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E02 // SophToph: Queen of Toph Town and PvP Pro
112 Plays1 year ago
Join us this week on Tap Tap Cast for a conversation with Sophtoph, a great PvP battler, a (former?) Twitch streamer, and a North American caster for the Play! Pokemon championship series. The group discusses ideas and strategies to make Pokemon Go more engaging for PvE and PvP players alike, who are some of Soph's favorite people to cast with, and who are the best battlers and citizens of Toph Town.
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Background
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to our second episode of Tap Tap Cast, where we are kind of discussing the Pokemon Go PvP, this beloved Tap Tap game that we all play and enjoy. I am Amanda, also known to many of you as Lundberger. And my name is Martijn. You may also know me as Inadequance. Today, we have a guest called Sophto!
00:00:25
Speaker
Welcome on, Soph. Thanks. How are you doing? I'm good. It's a lovely morning for me. Yes, it's 7 p.m. here, but I guess that's a little bit with time zones. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself, Soph? Sure. I'm Soph Toph. And let's see. I guess my title now is I'm a Plopikman caster. And I guess I also. All right, guys, settle down. I also
00:00:54
Speaker
do some Pokemon.com articles from time to time. And then my base identity is that I used to be a Twitch streamer.
00:01:02
Speaker
And I also have a little Discord called Tofetown that I like. Very cool. So can I ask, I mean, Pokemon Go has been around since 2016.
Soph's Journey into Pokémon Go PvP
00:01:10
Speaker
When did you get into it? And how did you get into PVP? Yeah, so I was playing in 2016 for a little bit like everyone else was. And I played through like, I want to say end of August or like early September. So maybe like a little bit longer than the main player. And then I took a break until basically just before the pandemic.
00:01:30
Speaker
And then I was just like playing the PvE parts of the game. And then I started playing PvP like, I don't know about like how seriously this was, but I was playing a little bit when it first came out because I remember I had a friend who was like, telling me about it. And he was like, Oh, you know, like you walk like this many kilometers every day.
00:01:48
Speaker
And you can use those kilometers to play Go Battle League. Oh, I remember that time. Yeah, so I was like, okay, well, I don't want to waste these amazing resources I've been accumulating. So I played a little bit, but I mean, I was only walking like enough for like once at a day. And then I did like a teeny bit of PvP in like friend battles, because that was like the only way you could play Sinnoh or get Sinnoh stones to evolve stuff.
00:02:10
Speaker
and like magmar like i was really into like finishing my pokedex which i like totally don't do now but anyways um and then yeah and then basically like march yeah mid-march 2020 i had like literally nothing to do because we were all in lockdown so i just like watched like every zionic video known to mankind and then i was playing gbl pretty much every day from then until
00:02:34
Speaker
roughly now, which is a long time. But yeah, that's my PvP start, I guess. I have a lot of questions.
Understanding Pokémon Go Metrics
00:02:43
Speaker
I'll start with the first one, which is kind of unrelated to you, but just something I'm curious about. Okay. Is Pokémon Go the first time that you had to deal with kilometers?
00:02:54
Speaker
So I understand why you Europeans would think that we're so uncivilized over here, but actually anyone who's taken a STEM class, that's like a science or math class, you usually use the metric system for those. So like, let's say you're doing basic dimensional analysis stuff, you know, you're converting things with like grams and kilograms and meters and kilometers. It's definitely the first time I've had to like measure something in my daily life with kilometers though.
00:03:22
Speaker
I don't want to say this now because it's going to sound dumb, but I think that the conversion is like 1.6 kilometers per mile. I always knew that.
00:03:31
Speaker
okay great but I never I don't know I don't have like a good conception of it but now thanks to Pokemon Go I'm like ah yes I know exactly how many meters I'm walking and yeah I also like this back door brag that she had because the stem is like you know it's like it's basically saying I'm really smart without saying anyone who's been part of the stem program you know the science
00:03:58
Speaker
basic high school, like freshman year, or maybe like sophomore year. Okay, so yeah, yeah.
Streaming Experiences and Challenges
00:04:05
Speaker
Yeah, so that's any like chemistry, physics, they always start with the dimensional analysis unit. And that's always metric system. And in fact, by the way, one of the presidents in US history tried to change the US to be on the metric system. But I don't remember it happened. But somehow everyone was lazy. And that never happened. So here we are. Yeah.
00:04:24
Speaker
Wow, it would have been great if we all used the same system. It would be so great. Looking at two Americans. I don't know why Niantic uses kilometers because the app developers are American. That's true. I don't mind though. Oh yeah, I don't mind. I have another question. You said you used to be a Twitch streamer. Oh yeah. Are you not anymore?
00:04:46
Speaker
Okay, so I mean, I still stream like once every two months or something. But I don't consider I don't know, I feel weird. Yeah, sure. I feel weird identifying myself as a Twitch streamer if I do it so infrequently. But basically, I streamed for most of our started streaming like January 2021. And then I stream for
00:05:06
Speaker
like definitely pretty intensely like the first half of that year and then like July, August or somewhere around there, I stopped to focus on school because I was starting a school program that semester. A smart girl program. Mildly. And then since then, I don't know, it's like I also kind of, I wouldn't say I was like burned out by streaming, but it was a little bit like the fun of streaming for me was
00:05:31
Speaker
getting to spend a lot of time on it and like always thinking about how to improve my stream and like do new stuff and like see the community but like a I like I'm like in discord so much that like the second part of that isn't like I don't get that much marginal utility and then the other thing about constantly like thinking about how to improve my stream which like for me like just trying to improve at something is like always big motivator but like
00:05:54
Speaker
I don't have like the free mental space to do that anymore. So basically every time I go live, I'm just like going live and I'm like not doing anything. And then I was like, oh yeah, it's going to do this thing, but I forgot to. And then that's kind of like.
00:06:04
Speaker
not fulfilling, you know? Yeah. Yeah. I remember that you had started streaming because I don't know if you were a part of the Girls at PVP server before that, or had played much PVP, but we were in a small cup together. I don't know if you remember it. Oh my gosh. I can't even remember the meta, but I was doing so well. I think I swept the mega tournament, and I was in this small one. And I was like, we were up against each other in the finals. And I'm like, oh, yeah.
00:06:30
Speaker
I, you know, I'm gonna sweep not only the mega, but I'm gonna sweep this other one too. And I just got flat out three owed by you. And I was like, who is this person? I was like, she's so good. Not that I'm so good, but it was just like, dang, like, I didn't really like know you that well. And then I was looking at stuff. I was like, Oh, no, she's like, legit really good.
00:06:49
Speaker
Okay, I think I vaguely remember. So I don't remember exactly when this was. It was definitely after I started streaming, but yeah, let's see. So I definitely sort of knew what I was... Okay, so by the time I started streaming, I had at least hit Legend, okay? So I wasn't like a potato. But yeah, I think when I played that cup, I used to play a lot of these, like, not a lot, but a couple of these little like, self-cups that were running the Girls at PvP server. So I think that's when we played.
00:07:14
Speaker
I remember that. I forget what it was. But I don't know. I like playing random stuff, which is part of why I like Martine's server. Yeah, a little shout out there. But yeah, I don't know. It was fun. I like that server. And that's how a lot of the first, let's say, online community, people on my friends list, I became friends with. Yeah, same.
00:07:35
Speaker
So back to the stream part, how did you get into it from basically battling, getting to Legends, beating up Amanda in Sylphcups, and then into streaming? And I think you met people like your current faction, I don't know if you still play factions, but those people as well from there, right? Yeah, sort of. Okay, so some people on Elite GMZ, I did meet through there.
00:07:58
Speaker
So like the latter half of 2020 was like when I was like trying to get better at the game and like I was watching a lot of Twitch streams and stuff so I was like okay this looks fun like I could definitely do this but I didn't want to stream without like hitting Legend at least or something and I hadn't ever hit Legend the first like real like short seasons like rank 10 and then yeah and then I hit it and then I like posted on Twitter and then I got a DM from Mr. Kevin Sally Doris and he was like
00:08:25
Speaker
you should do a do a stream with me sometime. And I was like, that's such a great idea. I should just start streaming also. So then then I had a friend at the time who is not super active now, but mushroom
00:08:39
Speaker
he was like down to do some duo streams so we did that to start with and then yeah like Yasser and like YTX I don't know why but they were in my chat when I had like 10 viewers and then we started like hanging out more like off twitch and then yeah so like when I was like an early streamer my like close streamer friends were like
00:08:59
Speaker
Yeah,
Building Community Connections
00:09:00
Speaker
sir. And like, I guess YTX wasn't a streamer, but he was always there. Um, and then yeah, Hey, Donis also was kind of like a younger streamer at the time. And then Smash, well, Smash was like, he started a bit before the rest of us and then bloody bananas. So I guess it was kind of like a, like a cohort of people who had started streaming around the same time. And we like hung out a lot. And then. Yeah. And then like, let's see, when is this now? Anyway, factions didn't start until July 2021, but
00:09:28
Speaker
I guess that was my first kind of core fun group. And then people like thatboyj and Signal, they were regulars in our chat, but they weren't streamers. But that's kind of how we met them. The four of us, or yeah, five of us, we all had really overlapping communities. Some viewers would be in most of our chats. So that's the thatboyj, the Signal kind of people. And then yeah.
00:09:50
Speaker
Oh, ATMs, I believe started July 2021. So that was like, Jay, Signal, Yasser wanted to do something and then they just like forced the rest of us to join them. No, no, I mean, I was thinking about it. I was like, kind of meh. And then, yeah, so we got them and then like, Farakster and Ed, like, I literally had no idea who they were. Well, I mean, I knew who they were, like, I knew they existed, but I like literally had never interacted with either of them. So that was fun. And then.
00:10:17
Speaker
Am I blanking on anyone else from the original roster? I feel like no. Anyways, yeah. Over time, we added people like SJ, who was really active in Yaster's community at the time, and then more recently, people like Elon, who's like Mango, who I guess they've always been kind of around, but yeah. It's bloody bananas. Is he still around? I haven't seen him in a while. Okay, he is basically dead, but
00:10:41
Speaker
He messaged me. Not really dead, right? Oh yeah, he just basically stopped playing the game, basically. But I talked to him a couple weeks ago and he said he might be making comeback. So we'll see. Okay. Yeah. We have a lot of these people, you know, famously retiring and then coming back for, you know, and a little bit of time. I respect that though. I mean, it's like, I think it obviously, if you get a little burned out,
00:11:04
Speaker
makes more sense to take a break. But yeah, I'd love to see people come back. In your opinion, what are things that maybe Pokemon Go could do to inspire people who have left the game to come back?
Game Consistency and Player Engagement
00:11:15
Speaker
Oh, boy. Okay, so I think the bottom line for me is that if we want to retain actually like top players at PvP, like the game needs to be consistent and like all the bugs, mostly damage registration error, but also like one turn lag double CMP.
00:11:32
Speaker
Those things all need to be fixed because even if we recruit a lot of new players, if you think about it as some funnel, some number of people in the world will play Pokemon Go, some subset of those people will play PvP, and then some subset of those people will stay to play PvP. So even if we can get lots of players to start playing the game with
00:11:53
Speaker
routes and whatever other features, and then some number of them start PvP. The funnel needs to have a stop at the end such that we retain all the players that were converting.
00:12:04
Speaker
So I think that the stock would be nicely implemented if the game was consistent and reliable, especially if we're going to invest a lot of time and money into participating in these regionals as the players. We wanted to make it an experience worth investing in. In terms of the part that's converting PVE players to PVP,
00:12:27
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I always found PvP intrinsically interesting. So from the perspective of someone who does not find it intrinsically interesting. I mean, actually, what got me into PvP was the fact that you could get legendary encounters at rank 20, because I am like, I don't know if you guys know this, I'm pretty much free to play except for some Go Fest tickets.
00:12:45
Speaker
Yeah. So like for me, getting to encounter legendaries and also during the pandemic, that encounter was like really high. You were basically getting like a Cavallion, like every set. Um, I mean, I feel like that was pretty enticing and like, I don't know, maybe at this point, like the rewards are pretty good, but they're not advertised as much either because we think people know about them, but they don't, or because people actually know about them. I don't know. Um, but I think like if we think the spirit of PVP is like,
00:13:13
Speaker
getting to catch all these Pokemon and then using them in battle. I think it'd be really great to have an event like in the spirit of catch cut but where like actually all the meta relevant Pokemon are spawning or they release a bunch of like relevant Pokemon like at the same time and then there's like some meta where you can only use Pokemon that you just caught and then that would just really show the direct link between like that part of the game and like PvP.
00:13:38
Speaker
I don't know. I mean, that's like one small event. That's a really good point because I have some friends because I live in Europe, of course, but I still go to Iowa quite often to see family and friends. And so I'm in local Facebook groups and saying like, I have clip keys. I have, you know, different regionals. And what I want from you, PVE player, is that buzz wall that you don't
00:14:01
Speaker
do anything with that you got that's under 1500 CP. And of course they're all like, yeah, I had so many buzz walls after this point. But after that meeting with people, they look, they're like, Hey, can you look through my Pokedex and tell me if there's anything worth that in the, cause they're like bragging about something. I'll look at this like hundo, you know, Moltres that I got. And I was like, yeah, it's
00:14:23
Speaker
maybe not the best thing you want to use or like this electrode. And it's like, there should be something in game that probably helps people learn these mechanics or learn how to get better. Yeah. Because otherwise, like, if you're a PvE player, the only way you learn these things is if you're watching someone's like, like you were saying, like watching Zionics videos or watching some, some person who teaches you, this is actually what you need to do if you want to do this part of the game. There's, there's no in-game portion for that, really.
00:14:51
Speaker
Oh, yeah, you're so right. Okay, sorry. I don't know why I started with the game mechanics. But yeah, accessibility is a big thing. I absolutely agree with you. So I mean, like, these are huge things that I think PVP players it's absolutely true. Yeah, no, you're totally right about accessibility. So like, for example, we always tell like nighttime closure as the success story for someone who like just started and is really successful. But the fact of the matter is like you spent a lot of time grinding like
00:15:16
Speaker
At first, he didn't have good IVs for anything, and he still had to put in a lot of time, right? Whereas I had a very brief TCG phase recently.
00:15:25
Speaker
And basically, the amount of distance between I know what I want and I want to get it is a couple clicks online and I'll just have those cards shipped to me right away. It's not like I have to wait for weeks for something to come back in the rotation, do a bunch of XL trades, re-roll for good IVs. I mean, of course, you can probably get along with a team that doesn't have Reggie, doesn't have Cresselia, doesn't have XLs, especially a lift like Medi's not the dominant fighter, let's say. True.
00:15:54
Speaker
It's still like the fact that the things that you want to play right now, you might have to wait weeks or even months, or even huge parts of the year. If it's like a shadow Pokemon that needs like a legacy move and oh my gosh. Um, yeah, the fact that there's so much time between when you can get something and when you can use it, that's like a huge barrier to entry. Definitely. Definitely. Yeah. So the GBL day stream that you guys did, you also think that contributed to like getting new players in or.
00:16:24
Speaker
How do I say it?
Strategies for Engaging New Players
00:16:25
Speaker
Motivate people. I hope so. Okay, so I think that stream was a really, really great idea, like tons of credit to Daniel. And honestly, I think I'm going to go back a little bit here and I'm going to give some credit to Speedy, who I think kind of originally came up with the first iteration of this idea last year.
00:16:42
Speaker
I think having Trainer Tips, who has a big PVE audience, and then in Saxon, who even if people don't know his name, just saying that he's the world champion is very cool. That was an incredible, amazing idea. Me and Speedy were also there, but we're like, whatever. I hope so. I don't know. Here's one problem, guys.
00:17:06
Speaker
When you get good feedback on social media, people are like, oh, this is so great. I can't wait to tune in. I'm always like, you know, those people are so enthusiastic already. I don't know if we're actually converting them, right? But I mean, I don't know. It's really hard to tell, but there were a decent number of viewers and the Twitch drops were nice, although of course there were issues with that.
00:17:29
Speaker
I think seeing someone who's well-known work on PVP and talk about it with someone who's very good and also able to articulate what to do better and gives you a sense of how much there is that you don't know, I think that's really cool. I think if conditional on people watching and paying attention, think yes, it was probably helpful. But I don't know how many people are watching closely or taking it seriously, that kind of thing.
00:17:59
Speaker
I do think more people watch that though, than they watch the regional streams and everything. I was looking at the statistics. I think it had a, you know, a very high viewership, but like you said, there are Twitch drops. There are potential things that are pulling people in like, like trainer tips, but I think, yeah, I agree that I think that it was a really cool idea and I'm glad that, and hopefully things like this will be implemented.
00:18:18
Speaker
for future seasons as well. Yeah, definitely. I mean, I think like the regional streams, the audience is not that casual. I mean, I don't know. It's weird. I don't know how you guys feel about this as casters. Like who are we talking to? Are we talking to the casual viewers or the like experienced players or like the really experienced players? All right. So what's your opinion on that? What do you, who are you talking to when you're, when you're doing it? I think, I think I try to talk to
00:18:42
Speaker
new players but new players who have like a clue for like typings at least you know like not like not literally someone who just walked into the stream but maybe someone has a little bit of knowledge like yeah and then sometimes i'll like make really small comments that i know like advanced players will get but like i don't really expand on them because like i kind of just like little throwaway comments but yeah i don't know what do you guys think of that i personally i think you two are two of our best color commentators that we have in the game across
00:19:11
Speaker
Oh, across Pokemon Go, I don't really watch the other streams, to be honest, but I think you guys articulate things in a way that is helpful for new players, but also shows that you have a really deep understanding of the game, which is nice. Yeah. I try to not, I mean, like, I'm also not as good at the game as you guys either. I would say that you guys are more competitively good at the game, but I tried to help the stream run as a stream, if this makes sense, and also help bring in new people and
00:19:40
Speaker
make fun of Martine, which is one of my favorite things to do on the stream. Because she doesn't participate. You know, I remember you guys were streaming to, I forget what it was, but there was like a, man, I forgot it was, but you guys like had a cute little pose together for some reason. Oh yeah. Okay. I was like, that is so cute. And then I went to Twitter and someone posted and I was like, Oh, that's so good. But yeah, you guys are like really good together. Yeah. This is your first season with casting. Walk us through how it's been going for you.
00:20:08
Speaker
Oh yeah, it's been super fun.
Casting vs Competing
00:20:11
Speaker
I, I think at first I was like, man, this is kind of tough. Like now I have less opportunities to compete. But I'm like, yeah, this is just like way better. Like it's so much less stressful. I'm like
00:20:19
Speaker
literally just get to spectate and then like you have a good seat to spectate with and you just get to talk about it and then for some reason it's like oh people actually want to hear your opinion that's like kind of weird right um but you know it's super fun like everyone I've worked with at these events has been so like helpful and welcoming um so I've done like
00:20:40
Speaker
I guess, yeah, three events now. But yeah, it's just really, really fun. Like, I love spectating, even like when I competed before, like after I got eliminated, I would just like spectate because I thought that was fun. So for casting, you're basically spectating the whole time. And then sometimes you're talking also. Yeah, I mean, it's like, yeah, it's amazing. I don't really. Yeah, I mean, I'm getting to go to the places that I probably wouldn't have gone to, like, there's no way I would have found a San Antonio. I mean, I might have gone to Portland, but
00:21:11
Speaker
Yeah, and then you get to see our friends, you get to hang out, you get to look at these nice games and be part of something. I guess that's pretty big and has a lot of people working on it, which is always cool. And I mean, production does a really amazing job. I know things are a little bit different, NA versus EU, but from my perspective, production is super amazing and makes everything as easy for you as possible.
00:21:33
Speaker
Yeah. And, oh yeah. Also, like I said earlier, one thing that I didn't really like about streaming was that I wasn't really like focusing on like trying to get better and prove and like implement new things. Whereas for casting, because I'm so new to it. I mean, maybe I'll get bored eventually, but probably not. Cause there's a lot of good things about it. But one really nice thing about casting that I've enjoyed is like every regional and like thinking about like, Oh, like I could work on this or I could work on this. And then even if I don't really get what I wanted to do, um, like.
00:22:01
Speaker
At least I thought about trying to improve, which is still motivating. Yeah, now it's been really fun. Do you watch the broadcast back to see where you can improve or do you take feedback from others?
00:22:16
Speaker
Um, kind of both. So sometimes I get unsolicited feedback, which is totally fine. Um, and yeah, I mean, I don't, I don't watch the broadcast back just to, I dunno, it's like, I usually have a sense of it after this stream. I'm like, Oh, I hate, I hate that I said that or something, you know? Um, and then I usually watch the broadcast, like parts of it back. Cause like, I want to see some parts and then I'll like hear myself and be like, Oh, why did I say that? But I'm not usually watching them back just to improve unless.
00:22:46
Speaker
Like if I were to get feedback on something that I didn't take note of consciously, then I would probably try to watch it back and look for it. But I feel like usually, I mean, it's not like I'm totally brain dead while I'm talking or like I have an idea.
00:22:59
Speaker
And then I also have some like inner monologue that's like reacting to what I'm saying, but I usually watch some, some parts of it back. Like for San Antonio, I've watched like my friend's battles, but a lot, and then I happen to be talking in most of them. So that's kind of fun. Um, yeah, but yeah, I want to give a brief shout out to all my co-casters. So obviously everyone, you know, there's a team of four, but like my first broadcast, I had like speedy and then I had wholesome and then betters and they've all just been like so helpful and like.
00:23:27
Speaker
I don't think the viewers realize how much work there is to do outside of just talking about the battles, but they have been carrying that work very hard with directing the lounge and transitioning and all those kinds of things that I don't think the viewers really take note of, but it's very, very helpful for a new person.
00:23:45
Speaker
I want to ask you something evil. Okay. Who's your favorite of the three? Oh, no. You know, it's also okay, it's a little unfair because I've also been I think at a different like place for each of them. Okay, so I think, hmm.
00:24:06
Speaker
Okay, I think they're all kind of confounded. Okay, so I actually I like the cast that I did with Butters the best. Like he asked me about it. He's like, I do three broadcasts. How do you think when I was like, I think that's the best it's ever went for me. But that's also like, it's my last one, like I'm the most experienced like
00:24:20
Speaker
Butters is really, really fun. I don't know. Have you guys ever cast with Butters? Maybe not. No, not yet. He literally is like yelling so loudly. And he's also like standing up for some of the time. I've seen this because I was running, I was SME at Worlds. And I took a photo because he was standing at one point and all you could see on the broadcast screen was just like his tummy, basically. It made me laugh so hard.
00:24:44
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, he's he just has so much energy, which I don't even know where it comes from. But like, I'm like pretty chill. So it's really nice to have someone like naturally bringing that energy. And then if I just like maintain it, I will like naturally absorb some. So yeah, better says like, amazing. He's really knowledgeable to I feel like it gets a little bit overshadowed because of just how exciting he is. But he's like, definitely very knowledgeable at the game, like points out things that like I didn't even notice and like, blah, blah, blah. wholesome, I think I have the most like natural camaraderie with almost like
00:25:14
Speaker
It kind of just feels like we're having a conversation, so it's like very enjoyable to cast with him.
00:25:19
Speaker
And then, um, Speedy obviously is just like a God at everything. Like he literally makes it so easy. Like all you have to do is like sit there like a potato and he will like do every, like he'll just like do everything that you did not do and like, like fill all the holes that you want. Um, yeah, I don't know. I got, I don't want to pick a favorite, but I'll just point out. I think all of them do things the best that like, I like compared to the others, but I don't know. It's hard to evaluate one overall.
00:25:46
Speaker
like again I've only done one with each and like I was so different every time too. Is there also someone you would like to cast with still? Is that offensive? I'll stick with NA to avoid anything but...
00:26:07
Speaker
I mean, I'd love to cast with Henry. I think, um, I think he brings a lot of similar positive qualities to the table as butters. And like, I mean, I don't know Henry very well, but he like literally like the first, like, okay, I didn't, like, I didn't watch a lot of his YouTube videos, but like the first cast that he did, I was just like, you know, I like went, went out of the booth and I was just like chilling and I like heard him and feed casting. I was like, what the heck? Like this man is literally a God. Like, um, took off like a rocket. I was like, whoa, this guy's good.
00:26:37
Speaker
I know. I was like, wait, what the heck? And anyways, yeah, he's really, I would love to cast with Henry, I think at some point or John. I also felt this by the way about you when I didn't get to watch it all, because I think that there was an event going on in Europe at the same time. I think there was like a, I was in Barcelona for your very first one. So we were just doing it at random points. But I was like, dang, Soph is like so
00:26:58
Speaker
composed for like your first stream like you just like you didn't seem shook at all you know exactly what you were talking about I was like yeah she's uh yeah she's doing really really well I was gonna say it was really easy because I was with speed I mean like I'll give some credit to myself like speedy like literally made things like very easy like he basically just like like
00:27:16
Speaker
Hm, how do I explain this? It's basically like if you're coloring in a coloring book and then everything's like already like drawn in and you're just like... Oh yeah, like there's numbers. You have to draw this color here. It's like literally what I feel like was happening. Uh, but yeah, also I didn't even realize this at the time that I was like giggling so much during the Sacramento cast and I was like, wow, that's very obnoxious. Like it's like one of those things where it's like, you don't really notice, but then once you notice, you're like, wow, that's so annoying.
00:27:43
Speaker
So I definitely, I think I did a decent job, but yeah, there's definitely, when I watch back that bottom, like, oh my God, what was I doing? But no, it was really fun. And yeah, Sacramento was a good tournament as well. Just, you know, elite, always cooking very hard. Yeah. Yeah. No, I think species is indeed.
00:28:02
Speaker
Let's say I was not surprised that he was paired with you because, you know, as you say, he's just one of the more experienced castes around at this point. He seems very motivated to do it as well, right? Always wants to improve and makes the best out of it. So yeah, I think that was a good pairing. I liked your debut as well. I was not surprised that you were good. I mean, you're one of the more knowledgeable people around as well. So, you know, I was not surprised that you would do well with that.
00:28:29
Speaker
Yeah, and I'm glad that you like it. Are we also going to see you compete somewhere? Probably not this season, 2024. I know, so sad. I was actually thinking about doing NAIC, but very tragically, I have literally two weekends the entire calendar year that I have to do stuff for school for. One of them is doing NAIC, and I'm like, are you guys kidding me?
00:28:55
Speaker
I know, it's so sad. And the worst part of it is that NAIC is like, I mean, Regionals are just like Saturday, Sunday, and like, NAIC starts on Friday. And I'm like, you know what, I totally could have skipped the Saturday part of my thing, and just like, come. But no, NAIC also starts on Friday. So yeah, I'm pretty sad about that. But definitely next year, I definitely want to compete again. Like, I love competing, okay? Like, it's just so sad. Like, I like try to go to the tournaments early so I can like play the challenges and stuff. Which is like,
00:29:25
Speaker
It's literally pointless because there's no way I'm going to qualify for Worlds, but I just like playing. I actually got a really nice Bulbasaur plushie from the side event at Portland, which makes it all worth it. Hopefully next year, I will definitely try to compete at one next year. Let's ask this. Not that I think that they would, because they didn't do it last year in Japan, but say that there's a last chance qualifiers in Hawaii and you're not casting Hawaii.
00:29:50
Speaker
would you go to compete in the last chance qualifiers? Oh, yeah, of course I would. Why would I not? I'm already there. I mean, so the main the main like barriers like the like time and travel it takes to get there, right? If I'm already there, of course, I would definitely play that. Or like, I know for the other games, there's sometimes like a kickoff type regional, right?
00:30:09
Speaker
No, am I coping? Okay, yeah, if they had that. Yeah, but it's like, since they didn't do it last year, I'm like, I don't know if it was just like a fluke one off because it was the first year that Pokemon Go had it and they were looking for more like competitors to be into the whole qualifications. But now that we have like a decent amount of people. Do they do LCQ for the other games? I don't know.
00:30:29
Speaker
They have like this open, uh, is it open qualifiers? I'm not sure what it is. I think it's already like, like a preseason tournament. Cause what I, what I heard was like, is NAIC is the last chance in the season to get championship points to qualify for words. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. So, but yeah, that sounds right.
00:30:49
Speaker
Yeah, I mean if I- Are you going to go to Spectate regardless? Is that what you're saying? You're going to Hawaii? Yeah, I think it- Well, so remember how I said there's like two weekends the whole year that I have to do stuff? Okay, so one of them actually happens to be mid-August. Uh-oh. I know, I know. But if it doesn't coincide with Worlds, I think I'll just go to Worlds regardless.
00:31:12
Speaker
So yeah, I think it'll be pretty fun. Can you help me? I'm going to cut this if you're not on my side though. So can you help me convince Europeans that Hawaii is a cool location?
Travel Preferences and Cultural Differences
00:31:23
Speaker
Like a lot of Europeans are like, why would I want to go to Hawaii when I can go to Greece? Exactly. Greece is just as good. It's always closer. Where did Greece come from? Where did Greece come from?
00:31:35
Speaker
Where did Greece come? Is there an event happening in Greece? No, it's just because it's cheaper and it's like nice weather and I think that they're associating the beach. It has those resort vibes, right? It's the vacation vibes. The same as Hawaii. Okay, they don't do like these kind of dances, but you know, they're still unique, good food as well. If like Kreta had Pokemon World Championship, it was the same. It was the same. Okay, so I'll make some arguments for Hawaii.
00:32:04
Speaker
So I've actually been there several times because it's relatively close to where I live. And it's like a default vacation spot, I guess. It's really like the weather is really, really nice, first of all. So it's not like those places or well, I don't even know if this will make sense to you guys. But like, you know how like people will go to like Florida or like Mexico for
00:32:22
Speaker
spring break and stuff because it's supposed to be nice weather, but then sometimes it's cloudy and not nice weather. Okay, Hawaii is always nice, so that's one thing. Second of all, the people are super, super nice, and I think this is a side effect of just living in such a nice place, but literally, I don't remember what we were doing, but I think I was walking with my family up a hill, and it was a super steep hill, and we were like, why did we do this? Then a random local was like, hey, do you guys need a lift up the hill? Wow. Oh my God, we love a lift up the hill. Then he gave us a lift up the hill, and it was so easy.
00:32:52
Speaker
Um, yeah, so the people are really, really nice. Like, I don't know. It's just such a, like, I've been there in a couple of years now, but like.
00:32:58
Speaker
I've always been like, if I, like when I have a honeymoon, I'll definitely pick it in Hawaii. That's where you would go. Yeah, it's so nice. I mean, my best friend, she also, when she got married, she went to Hawaii on her honeymoon as well. I think it's not just like a resort location, but all the Europeans that I've talked to, they all have the same mindset about it as well. So I was like, I don't think that it's the right. You guys, you should be hyped to go to Honolulu, Hawaii. Let me speak on behalf of the Europeans.
00:33:26
Speaker
Okay. We have our vision of holiday locations. You have your vision of holiday locations. Hawaii is not in our book. It's just not there if you're looking for a holiday for at least most Europeans. Okay, so what's the European vision? That is the European vision. The European vision. No, but what is the Eurovision? Yeah, what's the ideal?
00:33:47
Speaker
Yeah, like I said, Greece is one of them as like a holiday resort, like if you'd like to go sit at a beach or something, Spain is also that kind of vibe, Portugal, a little bit south of Italy, also have that kind of places. But other than that, we also have a lot of diverse culture, right within Europe.
00:34:07
Speaker
And I think like traveling is just, it's not a lot of distance. Yeah. Something I should probably not brag too much about. I know how not great for you guys. It's sometimes a trip away, but you know, that's do for all the, they usually like, like Italy to our flight. Easy.
00:34:28
Speaker
Okay, dude, stop flexing. It's also like 70 euro return. Yeah, that's super dumb. So I think with that perspective in mind, I understand why no one wants to fly to Hawaii because you can get as good, if not better things in your perspective, very close by and for much cheaper. Okay, let me tell you a funny story. So, you know, jocks, jocks 13, right? Okay. Yeah, I forget why, but there was some regional going on last year on the East Coast and
00:34:54
Speaker
He was like, why aren't you at this regional? And I was like, it's so effing far. And he's like, oh, but it's all the same country. You know, Europeans go from like this country to this country in like a day. And I'm like, I like pulled up a map and I'm like, it's literally the distance from you to like, I don't know if I said like Italy or something, but it was very fine. He was like, oh. I apologize on behalf of all the other Europeans. That's cool, isn't it? Yeah, it's like a six hour flight from West Coast to East Coast for
00:35:23
Speaker
for any Europeans listening. Even the tip of California, the top to bottom is a ridiculously long time. I'm trying to think of driving from Belgium, it would be like driving to Italy or farther. If you're driving from even let's say Los Angeles to... LA to SF is about 300 miles, so like 500 kilometers.
00:35:54
Speaker
Yeah, it's like a yeah, about a one hour flight. It's not too far, I guess. But yeah, but yeah, that's also the options. We're either driving or we're taking a flight. I mean, I guess California is one of the places that does have the train system, but it's not like we don't have the trains that go across the US the way that there are trains that go across Europe. I do feel we need trains, man. We need trains. Okay, let me tell you something. When I was in seventh grade, we had this I did like some speech and debate stuff.
00:36:22
Speaker
And we had a debate topic that was like the California high speed rail would do more harm than good or something. And then all of our discussion topics were like, oh, blah, blah, blah, expect to be completed, blah, blah, blah, 2030, blah, blah, blah. And here we are, how many years later? And there's literally nothing. And no plans for anything either. So it's super sad. But yeah, the East Coast has some trains, but they are still like train from like, let's say New York to Boston.
00:36:48
Speaker
It can cost as much as like a flight if you are booking late, for example. Yeah. I went by train from New York to Hartford to Boston, actually. Oh, wow. That's so fun. Actually, I drove with, uh, with, uh, with FEEP, but... Yeah. Hartford's a little out of the... I don't know if there's... Is there a train station in Hartford? Maybe not. It's kind of a small... I think that the train goes past there through to Boston. Like it's on the same line of East Coast there, no? Yeah.
00:37:14
Speaker
I don't know. Yeah, we'll just nod because I've never... Maybe my European mind cannot comprehend. I've never partnered with Boston, so I'll just nod. Yeah. Maybe it's also because in the middle of the US, there isn't as much, right? Watch it, watch it. Yeah, there's really nothing there. Exactly. Thank you. Well, I mean, you said Iowa, right, Lindberger? I mean, I would consider Iowa civilization, but I think Northeast, West
00:37:40
Speaker
Yeah, west of Iowa and then until you hit like, I see now I don't want to offend Utah, but like, let's say until you hit like Nevada or like really, really like the border of California and Nevada, there's like pretty much nothing. And there's like Montana and like North Dakota, like, I don't know, man, like I've only met like one person from North Dakota in my life.
00:38:00
Speaker
And like, I haven't met anyone from South Dakota. I don't know if you've even like, do you even hear about these states in Europe? Like probably not. I don't know all the states. No. Yeah. Okay. So like, if you haven't heard of them, there's probably nobody there. I think that's the like.
00:38:16
Speaker
I guess I know the bigger states and now I know Louisiana as well since I know any I see. Oh, there you go. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There we go. Yeah, yeah, Louisiana. Yeah, I've never been there actually. So, yeah, me neither. I'm gonna be in the US during this time. So I'm really considering going to compete.
00:38:34
Speaker
to get more time off my back. I hope we pair so bad. That'd be fun. I mean, I clapped you so hard the last regional that we had. I don't want to order it to you. Wait, did you guys play at a regional? No, we were just, they were trying to set up the phones during the production the day before. So we played a master league battle and then we're just playing some regular Great League and then it auto-wrecked Great League stuff and I crushed you. I see.
00:39:03
Speaker
I won one battle. Yeah, I know the other games do caster battles sometimes and like, it'd be fun if we did that. But yeah, I guess they do. That's great. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the thing with Go is it's so nice that it is fast paced, you know, that we can fit in so many more games. They're trying to do stuff to fill the dead time between, but we don't really have too much of that.
00:39:23
Speaker
Yeah, well, yeah, because basically, like, if they have like a one hour round, and then they like the stream game happens to take like 30 minutes, that's like kind of awkward. Yeah, but yeah, why don't change you would like to see to play Pokemon for next season, a little bit more serious talk
Enhancing Play Pokémon Events
00:39:39
Speaker
again. Okay, I have a couple ideas. Um, these are changes that I think are just doable with some, like, quote unquote, like manpower, and they don't need any like technical expertise. So there's like, um,
00:39:53
Speaker
I'll say two categories of changes. One is like, it's basically a band-aid to the accessibility issue, which like, if you think about like catching Pokemon, I consider that more like a Niantics purview, but, uh, play Pokemon perspective, I think they could just release whitelists that are like far, far. Let me, let me give another TCG analogy. Okay. Um, if I buy a card today, I know the exact date it's going to go out of rotation like two years from now.
00:40:19
Speaker
Okay. Um, for Pokemon go, uh, for some perspective for our listeners, uh, I will get the move updates possibly three days before regional and they will possibly go live one day before the regional. So that's pretty insane. Um, so, so when I see people being like, Oh, like
00:40:37
Speaker
Like at Niantic, can we please get the move updates like one week before? I'm like, no, you know, like we need like months before, not one week before. Um, so I think one thing that could help with that and like potentially is also like going to help with like not having to keep the meta. So like, you know, like changing all the Pokemon like one day in advance is just like having a white list. Let's say for like this period of the season, um, only like these like 30 Pokemon will be like, I don't know if it'd be 30, but like.
00:41:03
Speaker
then you can plan very far in advance. So you're like, okay, I know I'm going to try to compete this date, whatever. Like now every time I see this Pokemon, I'm going to like try to get a good IV or whatever. So it's not really like, it doesn't really help the accessibility, but it helps with the planning, I think, which is like, I think you can make the argument that like, okay, here's, here's an argument that one could make. I don't think one should make it, but like,
00:41:24
Speaker
uh like changing up the meta one day before the regional um you know helps find which players are better at adopting to new things so i think you could make the argument but i think the argument that you would want is like the players who have like put in the time to plan and like know what they're gonna do months beforehand like those months we should be rewarding them so i think having some kind of like white list for like some pretty limited set of pokemon and you know months in advance i think that'd be
00:41:52
Speaker
really cool. I haven't fleshed that idea out a ton, but I think it would A, help with keeping things quote unquote fresh without just updating moves, which I think is a kind of unsustainable system. And then two, it helps with the planning side of things. Another kind of, and then the other set of things I'd like to see from the Play Pokemon, actually, sorry, there's gonna be two more sets, okay. One is, I think the organizers and the venues should have better connection. Okay, that's it.
00:42:21
Speaker
Yeah, connection. That's that's a good one. That's a good one. Yeah, because let me expand a little bit. So yeah, there are definitely bugs like DRE and whatnot. And those those are just bugs in the code that you can't really fix once it's like playing the game. But there are also definitely times when the game is just lagging. And that can
00:42:39
Speaker
that should be fixed. And that's venue related. It's not actual in game. So a lot of times you see it in the chat too. They're like, Oh, and listen, I'm not arguing Pokemon go. Not that I don't think it's e-sport ready, but there is way too many bugs in it to be consistently rewarding people, but sometimes agreed. It is the venue. It's like, if a lag happens at certain times, it's not, it's not anything that even if they coded it perfectly that would have prevented.
00:43:04
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. So I don't know exactly how that works. But like, yeah, maybe like if the code is like a little bit better, you could help mitigate that. But I like it's still mostly on the venue side or like wherever the phones are. So like, you know, with Dodge versus Avrib, top 12 about worlds, that's not an ion tick bug. That's just lag. Doo doo doo doo.
00:43:24
Speaker
Oh yeah, the other thing is more on the judging side of things. Um, I would like to see the rules flushed out more like what they used to have in the self thing with like known game issues. Um, I would also like to see a go test. Um, because I don't know if you guys know this, but to be professor, there's no go specific one right now. And I understand why it's like kind of impossible to come up with a test for a game. That's like, I had so many inconsistencies, but.
00:43:50
Speaker
Um, I think it would just be nice, at least, you know, internally you could like be like, okay, these are the ones that we want to be like the judges that like, we want to be like rolling out disputes. These are the ones that are more knowledge about like the rules type stuff. And then similarly, I think it would be nice.
00:44:04
Speaker
I don't, this might be like too much, but I think when you're ruling on like technical disputes, it'd be nice to have a judge who's designated as like lead like technical judge or like subject matter expert judge or something because there's like the game is like sufficiently complex that whoever's like, you know, the best at like running the tournament, making things go smoothly and go on schedule, like they're not necessarily going to like know all the ins and outs of DRE and like when it's impactful and stuff. So I think if you can like appoint someone every tournament who's like kind of
00:44:34
Speaker
like their realm is more like the technical side of things. Um, I think that'd be nice as well. And like, again, these are all things that I think can be done on like the play Pokemon side and not like, you don't need to like fix the code to do any of these things, which is nice. Yeah, I agree. I think that, and again, I don't know how it's done in the NA versus EU. I think we sort of have people already in mind, but who are at the judges of events that are more technically savvy and people know kind of to turn to those people if they have a question.
00:45:03
Speaker
But of course, that's more behind the scenes and not actually written on paper, which I think is what you're saying is there should be these designated roles for these types of judges, which I agree, I think that would be a really good set. I mean, it doesn't even have to be so multiple designated. I think everyone can role in things to some degree, and then you just want to have maybe one, like a Dunberg or a Dijon, or an Ilya in your case, who's designated as this is the person I will ask for help if I'm not sure.
00:45:34
Speaker
Something like that. Yeah, I like that. Would you want to be a judge or a broken professor? So in theory, I wouldn't mind. And I think I like understand the game enough to like do a decent job of it and be fun to be around. But in practice, if I am not casting an event, I'd probably just want to compete, which I think that
00:45:58
Speaker
I mean, that's like one of the reasons that there's just like not that many judges out there is because like, everyone just wants to compete, right? There needs to be more incentive, you think? Oh, yeah, definitely. I mean, yeah, it's hard. I mean, competing is just fun. Like, even if, even if the judges got paid like some, like, you know, nice amount, I'd be like, like, I'm sure there'd still be like a tournament where I'd be like, choosing between competing and judging. I'd be like, well, I'm like, would you
00:46:27
Speaker
at least want the experience of competing once or something, and that's already crowding out the desire to judge. In theory, it seems fun. I think it's a pretty stressful job, though. I know it's very long days. They need to be there on Fridays sometimes, too.
00:46:41
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. Maybe it's fun. Dune seems to enjoy it, so maybe it's fun. I don't know, though. At least for local events, I think that'd be fine. And I wouldn't mind sitting out to just judge or help things run. Yeah. Amanda, should we start with our closing question
Rising and Top Players Discussion
00:47:00
Speaker
here? Yes, we shall. It's a two-part question. And the question is based around the theme of krabrawlers and Machampians.
00:47:10
Speaker
So I want you to name a PVP player in the community who you think could fall into a Kerbrawler category. And this is someone who maybe they're not super well known, or maybe they're not even like super great at this moment, but you see a lot of potential in them. You see them as a scrappy player, someone who is probably going to be a very good PVP player, or even a very good PVP player, just not well known. And then the second one is a champion who is someone who you think is
00:47:35
Speaker
probably already really well known in the community and could potentially be a contender to win Worlds. And let me preface it and say, you could say Martijn. I was thinking about it, but I was like, I don't know if I need to suck up that much. Martijn, you have qualified. No one ever says Martijn. Okay, okay. 25 points though. Do you have, sorry, let me just, have you qualified for Worlds already?
00:47:58
Speaker
25 points off. Okay. So basically, okay. Okay, crab rollers is difficult because
00:48:06
Speaker
I think at this point, I mean, I guess that's what you consider well known, right? At this point, most of the good players have competed at least once, so it's really hard to identify someone who's maybe not competed or competed only a couple of times. It's hard. I'm going to start with my champion. I think that's easier. Actually, it's hard though.
00:48:34
Speaker
It's like, what do I give? That's not just a cop out answer, right? Like, okay. So like, for example, like Doonbug, I think maybe a lot of people would consider best player in the world right now. And I think he is better than his world's perform. Like it's really, it's weird because like he's probably the best player in the world, but he doesn't have like major, like NAIC or worlds, for example, like, um, accomplishments. So, but I don't know if that's like a boring answer. Um, I'll, I'll make it a less boring answer.
00:49:01
Speaker
Oh actually wait, this is like, hmm, this is probably not going to count for either category. Let me think about this. Give us a name. We'll put it in a category for you. How does that sound? Okay. She's flipping it on us. Let me look. I actually made, I made a little list with a friend recently, only for NA though, so sorry.
00:49:27
Speaker
um wow damn where is it okay here oh sorry okay um okay hmm contender for worlds huh okay here i'm gonna i'm gonna i want to say something i want to say someone who i think is like they're very clearly very good and people know they're good but i don't think they get even like still enough recognition and that's elite so maybe you guys are like everyone knows elite is like literally a god but i think because he just doesn't compete
00:49:56
Speaker
super often right like so he's won two regional championships which is like obviously huge but um i think he doesn't compete a lot um like dune hasn't had the like nac world success just because like i don't even think he's been to an nac and he's only been to one worlds um but i think he's like really good i think like the tournament runs he had he's like also like very consistent under pressure right it's not like he's going to a bunch of tournaments and like
00:50:21
Speaker
doing really well and then not doing really well, he basically just goes to a couple tournaments and does really well at those. I definitely think he's a top 10, at least North America player, if not the world. So I don't know. I'd like to see Elite do well, I guess. And then my answer would be like Elon, I guess. Yeah. Okay. Let me go back to the crab rollers thing.
00:50:41
Speaker
Oh, that's so hard. Okay. Someone who doesn't play much, but somehow I can, how would, where would I even find them? Let's say someone whom you've seen compete at a regional who didn't qualify necessarily, but you're like, Hey, they're pretty good. Like, Oh, that's easy.
00:50:59
Speaker
Alright, more cop out answers. I think SJ and that boy J, I consider them top 10 NA players at least, if not higher. And neither of them qualified, but again, it's like, I know they didn't qualify to Worlds, but like, so let me, so for those of you who don't know, SJ was second place in Peoria, and J was like fifth or sixth in Toronto.
00:51:19
Speaker
And for both of them, that was their first tournament. But it's like, they've been around for so long that I'm like, they've both hit like, number one on GBL leaderboards, for example, they're also both my faction teammates. So, you know, there's the bias. Yeah, I don't know. Is that an acceptable answer? Like, they're both clearly like... I just want to point out. Yeah. Are you saying that like half of the players you name as top 10 NA players are Toeftowners? It sounds like a very biased answer. Well, yeah.
00:51:46
Speaker
Well, what did I say? Oh, I said Dune, Elite, and then I said Elam, JSJ. Is that what I said? Okay, so I'm looking at my list. The other five are actually not in Tofetown, but I didn't name them just now to you. And that's what you get, guys. Join Tofetown, and you would have maybe been named on the Tap Tap cast. I get the recognition. No, I think, well, okay, I would think Elite, for example, doesn't really talk much in Tofetown or anything, but yeah.
00:52:14
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, yeah. So, so actually here's something interesting. So speedy, if you guys know, also has a podcast. And so recently he was like, I think Elam is the best player who has not won a regional yet. So this is why I was like making this list, basically. I was like thinking about it and I was like, yeah. And yeah. So the answers that came to mind for me were like SJJ, like Auburn, maybe Caleb for best players who have not won a regional. Sorry, this is NA only. I said inadequance if we included the world.
00:52:39
Speaker
Obviously. So those are my NA answers for that. So I know I said SJ&J, and yeah, I can throw in Aubrey. You know what this means is Martina is we just have to make sure that Soap Toaf comes over to Europe at some point so she can cast over here and then she'll see all the glory of all of the EU players.
00:53:03
Speaker
Yeah, now that you players are really good, I'll even embarrass Jay a little bit where he's always like, oh, the European regionals are way better quality than any regionals. So there you go. We'll take it. Where was I? I don't like it. I'm speaking both sides here.
00:53:21
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, yeah. Okay. So I think, yeah, I guess, yeah, for the first, if we're just going to say someone who hasn't qualified to Worlds, but who I think like is Worlds' caliber and like very good. I mean, it's like, is it dumb to say Auburn? Like Auburn's also been a God for who knows how long. I think that's a perfect answer though. He hasn't won, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's great. Yeah. And, but he also like top cut at Worlds, I think. Right. And it's like, why? But, you know, I'll say like, because he hasn't competed as much.
00:53:50
Speaker
Even though he's really good, maybe he doesn't have so much recognition, but that's probably- You know what the thing with Auburn? You know what he's going to bring. And you still lose. That's the vibe I always have from Auburn. He always brings Swampert, Sableye, plus another Pokemon. You see it coming from Miles, he just cannot do anything. That is how good he is. I love him about it though. He's very good. Also, sorry Martina, I'm sucking up a lot, but I really admire how you can succeed with so many different Pokemon.
00:54:19
Speaker
I mean, that would be the problem if there's a whitelist, right? Because if you can only choose from 30 Pokemon, how are you gonna win with the Greninja? I mean, yeah, the whitelist thing, it doesn't have to be third. So I think it could be easy. Like, even if you wanted to make it like thematic, like the first part of the season is like Kanto only, like that's such an easy whitelist to make. And like, you're already like,
00:54:42
Speaker
guaranteeing yourself ways to make it, like, uh, non-overlapping with other metas. Um, and it's like a, you know, it's still enough Pokemon to choose from kind of thing. Yeah, I don't know. I like it. It keeps it interesting and also tests your team building skills over maybe potentially like taking a team of someone who already did well to do this. I don't know. I like, I think it's an interesting idea. Thanks. Um, yeah. What a cute question. I like that. Well, what do you guys, what would you guys say for that?
00:55:11
Speaker
crab rollers in the champions question. I guess it's hard to, because you're trying to say basically someone who's underrated, but it's like hard to say where they're rated, I guess. Yeah. That's the tough part. Yeah. Uh, for a crab roller, I would say, uh, my friend Tristiano, AKA Tip Thunder. Oh, yeah. Yeah. He only played two tournaments so far, but he's not doing a lot. You talk about one at least, right? Yeah. You got Leo. That was second tournament he played. Yeah. Um, and the med champion, I'm just going to be cocky and say,
00:55:40
Speaker
on a good day, it could be me on a bad day. Okay. Then it could be anyone but me, but I usually I'm very confident. The thing is like, if I win like these locals against very good players with like a comma or Greninja, I feel like top of the world. And then I go one to a lift one, like, man, I'm the worst player in the world. You were the worst.
00:56:03
Speaker
You would have been O2, so there you go. Yeah, yeah, that's a great salute to everyone who actually went O2. Sorry. Okay, crop that out Amanda. And she was never seen again.
00:56:27
Speaker
For me, I think that Cribbrawler, but I mean, he's, I think he's getting more and more well-known and he's just top of mind right now because he did so well in the last tournament, but Wolfpack. I think he's really good. And he, I don't think he competed at Worlds last year, but he was always like knocked out by like really good players and like he's, I think he's becoming like a really, really good player of his own. So I would say that for my Cribbrawler and my champion is to be determined.
00:56:54
Speaker
I can't save my time. I'm not allowed to save my time. Okay, I had to answer these questions for a million years and you guys are just gonna cop out and say yourselves and nobody.
00:57:04
Speaker
Hey, at least I put some thought in mine. Yeah. Yeah. I always pick my time. I mean, I did at EUIC last year of players to watch. I think he's a, he's a very good battle. And again, watching him compete in all these very stacked locals, which I mean, it's like the Belgian and Dutch community and he's top cutting, either winning a challenge or a cup in each of them with a different team. And I mean,
00:57:28
Speaker
Yeah, that's crazy. It's consistently good. Martijn's a good answer. He's fine. It's kind of unfair. Everyone already knows he's good. I never got this much grace. Yeah. It's the nicest I'll ever be to him, but it's for our 50 listeners on Tap Tap Cat.
00:57:46
Speaker
Yeah. Thank you so much for coming on. So it's been a pleasure. I mean, it's always fun to chat with you a little bit and get to know you a little bit more. Yeah, thanks for having me. I hope I said something useful to society.
00:57:59
Speaker
Yes, don't worry about that. Thank you so much for coming on. Hopefully see you at a future event, not any I see, I guess, but maybe maybe maybe Worlds will. Oh, yeah, of course. I mean, Hawaii is a great place that you will, of course, be visiting, right? Surely. Yeah. Yeah. I can love how I'll fly straight back to Greece after that.
00:58:22
Speaker
Yeah. All right. So, thank you for coming on. Again, new episodes releasing on Thursdays. We'll catch you guys in the next Tap Tap cast.