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E07// KoningLionHeart: The caster with the heart of a king beast!
104 Plays11 months ago
Join us for this episode of Tap Tap Cast where we chat with KoningLionheart, a professional caster and a man we are proud to have on the team! KoningLionheart casts for Pokemon Go and Yu-Gi-Oh and is one of the staples in the EU community, most recently casting the upcoming 2024 EUIC! The crew talk about their favorite moments casting games, embarrassing screw-ups, and what they are looking forward to this competitive season!
Follow the crew! Amanda // www.twitter.com/Lundberger
Martijn // www.twitter.com/InadequancePOGO
Special Guest // www.twitter.com/KoningLionheart
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Transcript
Introduction to Episode and Hosts
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome into the next episode of Tap Tap Cast, where we're going over everything Pokemon Go, basically PvP related. I am Amanda, also known as Lundberger, and I'm here with my good friend Martai. That's me! You may also know me as Amanda. That's you! Yes, yes, how are you doing Amanda? I'm doing well. How about to yourself?
Anticipation for Europe International Championship
00:00:20
Speaker
We were just commenting there's a really spiffy announcement that just went out today with some familiar face on it.
00:00:27
Speaker
It's the Europe International Championship. Whoa! Yes. I'm very happy to be casting there, especially with Leo, right? Yeah, I'm super excited. Yeah, he's been with the casting team for like, since the start, so I'm super happy for him and also for myself. Yeah, didn't have it last year, right? And now I'm happy I do. So, yeah, I'm excited for
Synchronized Video Release Humor
00:00:51
Speaker
it. And I've, like, did you see the team? We have superstars.
00:00:54
Speaker
Dude, we have Zoe, we have Butters, Big Z yes. Big Z even as well, yeah. Did you see that we both, that we put a video out today with the exact same team, which I thought was hilarious. Who really was first here, huh?
00:01:09
Speaker
Well, technically I was first, I was talking with Tomahawk UK with it right at the very beginning of, it was actually right after he got done casting the event that you won at Utrecht. We were playing Go Battle League and he played this team and I said, oh yeah, I'm going to make a driver a car about it. But then obviously Great League went out of rotation because Spring Cup was there forever. So I was like, oh, I'll release the video. I'll do it on Tuesday. You waited three weeks.
00:01:37
Speaker
I don't think I don't think I don't think you should put out a video when there's not an actual like, yeah, fair. But Friday is a league switch. Yeah, that's true. That's true. I maybe could have been a bit more proactive, but I was traveling.
Vancouver Tournament Meta Changes
00:01:50
Speaker
But also speaking of Friday, a lot of people were flying to Vancouver, because there was a big regional tournament, the second in this meta, although it doesn't even really look like a meta shift to me.
00:02:02
Speaker
Yeah, a lot of Pokemon still are the same, like in usage, right? I believe at first, especially what we saw in Utrecht, there were less Wishcache, more Mantine, right? Because the water pulse buff. But now Mantine basically only used by Magmarman, a true Mantine believer. I think it's a Pokemon that doesn't
00:02:20
Speaker
like to knock out other Pokemon that just doesn't output a lot of damage. But the coverage obviously very good against Pokemon like Annihilape and other Wishcache.
Lyle Jeffs' Historic Win
00:02:29
Speaker
So yeah, I think you're right. It's very similar to what it was at first. We had 72 competitors in Vancouver this weekend.
00:02:38
Speaker
And yeah, I'm honestly not super surprised that Lyle Jeffs took it all with the team that he brought and the way that he played. He just... Did you see the team he has? He had a regular polyrat and a shadow sableye.
00:02:51
Speaker
Yeah, that was nuts. And also, I mean, two Poliwraths in the finals. Yeah, that's also kind of crazy, right? I mean, we were talking about it before with Dunberg about what is the fighter of choice right now? Is it flipping back and forth? Who would have thought it would be Poliwrath? They must have been listening. There's no other way.
00:03:08
Speaker
And Lyle Jeffs, also now our third ever two-time in one season regional champion. So that's cool. Fourth, no? Oh, actually, yeah, I guess Rajiv won an ICN to regional, I guess. Yeah, I mean, that's even more prestigious, I guess. So yeah, we can give him that title, I suppose. I think only Europe is missing someone who has won two tournaments in one season.
00:03:28
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, you won one. I don't know. I don't know. Maybe we'll see some more coming up.
Amanda's Reflection on Casting Perception
00:03:33
Speaker
Yeah. Well, you're definitely not winning the EUIC because like we just talked about your casting. I also saw this post from Charlie Merriman about enter Amanda Londberg. I don't think that means what it's types like, right?
00:03:52
Speaker
No, it means exactly how it sounds. No, he's doing something a little bit, quote, secretive. It's all going to be revealed in a couple of weeks. But yeah, there was a call out to ask me anything pretty much. And your question was pretty evil, Martine, I have to say.
00:04:09
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, who's your favorite VGC cast? It's great, right? You're doing a show with a VGC person, maybe has VGC viewers, maybe co-castes who might be watching and might be keeping an eye on that. So, you know, I'm only drawing in them as well to, yeah, it just makes the competition better, right? Who doesn't want to impress Amanda?
00:04:32
Speaker
Yeah, that must be it. All I have to say, Martijn, is turnabout is fair play next time that I have to ask you questions or there's questions from an audience just to be prepared to get a little bit of steam. I'll be prepared. I'll make a list of possible things you could ask, yes.
00:04:49
Speaker
Okay, yeah, that's a bedded list and stuff.
First Casting Experience and Challenges
00:04:53
Speaker
This actually reminds me of the first time that we ever casted together in Liverpool. I don't know if you remember, but the power went out or something weird thing happened where they couldn't play the games on stage. And so after like 20 minutes of just playing videos, Derek was like, do you guys just want to get on and start talking about anything? And then so we did like a silly ask me anything with you originally. Yeah, I think I was already reading a little bit of chat and then they just put a laptop.
00:05:19
Speaker
I was like, whoa, okay, this is just like I'm streaming from home or something. That actually made me feel very more comfortable, especially as a first cast. It feels a little bit stiff. At least it felt stiff for me when I started. I felt like, okay, I feel super serious. This is the game. Yeah, this is happening. This made me feel very loose. I think it was the start of that.
00:05:45
Speaker
Yeah. And that was also, I mean, that's a good point. You, I think I took it a little bit different than most of the casters because you started as a streamer and then kind of ventured into the casting thing. How did you actually get started with it?
Amanda's Casting Journey
00:06:02
Speaker
Was it the same way I did? You just saw the application process and you wanted to apply or did anyone tell you about it ahead of time? Or how did we get the inadequance?
00:06:12
Speaker
I already saw Connor from the TCG team post often on Twitter, like, do you want to cast this for Go? Apply here. I don't know if it was for Go. And after I got confirmation that I qualified from Stuttgart, I was like, well, why not? Let's see if they take it. I actually wasn't counting too much on it.
00:06:33
Speaker
Um, yeah. And then I was denied at first because I wasn't super willing to take days off for pre-production. And then I was messaged. Uh, you know, if you can take these days off, that'd be great. We would love to have you on. I was like, well, if you ask it like that, you must really want me. So yeah. And it was worth it very much.
00:06:52
Speaker
Yeah, look at us now. I mean, I did the one right before you with with the Koning Lionheart. You may have heard of him. He I think he's a fellow caster at this thing that's coming up very soon with you. But yeah, it's this one, right? It's this one. It's up to us. Oh, it is. All right, let's head over to Koning Lionheart.
00:07:20
Speaker
Welcome in Babecaster! He's all shaven, I think Leo. Yeah, more like Babycaster now. Yeah, I'm the caster baby, right? Yeah, I'm very happy to be
Leonhard Koenig's Casting Introduction
00:07:35
Speaker
here. I'm honored to finally be asked on the Taptime podcast. Usually you only take in champions of regionals and special events, and now you have the champion of the people's heart. That's exactly why we had you.
00:07:48
Speaker
We also take champions to be, so this is like a prediction. You know, you remember how they didn't put me on their prediction to win stuff? I do put you on my prediction to win stuff. Oh, actually, they did as well put you there, right? Yeah, they did. It's kind of a bad choice.
00:08:08
Speaker
Honestly, I was very proud after nighttime pleasure told me that I just don't have to choke in the main event. And then I'm a good pick for the caster's prediction. And then I absolutely choked it. What can I say? It's I got some CP, but it was very close losses that I could have avoided. Unfortunate, unfortunate. But Leo, let's let's let's begin from the start from the beginning. Yeah. Tell us about yourself. For those who don't know you yet.
00:08:35
Speaker
Hi, my name is Leonhard Koenig, also known as Koning Lionheart in Pokémon GO. I am a caster of games. I mean, this audience probably knows me from Pokémon GO. I also do Yu-Gi-Oh! and I do other presenting jobs. And yeah, I've been doing competitive gaming for the last
00:08:58
Speaker
15 years now I've been traveling all the way through Europe to attend different kinds of tournaments. You started when you were four?
00:09:06
Speaker
Yeah, that took me a minute. Okay, guys, usually I have a beard. I shaved, big mistake, shouldn't have done that. No, actually, the traveling started when I was 18. I just got into uni, and I just had like my first pocket money so I could buy a Yu-Gi-Oh deck. Then I met one guy at uni, I was like, hey, is there tournaments around here somewhere? And he was like, no, but we're flying to Italy in
00:09:33
Speaker
two months so do you want to join us and I was like yeah and then I was hooked so that's actually a really interesting point because you came to pokemon go in a very different way than I think a lot of people did get into the game can you walk us through that sort of journey from the beginning so the tournaments that I started casting
00:09:55
Speaker
I think the tournament was the one that Dex won, the leader. We did that remotely. I had no idea about the metagame of Pokémon Go, about the competitive scene. I just loved Pokémon ever since I was a little kid. Probably, as most people, you know, except for Amanda, who has played a single game, except for Pokémon Go.
00:10:15
Speaker
But yeah, I was always playing VGC and TCG and the people that were arranging the casters. They knew me from casting Yu-Gi-Oh. They knew I was capable of doing the job. There weren't too many people from the scene applying, luckily. So otherwise, they would have probably taken people from the community. And then I was sitting down there in my home in the remote regional with pain.
00:10:43
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. He's no fun. Yeah. I mean, he didn't have fun casting with me in the first event. I can tell you that I was like, that was, that was so beginner level. I had like two weeks to figure out how the game worked. I was really proud. I remember that exactly, that I figured out what the fast attack of Sable I was on the broadcast. I was like, and that must be shadow claw, right? And I was celebrating myself over that and pain was probably molding.
00:11:15
Speaker
Yeah, that was that was a thing. And then again, still not too many people applied for the
Learning Pokémon Go as a New Caster
00:11:21
Speaker
for the casting, I think. So I also got to build bow. And then from that point on, I think people started realizing that I'm learning the game a little bit better and that I have more of an idea.
00:11:32
Speaker
of how the game works and not only how shows are supposed to work. So then I got into the Pokemon Go scene and I started playing a bit more. To be honest, it is very tough to learn the game as a caster if you are just downloading the app, if you don't have access to Pokemon that you can like play. If you could just get an account and have six Pokemon ready that you could play with, I think learning the game would have been way faster for me than how it was.
00:12:01
Speaker
I see. That's probably a good point. I will say that it's been really great to see how quickly that you have grown at the game because you're right at the beginning. I mean, there was always a little bit of a learning curve and there was also a bit of a, no, that's the, you know, this attack or whatever. But I mean, now I think that you are not only one of the most experienced casters, just in general as a caster, but you also are one of the best casters in general in Pokemon Go.
00:12:28
Speaker
Amanda, thank you, keep it coming. I mean, I'm very aware of my learning curve. If you play games competitively, then you have to be aware of what you can and what you can't do and how you're getting better at games. It's a very important process there.
00:12:45
Speaker
And I just remember, like a year ago, I think it was even Yttrecht, the one that Inadequance didn't win. I think it was the same idea you were casting, right? Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I know. We were casting over a game, and the matchup looked very neutral, and I was insisting
00:13:07
Speaker
on just bringing random Pokémon sometimes because it would be a good strategy. At that point, I thought, hey, I understand enough about the game to know that this is a good idea. And I now don't think it was, but that was a point where I thought I had figured stuff out. I don't know. That's what Nighttime Clasher says to do. So maybe you're not completely wrong. He did win a regional. Maybe I should start playing random lines again. ABA worked sometimes, right? The roll of dice.
00:13:38
Speaker
Yeah, so you started there and I think at the start you said that people didn't apply. I don't think there were applications at the time until, I think until Leo, right? Because you could apply when Connor, I believe it was Connor who put application forms on Twitter. But after Leo, you decided to go on.
00:14:00
Speaker
You're welcome to, but how come? I've been in love with Pokemon, so I really wanted to work on production with Pokemon. I didn't even care if it was VGC, TCG or Pokemon Go, but also I really fell in love with the community, going to the socials, meeting more people is
00:14:22
Speaker
a lot of fun. People were so nice. I have not always experienced that in other gaming communities. I've been through multiple, but that was kind of insane. I gotta be honest how fun everyone was. The community people were just all cheering for each other. Like usually you have your bigger testing groups or there's a bigger rivalry between multiple groups, teams, everything. Here, everyone is just rooting for each other.
00:14:52
Speaker
so harmonic in a way. Or we're all rooting against Martijn. That was sort of like the... Oh hell no. That
Evolution of the Casting Team
00:15:01
Speaker
was not the Cajun pizza. I mean, have you seen how people were hyped for Martijn? That was pretty crazy. But by the way, Martijn, in your first tournament that I... No, in the first tournament that you played in that I casted,
00:15:15
Speaker
There was an odd way to structure the sentence, but that was Stuttgart, right? You got third place, that was how you got to world. And we had an interview in round three. It was Leo. No, no, it was Stuttgart because it was also the first time that I met Leo in person and we casted together. No, he casted with Spleen and Sivis. I got to top five in Leo before that. Oh yeah, that might also be true. Yeah, but Stuttgart, I think it was the first time you interviewed me, yes.
00:15:44
Speaker
Yeah, then we talked for like a few minutes in the interview. And the first thing I said to you was, dude, you should work on broadcast, man. Your voice is amazing. I remember. I remember. I shared to some friends and they were like, wow, yeah, it would be cool. And he's got a point. I guess here we are.
00:16:02
Speaker
Yeah, that's really funny. It all came together quite quickly in that second season because, yeah, Leo, you really kicked it off. And then in Stuttgart, it was the first time that I had the opportunity to try casting as well. And I think that we gelled pretty well. And then immediately after
Amanda and Martai's Growth as a Duo
00:16:16
Speaker
that, I was paired with Martijn in Liverpool, which was his first casting debut. So we were really kind of truncated one after another there.
00:16:24
Speaker
And look at us now on a podcast. All the IC casters, okay. Can I have a little flex here? Oh, yeah. Let's get into that, yeah. But no, I think it was very, very lucky for the community that so many talented people found their way into the commentary crew quite quickly. I was very amazed with your guys' first performances.
00:16:49
Speaker
Amanda just completely stole my thunder, to be honest. In production, everyone was like, yeah, Leo, you're doing such great shows. It's amazing. You're doing a good job at this. All the other castors were also still very good. But I was standing out a bit from my knowledge about production. Then Amanda comes in, just stealing the show. Everyone is all of a sudden, all of the feedback talks, everyone's like,
00:17:13
Speaker
Dude, Amanda was so good. And I was like, yeah, okay. I know. And now, and nowadays we're just both sit back and we have to hear, you know, Martin. He's the apple of everyone's eyes. I think Tomahawk is going to be the next one. Oh, yeah, for sure. That's going to be the next one where we're going to sit back like, yeah, we know that he was good. Yeah, we get it. He's great.
00:17:34
Speaker
Also handsome with that beard, we get it. Is that why you shaved yours off Leo? Not to bring it back to their use. Because I don't want to be handsome? Too much beard competition now among the casters? My beard grows extremely unevenly. So the only way it looks good on me is like if I grow it for three days. I don't even know if that's in Germany, we say, if I talk about it's a three days beard.
00:17:59
Speaker
I don't know what the translation for that is. We call it stubble. Is that what you guys call it in Dutch as well? Three-day beard? Oh, absolutely not. I don't know. They have a word for everything in German. They just glue everything together. And it's literally German. It's literally German. There is a very famous song in German about the Dreitagerbart. I can only recommend you. You can sing it. It's why we don't have time.
00:18:27
Speaker
No, we call it stubble in the US, but it's like maybe not necessarily three days, but it's like after you shave and it's just like the very small hair. Yeah, it's like, I don't know what you mean. I don't know. Now I feel like we're talking to Arceus Aurelius again when he was like, you guys are all talking about your beard maintenance tips and tricks. So the easiest way to take care of your beard is to not have one, you know?
00:18:52
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, that's what I'm finding as well. Just wash your face and then don't care about the stuff. No need to worry about lies and everything. What? What? I don't think you should have to worry about that anyway. You say that you find the beard competition difficult. Does that mean that Amanda's easier competition for you then? As for no beard? In terms of beards, yes, definitely. You're definitely farther along than I am. No, it's...
00:19:21
Speaker
It's of course tough to compete in terms of cuteness with Amanda. That's like the biggest problem, you know? You win stat ranking. You win the beard now. I have to be like tall or something. I think that's my...
00:19:33
Speaker
That is, yeah. Let's talk about the second season that you were a caster for Pokemon. Well, we weren't doing official streams at the time. We're still doing a community stream. I believe there was quite a time between Bremen and Bilbao, right?
Transition to Official Casting Season
00:19:52
Speaker
What were your expectations and thoughts going into Bilbao, into the new season and also new casters?
00:19:59
Speaker
You mean the first official season was Barcelona, right? Yeah, I mean, so basically the second season, that's the 2023. Ah. Yeah. So Bilbao was the first one of them. Yeah. Okay. Right. Yeah. Okay. Barcelona. So it got me all confused there. So my thought was, I don't know, we got a pretty esteemed crew.
00:20:25
Speaker
I'm talking about Bilbao here, right? Not Barcelona. Okay, okay. Going from German into Guba. Okay, so Bremen, I didn't cast. I remember that. I think that was a German broadcast that Nurelka did. He even casted that in German. Into Bilbao, the one I casted was Lille, and I was still worried. I was like, okay, I know a little bit more how the game works. Of course, I don't know how complex it is.
00:20:54
Speaker
or I don't understand how complex it is, I hope that it's going to go well and that I have some some co-casters that I can really work with. We had Bestia Max and Angel Squall, I hope that was the correct pronunciation, who I met back in Barcelona to go full circle now, who are really nice chaps. We had some
00:21:15
Speaker
some language barrier issues in that cast. Got to be honest, that was sometimes I couldn't understand their English, sometimes they couldn't understand mine. So that was that was a bit rough. But going into the event, I was I was kind of hyped, to be honest, I was really happy that I got asked back after after a little I did not expect that to be honest.
00:21:38
Speaker
because of how little my knowledge was, given that I only had two weeks of preparation. Well, I think they wanted someone reliable, right? Maybe you didn't know as much about the game at the time, but they know like, oh, Leo has nothing better to do. Let's just ask him and he'll keep going. Exactly. Honestly, I think that sounded a bit like a jab, like a side jab, but there is nothing better to do than cast a Pokemon to humans.
Leo's Preparation for Official Casting
00:22:04
Speaker
So take that analogy. Agreed. Agreed.
00:22:07
Speaker
No, I was genuinely really happy that I could be part of this. And I got the feeling like, okay, now the community has seen my face two times. I might be a part of this in the long run. So how did you prepare for it from, you know, after Lew into Bluebell? So... Right, because you didn't have much preparation time. Yeah, the first few... I don't know how long the time was in between.
00:22:36
Speaker
There was a little bit of an off timing because I thought I wouldn't be asked back anyways. So I was just playing a little bit with Pokemon on my phone, but I didn't invest too much time to it. Then when it came to the bow talks, it's like, okay, I got a grind into it. So I talked to my friends who were teaching me the game. Basically I asked,
00:22:57
Speaker
paying quite a few questions because he was my only contact in the scene, you know, which was sometimes, of course, difficult because he lives in Canada, I think. Correct. And, you know, it's tough to keep a conversation with the time zones sometimes, especially if I want to know something now because I'm trying to solve a Pokemon Go issue in my phone. But
00:23:22
Speaker
Yeah, I just basically, I looked at many videos. There were so many, so many content creators that I was watching trying to understand what they're telling me.
00:23:31
Speaker
But sometimes the GBL videos, they lack this extreme detail, this deep dive explanation of what's happening there. So you can actually learn a lot about the game. Sometimes you just memorize patterns when you're watching the GBL videos, you're copying the team, then you play it, and then you get a little bit better at it. But I feel like sometimes there's death missing. But of course,
00:23:57
Speaker
That's kind of hard to do. And I don't know if many people want to have that kind of depth in the GBL videos. Which content creator did you watch the most? Was it inadequate? No, I didn't know about you. Someone told me or something. I started watching all of your videos when I met you.
00:24:23
Speaker
Not because of the soothing voice, you know, not because of the content. Okay, dude. I was watching a lot of Zionic, Homeslice Henry, and Dan Ottawa is the name, I think. Yeah, he's a Canadian guy. All the Canadians, dude. I think I was watching those the most.
00:24:43
Speaker
Not to criticize any of them in terms of the depth of the PvP videos. I know that this is something that most audiences don't even want and that would require so much work to show like a line of three in GBL and then you have to talk about the matches for 60 minutes because you have to be like, okay, so if I play this matchup that way and I go too far over, then this happens and stuff like that. So no, I completely understand it. That is not criticism at all.
00:25:10
Speaker
I've been struggling a little bit with this just right now in general about there's so much content now on YouTube for Pokemon Go in general. A lot of it is not even Pokemon battling related, but the battle related videos all seem to have this similar structure, like you were talking about, like where it's like, they're only really showcasing GBL, like try this line of three, or it's like something very basic.
00:25:36
Speaker
But I wonder what could be done to rejuvenate these videos or to make it interesting and exciting for maybe someone new battlers who want to learn a little bit more or dive a little bit deeper, but don't know how to.
00:25:50
Speaker
I think unless you know people in the community already, it's so hard to get better in the game and to be able to learn tips or like, oh, I didn't know that you could do this sort of thing. Unless someone specifically makes a video about it and then you have to watch that video by that one creator. I was trying to make a video like that. My original plan was to create a YouTube channel where people would
00:26:18
Speaker
join me on my journey to learn Pokemon Go PvP. That did not happen at all. So that was way too much work for me. I don't know. I just got lazy, I think. But it's a lot of work. I wanted to make a video about my factions run this season until I forgot to record twice in a row. Small for disputes. Yeah, of course. That's just me.
00:26:44
Speaker
I think that you could, if you want to go more into detail, you should definitely do videos about show six. The videos that Thomas and you make Martijn about your cups and challenges, I love those. Those are great content. Probably also a lot of work. It's like half an hour of videos. A decent amount at least. I love that Homeslice Henry featured Emmy Wiedel in a video and he showed some show six. I love that. I was getting my hopes up for more show six content by bigger creators.
00:27:15
Speaker
I think that you should discuss the choosing your line of three more than.
Potential for Detailed Show Six Content
00:27:23
Speaker
I don't know if it's manageable if you want to showcase an entire tournament. But if you want to get people better, if you want to get people to be better at PvP, I think that is a very, very important part of the videos that you could show. Like if you're doing a show six video of Homeslice Henry versus Emmy Wiedel, and then you discuss
00:27:41
Speaker
in detail why you picked which Pokémon, which Pokémon could fulfill which role on your team against the six of the opponent. I think that many of the details you would talk about are valuable information for viewers. Again, I think this is a very small group you would talk to, so I don't blame anyone for not doing that, but I think that would help.
00:28:02
Speaker
Should I just DM the opponents, the lines that I usually use? Like, should I make it that easy for everyone to defeat me? Yeah, that is a... I don't want everyone to become a better man. That is... You heard it here first, guys. Don't watch the video because you're not going to learn anything anyways. I mean, he's already cheering for the Americans to come over and annihilate everyone at EUIC so he can stay on top of the leaderboard at EU.
00:28:29
Speaker
Actually, big conspiracy inadequates just feeds people wrong information in the videos that he's posting so that everyone misplays. Ah, I know he likes to bait. Every broadcast Martijn says, you know, I always say, always bait. And then he doesn't.
00:28:44
Speaker
Yeah, that worked well on YouTube. No, I'm kidding. But yeah, maybe that is something to... I do like to... You know what it is? I don't want my videos to take too long. That's something you notice in like the statistics of your video that people watch like the first few minutes and then it's just...
00:29:05
Speaker
So that's what I dislike about making it too long ago and too in depth. I do try to... It's also a little bit discouraging at times when you make a show six video that takes so much time. While if I just take 10 recordings from GBL and just talk over that, it takes me like an hour to make. And it gets like three times more views. Kind of feels bad, man. Kind of feels bad. Yeah, yeah.
00:29:29
Speaker
Yeah, also for my first factions video, I wanted to, I thought to myself I am going to make a brief team building discussion.
00:29:36
Speaker
And then this took like 70% of a video until I realized, oh, I need to do graphs for this. And I have to do some lines in there to show which Pokemon I'm using against what. So it's not too boring. And then I didn't upload the whole thing. But yeah, I do get that. It's kind of hard to do that. Also, the attention span of people is really low. So people need something flashy every five seconds for their content, I suppose. That's what works the best.
00:30:06
Speaker
Yeah, I even have friends who are watching like TikTok things or videos on, what is it, double speed? And I was like, how are people absorbing content? But I'm old, guys. I'm old. Those TikToks that the young people are talking about, right? I'm on the same page, man. Yeah. Next, the second season of casting. That's when it went official. How did you go into that? How did you feel about that? I was pumped.
00:30:37
Speaker
I knew we had a fantastic roster of casters. We had Avi, we had Adeleon, we had Lou, we had you guys, we had Thomas coming up. I don't know, I don't remember. Yeah, he was in there, right? We had Zionik as well. And I just knew this was going to be good. I was a little bit nervous because I figured, hey,
00:31:04
Speaker
We have so many great players and the casters are getting better with every event. Like for some of you guys, it was like still a newer thing to do. You had a few events that you were casting, so I knew, hey, you're going to be better every single event. So I have to step my game up as well. So I was a little bit nervous about that. And then I just...
00:31:24
Speaker
played a lot. We have discussed a lot of stuff with casters from other games. I've tried to step my casting game up as well. I think so far it's going well.
00:31:38
Speaker
But I was a bit nervous that I was going to be on the downfall. I helped you guys go through the unofficial season and to do some funny broadcasts and then when the real thing starts that I do fall off and nobody wants to listen to me anymore.
Leo's Personal Growth in Casting
00:31:58
Speaker
No one told you that after EIC you're done?
00:32:13
Speaker
I'm really happy with my performance this season. I think we can still do better. I'm also still learning all the time.
00:32:28
Speaker
I'm just happy that I wasn't lazy and I sat on my experience that I had from previous broadcasts over the years and that I'm still improving. And that I'm getting better at the game, I think that's what I was lacking the most. It was superficial knowledge and now I can, if necessary, also fulfill the expert role. There is still a...
00:32:52
Speaker
Sometimes I need a little help, I guess, but I do have valuable information for newer viewers or even for viewers that have played the game for years now. Maybe it's not super valuable as in they are learning from me, but it's a different perspective or good reminder sometimes that some mechanics exist or some Pokemon have interesting magic.
00:33:15
Speaker
I will test you at U.S.C. Yeah, I remember, I believe at Liverpool. That's a good place to test me, by the way. Let's try things out. Was it Liverpool or... I think it was Utsev, right? Where I asked you about... Can you explain what ABB was?
00:33:29
Speaker
Yeah. And I knew what it was, but I just started sweating a bit more. It's like, okay, okay, find the words that work here. No, but that's also hard too. It's like, just be able to be concise with what you want to say and, you know, say in an amount of time that you're not completely rambling on and people are like, okay, I've completely forgotten the point of whatever this person was trying to make at the very beginning. So I think that you did explain it well, Leo. You did. You did. Yeah.
00:33:56
Speaker
I was also happy. You want to try it on the podcast? By now I don't have a problem explaining AVB anymore. You have a Pokémon in the front that is weak against something and you have two in the back that is good against the same thing. It's not that hard. Actually, I don't know how I talked for like one and a half minutes about this. It's really over explained the whole thing back then. I think you did well back then. I remember. Yeah, that was good.
00:34:24
Speaker
You brought up kind of an interesting point that I guess like, it's worth discussing a little bit because it's not that we are in competition with each other the way that people who are playing the game at regionals are in competitions, but you're absolutely right that it is a little bit of like you're saying, Oh, I don't want to be like,
00:34:43
Speaker
forgotten about so I am now making myself better and I think that we're all doing that to a certain degree and that's really cool because that's why our broadcasts are getting better and sharper and like people are finding good synergies of how they like to cast together because everyone's trying because they care because they want to cast more games. I think the most important thing we are doing extremely well as a commentary crew and that is
00:35:08
Speaker
friendly competition instead of way too hard, fast competition. Every one of us thinks, hey, I do want to get better. I want to be the best caster in the entire crew, of course. But nobody says, hey, I want to be better than the other casters. I don't want to specifically be better at this than Martijn or better at this than Amanda. So I think that
00:35:35
Speaker
We are all if someone accomplishes something, we're like, if someone accomplishes something, like getting an IC or doing like an amazing finals with so much hype that people talk about, or people clip something that someone said because it was cool. We're like,
00:35:53
Speaker
I want that for myself, but good for you. And I think that's a beautiful thing. I've had that in, I think, all of the productions I did so far, not only Pokemon, that is. And I think that's really good and really helpful, because if it gets too eager of a competition, then the synergy starts lacking. Exactly, exactly. Yeah, enough friendly stuff. Who's your favorite co-caster?
00:36:22
Speaker
No matter who he says, I edit this, so I'm just going to put my name in. I'm going to take where he said my name earlier in the broadcast somewhere, and I'm just going to clip it out and put it right here. Yeah, and unless you say me, I will be offended. Keep that in mind. Do I have to go for Pokemon, though? He's struggling. Yes, yes. The Europe team, yes. Specifically our team. By now, it's, I think, actually without...
00:36:53
Speaker
trying to suck up here. It's humor time. I think our synergy is...
00:37:01
Speaker
I'm sorry, we have to cut this broadcast short. Amanda, the problem is we didn't get much time together, right? No, it is true. It's true. You have seen us on almost every broadcast together. But when have Amanda and I actually commentated? It was always one or two rounds, so we didn't have much time building up synergy. And we had so much time together, Martijn. And I think there wasn't one broadcast where we were lacking. I think it was just always getting better. And at some point, I was like, hey, we have good synergy now. And the next event, it was like,
00:37:32
Speaker
Oh, damn, we're still going. This is still getting better. And I really like that. And personally, you're okay, I guess, but on the casting side, I think, yeah, it's got to be Martijn here. And of course- Which is awesome, because you guys get to cast EUIC together. I assume, or at least you're on the same casting team for EUIC.
00:37:58
Speaker
I hope so. I mean, it would make sense, right? We have the most experience together. I have also casted with psionic, which was also amazing. I would love to cast her out with butters as well, to be honest. Maybe that's going to happen. You told guys, they have to just move the seats and all the screens up. The one thing I will be afraid of is like, if I, I don't know who is going to do this, but like, let's say we're doing like a ceremony or something and I'm standing next to butters. I don't want that.
00:38:29
Speaker
He's like twice my size, man, literally. I know Leo's tall, but I don't know. I don't have the same feeling with... I think he's a little bit taller than you, Leo. He's a little bit taller. Yeah, I've heard that, and I'm excited for that, because I don't get the chance to look up to people a lot, and that's always a bit exciting. Well, this would be like when Leo and Lou did the award ceremony together, and Lou had to stand like...
00:38:54
Speaker
The production was so mad at me. Not like I can't do something against it. Don't be tall, man! The people behind the camera were like, dude, this is so difficult. And they had to find a really weird angle where they fit like my head.
00:39:09
Speaker
into the same camera as Lou and then we had this weird frame where my head was here and Lou was like here. It was kind of hilarious. But the ceremony with Lou, I have to talk about that a little bit because damn, ceremonies, I'm gonna say it how it is now.
Overcoming Award Ceremony Nerves
00:39:27
Speaker
So far, ceremonies were not the EU crew's biggest strength, okay? I think.
00:39:35
Speaker
There were ceremonies that did not go as well as we were hoping they would go. And I was always like, hey, can I maybe do a ceremony? And then they were like, nah. So that didn't happen a lot. I think the one I got was with nighttime pleasure in Bohum in the unofficial season.
00:39:56
Speaker
And then in the end, I got Malmö with Lu, I think. And I was so nervous at this point, because I always felt like, hey, I can do that. We've done mistakes. I have learned from the mistakes that other people did at that point, and I'm going to completely smash it. So I stand up there, and I'm like,
00:40:17
Speaker
English is not your native language, Leo. What if you forget all the words? It is sometimes like that, like no joke. Yeah. And my niece started shaking and I was like, okay, this is very new. I've never been nervous like this in a show before. And then they start shaking even more to the point where I look at Lou while production is still setting up. I'm like, I think I'm going to fall.
00:40:42
Speaker
And I just had to widen my stance so that I don't fall. Yeah, don't lock your knees. Yeah. And then she carried me through it, honestly. The minute the camera went on, she was so confident. And I was like, yeah, I can't fall behind that. I can't be the idiot here. So I just went with it. And that worked. And then we did the one together, Martijn, which was also amazing. You did fantastic microphone movements, if you still remember that.
00:41:11
Speaker
Yeah, I don't think it was like terrible, but there were things like that. It was funny. Yeah. We're going to talk about funny ceremony moments. Oh boy. Let's first talk with Leo's and then we'll talk mine and we'll see which is, which is worse? Question mark. Yeah. So Leo, can you tell us about your worst ceremony moment? Okay. So for Leo, I wanted to, to really... This season, 2024. The Galaxical Bolton Leo.
00:41:41
Speaker
I wanted to be like really prepared. And I was so hyped for it. I wrote like a whole text. I had, what was it? We have blah, blah, blah players registered. We have seen. And then I wanted to go a breathtaking turn where it's exciting catches and some other adjective with catches, no, the combo place, something. And camera turns on, of course I blank.
00:42:09
Speaker
I take the adjectives and I match them with the least fitting word of all of those three. So it was like breathtaking combo play. So I was like, ah, that doesn't match so well. But then everything else fell apart. Like if you're not a native speaker and you are in your head while you're talking and improvising something because you can't memorize what you wrote on your stupid cue card.
00:42:35
Speaker
Things fall apart. So I was very happy that Martijn was in fourth or third place. Third, yes. So I called you up on stage and I asked you a question and you give a fantastic, elaborate answer. And I don't listen to it at all because I'm like, OK, Leo, get your stuff together. Please remind what you want to say. And then you look at me and you're like, hey,
00:43:03
Speaker
I mean, this time I didn't win, but there's no point in giving up, right? You gotta move on. And I just go, yeah, okay, you can leave now. And then I'm like, oh, Leo, that wasn't really smooth. So you get your applause again. And then, then we get to elephant flusher. And I, so the thought process was, I say, the man who went into the grand finals undefeated because he did. And then he lost against Galax Cabal.
00:43:33
Speaker
So I was going to say, and then played against Galaxco Bolt. But then in my head, I was like, stop. Sometimes you have this stopper in your head before you say something stupid on a broadcast. That's very important to have. If you're announcing the second-place player, don't say the name of the winner. That's very stupid. So I just said, the man who came into the grand finals undefeated and then lost.
00:43:59
Speaker
That's a buskill. Yeah, that's his Twitter bio now. His next bio. I love fun flusher. Shout outs. I'm still very sorry. I hope I didn't ruin that moment for you. He found it funny. Everyone else found it funny. Apparently, people started laughing at me next to the camera. I was like, yeah, this is bad. So he came up, he gave a very good interview. He was a bit emotional. He was, I don't know, he was very
00:44:28
Speaker
adult about his feelings and mature, that was the word that I was looking for. And then I got some hype for Galaxka Bolton, so that was nice. But then we went over to the... Caster couch. Caster couch. And I didn't realize that I turned off the in-ear that I have on accident. And yeah, I was going to moderate that as well and we had some graphs coming up.
00:44:52
Speaker
And the people were trying to yell into my ear, the graphs aren't ready yet. You cannot say that we have those. And then I, of course, said that we had those. And we were staring at a blank screen. And the situation was getting more and more uncomfortable. So I started sweating a lot. The microphone almost slipped. And I was just throwing it over to Adelian because I know that he had the event dates memorized. He did that. I said, hey, Pokemon, right? And everyone was like, agreed.
00:45:21
Speaker
We went through that and I think I hit under my bed for three days after that. Amanda, how about yours? I just want to say this about yours. I don't think anyone besides you remembers it being bad, in that sense. Maybe people will remember that funny line, but I think that like anything, like PVPing as well, we're our own worst critics, right? So you're stewing over these moments while someone might've been like, oh, that wasn't the best. They've long forgotten it by now.
00:45:50
Speaker
Um, yeah, so my moment was, I also, it was my first award, official award ceremony of the first official season. I had only really done one before that as well. And, uh, people should just also know that, uh, our production guy is like very adamant about award ceremonies. Like he wants them to be perfect. So there's like a lot of like.
00:46:10
Speaker
I think a lot of the pressure we put on ourselves for these. So I'm writing stuff down, and I'm actually feeling pretty good about it. I'm in the middle of the presentation. I know exactly what I want to say. I'm like, oh, this is clever. Both first place and second place are on the factions team, tea and pizza.
Award Ceremony Slip-up Humor
00:46:29
Speaker
So no matter what, I can have a little bit of a funny insert about this.
00:46:33
Speaker
And it's going to be great. The people who know or in the know, they're going to be like, oh, that's clever. That's cute. That's funny. So I get up to it. It's Dean Osky. He's in second place. And I say, again, tea and pizza. Meaning to say, he drinks tea. He eats pizza. He is. Instead, I say, he drinks pee. No, he doesn't.
00:46:59
Speaker
He drinks tea. And then by then, like, yeah, again, all the wheels just fall off the wagon at this point where it's like, I'm, I'm trying not to lose it because again, but it's funny. So it's like, I can't, uh, I was like, just go over it really quickly. He gets up on the stage. He actually takes it very well. And, uh, like, I apologize to him afterwards too. Cause can you imagine it? Yeah. It's his big moment. Like he's getting up on stage and now I just tell everyone that he drinks urine.
00:47:26
Speaker
I mean, he took it really well. He brought his special brew to the next event. He did. I was casting with Thomas in the middle of the match. He just pulls up this apple juice or something in the middle of the screen. Funny guy. Unlabeled bottle as well. That was a very important detail. That was hilarious.
00:47:49
Speaker
Yeah, so yeah, he's pretty cool about it. I also, for Christmas, I sent him a cider beer and I wrapped it with a label that said Dean's Special Blend and then said Happy Holidays, Dean Oskey. So it's like a good inside joke.
00:48:05
Speaker
time did you have any any big mess ups that you had in your career that you are maybe ashamed of um there's one that i had actually not as a caster but i was on the casting team which was with though and like he i recovered a little bit he recovered it so it wasn't was
00:48:25
Speaker
I don't have things that are still stuck on my mind. Obviously, the Turin Ceremony Awards, I could have done better. I didn't know that I should be always interviewing like this and never like this. I have my arm across my body, right? But yeah, I guess when I was being interviewed by Tho, I said, yeah, I want to give a shout to Tho Technical for helping me with my team. That makes him look biased, right? I should not say something like that. So then we got both recovered. He didn't help me with my team at all, by the way.
00:48:51
Speaker
I don't even know what I want to say at that point. Sometimes you have that, right? You have those interviews or something. You just try to make him look bad. That's such an inadequate versus Totectical thing. That is what I wanted, but not in that way. I was clipping things for the vlog from the video and Totectical was interviewing Martijn and Martijn was like, I guess I'm just a good loser. Thomas was like,
00:49:16
Speaker
A good, and like Martin almost said, loser again, and he's like, sorry, what? I just couldn't stop laughing. I was like, this is like perfect. He just seems so nice, but he's like, it's, it's, you have this effect on people, Martin. It's just like, everyone just wants to be a little bit mean to you. I'll give it, I'll give it back to them though. Exactly. I think that's why, I think that's why we all know that you can take it really well. Yeah.
00:49:44
Speaker
Before we head into our final question, Leo, I want to ask you one of the main things probably going off here right now. How do you feel about casting EYC soon?
Excitement for Europe International Championship
00:49:57
Speaker
I'm pumped, dude.
00:50:00
Speaker
No, this was a goal for a longer time. It's like a dream scenario to cast an IC, right? It's such a big event. It's such an honor to cast there as well. There's so many different casters from different continents, and they choose us two. Just speaking about the three people here in this room, Amanda, you have had two ICs as well. Yeah, I was going to say, I've also been chosen, Leo. I was going to say, yeah, you had more than us, though.
00:50:30
Speaker
That is just absolutely phenomenal. I'm nervous. If I do stupid stuff, I don't want it to be on the IC stage, but I just can't wait. Friends coming that are going to spectate, that's really cool. Most importantly,
00:50:49
Speaker
very hyped for the tournament as well. Because as we said earlier, I've been improving in the game and I have been practicing a lot. I have decent knowledge now. Yeah, that's true. But the thing is, the more I understand the game, the more hyped those matches become for me. I see as the biggest stage ever. We have the most talented players in Europe and now even like overseas, Dunberg,
00:51:17
Speaker
Nighttime Clasher, who's technically not overseas anymore, but you get the drill. It's going to be so cool to see all of them battle it out. It's going to be an amazing atmosphere. It's going to be electric. I am going to be casting it. With your favorite co-caster. Exactly. I just can't wait. It's a dream. I'm really happy. I was so moved by all the people who were messaging me saying, hey, so nice that you got this gig. And I was like,
00:51:47
Speaker
I'm happy that you guys want me to have this gig. I mean, I haven't been around from the start, so I'm very happy that a bigger part of the community has accepted me, and I'm very grateful for that. I also made like a 10x pages post about that, where I was telling everyone how much I loved them. And yeah, I'm very emotional and happy about that, and I can't wait. That's good. We're going to prepare together. Yeah, that's true.
00:52:16
Speaker
And I still got to buy a new suit. You have two weeks. And grow out your three-day beard? Oh, yeah. You see this here, Leo? I need you to have that. That won't be possible, but a three-day beard will be like trying to be rugged handsome. Do whatever you feel comfortable with. But I have two weeks to grow out a three-day beard that I need to go to.
00:52:45
Speaker
to the saloon. Is that the word for it, the barbershop? This can't happen at UIC. This needs to be shorter. So a fun thing is a salon is what you're talking about, but also saloon is a very Western style. Oh, yeah, right. That's where he's going to. If you're going there, that's very cool. That is true. Sounds like a nice atmosphere.
00:53:14
Speaker
You just get on your horse as you might say. West Pokémon battles. Well, I am so excited for you, Leo. I can't honestly think of anyone more deserving. You've been with the EU cast from the very beginning. I think you are honestly the staple of our group. So it's obviously a big thing. Also, I'm very excited from our time. You probably told him enough already, right? Listen, yeah, he gets it. He gets it.
00:53:41
Speaker
Thank you. It's not enough that he got that announcement and then it also goes and wins Utrecht. I mean, the only reason why people are always so a little bit mean to you, Martijn, is because you're just simply unlikable now. What the heck? No, I'm sorry. Is this the clip? I was going to say something nice. Wait, let me get it back. The only reason why people are sometimes mean to you is that you are just an
00:54:11
Speaker
Such an incredibly talented Pokemon trainer and caster as well. And you get better at everything. And everyone wants you to not win a damn regional or especially event because you're going to be adamant about it.
00:54:28
Speaker
We all knew that it was going to happen someday. We just didn't want to give you the satisfaction of it now. Maybe a little bit more. And now you already got it. It's kind of boring now as well. There's not this tension anymore.
00:54:48
Speaker
Yeah, think of the casters, man. Yeah, Leo, we're going to ask you the last question. But now I'm a little bit scared, because I think you know the question. It's about who in the community would you call a crebrawler and a mad champion?
Community's Rising Stars
00:55:02
Speaker
Crebrawler, of course, being someone who is maybe a little bit more of an up and comer, someone who isn't super well-known within the community, but you think they have the chops that they could really make it far. And then the mad champion is someone who is probably well-known within the community, could end up winning worlds.
00:55:17
Speaker
And if you say more time, just after you were so nice to him, it's going to be the most boring way to end up. It's like, you get one nice thing. I got so much credit already. This podcast is probably enough for like 10 podcasts. That was, that was from the bottom of my heart earlier and you're not going to get anything more. Don't worry. Um, so a crab roller. Uh, is it okay if I'm biased and say name of my friend here? Of course. Yeah. Uh, Odin.
00:55:46
Speaker
is a very good German battler. I met him at a cup in Sandhausen. He destroyed me and then he beat very esteemed Pokemon trainers in the finals, even best of fives. And we played the same team for
00:56:01
Speaker
For Utrecht, he kicked me out. Got some CP. He kicked Colin out before. He knows how to play. He almost topped Stuttgart, but lost to Tomahawk, I think, in the loser's semis or something. He's really good. He has been grinding nonstop ever since he got the chance to play more of those. And he's playing very, very clean Pokémon Go most of the time.
00:56:27
Speaker
There is going to be an event where he's going to make a deep run. That's for sure. It's going to be a question when he's going to do it. So my champion, I can jab again. The best Dutch Pokemon trainer.
00:56:48
Speaker
I'm gonna call status 10. Not only is he very funny and sympathetic, which is not a quality that we are discussing right now, but I want to mention it. Status 10
00:57:00
Speaker
is a very smart trainer. He's very meticulous in his technical play and he makes opponents really uncomfortable sometimes. And also what I found really interesting was when he played versus Tomahawk in Liverpool in the winners something, he knew that he was going to lose charge attack priority with his Gligar.
00:57:28
Speaker
And he played versus Tomahawk, who he knows really well. But his Gligar was his only win condition. He also had a low HP Pokemon in the back that he could catch something on. And it came down to a 50-50, basically. And he just knew how his opponent played. He went for a really risky play and just didn't try to go for a catch, which was basically his only win condition when people say that.
00:57:51
Speaker
He's like, yeah, you lose charge attack priority, your win condition is a catch. No, he just went for the charge attack priority. His opponent waited a turn to prevent the catch, and that's how he won the game. He finds those alternate win conditions, and he's just very good at reading people as well. And something incredibly sympathetic is that he sometimes rolls dice if he doesn't know what to do.
00:58:11
Speaker
Makes him human. Yeah, it's just this little bit of luck that you sometimes need to win a tournament. Right, Martijn? I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know what you're talking about. It's luck, huh? No, I think Odin and Stettestan are my Kribrola and my champions. I think those are both good picks.
00:58:32
Speaker
I agree, I agree. Yeah, thank you so much Leo for for your time with us today. Thank you guys for inviting me. Yeah, and good luck at the Europe International Championship. Well, to you too Martijn and Amanda, have fun at home.
00:58:52
Speaker
For those listening to this podcast and wondering when this EYC is going to be, it is going to be in April on the fifth through the seventh, I believe on twitch.tv slash Pokemon go. So go and check out the action, watch these beautiful boys and see some really good battles. And in the meantime, we'll catch you in the next episode.