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E22 // Koojee.. Ko-foo... Cow-fed... it's Kuifje00!!!
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Join us on Tap Tap Cast as we talk with Kuifje00, the Belgian sensation with the most un-pronounceable name! Kuifje00 took third place at the 2025 EUIC, knocking out casters and players alike, and ending up being the only trainer in the top eight who had not won a championship YET. The crew chats about the show six format, Kuifje00's rise to greatness, and the cheapest place to buy groceries in the Netherlands.
Follow the crew!
Amanda // www.twitter.com/Lundberger
Martijn // www.twitter.com/InadequancePOGO
Kuifje00 // www.twitter.com/Kuifje00
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Transcript
Introduction to TapTapCast and Guest
00:00:00
Speaker
Hi, welcome to a brand new episode of TapTapCast. My name is Mortain, you also know me as Inadequates. Here's my co-host, that is Lundberger, Amanda. It's been a while. mean, I guess we have seen each other recently in London at the European International Championships, but we haven't really a chance to talk too much outside of that.
00:00:22
Speaker
Yeah, I can't help that I get ignored by you all the time. And you're always like a busy caster woman and and
Introducing Kuipje from Belgium
00:00:30
Speaker
all of that. We just came back from the EUIC.
00:00:33
Speaker
We actually have a guest from the EUIC as well. You want to introduce him? Well, i could, but I actually want to do you the honors of getting his name absolutely 100% correct for the very first intro. So go ahead, take it away, Martijn.
00:00:47
Speaker
It is Kuipje. There you go. Welcome in, Kuipje, Walter. How are you doing? What's going on? I'm doing well. Thank you. Thank you for introducing For those not super familiar with you, I mean, if you watch the UIC, they probably do know because you whooped my butt.
00:01:03
Speaker
oh Who are you exactly? Can you give us a quick introduction? So I'm from Belgium. I'm 24, tomorrow 25.
00:01:15
Speaker
And I'm still studying history at the university. um And yeah, I rolled into Pokemon Go, I think, year and a half ago.
00:01:26
Speaker
A year and a half? I mean, seriously, yeah. But you already had your accounts for a longer time. yeah Yeah, but I wasn't like playing B2B seriously. And just to be clear, you're 24, so you were born after 2000. At 2000 exactly.
00:01:42
Speaker
ah This makes me feel... Yeah, makes your heart hurt a little bit. With these babies beating up on you. They're too good nowadays, man.
00:01:53
Speaker
it It's like Pockets, now there's another one, Kaifia. Well, I guess Kaifia's at least in his 20s, so there theres there's there's that. That's true. Yeah, and when did you start playing?
Kuipje's Early Pokémon Go Journey
00:02:05
Speaker
um like I started playing GO the moment it came out, but I started playing PvP. like I played it occasionally, gpll but I never got above 2000 rating, let's say like that.
00:02:18
Speaker
um I actually went to EOIC 2022, for example, but I didn't know what I was doing. Oh, you competed in it. just went for the vibes, because I just wanted to to
00:02:30
Speaker
see original action. Yeah. Because I saw you there on the big screen. Yeah, I did some wicked and bad stuff there. Oh, I see it! I didn't even know!
00:02:43
Speaker
Yeah, that's cool. yeah That is really cool. is I never knew. okay So let's let let's kind of go back on that then. What was your experience? Was that the thing that got you into PvP after playing that and being like, oh, there's like a whole other realm of this game that I could actually kind of be good at versus where you were ah just a couple weeks ago? So...
00:03:04
Speaker
That didn't do it for me, actually, because I didn't have self or like any local competitions that I had access to. Like I only had GBL and i didn't like I wasn't such a big fan of GBL back in the day. Like I did it because it was fun, but like I didn't love to do it. Let's say it's very contradictive, but go on.
00:03:25
Speaker
Yeah, I know what you mean. Yeah. So I never also had the resources, let's say like that, to like actually deep dive into this stuff. um but then like it changed for me in like liel 2024 like last season i think it is 2024 season but like it wasn't yeah that's yeah your next tournament after uicic yeah and like i saw that was like really close by and i was like oh let's let's give it another try and i actually met mei shuka there um and he like got me in contact with the baton team and i've never looked back since that
00:04:03
Speaker
Okay, okay, good to know. um Before going deeper into that, um so you played Go, yes? This question is very important.
00:04:13
Speaker
Have you played other Pokemon games as well? Oh, blah, blah, blah. I don't think there's a game that I have not played that's Pokemon related. Dude, you always have me, you always have me like, there another one who hasn't played other Pokemon games?
00:04:28
Speaker
Yeah, like, I don't want to know how many hours I got in like the main game in the main series. So it helps you a lot. Then you already know the typings and stuff very well. For instance, that kind of thing. Yeah.
00:04:42
Speaker
Because like the thing is, I played more shiny hunting back in the day. So like you don't need typings that much for it. But yeah, still like in the main series or in Go? and main series.
00:04:53
Speaker
Dude, that's so boring. um No offense to everyone doesn't. I think it's it's so much of a grind. Like, we have 1 in 400 chances or something here.
Magic Tricks and Joining Belgian Smurfs
00:05:03
Speaker
In the main game, it's freaking 1 in 4,000 or something.
00:05:06
Speaker
That is... I tried it too, and I've been successful a little bit, but... Ugh, never do I want to see a Larritar again. um You met Mainshuka. What's he already from the at at the Belgium Smurfs at the time?
00:05:20
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's been one of the OGs, one of the players who's been around since the very beginning, although, you know, off and on. I think a lot of times players, they take a healthy break a little bit at times, and I think Manchuga right now is on a bit of a break, but he's one of the only players who I don't think I've actually ever won a best of three against, which is really frustrating.
00:05:42
Speaker
Interesting. Okay. I beat Walter in ah in a most recent ah Cup and Challenge, so... You beat me in the challenge. Wait, you did? I did, yeah. It was true, you beat me in the cup. Hold up, Amanda competed.
00:05:56
Speaker
Oh wait, that's the one you guys ditched me on. Yeah, that's one we were like, don't tell Martijn. But Leo, I know that you want to meet up with your other favorite casting friend, so yeah, come to this in Belgium. was fun, actually.
00:06:08
Speaker
It was so fun. Yeah. Yeah, just just emphasize even more. was so much fun. hanging out with the community and just being friends with everyone there. i have fun at my locals here too, just because you guys aren't there.
00:06:21
Speaker
um Could you not find a better team than Belgian Smurfs? Well, funny you should say that.
00:06:28
Speaker
he actually did, did
00:06:32
Speaker
Yeah, I kind of have a new team now, like from the X-Faction map, so... but let's Let's get to that let's go get to that later. let' let's try like i know sometimes We give a spoiler alert yet. The topics go all over the place sometimes, um but i'm I'm trying to keep it ah timeline-wise chronically.
00:06:52
Speaker
um Okay, but you joined Belgian Smurf, right? Who all did lawitch you meet there? Is that how you like got more into the community? Yeah, like 100%. So I first started playing Gym Breakers.
00:07:04
Speaker
That was like my first introduction to the Belgian team. Not even factions. With the Belgians? With the Belgians. And from there out, I got like into the B-teams of the Smurfs. um And the next season they put me in the A-team.
00:07:17
Speaker
So like that was my like journey into it. But like I started playing Gym Breakers. I still remember it was like... Miltink was meta when I started playing Gym Breakers. You still play Gym Breakers?
00:07:28
Speaker
Yeah, does with with Belgium still. He's from Belgium with with with Amanda. Yeah. And Boom. Yeah. no Boom was like my main pairing. So like me and Boom actually, I learned a lot from him because like i that was my first contact, my first pair made with him. He's pretty good. You know, he's been successful. Lewis, all right.
00:07:53
Speaker
don't know if you know him.
00:07:56
Speaker
Yeah. did Did you ever want to join Netherlands or like a better team? um I don't think a thought of that ever like crossed my mind. Oh, surprising. No, trust me. He's entertaining other offers now, Martijn. Now's the time to grab him. At the height of his fame. There's really some... Okay, there' there's there's something. I'm trying to keep funny. with It looks like there's some rivalry here. that that's That's funny.
00:08:23
Speaker
Who's your favorite teammate at Belgian Smurfs?
00:08:28
Speaker
I can't really name somebody, but I'll have to say... You have to pick a name. yeah have because it's lit Listen, you have to insult 10 people here and make one happy. Not even 10, 20. We have our baby team. Sure. Insult 20 people and make one happy. You have to pick a name.
00:08:45
Speaker
I'll say Sloking. Like we're doing every single event together. Like we're always rooming together. And like from from the team out, he's my best buddy in the team.
00:08:56
Speaker
You know him from Gym Breakers or from Belgian Smurfs? ah Like I know him from Gym Breakers. But like, I mean, Gym Breakers and the Belgian Smurfs is so like interconnected. Like that's not really so that much of a difference. Yeah, that's true.
00:09:15
Speaker
So that's why Belgium was also very low ranked. Oh, come on. I think we're actually pretty high ranked. Not as high the Netherlands, but I think we're like top 10. Look, just for the viewers who are like, why is this guy giving Belgium so much shade? There's like ah a friendship, but also a rivalry between Netherlands and Belgium. Belgium basically are southern part of the country.
00:09:38
Speaker
But in history, that that kind of changed. And now they're like their own stuff. And they they have a ah weird way to say like price. I have a much, much better accent. Yeah, you're right.
00:09:50
Speaker
we can agree to disagree there i can barely understand uh at least i can pronounce name correct know so i have to go for me yeah have you have you always lived in belgium country ah Yeah, but I like actually live quite close to the Netherlands.
00:10:09
Speaker
I live in Mazayk normally if I don't like eleven live in Loewe during the weekend. During the week, but like in the weekend I live in Mazayk. And it's like 10 minutes from the Dutch border.
00:10:21
Speaker
So like we sometimes go there to do groceries because it's like cheaper than... Really? please Wait. Yes, it is. Groceries in Netherlands are cheaper?
00:10:32
Speaker
Sometimes, yeah. Where you go, Lidl? No, what's it called? It's not Albert Heijn, but it's like the yellow one. Yeah, Jumbo. No, yeah okay, okay, and maybe, maybe.
00:10:44
Speaker
but dang And we've lost half of our listeners. I'm just kidding, just kidding. Right, right, right, sorry. What was the first loco you competed in? Was it the one you we we played?
00:10:58
Speaker
Yeah, that was my first local actually. You want to tell our viewers what kind of nasty tricks you pulled on me there? Yeah, I played like pretty neutral lines, like some standard ABB stuff. ABA, yeah. i Make sure to raise arrange the letters correctly.
00:11:13
Speaker
Pretty much the same, right? But yeah, I remember the theme I played was like Skeldur's figure-up. like Griselia with FutureSide. Yeah, and Lantern.
00:11:23
Speaker
Yeah, most which was really good against your Gislar knife. Yeah, he even like lead one of them after the other one in the back. Yeah, it was really good. Was Amanda there? Do you remember? Yeah, yeah, I was there.
00:11:34
Speaker
I was a reffing of it at first because it was the first time that that place had done a GO tournament and there was no GO people there. So I didn't know how it was like all set up exactly.
00:11:46
Speaker
So they asked me if I would come and judge it. And i even though I'm not technically a judge, I said I can at least go and make sure everything's running smoothly. which Would you not want to like broadcast one of those? I think that was something that you thought about.
00:11:57
Speaker
think would be fun, wouldn't it? i mean ah So Shmon, the guy who does it with the TCG and the v the VG stuff, he actually does the casting for VG and casts it live. So I think it could be something that is interesting if he would let us do it.
00:12:11
Speaker
But I don't know. I think it's a little difficult in the sense that... um If you're casting it, it's so it is live. So in case the cast or the players hear you saying, oh, it's this charge attack or this is happening, I don't know if that will affect any of the outcome.
00:12:31
Speaker
It's not like you can go too far away from it or anything. I guess, I mean, I think we can work around that a little bit. Maybe try referencing it. But what I want to go on as well in here, I believe there have been so many locals in Belgium lately.
00:12:47
Speaker
Do you go to many of those? I try to go to as many of them as possible because like I love to you see the community. A lot of my friends are like like spread around the country.
00:12:59
Speaker
You always have minimum 4 there as the locals? A minimum, yeah. I think Gank, my local, um is like a minimum of 10 people. Yeah.
00:13:10
Speaker
I talk to a lot of people there. ah Like, I do all the raid hours. Like, not all the raid hours, but like I do every community day there. And I've convinced like quite a few people to actually like try it out.
00:13:21
Speaker
And it's always fun. They
Local Competitions and Community Tactics
00:13:23
Speaker
try to bring Garbank every single time. Of course. Of course. yeah But yeah, it's like one of the downsides. I will say that Kalfi's girlfriend played in the loco that we played, and she she caught up couple moves. I mean, she was doing some fancy stuff. So I think of his his teachings, she said that he's been teaching her a little bit every time, and every time she plays, she gets a little bit better.
00:13:47
Speaker
And I think that that's a good indication. i was like, okay. She knew when the the attack was going to happen. She caught a move, and I was like, all right, all right. Is it like actual catches or is it like... um So I had a friend of mine who... Well, I still had a friend.
00:14:01
Speaker
Not a friend anymore. He caught too many moves from you. yeah So he he was just catching for the flexes, but then he caught like an avalanche on a goal bat. Is it that kind of catch or like an Akutil on a zoom roll catch?
00:14:13
Speaker
I think it was like a play rough onto her own zoom roll or something. you know Something that was like, okay, mean, it was a legit catch. Okay, okay. Maybe, yeah maybe Kalfi is decent at teaching or just, just, just, uh, well, he is a teacher, right?
00:14:27
Speaker
Well, you are. yess Yeah. I'm a mathematics teacher actually. Mathematics in history. I already got one degree, so. Okay. Kalfi is also a magician. Wait, hold up.
00:14:39
Speaker
Tell me more. Yeah, tell us more hi Show us a trick right now. I don't have any cards with but i I love to do, like I think I was like into magic for like two or three years. like Learning stuff.
00:14:55
Speaker
Because it's a great way to entertain at parties or like just have fun in general as well. I won so many beers with like one trick. like Wait, hold up. Tell me more. It's a trick.
00:15:08
Speaker
And I always say to them, like, If you know for sure it's your car, like better, like an entire pack, like we say Dutch, like 24 beers. betted on it and they're always like so sure of themselves because they saw happen and then they lose 24 beers and it's it's it's it's really nice 24 beers 24 beers for you or that's no that's that's also how he makes his friends i got 22 more beers we drink them together mostly it's not i i will be at least there um
00:15:46
Speaker
But OK, so this what did you think about him? when Because this was at the local, I think the first time that you guys played against each other, right? And I believe that Kalfio won the cup and you won the challenge, right? But you guys were both in the finals for both of those events.
00:16:02
Speaker
And that was probably your first time playing against him, right, Martijn? I can't remember exactly what he was. Yeah, we played the Cup or Challenge first. I can't remember exactly how it was. I think it was the Cup.
00:16:13
Speaker
We played the Cup first, and I played Winners Finals against Martell. Was that where I played Double Charm? I think that was the Challenge that you played Double Charm, because we played the Challenge after, and I lost in top four against you of the Challenge, not in Finals.
00:16:30
Speaker
In Finals was you against the... Possibly. I don't remember Supo. I just remember your your annoying ABA lines. And then, you know what's the worst? I mean, you've probably already heard me saying this before.
00:16:45
Speaker
You know what Kaifi does? he's He's locking in his team. And, you know I'm sitting there because I just picked three Pokemon. like, whatever. We'll see what happens. And he's like, I really want to make this call. I really want to do it.
00:16:56
Speaker
I'm like, no, don't do it. Don't play the ABA. He's going to call my line. That's my memory. I'm gonna be completely honest, like back then I didn't even know I was playing EBA.
00:17:08
Speaker
I didn't even know what like an EBA was back then. um So yeah. You're you're forgiven. Well, not really, because you didn't let me win at EOSC. um yeah no I will say though, when Kotwi and I played at the challenge, I remember thinking he plays sometimes an obscure thing that you wouldn't think that he would play.
00:17:31
Speaker
And then I called his lead two games in a row because of it. But because I remember you saying it to Martijn, like, oh, he's playing lines that I, just didn't make any sense that he would play this line. So I was like, okay, all right.
00:17:43
Speaker
Just don't play Guzzlord against him. what what At what point did you feel like you were improving at the game? um I felt like my first big like improvement, like I've got like two memories which like for me served as a really good point.
Significant Gameplay Improvements
00:17:58
Speaker
The first like big confidence boost on was like beating Exxon at EOSC last year. but last was like a point Yeah, I beat him at EOSC last year.
00:18:09
Speaker
Oh wait, you did, I remember! Yeah, you were defending us from the Americans, very good, good job. Yeah, so like that's like that memory I remember because like I didn't feel like I played like really alignment based against him and I still got the win.
00:18:23
Speaker
So I was like, okay, illll I mean, this this means that at least have improved, which like told me that at least I was improving. Like if you can be the player of that caliber, you're doing something right at least.
00:18:35
Speaker
And the other one is Worlds of 24. like i got pretty close to day two if i can say so myself like i had it like a rough first run uh i played against fic where's the snapper he put me into losers immediately but then i uh beat kazim lyle motix and my dad against bolasha and i threw that game against polasha really hard otherwise i was like one game away from uh they do it worlds and was like okay that's pretty pretty good
00:19:08
Speaker
yeah I mean it's not number 2 at the Worlds, but not everybody can do that. We'll get to the more time boosting ego moment later. I think Axon was playing Medicham. Medicham may not have been good at UIC, I think. You played Guzzlord there as well.
00:19:26
Speaker
Annihilate, you're one of those?
00:19:31
Speaker
I used to be, yeah. ah but ah Yeah, I mean, Anale was good. I guess Nicely was was a little bit all of RNG in itself, often, right? With 1 and 8 chance to get the double boost.
00:19:46
Speaker
Okay, EIC, Worlds. Kavio, what did you think of playing at Worlds or just visiting Worlds in general? I thought it was awesome. um I stayed with the Germans and Alejandro.
00:19:57
Speaker
Oh, Alejandro, big fan. It was certainly adventure. But yeah, it was like, honestly, super fun.
00:20:08
Speaker
I bonded with so many people there. I loved like the fight that Worlds gave as well. Like an entire like weekend where Pokemon was like so central, like you felt it in the wild. was like the Pokemon vibe to say the least.
00:20:21
Speaker
I think that was like, that's like a Pokemon fanatic. It's awesome, no? Like, seeing everything in the weekend, um, centralizing around that.
00:20:32
Speaker
Yeah. Was there any like big memories for, cause that was the first one that you attended and then you were, when everything changed for this new year and it was now ah championship points in the top 50 in each region for, I mean, for Europe and Latam 75 in the U S immediately, were you like, I know that I will qualify or I will at least push to qualify. Cause I want to do worlds again.
00:20:55
Speaker
and I'm not gonna lie, I was kind of a bit of afraid when it first happened because like i barely made Worlds last year. um And I was like, if I have like another season like that, probably won't make it.
00:21:10
Speaker
ah Especially after Dortmund, I went 2-2 there. But like I lost to Ilya and Robin, so some really good opponents. I don't blame myself, I don't think I played it really badly there.
00:21:21
Speaker
But yeah, like you're getting little afraid, like if you don't get points there, like you want to get points consistently, like at least improving there. and But as soon as I got points, like in deal, I did pretty well there.
00:21:33
Speaker
And then Stuttgart, I felt like after Stuttgart, I felt like i was safe almost because like 550 points almost, that's like you only only need like 100 points more. I think 600 points should be guaranteed world empire at that point for top 50.
00:21:49
Speaker
Yeah, probably. if um If you had your choice in it, would you prefer going back to like the other system of like if it's a certain point threshold, then you're automatically qualified? Or do you kind of, now that you are qualified, like that you had to grind a little bit for it and the feeling of like, okay, but now I know that I am in this top position ah to be considered for Worlds?
00:22:15
Speaker
um I think I like how it's now more because like you used to be able to like farm locals that's the way I made it I don't think I deserve to be there in all due respect so I don't think people like me who were who are on their first season should be able to go like to like the biggest event in the world I think you should deserve it um So yeah, um it might be a bit controversial, but I like this kind of thing more.
Competitive Circuit and Meta Discussion
00:22:45
Speaker
Although it's more pay to win now because like now people are just going to like, it's the people who do most events will probably be able to go to Worlds. So I think that's like a little drawback to it, but um I don't know how you can like counteract that.
00:23:01
Speaker
ah I strongly disagree with not deserving to go to Worlds. You're gonna have this season, I think as well, are around 200 people at Worlds. Not all 200 people will have a chance at winning it, right?
00:23:15
Speaker
You're going to have players that have just grinded out, happen to be the best in the region, happen to just get the points because the system allows them or put them in a position. Sometimes, Kaifeu, you need one good day or maybe a good weekend to get far, right? You don't...
00:23:29
Speaker
You don't need to be good sometimes. If you can just get an RP as well, look at me, i did firecoco. Right? I don't think not deserving is a... It's... ah I don't know. It's tough to say sometimes.
00:23:44
Speaker
So I don't think you should look at it from that side. Were you one of the favorites to win it? Probably not. so But hey, if you get there and I think the experience, especially considering last season's world was in Hawaii and the season before in Japan, I would, I don't think I would ever go there on my own.
00:24:04
Speaker
Like not, not, not that easily at least. yeah But you loved Japan after you were there, right? And now you're saying, oh I want to go back. I want to go back. yeah Even Hawaii. I mean, the flight was, oh my goodness, what a nightmare, the travel.
00:24:18
Speaker
But you know what? Maybe in like five years, if if my back still works after sitting playing RuneScape all day, I would want to go back to Hawaii. Maybe I visit the other islands as well because like I didn't visit more than...
00:24:31
Speaker
Just the main island. What's what's called again? Well, I mean, I didn't go much further than Honolulu either. Which was a waste, because we did do a round trip on that island, like in a car.
00:24:44
Speaker
Nature is mind-blowing. What do we have in the Netherlands or or Belgium? we We have ah ah some water and ducks. That's all we have.
00:24:55
Speaker
ah the Belgium has the Ardennes. It's pretty. But it's no sunrise volcano. yeah i went I will say I went to Maui and it was so way better. it I was like, okay, this island's like legit really, really cool.
00:25:09
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. I think the nature in Hawaii was like stupidly beautiful. But I don't think you should discredit our like or nature as well because like a lot of people who are like international and who come to Belgium like really enjoy the different kind of forests. it's like It's the way you see the forest as you're used to it that's like not special anymore as well.
00:25:35
Speaker
Yeah, so take that, Martijn.
00:25:38
Speaker
Okay, Mrs. American, sometimes speaking Europe, sometimes speaking USA. ah yeah The us has a really, really good landscapes and stuff because it's just so large, right? I mean, you can't really compare something that you would see in Belgium or the Netherlands because that still doesn't even make up the size of a state ah in the US.
00:25:59
Speaker
But then there's some really nice places. But regardless, now that you are are qualified for sure with your third place finish, ah What do you know about Anaheim? Are you going to make a little bit of an extra vacation for when you go to Worlds in August?
00:26:15
Speaker
um It's mostly gonna depend on how the rest of the season goes, I think. okay I'm gonna really fight for that Traveler Bar. Oh, wait. You're gonna be my competition? ah Yes, probably.
00:26:29
Speaker
What the Because like I'm at 14 now, but I still get like two entries, two extra amount of points. So if I do, and I can also max out my locals, which I haven't done yet, so I might get close.
00:26:42
Speaker
And like that little, like, that's a little bit, like, if you get a travel award, I would love to go to Mexico as well, because it's like pretty close each other. So like, I want to do like a double vacation.
00:26:53
Speaker
Which other tournaments are you going to attend? So I'm for sure doing Stockholm. Okay, that that's a good one, because I think it's like 50 signed up right now. only fifty I don't know I'm not signed up. I'm i'm not going there. so i wouldn't know but But I heard about 50 or 60. So not a lot at all.
00:27:10
Speaker
ah Yes, I'm doing Stockholm for sure. And then I might do Sevilla, depending on how Stockholm goes. um And I'm doing B-Track for sure, because like that's it one and a half hour car drive. yeah Yeah, we need we need some Belgians to knock out. You got to go to all those Jumbos and get like really, really cheap groceries, I heard.
00:27:31
Speaker
Yes, on the way back. Let's build up.
00:27:35
Speaker
yeah Yeah, that's it. Everything else kind Are you potentially in the candidates for the NAIC Travel Awards? And if so, would you consider that for your... Or is it not a possibility?
00:27:47
Speaker
um I think NAIC Travel Award is already closed. Is it already closed? I can't remember how that... Okay. It's Colin, Mee, Bartman, Ziesweiler. I think that's the four. Yeah.
00:27:58
Speaker
and Okay, okay. yeah yeah all people all people All day two competitors of EOIC. <unk>'re We're trying, I guess. yeah But you're not going to do a world without awards, is what you're saying.
00:28:14
Speaker
um I'm doing Worlds for sure. I'm not doing like a double vacation. That's what I mean with it. I'm going to Worlds for sure because like it's not as far as Hawaii even.
00:28:25
Speaker
that's o I mean, it's still far, but it's doable. And like if you sell your competitor kit, you can always do... Dude, you actually sell for like one k minimum. Yeah, and that's my round trip.
00:28:38
Speaker
Exactly. So like, if you really want to, you can almost do worlds for free. And I really liked it about it. Yeah, I think that's a nice thing for the competitors to be able to at least get a little bit of their money back because it is like a grind. it is I mean, it takes a lot to travel to all the different destinations and play against people. I didn't know that it was only 50 signed up for a Stockholm. maybe ah it's no yeah want Maybe I want to go try to see if I can get my qualification.
00:29:04
Speaker
Maybe they're awaiting the new meta because honestly, with the new meta looking as cool as it does, I do think we'll see like a little bit of a spike in players. It's so tempting me to sign of It is so tempting.
00:29:15
Speaker
It's so fun. Emoga as Meta Network. We finally got rid of the... The jump club. Yeah, we got rid of it. We got rid of it. It's done.
00:29:27
Speaker
do you think so what Looking at the new meta, is there anything besides the MOGA that's really popping out at you? or Are you already planning your team of six and you don't want to give away too much of the special sauce beforehand? I will say, Walter did show me his team before EUIC.
00:29:41
Speaker
ah And I was i was like, oh. He said, don't we won't show anyone until I'm day two. But then, yeah I really think Colossal Bald is going to be really good next season.
00:29:52
Speaker
It's like really neutral in lot of matchups. And like getting Aqua Jet in 5 makes it like a way more flexible pick than it it's right now. Because like you have 5-5 pacing on both your charge moves.
00:30:06
Speaker
And Bug Water is most the meta for Super Effective. um like You can beat Gator with it. um like It beats Tiersbeat pretty hard. um It beats Clot.
00:30:19
Speaker
and you got like neutral played with Shadow Claw, Liquidation, etc. against like most stuff. Like Dunsparce really bad, but I don't think we're going to be seeing that much Dunsparce after the move update.
00:30:31
Speaker
I agree. Bolt is interesting. i don't think it's as meta-defining. and i don't think Azumar and Drapion are gone immediately as well. um I'm going to let you in on the sauce.
00:30:43
Speaker
It's Guslord. Guzzlord beats like everything that's buffed. so It is actually crazy. And even Annihilate is...
00:30:52
Speaker
I'm not gonna say it's good matchup, but if they have close combat, combat they have to throw a close combat in zeros. And if if they let the Brutal Swing go, you might actually be able to shield just farm down. It's actually an insane pick if there's no... if people Especially if people are like, okay, well, Azumarill no longer is the truth. I'm gonna play Lapras as my prime water type.
00:31:11
Speaker
Guzzler cooks all of that. Everything that comes with it. Like, I i expect some Lapras Sablelight Core. Yeah, Guzzler eats that. Devours it. Yum, yum, yum. Guzzlord is not that good against Shadow Sable though with like the Dazzling Gleam. Although I don't know if people are going to run Dazzling Yeah, exactly. That's what I think. Because Power Gem is such a good attack and I don't believe Dazzling Gleam gives as much coverage. I think Power Gem is what you want for Lapras. Exactly.
00:31:36
Speaker
Maybe if you expect Guzzlord, yeah, maybe you want Dazzling Gleam and then it may be able to win. don't I think you still get bad paced regardless. So Martijn, since you're probably not going to ah Stockholm,
00:31:48
Speaker
what what What would be a core or at least some Pokemon that you would suggest to bring? And I know that you do your team building very last minute usually anyway. I think Shadow Palkyamp was really tough makes an excellent core. yeah it was I don't know if you knew that it was one of my picks. Yeah, I saw it. Good prediction you there, Amanda. Really good.
00:32:12
Speaker
They were all giving me crap about that because Martijn sent me a message like a couple of weeks before UIC. He said, put Shadow Palkia on your caster prediction picks. And I said, yeah, okay. and So then when they were like, why did you pick this? And I was just like, I don't know. And then when it showed that Martijn had it on his team, everyone was like, oh, you have c insider information.
00:32:31
Speaker
I would do it again. yeah but was good comment Leo was pissed. He was like, he wouldn't tell me. He said I wanted to surprise me. i Respectfully, I felt like Leo was fishing a little bit. Because he came to me asking like, yeah, what what are you running? Do you want scrims? I'm like, I'm just keeping it away from like, kaia right now. you know yeah he yeah that' That's Leo for you. He would have just sold that inside information. Me, I just kept my mouth zipped.
00:33:02
Speaker
How did you prepare for EYC, Kaifu? Oh, this is going to boost your ego again, but like by playing the Inadequates practice tournaments.
00:33:13
Speaker
I think it's a really good way to practice right now, is surely because the teams are hidden. I really like that about it, because like people don't see your prep. And I also got a shout out like to my, I'm also the Mexican team over for like, what is it called?
00:33:30
Speaker
Arena Legendaria. oh And like, those guys also helped me prep a lot ah for this. Have we played before now? I think our team's Maya. I don't think we face actually. I'm playing for Dragon Rush there.
00:33:42
Speaker
Okay, I'm playing in Aztec Black. ah For Maya I'm playing right now. The competition. We'll continue. So yeah, like I've brimped a lot with those people.
00:33:53
Speaker
And then, like in general, um I scrimped with a lot of people. And I honestly don't know how many hours I have in any book. I don't think it's healthy. yeah Like if it comes down to IVs or like those little bits of information that can give you like, even if it's like small advantage, but like concentrating and learning that stuff can really put you ahead, like knowing your matchups and knowing like, oh, the Azu is like,
00:34:21
Speaker
at 50% held after this attack, so this means it's like a attack-weighted, like not attack-weighted, like it has like a little bit of attack because like a really good Azu is like still barely in the green after one move.
00:34:33
Speaker
Knowing stuff like that can win you games because you would know, my Azu is going to lose CMP, do that for sure.
00:34:41
Speaker
Interesting, yeah. Did you run the same team for the whole... part like did you Were you kind of locked in pretty quickly on the six that you wanted to use? Or with each tournament, did you kind of refine and tweak until you really found the six that you were looking for?
00:34:54
Speaker
ah Sometimes I was locked in pretty fast. ah But for this one, I actually was running Emoga until Tuesday. good I was running like in like a team where I swept an inadequate server away.
00:35:07
Speaker
Like I was running that. But it didn't feel that great. Like, Annihleic was a really tough matchup. Then I tried at Gudra. um And I came to the conclusion that Kudra was like a pile of garbage that you shouldn't run in. Don't tell Arceus Aurelius this. He's gonna get so mad. That's a good call, I think, because there were so many Wigglytuff.
00:35:30
Speaker
Yeah, that's true. It felt unplayable at times. Also, I was running Cloth with that team. And cloud like if you don't want to play RPS, I don't think you should play Clothsire in this meta. Interesting.
00:35:41
Speaker
And so, yeah, i had to change. And my friend Slash and told me, like, you should try out Drapin Asu. I know you've been trying to play, like, everything but Drapin Asu to, like, not follow the meta, but you should try it at least because it's, like, super healthy and super good. So I picked up Drapin for the first time on, like, Tuesday before EOIC.
00:36:00
Speaker
and and pretty good ah And you're like, what have I been missing? i was like, damn, is what neutral play is like. And actually having, like, options and energy management. You mean you have a Pokemon that defeats about everything. That's what you mean.
00:36:14
Speaker
Yeah, awesome. What ah what ah initially sold you over to Primate, Shadow Primate? um so Because, I mean, that is like the flimsiest Pokemon in existence. So I think playing playing with Pokemon like that really, I mean, it's no Shadow Pauke.
00:36:29
Speaker
It's also pretty ah flimsy. But it takes a certain mastery and maneuvers to be able to use a Pokemon like that on our team and use it so well because I mean, your first day play with it, but with a, against status, then when you knocked out the dugong with the close combat, and then had a close combat for the wiggly tough.
00:36:50
Speaker
That's like, did all this. It was a, oh my goodness. I was just like, dang, a copy is on point here. So my first thought is like, ah well also want like C swap. Like I never used it as a safe swap, but like Primape was a really good safe swap.
00:37:07
Speaker
Like the normal one. I think ZZ played it more like that. Like swapping it in as soon as something was right, you get like a bit of advantage, but like it's all Primape needs. If it's one to chops advantage, Primape can like go wild.
00:37:20
Speaker
um So I was like, oh, Primape looks good. ah Let me look at recent results that people have been playing with Primape. And then I looked at Merida, the tournament in Mexico, I saw that Rocha was playing Shadow Primate.
00:37:32
Speaker
I was like, damn, like what does shit why would you run Shadow Primate over the normal one? I think you'd like want like the normal one for the Aqua Tail for Trepene, so that matchup becomes better. And then I looked at The Sims, and it like beats Corsa in the ones.
00:37:45
Speaker
It beats Azu in the one to zeros, which is the normal one count. And I was expecting 85% Azu usage. eighty five percent az usage and i was like people are not gonna know this calc if i just have this it's gonna be like a big advantage um to get far at usc and it really helped me like a few matchups like people had to shield their also when they didn't want to and it's like i could farm it down with draping it was over um nice Yeah, i'm I'm glad that there's at least one person who likes that the themes are hidden because if I talk to Team Pizza, they hate it.
00:38:21
Speaker
They can't make whole PDFs of everyone's teams anymore. Is that what happens? I mean, I guess it makes sense too. If you talk to Tom, he'll give you a whole list of things I should do.
00:38:33
Speaker
but Team Pizza, that's ah that's another team that Kalfia almost left left us for year. That's not true. Well, they do ask everyone, so... Lies. I didn't get anything there, so... No, no, no.
00:38:46
Speaker
How do you feel about getting this, Farni? Like, how did you feel once you were at, like... the way let's Let's talk about... How did you feel getting to day two on the winning side of the bracket? Like, that's pretty big at a 400-person tournament. That's pretty good.
00:39:01
Speaker
So, yeah, like, before I left, Like my dad called me and said like, how are you feeling for the tournament? Like, are you feeling ready? Because you're never feeling ready. Oh, that's cute. I'm feeling good. My team's feeling well.
00:39:12
Speaker
If I, if like, I don't make it now, like the team is, it's not the team, it's me. um And I feel like I really played out of my mind on, on the Friday. um and like i saw oh i could potentially play stan and when didn like in the group finals i was like i really want that game like if i get like there and i lose to stan it's just it is what it is but like then winning against ten you start really feeling it like oh this could be my tournament um yeah so then seeing you have to play shit up the next day when your team is like
00:39:48
Speaker
Really iffy against you know what's your first one was it? was it Richie? No Snorak. Snorak, oh yeah, oh yeah, Snorak. And the the worst thing is, I talked to him like the day beforehand, and i said like, oh dude, he had like two teams, you should play Shadow Pidgeot, I think the Shadow Pidgeot might be good in this tournament.
00:40:05
Speaker
So like I convinced him to use like the biggest character to my team, to then face him in the day to... But don't bring it against me, i just bring it in the tournament.
00:40:16
Speaker
ah Yeah, I beat him, but I had to scrim, I think I scrim from like 11 to 2 a.m.,
00:40:22
Speaker
uh i had to like i i saw a lot of lines and i'm like i put them all in like a into a data sheet to see what's the most common lead uh to see like what is the biggest chance that he brings in the league and like i mathematically uh used a way to see oh it's gonna be shadow and i like the end i got the call right What I really like about you, Walter, is like you admit your preparation and like perseverance because a lot of people...
Preparing for Championships
00:40:55
Speaker
They say, oh, I just lock in and choose three Pokemon. i heart But you you're you're saying like, no, no, like I wanted, think that they're going to try to do something like this. I'm going to test this theory or I'm i'm going to, you know, prep against all these different types of Azumarill so I know these certain things.
00:41:10
Speaker
And I think that that really paid off for you ah in this tournament because you've always been, from the very beginning, good. But I think that you're slowly starting to kind of like, hone that craft a little bit more. You're retaining all this information that you're gathering and that's just making you better and better.
00:41:27
Speaker
What did you think your most difficult matchup was at EYC? I'm going to be honest, it was against you. What? Of course, Shadow Palkia, I get it. No, I don't think it's Shadow Palkia. Shadow Palkia was fresh. I think you could have also used like a spoink there.
00:41:41
Speaker
And I think it probably would have been the same. It also uses Shadow Marorak, for example. But yeah, um your Wiggly Talon Gastrodome was horrible for my team.
00:41:55
Speaker
It was guessing where do I put my Drapeen because i have to bring Drapeen against you. If I don't bring Drapeen against you, I don't stand a chance. Yeah, Superior will be very tough. Yeah, so i was like, okay, how am I going to do this? First game, I thought you were going to play it differently.
00:42:12
Speaker
but Sorry, lets let's set this up for everyone, though, ah for maybe people who didn't see. So this was the very end of day number two. ah The matchup is between you two, and whoever wins this game gets to go on to Championship Sunday.
00:42:27
Speaker
So, I mean, this is this is already, like, big stakes, I would say. I mean, we we did know we do have at least a trophy. Yeah, that is awesome. Yeah, yeah. You also know that you're already qualified for Worlds. But of course, it's cool to be a part of the you know ah bigger small show. you know There's only a couple people who can say that they're on Championship Sunday.
00:42:49
Speaker
So you're looking at the team and you're thinking, oh crap, there's a Gastrodon, Talon, and Wiggly. I got to break this up. i like I think you also could have like seen a little from how i played against Kazim, right? because weren't you ever running like a similar team?
00:43:01
Speaker
yeah i mean i was only i used prime maybe use big league that was the only difference ah in teams uh so i was studying the matchup a bit beforehand on the like the behind backstage on the little tv um but it was like so focused on my match versus eric that like i didn't think about it too much i thought like okay i'll see when I get there, if I get there.
00:43:23
Speaker
Because that was like the the entire day team of day two for me. Every run I got further, I was like, OK, I'll take it. I came here for like day two or in like top 12. Let's go. And then like we came top eight, top six, top four.
00:43:37
Speaker
um So it was like a little victory every single time. But yeah, then I see a sheet and I'm like, I think I'm going to need to RPS the RPS monster. How am I?
00:43:50
Speaker
doing this and my first thought was like okay i'm leading the k-wag um he's gonna leave poltrio i'll try to de-gen my way to his team um that was the first thought um but then i baited you twice successfully and i thought you would switch out there um because you know i went deuce with k-wag against stalin if i double bait you so i expected you to switch out but you didn't switch and at that moment i was like he's gonna double break my new one um game was over at the spot.
00:44:23
Speaker
How did you rally after, you know, like, because it was down to you won a game, he won a game. You're in a very, very close game three. And I think like you had a really bad lead. Actually, that is game two. the guess but What was your what was your but reaction when you saw the Gaster leads?
00:44:40
Speaker
thanksops I see Gaster against 3p. They were like, okay, so that was it. Nice playing.
00:44:48
Speaker
yeah i thought it was like over on the spot um but then you came in superior and i was like okay if i farm this down i at least have some play at that point it was just like or let me uh flip switch or i'll get like farm on trapion uh and it'll do its thing but it's been doing the entire term and um and at least i have a chance.
00:45:08
Speaker
And it became super, super close in the end. So yeah, that game deal was like, I think, ah really, really good game of day deal. On your side. On my side, my side was bad.
00:45:19
Speaker
All I had to do was not give you farm and I gave you farm. Was that the game where it came down to the end where it's like you had a crunch stored on the Drapion and then there was like potential of the Gastrodon or the Superior coming back in?
00:45:33
Speaker
That was game three. Okay. okay That was also intense. like Because, i mean, to break down for newer-ish players, I mean, if you would have thrown the Crunch onto the Gastrodon, then I think you also probably would have lost because you wouldn't have been able to get enough energy and time to ah the superior.
00:45:53
Speaker
but you kind and Not that you threw a blind Crunch, but you kind of had to throw immediately because if a Mudslap would have gone through, you would have gotten knocked out. I had to look at the like icon really closely. yeah The thing is, I also had to press super fast. Because if I don't press off the like immediately, the vinewhip comes through and my drapeen dies.
00:46:14
Speaker
I was in one vinewhip range. ah So like he also could play to the element of surprise of like switching in at random time, trying to get the vinewhip through. think he tried to do that. um I thought going in Gastro was too obvious. I mean honestly, i know you're good enough to just wait for it so I'm hoping that I can just get the pace in. Hopefully the game doesn't work or something. I guess at that point that's my best win con. As sad as it sounds but yeah, if you just look closely at the typing usually you're pretty good.
00:46:42
Speaker
because if it was the Gastro one coming in I'd just switch Ozu immediately yeah because you were still switch locked and ah Double Down came over. Because like one frenzy does knock out and you don't reach the aerial ease before and and I still have to the crunch load as well so like that was that would have been game as well.
00:46:59
Speaker
It was very exciting to watch because of course we're talking about this and it's taking longer to talk about it than the actual time that it is to decide what's coming in to decide what's being thrown.
00:47:11
Speaker
and everything. So it's like, it's very fast paced. So someone's just watching, they might not understand the nuances of the difficult decisions that both of you guys had to go through in that moment to see who would have won.
00:47:21
Speaker
it still came, I mean, it was close. wasn't able to get to the earth power, but it was close. And the thing is, I bubbled him down because he said, oh, I'm two away against me.
00:47:34
Speaker
And I was like, okay, that's two bubbles. I'll just bubble it down. Otherwise, I would have 100% clicked the ice beam, but I trusted him when he said I'm two away. So yeah. but That's Martijn just screwing with you, and then he just throws the earth power. Yeah.
00:47:48
Speaker
Dude, honestly, i never trust the other person. I've had that only once I did. That was with the Nuts at Liu. But dude, I just play it out. Because Arceus Aurelius also did that versus me at the end.
00:48:02
Speaker
He's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, you won. And I see the Gator come in. I'm like, wait, if you like claw me down or throw or predict I swap in Gastro, you you might still win. You know that, right? I didn't say that, I didn't tell him his wing condition, but I'm like, ah let me play the game real quick.
00:48:18
Speaker
Yeah, and I also knew, like in my head, I was like, okay, he's too off. But when you confirmed it, it was like, okay, he's for sure too off, that steel bubbles. And then we just save ourselves some time. I'm a little bit too honest sometimes there.
00:48:33
Speaker
Sometimes. yeah it it's been uh you you probably know it as well if you have like losses where like dang i threw that i mean you said against paula at worlds uh you know they stick a little bit but uh can't complain we have a trophy anyway yeah yeah And ah I think that, Kalfia, you were the only one in the top eight who was not already a regional or special champion. So that's already a pretty cool accolade. I was hoping you would get gold just for the sake of you know having a new champion.
00:49:06
Speaker
Sorry, that's maybe a thing to say afterwards. I was also hoping he'd get gold because at the time he was my teammate and friend. No, I mean, you obviously you don't really you can't cheer for anyone, but it is cool to have like kind of an underdog story. You can, I can.
00:49:22
Speaker
Yeah, that's true. You could. But i was like to say like when ah when ah he played the earlier against Marcus, I was like, ah, this is like... The two people I was hoping would go the farthest in the tournament.
00:49:34
Speaker
And so then, yeah. And then you guys played and I was like, I'm not coffee all the way. Wow. Just kidding. Even though you had polky on your prediction. That's true. It's true. But I mean, how was your preparation and thoughts going into ah Championship Sunday?
00:49:50
Speaker
Like you you got third overall, which is huge. You played against Ziz Wireless in the the losers finals and you took a game off of him with a pretty good catch. But ultimately, ah he ended up getting it to the 3-1 against you, I believe, right?
00:50:04
Speaker
ah Yeah, so I slept horribly. I think I slept three hours at night because of the stress. I think I slept from three till seven. Just because I like i couldn't sleep knowing what happened the next day.
00:50:20
Speaker
And so I scrimmed when I couldn't sleep. And the problem is I looked at the matchup and I think I'm never making this... uh mistake again i looked at the matchup and i thought pato was gonna lose against zizi um so i mainly i let's let's say i did 80 20 scrims
00:50:41
Speaker
against Patos team which was a mistake I should have done 50-50 always because I wasn't that much prepared for the matchup and another thing is you can't scrim for ZZ he has such a unique playstyle people will not play it the same way as he does that's another thing I learned playing him I made a few mistakes against him which also stink ah like moments where I just overtaught the situation where it wasn't needed I feel like I could have made it a lot closer than it was.
00:51:13
Speaker
But like the stress and the three hours of sleep sometimes got up to me a little bit. Is there a player like and maybe it is ZZ that you're like, okay, at Worlds, I really hope I have another shot at this person? or are you saying, no, i actually want to avoid playing ZZ ever again.
00:51:30
Speaker
He's got my number. If I don't have to play ZZ, I would rather evade him, I'm not gonna lie. I mean, he's a really good player. And the thing is with him, he's super, super unpredictable.
00:51:43
Speaker
I think a lot of players are predictable to a certain extent in their lines and the way they play it. And especially if they know that you play stupid shit, that if you play like random ABA lines,
00:51:57
Speaker
They're going to have to play a really, really solid line that can beat even that. And there are not that many lines that can beat stupid ABA lines. So you can narrow it down to a few lines a lot of times. So that helps.
00:52:14
Speaker
You might also be a little bit dependent on the matchup you have, right? Like if you have a tough matchup. like i'm I'm not... Aspa Shelter for example, really good player. ah Generally like okay that's someone I'll play, not super afraid but yeah if he has like a Corfinite that beats four out of six then then I suddenly don't really want to face him at all anymore.
00:52:35
Speaker
You know that that also happens. So the trophy was not your only victory, you also went to a better team. Can you uh...
00:52:47
Speaker
Oh, I'm losing you guys again. Can you tell us more about that? So yeah, loved my times with the Smurfs. Honestly, it was like amazing. They alerted me all the way from not knowing anything to play who I am today.
00:53:04
Speaker
But after the event, Fani sent me a message if I wanted to join Infinity and i took it because i think it's a good opportunity for me to take my play to a new level with their team.
00:53:23
Speaker
So it was a difficult decision. Like, as I like, I didn't want to betray the team. but Yeah, I mean, I say this to literally everyone, like, I don't begrudge anyone for taking a better opportunity for themselves, because I think that that's obviously what kind of keeps the passion alive in the game as well. She says it and publicly, but I said it publicly, but I've already shunned Walter from... I blocked him from multiple channels.
00:53:48
Speaker
No longer on the Belgian Jim Breakers. yeah Yeah, you find your access has been revoked. Slash is no longer your friend. No, I'm just kidding. But yeah, I felt that I had to take it.
00:54:01
Speaker
Yeah. So it was really difficult, though. It really was. Because I own this team a lot, a lot, a lot. But we still, I mean, like, again, you're still on the Belgian team for gym breakers. there I mean, there's, it's not like the friendships go away, even though the everything kind of moves around a little bit. so For sure not.
00:54:23
Speaker
I mean, you guys are still going to rely on my IV deep dives every single day. Yeah, yeah, exactly. we can't do We can't kick you for that. You can send those to me as well. Okay, I'll think about it.
00:54:36
Speaker
a don't if you were part of the conversation, Kalfio, but ah Boom was talking about how he would love to see more content and maybe more
Advice for New Pokémon Go Players
00:54:45
Speaker
time. This is something good for you too about show six. He said there's a lot of go battle league videos, but there's not like videos for people who are looking to get into show six, like how to actually build a team or things to look for.
00:54:59
Speaker
so Not that you're new anymore, but if you had some advice about how you got a little bit better at, you know, choosing a team of six, what would be some, something that you would try to tell people if they were first looking to get into it?
00:55:14
Speaker
Um, So first of all, I think the the biggest part is find yourself a PvP community. I think having a PvP community to train with, to discuss with, and like to watch their games so they can watch your games, having feedback and keeping keep on learning, that's, I think, the most important part. If you're doing it by yourself,
00:55:34
Speaker
there's like not that the margin of like growth is way smaller um so i think you like a big thing is find yourself a community like i don't think like if you go to a community youre if you're new that people are gonna say ah you're not welcome no they're gonna say you're welcome dude uh viewers like they will help you uh i love helping my local community for example like when they have questions like oh what should i play in gbl or like What should I play like locals or like there locals nearby?
00:56:04
Speaker
and always try to be like an anchor point for them for questions, because I think that's an important part that we have as people in the community to stay open ah for other people.
00:56:18
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, i with my local community Telegram the other day, they saw me on TikTok and then they complained about the Twitch drops that they actually have to listen. So it's two different local communities that we have around.
00:56:37
Speaker
Do you have any advice, I guess, Martijn? I mean, that for people who are maybe just tuning in as well, like you do host these practice tournaments for show six. So it's a good way to kind of like test your mettle.
00:56:48
Speaker
But if you're just really starting out, what would you suggest people do? Maybe even for like team building wise, because you always build some interesting teams. So let me first say the reason why there's no Show 6 videos released because no one watches them.
00:57:02
Speaker
The average YouTube viewer wants a team, doesn't even watch the video and then complains about that the team's not working for them.
00:57:10
Speaker
and there's also look look I also got like 7k views on my EOSC video. I'm like as astonished by that, to be honest, because I'm not used it. Usually they get like 2k views. And if I upload the most generic Azumaral drop on GBL video, it'll get 10k maybe.
00:57:24
Speaker
um It is discouraging in that sense. Yeah, that's that that's what I'm saying. It's very discouraging to make a video like that, that you pour your heart and soul in. Well, if you just commentate over 30 minutes of recordings, it does way better. You hardly have to do anything.
00:57:38
Speaker
that that's also why i kind of don't do it as much anymore even thought of it after playing a show six match i think in arena legendary as well but uh as far as vice don't think i'm a good example to be honest if you see the stuff that i use um but you know definitely practice helps go bell league but also show six i usually do my practice tournaments not with the team that i actually use but with meta just to learn matchups i have an idea of what bulk they have um and And of course, if I play a team with Palkia, there's going to be five normal Pokemon.
00:58:11
Speaker
So I may as well like practice maybe with three out of six or something, for example. right um Honestly, at my local, I did not hold back. I was just going to play Palkia. I was like, well, whatever. no No one's going to expect it from me by now anyway. And and if they do, then that's not even a surprise anymore.
00:58:27
Speaker
but I think another a really important point about is like you want to ah appeal to like and the normal
Challenges in Content Creation and Streaming
00:58:35
Speaker
viewer, right? Like the I think that the normal GBL viewer, like there's only that many people interested in the show six big format.
00:58:43
Speaker
So I don't think there's like a big... There's only that many people interested in PvP in general. It's a small audience. Sad, yeah. yeah yeah so like when you go even deeper in like those little mechanics like those little turns that you discuss i there's indeed i i'm also a little bit afraid that there's like but not enough audience for it almost uh well But if you argue on the other side, like ah VG, you know they have Wolf, and his videos are actually quite long.
00:59:13
Speaker
And it's really about his gameplay or a specific Pokemon that he's using. for And at the beginning, I guess I don't know what their championship circuit was like. They already arguably do have quite a bit more challengers than we have.
00:59:28
Speaker
But his videos are immensely popular. And that's... It's a niche that no one is feeling for Go because no one like people don't know to look for it yet.
00:59:41
Speaker
Well, maybe also because VGC works and it doesn't frustrate people and we don't have someone antagonizing GBL with an algorithm that people that followers are actually like, well, if there's an algorithm, I may as well give up. I might just quit.
00:59:56
Speaker
right that that All those things adding up doesn't help as much. No, i um I'm not. ah Also, I mean, it's kind of a part of the game for VG, right? I mean, show six isn't even a part of or an offering in Pokemon Go. Like, you really have to be like, okay, I like this game.
01:00:13
Speaker
I like battling enough that now I want to look elsewhere to do a different type of battling. And it's, yeah, you really have to be passionate or want to learn about it to even get into it a little bit.
01:00:25
Speaker
So... I also don't think you can underestimate how good Wolfie's storytelling is in his videos because he's such... like His team that makes the videos is so talented. like They suck you into every single video. I don't know anything about it, but I watch them all because like they do the video so well that editing is done yeah on like almost another level of animation.
01:00:50
Speaker
He has a proper editor too. Yeah, yeah. I'm using the most. My videos are all, what's the again? PowerPoints.
01:01:02
Speaker
powerpoint PowerPoints, I can't find the word real quick, but I'm a master of just throwing things in there, finding whatever works and and make it look good. But in the back is an absolute mess.
01:01:15
Speaker
And I think maybe of that will actually come when you only have to have like one, a few videos go viral, maybe like have like a little bit more cronin and from there on it can spiral out of control.
01:01:30
Speaker
But he had that. He really started getting popular and like his videos are always getting recommended. Like, and when people can rewatch old videos from like an hour and a half, I think that really helps putting numbers in as well.
01:01:43
Speaker
Yeah, that's true. I mean, i will also argue he's very, not that you guys aren't, but he's very good and he's already well known, right? So Go is pretty new to the whole scene. And I think, I guess out of anyone, Martijn probably does have the best option getting so close to winning already being a content creator.
01:02:00
Speaker
oh continually top cutting and stuff. So maybe go will get there eventually. Kaffia, I know that you also said once that you were used to be a Twitch streamer, but not for Go.
01:02:11
Speaker
ah Any interest in picking back up content creation? I'm really thinking about it. Yeah? I love to stream on Twitch. It was something that I love to do.
01:02:23
Speaker
But I streamed Tetris, Tetrio on Twitch. That was my... What I was good at, or I used to be good at. I'm still good at it, but not as correct as those kids are nowadays.
01:02:35
Speaker
Kids. ah we have to go as well. Those kids. he's Under 25 year olds. But yeah, I used to organize... like tournaments there for like let's say it like this there there used to be like imagine there would be a tournament for people who have not hit legend yet ever in gbl so it would be a tournament for the not the best but like a theory below it and it was really popular because those people who had never hit legend yet uh if if you see the comparison they if they did like enter the big tournaments they they still no chance
01:03:13
Speaker
They always got that guard after two rounds and there was, this was a way to Like give them a chance in the spotlight and give them the confidence that they, like a lot of people actually grew legend here from there out because it gave them that little bit of confidence sometimes to actually push through.
01:03:32
Speaker
And I think that it's not something you could do and go, but it really worked well there. So yeah, I used to be a commentator there as well. ah So I've missed those days.
01:03:46
Speaker
Well, well, well, maybe we should talk offline.
01:03:52
Speaker
But, Kalfia, I don't know if you are familiar with TapTapCast. I won't forgive you if you're not. But we do have a staple question that we ask all of our guests.
Underdog and Champion Picks
01:04:01
Speaker
And I actually will say, think two or three guests this season have already stated you as one of the answers for this.
01:04:09
Speaker
So very curious to hear what your answers are going to be. Martijn, do you want to kick it off? Yeah, so the staple questions that we... The traditional questions that we have, Vika, which you have to answer controversially correct.
01:04:24
Speaker
Who would be your crabrawler? And this is someone who is not well-known, but someone who could just win a trophy at DUIC. And then who would be your champion?
01:04:36
Speaker
That is someone who is already well-known and could also win a trophy at DUIC, maybe even win it all. Who would pick for those two? I'm gonna stay in Team 4.1 for sure, and the micro-brother is gonna be Slash.
01:04:54
Speaker
I think he's absurdly correct at the game. He has like a lot of knowledge about it, he plays really well, he just doesn't play that many regionals. I think if he would like focus on the regionals, if he wants to... Oh, he played only one?
01:05:11
Speaker
Yeah, he could be a really, really good player, but like in and those like frontier metas and Slash are always doing the team building, and he plays really, really well.
01:05:25
Speaker
Yeah, I think, wasn't the last one he went 12-0 or whatever, I was like, dang, Slash. Yeah, so I wouldn't be surprised to see if he does like any turn, because he's doing E-Tracks for sure, and wouldn't be surprised to see him in top 8 at all.
01:05:41
Speaker
Tough competition. Yeah, they're coming for your title. Coming for the crown. Bring it on. And you're my champions. um I'm gonna say boom.
01:05:55
Speaker
The kid's absolutely correct.
01:05:58
Speaker
Like if you see him play, like you'll see him play like completely lost matchups and he will still win it like a shield up. Are you like, how did he turn this around? Like there were like absolutely zero win counts here and he'll still make it happen.
01:06:15
Speaker
How good he's at the game, I don't think it's... I don't know many people, personally at least, who are really close mechanically to that point in the game. I mean, there's a lot of super good players that I've met recently.
01:06:28
Speaker
But I think like he Yes, that's something special. i I can't really name him yet. He is that good. So you pick Belgians only for your picks. Sadly, yes. I was thinking about other names, but yeah, those two.
01:06:42
Speaker
Yeah, so he still has some loyalty. i guess so I guess I won't kick him out of the server.
01:06:51
Speaker
That's fair. i think those are good choices. Good thing they're not competing too much with me at the regionals. I asked if he would go to Roltz, but he's not going. That's unfortunate. Wait, is he going?
01:07:04
Speaker
I think he is going. I don't think you should count him out. Maybe yeah maybe I ask him for something. Wait, what let me ask. What did I ask him? Oh, I asked him for Utrecht. He's not going there. That's what he told me. He is going to Roltz.
01:07:15
Speaker
You might in Worlds. There's an asterisk next to it, but so far it's a tentative yes when it was a no and then it was a maybe and now it's a tentative yes. Wow, it would be great to have another Belgium on the bingo list, no God.
World Championships Expectations and Future Plans
01:07:29
Speaker
We're going to probably be with three people there, three Belgian people, which is like two more than last year. So I'll take it ah because the trip to Hawaii was all a long trip.
01:07:40
Speaker
It was a long trip. but You're not counting Amanda in there, right? Yeah, i was going to say, I was there too. Because she's American.
01:07:49
Speaker
That is true. That is true.
01:07:52
Speaker
Yeah, like I think Sloking actually probably will also qualify for Worlds. Also because we kept the four spots within EYC, like European, it makes it so four more Europeans can qualify for Worlds, which is also a really good thing.
01:08:09
Speaker
ah We did a good job there as well. We can put ourselves on the back for that. So no NAIC for you. You're not going to try to steal a trophy from out of ah out of the region.
01:08:22
Speaker
and That's during my exam. So even if I would have won the Traveler War, I couldn't. Would have been able to. Yeah, it's really sad. You can watch me win it. and Yeah, for sure. If you like at least expect to yoga Shadow of the Yaga there. Shadow of the Yaga, it will be there.
01:08:40
Speaker
I mean, you already did your Dina, Valkia. I mean, it it it has to be it has to be done, right? It was never supposed to be a pattern, but sure. I mean, it could be like, it would be such good content and you know it would be such good content.
01:08:55
Speaker
Imagine three trophies with the Sinnoh Trio. That'd be pretty funny. All right. Well, Calphea, thank you so much. No, go on. Sorry what you're saying. No, no, no, no. fine. It was some banter.
01:09:07
Speaker
Just throwing some more shade at him. We appreciate you coming on. It's really excited to see you do so well at EUIC. And I can't wait to see what you do for the rest of the season as well. Likewise. Thank you.
01:09:19
Speaker
Thank you for coming on. and was fun we ah We're not very good at this scheduling wise, but were we sometimes do episodes of Tap Tap Chaos. So catch us on the next one. Get the notifications on to make sure you won't miss any of our yapping.
01:09:36
Speaker
ah Thank you for coming on and see you next time. bye. Bye.