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E16 // The 2024 World Championships in the eyes of Inadequance and Lundberger
172 Plays6 months ago
Join us for this very special episode of Tap Tap Cast where the hosts, Martijn and Amanda talk about their 2024 Play Pokemon season. Amanda was one of the six Pokemon Go casters at the Worlds competition in Honolulu, Hawaii, and Inadequance went as a competitor and ended up placing SECOND IN THE WORLD! The two talk recap the competitive season, talk about their Worlds experiences, and answer questions live on Twitch. This was the last episode of the season! Join us for Season 2 after the Baltimore regional competition.
Follow the crew! Amanda // www.twitter.com/Lundberger Martijn // www.twitter.com/InadequancePOGO
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Transcript
Travel Recap: Hawaii vs. Greece
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome in to the last episode of Tap Tap Cast for the 2024 season. I am Amanda, also known as Lundberger. And I am Marta Yuminomi as Inadequance. Here we are, Amanda. We've been gone for a while now. We have returned. It's been ah quite a trip in Hawaii, which was, I believe, is two weeks ago now.
00:00:22
Speaker
Yeah, it feels like a lifetime ago, but yet still feels like I'm there partially because of a jet lag. Jet lag was crazy bad for me up for this trip. I don't know if it was for you. Luckily, I came in a little bit early to go see a couple of the different islands as well. And so I got a little bit adjusted before the actual tournament, but coming back home was just wild. I was waking up at three zero in the morning every day. I'm like, well, this is my life now. When did you actually ah ah fly to there? On the sixth.
00:00:51
Speaker
So that's like that 11 days or something before. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I'm just guessing. I wasn't going to do the math. I was just agreeing with you with whatever number you were going to say. So we were both right. Yeah. Yeah. um Yeah. The 12 hour difference was tough. I arrived like Tuesday. So they have a lot of time to adapt.
00:01:12
Speaker
um But I know usually I and i don't struggle with jet lag as much anymore. The first time I flew to the US was to Columbus and I see 2022. And that's where I struggled. I could hardly sleep or, you know, I wake up at like 4 a.m. 3 a.m. I still kind of wake up early, usually when I when i ah go overseas. But this was different. And I actually wasn't super jet lagged going there.
00:01:35
Speaker
But Paul, coming back, I think it took me like a full week to recover. Like, not even kidding. I yeah ah went to for a nap and just wake up six hours later. um Right? I'm like, dude, just need to lay down for a little bit and, ah you know, play some RuneScape three hours later. um It's like four. am I'm like, you know, I should sleep to get it back into my rhythm and I sleep another 11 hours. Oh, boy. OK, yeah. Yeah, it was it was pretty, pretty rough.
00:02:01
Speaker
um So yeah, that's where we have been, right? Hawaii? Yeah, that's where we've been. Yeah. Well, what did you think of ah looking at at the previous season? ah what what What are your thoughts on it?
00:02:13
Speaker
Well, first, before we even get to that, I want to ask what were your thoughts on Hawaii? Because before we went there, you were making this big claim, blah, blah, blah. Hawaii is just expensive. Greece, I don't see how it's, it's not even that great. I haven't heard any good things about it. Actually being there, touring the island, seeing all the stuff. What were your overall thoughts of Hawaii?
00:02:35
Speaker
Yeah, maybe maybe it was it was not just expensive grease. It was also American grease. I must say, though, I haven't visited a lot of Hawaii, right? It was six days of Honolulu and was it six days? It was every day except one day only Honolulu for me. And we did one day of touring around the island. And nature is incredible. ah Yeah. What's the island we were on, Oahu?
00:03:02
Speaker
um Yeah, that that's that's what that's Greece has some nature, but not like that. That was crazy. I know it's cool to see. So next time if I will go, that will not be the next five years probably because I need a rest for flying. um But I would definitely make it like two or three weeks to go to all the islands or something. because I feel like there's so much more to see, but there's also something that I didn't like about Honolulu. And it feels like when I'm in the US, it just feels so commercial. Everything feels commercial. Like I was talking about the other day about like watching she was watching cable TV for the first time again in a while. And it just reminds me when I watched cable TV here, I watched American TV, they just
00:03:47
Speaker
ah Randomly cut through two breaks and in Europe. We don't have that many commercials So we don't have the break just goes to the next scene and then I realized wait in the u.s You just have a break every 10 or 15 minutes, which is ridiculous yeah Just an example of how commercial sometimes is and that's what I felt sometimes about Hawaii where I'm like um Okay, Americans just here want you to ah feel whoo You know,
00:04:13
Speaker
you know that I'm like, is this really Hawaiian culture? Or is it just Americans who want you to have holiday and spend a lot of money? Yeah, no, that is true. That that's kind of in between. I didn't feel like it was a lot of Hawaiian culture that I found in Honolulu. ah Besides the way some things look right, like palm trees and very nice water everywhere. Yeah, yeah.
00:04:38
Speaker
No, I get your point with that a little bit. I think ah Honolulu itself, especially, was the most like commercialized out of any of the Hawaiian islands. um But you just said that it's going to be a while that you will ever get on a plane again. Does that mean our why iing so okay okay that OK. So I was going to say, we got some stuff coming up. I wanted to know if you're competing, if you're casting, what you're doing next season.
Reflecting on Past Competitions
00:05:02
Speaker
But before we even break into that, you asked about the last season.
00:05:06
Speaker
ah It was a really, in my opinion, really, really good season. It was our first season as European, officially on the circuit. And I think we got to do a lot of really cool things. I think it was better than the season before that. Well, the season before that was like...
00:05:26
Speaker
unofficial, right? So I think we got away with doing some more stuff and like having a bit more like fun. And it was good experience like getting us started in it. But I think like this season that we actually like really showcased a lot of like, not only European battlers, but the just the European scene, as opposed to just the American broadcast overall. Yeah, that's fair. Very Interesting perspective from Castor only. Yeah, from Castor only. All right, you tell me. You competed, huh? I mean, yeah, as a competitor from the very first season even, how do you feel that it's really compared before Worlds? Because I think that your opinion probably definitely changed on the season and when you got to Hawaii. I think it was a good season as well.
00:06:15
Speaker
The main difference, of course, was the championship points, right? Which was introduced for the first time. And at that time, like this season was with a threshold. And I think that's how it always has been for like TCG and VGC. And then next season, which we'll talk about later as well, ah we're gonna have like a cut off at like... 50 players for Europe alone um to qualify. So that makes me feel like what direction is it going? It felt like um everything was definitely more competitive, I feel like, because now more consistency is being rewarded sometimes for a tournament. If you, man, if you could be, I wouldn't say the worst player, but if you just have some of your Pokemon aligned well, you have two good days of that, it might just be enough to get to ah top three or something. You know, look at me.
00:06:57
Speaker
um
00:07:00
Speaker
That felt way less right now with championship players. And I think like someone like a mind joke is a good example, right? You know, he's a good player, just often barely doesn't get there to get like top cut or something. And also what's what's his name? StrangeTOP from Spain. Top cut a single time through the season, but has been consistent, has done his locals, some were fortunate enough to have those.
00:07:24
Speaker
and he qualified and then he reached even top 32, actually his first day 2 at Worlds. right it's I liked it. I liked the season a lot. I'm a little bit biased because of course I had a few good runs.
00:07:37
Speaker
Well, I mean, I think it comes down to a little bit of the meta as well, right? I mean, the last season, and I know that Paula was a big fan of it, and you even admitted to being ah a fan of the Noctowl Trevenant Lantern meta that we had for basically like six months. For a different reasons.
00:07:56
Speaker
I feel like this season was definitely more dynamic and had like a lot. I mean, there was definitely still RPS matches, but everything felt like it had a little bit more play, especially with Gligar being like the top flyer. You had a little bit more interesting like dynamics between the different Pokemon. And I mean, you, I mean, or should I say, say Scaffold found like a pretty good team that seemed to serve really well in this last meta.
00:08:25
Speaker
Yeah, I think that you can avoid Lickitung every time with Geertina. It can be pretty good. yeah If you avoid that one bad matchup for your Pokémon, the Pokémon can put in a lot of work. As you say, it's just less RPS and I felt like with the latest update, it was here's one thing that I find rough. right The last tournament before Worlds was NAIC.
00:08:48
Speaker
so If that's like your only real tournaments before going into Worlds, it can be pretty rough because your locals are like probably the same eight people at most that you play every time, right? And it's also something that I find in scrims, you play the same people, it's cool, but other people might just play different, right? So so that that that was something I found pretty rough. um Respectfully, i was I was not super surprised to see someone like Doombug for example, not have an axe in as well, not have the same success he had before. He didn't have it in NAIC and that was the same meta.
00:09:25
Speaker
And it happens at Worlds again, right? Maybe a little bit more in a rough way, but still. um Just so little time, or not so little time to adapt because there was two months between it, but so little to look at, to to to experience. I found that pretty rough. But I also think, I mean, like, even if you think of our podcast alone, we always ask the staple question, like, who do you think is going to win Worlds? And I think a majority, like probably even half of the people that we had on said that they thought Dunba was going to win Worlds. And I think that it just goes kind of goes to show that.
00:09:59
Speaker
Even the best players, I mean, all of the best players were playing against the best players, right? I mean, it can be kind of anyone's game, especially in a double elimination bracket, like we were no seatdings saying earlier. So it's like, you I mean, you, you have a couple good runs, you have ah some people who your team comp is really weak against. And unfortunately, that's just like, you know, the one you didn't plan for is the one you end up playing against. And Yeah, i mean that's funny because now as you mentioned it because Logan asked me like repeatedly are you bring your tea? I bring your Tina. Should I bring your gear Tina plush for your gear team? And I I said every time no I'm not bringing a gear Tina and The one time like there was I think two gear Tina in the tournament was me No, there were three was me stat stand and someone from South Korea who won the qualifiers with it um So Logan four times we get to guarantee knows like what are they also facing one? Yeah, right
00:10:53
Speaker
It happens, it happens. You always need to be you know prepared for the worst, I guess. Oh, this I just want to bring this up because we didn't actually say it at the beginning of the podcast. We're actually doing this podcast live on your Twitch. And we're going to take this later. We're going to take some questions from people that are asking and kind of just go along. It's the first time we're ever doing this. I think it's kind of fun. And we actually just got a really good one in the chat. So I think it's a great time to bring it up. Merewolf is asking, is double elimination the only thing holding go back?
Debating Competition Formats
00:11:25
Speaker
So what are your thoughts on Is Go being held back to begin with, I guess, and the thoughts overall on Double Elimination? So I think I made a post, I made a post of this a while ago, giving my opinion a little bit, um right, that was as a response to Rick's Master's video about the game being solved or not competitive.
00:11:47
Speaker
um I think to make it more competitive, Swiss is maybe a must, right? Look at TCG and VGC. And this season we we likely, it it doesn't look like at least, there's no change in the answer or anything, so it's looking like double elimination again.
00:12:03
Speaker
and Double elimination makes it rough, right? Because you have no opportunity to play more after you lose two matchups. So let's say you go 0-2, you're out, you're gone. Like, when I went 1-2 in Liverpool or 0-2 in Lille, I'm like, okay, sucks, I want to play better now, right? That's always the feeling that I have. If you watched my streams, I play practice tournaments and I go 0-2 in a single matchup,
00:12:24
Speaker
I'm like, okay, let's salvage one battle. I want to come back and feel a little bit better about myself and hope that I don't suck. You don't have that with double elimination. you Sorry, you might suck. you you You lost two matchups. You can't do more, right? um And it doesn't make it appealing for both experienced and newer players because experienced players that might get unlucky are like, well, if this happens two or three times to me, should I even keep trying?
00:12:48
Speaker
right? It's not just around the corners usually. You fly, you have a hotel, ah pay a lot to do this, right? And then newer players, they don't even get as much opportunity to learn anything, right? Because after two matchups, you're out. It might just be a matter of 30 minutes. um I'm not a fan of that, right? so ah Swiss, you could have eight matchups. Maybe you lose all of them. At least you can talk to people and learn maybe and, you know, get value out of it. So firstly, yes, I think that It gives less reason for people to go to regional championships. Yeah, I agree, especially as someone who hasn't competed yet and talking with people who are like into go, but not super, ah you know, PvP savvy yet. That's like the main thing that's holding a lot of them back is like, well, at this point, you know, all the people who are competing and go really know what they're doing. I'm not paying all this money flying all these
00:13:46
Speaker
you know, places to just only basically probably get in four matches and be out because how am I going to get any better at that point? Because if I'm especially playing against someone who is really good, perhaps even seated or you know, some some way that they're ah newer players are going to, unfortunately, face off against people who have a lot of experience. Then for them, it's kind of difficult to have the motivation to continue to try and learn. ah But yeah, the way that Swiss usually works is you play against people. And then as you kind of drop down lower, you start to lose more. You're starting to play against other people who have lost more as well. So theoretically, you will start playing around people who have a similar skills
00:14:30
Speaker
camp or skill set as you and you can learn some things ah from that I think and also just you can meet people you can feel like you've actually kind of put in a whole tournament day's worth of effort and still with Swiss you can drop anytime you want yeah so that's what I also like so it's like okay fine you're sick you're you're fed up with it fine you can drop out Exactly, it seats itself, so I do think Swiss is at some point necessary, and I'm actually surprised that we don't have it. Maybe we do, I don't know. Like, some latem special events did have Swiss, so I don't know. I asked Chet's bubbles in Chet saying, they want Swiss day to dawn elimination. I think that's an excellent thing, right? Like, I think that's what VGC and TCG do as well. There's like a cutoff at like... I don't know, Worlds had like a cut of 100 people, I think. But if you have like a cut of 16 people, it makes for an excellent all-day broadcast of top 16 best day one players, right? And that also means that even if you lose the first two rounds even, you might still have a chance. And even if you lose three rounds, maybe there's still a chance for you to get championship points. Like that's all not in there right now, and it doesn't make double elimination very
00:15:43
Speaker
Very appealing, right? Yeah. Oh, I have another good question that's just coming in from Cole hard cash. I like that funny, a funny in game name. What an ultra league play Pokemon tournament appeal to you. ah Yeah, I agree that it probably won't happen because um there's like also a CP gap. I mean, the reason why great league is often used is because it's the easiest league for most people to get Pokemon for. ah But but it would be cool to see these monsters play in different metas.
00:16:11
Speaker
I think it's also influenced by Grassroots, right? Like a lot of things that you see from Play Pokemon, especially from the start, right? Just comes kind of from what Sylve was, like ah Show 6, Pick 3. And Ultra League was never really a thing because it's a less accessible league, and especially now with Excel Pokemon, right? It might be rough to get some good Pokemon. If there's like a new release, it's way more difficult to get, way more expensive for starters to get.
00:16:39
Speaker
and doesn't give newer players a lot of chance. Look, personally, I don't care. I don't care which league we play. Any league would work with me, right? And there's some side events I believe that are in like Great League, Ultra League, Master League. But for competitive play, it's unlikely. It's unlikely. It will be cool, right? Because I'm just all in favor of different medals all over the place. But I think for now, it's just going to be open Great League. I would not be surprised if at some point we could get restricted formats. But these things are not done in, you know,
00:17:08
Speaker
ah snap of a finger. that did Those things take time. Yep. I mean, yeah, but because we also have Niantic and we also have Pokemon that are working together for these things. So it's, you know, Niantic does the actual updates for the move sets and everything. And Pokemon kind of does the structure for these tournaments and have to make sure that both of these are aligned. But I think it would be cool. Softoph has talked about it before as well, like having like a whitelist or just specific Pokémon that kind of would make ah a meta that is only available for a couple months or maybe a month of Play Pokémon, and it gives people who are really good team builders different thoughts. you know I'm like, okay, now I know that I have to build for this, and it gives a different type of advantage for players as well.
00:17:50
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. ah Exactly. um Let's move on to the next topic, Amanda. Because we're you know we're already like 20 minutes in, but we've just been at Worlds, right?
World Championships Insights
00:18:01
Speaker
How was it for you to cast Worlds? um ah I think last season you were the SME, right?
00:18:07
Speaker
yep I was the last season I was our ah first subject matter expert as they call it so it's the person if you guys are watching the streams the person putting the movesets basically on for the Pokemon showing which three Pokemon are chosen out of the six helping run the graphic stuff and also just replaying some information to the replay operator saying this was an important moment ah because obviously like a lot of people who are in production, Pokemon isn't just their only thing. They're just used to running a broadcast, right? So I mean, they want to make the best show possible, but they might not have the certain wherewithal to understand how a moment was super big unless they're really listening to the audience reactions and everything. So I got to do that last year. And then this year, um yeah, I was ah selected to cast and I was casting with Speedy as Chief 2, who I got to cast with a couple of times this season as well. And it was a really, really cool opportunity. And
00:19:01
Speaker
really great to see a lot of the battles. But you you came in from a different perspective because you are also a caster, but you are also a regional, a special event champion. You were pretty high on the leaderboards and you came in as a very favorite competitor.
00:19:23
Speaker
Yeah, they didn't pick me for casting, so I was like, well, I'll give myself some broadcasting time.
00:19:31
Speaker
Yeah, you know, I was high on the leaderboards. um I never really thought I would go for could go for travel awards. like But then I want Utrecht and then I had to get top two at any IC well um That was unrealistic. I felt like like top four maybe and I really wanted the trophy, right? Mm-hmm didn't work top 25 and we got to we got two worlds, you know III tried to keep my expectations low, but I felt in form right you you feel that sometimes you just win exceptionally more than That you win exceptionally more than you usually do. Mm-hmm
00:20:06
Speaker
and I was going into Worlds, but I never really could find a good team. um I needed to bring Giratina. I had to, I was telling everyone, no, no, i'm not I might not bring it, it's scope, it's not good, I can't build it. It was Amanda, it was always gonna be there. It was just always gonna be there, right? i This time, I just, I don't know, I i felt like I didn't want to people to know my team really. So I started off with like a zoom rule, Wigglytuff, and then, so Double Fairy and a Giratina Goodra. That's basically, what that was my first draft.
00:20:34
Speaker
but always was like very weak to charge a buck or Skarmory or whatever party pooper there was. um And especially Likitung. I'm glad I didn't go with that draft because Likitung was on every opponent's team I've played I think. So yeah, I saw Skaffo's team was like, well, I'm going to take that. And it did great. It was very unfortunate. I think Skaffo went 0-2.
00:20:56
Speaker
So, you know, that kind of, I know the feeling, right? Because yeah last chance qualifier, 2022, I had the same team and didn't communicate that with him or anything as dancing Rob. And he wins roles with it. That that really gives you a feeling of driver, not car.
00:21:13
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's kind of what we talked about a little bit earlier too, right? Because it depends on who you're playing against and the certain team comps that they have as well. Like, like you said, Lurgan Rocket, what are the odds you're going to face one of the three Giratine as well? ah Yeah, if you do and you're four times weak to it, it's kind of hard for you to get past that. Everyone knows that Scaffold was a very good battler, but so is, I mean, basically everyone who qualified for Worlds, right? I mean, they were full of either regional winners, special event winners, people who were climbing the top of their leaderboards, smashing locals. They're supposed to be good. They're supposed to be. They're supposed to be good at Worlds, right? Worlds! They're supposed to be good. Yeah. I think Skafu's first opponent was Galaxkoboulton. And, you know, that's just a scary opponent, right? Because he played Ridiculous. He played Leaf to Native Superior again. Yeah, you know, you get debuffed. It's just roll of dice, right? Yes, these are PS picks. There's also roll of dice attacks. That makes it a little bit difficult there.
00:22:21
Speaker
um I don't know, Worlds was pretty unreal, you know, and I think I so i can't say it enough um that, you know, I felt confident going in there, but actually getting to second place and then feeling how big of of a skill it actually is, even seeing like my name on some Dutch websites was ah was's pretty crazy. So... ah pretty Yeah, no doubt, no doubt. um I want to bring up something. ah Butters was one of our previous podcast guests, and he was also a caster at Worlds. And he said it a couple times. And he also clarified for those who were thinking that maybe Butters was like trying to pick on Martine, which we all do. But ah he was saying that you have a very like divisive play style, you know, because you're very like you pick Pokemon that seem on paper, very rock, paper, scissors.
00:23:06
Speaker
ah and But somehow, even if you end up losing lead, and sometimes in matches you even lost like the the middle game, this this the swap, like you still come out on top. So you manage to play RPS matches, but not in a standard RPS tapt tap-tap way.
00:23:23
Speaker
So first off, I just want to say you guys are setting up Butters because I watched it back and he was like only positive about me and then you asked me a question right after the battle. Butters has been saying this and that about you. What what do you have to say about it? It felt like he's been talking. No, no, i wasn't saying I wasn't saying that he was saying anything bad. I just wanted ah you to have a chance to address this. You know what it felt like, Amanda, when um What's his name again? I forgot what his name was buddy. He asked Eminem after Jack's been saying shit about you How do you feel about that and it was basically just saying after Jack? Yeah, i mean i'm sometimes things as well. And I want to I want to do it as well. That's all he said and That's how it felt like I was like, okay buddies. Come on and then he also said something like yeah, I hear about divisive and weird playstyle and like
00:24:13
Speaker
Your guys are setting him up. No, no, but I had nothing to do with that. Look, RPS is as RPS as you can describe it and as you want to describe it. There's a big difference between Lick Tongue on Lantern and Skarmory on Superior or Lick Tongue on Giratina. Some of them are playable and some are not. um I think I had a couple Good very good team compositions if I may say so um And a couple were risky um a couple were just straight-up bad and I got away with it. Yeah, for example against Logan I think I perfectly called an ABB line into talent flame I let your teen into teleflame and I had scar me really tough Look if I beat out talent flame with scar me a wiggly tough I die because he gets to like four fly onto my gear Tina So just so actually you get knocked out my time
00:24:58
Speaker
It's a it's a port in composition, but then into like calling I think I I had a composition where I was like, okay if I don't have the lead I want I bring in ah Lantern he can't have ulteria he brings in charge but which would be his best neutral Pokemon I get a shield advantage and then skirmish free ah voila beautiful team composition strategy Perfect, right? It's not always possible. let let Let that be clear because there's always, you have to realize that for every Pokemon, there's likely always one answer. And if you have a Pokemon that's entirely unchecked, it's just golden. That just rarely happens. And in fact, if your opponent sees that one Pokemon of you that is so good,
00:25:40
Speaker
You can count on them countering it, right? um It's It's iffy. Sometimes it pays off to watch the opponent as well, right? I think Beelzeboy watched me play Giratina in matchup. I shouldn't have played it. And he was like, well, you're not going to get me like that. I'm going to run Mandibuzz, Vigorold. Sometimes its it can really get to you, which is funny. It's funny. um Should we take a like look at some questions from the chat?
00:26:05
Speaker
yeah Yeah, you pick one out. I see a couple of good ones in there. Let's start with the first one from Zweilas. With how great EU players did at the World Championships, should they get 75 qualifying slots for 2025 with any dropping to 50? I don't think that's that's gonna happen, and especially not based on that. I think one of the prime reasons for NA having ah more players in. And let it be clear that i that I find it interesting that for VGC, I think there are 75 Europeans, by the way. um So I'm surprised not for Go. But no visa issues, right? NA can just fly without a passport within NA, or at least within the United States. um I think that's the reason. It's it's just easy to to... And you probably have some more opportunities as well with like locals and regionals. so
00:26:55
Speaker
that That's likely why. I wish it was based on how we did it, Ross.
00:27:03
Speaker
yeah that is um Yeah, I'm trying to think of what would be the main reason when I sought why I thought it was like that was because, yeah, NA is obviously quite a bit bigger. There's Canada that's also a part of this, not just the USA. And these regions are huge, right? I mean, the states combined make up basically like the size of countries in Europe overall. They also, I believe, have more regional competitions, maybe not this season, but I think in the past that they have. So I think it's... that's probably the reason why but i'm also hopeful because remember at the beginning like we didn't have locals and we didn't have like ways to get championship points and still the threshold was high but then all of a sudden championship points became a thing like mid-season um maybe they will like would end up releasing more spots or something or there there could be some different factors that could potentially get more people from different regions in you know hopefully something like that yeah it's um
00:28:00
Speaker
I forgot what I wanted to say. yeah yeah do I don't think it's... Oh yeah. The one thing that you probably always want to keep in mind for like decisions when it comes to amount of people at regionals or ICs, Go is probably their smallest market at the moment. so It's ah more about these two, VGC. That's all something you need to keep in mind, right? The only... like I think VGC is not happy with...
00:28:25
Speaker
having almost the same amount of world's competitors as us. And that's fair. They have like five times more competitors, sometimes even 10 times more than us.
00:28:36
Speaker
Yeah, but that just if anything says that we just need more Go people to come because these are the years then, right? OK, fine. If we are having a similar number as them, then we should take advantage of it. ah And hopefully it stays and it's even bigger rather than goes down because Fiji is bigger than us. oh but I mean, we're not theoretically though the newest kids on the block anymore because Unite has been added in. ah And I think realistically,
00:29:03
Speaker
I mean, maybe this just comes as a go person, but I think go is the most fun game to actually watch because but it's so quick and it's fast paced. If you understand the game at all, you see what the skillful things that people are doing within the game. So um I don't know. I feel like as far as watching goes, people are the most interested in watching go because I mean, as much as ah people love the card game and playing the card game and there's so many players. Come on, guys. that that's That's fun to watch in comparison? Nah, not at all. we're We're a bit quicker, yeah. um I just noticed I got a rate from Roger Chen. Yo, thank you so much, Roger Chen, for the rate of 73 people. Hope you had a wonderful stream. We're doing a podcast recording, so we're just talking about um everything happening previously and upcoming as well.
00:29:54
Speaker
so yeah um I also see one ah thing in the chat ah asking if I'm going to cast an EU again. Yes, I am an EU caster. EU casting has my heart. i just ah i'm I'm from America and so um I go back sometimes to visit family and everything and when I'm back I like to try to take the opportunity if I can to cast the regionals there also to meet some of the players and see that scene as well. So yes, I will definitely be casting in Europe this season.
00:30:27
Speaker
Oh, sorry, wait, I missed one more thing. Was Yokai's birthday stream on Roger Chan's channel? Sorry, I was looking earlier for Yokai's channel and I didn't see him live. I wasn't sure. Happy birthday, Yokai. Happy birthday, Yokai. Welcome in. Good to see you. Hope you have ah have a wonderful birthday. day I know it's it's probably, it's like 1am there right now, 2am. Oh, never mind. It's not your birthday anymore, Yokai. It's not his birthday. Just kidding.
00:30:55
Speaker
ah oh um Another question. What do you think the Reddit Twitter outreach would have been if you won with Giratina? I think everyone was in favor of the Giratina win because then they would get a research with it, right? um I mean, I don't think that was the guarantee, but that was definitely what was being pushed for. That's why it was pushed for it. Even an interview on screen. We had dinner with Michael and one of us asked if, uh, if I actually had one role, would Giratina have been the research? And he said, yes. So really yeah okay feels extra bad actually. She shouldn't have told us that now and now we're all sad. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:31:39
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Sorry, this is like, ah definitely new for us doing like the live podcast. So I want to make sure that we have a good combination of making sure that the questions actually get answered, but also kind of moving through the the stuff because I mean,
00:31:54
Speaker
It is important, and especially now that you guys in the chat as well, to emphasize that ah this year's Worlds was incredible for Go. It was the large, super skilled battles, really fun matches to watch. For those who, I mean, I assume everyone listening or watching this knows that inadequate's got second place overall. ah But Yokai was our world champion and the first champion of the APAC region.
00:32:21
Speaker
It's true. It is good to see. Unfortunately, it's the cost of me, but it's good to see some APAC success. Thank you, Yukai, for stopping by. Have a good night's rest. And good luck at school or something. I don't know. Go get those good grades.
00:32:40
Speaker
Oh boy. All right. Let's take one more before we can get back into our other subjects. Cause I see like a nice one from final boss AJ, one of our Canadian cohorts. Is there hope for maybe introducing a way for people without local tournaments to get points without shelling out money to go to regionals more online tournaments or to get to those in remote locations? Yeah, that's a good question.
00:33:05
Speaker
um I think the brutal reality is is that it's a business so if you're ever hoping to do to get it all done for free or remotely no shot um I do know there are things on the background that might come which I can't talk about but um it's not going to be entirely possible to do that for like remotely qualifying or something no that's That's what I think at least, right? I cannot confirm that But it would just not make sense for me that they're gonna host like regions all over the world and then a couple of us can just qualify from our bench like
00:33:44
Speaker
o I have my friends watching over my back telling me what to do when I qualify. That's never happening. I don't see it happening. um I would love to see some sort of tie with Go Battle League 2, anything competitive, maybe even separately, that that there's something done with that leaderboard that rather than just a screenshot that some people put on a stream or Twitter bio um or X bio, whatever.
00:34:11
Speaker
But you know it's just difficult to actually see for remotely, especially with you know also with the Japanese snipers outraged. That kind of stuff. yeah yeah you know i mean i yeah that That's like unlikely to happen. um there are There are plans. but That's all to say about to maybe contribute to a qualifying process. I don't know. We'll we'll see. ah that Again, those are also things that Don't come out so quickly at any time. Yeah. I mean, some things that have been pitched, I think, as well at different times is like, um if you think of how big the actual Pokemon Go community is that aren't just ah PvP battlers, but to maybe go to like Go Fest or things like this, ah you know, that there's like the PvP battle arena. Somehow, I think you Niantic can make a really nice tie-in with
00:35:07
Speaker
pulling people in into this and maybe, you know, getting some more casual viewers or maybe setting up some sort of tournaments within things that could be streamed live. I think that would be really interesting. um I said it throughout this last season and I will continue to say it because it is true. Pokemon Go is competitively PVP wise in its infancy. ah You know, this was only our third, I think, real season of it. So hopefully by the time that we're as well seasoned as, you know, the video game or the card game. Some of these things have been more ironed out and there's going to be more opportunities and ways for people to be able to qualify and more people who want to as well. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. One more question or should we move into the next topic? oh Let's move in the next topic, but we'll keep a we'll keep an eye out and we'll come back to some stuff too. with ah Sounds good. All right.
Pokémon Go Season Excitement
00:36:04
Speaker
The new Welcome Go season, Amanda.
00:36:06
Speaker
Are you excited? Oh, I am. I saw you have a lot of starters, so you have a lot to max out. and Well, not anymore. I and yeah i keep losing in this copycat challenge. I started streaming for the first time ever today. So it was a kind of ah not well organized at the beginning.
00:36:26
Speaker
But yeah, so I was doing a copycat challenge. So every time I lost to a team, then I would use that team and I lost to some interesting teams. And so I had to build some Pokemon that I didn't have already, use some elite TMs, but it was fun. And I am really looking forward to this season. OK, it was just that it was the very first battles that I had done, and I didn't do them so seriously because it was on stream and I was talking, but.
00:36:53
Speaker
I don't see such a huge difference. I mean, I do think that the 50 second timer is nice and refreshing. But I mean, I think it will change as the meta sword obviously starts to shift a little bit. ah But I don't know, maybe maybe you have a completely different thought and you think it's just completely new and different. But it feels better. It feels different. But it's not like it's like, whoa, this flips the game on its head.
00:37:20
Speaker
It's ah actually, I'm on the contrary. I do think it keeps the game on its head. All right, i'm late I'm ready to hear why. Look, if it's go battle league, like the first few days, probably you might know not notice a lot, right? Yeah, I think that's where I'm at. You play into an 1100 CP Celebi or something. single Or a Hoopa. Yeah, exactly. That's kind of Pokemon. I played a practice Storming today. And... um you know that's that you play against serious people right off the bat. I wouldn't call low ranked people serious, but like the more competitive ones, right? um And it's very noticeable because the meta has changed in a way that you don't always need to switch advantage.
00:38:06
Speaker
Except if you play Wigglytuff like me, so if you are like one thing that one of my opponents did today was was super smart They lost the battle, but it was super smart. They were like oh um Their cloth sire is gone. That is their only Wigglytuff I'm just gonna hard-swap Wigglytuff in and it's possible because the switch timer is shortened I was waiting out the clock like patiently like I just wait it out a little bit so I can stall the clock a little bit throw a hydro cannon and knock them out no they went straight into Wigglytuff and I got away with it, but it was terrifying because I felt like it's it's harder or I need to adjust to it.
00:38:41
Speaker
on ah There's like, when I look at the switch clock, or the switches right on the right, I can usually measure a little bit on how far my own and their clock is. That's just entirely upside down right now. I know nothing anymore. I am... I don't know, I was watching Total Tactical yesterday, he knew nothing. And I was like, he's so washed, man. And there, streaming, I was looking everything up! I knew nothing anymore! And that switch clock...
00:39:09
Speaker
If there's no, if there's like one answer to one particular Pokemon and that Pokemon is gone, it allows you to switch out quicker and play a little bit more aggressive. So for those who play a little bit more aggressive or have a planned strategy beforehand in their head, I think this is great. ah The 50 second timer is definitely noticeable. It's also not too much. It's not like i agree the 30 second timer where you like throw a wild charge dip and two charge six later, you can swap out again, right? so um So I'm actually terrified. I'm terrified. I might fail at the next tournament. But are you terrified in a good way? Like that you're like, you're excited to see how it goes? Or you're like, Oh, no, I legitimately don't really know what I'm doing at this point. Or is this sort like your world's team where you're like, Oh, I don't know what I'll do. it But then really you have this secret plan all along. It's both it's both as a competitor Terrified I might suck now. It's entirely different new meta plus shortened clock Scary, it's not what I'm used to. I I might I might lose um As a caster. Oh, I'm so excited. Yeah you're in for it so um but i have to say Even if you lose everything this season
00:40:26
Speaker
You are ah qualified for Worlds because this season, the top four competitors in Worlds get their qualification for next year in Anaheim. So even if you fail miserably, rest assured, you'll still be there. That's true. It's true. i I'm hoping there's a trial award as well. I made a ticket, see what they say.
00:40:47
Speaker
um But yeah, that that is good news for me, I guess. There's less pressure on it. But but you know still, I'm going there. i want to do I'm not going to fail. right I want to do it well, too. So you know that that that's always in my head with that. Amanda, the amount of changes to move sets... is something we've never seen before like so true every season there have been changes and usually changes like three or four pokemon on the top 12 users that you see a play pokemon meta or even on pvp poke rankings and now it's
00:41:21
Speaker
It's just and entirely changed.
New Pokémon Meta Discussion
00:41:24
Speaker
I think the only Pokemon that's going to stick around, and I might miss one, or one probably only one, ah from from like a top 12 usage is Azumarill. I think everything else is going to be different. That is considering Feraligatr was not on top 12. It's by far going to be a top 2 usage now um from the practice stores that I did.
00:41:45
Speaker
For example, from today, I don't know all the numbers at the top of my head, but we had, I believe, 24 teams, and we had 20 Claude Sire and 17 Feraligatr. The tournament before that also had similar numbers. So Claude Sire, Feraligatr are going to be there, and and I like it. I like it, because I feel like... um If you know what you're doing, both Pokémon are relatively okay to keep in check. And on top of that, if you are the one using those Pokémon, like with a Shield Advantage, Claude Sire can beat Feraligatr and with a Shield Advantage, Feraligatr can also overcome some of his worst matchups. so
00:42:22
Speaker
You'll see that most teams just bring those two Pokémon, and it's pretty easy to just construct your team composition. If you're like, oh man, I'm going to get RPS'd, that's just not as common anymore as I felt like. Obviously, not all matchups are positive, right? I don't want to leave my Claude sign to Feraligatr, that sucks. But losing lead swapping for Feraligatr, always a good idea. it's just Always a good idea.
00:42:50
Speaker
but So that brings a good point up, not about necessarily for alligator, but about Cloudsire and one of Cloudsire's biggest counters and one of our co-caster, Lou's favorite Pokemon, Gastrodon. So if you look on PVPoke's rankings, which you can go to PVPoke.com, you can go to rankings and search in Great League. You can see Cloudsire number one, Carbink number two for alligator and shadow in the third and fourth spot. And right behind it is Gastrodon with Mudslap. Body Slam and Earth Power. ah Do you think running Gastrodon potentially makes a little more RPS meta in general? Before I talk about Gastrodon, carbink number two there is ridiculous. and You never see it. you like I asked the question on stream earlier today, um why is no one using carbink? It's like better with Power Gym now, which is a previous dick clone. um The answer is called Sire.
00:43:44
Speaker
and Gastrodon is a great answer to that I think Gastrodon is better I don't think it's going to be super impactful it has not been showing up as much in the practice tournaments and I feel like people might not expect a lot of it. Polyslam has been nerfed, must have damage just significantly more into some matchups, and it will it will win a lot of neutral matchups. Like Azumarill, very clean win. Feraligat, I think you only lose a 2s into Shadow. Maybe maybe just some IV dependency is very close at least. um I do think Gastrodon is a pick that can be used. I don't think it will be on every team. I don't think it will be as...
00:44:26
Speaker
um as impactful. I think the meta is going to be Claude Sire, Feraligatr and the Countess to all of those. um So that's going to be... The team that I brought was a po were like Diggers B, just very well into those two. I had Chasnaught, Thunder Punch, a biggest mistake of my life except for one matchup where I got to a Thunder Punch on 1 HP on the Mandibuzz, but you always want super power, honestly. um I found Abomasnow actually surprisingly good.
00:44:55
Speaker
There are so few fighters right now. And speaking of fighters as well, Matt Shamp busted. Four karate chops, or cross chop, even in the two shields first close side, it can get it low, which is actually ridiculous.
00:45:09
Speaker
um That's also a Pokémon you need to keep in check, right? so I think there's a lot of... um It's going to be very narrow. The mana is going to be very, very narrow with close sign for alligator. But I also think there's a lot of flexibility, and I like that. I like that you can run a lot of different Pokémon. One Pokémon that has been really standing out, in my opinion, Kanto Marowak. Shadow.
00:45:33
Speaker
Okay, this book was broken is absolutely broken um It's so spammy bone club actually respectable attack now It I think it can win chrysalia in the ones and two shields Logan Rock might notice better But I ran some sims with it. It can also farm down for alligator Claude sire speaks for itself Pokemon is read ridiculous and there's just going to be so many options. For Baltimore, we're going to see people experimenting a lot. um of Obviously, the people in my practice tournaments already are one step ahead and it is no doubt that the the the people playing my practice tournaments win the first regional championships. All right, we heard it here on Tap Tapcast, for sure. But no, it literally, it does give you a good idea of what's going to be good.
00:46:17
Speaker
but Speaking of Lurgan Rocket and Zweil has kind of commented on it and I mean, OK, so you've made a little bit of mention of both, but both of them are expressing a little bit of concern that yes, because Claude Sire and Feraligatr are so good, um are you worried that the meta will be too narrow or especially from the spectator experience, which Lurgan Rocket is sick talking about is like, is it going to be boring to watch just these Pokemon, especially as people start to figure out the nuances between the different, you know, IVs that they want?
00:46:48
Speaker
you know, which one will win this certain scenario as we see the different Pokémon. Because, yeah, even if there are counters, like you mentioned, Safe Swap Ralligator is pretty good. Ralligator has a lot of play even into some of its harder matchups. Yeah, competitor's experience is definitely going to be much better if you don't if you know if you don't get RPS or you don't have the feeling of getting RPS and you couldn't do anything. It's much better. Viewer experience? Yeah.
00:47:12
Speaker
Honestly, I still see people complaining about... Look at these... I feel offended, Amanda. When I see people saying, oh, look at this at Worlds, we see the same Pokemon again. Bro, I ran a Claude Sire, Giratina, Wigglytuff, maybe not the Spices, but more disgusting, actually. And what was my other ah a relatively Spiced Pokemon? Not Lantern Skarmory. Can't remember for four a little bit, but... Oh, Poliwrat.
00:47:40
Speaker
you then Those were like, not even the none of those were on top four usage, top 12 usage. twelve like I feel offended by that, legit. you know I like to take some credit in taking off meta into that. But I also think that the people who bring off meta into championships and get far with it will be cheered on more because they are you know doing a little bit different than everyone just playing close-eyed for alligator.
00:48:07
Speaker
um And it's just all open for it, right? It's just all open for that. Yeah, it's true. I mean, you've already mentioned Shadow Marowak. I'm interested to see how many of those you will see. ah From your practice tournaments, is there a team of six that you're like, if anyone's listening to this and they want to go to Baltimore or they want to go to Dortmund, which are the two Pokemon tournaments that are recently coming up?
00:48:35
Speaker
Do you have like a quote, starter six, or maybe even just a starter three that you're like, okay, run these, learn their match ups and you might do okay. um First off, let me ah thank Sandro for the 42 months. 42 months. that's That's a lot. That's ah three and a half years. Thanks so much, my friend. Yeah, welcome in. um What I want to say, the starter three.
00:49:05
Speaker
started six actually Yes, and no because I felt like my team was very balanced that I used today in the practice tournaments But I've also core break it and I think I'm also is an interesting Pokemon that can be used all over the place Look, you want to play it safe?
00:49:21
Speaker
Feraligatr, Claude Sire, Mandibuzz could be one of them. Those three were on many teams and I think are just the safest. Dunsparce makes for a great anti-meta, can defeat... I think it can... I'm not sure, I actually didn't look it up, but I think it does very well into both Claude Sire and Feraligatr definitely into Mandibuzz. So...
00:49:43
Speaker
I don't know. I don't have exactly a starter team. I just have a few picks that I find very good. I actually wrote an article, which isn't finished just yet, about picks that I think are good, picks that I don't think we'll see a lot, picks that are buffed, but we're hardly gonna see like Clefable, one of them, right, with Feraligatr, and Closar just whooping it. It's is not gonna be anywhere.
00:50:03
Speaker
um and niche picks. I think Pokemon like Chestnut and Jump Love could be something. um I still have to work a little bit on it on the article because I thought maybe Metalclaw could get a more significant buff and then we'll see Metalclaw Farathorn everywhere, which is now not the case.
00:50:20
Speaker
So I don't know. I don't have a starter team. I would have I would say a starter three if you have a star if you have a Pokemon Or sorry if you want to use this meta Pokemon another pick. I really like malamar Sighwave fuels Wooji wooji. It's like it just keeps hitting it keeps hitting and the animation doesn't line up with it But it does good damage and it charges quickly. So I I like that. I see Zawada saying Shadow, Alolan, Relicate. Yes and no. Because Malamar does have super power, so that does make it rough. I have considered it today actually, because it does do well into like Claude Sire, Mandibuzz and Frelicate. And those are the three Pokémon you generally target. This meta.
00:51:06
Speaker
All right, while we're on the subject of Pokémon, we'll address a couple of the questions that we've seen in the chat about it. ah We'll just do a lightning round with your thoughts about them in general, Bart-Time, but make sure to say whether you think it's viable in Play, GBL, or both, okay? Okay. So, Froslass. Play. Okay. Shadow Cacturne.
00:51:29
Speaker
Play. with the I think... i think It legit, you can legit make a team with shadow character. I'm not joking. I think there's a way. The only problem is I'm pretty sure you lose for alligator in the ones and maybe the zeros. That's rough. So you have to run five bbmail poking with it probably.
00:51:50
Speaker
ah Shadow Lolan Raticate, like Zwyla said. Very playable. Very playable. It's very good. And then someone I think is asking, but I think it's a mostly a Go Battle League team, or but it could be also used for a Show 6. Shadow Machamp, Claude Sire, and Greedent. Would this be a good team?
00:52:05
Speaker
Machamp, Klotzer, yes, Greeted now. Run for alligator. Run for alligator. There you go. And basically, yeah, if anyone has any Pokémon, shout them out real quick, we'll go over them. And then we'll move on to the next, but yeah, I think that... Yeah, one thing that made me hesitant about Froslass off, of course, Feraligatr. But in the previous meta was Annihilape. And now that Annihilape is around less, I felt like there was more play for it. Especially like a Digger's B, Froslass core. But man, the matchup into Feraligatr is just scary. I see a couple more Pokemon. Yeah, Digger's B. I'm a big, big fan, Logan. Probably the Pokemon I use the most in my practice tournament. Ariadose with Trillblaze now being a cheaper charge stack.
00:52:53
Speaker
Gives it incredible coverage with Poison Sting, also dealing decent or reasonable damage ah into many Pokémon. And like Poison Sting, Trailblaze Lunch is a crazy moveset, because both take now five Poison Sting to get there. I really like Aeridos, and I think it's very playable. Shadow-type Flosion is an annoying Pokémon. It can win Feraligatorn, all even shields on, even energy, but the timing of of Incinerate there is just annoying. But you want to make sure to run it with Incinerate.
00:53:21
Speaker
oh that's sort Yeah, you have to do incinerate. Yeah, um and then like clothes. I it can actually be I've been the clothes. I it's not a fun matchup They land the blast burn ah they can flip that by shielding and if you shield a thunder punch you suck so it's just annoying me I think the explosion is legit good. I have it on the tournament draft Gus Lord very legit Pokemon everything that has played the the CGI yeah No, not really. Shadow drop you on. Legit. Diggish, we already talked. Legit. Payback fast move. Crab bomb in the mall. Doesn't exist. Would be legit. on on google Our Guru is so freaking good actually. um There's almost nothing that counters it besides Mandibas. It's like similar to Malamar sometimes.
00:54:11
Speaker
Yeah, and Shift-3, you missed that one. Oh, we got two more. Shift-3 and Heatrun, we're gonna close it off. Well, Fish, now we're closing it off, guys. Okay, we got three. Shift-3. Shift-3, nah, nah. Same as Cacturn. If you really want, to you can, but... Hmm, I wouldn't know he tried No, no, not the teacher unfortunately only if you play nighttime pleasure and crawfish I think is is legit Pokemon There's more there to just be annoying rather than to make an impact because on bulk you still lose to man the bus I believe um maybe with ice cream you you would do better there for alligator and
00:54:50
Speaker
If I remember correctly, Quillfish is more fragile than Wimscot, and Feraligat can win Wimscot's straight hydro cannon. It's a shadow variant, so I bet it does the same with Quillfish, and Quillfish does not win straight Aqua, too. I'll tell you that. um And then, yeah, Claude Sire is also not great a great matchup. Maybe if you double shoot earthquakes, it could get annoying, but...
00:55:11
Speaker
Alright, let's do one more, not necessarily a specific Pokémon, but I see Sloking has asked, do you think you will see any fire spin users, or maybe even just good fire Pokémon in general? I mean, if you don't think it's Heatrun, do you think that we're going to see any Ninetales come back? Do you think we're going to see any Pokémon? Marowak, Alolan Marowak, or anything like that? I don't think Alolan Marowak is good.
00:55:32
Speaker
um Zionic is crying in a corner with that comment. I'm sorry. Feraligatte, Claude, Sari, and Mandebas. Listen, you don't check two of those three. You're not good. Sorry. That's the harsh truth. You're not good if you don't check two of those three.
00:55:48
Speaker
um Now I say that, but I want to say Talonflame could be good, but it also lose too. I feel like Talonflame with Energy Advantage, though, can be so good, however. And on top of that, the other Fire type, which I had in mind, which could be niche, maybe. I haven't tried it out, but Fire Spin, Shadow, Charizard. Maybe there could be play. um But I don't know if you would use it over Talonflame or Shadow Typhlosion. Or even a regular Typhlosion. Incineration is just so good.
00:56:20
Speaker
All right. All right. So that was the Naticon's quick thoughts on the potential metas that you're going to see in the upcoming ah tournaments. I'm excited. I'm really excited for Baltimore to see what people are going to bring. um It's always really exciting when the new season starts, just in general, because you kind of see how like certain people use specific Pokemon. And then like, I think like Vadaj when he won ah last season and then like Patoman and ah Chris, they use the exact same team and they did really, really well in Barcelona. ah But then from that as well, like Europe just has a lot of different picks normally than NA. And then Asia has completely different picks overall, ah making like really diverse metas. So i'm I'm excited to see how much crossover there's gonna be and what the picks are gonna be for each region.
00:57:10
Speaker
Yeah, I think all those ways of potential and these are going to work together to to work something, right? Because at first it was DM pizza and e-rampers isolating themselves. No, just kidding. It's going to be exciting for sure. Baltimore, Dorit Moons, Joyville will all be very good. Yeah.
00:57:31
Speaker
um Then, what I think one of our final topics that we had to cover is the next upcoming play Pokemon season, right? In regarding to qualification and the regional locations. There's also changes to travel awards, ICs. I think that a couple players already qualified for a a travel award for the LAIC.
00:57:57
Speaker
I think that's actually a really, really big addition for players that consistently go to tournaments. I believe for Europe that's Colin, Paola, San Rodido and Paul Londinas. I don't know the others, honestly. Yeah, I'm trying to look at the leaderboard. Let me look at that real quick. I know Popcat and Elem from NA. It was a very.
00:58:19
Speaker
it's ah I like that a lot. theres There's a lot of extra money in that, honestly, like like a travel award being $3,500. That's and excluding tax, of course. um That's how much? That's like 14K per IC being distributed. Actually, yeah, per per region, I think, right? No, it's three. So it's 10,500 per region.
00:58:44
Speaker
Not this hard, guys. Except with one exception, of course, that if it's on the same constant, it's not as much. So, like, people in Latin don't get as much for LAIC and people from NA don't get as much for LAIC. But it's a lot of extra money in this circuit, so I'm happy about that. Oh, yeah.
00:59:05
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, last year, LA I see um was the first time that I knew that this happened in the other games, right? Because they were like, Oh, yeah, the top of the leaderboards, they get sent over to go play against these people. And I was just like, this will be so cool if it ever happens for go. And then of course, then now we get it the very next season. And so I think that's it's going to be interesting in general because obviously when we see ah like worlds we see all the the best competitors but now we have like some of our best representatives from each of the regions going over and ah they don't have a home turf advantage but they ah they definitely want something to prove right my nighttime clasher coming over to europe stealing a a title from us i think that was a
00:59:48
Speaker
Oh, not a wake up call, but it gave a call to action to a lot of players like, oh, this is something that people like to do with this. It takes a different competitive streak now to be like, OK, I'm going to go win in in someone else's region. I'm going to show that I'm better than the the best of the best in this specific region. So it's going to be pretty interesting, I think, having a lot of competitors from globally in these many like ah international championships.
01:00:15
Speaker
It's funny you mentioned nighttime clash there and at home slash Henry is in chat because he was been saying all weekend during Hawaii, like, yeah, Europe really has to show up. Otherwise, NA is going to make more fun of them and whatnot. um Yeah, I'm glad we did show up at the world's least.
01:00:32
Speaker
um Yeah, exactly. What do you think of the the locations that we have? Let's start with Europe first.
Upcoming Tournament Locations
01:00:40
Speaker
Yeah, I was just looking. Locations that you are extra excited about.
01:00:44
Speaker
um So but just for social aspect alone, I will say I'm really excited to see that Lil is there because um leave It's just, I think it's so easy to get to for a lot of places. So there's just so many competitors and it always has like a really nice... um Because I think everyone's like flying and taking two trains and buses or something. Not me, I'm just taking a 30 minute train ride. But i will I will say that like ah last year we went for the social aspect and it was like, that was super fun. It was just like seeing everyone and... ah I don't know. that was That was cool for me. A new location this year that I'm really excited about is Sevilla. I think everyone is. Me and Tho went there for Safari Zone once.
01:01:32
Speaker
um Yeah, it's it's it's it's a great location. I've been to that city, it was a great city, and I really can't wait to go again. Is that the only new location we have so far? for um Oh, wait, the other one's Birmingham. but you Have you been to Birmingham before? I haven't even, no, I have not been to Birmingham, so I'm... Yeah, that sounds cool. i don't I don't really know much about Birmingham, to be honest, but I didn't know much about Liverpool either, besides the fact that that's where the Beatles were from. So...
01:02:00
Speaker
I live for a city I was more familiar with. the but The British I've been talked to, I haven't been super positive about Birmingham, but i I'm actually excited to just go to a location that's different and also is a direct flight. So, for any, I think... Most of the some tournaments have not may not have been revealed yet, I would think, because I think there's only like six or seven regions right now. Yeah, there's only six listed. I will have more listed in Europe ah with eight being listed right now, then. And so I would assume that there would ah be a couple more, especially if they have more invites, because that's I mean, that's usually why, right, because they have more opportunities. Lewisville and Lewisville and Madison, which which one is Madison, which you see?
01:02:46
Speaker
What are you saying, Matt? Where are you saying Madison? Oh no, you're saying Milwaukee. Milwaukee is a Muslim. Oh man, Milwaukee, okay, okay. Yeah, yeah. Let's go, yeah. Yeah, we got two in Canada. It's one in Toronto, one in Vancouver, ah Baltimore, Louisville, Sacramento, and Milwaukee. i was really I really want to go to Toronto again. I like that city a lot. It's just that in December, it's expensive. um So we'll see. I will likely be there, Toronto. I like that place a lot. And it has direct flight. So, you know, it's great.
01:03:21
Speaker
yeah um so final bla agentj is saying that madison wisconsin has been announced i don't see it on the website but it probably is then so i would madison wisconsin is um i'm a midwesterner um that's where i'm from madison's a very cool city so it depends on what time a year though because if it's in the winter it's going to be cold and miserable if it's in the spring summer Yeah, Sorry, maybe I would go if I was if I'm I'm listen, I'm gonna be back it was in the funny. US again, because my niece is getting married in June. And in April, I have two nieces, they're getting married. In April, April, that is Sevilla and June is any I see, I believe. Oh, we might have to miss out on those. I'm gonna I might have to miss out. Yeah.
01:04:11
Speaker
or miss out on the weddings. Sorry guys, you understand. It's Sevilla. Exactly. Very good. Very good. Yeah. When am I moving back to the Midwest? Never. But I do visit at least once a year.
01:04:27
Speaker
So take that math magic. I also tried to go to the US a couple of times a year. I think I want to do Go Fest as well. like I like, call me a normie, but I like Go Fest, man. Normie. I knew you would do that. This is just set up right now. I mean, listen. Next time if we if we get to cast together again, and I want to make you say something I'm just gonna say call me this and even if it would sound insulting and it's not like what if I say call me the best ever And you I'm hoping you would do that then yeah you would just take that bait Yeah, take a sip of water
01:05:03
Speaker
Sorry, you cut out there for a second. Did you say something? No, I like Go Fest a lot. i'm I'm hoping that I can go to any Go Fest as well. um I'm hoping that it won't be in the same place. I heard New York Park where was not ah enjoyable exactly. Have you been to... You weren't in Go Fest New York, right? No, I didn't get to go to any of the Go Fest this season. ah So I would really like to participate in it next one. So I'm going to at least make like a point to try to go to at least one of them.
01:05:33
Speaker
you have any locations you you hope will hope it to be? Oh, why? If it's in the US. um Yeah, it's hard. I mean, like, I like Chicago, because I'm Midwest, right? So it's like, ah not too bad. I don't know if they would go to l like to, or maybe they would if it's around Worlds time, right? Because Worlds is in Anaheim. off west coast They love West Coast. there's so i mean There's like a January, February event every time a year. That's true. No, I'm just thinking yeah i mean it's probably going to be around there, right? if ah If it's around the same time as Worlds. Doesn't Chicago have like the highest crime rates of all US cities? What makes it so good exactly?
01:06:17
Speaker
I mean, Chicago is just a cool city. I mean, the thing is like cities in general have a higher crime rate than a lot of cities in Europe because we have Guns. No gun laws. And so I mean, ah and and harder poverty issues just in general. So it's like, but ah Chicago is a really cool city. Okay. also Also not one that I would visit in the winter, because again, stupid cold, but... Well, usually golfers in the summer, so... Yeah, yeah. So we'll be fine. We'll be fine. Should do Vegas again. I thought Vegas is somewhere that is like... I don't know, like you go to Vegas for like a day or two and then you're like, I'm good for Vegas for a couple of years. Really? Yeah. Well, but you don't do the same thing on a Go Fest as you probably normally do. That's true. That's true. In Vegas.
01:07:06
Speaker
yeah But I mean, listen, if you if you think that Hawaii, that Honolulu is ah commercial and anything, then let me tell you, you're going to love Vegas. But look, if you go to Vegas, that's probably what you expect. I um um haven't been there. um You know, I only see like movies of it. But if I go to Vegas, what I expect is big, giant TV screens with casino signs everywhere. That is what I'm expecting. ah That if you go at night, it's not night. It's just lit up with billboards and everything.
01:07:33
Speaker
That's true. Yeah. Yeah. I would actually maybe I would like that, actually, just because it's a place. I think, yeah, I think everyone would like it for, again, if you're just going for a day or two, it's cool. But the I mean, like, i I listen, I'm seeing a lot of love for Vegas in the chat, so I'm not going to make anyone mad. But ah the community is talking. The community is talking. They're speaking. If you're listening, Niantic. What what about the people want Vegas? What about location in Europe?
01:08:03
Speaker
Oh i man, I would love to go back to like, uh, somewhere in Spain, like Sevilla. I think like, Oh man, which is a Madrid, how unfortunate. That's yeah. Um, again, but if it's summertime, it's really, really hot and like, uh, I mean, Italy is always cool. I've never been to Austria. Oh really? I used to go ski there. Um, I don't think it could be somewhere Nordic, like Norway or Sweden or anything. Cause it's just like way more expensive up there as well. So I don't know if they would.
01:08:34
Speaker
Do it, but maybe. They didn't go for the Seattle before. That's not a cheap city either, no? I don't know. I feel like Norway is like one of the most expensive countries in the world. Yeah, maybe, maybe. There's one more thing that I want to talk about, Amanda, because I think we skipped this, but that's the Dynamax thing, right?
Dynamax and Gigantamax Mechanics
01:08:53
Speaker
You don't have your Dynamax Voodoo yet, right? I haven't paid too much attention to it. I saw it was kind of behind the I, uh, paywall or some sort of a wall going on right now. So I have to kind of figure out how I want to tackle that. Right. Cause I mean, I'm not free to play, but I'm also not like take every s cent that I have for something that I'm not quite sure if I will find fun or useful yet.
01:09:17
Speaker
i'm not I'm not too sure about if if that actually is. I really like to brag, and I already did. I really do have my Dynamax Vulu. The system is not exactly clear to me just yet. Some power spots appear. Wait, are they gone? I'm just looking on my phone. couple couple A couple of them actually are gone. There's a timer on them. And you get like oh max particles.
01:09:44
Speaker
So far, all I found out is that using those max particles, you can level up the attacks of your Dynamax Pokémon. It has like max... Max Guard or something, let me see what it has. I'm not too sure what it's all gonna mean. Like, Max Strike is an attack, Max Guard and Max Spirit. You can level all of those up if you collect max particles every day from those power spots or walk with your Pokémon or something.
01:10:15
Speaker
um I don't know exactly how I feel about it or what it's going to be, right? Because the way it feels right now is I have a Wooloo that is a very crappy IV. I don't want to max it out, Amanda. I'm really hoping that if I max out just these attacks, that that's it.
01:10:33
Speaker
That's Naewulu is now the best Wulu there can be. I don't want to max out a 13, 12, 12 Wulu. No, no, no, no, no. I get it, yeah. Right? So I'm not exactly sure what to expect. I like the idea. Look, Niantic always said they want to make it a forever game, right? And even though in the PvP community, we often have our doubts about that. um This does looks like something you start over from scratch again. OK. Which I don't hate per se, but yeah please don't make it like you get one or two Pokemon And it's going to be IV-dependent, how good they are. And you can't get them again easily. That's going to be crappy, right? I would not want that. um I think from 10 September, we're actually going to be able to do Dynamax battles, I hope. By then you have your Dynamax Vulu. Yeah, then then I can beat you at that. How does that sound? We'll have ah we'll have a Dynamax battle. We'll we'll we'll see. What if there are Dynamax PvP battles?
01:11:29
Speaker
ah be kind of cool in the media yeah i mean like again this is infancy as well so i'm ah I'm excited to see where it could potentially ah go. Right now I just haven't done enough ah research into it because it just got released and like I said I just got back into the city. Have you played sword and shield?
01:11:46
Speaker
I have not played any other Pokemon game besides Pokemon Go and... You told me that two years ago, and now it's in the games. I play Pokemon Unite now, um and I know how to play the card game because I i played it once, but I have not touched ah any of the video games.
01:12:05
Speaker
All right, so let me tell you what it does briefly. It's a very simple Dynamax in the main series. Dynamax turns your attacks, and it doesn't look like it does so in Go, but in Sword and Shield, it turns your attacks into a stronger version of those. So your Steel-types attacks turns in like, I don't remember what it was called. Let's call it Max Hammer. Your Steel-type attacks turn in that, and they become stronger. And maybe there's like an effect or changes like the floor in Sword and Shield.
01:12:34
Speaker
And what it mainly also does is that your Dynamax Pokemon gets a lot more HP. um You could honestly, hardly notice sometimes that they are actually stronger. Then okay there's also a variant called, the and I might pronounce this wrong because my English, Gigantamax,
01:12:57
Speaker
This is like a special variant, so it just looks like a... Do you remember? Have you seen this Snorlax with a tree growing on his belly? That's a Gigantamax. It's just like... I saw at like when there there was other Pokémon competitions and stuff. I've seen it. I just don't know what it does or like, you know, like... like don't I just hear people go, ahhh! Yeah, so the Dynamax, just a bigger version, Gigantamax, unique version of that Pokémon. So, cool okay right, Dynamax Snorlax, just a big Snorlax, Gigantamax Snorlax, Snorlax with a tree on his belly. Yeah, and then it was like special attacks. So, don't know what it's gonna look like, honestly. There's a lot of information everywhere. I just like to see everything with my own eyes.
Morpico's Dual Nature in Pokémon Go
01:13:41
Speaker
um
01:13:42
Speaker
Ooh, one thing I want to talk to you about before we head off as well, that is in a similar realm of the Dynamax, is so there was an announcement at Worlds of this new Pokémon that's going to be released in Go. Morpido, I don't know what I remember. Yeah, it looks kind of like a Raichu-ish kind of cute thing, electric type. But from what I gathered from it, you can use your Charge TMs during battle to change its attacks.
01:14:11
Speaker
um um more peco More Pico yeah is what everyone's telling you. Do you think that that is something, if it's implemented or when it's implemented, that it's going to be just for that specific Pokemon? Is it viable like in the sense of, like or do you think this is something that's going to be introduced to PVP? like Can you change your attacks mid? so yeah i mean well I mean, you talk about shifting things on its head. That would shift things on its head.
01:14:40
Speaker
Yes and no. The way it looked like is if you use parabolic charge as more pico, which has been buffed now. I think it's like a little weaker than... Oh, it's actually the same as dick right now. I think it's 50 energy, 70 damage out of top of my head with a 66% chance to buff your defense. Well, I think it was nothing like that in the main series. I think it was an attack that healed you actually.
01:15:01
Speaker
um But Morpico in the main series has two versions. it has it's It's generally an electric and dark type Pokémon. But it has a signature attack, which in one shape, it's an electric type attack. And in is hang I think it's Hangry, I think it's called Hangry Face. I'm also usually, I have a Hangry Face. Yeah, well, that Pokémon as well.
01:15:29
Speaker
and It's uh, then it turns into a dark that that attack turns into a dark type So the pokemon itself the typing stays and its stats stays and that's why I think it's applicable to that particular pokemon But okay, I don't see like like if you apply to other pokemon, I don't see it happening anytime soon It would be cool and definitely game changing if my guillotine origin could switch into guillotine altered mid-battle For Giratina, I'm not going to do a lot. For Deoxys, I would probably do a lot if you change into an attack form. Boom, back into defense. ah That would be disgusting, right? But for Morpico, I don't know what it's going to look like. I don't know if at the time it comes out, if it has its signature attack, in which case, if you use parabolic charge, that signature attack changed into a dark type, ah from electric into dark type. In fact, if you think about it, you already have one electric type attack,
01:16:21
Speaker
Do you want that signature attack as well? It's going to be electric or dark upon changing. And can you decide with which form you want to come in? um yeah I have to see it. I'm skeptical about how game changing it is. i am best I am optimistic about the options that may come with it. yeahp That's what I was thinking. i was like I was very confused with the video just in general because it obviously didn't give too much information. And I think that that's probably intended because maybe The subs don't know how it will work with other Pokemon that also can change forms but having a Pokemon that change forms ah in the game and Potentially doing something like of that. I do think opens the door for like ah yeah, the different types of deoxys or the like even like the Genesect, you know with the different like the chill and the techno and the like
01:17:13
Speaker
Not that that would do so much difference, but you know what I mean? It's like, okay, there's a potentially new mechanic for very specific Pokemon that could be ah brought in down the line. Yeah, yeah, I see death battle in in chat also, you know, probably knows a little bit more its signature attack called ara wheel um Again, just have to see how it goes, right? There's a lot of questions that come with it Like again, like also switching it out. Will it keep it's angry or full belly mode? um Yeah, there's a lot of questions that come with it. I did look at its stat distribution. I believe it's about 16 or 1700 which is fragile. It's very
01:17:50
Speaker
Yeah, it's lower than 1600. So it's more fragile than I'll go eventually to put things in perspective. So I don't think it will be impactful. I see it's moves that don't be focused on the shock wild church crunch as of now. So where's parabolic charge?
01:18:09
Speaker
Where's the tech that changes form? I don't know. I'm confused now. Maybe it attacks in turns and it changes modes? I don't know. we'll have to see We'll have to see when it comes out, but I'm just saying as a Pokémon PvPer, I think something... If they teased it, it's gonna be something interesting? Question mark? I hope so. I hope it that will become something to use.
Predicting Championship Winners
01:18:33
Speaker
out to see um amanda i have one topic open i don't want old okay one more topic if you had to big
01:18:46
Speaker
will Isn't well known, but it's very good and could win the next world championships Who would that be? And also if you had to pick him a champion someone who is already well known is really good blah blah blah blah could win world champions Who would that be?
01:19:06
Speaker
Okay, so I said it earlier in the year as well, and I think I will stick to it. um I think that Wolfpack is a really good example of a crib brawler. He qualified for Worlds. ah He plays really, really well. I think sometimes ah for himself, he just has confidence issues that he thinks he doesn't think he's as good as the main battlers. But when I watch him play, I was like, he he has the right attacks. I think he he's going to be really, really good this next season. And um for the my champion question, I first want to say I did pick you to win Worlds on the caster predictions. You would have been last day, not the other ones. You would have ah you You were a really great pick. I think it's very funny that we've had this question all season and you always say, and you could pick me and no one picked you and you got so close. But I still will pick um Paula. I think that Paula is so good. And she ah plays with like, ah I mean, you play with off-meta picks, but she also picks interesting things that ah not many people end up using. and she pilots them really well and also she's just very inspirational in general. um As another woman, just seeing someone who can ah really just crush the competition is kind of inspiring to see. Bala was very nervous going into Worlds. She was like... Yes, I saw that on Twitter. She had made some posts about how she wasn't feeling super confident in her game. Yeah, she ate it when I said, no, no, you're gonna win.
01:20:43
Speaker
I mean, we all ate that. Yeah, it was a lot of pressure. Yeah. But yeah, how about you, Mr. ah Top Cut, Mr. Second Place? Who are your Krebauler and the champions? My Krebauler would be. Our new recruit, actually. A player who has played in a couple tournaments ah the last season, qualified for Worlds.
01:21:08
Speaker
just barely on the dollar, I believe. And when he got to Worlds, he got the top 32. And he was happy with that, right? I like it when someone is satisfied with the performance they got. Just like with Marcus, who made this post, like, I never thought I would win, never thought I would get top 13. That's great, right? it's It's better than someone being like, oh, I got top 13. Man, that sucks. I wish I won all of it. And basically dumps on everyone below him.
01:21:34
Speaker
He said the guy I picked, he said, I got top 32. Now I want to convert all of that into medals for the next season. Just like that. So our new recruits, Jamie McGowan, actually hardly have spoken to him, but I really like the way he's thinking he wants to compete a lot to qualify again for world championships. And I'm super excited to see what he's going to do. And you're my champion.
01:22:03
Speaker
That's me, of course. um Now, I kind of don't like saying this because then we both have European players, which makes us look very biased. I can go back. I can go back if you want.
01:22:17
Speaker
um The thing is, if I pick a lot on player, I can't decide because I think some... They are like all good. but Lots of players I can think of. That's true. I don't see it. Like if I would pick Rajev, I don't think first he of him much like like way better than like Marto or Steiner way better than Rajev or you know or Zardy way better than all of those. Like I really hope.
01:22:45
Speaker
Even if it's, again, at my cost, that latin would do very well next season. um I predicted latin actually to win it this this season.
Final Thoughts and Future Outlook
01:22:54
Speaker
and They came close. I am i amm glad they did. They did it quite well. Much better than last season. Of course, Marto top three is is imagine that.
01:23:03
Speaker
the player who said, screw this game, I'm not going to play it, I'm not going to stream it anymore, gets so to would almost win the world championships. Isn't that <unk> that just um hilarious, actually, right? And then it was also me saying, yeah, I think I'm going to do a little bit less content. And I also get that. I think that was pretty much hilarious about it. Right. I don't think it was undeserved or anything getting there.
01:23:33
Speaker
If I had to pick someone, it would be Logan Rocket. It's just about time he does something good again. Yeah, he has it in him. It hasn't been out there for a while. He's getting top cuts. Don't get me wrong. He's not playing bad or anything. Just about time he does something. He wins something again. And I feel like next season,
01:23:53
Speaker
I feel like after his first regional win, it didn't go super well until he got to the Grand Founders in Bochum and after that it was just... a And then ah the next season it And it can only go upward from there. So... Look who we have there in chat. I've never heard of them. Didn't you have like a pulse cast as well? Spideus 2? Yeah, who's your favorite caster? Speedy or me?
01:24:21
Speaker
ah We gotta go. Sorry, our timing is ah running long on the podcast. It's the way that we have to end this one. But no, um seriously, it's been really fun doing this, not only podcast with you, but casting with you, seeing your games this season. um I'm really excited for next season as well. Thank you all for like tuning in and to Tap Tap Cast and kind of showing your support to us. It's been really cool. And also reach out to us and let us know if you want to hear from certain guests or you have other questions or if you want to have other AMAs some other time as well. Maybe we'll do something like this again.
01:24:59
Speaker
Yeah, I'm ah Amanda. I'm super excited for what's to come next season. It'll be, it will be fun. And also mutual. I'm glad to do many of these things with you. So yeah, yeah hope you all enjoyed the show. um Make sure to tune in every Thursday. We post it on Spotify and YouTube. So that was it. See you next time. Bye guys.