely one thing we don't really think about too much but I'm sure being on stream for juniors and seniors means as much if not more than for masters because you guys don't really get that opportunity all that often you might get a feature like on the kind of lead up to in between top cut matches on the masters like on the on the mainstream at a regionals you might get like kind of the like ship on the street like segment where he comes over and talks to whoever won the seniors match but realistically that's only the finals and that's not even a stream game so like just being able to showcase your talents and your ability on that big stage was there like a lot of nerves going into that for you um I wasn't like nervous going in but I was definitely really really nervous on stage like once I started playing yeah I mean that's fair that's understandable was like the white noise a bit of a shock to you or like we're kind of I don't know the judges you had I think we're solid but like just like that whole aspect of like having table judges you know there for your your finals match was that was that what was there anything that was like a little intimidating um the white noise was really a really off-putting like games one and two but my game three I've gotten pretty much adjusted to it yeah it's crazy like once you take the headset off I know as a judge for the first time when I did the tables we had a white like I think we've changed it recently to where we don't have the white noise but before at the start of after code then we started doing stream matches more and more we had the white noise piped into our ears and I know it's always like a shock when you take the headset off and you're just like you know like coming back down to earth just from how loud it is cuz it's got to be pretty loud cuz that crowd I mean I'm sure like you said Steven if you couldn't hear him like you sensed him in your periphery or whatever a little bit whenever like your prizes or something like that came up there definitely some moments that that factors into it Edgardo how did you sleep the night before the tournament on Saturday or Sunday how was it for you I mean it was so you know it's super exciting but also you know very nervous for Omar I think one of the things you know talk about community like that that Saturday night you know our didn't do a ton of you know it's not like he was up all night like prepping but but he did he did kind of test out the the matchup a little bit and and had a lot of friends come over right and so there were a lot of players both current senior players but also some of the players that he played with last year that are now masters that he's friends with it that came by to wish him luck to you know just kind of be there hanging out with him and so I think that did a lot to to help kind of ease the nerves for him and and you know he wasn't able just kind of like sit there and be nervous about the match there there were a lot of friends they're coming by to chat and hang out and and you know give him advice I think you know Omar mentioned his goals like I don't think we talked about this earlier but like at the beginning of the or before the season started we kind of sat down with Omar and talked about like what his goals were for the season and had him kind of come up with what some of the things he wanted to accomplish over the season were and one of them was to get on a stream match and Omar knows that you know the only way to do that in seniors is to be in finals at an IC or or at worlds right like there's there's four chances like if you're a junior or senior player like you got four chances to be in a stream match over the whole season and they're like really big stream match it right so so so he knew that going in but that was still that was one of his goals and he was able to accomplish that at the last IC of the season so that was like it was super exciting and it was just you know on the day oh like it's you don't like even having been at regionals and having been at ICs like the amount of production that goes into the events and that goes into the stream like it's pretty incredible like the the quality and the scale of the production is pretty incredible and and like getting to see some of that firsthand backstage and everything was pretty impressive yeah yeah I can definitely say they step it up for ICs compared to even regionals you know they have a huge stage if you guys if viewers if you haven't been in IC it's the stage has got to be like two football fields long like it's so big and then the whole production just goes behind it for forever like it just there's a stage but then there's a whole production area behind that stage and that's at every IC too and I'm sure I haven't done worlds lately like the last time I did it it was big but it wasn't gonna be probably as big as we'll have in Anaheim so I'm excited to see how that goes but all right enough about a all of that so Omar you have a finals match and it's not just any finals match it's against arguably probably the best not probably the best senior right now Gabriel Fernandez you you I mean I can't imagine that it's it's crossed your mind like you know like you're the last person to stand between him and like the quote-unquote perfect season yeah what what was that like like was that playing in anything or we just there to like play Pokemon like oh I mean I wasn't really thinking about that so much like he was definitely the one that had more pressure than I did to try to get like the perfect season and I was kind of like the underdog going in like even if I lost it's like oh you lost to Gabriel he's gonna win 100 100 and if I win it's like oh you're the best right you beat him you stopped him but so I didn't really have any pressure like that I mean I was just like a little bit nervous as played the matchup because I thought the matchup was pretty close yeah yeah definitely I mean I remember watching in the crowd and yeah game one was a great game really back and forth until you know Gabriel found the line that kind of flipped it you want to talk about the game at all or yeah so like well okay so like the night before I was like fearing and playing the matchup a little bit and it's definitely awkward like there's a bunch of stuff you can do with like the picnic basket and the monkey Dory obviously to heal off a lot of the damage that my fault does but also like him set being able to set up to pitch outs like he plays like enough pieces to set up to pitch outs under buddy which is pretty awkward cuz like if he has access to pitch out for the whole game it's definitely like very very close it's actually like kind of hard for me to win if he draws like perfectly like I need my buddy to do a little bit of work early until I can set up so going in I knew like it would be like really close and it would probably come down to a couple plays and draws so like going into game one I don't remember exactly how the game played out but I know he like pressured my dust clopses with like both his boss and at that point he was out of boss so I thought my dust off was safe but then he like did the cruel airline it's like an amazing play like that is such a good play like after that I definitely blundered I had a much better line where I like I wouldn't like punch into the Fez and kill the Charmander but that was like a terrible play I'm not really sure why I did that to be honest like on stream you definitely tunnel vision a lot more like I was like sure I wasn't really thinking about every play I had available to me but like what I should have done is probably like bring up his Charizard with no energy on it and then like kill the Charmander on the bench as well to force him to terror that up and then I think I would go down to three prizes or something like that and I could have like went like I under the one and like punches Fez and stuff and he didn't play blood moon and going into the game I was actually like playing around blood moon which is pretty unfortunate I didn't know you didn't play a blood moon you only played like to you but I think the game would have been a lot closer if he did that but then he was like able to checkmate me basically on the next turn which is unfortunate and then game two he had like a slower start I like missed like a really really good play on turn three I think it was where I could have like killed his Charizards or like all of his Charmanders before they evolved into Charizards but I like totally miss it I don't really know what I was doing but I missed that and then like the game like got definitely more awkward from there he liked to attack Pidgeot at some point and I like killed his Clefa at some point which I'm not sure why I did that either like they were like the judges were forcing me to make an action and I like wasn't sure he like took his Charmeleon off the board which like made me like forget that it's like an options where I could like overkill the Charmeleon like I probably should have just put all the damage there but he like took it off the board so I like kind of forgot I could like overkill it so I didn't really know like where I was to put it so I just like killed the Clefa which then like gave him access to counter catch on the next turn like kill my Dusclops but it's like kind of fine the way the game played out like I needed to sack a little bit like on the last turn to get like boss plus another pole attack to kill his Pidgeot that I punched into, like, the turn after, while killing a Charmander to deny him Charizard. So I had to stack a little bit there. And I was down on my countercatcher, so he was able to go, like, Charizard kill my Polt, and put pressure on me to, like, win the game on the next turn. And I was able to find, like, Luxscape on that turn to Luxscape my buddy to stop him from taking three, which was really good. And I would've lost if I didn't find the Luxscape there, so that was pretty lucky. But then I was able to, like, recon into boss on the next turn and win the game. And then, going into game three, we didn't have very much time left. Game one ran pretty long. I, like, lost track of time up on stage. And I definitely, like, should've scooped sooner, looking back at it. Even, like, in the moment, I knew. I was like, aw, this is, like, so bad. It's tough. But I was feeling pretty good about my spot. I, like, had a decent setup going first, actually. It's just, like, nice. I was able to establish, like, a pretty good board. And then, like, for my turn three, I was feeling, like, really good about being able to, like, attack and do, like, something pretty meaningful to his board. So then, like, on his turn one, he's, like, drawing pretty slow. He has to, like, go into Cleffa. And then he has, like, Charmeleon Pidgeotto on his next turn, and then just, like, Cleffa again. My hand isn't too great, so I have, like, the option to, like, shock. And I just choose to get, like, Dusclops and Dracloak to set up my board again for the next turn. But then on his third turn, he goes, like, Charizard, Pidgeot, Pidgeot for boss, and kill my Dracloak with the energies on it, which is, like, oh, come on, man. Like, it's so unreasonable, bro. Like, he draws, like, Ra Charmeleon plus Pidgeotto into Charizard Pidgeot boss, bro. And I was just, like, dude. That was pretty rough. After that, I mean, I basically knew the game was over. There, like, wasn't really anything I could do. But I, like, play out my next turns. I, like, whiffed an energy again on my next turn after that, which, like, definitely sealed up the game for sure. And then after that, he just, like, went, like, boss, kill my Fez, and then I just lost, but. Yeah. But, I mean, yeah, like, it's interesting to hear you talk about it. Like, even on that stage, you're still thinking through all your stuff, and you look back at games. Have you gone back and watched the streamed game since? Yeah. So, yeah, that's kind of gotta be some telling. And I'm sure that'll stick with you for a while, but are you looking forward to the next time you might play him at Worlds, or? Oh, definitely. What's your takeaway from all that? Like, now that you've been on that stage, now that you've achieved some of your goals, what are you going into Worlds thinking about? Oh, I don't really have any pressure. I mean, I already have, like, a good Worlds placement. Like, obviously I want another one, but. This year, I mean, I've had a pretty good season. Like, I don't really have any pressure going into Worlds. I want to do well again, but I just, my goal is to play well and improve. Is there anybody you want to rematch, though? Like, is that? Yeah, yeah. That's definitely crossed my mind. Yeah. Yeah, well, I appreciate you guys taking some time out of your day, not out of your evening, really, to get on and talk about just, you know, your perspective as, you know, a senior and a senior dad. Just, you know, so often we focus on the Masters in Pokemon, and rightfully so. I mean, that's where most of our player base is, but I think at the end of the day, like, Pokemon was designed for younger players, and it's cool to see, like, you know, how that plays out at a local level, but also at the larger levels of these tournaments. And, you know, I think, I don't know. Like, to me, as a judge, I've seen, like, I've been able to judge seniors and juniors, but not as much as I would like. But one thing I always walk away from when I've judged juniors and seniors is just the passion, like, the level of commitment. Like, I'm not saying, like, you guys are, you know, you guys have other anxieties and worries in the world, but there's definitely, like, an element of, like, purity or, if you will, just, like, you know, hey, like, I really just care about Pokemon. That's, like, my sole focus, especially when I'm at this tournament. Like, I'm not thinking about, like, my kids or my job or anything like that. Like, I'm able to focus entirely on Pokemon. And there's only a few times in life where I feel like you're able to do that. So it's really cool to see, like, just that level of competitiveness, like the raw kind of, like, I don't know. That's my, I always walk away from, like, just being like, wow, these guys and these boys and girls really want to play and, like, care about Pokemon. And it's so interesting to hear Omar, like, talk about Pokemon at such a deep level, you know, about a game that happened, like, over a month ago now. Like, you know, just to hear him go play by play, even through his top eight and day twos and all that stuff, you know, it really strikes me, like, how much you retain and how much, like, that all sticks with you. So, yeah, it's cool, man. I'm really looking forward to, I mean, I'll be cheering you on in my limited capacity that I can apply as a judge. But it's been really good, guys. I appreciate you, again, taking your time out of the day. Do you have any shout-outs or anything you want to say thank you for or anything like that before we head out? I want to shout out my testing group, for sure. Give me a broken 60s and help me prepare for tournaments. And then shout out John for having me on his podcast. Thanks, man. Edgardo, anything you want to plug or any thanks you want to give? No, I mean, I just want to thank the other, you know, I think the other Pokemon parents, like, you know, like you said, we've been doing this now for, like, three years, but there's, you know, their parent outlet has been doing it for a lot longer. And so, like, you know, them welcoming new parents and, like, getting to the point where now I'm able to help other parents that are, like, newer to doing this and giving advice and helping out. So happy that you had us on today. And, you know, glad that we can provide some insight for parents and kids that are looking at getting more into the competitive scene. And, yeah, just thanks to all of them that support us and to all the locals, right? The local players, you and everybody else locally that support, you know, and I get tons of messages when Omar's in Top Cod or in finals or, you know, the amount of things that I got when Omar was heading into finals at NAIC was incredible here locally, just all the support that everybody gives. So thank you guys. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and I'm sure if there's a parent, like you said, that wants to learn more about, okay, well, I see how you guys did it. You're successful. I'm sure you guys could approach any senior parent, but especially the Cortezes. If you see them at a tournament, I'm sure they'll be willing to take the time out of their schedule to kind of just show you the ropes that they know and help you out any way they could. You know, it's all a big community at the end of the day. And that's kind of why we always come back to Pokemon. Even if we go away and stop playing for a bit, a lot of times people come back. So I know this will be a game that I'll play forever, pretty much, until I kick the bucket. And I'm sure you guys feel the same way for the most part. But yeah, thanks for coming with us down a little trip off a side road on the Battle Frontier, all the viewers. We'll hopefully have Aaron back next week for another segment. I don't know if we're gonna go into Black Bolt White Flare. That should be released by this coming Friday. So we'll definitely do a little bit. We've done a set review, but we might start talking about some decks and deck ideas and see what's doing well online. So we'll hopefully have a little bit more of that coming into next week and as we get ready for the World Championship and the new format. So definitely stay tuned for that. But otherwise, you guys have a good week.