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Ep. 8 EUIC Preview
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Hello, everyone! This is Episode 8 of "The Show 6 Podcast", where we bring you the highest quality coverage of the Play! Pokémon Championship Series for Pokémon GO! We explore the plays, the players, and everything else happening in the competitive scene.
This week, we power rank our Top 16 trainers for EUIC 2024, including who we think will become the INTERNATIONAL CHAMPION. We also delve into the meta, and list our top 3 core-breaker candidates.
If you're ready, Lock In, and good luck, have fun!
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Transcript
Introduction and Overview
00:00:00
Speaker
London is calling and we are awaiting the clash of 320 of the best Pokemon Go PvP battlers at the European International Championships. I am Zzweilis, Speedy is Chief for hosting the Show6 podcast with me, so lock in, good luck and have fun!
00:00:49
Speaker
I'm gonna come out of the gate swinging his wireless, alright? If London's calling, it's time for a tea party, okay? The Americans are also on their way over to London. Maybe a tea and pizza party. Maybe a tea and pizza party. He drinks tea and eats pizza, right, Amanda? Specifically tea. This is what is in the water bottle, right? Tea as in tango. Nothing else.
00:01:16
Speaker
Yes, exactly.
Tournament Scale and Challenges
00:01:18
Speaker
Exactly. Well, I'm really excited. This is our first ever attempt at a pre-show. So we're kind of doing like a preview. We've got some interesting picks. We're going to talk about who we think has a chance to win, maybe some dark horse candidates, some honorable mentions, and just overall thoughts on the meta. So I'm really excited.
00:01:35
Speaker
It's a big UIC power ranking. We have a top 16 each for competitors and a top three for Pokemon for picks to bring to the event. And honestly, I had such a hard time picking out the top 16. I had a top 64. This is the scale we are talking about. This is the biggest Go tournament of all time.
00:01:59
Speaker
of 320 people. And there were people that made top card previously that reached 3500 Elo in the Go Battle League previously, they did not make my long list, my 64 people long list. So it is
00:02:15
Speaker
It is so difficult to pick, and honestly, my list is very subjective, and part of it is just, okay, I want to highlight these people, I want to talk about them. There's about three or four dozen people that might just as well feature in my top 16, honestly.
00:02:33
Speaker
Yeah. It was interesting because we were messaging before the recording and you said, yeah, there's a few players that I think are, are sure for top 10. And I said, what, what do you mean? There's so many good players. Anyone could, you could break into the top 10. It just seems wide open. And to your point, you know, uh, I had lunch with, with my fiance and we had, um, chila kilas with, with, uh, chicken and mole. And I was thinking, yeah, you know, um, I'm eating lunch. I'm saying, yeah, I can put this list together in like five minutes.
00:03:02
Speaker
I've been studying the players, I know, and then I get here to my computer and I say, Oh God, this is going to take a moment. So I just finished my list. I think you've given yours a lot of thoughts. And, um, thankfully we're not listing all 64, but maybe, I don't know, maybe some listeners want to hear all 64. Yeah. Yeah. We were talking about the honorable dimensions list and whether that will take longer than the actual list, but we did not share the lists, um, with each other beforehand. So this will be a surprise to both of us.
00:03:31
Speaker
Exactly right. Yeah. So, so some players might be on both of our lists, but we're going to try not to give away which ones they are and what placement. So you'll just have to listen until the end. If you want to hear who we think is going to win the tournament. So, uh, so I wanted to ask you, do you want to talk briefly about the meta before we get into the players?
Current Pokémon Meta and Strategies
00:03:50
Speaker
Yeah, I can definitely do that. I should do that because now that both Vancouver and Goyanya have wrapped up, and I would say there are about six picks that really stand out. Those would be Charjaburg, Cresselia, Wiscash, Ligar, and Ihalape, and I'm blanking on the sixth, but yeah, this is about what we can expect.
00:04:14
Speaker
from the current meta. Those Pokemon ranked at around 40% usage and there's variations to certain themes that we have seen. There are alternative fighters to annihilate. We saw Poliwrath take Vancouver. We saw Vigoroth go onto a huge run in terms of tournament wins earlier in the season.
00:04:37
Speaker
And so that is a little bit up in the air. And then there's, of course, core breakers. We saw Rubik's Master succeed with the Alolan Sandslash, the Shadowclaw version in Vancouver. And I also do think that a lot of the top meta threats are really core broken by Dragon types. So it is really a very diverse meta. I do think the top 16 in Vancouver had 30 different species.
00:05:03
Speaker
There are established cores. There are interesting core breakers. And I do think that if we look back at previous international championships, Rajeev took the LAIC premiering charge a buck at a big event, which wasn't really much of a thing before. We definitely had Vadash with an exciting and very unique team taking last year's
00:05:27
Speaker
North American International Championship. And even last year's EUIC, where Tonton Batus emerged victorious, had a Shadow Dragonaire, which was not really a staple pick back then. So I do think these big tournaments are always a nice showcase for Loose Spice. And yeah, I'm excited.
00:05:47
Speaker
So I'll say one interesting thing and one nice thing. I'll say the nice thing first. I really sincerely believe, and please EU enjoy this because this is one of the few nice things I will say. Just kidding. But no, I really sincerely believe that Shadow Charizard was popularized by a human catcher bug. And that's a massive reason why it made its way across the Atlantic to NAIC.
00:06:10
Speaker
And if you remember in the top three, we had rise to occasion with Dodge and how stark and how stark had no answer for shadow Charizard. And he absolutely folded. I think it was, it was either Oh six or, or one six against, uh, the losers and winners finals that he was in because he just could not reign in the shadow Charizard. So definitely, uh, we always look to EU for creativity and a lot of the staple pigs make their way across the Atlantic.
00:06:35
Speaker
One thing I'll say as well is that the analogy you made about Anton Batous is actually very, very on the nose with this year as well, because in the meta where he succeeded, we had a lot of Lancer, Noctowl, Trevenant, you know, the dark times of PvP as I call them.
00:06:50
Speaker
And he used Dragonair to break through all of that RPS. And I really strongly believe that the same thing is going to happen this year. I don't think it's nearly as RPS. I think that was the absolute worst meta we've ever had in the chappy chip series, and it's not nearly that bad. But people might argue that the superior meta champ meta was better, or maybe the wall rain needle queen meta was better. But I think this is a very stable meta, and I think Dragon still has a big place.
00:07:18
Speaker
When we get to our top Pokémon picks, I don't think there would be many surprises there when you consider mine. But something I wanted to ask you about, Zoilis, is the difference between the EU region and NA region in terms of the Pokémon that they pick.
Regional Preferences and Predictions
00:07:31
Speaker
So you and I have touched on this before, and I did not update this sheet for Vancouver, but it does have four tournaments for NA and four tournaments for EU spanning the World of Wonder season.
00:07:44
Speaker
And two things that EU and NA always agree on, apparently, are lick a tongue and charge a bug. Because from those four tournaments, and this is, this is the top eights of those four tournaments. So we're looking at in the North America side, we're looking at San Antonio, Portland, Charlotte, and Knoxville. And then on the EU side, we're looking from Stuttgart, uh, to Liverpool, uh, to Dortmund, and I believe Utrecht as well. And the two things we agree on are charge a bug and lick a tongue, no matter what we had.
00:08:14
Speaker
I'm trying to look at my sheet. We had 20, we had 20 Lickitung make top eight in North America and 23 make top eight in EU. And then when you look at charge bug, we had 16 make top cut in North America and 18 make top cut in EU. But there are some differences. You mentioned whisk cash is being a Pokemon that a lot of trainers are going to lean on 13 whisk cash in NA top cuts over those four tournaments, but only four in the EU.
00:08:39
Speaker
And then when we look at Gligar, in particular Shadow Gligar, 22 Shadow Gligars in North America, but only nine in EU. That tells me that the EU is much more flexible. Picks like your Pelipper or a Mantine or Talonflame are definitely much more prominent flyers. But the one distinction I want to point out at the end of my long monologue here is that Annihilape, we had five in the top cut in North America, which doesn't seem like much, right? We had lots of Vigarot, lots of Poliwrath.
00:09:08
Speaker
In EU, there were 15 in top eight across four tournaments. Yes. So Annihilape is taking over EU and I expect tons and tons in London this weekend.
00:09:22
Speaker
Yeah, so bring your annihilate counters everybody. Yeah, I think Utrecht specifically just also showcased, I think both Utrecht and Dortmund just before, the last two European events showcase that you really have to read the matter of the day. Because in Dortmund, three out of the top four teams
00:09:47
Speaker
lean on the Obama Snow Talonflame core. So that was basically something that completely took over the tournament. And then in Utrecht, I think we had more than 50% of Mantine on the teams in the top card. So that was a Pokemon that kind of came out of nowhere. It wasn't a unique position because it just got its buffed water pool. So some players wanted to try that out. Others just wanted to react to the popularity of
00:10:17
Speaker
along with no talent flame. And yeah, it will be a bit of a prediction game, but you also can't predict 320 people at once. So I think flexibility will play a key role and a surprise factor will play a key role. I don't think, like obviously if you just lean on reliable picks and have the skills to execute cleanly, you can take a tournament like that, but
00:10:43
Speaker
I think history has shown that it's just an advantage that you can sometimes rely on if you know the matchups but your opponent doesn't. And at this high level where the margins of skill difference are so tiny, I do think that can be a big factor.
00:11:01
Speaker
It was amazing because in Utrecht, we had 30 unique Pokemon in the top eight and your exact, or excuse me, in the top 16. And you're exactly right. We had three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, nine out of 16, uh, teams had maintain on them. So I definitely feel like there's a, there's an, uh, an air of unpredictability, especially with international competitions. I mean, I remember back in the silver arena days when I, I told myself, yeah, I'll join a tournament. Uh, it's actually in the, in the UK. It's a remote tournament. I forget what cup it was, but
00:11:31
Speaker
I said, yeah, you know, I understand the meta and the timing is a bit favorable. I can just do it earlier in the day and it should be fine. And, uh, I ran into players that had picks and play styles that I was definitely not prepared for, and I did not do very well. And that was just in England, right? And then you look further, you look towards, uh, Germany or, or Poland or any of the other countries that have hosted tournaments so far this season. And it's really, um, a wide variety of things to look out for. So.
00:11:57
Speaker
I don't know, I have my my top three picks for the meta and I do have a bold call about one of them that's going to win its first championship. But I mean, I'm interested to know what you think as well. Yeah, yeah, I have I have two more, I will say agreeable picks. None of them are like, I would say one of them is hard matter. One of them is off matter, but viable. And the other one is spicy. So we have a little bit of everything in my in my top three.
00:12:27
Speaker
picks for the Pokemon, but I would suggest that we go into our top 16 players because that might showcase some familiar names and maybe some new names. You could hit it off with your number 16. All right. All right, everybody. This is our power rankings. We're going to kick those off 13 minutes and about 20 seconds into the podcast.
00:12:54
Speaker
I bear with this. This is going to be a really fun list kicking things off. Number 16, finishing at the bottom of top cut. Again, this is our prediction for when the dust has settled, the tournament is over. So I listen. I both have a champion in mind, but we're going to start from the bottom and go upwards. I predict in 16th place for EUIC 2024.
00:13:15
Speaker
the former EUIC champion, Tonton Batus.
Highlighting Key Competitors
00:13:20
Speaker
Oh, that is like, I would have been mad at you if you didn't have him included at all. He apparently just barely made top cut. And given that there are more than 16 Americans attending, I would say that's still a good showing. Given the obvious bias from my co-podcast here.
00:13:42
Speaker
Well, we have about 30 North Americans registered. And the challenge for me, honestly, was fitting 30 people into 16 spots. So I had to give one to the Frenchman because he's just such a stud. You can pretend he's Canadian. Some of them also speak French. I would actually call Tonton the spice king of Europe.
00:14:08
Speaker
And I think that's a title that I would like to have, but I can't ever compete with Tonton in that regard, because I think I've kind of strayed away from the Ampharos days where I just really brought Pokemon for the final fit. Tonton is still doing that, but he succeeds with them. And that makes him such an exciting player to watch. He had
00:14:33
Speaker
multiple top-cut finishes, including a grand final performance in Gdansk, earlier this season. And he made Artebak's work, he made Clefable's work, he made Seaking's work, he made Shadow Zapdos' work, and he almost made top-cut with the Whimsicott as well, like Whimsicott, Shadow Dragon and Core. This is just a crazy laundry list of Pokémon that
00:15:02
Speaker
most people would never think of using yeah and that's and honestly that's why he's number 16 on my list because i feel like when tom tom plays hard meta i think he can beat uh anyone in the world right he's he's toe to toe with the best but i feel like he's so creative and he has such this tendency towards spicier pokemon that when the north americans come in with their bland hardcore meta if he doesn't
00:15:28
Speaker
gravitate more towards the meta. He's going to have a very difficult time beating some of these more. Um, how do I say uptight North American trainers? So I think that, uh, that ton ton will do well, but I think I'll make top cut for sure. But I feel like it depends on his team. And that's why I put him at 16 just because I believe that he has the capability, but if he continues this spicy run, he's probably only going to, to make top cut and not much better, better than that. That's my opinion.
00:15:58
Speaker
Yeah, he definitely has the creativity to find a core breaker that really attacks the holes in most people's team building. But those core breakers also just tend to get outbooked by any leaky tongue they face. So it's going to be interesting, but yeah, definitely one to look out for and obviously our reigning EUIC champion. Yes.
00:16:23
Speaker
I think we've talked at length about Twansone also, by the way. After his UIC performance last year, I actually brought a variation of that team to the Hartford regionals just because I liked it so much. I just swapped the Shadow Dragon Air for as a wireless because
00:16:41
Speaker
I didn't do half as well as he did, but I still thought it was a really enjoyable team. I loved the gameplay with that line of six. Well, that just supports my point that you ran into the North Americans and the team folded. There would also be a slight skill difference between the regional champion and the international champion. That's nice of you to say.
00:17:08
Speaker
But yeah, I could go on and name my number 16, which is... Let's hear it. I would say it's a spicy pick. It's an off-meta pick. I went for Hamat Muniya. What do you know about Hamat Muniya, Speedy? Not much, but I do recognize the name and I'm looking him up. Tell me more. I would call him, like, you know that, like,
00:17:31
Speaker
People who play the main series games sometimes like to make life more difficult for them and go for a Nuzlocke mode where the rules are very strict and your Pokemon, if your Pokemon faints, you can't use it anymore. And it's just like something that is sometimes takes thousands attempts to complete. And some of those games have like very difficult trainer fights that are mandatory and that can really end your journey in such a Nuzlocke.
00:18:01
Speaker
And those trainers are called run killers. And I think Hama Bounir is the run killer of EUIC because he will go into the tournament unseated. He doesn't have any championship points that I know of, but he does have the skills to really take on the big guns. He used to be
00:18:21
Speaker
Basically, the MVP and Swiss army knife for the Bodhisattva factions and self-factions when that was still a thing. I think they won the North American Emerald tier, which was the highest tier back in the day. He's not North American. He is, I think, Pakistani, but studying in London. So he might take the opportunity to compete, at least I think I saw him on the list of signups.
00:18:48
Speaker
And yeah, he basically played every faction smatter, swept elite competition day in, day out. One of the top GBL players too. And also has a very talented brother in Saad Munir, who is basically equally as good. And I was thinking about Hamad Munir to start off my list back when we
00:19:09
Speaker
Talked about the whole Lyle Jeffs Blob and a who are the best brothers in the world situation because those two might just myself and my brother junk is currently but I do think if we are talking about best brother brothers in the world.
00:19:25
Speaker
The Muneo brothers definitely deserve a mention, and I could definitely see this elite battler that will not be seated going up against one of the tournament favorites and locking them down really early. And I would personally be excited to see that.
00:19:43
Speaker
Interesting. Yeah, that's a fascinating pick because there's not a whole lot of information, right? Because the self arena, uh, factions page is no longer active. And if you look on, on Draco visit, it just has his GBL, uh, success, you know, top 10, top 50 top 100. That's amazing. Uh, I'm really excited to see that. And I agree with you. I think the seeding plays a big factor, uh, that I didn't even consider. And I think that's, uh, yeah, I know notes. That was a great pick. Wow. All right.
00:20:12
Speaker
I think, okay. So we've got Tonton, but to us and Hamad Munir in our 16 spot for 15, I chose a Canadian battler. One that I think is, uh, is incredibly underrated. A perennial GBL hero, as they like to call them a frequent GBL a competitor and who has, uh, reached 3,500 elo multiple times over the, uh, GBL seasons. My pick is six 10 hero.
00:20:42
Speaker
So so that's why you're calling him a GBI hero because because he's literally a hero He's literally my hero. Okay, but no six ten hero is is I think he's bound for more success, right? He top-cut in Toronto this season he
00:20:57
Speaker
finished in fifth place with Carbink, Froslass, Mandibuzz, Metachamp, Superior, and Swampert. He went on to compete at Knoxville finishing 49th. Did not have quite the showing that he wanted, but he did bring Venusaur and Dugong, which is a really fun combination of Pokemon.
00:21:14
Speaker
I think that 16 hero has all the fundamental skills that he needs to take down anyone in the competitive circuit. And just like so many of these trainers, you know, we, we look at the, the GBL heroes of the world and few have been able to cross over like, uh, like with Dodge, uh, or like, you know, you could even say, um, trainers that came originally from GBL like that boy, Jay finance success and play Pokemon. Uh, I think that six 10 hero is the next GBL trainer to find success. And I think he'll find it at UIC. That's why I have him 15th.
00:21:43
Speaker
And it's interesting, I especially like that you pointed out that he has to run dugong in the past, because I was thinking the other day that I barely see people use dugong, but every time somebody does use it and that person has like the reputation or the skills to make such
00:22:02
Speaker
A very difficult Pokémon work. Every time somebody opts for that, they make it really far into a tournament. It is one of the premier corebreakers. It does have the ball to even go up against stuff like an ILA, which is just... It's doing super effective counter damage, but there's just levels to the frailty of these Pokémon.
00:22:26
Speaker
So, yeah, Duong is interesting because you really have to know, oh, when do I have to go for the debuff? You have to play the switch timer a lot of the time. And yeah, I'm very curious to see whether 610 hero or 16 hero, whether he's bringing that to EUSC as well. I actually think that is one of the trainers that I missed on my shortlist even, but it's a very interesting case you make for him. He does have...
00:22:54
Speaker
the play Pokemon pedigree to, to back that up too. I'm not shocked at all that you overlooked in a North American trainer. Okay. The EU bias is strong. Go ahead. It is. It is. I could go ahead with my number 15, which is EU bias, but I do think for, for a good reason, because
00:23:17
Speaker
My number 15 is actually the first European streamer to reach legend this season. It is Jox13. He's a Portuguese battler. He top-cut last EUIC.
00:23:30
Speaker
I know him quite well and I know how much thought he puts into his team building. His streams are really entertaining, just 13 on Twitch. He's been perfecting a 6 for the tournament. He has a strategy in mind to deal with the top meta threats.
00:23:48
Speaker
And whenever he actually managed to fly out to one of these events, he either top-cut or made it really, really close. So I feel like, especially with this recent honor form being a very strong competitor in practice tournaments and really crushing it in GBL this season, I do think he is in a really good position to top-cut again and at least repeat his success from the past year and maybe even surpass that.
00:24:17
Speaker
Yeah, I'm looking at his, at his profile. He's got a lot of variety across, uh, tons of his picks. Fun fact about jocks at the, uh, 2022 London last chance qualifier. Number one, which I believe is the one that EJB ended up winning. He actually brought shadow poly tote shadow Sableye and shadow B drill. And he finished 13th overall, which is pretty fun, uh, considering the team, but yeah, it looks like he finished 17th at Liverpool with shadow, Obama snow and talent flame.
00:24:44
Speaker
so definitely lots of core breakers on the team another trainer i think i overlooked a bit i'm sorry jocks i think it'll be a very good as well you don't make his name known for sure i also like.
00:24:56
Speaker
the variety in his team building. And I do think that in a previous meta, I do think it was around the Gdansk days, he swept a stacked practice tournament with either a Haunter or a Shadow Haunter. But yeah, he definitely can make those out there picks work. There's a great understanding of where the meta is at. And I do believe he can make the meta call for this event as well.
00:25:22
Speaker
Interesting. So, 610 hero and jocks are our picks respectively. Well, I think my number 14 pick is going to surprise absolutely nobody if you're ready for it. Okay, okay, okay. Number 14 at EUIC 2024, I have status stan. Oh, okay. And I think that is definitely one of the best European battles of all time.
00:25:49
Speaker
Oh, absolutely. And this is a trader that's been so, uh, you know, we, we throw around the word consistent a lot, but I think that status stands consistency is just on a different level. I mean, he basically, when he shows up to a tournament, he either top cuts or it's, it's like he, he doesn't go, you know, he's just, he's just so good. Uh, what I love about status stands gameplay. We talked about this a lot last year on our tournament cast is that he is a perfectionist.
00:26:15
Speaker
and he'll run the same pokemon over and over and over and he always tries to try to try to bring himself closer to playing a perfect game or executing a team in a perfect way i should say so he'll shave off an extra one or two percent per tournament
00:26:31
Speaker
And we saw him bring new and done sparse over and over and over last season, just trying to, trying to propel that team to, to success. And I think that when you have the dedication, the thoroughness and the attention to detail that status stand has, I think it's just a matter of time until you find a, a breakthrough moment. So I definitely have him in my, in my top cut, but the reason he's 14 and not a top eight or top three,
00:26:55
Speaker
It's just because he hasn't proven yet that he can take a team and make a deep championship run. I know he's been close to grand finals. He's been, he's been in one if I'm not mistaken, but he hasn't broken through quite yet. So that's why he's in my top 16, but not in
00:27:10
Speaker
higher than 14. I think he made third place at last EU I see if I'm not mistaken but yeah it's always like very close to becoming the very best but it's just this high level consistency just below taking home the gold medal.
00:27:27
Speaker
Um, yeah, I will definitely, like, I am definitely not going to underestimate Sethestan's battle prowess because, um, that's what knocked me out of the Liverpool regional championship, actually. Um, he just made the correct line call. And yeah, I just, I just had to.
00:27:50
Speaker
I just had to trust myself, but he played in a way that I couldn't trust myself anymore. If that makes sense, like you can really get into your head. And that is, that is definitely a quality that can take you far. And this is what I'm looking over again, looking over his profile. This is the consistency I was mentioning, right? Uh, you were, you were correct. He finished 30 EUIC with the Dunsparce mute team. But before that he finished second at Utrecht and then he finished third at Liverpool, all with the same team.
00:28:19
Speaker
And then he had a bit of success this season in Gdansk with Araquanid and Arctobex before pivoting to his three tournament run of Liverpool, Dortmund, and Utrecht again, all with the same exact team featuring Mantine. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I remember Mantine. I was so scared of that. I don't fear Mantine. I'll talk trash about Mantine any time. It never came out against me too, but I was so scared.
00:28:47
Speaker
But, uh, but I think that his propensity to pick the same team and refine it over time definitely shines in a lot of his match ups. And that's why he's my, my 14. That is fair. I will take it away with my own 14, um, which is again, like we had, um, uh, about the front Pakistan in 16th, we had a better from Portugal in 15th. And now we have a better from Chile. We have then to ski at number 14. I think then to ski, um,
00:29:17
Speaker
In part, of course, because of his grassroots track record, I actually don't think he made a super deep run in one of the Play Pokemon tournaments yet. But he's still up there in the GBL leaderboards. And back in the day, he was known as one of the all-time greats in Sylph. I think he won back-to-back Continentals. I think you know him from GBLA as well. So it was always about those grassroots formats.
00:29:47
Speaker
And with Ventuski, I find it interesting that he made the way to London for last year I see already. But he suffered a really bad tournament experience back then and I do think he went on to.
00:30:03
Speaker
And I'm here for the redemption arc. I do think he really wants to prove himself and I definitely believe that he has the skill set to do so. And I just want to see a story where somebody takes a negative experience and turns it into a success story. It turns it around. And I do believe that he has the skills to do so.
00:30:25
Speaker
Let's say like the 16 to 10 spots were all very, very contested. I had a lot of people in mind, but I do think a Bantuski run would be one of the more interesting stories to come out of EUIC. So I'm kind of rooting for that a little bit. Also, it would be very fun if we all talked about the American invasion, but it was Latin America all along and the US are just bystanders.
00:30:52
Speaker
That would be my favorite angle to this. Well, maybe after that happens, Martijn will edit his tweet because he tweeted out EU handshake LATAM versus US.
00:31:07
Speaker
And maybe he's going to edit that to EU handshake US. We are coming for LAIC 2025. Exactly, exactly. Maybe he'll change his mind, but one of the more controversial takes I saw on Twitter. But yeah, no, I agree with you. And Ventuski was a name that especially in early self arena, he was feared. I mean, people spoke about him like he was
00:31:32
Speaker
Um, like, like master core as well. Another incredible Latam trainer that people just feared, you know, if you paired against them, you had a very slim chance. And I remember battling Ventus key in the sofa world's grand finals. And, uh, if not, if not for some team reads, he definitely would have, would have gotten me there. So he's very, very good. Um, and I respect your pick. I respect your pick. Um, my number 13 pick.
00:31:55
Speaker
is actually the second North American on my list. Again, I have to fit 30 more. My 13 pick is arrow. And I think that as you, as you remember earlier this season, arrow went into San Antonio. He swept through everybody. He was in the, in the winter side of the bracket and then dune bug arrived. And honestly, I don't think anyone besides dune bug could have beat arrow in that tournament. And
00:32:26
Speaker
Unfortunately for arrow dune bug reset the bracket and ended up winning the tournament in one of the most exciting grand finals we've ever had. But with every winner, there comes a loser. And I definitely think that arrow is on his own redemption arc, trying to prove that he has what it takes to be one of the top. And he has the confidence to do it. If you ask arrow, no matter what venue, right? You walk into San Antonio, you walk into the Excel center in London, say arrow.
00:32:48
Speaker
Uh, can you beat everybody here? He doesn't even hesitate. His answer is yes, I can. And, and he's one of those trainers that has the confidence, right? So I'm ready for it to shine through. But, but what concerns me about arrows play style lately is he's always been an unpredictable trainer, uh, in ADL battles. I never knew what he was trying to do. He made some weird switches and catches and some odd things that I wasn't expecting.
00:33:12
Speaker
But what I've, what I'm concerned about is that his play style is becoming a bit more RPS as of late and running car Binks, skar Marines. Yeah. The carving, the carving may made it really far though. So maybe, maybe that's the North American way actually.
00:33:28
Speaker
Well, I don't think arrow can rely. I think his team reading skills are our top tier, probably top 5% of it of all the trainers in the world. But I don't think you can rely on your team reading once you get very deep into a tournament. I mean, we saw this with, with Chen Yu in Vancouver, Chen Yu had a very solid run into top eight, but as soon as he encountered a trainer like Lyle or like rubix, for example, uh, there's really nothing you could do because he could not outread the best players in the world.
00:33:54
Speaker
So I feel like for Aero, if he picks a neutral team, you know, this is, this is not dissimilar from my argument regarding Ton Ton, but juice, I feel like if Aero picks a neutral team and relies more on his depth of skill, he'll have a deeper run. But with his current play style and the trends I see him finishing at 13th overall. Yeah. Aero is definitely prone to cooking, but also to over cooking.
00:34:17
Speaker
Um, he already, he already landed in London. I saw that on Twitter and you'll, he'll adapt to the, to the European sleep schedule. So that is something. Um, I think, yeah, I wrote as one of those players who he can beat anyone, but.
00:34:34
Speaker
I'm not saying anyone could beat Arrow because that's disrespectful and I also don't think that's true. But I do think his ceiling is incredibly high, but some other players have higher floors than Arrow is what I think it comes down to for me. But I do think it's a very good choice. I do think he definitely has a shot to make a really, really deep run at this tournament. Okay, fair. And for you, number 13.
00:35:03
Speaker
Yeah, my number 13 is someone who, if he went to more tournaments, I do think we would talk about him as one of the all-time greats. It is 23EJB.
00:35:16
Speaker
He already won a tournament at the venue. It doesn't count as one of these official championships because it was just the last chance qualifier. He beat me in that, by the way. He knocked me out straight up with a periper and a can to nine tails if I'm not mistaken back in the day.
00:35:34
Speaker
But yeah, he won two tournaments before it was cool, because he took both of them last season as well. So yeah, we don't really give the LCQ winners their accolades the way we give them two.
00:35:51
Speaker
regional winners, international winners, especially men champions. But yeah, if EJ turns up to a tournament, he'll make it far. There is actually a bit of a divide in his competitive history.
00:36:07
Speaker
because sometimes he tends to run spicier picks. But whenever he does that, it typically goes horribly wrong. So if he sticks to meta, I think he had like a zoom roll on his bullhorn winning team. The SCQ1 was arguably a little more on the spicy side. But I do think that just because he does have the right competitive mindset, he doesn't really get stage nerves.
00:36:33
Speaker
He also just has some of the cleanest mechanics in the scene. I really think that he can take a hard meta team, maybe with a bit of a good meta read, and just pilot it really far.
00:36:46
Speaker
But if his mind is too out there, like last year, I remember that he tried to make double work at UIC. I did the same thing and it worked for neither of us. He made it a little further than I did, but still, I feel like sometimes you really have a good idea, but you have to kill your darlings and just trust what you know that works. And even though I encourage spies, I would say,
00:37:15
Speaker
Mr23EJB, just trust the reliable picks and you can probably, if not win it all, then at least top card. I do think that's almost guaranteed with this guy. I agree. I think EJB is an incredible trainer.
00:37:30
Speaker
Yeah. Watching his LCQ win was, uh, was fascinating. Well, I guess watching and casting, that was a very fun experience. And, um, yeah, he's, he's a very, he's a very good guy to be around to, uh, plenty of after parties. I think every after party I went to an EU, uh, EJ was there and he's just the life of the party and making sure everyone's having a good time and, and being very, very supportive and friendly. So I, uh, I have so much respect for him and I actually like him too. I think he's a, he's a cool person. So 100%.
00:37:59
Speaker
I'm interested to see how he performs. But let's pivot over to our next pick. I lost my list here. Okay. My next pick, we're number 12, correct? Yes, we are. Number 12, Ventuski. Oh, so we actually have our first duplicate.
00:38:21
Speaker
So yeah, first thing we agree on ever already. So I feel like, um, one of us should go ahead with their number 12. So it could be me. It could be you just decide the order wouldn't really change much because we would still both be at number 12. No, no, it's okay. Uh, I'll just, uh, yeah, I'll just say we already discussed when to ski at length. I'm ready for his, uh, his breakthrough moment. And I think he'll do really well on stage, but, uh, yeah, I'm excited to hear your number 12. Okay.
00:38:51
Speaker
Um, I'm afraid that this person might be on your list as well, because he's one of the most consistent European competitors this season. And I'm talking about Tomahawk UK, great caster, great player. Thunderland turned truther for some reason. Um, but yeah, very, very consistent, top five in Stuttger, top five in Liverpool, top five in Barcelona. Um,
00:39:17
Speaker
He did bring Weilnord to Dromund though, which was a little bit of an oddity. I don't really think he wanted to win that, but it probably looked fun on paper. It is a Skarmory with Skash corporate character after all. So yeah, with Tomahawk, I would say it's a bit of a question of
00:39:33
Speaker
Assembling a well-seasoned team. I don't think he can go too bland in BBML because he does tend to make those interesting meta calls. He brought a digger speed. I do think a hyper beam digger speed to Barcelona. He had a launch shadow Venusaur that took him to the grand finals of Liverpool.
00:39:53
Speaker
which was like grass types in this meta. Who even thinks of that? So I do think a little bit of originality is definitely the way to go for him. But yeah, he can definitely overdo it with a spice at times. So we've heard of Alolan versions of Pokemon. We've heard of Galarian versions of Pokemon. Sometimes Tomahawk is searching for a Szechuan version of a Pokemon. I don't know whether that makes sense for you, I see. No, it does.
00:40:23
Speaker
But yeah, I think if he assembles like five well-balanced Pokemon and one Corebreaker pick, he can definitely make it far. Interesting. The only thing I know about Tomahawk is that he'd lost a nighttime clasher in the grand finals. No, I'm just kidding. He brought it up about 20 times in the new trick broadcast, so definitely listen to that.
00:40:48
Speaker
Yeah. He was a, he was a trainer that I felt like he tried to get into inside of NTC's head. And he said, uh, uh, he said, I think he said something into the headset, something like, uh, are you ready to go home yet? Because NTC was, was waiting for his flight and he was trying to get into his mind like, Oh yeah. You know, just go ahead and make mistakes so I can just win the tournament. But then NTC responded with a three. Oh, so very, very nicely done.
00:41:13
Speaker
Interesting pick. Yeah, I'm just going to give you a spoiler here. Tomahawk is actually not on my list. Yeah, so we don't agree on that. If he was TomahawkUS, he probably would be. That's actually a good point. Going to number 11, my pick is actually going to be a trainer that the community knows very well. This is going to be Thomas Technical or Tho Technical.
00:41:43
Speaker
as we like to call him. And, uh, going back to a similar moniker, like we had for Vin Twosky, when Thomas was at his peak, competitively, he was feared. I mean, he had like 87% win rate in Sulfurina season one or season two, it was. And, uh, just an absolute Titan, a giant among men. And I feel like for, for third technical going into EUIC,
00:42:05
Speaker
You know, since he's not on the broadcast team, he has full bandwidth to focus on playing. And I think he, uh, he can make a very deep run. So I have him at number 11, just because there's still a few unknowns, how serious he's going to be, but a, a locked in though. Technical is a terrifying technical.
00:42:22
Speaker
Definitely, definitely. And after an eloquence, after he won Utrecht, I do think Totetical would be very motivated to really make a case for himself in the race for best Dutch battler. So yeah, I also think he just hit legend, basically. So already got the legend post going for EOSC. Definitely one of one of the strongest trainers and also one of the most beloved creators in the community. So yeah.
00:42:51
Speaker
I do not disagree with your pick at all here. But my number 11, I think, is someone else. Actually, someone who is on the same team in terms of grassroots play as Totactical. And I'm talking about Polasha97. Good pick. She is the Turin Special Event Champion.
00:43:17
Speaker
And she actually made her play Pokemon debut at last year's EUIC. But she lost in the first round. And I do think that also was in parts because of connection issues at the venue. So it was a very stressful and rather negative experience. Everything after was just...
00:43:39
Speaker
If not a great result, then at least a good one. So obviously she had her tureen sweep, she had top cuts in Gdansk and Stuttgart, and she never really had a bad performance.
00:43:54
Speaker
And even when she didn't top-cut, she still made it reasonably far. And she actually did beat my number 12 pick, Tomahawk2k, in the loser bracket at EUIC last year. So it just makes sense that she is ranked slightly ahead of him. So yeah, I think she's within about three points of world's qualification. She'll probably clinch that in London. And depending on the team she brings, she could go even further.
00:44:20
Speaker
I will say that I have seen her run Shadow Madness only in GBL this season, so that would be something I would be really excited for if that somehow made its way onto the next stage.
00:44:32
Speaker
Interesting, interesting that you chose the, the shadow magnet zone to highlight. Um, yeah, interesting, interesting Pokemon. Indeed. Palos is incredible. She also is one of the only trainers that I know of that has a extra, extra small shadow Alola nine tails, which she, uh, she brought on stage during that really tough tournament appearance. But since then she's had a lot of success. So I'm excited for my number 10 pick.
00:44:58
Speaker
I actually have who I largely considered to be one of Palasz's biggest rivals and also friends. I have Andris 96. Oh, that's a good time.
00:45:09
Speaker
Yes, absolutely. I mean, I, I talked about injuries during our EUIC pre-show as well. And I feel like she's a trainer that has a ton of potential, uh, was in the grand finals and Turin versus Palasha and almost was able to, to get the win. But the, the skill gap was definitely shown because Palasha I think has a lot of experience and maybe had a few solid team reads. And once you're up against a very good trainer who makes a couple of good team reads, it's very difficult to come back.
00:45:39
Speaker
So I think injuries will have a great showing at EUIC. I have hurt number 10 overall, just outside of our top eight, which we are fast approaching. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um,
00:45:51
Speaker
I do have to say that with Andre's teams, it's like night and day between GBL and Show6, because every time we mentioned GBL, she surprises me with some crazy spies. I matched against a regular Pikachu once, I lost to her Thunderfang Stelix once, so that is always exciting.
00:46:12
Speaker
Whereas for Play Pokemon, she typically just trusts the most proven teams out there. And I would enjoy seeing something from her that was maybe not a normal Pikachu, but something closer to her GBL teams where she really shows a more creative approach. But yeah, definitely someone who does have the skills to really attack the top card.
00:46:37
Speaker
Number 10 on my side, we unfortunately have to skip just because we already went over the incredible achievements of Tonton Matus, the reigning UOC champion and his laundry list of spice picks, which I managed to recite so flawlessly earlier just because I already had already done.
00:46:58
Speaker
Absolutely. No, no, I think we, I think we both admire Tonton quite a bit. And I think it's interesting that you have him placed six spots higher than I do. So maybe, maybe your faith in Tonton is a bit stronger than mine.
00:47:11
Speaker
Um, going into number nine is, uh, we might actually have to skip over this one as well, because I actually have Palasha as number nine. Oh, okay. I like that we, I like that we're getting into, into the duplicates. We, we find some, some elite trainers that we can all agree upon. So yeah, it's just, it just speaks to, um, like the, the incredible resume of those, of those competitors.
00:47:37
Speaker
And I have Lasha finishing one spot above Andries, just like Turin. So I think there's going to be a bit of an echo of time in that regard. History rhymes, right? Yes. So my number nine is actually someone who is another good friend of Palaszas and someone who also is a bit of a team-building inspiration, if I'm not mistaken, at least for the Gdansk originals, that was the case.
00:48:05
Speaker
Um, and I say, I think also for Turin even, um, it is, uh, Mr. Alolan Sandstosh himself, a mind joke. He is already qualified by championship championship points here.
00:48:18
Speaker
made himself known as probably the most consistent European competitors out there. But currently he's in a bit of a competitive slump. He placed 65th in both Liverpool and Utrecht and he missed Dortmund, which was his first European competition that he missed in a long time. So he definitely is currently in a place where he really has
00:48:47
Speaker
Like he doesn't want to just make another solid performance. He really wants to prove that he is an elite competitor. And I know that he is, because he's actually the only person who beat me at two different Play Pokemon events. And I do think he...
00:49:06
Speaker
He makes his comeback at a really good time just because Alolan Sandslash looks so strong in the meta again. I do not know for sure whether he will pick it, but I think Rubik's Master gave a really good showing of the Shadow Claw Alolan Sandslash that has a lot of Cresselia's to target these days in Vancouver.
00:49:28
Speaker
So if Rubik's Master can make a Grand Final with Alon Sandstash, I do think that a mind choke top-cutting with it is absolutely realistic. Yeah, Cresselia meta, Glaiga meta. I do think he will be able to gather some momentum and make a really deep run.
00:49:46
Speaker
Interesting. Interesting. You know, um, to add some credence to your point, shadow lone sand slash was almost one of my top three metapicks for UIC. Did not quite make the list, but I definitely think, yeah, I definitely think it has a lot of play. I'm interested to see how a mind joke does. Uh, like you said, um, a staple of consistency, a leader in championship points for a long time, interested to see how he's going to perform.
00:50:13
Speaker
Number eight, for me, we're breaking into our top eight here. Number eight was somebody we've already mentioned before. That is 23 EJB. And again, I think he's a great person to be around. I think he's an incredibly talented battler and I'm excited for him to, uh, to strike back and replicate his success that he had from the London LCQ in 2022.
00:50:38
Speaker
Yeah, I love that you have EGB on your list as well, because I do think occasionally he doesn't really get the credit he deserves just because he's not really, he doesn't really have the time or the opportunity to grind all of these events. But yeah, definitely one of these strongest European competitors. My number eight is one of these strongest North American competitors. And I'm talking about rise to occasion here. Ooh.
00:51:06
Speaker
I feel like I was almost going to call them a sleeping giant, but I feel like sleeping is a bit unfair because men's not been sleeping. I feel like if you look at those graphics that are being put out with the recent North American winners and it's all Junberg, it's all live Jeffs.
00:51:24
Speaker
And I feel like Ryze belongs into that same category, but he didn't have the tournament win that you kind of expect from him this season yet. What he did have is a lot of top cards, a lot of like top five, top eight placements. And I really loved his Knoxville team that he cooked up because that was
00:51:43
Speaker
blatantly off meta but really creative and very well balanced and had a jealous and shadow dragon and Obama's Noah talent fame and everything you could wish for even like at a European tournament and Because his team looked so European to me just in spirit. You think you'll have a great showing and you I see Hmm interesting. Interesting. Yeah, I think rise really reached into the cabinet of spicy core breakers and just grabbed one of everything and
00:52:11
Speaker
And, uh, that was his team structure. He's also a very good content creator. He made a video on his run in Knoxville, his attempt to repeat his success from 2023. And he's a championship point, uh, grinder as well. So I think that rise will be qualified for worlds no matter what, if he isn't already, but to see him succeed at EUIC, I think that would be, uh, that'd be very poetic. Definitely a strong North American pick. Uh, number seven, I'm going to reverse engineer this a bit. I'm going to tell you that my number seven pick.
00:52:41
Speaker
Actually was one of the few trainers to win a grand finals reset this season. That trainer is known for playing off-meta flying types that are not quite Gligar or Altaria. And this trainer is one of our, actually, I believe either two or three, uh, champions with Venus or so far this season, which is something that I think it's overlooked quite a bit in the face of other grass types.
00:53:10
Speaker
Uh, and the streamers also on a podcast that discusses the championship series and, uh, and, uh, and, uh, in puts up with the North American colleague of his, uh, which would be myself. So if you haven't put it all together yet, my number seven pick for UIC, 2024 is the Z's wireless.
Hosts' Insights and Predictions
00:53:30
Speaker
And I'm very happy that I.
00:53:32
Speaker
I knew what you were setting up as soon as you said reverse engineering. That was a very good subtlety. I enjoyed that a lot. He did win Barcelona, he did get another medal in Dortmund, and I don't think his Liverpool performance was fine.
00:53:52
Speaker
I'm kind of washed though. Yeah, and you know, one of those medals, he wasn't even there to accept it. He was fed up with the whole thing, so he just left, so maybe I should change my list. I didn't expect that I would make it that far in Dortmund, so I scheduled. I can work remotely, so that is nice, but I do a fixed time, so I had to start work by three.
00:54:15
Speaker
And yeah, if I made it any further, I would have just had to call into work and say, oh, I'll be an RLA. I'll be there. But just got to wait for me. And I got around that by losing to Colin Six and Nastia Sorelius. But I did have to pick up my medal early. Yeah, I would love to take seventh at UIC. But yeah, there will be so much competition.
00:54:45
Speaker
It's honestly flattering to even be in the conversation. I've played a lot of practice tournaments. Up until recently, my best performance was with a team that featured Dabwool, Shadow Zapdos, Shadow Sable Eye, Swallowed, and
00:55:03
Speaker
I just say it's swallowed. I feel like it's over from here. I was going to say, if you bring that to EUIC this weekend, I'm just going to take you off my list and delete this episode. Unfortunately, my recent practice was even slightly more successful. So swallowed might stay on the bench. It does seem well though. It does seem well. It has ice cream for the glider. Yeah.
00:55:26
Speaker
I don't, I don't know. Like my personal goal for the tournament is to make the top 32. And I do think there's like a 30% chance that that will happen. So taking seven, I would, I would definitely agree with, but yeah. Um, okay. I'm not getting my hopes up too much just yet. We'll see after you picked yourself to win it last on the last episode of the podcast. Uh, well taking seventh is modest. We'll, we'll see what happens. But yeah, go ahead.
00:55:56
Speaker
My seventh place finisher is the best European at Worlds last year at his Scarfo 99. He did top card at Utrecht. He did team build a little with Martijn with an eloquence who won the whole thing. He also finished fifth at UIC last year. So like fifth at Worlds, fifth at UIC, seventh at a very large special event.
00:56:22
Speaker
that man definitely knows how to play those events with just a high, a really high number of competitors. So it definitely has the stamina to take it far. Already legend as well, constantly leaderboarding, just super precise, super locked in every tournament he goes to, basically never has a bad performance. And yeah, I would be very surprised if Scarfo didn't top guard. We're getting into the territory where those people not top cutting would almost be more surprising than
00:56:51
Speaker
them making it today too. Oh yeah, exactly. Right. Uh, it's, um, it feels like, you know, I, I gave you some, some grief about that earlier about trainers that are a lock for top cut, but I feel like Scott foe is definitely one of them. So speaking of locks for, for high competitive achievements, uh, my number six pick is actually the young phenom, the first world champion, M E. Weedle. Oh, that is interesting.
00:57:23
Speaker
And he's been trying to reach that number one spot at the GBR leaderboards again. And he's a perpetual number two these days, but yeah, why not a number six at EUSC, right?
00:57:36
Speaker
Exactly. And I think, uh, Emmy wheedles, one of those trainers that had so much success against a stacked seniors bracket at world's 2022. I mean, he took on trainers like with Dodge Allen, uh, some of the best players right now, you know, bird power, for example, was, was very, very good last season and he beat them all on the way to the, uh, the world championships. So I feel expect any wheedle to bounce back. I just don't know exactly when it'll happen, but I'm putting a lot of faith in him. Weedle. The only thing I ask you is please don't play maintain.
00:58:10
Speaker
You'll make top six, even if you run double because I know you love Wulu. So, uh, yeah, I think our 2022 senior world champion is going to finish top. Excuse me. Sixth place at EUIC this year.
00:58:23
Speaker
Really good pick, really good pick. Also a kind of belief in just the magic of the venue. If you succeeded there before, you'll succeed there again. Our next competitor also had, I think pretty good run at, I think the very first world championship. It is Logan Rocket. In general, our very first regional champion back in the day in Liverpool.
00:58:49
Speaker
And I do think Lurken Rocket thrives in a cresselian matter, and that is what we are in right now. He's one of those people who
00:58:58
Speaker
know all the intricacies of the different ID combinations. So if there is a something slayer, something, he will know about it and he will implement it into his team building. And he's also consistently ahead of the curve. Like he played Talonflame, Obama's no core in Liverpool, and that really had its breakthrough in Dortmund. So
00:59:19
Speaker
Yes, he definitely knows how to read a meta, he knows how to execute. He also just has the stage presence that I want to see from those competitors at this level. So yeah, he top-cut Bute Faced with a Hakkamo-O, so very recent Elite performance. I do think Lurgan Rocket is one to look out for. Interesting. You know, I actually left Lurgan off of my list and now I feel very guilty. Yeah. I think I made a good place for him.
00:59:48
Speaker
I think so. And some people have even said that that Lurgen and I look similar. The Irish version of me or maybe or maybe I'm the North American version of him. It's uh, it's hard to know. But Lurgen. Yeah, I've heard rumors that Lurgen will reroll Cresselia even though he has a very good one already. He wants to continue to optimize when he's at events. I respect that. I need someone to reroll Cresselia with me. Same here.
01:00:16
Speaker
All right, we're breaking into our top five. Are you ready? I am. All right. This is a trainer we've already discussed, actually, but I have a much higher on my list than you do. At number five, EUIC 2024, I predict rise to occasion. We'll finish. I feel that much higher. It's like between eight and five, which is also where most of Ryse's placements this season were.
01:00:39
Speaker
True, true. I feel like we've talked about him at length and all of his, uh, his accolades. I fully expect rise to core break the meta. And like you pointed out, maybe he's more prepared for the European meta than any of the other North America trainers.
01:00:53
Speaker
Yeah, and I also like, there might be a case of me putting a little bit of an American tax on those players, right? So maybe five is closer to where we could expect Ryze. I expect someone else in fifth, and that one is very content, too, if you're not my number six, but it's Colin six.
01:01:16
Speaker
almost became the first European to win two events in the same season. Won two events overall though and yeah also made two grand finals this year already which is just insane and I figured he had a bit of a pattern going on so he reached the grand finals
01:01:35
Speaker
He made 65th place the event after, then he reached the grand finals again, and he reached 65th place after again. So now the realistic, the realistic, what follows would be another grand final, right? I don't quite believe that just because UIC is so stacked, but
01:01:56
Speaker
Just with the consistency that Colin has shown this season, both in Play Pokemon and in GBL, I can't put him any lower than fifth. And also, I want to shout out that he won Stuttgart with a Gfisk on his team. Do you remember Galarian Stuntfisk? Yeah.
01:02:16
Speaker
Yeah, that was a wild tournament. It's basically a fossil Pokemon at this point, you know? It's true. It's also something that I put so many people that beat me in previous tournaments up here. Yeah, I do think Colin will make a fantastic run.
01:02:35
Speaker
Interesting. Interesting that you're realizing that now, uh, this is a, uh, a trainer that I left, I left off my list as well, but I do think Colin, uh, we'll do phenomenally. Uh, like you said, it's just how things work, right? You, you play 65th, you are in the grand finals and you just kind of swing back and forth. And I'm sure he'll, he'll be close to the grand finals in this one, but he's not my pick personally. Um, and also to be fair, I don't know if you've noticed this wireless, but after, uh, after our, our top 11 picks or so,
01:03:02
Speaker
Eight of mine have all been Europeans. So, Oh, I respect it. I agree with it too. Oh, okay. Maybe I should have changed my list in all seriousness, uh, breaking into the top four. And I know we have other picks like dark horses and things like that. So maybe we can interject those, you know, before top three or something like that, but finishing in fourth place, a trainer that we've already talked about as well, Scott fo 99.
01:03:30
Speaker
Good pick. Good pick. Can't disagree with that. Like at this point, whether somebody is like top eight or top four, it's, it's basically just one battle, right? Um, or like two, maybe, uh, scaffold, just, just incredible high level consistency. Yeah. Interesting. And funny fact, I'll drop this in real quickly is, uh, after I met scaffold at, uh, at worlds.
01:03:54
Speaker
I actually, I mentioned it in the GBLA chat and I said, yeah, you know, I met Scott. Oh, he was, uh, he was really cool to, uh, to meet him in person. And with Dodge says, did you get any urges? Question mark. Wanko replied and said, I get many urges while looking at pictures of Scott. Oh, and maybe they thought that these messages would never see the light of day, but
01:04:20
Speaker
I found this as a unique opportunity, uh, sit to point out that Scott for yes is handsome, but no, I did not get any urges when I met the, uh, the, the Italian, uh, trainer. So yeah, I expect Scott photo finished fourth place overall at a UIC. I mean, top, top finished by an EU battler at worlds 2023. How can you bet against him?
01:04:40
Speaker
It is true. It is true. And I have to say that my fourth place finisher for EOSC is someone who did even better than Skafu at Worlds. And that doesn't really leave too many options, right? It is our reigning world champion. It is at Saxon. And he really needs no introduction. First full-time streamer to legend, like you could argue Dylab, but is Dylab really a streamer?
01:05:06
Speaker
Occasionally, but Axiom goes live basically every day and still made it super, super early. So GBL hero, incredible consistency at Play Pokemon events. Won an international championship already with the 2022 NAIC. Now he's shooting for his first EUIC victory.
01:05:27
Speaker
I have to say I could have put him even higher but I don't really see the proof of concept this season to justify a higher placement because he did well in Portland and Sacramento but he came 7th and 13th so that is really really good but it's not the the biggest favorite of them all to me just now still if you're up against its accent
01:05:54
Speaker
You also cannot be the favorite. At best, it can be a 50-50, because after all, he has proven to be the best in the world. Sorry, just writing a note here. So, I was doubting the world champion. I just want to make sure I write that down. Of course, not doubting. Of course, not doubting. I just said, oh, this guy finished seventh and 13th. He will surely make top four. This is very optimistic. I'm bullish on its accent. Interesting. Interesting. Okay.
01:06:25
Speaker
So it's accent doesn't make it into the top three. We have three trainers left for each of us. Uh, would you like to mention some top cut honorable mentions? I want to, I want to, like there's, there's tons honestly. And if you feel left out, you are probably on my 64 people long list. That's, that's nice to say, right? Like any of you can nothing. Oh, he thought of me.
01:06:49
Speaker
Um, and it's probably even true because I just so much, so much elite competition. Um, two of my honorable mentions are actually, uh, have actually been talked about in Emmy Weedle and Stattestan. Uh, my third honorable mention, again, fitting with the team, uh, theme of, um, people that beat me at previous originals is Pablo Dina's. Pablo Dina's, uh, very recent grand finalists had a great run of form.
01:07:16
Speaker
Um, I do think that especially these last few months were kind of his, and I do think that because the meta didn't really change, he does still have a strong claim to be included in a top 16 list, but yeah, just barely a start for me. I find this fascinating because you and I did not share our picks and you actually picked your, your honorable mentions just before we went live, right?
01:07:41
Speaker
just scrolling through. My number three honorable mention is actually Pablo Ndinas. Nice. Yeah. For the same reasons, right? A trainer that made it so far, but kind of fizzled out when it came to the grand finals and had a really tough matchup. So I fully expect Pablo Ndinas' skill to show, show through. And I think that if he has a lot of success, that'll show that he's able to bounce back.
01:08:03
Speaker
But we don't know how he was going to respond. And that's why I, uh, I have him outside of my top 16, but as an honorable mention, because we have yet to see how a trainer like that takes a tough loss and whether they come back strong or maybe they take a little longer to get back on their feet. My second honorable mention is actually Alejandro DL formerly whiskey.
01:08:24
Speaker
I think, uh, all the under OTL is a, is a go battle league hero and a champion that, um, is kind of lying dormant. And I think that he will wake up for UIC and have a really good run. And then my number one honorable mention for UIC is nighttime clasher. Oh, this guy, this guy. Yeah. Yeah. That's not one of your top three North Americans that you're inevitably going to name in a second.
01:08:52
Speaker
Hmm. Interesting. You say that, but yeah, nighttime pleasure did not make it into my, my top three. And I say that just based on his experience at LAIC. I feel like the international championship is, is something that, uh, a trainer like NTC has not quite conquered yet. And I feel very worried for the Europeans when he does, uh, eventually get his footing at the ICs. But, uh, for now, I think he'll be content being a regional champion and having maybe a strong, uh, top 32 finish at a UIC 24.
01:09:22
Speaker
That is definitely fair. Yeah, I think so. Well, I think I'm going to add in a drum roll effect here as we head into our top three picks. All right. All right. Me first or you first? You go first. OK. Finishing in third place at EUIC 2024, I have Patoman. I have Patoman at number three. So we agree on this.
01:09:52
Speaker
Let's go get out of here. That's crazy. Yeah. I, I really, this is a trainer that I highlighted during my, uh, UIC pre-show segment as well. Uh, one of the most important moments I think for us as a community was seeing a trainer that has fought so hard, finally get his, his grand finals victory and seeing all the emotion just, uh, out in the open, you know, it was, um,
01:10:15
Speaker
It was beautiful to watch his success. And I think that Pato man will have an incredibly strong showing at EUIC because I think now that he has that taste of victory, he knows what it takes to really win. I think he's going to put things into the next level, the next gear forward as he goes into London this weekend.
01:10:33
Speaker
Definitely. Like he competed in five tournaments overall. He managed to reach the grand finals in 60% of them. And the two tournaments he didn't reach the grand finals in were Worlds, which is like
01:10:50
Speaker
the biggest and most competitive tournament of the year. And then the 17th place at Liverpool this year. And even 17th is not bad at all. Talking as someone who just also reached 17th at Liverpool. And yeah, like, again, I faced off against Partoman in three series and three best of fives in Barcelona. And
01:11:15
Speaker
I had a massive team comp advantage over him. It was not even funny. And he still managed to initially knock me down to the loser's side of the bracket. So incredibly strong competitor and yeah, definitely one of Europe's and the world's best.
01:11:32
Speaker
Interesting. We agreed on number three. Interesting. Okay. So as I say, I, I insist that you say your runner up first and I, and I will follow. And then I'll say the, the champion first. So we'll kind of alternate here. Who is your number two finisher? My number two finisher is none other than Dunberg 97.
01:11:58
Speaker
Okay. I don't hear any, any screams of agreement from the other side just yet. Um, yeah, I do think that next to next soul, Lyle Jeffs, and maybe Yakova Vicin Rajiv, he has been the most dominant performer and play Pokemon tournaments this season, like two wins. That's just.
01:12:21
Speaker
Amazing and everytime he doesn't win, he still does super super well. He goes up against strong competition in every single time he battles. The tournaments he won were in super small tournaments, it was just...
01:12:35
Speaker
versus the best of the best. And he made it even more difficult for himself by getting knocked out to the quizzes, break it round one in one of them. So yeah, he has probably taken down the most high level opponents of all competitors this season. And yeah, like if he doesn't staff an event, he's probably the favorite too, or one of the favorites to take it all.
01:13:01
Speaker
Just on recent tournament placements, he would probably even have a strong claim to be the number one here. But again, his last four placements were 17th, 1st, 17th and 1st. So the same way this metric works for Colin, it kind of works against Bloomberg, because he kind of has to come 17th again. But just based on skill and reputation, I had to put him up here into the top three.
01:13:30
Speaker
And I decided to give him the number two slot. So the reason I disagree is because at NAIC last season, Doonbug went a little bit outside of the box. I think he had already qualified for Worlds at that point after winning in Arlington, and he decided to bring Trevenant to EUIC. And this was in the midst of the shadow Charizard Renaissance. And, you know, truth be told, Trevenant did not work out well.
01:13:58
Speaker
And he picked a very kind of off meta, exciting Pokemon. That was fun that he wanted to play. Maybe you could argue he took his foot off the gas a little bit because he was already qualified for worlds. Um, hard Jeff did become the first trainer in the world to reach a thousand championship points, but Doonbug is not far behind.
01:14:14
Speaker
So there is a bit of a concern in my mind. If June bug is going to have fun, play something he thinks will be interesting. Or if he's going to be the NA boost bug that absolutely steam rolls. Any, when he comes into contact with six Pokemon with the Bush shots, let's go. Exactly. Exactly. Number two overall, I paid my full respect, my total respect to the current reigning world champion. I have its accent finishing second overall at UIC.
01:14:46
Speaker
It is still very close to my 4th place, because let me just say that, but yeah. It is, it is. Obviously, super fair to say. It's a grand finals difference, right? This is a trainer who, by my list, took down either Potaman or Skofo or both.
01:15:03
Speaker
So I definitely think it's a, it's a tall order for its accent, but I do think he's, he's capable of it. And I think that especially after maybe some lackluster performances, he's really looking to dial in and, uh, improve that he's still the champ because as you get closer and closer to worlds and defending your crown, I think he's going to accelerate his practice schedule in kind. And maybe he's trying to make a statement at EUIC. So I feel like it's accident will be our second place finisher. Yeah. All right. Are you ready? I am.
01:15:35
Speaker
The 2024 EUIC champion is going to be, drumroll, Doonbug97.
Potential Champions and Surprises
01:15:48
Speaker
Who saw it coming? The NA Guardian who defeated Biblicious in Arlington last year. The Busch Bug who double boosted in two different games. He really predicted the all NA grand final. I can't believe it. The stars will align for Doon Bug as he travels across the Atlantic to London. He will pick a hardcore meta team that he's very comfortable with and he will stop everyone from the losers bracket, from the winners side bracket, no matter where he's coming from.
01:16:16
Speaker
He will be the EUIC 2024 champion. It is a very fair shot. I mentioned it when I talked about Dunbar myself that you might as well put him at number one just based on his showings this competitive season.
01:16:34
Speaker
I do not necessarily disagree with you, but I still went for another battler at number one for my list. This is the moment we've all been waiting for. He is known for his spicy team choices. He has won a tournament in the past. He is from Germany. I am obviously talking about
01:17:03
Speaker
It is stone collection. It's not me, it's stone collection. What can I say? I have put stone collection at my number one, but I did set it up in a way that you could have believed that it was me. I am not on my own list, but I think
01:17:19
Speaker
I know that this is a little more out there in terms of choosing an overall favorite. And I don't know whether Stone Collection would name himself as the big favorite to win it all. But I think his consistency has been incredible this season. He came fifth in Gdansk. He came fifth in Stuttgart. He came seventh in Liverpool. He came ninth in Dortmund. He came 17th in Utrecht. He won the LCQ, or his half of the LCQ,
01:17:47
Speaker
At that same menu in 2022, he did it with a samurai back in the day, which was like, I don't think anybody ever made samurai work before or after. He has got a lot of practice in from local events and
01:18:04
Speaker
We saw during Inadequance's Utrecht run how important that experience can be. And he also has been consistently picking the same core, at least the same four Pokemon for the last couple of tournaments. So he has the practice in. He has Shadow Dragonaire on his typical teams.
01:18:27
Speaker
which won the EUIC last year, and we have talked about how much dragons can break the course in this current meta, so I do think it will be very strong. He has Shadow Sable Eye on most of, if not all of his teams, and we just saw in Vancouver how good Shadow Sable Eye can perform in this current meta, just by how Lyle just played it to win the whole event.
01:18:51
Speaker
He loves the smallest. He knows them better than anybody. He has won at this venue before. He is very high up there in terms of championship points as well. He's incredibly consistent. I do think Stone Collection will be the EUIC 2024 champion. So you're predicting a Stone Collection Doonbug grand finals in which Doonbug loses. Exactly. A bold call.
01:19:16
Speaker
A bold and a brave call. Interesting. Interesting. No, I definitely respect stone collection a lot. I'm excited to see him really finish out his, his tournaments and, and finish things in EUIC. I feel like sometimes maybe this is just an incorrect read, but I feel like sometimes he gets a little discouraged or demoralized when he has a bad situation. I want to see him really fight for his, for his title at UIC.
01:19:42
Speaker
um but yeah you definitely got me with the misdirection i thought you were going to name yourself and i was i didn't know what i was going to say i was just going to end the recording what if an entirely fair to be fair it was it wouldn't have been that far off your own your own placement for me so we we almost agreed on that one but yeah i actually put someone that has not been mentioned at all neither um in the honorable honorable mentions nor in the in the top six seal
01:20:09
Speaker
And I see why just because, oh, there has not been that grand finals appearance. The only win has been from two years ago, but I just have a feeling, right? And there were so many factors, like so many ideas that I got from previous tournaments and everything just
01:20:27
Speaker
I came together when I thought about what stone collection actually brings to the competition because it does have the experience both with his team and from local events, which I think the inadequacy around the new trait highlighted really well. He does have the exact right core breakers, Cresselia meta, he's the shadow sable eye guy. Everything else was dragons, he's the shadow dragon eye guy. And then I believe in the magic of the venue and I feel like it's a risky pick.
01:20:56
Speaker
But sometimes you have to risk something and that's how you win ICs. And I do think the guy who won a tournament with Samara is risking some things. Yeah, that's why he's my number one pick. Well, just think about EUIC historically. I mean, who had Ares on their tab as winning the first ever EUIC, a trainer that had never even hit legend?
01:21:18
Speaker
You had Aries picked, right? And then you look at, at 2023, and you saw Nezobethan in the grand finals. I mean, that's a trainer that we, you know, know is a very talented, uh, trainer from the region. But then you look at Tonton Batous winning and maybe you're more familiar with Tonton than I was, but I did not have Tonton on my radar. I knew him as, um, a big master league factions guy, but I had no idea that. Hey, he was the spicy and B he was this good at OGL show six.
01:21:47
Speaker
Yeah. So maybe UIC will be full of surprises. We'll have to find out. I think that's an incredible list. Uh, what I think we'll do is for everyone that listened to the episode, you'll get the list early. But I think as we head into the end of day two competition, or at least prior to top cut, maybe we can release our list on Twitter and we can, we can get some feedback and people can listen to our reasoning if they choose to do so. So we can kind of double dip our content that way. But, uh,
01:22:16
Speaker
But that being said, why don't we run over our top three meta picks and then end with some closing thoughts? I like that. I like that a lot.
Risky Meta Choices
01:22:24
Speaker
And I will take it away with my number three. And if people listen closely to some of the picks that I highlighted when talking about the competitors, they might have picked up a few hints on the picks that I brought. And my number three pick, because it's de-riskiest, it is shadow magnetism. I do think in a meta with
01:22:45
Speaker
Plenty of shadowed Ligar. Having basically a Registeal equivalent that can beat that dominant ground type is just really really strong. And even Pokemon like counter-users such as Vigaroth or Poliwrath really
01:23:05
Speaker
struggle against a well-positioned Shadow Magnezone. They still beat it straight up, but Poliwrath gets one shot by a wide charge, and Vigoroth can't really do any charged attack damage to a Magnezone. So I think it's a difficult Pokémon to use, but one that can really pop off if you overload on energy.
01:23:26
Speaker
Uh, you know what? So I, I'm just going to say this. I'm just going to say this because this is really how I feel. I think that there will not be a single Magnezone in the top 16. I think that is a fair call because it's not a Pokemon many people would risk to bring, but we've seen in, I think a little earlier this season where an eloquence piloted a shadow Magnezone to top three, that it does have a place in the meta. And I do think that if people took the risk, they would be rewarded.
01:23:57
Speaker
Interesting. Well, that makes my pick sound really boring. That's entirely fine. It will not get us outlandish after this. Okay. My number three pick for meta breakers or top meta choices for UIC 2024 is Shadow Sableye.
01:24:13
Speaker
I feel like Lyle, yeah, Lyle made a big proof of concept in Vancouver. I think that there's so many annihilate, especially in EU, like we talked about at the beginning of the show, and famously Colin popularized Cresselia in EU. And I think that Shadow Sableye breaks them both.
01:24:29
Speaker
And I think that in search for a neutral pick that can also go toe-to-toe with Gligar or Registeal or even Whiscash in certain shield situations, I think Shadow Sableye is going to be a neutral pick that a lot of trainers lean on. And I think it'll have a lot of success.
01:24:46
Speaker
I tried that in a practice tournament and I really liked it. If you just look on the flat Sims, it's not as consistent as the regular Stable Eye, but Stable Eye in general is a Pokémon that really thrives with an energy advantage, and that energy advantage just hits WSR if you pair it with a Shadow bonus.
01:25:06
Speaker
I can definitely see Shadow Sable Eye make a huge appearance in Top Card. I would not be as bold as you predict that, oh, your pick will not make any appearance. I do think Shadow Sable Eye is actually legit. Yeah, so is my number two. But it's not as exciting, I would say, just because it is used a lot currently. But I do think that
01:25:35
Speaker
We will see plenty of Cresselia, so many Cresselia. The Grand Finals in Vancouver had only one shared Pokemon, if I remember correctly, and that was Cresselia. I don't think the jury's in yet in terms of whether you should prioritize Moondust over future side or vice versa. We think both have utility. The increase in Shadow Sableye and Potential Dragons might make the case for Moondust more appealing.
01:26:04
Speaker
But you know that the Europeans like their talent fame and against that you would prefer the future side. And yeah, I do think that if we talk about Pokemon that are somewhat
01:26:16
Speaker
gated have some accessibility issues. I do think Cresselia is one of them, not because you don't get it below 1,500. I do think that's quite possible. But you also do want this really good ID combination with Hybulk, especially a good defense stat to reach some important book points. And if you have a great Cresselia, you should definitely use that to your advantage at USC. It will be very strong.
01:26:43
Speaker
Yeah, I think we might even see, uh, half of our top cut with Chris Celia. I think it's just that, uh, that strong, that potent and that useful, uh, in the current metal landscape, when you have so many Gligar, so many whisk, cash, so many, uh, even annihilate bright, you can eat a shadow ball. I think Chris Kelly is fantastic. Maybe that's why you picked Lurgan. Because, uh, it is one of the things that I sprinkled in Lurgan's been known for it. Uh, my number two pick is Altaria.
01:27:12
Speaker
I think that a lot of, yeah, a lot of trainers have surprised us in LATAM and also EU with the Alteria usage. We saw Rubik's play it in Vancouver as well. And I feel like that's a neutral dragon type Pokemon that can just chew through a lot of the new, the, uh, the common neutral match-ups, whether it be whisk, cash, Gligar or even charge bug in certain situations. And, uh, it's a little chip with a little help. It can take down look at tongue and the like.
01:27:37
Speaker
So, Shadow Sableye and Altaria so far for me, Shadow Magnezone and Cresselia so far for you, what is your number one meta pick? My number one meta pick is actually probably the hardest answer to Altaria. It is Shadow Alone and Sandslash. You said you almost had it picked as one of your three top meta corebreakers, but I do think that this might be another moment where Shadow Alone and Sandslash just shines.
01:28:06
Speaker
Just because we've mentioned dragons as potential Corebreakers, I'm expecting a ton of Cresselia. And I've learned from practice that you always need at least one Pokémon that makes it so that a Dragon Arrow or a similar Dragon-type Pokémon with its Dragon Breath damage can't just freely switch into you and realign and get Switch Advantage from you.
01:28:28
Speaker
And I do think that Alolan Sandslash, with its widely unresistant coverage of Ice Punch and Drill Run, it's just an excellent choice to do so and has a very quick pacing to its moves. And while it is doubly weak to both fire and fighting, if you just build your team around it in a way that you
01:28:48
Speaker
deter the usage of Pokemon like Talonflame and Denial Ape. I do think it will find a ton of openings and can really sweep a match. Both the Powder Snow variant, which breaks the Likitang Laiga core, and the Shadowclaw variant, which is
01:29:05
Speaker
a bit more reliable versus the likes of lantern or cresselia. I think both have merit and I think we'll actually, this is my prediction. We'll see one, at least one alone in sand slash with each faster tech in the top cut. Interesting. Interesting. Yeah. My heart wants shadow alone sand slash to succeed.
01:29:27
Speaker
But my brain remembers what Lyle did to rubix's shadow loneson slash in Vancouver. And I just don't see it. I just don't see it happening. There's too much ground coverage, uh, too much fire, too much fighting. I think shadow loneson slash has a place. And I, I honestly like, I see where you're coming from. I see the potential for beating Gligar for, for going back and forth with lantern for countering the dragons, which are so threatening, but it's just such a polarizing Pokemon, maybe now more than ever.
01:29:57
Speaker
And I feel like, um, even though we did see it in the world championships in Yokohama, I don't think that this is its moment per se. I feel like there needs to be a couple more things that shift in the meta in order to really open up things for a lowland sand slash personally. That's my thought. Well, if you noticed, I picked a dragon number two and I have two Pokemon so far that have charm weaknesses.
Final Thoughts and Personal Strategies
01:30:20
Speaker
Well, I'm doubling and then tripling down because I think EYC 2024 is the first tournament
01:30:27
Speaker
that a Guzzlord is going to win. We've had Guzzlord in second place multiple times, top cut numerous times. I think that this is the first Guzzlord championship ever.
01:30:40
Speaker
I don't necessarily disagree. I had Guzzlord on my, like not only on my shortest for my top three picks, but I can leak that it is also on my team of six for EUIC. So I'm definitely a big Guzzlord believer. I do think the nice thing about Guzzlord is not only that it has all the upsides of a typical dragon type beating those elemental types such as fire and water relatively reliably,
01:31:09
Speaker
But it is also so bulky that it just dragon tails down those other dragons if your opponent should also opt for a dragon tail lead. Like if there's a dragon there in the lead, you just shield once and farm it all the way down. And that's just something that
01:31:28
Speaker
is so valuable, like you want a Pokemon that you don't always have to shield, right? That's also why people opt for Altaria over something like a Pelipper that would also wall the Wiscash in a similar way. But, um, like a Pelipper would probably still get knocked out by two Skalds and a little bit of ship, while Altaria just sits there and takes three Skalds like a champ. So,
01:31:55
Speaker
Yeah, I can, I can definitely agree with the bulky menacing dragon type. Gaslorn, big fan of it. Interesting. All right. So as well, EUIC is this weekend. I wanted to, uh, I know I'm sure other friends have wished you luck, but I want to be your first podcast co-host to wish you the best of luck. And, uh,
01:32:15
Speaker
I think you'll have a great tournament experience and I'm here to hear your story after you come back. But yeah, I think this is a great preview. If people like this and enjoy this and have gotten this far, we'd love to hear your thoughts on if we should do another one for NAIC and maybe continue this into the further. But do you have any closing thoughts before we move on?
01:32:38
Speaker
Uh, my thought on my mind was that for NAIC, we might actually be in the same place because like for recording, even, because I arrived relatively early for the, for the event. Um.
01:32:52
Speaker
So that will be interesting just logistically. And other than that, I'm just looking forward so much to seeing all the people at UIC, even if the tournament performance itself isn't all that thrilling. It would still be an amazing time just because I don't always get the opportunity to not only see all my European friends, but also some of the Americans. So actually it will just be a great weekend no matter what happens.
01:33:20
Speaker
Awesome. I agree. I think those, those experiences are unlike any other, uh, make sure to go to the same after party as EJ and Lurgan because they're a great time. And, uh, yeah, I agree. It's going to be phenomenal. I think, I think you are going to do better than you currently believe. And, uh, I would take that. I'm not, I'm not opposed to that at all. And I do feel a little better after my recent practice performance. And we can sound clip that when you win. And, uh, and I'll say, and I'll say, I told you so.
01:33:48
Speaker
One thing about the I told you so, before my Barcelona win, I actually changed my Discord name and my faction server to Barcelona, especially Van Champion.
01:34:04
Speaker
And that was like the weekend before the actual event. I manifested that, so I should probably just change my name to EUSC 2024 Champion just now. Maybe that helps out a little bit. It will be such a difficult task to accomplish.
01:34:24
Speaker
Yeah. And also on top of that, we'll have to change the intro. I can't just call you as wireless anymore. I'll have to be like, and joining me, I co-host the EUIC 2024 champion. I should just win. So you have to give me credit for the entire episode. I think that's my number.
01:34:40
Speaker
Well, we'll see. I think we still have a lot, uh, writing on our, our top 16 bets. I'm betting on all North American grand finals and you're betting on Doonbug to lose in the grand finals. So it's very polarizing, but we'll see. It is, it is. We can't let the Americans take this.
01:34:57
Speaker
We'll see. The NA guardian himself is going to be there. He stopped, he stopped to be delicious from taking the first out of region championship. So I fully expect doing to show up, but that being said, it's why it's just been a fun episode of fun preview. I think that's a, that's all from us for today. And I'll see you on the other side of the UIC for sure.