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Learn To Play Rocks D. Xebec | OPTCG Rocks Guide — Transcript

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0:00What's going on everyone? Vampier Gaming
0:03here and if you can just do me a favor
0:05if you guys want to go check out K
0:06Strider. Here is his social media. Super
0:09awesome guy. Great One Piece player. He
0:11participated in Worlds. We went met at
0:13Worlds actually and we went to Disney
0:15together and that's how we became
0:17friends. That's why he did this video
0:19with me. So, huge shout out to Kaden.
0:21Thank you once again. And then number
0:24one way to support me, of course, is
0:27hitting that subscribe button. And the
0:30number two way to support me is you can
0:32head to vamptc.com,
0:35pick up one of these leader cases, your
0:36plan rocks, pick up a nice blue one, got
0:39purple, we have a multiack, you can get
0:41all of the colors. And we also just
0:44added on the items from the precious
0:47box. So you can get the Japanese Dawn
0:49and the sleeves together if you're
0:51interested in that. The English one
0:52comes out like June. So, I'm impatient.
0:55That's why I have these and I bought a
0:56few more. Listed them on there. So, you
0:58check it out. Grab a leader case. Grab
1:00one of those. I appreciate it.
1:02Subscribe.
1:04What's going on everyone? Vampier Gaming
1:07here and I am joined by my friend Kaden
1:11Big Kawakami,
1:13the Rox DZ that just won Pasadena's
1:19regional. How you feeling? I'm feeling
1:21great. I ecstatic. I can't believe I
1:24won. Honestly, it's been great.
1:26>> I can. This guy's the goat. Previously a
1:30world's player, runnerup 2024 nationals
1:33and now Pomona regional winner.
1:37Congrats. And let's go ahead and talk
1:39about it. Do you have your matchups from
1:41Pomona?
1:42>> I do. I do have my matchups.
1:44>> Can you just walk us through that
1:46because I know you played a ton of Red
1:48Green Luffy.
1:49>> I did. I did. Yeah. So, Pomona uh was a
1:521500 plus tournament uh individual
1:55tournament. So, we had 11 rounds of
1:56Swiss. Uh my first round was rocks. I I
2:01lost that matchup. I um he took first,
2:05which is the sorry, he took second,
2:07which is the preferred curve. I had to
2:09go first and my bow whiff on like a
2:12pretty crucial turn. So, it it put me
2:15down like two extra cards and it was
2:16just really rough. Um, it was still
2:19pretty close, but overall I just kind of
2:20lost it. It It was really rough. Uh, my
2:24next round I played against Kaido. Uh,
2:26again, lost, so he went first, but he
2:28didn't have king, so it was a pretty
2:30easy overall matchup.
2:31>> You win, they lose.
2:34>> Yeah, it's it's it's rough. If they just
2:36don't see king, it's really bad.
2:38>> I've seen Kaido players literally just
2:40pick up their deck and leave once they
2:41didn't have Kaido.
2:42>> That's crazy. That is crazy. Yeah, I
2:46think my um I swung like I played a
2:48Shiki swung 12 at a Kaido the 10 cost
2:51and he gave me like the he was at a don
2:55already and he gave me one uh like the
2:58leader skill and then a slow slow beam
3:00for kinder. I was like oh it's really
3:02bad for you. So he got set to like six
3:04dawn then back up to eight and no king
3:07either. So it was just really bad for
3:09him.
3:10>> I did actually play against Akaido and
3:12it was impressive. They played they did
3:14have king, but they played more low to
3:16the ground versus just trying to go for
3:18the 10 costs, and it actually was quite
3:20resilient and annoying.
3:22>> Oh, interesting. That's that's very
3:24interesting. Yeah, usually you don't see
3:25that.
3:26>> Yeah. Anyways,
3:28>> okay. Uh, next I played against Rox
3:31again, lost the dy roll, but it was kind
3:32of standard, I think. Um, overall I just
3:35understood the matchup a little bit
3:36more, so was able to close it out. So, I
3:39won that one. Uh, Enel or yellow. I hit
3:43next. It's a favorite match up for
3:44Zevec, but I did with Boa, but it's it's
3:47really not close. The matchup's pretty
3:49easy for Zech, if I'm being honest.
3:51>> Um,
3:52>> that makes sense. Infinite value.
3:54>> Yeah, it is. It is.
3:55>> Just draw your in.
3:57>> Yeah. And and your guys are like really
3:58huge, right? They're like eights and
3:59nines, so and the 12 cost obviously.
4:02>> And contesting is easier, too. So, like
4:04all their bodies suck. They have like
4:09>> Yeah, they don't have any reasonable
4:10answer to Shiki that that's like
4:12meaningful.
4:13>> No. No. Yeah. And you just have like you
4:16amasses a load of cards and you have
4:18Kyoto to protect with like if they run
4:20um Brago and stuff.
4:22>> So, it's very good. Um next I played
4:24against Rosenante. I did win the Dyro
4:26this time. So, I I went first, took
4:28their curve. Uh later on the game I did
4:32with Bow, but I didn't think it mattered
4:33cuz I was so far ahead. and they only
4:36they also missed their law, the forcost
4:38law,
4:39>> so it was just a pretty favorable match
4:40up for me.
4:43Um, and then comes the slew of RG
4:45Luffies. I played against overall six RG
4:49Luffies right after this. I did win all
4:51them, winning all die rolls except for
4:53one. Um, shout outs to human for one of
4:57the RGs. Um, I actually think that
4:59matchup is semif. It really depends how
5:02the RG rolls. Um, and we can talk about
5:05it later on if you want, but I was able
5:07to win RG 6, seven, eight, nine, and 10.
5:11So, six, seven, eight, nine, 10. Yeah.
5:16>> Yeah. You didn't lose to any of them.
5:17So,
5:18>> yeah. Yeah, it was good. I think um some
5:21of the RGs like didn't fully understand
5:23the matchup, so I got a little lucky
5:25there. But, um, overall like this deck
5:27kind of smacks if you go with your uh
5:30like game plan.
5:32>> Thank you. Uh, and then in round 11, I
5:34played against Rox. Uh, he is the person
5:37I played in top 16 and I won that as
5:40well. Um, I did win the dy roll as well,
5:42so I was pretty favored into this. Yep.
5:45And then my last three opponents, just
5:48to
5:49to go over, the last three opponents
5:51also made top cut. So, I was pretty
5:53lucky for them to do well so that I
5:55could place higher in Swiss. So, I got
5:58fifth overall in Swiss.
5:59>> Huge. huge with a round one loss.
6:02Usually it's like 11th.
6:04>> Yeah. Yeah. It was actually kind of
6:06crazy. This run has been fantastic.
6:09>> Generational. You deserve it. You earned
6:11it.
6:11>> Thank you.
6:12>> Thank you. And then do you want to be
6:14talking about Top Cut?
6:15>> I would love for you to talk about Top
6:17Cut because
6:19>> JCM, you ruined his life. How do you
6:21feel?
6:23>> I feel great about JCM. I'm so sorry.
6:27Yeah. Yanell is a bad like it's a really
6:31good matchup for rocks. Like I think a
6:33lot of players like maybe forget how to
6:35play against Ynell and that's what's
6:37going on but like against rocks you just
6:40pressure lead a I'm sorry against an L
6:43you pressure lead and then like kill
6:45their board and then they can't do
6:46anything. It's just really bad. Um and
6:49your guys are big so you like retain
6:51shield right like the the 12 cost, nine
6:53cost, seven cost and eight the new gate.
6:56They're all just really good for the
6:58matchup. So, I did 20 uh JCM. I had seed
7:03priority for all throughout the round,
7:05so I was able to take my preferred curve
7:08every time.
7:09>> Huge. Huge. That is es on rocks. That is
7:12such a such an advantage.
7:13>> Yeah, it really is. Um in my top 16 uh
7:17top 16 match, I think I played against
7:20uh another rocks player. It's the guy
7:22who played it on round 11 of Insanity. I
7:26was able to two him as well. Um I think
7:29that he might have misplayed a little
7:32bit which caused me to win or like he he
7:35tried to push a turn early uh when he
7:37really didn't need to and could have
7:39stalled out the game like an extra turn
7:40and I was able to take it 20.
7:43Um against the next round, I think it's
7:45my top eight match I was in against RG
7:48Luffy on stream. I again took it 20. You
7:51can see the VODs um there. I pretty much
7:55played my preferred like standard how I
7:58want to play against this match up round
7:59one or game one because I want to go
8:01first and then game two I uh had to
8:04adjust a little bit but was able to get
8:06it luckily.
8:09Uh top four match was again RG Luffy. I
8:11played against Kyle. Shouts to Kyle.
8:14He's really good. Um, I think in this
8:17matchup he missed a Bonnie or two, which
8:21is pretty detrimental and I was just
8:23able to close it out. He played it
8:24really well though and understood where
8:26like he needed to push like a couple
8:28turns early so that he can get into a
8:31winning position. So that's great on
8:33him. He was a great player. Uh, and then
8:35finals. Yeah. Yeah. Kyle's really good.
8:38>> Kyle's really good. I had to play him I
8:40think round six in event. I was so sad.
8:43>> Yeah. Yeah. My friend actually lost the
8:45last round to bubble out
8:49>> um because he lost to Kyle. So it was
8:50really rough. Uh and then lastly for
8:55finals I played against an assassin who
8:57played rocks. Um first I I'll be honest,
9:01I think the games I played in that
9:03finals match was pretty messy and rough,
9:06but I was really lucky enough to close
9:08out because he kind of missed his shikis
9:09in game one. Um, but I I luckily won
9:12that first game which was almost a
9:14miracle if I'm being honest.
9:16>> A miracle. You say miracle?
9:18>> Yeah. Yeah.
9:20>> Did you play Bonnie and then play two?
9:22>> I know. Low key. That's basically what
9:25Tenkos is. No,
9:26>> it's close.
9:27>> High key. Yeah, it's like the same
9:29thing. You just have to play it on 10
9:30and not on five.
9:31>> You're right. You're right. You're
9:32right. The fact that that card draws a
9:34card is kind of insane because you go
9:35like Nate Kio, you lose zero cards and
9:38you the deck is the deck is so good.
9:42>> It's so good. It's It's peak design. It
9:46is truly it I love rocks as a whole just
9:49because it printed a bunch of one
9:51generic cards which boost all of blue as
9:53a whole, but at the same time it makes
9:56them extra unplayable
9:58in the fact that you don't have as much
10:01cards, right? Like you don't get
10:03infinity cards like rock so you can't
10:05filter out but then also every card is a
10:07brick. Every single card is a brick. So
10:09you have to play bricks to play the rock
10:11cards.
10:11>> Yep.
10:12>> So it's so fast and like you can't nate
10:14if nate was generic. Boy, if nate was
10:17generic.
10:17>> Oh wow. It' be crazy.
10:21>> Yeah. Even if like if if um what's his
10:23name? If Jon was generic. Holy moly.
10:26This the some of the rocks cards would
10:28pop off.
10:29>> Welcome back to the meta a cost kid.
10:32Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
10:35>> Okay, cool.
10:36>> Um, yeah. Yeah. Final played against
10:38Sebec, got lucky, won it out, and took
10:40the whole event.
10:41>> The whole event. Two. The only loss was
10:44round one. Keep that in mind. Only loss
10:47was round one. Won every game in Top
10:51Cut. 20. Two of those being on stream.
10:55So, you guys should definitely check
10:56that out. We're going to go ahead and
10:57jump in. And I do know I think obviously
11:00the the rocks package overall is quite
11:02standard but cuz there's only so many
11:04cards and you have to play pretty much
11:06all of them. But go ahead. Let's walk us
11:08through this deck. Walk us through kind
11:10of what these cards do, how you were
11:12using them, how they came up, and
11:14especially how they were good against
11:16Miracle. But I'll let you go ahead and
11:18kind of walk us through because I know
11:19there are some interesting choices that
11:21I'll also ask you about.
11:23>> Yeah. So, uh, obviously I played rocks.
11:25Uh, lead is really good. Uh, I probably
11:27don't need to tell you what it does, but
11:28draw like two cards a turn is crazy.
11:32Sometimes sometimes sometimes this
11:33card's a minus one and you cry, but it's
11:36okay. That happened a lot this weekend.
11:38Um, for the the 2k event, this card
11:41comes up specifically against Kaido to
11:42bounce their king. Uh, other than that,
11:45not too much, but it can it can come up
11:48for lethal turns. I was going to say
11:50it's also really good because you can
11:51use it on
11:53law as well, which is Luffy's only
11:56blocker really. Well, you could also do
11:57it on Anami as well. Did you use this
12:00against any of the miracle decks
12:02actually? Cuz it's funny, a lot of
12:03people don't even really know that this
12:04card has another effect because it's so
12:06rarely used, but it's been being used a
12:09lot more, I feel like. Could you give me
12:11an example of an instance you may have
12:13used this this past weekend? Yeah, I
12:16actually don't think I used it too too
12:17much here for the second effect. Um, you
12:20definitely can use it for like the uh
12:22the RG matchup into uh Laws and um
12:27and Namies, but usually against the
12:29matchup you want to like be a little bit
12:31more grindy and and not have to push so
12:33it's not as big of a deal to bounce
12:35their their laws cuz you don't need to
12:37go for game. You just kind of get there
12:39eventually is kind of how this matchup
12:41has been tailored for me. Um, this card
12:44again comes up during king. Maybe it
12:46could have also came up against like the
12:48Rosie player for Rosenante. Um, but I
12:50don't usually do that. I usually just
12:52like being a lot more aggressive and
12:53then pressuring with uh units and
12:56possibly shikis. Um, but you can use it
13:00if you need to go for game like that
13:01through the uh the second event, second
13:04uh effect. Um, I also think that like in
13:07the finals match if my opponent like
13:10bounced my Gloriosa, my le my uh
13:13survivability would have went way down.
13:15So either through this effect or the
13:17Gloriosa itself. Yeah, but I was
13:20counting for that. So, and prayed that
13:22they didn't have it. So, that was good.
13:23>> Sometimes you got to take the trash.
13:25Sometimes they just don't have it.
13:26>> Yeah, I did so many times that game. Um,
13:30next I play the unblockable 2K again.
13:33Really good. It does come up. you use it
13:36to pressure, especially in the rocks
13:37mirror. It's like really impactful.
13:40>> Did you ever do the double unblockable?
13:42Did that come up at all this weekend?
13:44>> Um, it did come up this weekend. So, a
13:46lot of times I either had it, I
13:48pressured it, or it just like absolutely
13:51won me the game. Um, I think this
13:54happened during one of my uh one of I
13:57think the top 16 matchup with the
14:00Roxere. it like definitely came up and
14:03it was just like a clear win because I
14:04had two of them.
14:07Yeah, same with uh the finals. Actually
14:08in the finals I also had this when I had
14:11double 10 cost and then the the leader.
14:14So like even if he put a blocker I just
14:17had unblockable to kill him. Yeah.
14:21Um next we have two strusen. This is
14:24just like a consistency piece. It's
14:26actually really helpful as well to deal
14:28with the supernova build specifically
14:31against RG where like they rest their um
14:34one cost Luffy's to minus. You just like
14:36kill it with Streus and make it easy for
14:37yourself. Um it can also like take a
14:40dawn off of the Nami when they block
14:43you. Your Strusen hits it for an extra
14:45dawn basically. So it's it's just nice
14:48to have like a small amount of pressure.
14:49Other than that, it's just a consistency
14:51piece. Uh, and then like when your deck
14:54is really low and you're scared of
14:56hitting boa, sometimes you just play
14:57this and make sure you guarantee the
14:59leader effect because you don't want to
15:02go neg one for no reason or neg two.
15:04>> Neg two because you give up a card from
15:07hand, but you give up the potential card
15:09as well.
15:10>> Yeah. Yeah, it's it's neg two overall.
15:12Um, it feels like an egg one. Oh, no. It
15:14feels like neg infinity honestly when
15:16you miss, but it's it's an egg two.
15:19Yeah.
15:21uh 4 KO, draw a card and then protect
15:23against removal. Really important for
15:25the RG matchup and for the uh mirror
15:29because you protect your stuff from
15:31getting Gloriosa and then um you
15:35semi-protect against Deken or they're
15:37forced to swing into it. So, it's kind
15:38of like a blocker. Yeah, it's just a
15:40very good card. Also, it can be a
15:41swinger too because you expect them to
15:43rest it. So, it's like this card is like
15:46kind of swinging for five a lot of the
15:47time. And um it's also good because when
15:51Shiki or Kaido minuses their bodies, you
15:54have an extra body like Kio that can
15:56swing.
15:58Makes sense.
15:59>> Yeah.
16:00>> Uh for Don Marlin, this is like the
16:02premier uh turn two drop. Like the combo
16:06is the, you know, the event plus the Don
16:08Marlin. This card is the goat. If I
16:11could see this card every game, it I
16:13would be in a fantastic spot. I This
16:17card's great.
16:19>> The card's busted. Like you could be out
16:22of unblockables, too, and you can just
16:23fetch that back and it's like four to
16:25swing up.
16:26>> Exactly. I actually did that this this
16:27game, too, and I pressured it, which is
16:29really great. This this card is super
16:31good.
16:34Um, for Stussy. Stuss. Honestly, I think
16:37if there's a card to be banned in this
16:39deck, it's Stussy. Stussy just like does
16:42way too much. It's also generic, so if
16:45you just want to play it in any deck,
16:47you can. Um, this card makes like the
16:50mirror really cancer cuz you just like
16:52stun two bodies. Um, and it'll slow down
16:55their turn and you can like press your
16:57advantage that way or like slow down
17:00that turn your their turn to like maybe
17:02win or come back. This card is like
17:04absolutely key in
17:07so many matchups
17:09um where like you can just kind of roll
17:12your opponent if you have Stussy. Um I
17:15think it's important to note against
17:16like the uh what's it called? The um
17:19buggy matchup, you can like uh stun
17:22their um
17:24>> Alvida.
17:24>> Alvida. Yeah. So that Kio might not be
17:26negated or if you have like a Kio plus a
17:29Stasi um it makes it a lot easier. Same
17:33with like I don't know stunning Shanks
17:36is great. Stunning New Gate plus 10 cost
17:38is great. This card just does a lot for
17:40you. Yeah. And then low key it's like a
17:435k blocker, right? Cuz they're like kind
17:44of semi forced to swing at this card or
17:47else you just can get the stun over and
17:48over again. Yeah. This card's this card
17:51is in my opinion like number one target
17:54to get hit.
17:55>> It is it is an incredible card. I had an
17:57insane lethal and I'm like as long as I
17:59have a swing, but they just went triple
18:01Stussy and I'm like I have no swing.
18:03That's like it's so good. It's so good.
18:05Like in like game two it just you can
18:08have next to no cards, but again if you
18:10play two Stussy you have the potential
18:12to stop three swings or even Stussy
18:14Stussy and then a Gloriosa. If Gloriosa
18:17bottom deck something you have the
18:19potential to stop four attacks in total.
18:21>> Yep. Yep. Yep. John with this card is
18:24pretty good too, right? then two bodies
18:25forced to swing a Jon and then like even
18:27unblockable can get through Jon so
18:30>> it's very good granted I do not run Jon
18:32but it it is a tech it is worth
18:34considering
18:36uh for Gloriosa Gloriosa is very
18:39impactful in this meta specifically
18:42against RG Luffy because it bottom decks
18:44Bonnie this is my main part of my game
18:45plan to deal with RG um I like want to
18:50go first and then in my opinion I do
18:52this on seven and nine where They like
18:54drop Bonnie, drop Bonnie, and I just go
18:56glorious the bottom deck it and just not
18:58have to deal with Bonnie and establish
19:00as many cards in my hand as possible to
19:02answer their board and eventually
19:05pressure enough to win the game. This
19:07card is number one. It's super key.
19:10Also, against the Rox Mirror, this is
19:12like your number one preferred drop on
19:14the fort on turn is Glorious Bottom of
19:17their stuff.
19:19Yeah, great card. Do you think Glorios
19:22would be as good if they just started
19:23playing Leon? Would you worry about that
19:26matchup?
19:27>> Uh, yeah. If they started playing Leon,
19:30I think that would hit some of their
19:32consistency really well cuz it's usually
19:34dedicated to like Otama and then like
19:37the fish. Um, I think if they ran Leon
19:41it would be pretty interesting. I just
19:42divert to like more of the Kaido range
19:44where like this is kind of like the same
19:46thing but the body needs to be rested.
19:49Um, Luboon matters, but
19:53like I mean they're definitely not
19:54running it now, so I don't have to worry
19:56about it,
19:56>> right?
19:57>> Um, if they do start running it, I think
19:59you can kind of play around it. And it's
20:01it's like like yeah, Bonnie is really
20:03important, but so is playing like Shiki
20:05later on. So, which is another way to
20:07deal with it. And then this turn is also
20:10sub for Boa later on, which we'll talk
20:12about. So, it's not the worst if like
20:14this doesn't get played.
20:17>> Okay. Okay.
20:17>> But it is kind of the main part of my
20:18game plan. Yeah,
20:22>> great question. Great question. Uh, next
20:24we run four Kaido. Um, I felt like Kaido
20:27is the most impactful over Jon, so I
20:30opted for four. You can consider like
20:32swapping out a Kaido for a Jon or so
20:34because Jon can be impactful in certain
20:36time frames during like both the RG and
20:39the Zbec matchup. Um, but overall this
20:42meta in my opinion is pretty board
20:44control heavy. So having this Kaido is
20:47like really important because it it's a
20:49mini Shiki minus three and it's a
20:51blocker which helps uh block against
20:53your characters. Um and you don't have
20:56to like discard for the minus. You just
20:58have to reveal three. So it's it's
21:00really helpful.
21:02>> I love that you're so good at this game
21:04because that was one of the things is
21:06obviously in the Mihawk meta pre-ban
21:08everyone was playing Jon and then the
21:10two cost event as well. postb Kaido
21:13really started to kind of show up in
21:16these decks, especially now because I
21:20talked to I think it was Elijah and he
21:22said Kaido is really just a mini Shiki
21:25except it's arguably better because you
21:27can play two Kaido and do minus
21:30potentially six and guarantee a body if
21:32needed.
21:33>> Yeah,
21:33>> which and there and he's a blocker so he
21:35also tanks a hit. So he's a great
21:37defensive and offensive unit in the same
21:40way. you take off pressure and he of
21:42course relieves pressure. So it's it's
21:44incredible. You played four. I think
21:46that's a little bit more common. I was
21:48looking at all of top 32. Some people
21:50are playing between two to four. So you
21:52think that it's really just choosing not
21:55to play Jon and playing Kaido?
21:58>> Yeah. Um Jon has its place as like one
22:00to two of, but Kaido is definitely
22:02better than Jon in this meta right now.
22:05Um because there's so many spots where
22:07you can play it and it just affects the
22:08game state. Like as I said earlier, it's
22:11like you can play this card if the
22:13Bonnie for example is rested. Um and
22:16then Glorious is pretty similar, but
22:17this card is a 6k body as well that can
22:20swing at other characters. Um in the
22:24like if you don't have Gloria and have a
22:26Kaido in the mirror where they you go
22:28second, this card blocks for six. So
22:30that their their ideal curve is like
22:32Lynlin on five, but this card just free
22:34blocks the the the rocks. So, it's just
22:37like extra free and they're not forced
22:39to swing it like Jon either. Um,
22:44so it's just like a really nice card to
22:45have. It also deals with Jon
22:47specifically. Like if they play Jon and
22:49four and rest, you can just like play
22:51Kaido and then kill the John easier.
22:54So yeah. Yeah, this card is really good.
22:58>> It's really good. It's actually very
22:59annoying.
23:00>> Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Definitely. Even
23:03like against the like Kaido matchup,
23:05right? you they they rest their their
23:08king and then you draw double K sorry
23:09they rest their Kaido their tenos Kaido
23:13and then you double Kaido and they're
23:15like forced to lose it basically because
23:17six
23:17>> actually since we're here too there's
23:19always like you want to play Shiki and
23:21playing Shiki is great because you have
23:23that 3k counter power but sometimes you
23:25just need to remove a body and establish
23:26a blocker and you mathematically can't
23:28do that when playing Shiki because of
23:30his cost but Kaido also solves all of
23:33those problems because Kaido is a
23:35blocker.
23:36>> He is He is very good. Very impactful.
23:40Yeah. Yeah. Uh for Lemon, this card is
23:44actually like
23:47it's absolutely necessary for my overall
23:50game plan. Both versus Rocks and versus
23:52RG. This card is the This card is
23:55really good. Um I like this card like a
23:59lot more than Ugate personally because
24:01again, Ugate's great. This card draws
24:03two every single time. time it gets the
24:04val or most of the time it gets the
24:06value off immediately or they have to
24:09discard two which is also good and then
24:12it provides a 1k counter every time. Um
24:15I think the main reason why I really
24:17like this card over like new gate is
24:19because I'm really fine with it dying
24:20cuz it gave me immediate value always.
24:23this card like draws you a card and then
24:25provides that 3k counter sometimes, but
24:28like when they rest it and kill it with
24:31uh with the deck in, it's so much it
24:35hurts so much more than losing a
24:36Linland. Uh because it's an extra dawn,
24:38it takes up your curve and like you you
24:41cycle this, but this actively gave you
24:43an extra card. Um and they it it like
24:46hurts to to decken this. It it this card
24:49I will deck in every time. decking this
24:52card is like really iffy and and so I
24:55think that just overall I like this card
24:56more
24:58>> 100%. also like on the deck and thing. I
25:01mean, just because New Gate generates so
25:03much value like he doesn't generate hand
25:05value, right? Like that's where you're
25:06saying Lynlin obviously, but Nate every
25:09turn new gate gets to be on the board.
25:11You got 3k counter, which is more than
25:13any counter printed on a current card
25:16from a brick and so it filters your
25:18hand. Like that's a big thing, too. I'll
25:21actually ask you about that later. It's
25:23kind of like how to use the abilities,
25:25but it because it's so important. But so
25:28>> obviously Lynlin really strong card. How
25:32often were your opponents trashing too?
25:35Like uh in the mirror it's pretty free
25:37because your hand does nothing but at
25:38the same time you still need cards to
25:40use things like Nate and Shiki as well.
25:43How often did your opponents trash cards
25:46off of Lynland? Because most of the time
25:48it feels like a draw to but there are
25:50the one time I hate Lynland is when they
25:51just trash two and I'm like I really
25:53just wanted cards, bro. Yeah, you can.
25:56Generally speaking,
25:58in Yeah, as you said, they almost always
26:00make you pick draw two. Um, in RG
26:02matchup, I've almost never had them
26:04discard. Um, usually you can like kind
26:07of force this to either draw or discard
26:10because of their hand size. um they'll
26:12usually pitch when like the non Zbec
26:15matchups when um they just can't afford
26:17you to draw more cards, but usually you
26:20can like force them into certain
26:21decisions. If you expect them to like
26:24discard just like ideally you don't play
26:26this card um because it's just not as
26:30beneficial to you as you want. I
26:32personally don't think this is a
26:33catch-up card. This is like a tempo,
26:37retain as much value, and like like hit
26:40the rolling stone mentality where the
26:42the boulder gets bigger and has more
26:44momentum because you're playing this
26:46card. Um like in the in the mirror like
26:49this card is usually a discard, but when
26:51there are like four cards in hand, you
26:53play this card and you're like, "Okay,
26:55I'm forcing you to give me two cards
26:57because you can't afford to pitch two in
27:00this spot." which is like super
27:02impactful for gaining advantage and
27:04momentum because it's also 7k.
27:07>> 7k is the seven like I was playing it in
27:10red blue ace the 7k stat line just
27:13swinging any turn off with just a swing
27:15seven on any pressure turn
27:17>> is so dictating.
27:20>> Mhm. It is. It is like you swing the
27:22seven you can like force the new gator
27:24shiki and then adjust after. Um this
27:27card is a great body to have.
27:31Okay. Yeah,
27:32>> my father.
27:34>> Yeah, Edward Nugate. Edward Nugate.
27:38Admittedly, I like I like this card a
27:40lot. Um I value it really highly
27:43>> early when I was playing this gate this
27:45deck, but now that I'm playing it, I
27:48I've been liking um Lynen a lot more
27:50just because this card like the minute
27:54it rests, it's target number one. And
27:57this the the effect doesn't help you
27:59retain it. So it's super great if you're
28:02playing a face game and like a overall
28:05kind of um yeah value face game, but the
28:07minute it turns sideways, it's target
28:09number one. So like Shiki's eat it,
28:11right? Deken eats it, Shanks eats the
28:14card. So this card has been a lot less
28:17impactful in my RG matchup specifically.
28:21And then it it's definitely impactful in
28:23the uh rocks matchup, but I've been
28:26liking the Linland andor Shiki a lot of
28:28bit a lot more.
28:32>> Were there turns that you were playing
28:35like like on six where you have New
28:37Gate? I know you kind of talked about it
28:39before, especially in like when the
28:40decking conversation came up, but are
28:42there turns where you've genuinely just
28:44played
28:46Linland when you have New Gate? Yeah.
28:49So, in the RG matchup specifically,
28:52always Lynlin, like every time it's
28:54Lynlin over new gate. Um, because it's a
28:56board battle and it's a retain as many
28:59like advantage engines as you can. Um,
29:03there are some instances where you can
29:04play this new gate, but a lot of times
29:06Linland just retains a lot more value
29:07overall. Like, you absolutely do not
29:10want them to decken this card, but
29:12you're totally fine with them deckening
29:13the Llin. Um, in the mirror, uh, I I
29:18personally like this the Linland more
29:20where I've like definitely played the
29:21Linland over the new gate because the
29:24the mirror is about like Shiki battles
29:26usually where like you're battling Shiki
29:29versus Shiki. So, retaining adding plus
29:32two minus two for their hand or your
29:34hand is generally speaking a lot more
29:38value than going even and this card
29:41dying. This card comes up sometimes when
29:43you um are swinging like
29:47eight with the new gate at the Shiki,
29:49eight with the leader at Shiki um when
29:52Shiki's minus so it's a six. Um but a
29:56lot of the times I think that Lynlin
29:57just has a lot more impact because
29:59they're going neg two cards in hand
30:01where they're also have to play around
30:03boa
30:04and then if they decide to draw then
30:07they give me the draw then I just have
30:09more cards to retain in the mirror. So a
30:12lot of times personally I like this
30:13Linland more and then you get comes up
30:15like a little later on.
30:18>> Okay. Wait.
30:19>> So now I want to ask you this. Did you
30:21ever greed Max by them having nine cards
30:25and you play a Lynlin and then they let
30:27you draw two and then you play a boa and
30:30make them trash for
30:32>> Yeah. Actually this came up um forgot
30:35where this came up. This definitely came
30:37up in the uh
30:39in the mirror. We're like, "Oh, no, no.
30:41I'm sorry. I will if if it's in the
30:43mirror, I will always let them I will
30:45always play the bow first."
30:47>> As you should, cuz they they just they
30:48Yeah. Yeah.
30:50>> I will always play the bow first.
30:52There's no reason to like not play the
30:54bow first if I'm always playing those
30:55two. Um cuz they can't discard, right?
30:58If they go down to five cards in hand,
30:59they absolutely cannot give me two more
31:01cards within. They just have to let me
31:03draw. It's like like going down to three
31:07cards is like mental status. I don't
31:10know how you can like actually afford to
31:12do that unless you plan on like winning
31:14the next turn. It's so bad.
31:16>> Um,
31:17>> true.
31:17>> Which is why you're like forcing this
31:19Lenon to give give me cards, which is
31:21really really nice to have.
31:24>> Yeah.
31:25>> Okay.
31:25>> Got it.
31:26>> Uh, probably like number one star of
31:28this deck is Shiki. Shiki is so good. Um
31:33the one weakness about this card is it
31:35can't like minus leader swing, but
31:37that's fine because it's both an
31:39aggressive tool and a defensive tool. Um
31:43just like having this card as pressure
31:46is super impactful. Like against um
31:48Buggy for example, they can never really
31:50turn their card sideways because Shiki
31:52just exists.
31:55Um yeah, this card is number one. Um
31:58really helps in the Rox Mirror. It's all
32:00about the shiki battles kind of and then
32:03it it's really pressure against the RG
32:05matchup because you retain a lot of
32:07cards, swing at their bodies, um and
32:11just kind of
32:13gather like a lot of tempo to win the
32:15game.
32:17>> Got it.
32:18>> Uh yeah, for ten cost 10 cost is also
32:21busted. Want to see this card as much as
32:24possible. Um on 10 it plays like two
32:26bodies, draws a card. So again, like
32:29Shiki plus Kio is my premiere. I want to
32:32see that combo as much as possible cuz
32:35it's huge tempo swing.
32:38And yeah, it's a Zbec, so it can be
32:40unblockable. And 20, what's it 21k lead
32:43is pretty scary unblockable.
32:46>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You kind of It's
32:48funny because against against Sebec, you
32:50have to worry what about being at one
32:52life and being at zero, right? like it
32:54being at one because if you have new
32:56gate, you get to buff up your leader and
32:58it's what is it? It's like 124 or 1313
33:02unblockable.
33:03>> Y
33:04>> and then Yeah. And then so you have to
33:06make sure you can at least counter out
33:07of one of those even at one life. So
33:10it's it's quite dangerous.
33:12>> Yeah. Yeah. You're the mirror is really
33:14weird where like you really need to
33:15manage your life really well both early
33:17and mid and then boa takes a real big
33:19screw in that because like you really
33:21need to play around this boa. Um, I
33:24personally think Bull is not super great
33:25in the mirror as long as both players
33:27have like an average respectable hand
33:31where they're like countering and like
33:34uh worrying about like this bow in
33:37general where this card just like
33:38doesn't really come up. But the minute
33:40it comes up, it comes up big. Um, I
33:42think Alvida makes it a little different
33:44where like you can actively give them
33:46the cards because bow exists. Um, but
33:48otherwise this card is this card is
33:51good. Card is real good. It's also so on
33:55the mirror a lot of times a lot of
33:57people don't realize half the time you
33:59have a handful of nothing like your hand
34:01is nothing like like rocks can have 10
34:04cards in hand and none of those are
34:06going to advance the game state like
34:07they do genuinely nothing so like
34:09getting rid of four of them potentially
34:11doesn't
34:12>> could be not that impactful es
34:14especially if they've established their
34:17key pieces already like giving you four
34:19cards is really like that's why a lot of
34:21times you play the Lindland. They're
34:23like, "I'll just give you these two."
34:24Like, "Oh, here's two Dawn Marlins. I
34:25was never playing these." Or like, you
34:27know, "Here's two Kios. I was never
34:28playing these." Like, you can't. We
34:30don't play removals. So many different
34:32things like that. But that's why cuz so
34:35many times like you're like, "Oh, this
34:36is so scary." And they have nothing.
34:38They have nothing.
34:39>> It's true. It's true. Yeah. As long as
34:41you can protect your board in some form
34:42or fashion, like the cards are a lot
34:44less impactful to discard. Um, my only
34:48worry about getting bored in the mirror
34:50is I'm just getting like out advantage
34:51and outtempoed because I don't have
34:53cards to protect both my board and life.
34:56Um, like regardless of my hand size or
34:59what what it is my hand quality because
35:01Bo just discarded four cards for me.
35:03>> Yeah. And that's where the gates and
35:05shikys come in, right?
35:06>> True. Yeah, that is that is where they
35:08come in.
35:10Um, yeah. Buckin, I don't know if I have
35:12to say it, but buckan's a 1k. It's a
35:14basically a vanilla just a 1k counter.
35:16>> Did you replace the two buckan? Like
35:18usually it was like four buck. You just
35:20replace those with the the boas.
35:22>> Uh no, I actually replaced them with
35:24strusen. Originally I was playing four,
35:26>> right?
35:27>> Um four and two, but I really like this
35:29consistency piece and I did not like
35:32hitting whiffing with boa whiffing on
35:34boa despite the amount of times I
35:36whiffed on boa this weekend. But
35:38>> like this card was super helpful uh just
35:42overall because it helped my consistency
35:44a lot. Um but yeah, it used to be four
35:48bucket. So it's kind of like the same.
35:49This is kind of like four buck in here
35:51in terms of counter,
35:52>> but this card can whiff.
35:53>> Yeah.
35:55>> Got it. Okay.
35:58>> Yeah. You want me to talk more about
35:59this boa? This card is really
36:01>> Yeah. I mean, tell us Yeah, I'm happy to
36:03hear it. Like, you know, it's obviously
36:04a new card. It's putting light, right?
36:06real pudding would be ideal, but it's
36:08our replacement. It's our pudding at
36:10home.
36:11>> Yeah, this card is super good. It's
36:14super impactful. Um especially in top
36:17cut where they obviously know that
36:18you're running it and at two. Um it it
36:22does it reads if your opponent has nine
36:24cards in their hand, uh they discard
36:25four cards, so they choose the cards
36:28that they're discarding. Um
36:31so it's definitely worse than putting.
36:33Um, but it comes up a lot because in a
36:37lot of these matchups or in the meta
36:39nowadays, your opponent just has a lot
36:40of cards in hand. So, discarding four is
36:42really impactful. Um, it's super
36:45impactful in the buggy matchup because
36:47they absolutely cannot afford to get
36:49bowed. They just they will like lose
36:52maybe on the spot if they if the bow
36:54hits the board because they can't swing
36:56with their cards because she exists.
36:59they're boa they both get boa down to
37:01five cards and they just get aggroed and
37:03they will lose. Um same with like uh
37:07this is actually this card is also super
37:08helpful in the RG matchup because they a
37:11lot of times they just can't play around
37:13boa they'll just naturally have nine
37:15cards in hand and you can just drop a
37:17bow and force them to five which means
37:19they're playing with a lot less
37:20resources than normal so they need to
37:23like actively find their pieces. all
37:25their cards are really good. So, it's
37:26kind of hard to choose what card to
37:28discard sometimes and um they're just
37:31playing on an easier clock because yes,
37:34that they can retain or gain as many a
37:36lot more cards in hand, but they're neg
37:38four. Um so, your their board gets
37:41cleared easier. They may not have the
37:42answers that they need to out your cards
37:45and um the matchup overall becomes
37:47easier because you can lethal swing
37:48better because they have a shortened
37:50amount of cards in hand throughout the
37:52entire game.
37:54Got it. Let me ask you this.
37:56>> Oh, finish your thought. What were you
37:57going to say?
37:58>> No, no, no. That's good. It It can also
37:59be impactful in the Rox Mirror. Um, but
38:02in my opinion, if the both players are
38:04playing the Rox Mirror like pretty
38:05respectably, this card doesn't come up
38:07as much as it should, or you'd expect it
38:10to, cuz they're always averaging around
38:12eight or less cards in hand, and they're
38:14countering a little bit more properly.
38:17Got it. So, let me let me ask you this.
38:19So obviously for those unfamiliar tenosc
38:23he lets you play out or rather use him
38:27in hand as counter if you have a all
38:30bricked up board. Once you establish a
38:33boa you're no longer able to counter
38:36with that. Now you of course can
38:38establish this body and play over boa
38:39quite easily. That is a thing that is
38:41very common in this deck is just playing
38:43over bodies. Were there ever an instance
38:45where you just couldn't afford to play
38:48boa simply because you need to use Zbec
38:50for counter?
38:52>> Uh, luckily that actually never happened
38:54for me. It definitely happens where like
38:55you notice that these cards are no
38:57longer counter which is why like
38:59throughout the game I'd understand how
39:01many 10 costs I'm like afford to play
39:04and sometimes I use this card as counter
39:07early on before these because I expect
39:08this ba to come out and these cards
39:10become dead. Um, a lot of times also
39:13they just like can't really afford to
39:15keep your units on the board because
39:16it's a board battle for the meta. So,
39:18they'll just swing at this boa and that
39:20that helps too. Or I'll play over the
39:22bow at some point because my board has
39:24been very full with the 10 cost. But
39:27this is the 1k has actually just almost
39:29never been detrimental to me or like I
39:31really can't don't want this on board
39:33because the rock has this 2k counter
39:36text.
39:38Um, now that you mentioned this, one of
39:41the extra things that I just real or
39:43remember to say for this is that when
39:46this card is on the board and gets swung
39:48at, you can't use these cards to counter
39:50because they can only counter Rox
39:52Pirates. So, if you if your opponent
39:55just like swings six at it, it probably
39:58dies. Um, because you can't counter with
40:00any of these three cards because they're
40:03all like two not a 2K counter. Has to
40:06counter rocks. has it kind of rocks. So,
40:08it will die really easily when they
40:10swing at it.
40:12>> You're just telling people that so
40:13they'll swing at it.
40:15>> Yeah, you're kind of right. But it also
40:16just can't be countered, right? Like
40:18like I need to counter with natural 1ks
40:21or the uh Linland 1k counters or I guess
40:24Shiki if they're swinging with a with a
40:28um with a body like a character. But
40:30overall, this card like is super not
40:33protectable.
40:34>> Yes. Also something kind of underrated.
40:37I think a lot of people don't really
40:38realize it because it just doesn't
40:40happen a lot, but your rock's leader.
40:43You're able to pitch boa to use his
40:45effect. The only one that you have to
40:47pitch a typed card is Shiki. Does new
40:51gate also or is new gate just one card?
40:52I think it's
40:53>> I believe. Yeah, I I believe it's just
40:55Shiki. I think Nate is one card, right?
40:58>> Yeah, I think cuz both rocks, but it's
40:59just Shiki, but because Shiki has to do
41:01it, so many people get confused. But
41:03yeah, like they most of your cards that
41:06you trash are Rock Pirates. So then
41:08somebody doesn't, you're like, "Wait."
41:09And you're like, "Huh?" But yeah, so if
41:11you if it's for some reason a matchup
41:13you're not going to use this or it's
41:14kind of dead, you can also use that boa
41:16if your other cards are more valuable.
41:19>> Yep. Yep. I've definitely done this
41:20where like you pitch the boa for the
41:22leader because you just need better
41:23cards to play.
41:25>> Yep.
41:26>> And it's 1k.
41:27>> It's a 1k. It is a 1k. You know, not
41:31everyone played it this weekend, but I
41:33think the card it's it's pudding light
41:35pudding. Pudding was goated. If you
41:36think pudding's great, you're going to
41:37love Boa Hancock.
41:39>> Yep. Absolutely. Yeah. Part of the
41:41reason why the Enel matchup is so bad is
41:42cuz this card exists if I'm being
41:44honest.
41:44>> They like play triple pudding and they
41:46get they get mini pudding back and they
41:49can't recover.
41:50>> Then they can't Yep. They can't protect
41:52their board. Do you Let me ask you this.
41:53So, of course, Kingdom Come being a
41:55thing, Ryo, if you would. Do you ever
41:58like starve ENL or you still just apply
42:01pressure as needed?
42:02>> I am definitely applying pressure as
42:04needed because they Yeah, this card this
42:07card is good. It exists for a good
42:09reason.
42:11>> Uh good reason. Maybe I think pudding
42:13should have just exist. But that that's
42:15me. That's me. Blue pudding.
42:17>> Oh, really? No ways.
42:18>> I'm the opposite camp. I can't
42:21>> Oh, you have the miracle combo. Play
42:23play putting on four. Good luck.
42:25>> You're right.
42:25>> Good luck, Charlie. Hard draw.
42:29>> Oh my goodness. I can't imagine putting
42:32in this meta right now. It's crazy.
42:35>> Oh, is it the Zback player doesn't want
42:37a pudding? All your 11 cards in danger,
42:39buddy.
42:40>> Yep. Yep.
42:42>> Uh you won't have to worry about decking
42:43out. You get six more cards.
42:45>> True. True. Or you can deck them out if
42:47they have crazy low cards. And
42:49>> that's true. I
42:51>> Yeah. Yeah. I decked somebody out that
42:53way. They had like three cards in hand.
42:55I'm like cards in deck. They're like
42:56two. I'm like pudding.
42:58>> Yep. That has happened to me when I
43:00played emu a lot which is annoying.
43:03>> Iconic play. Underrated play. One card
43:06in hand. Pudding. Pass. You lose.
43:12>> All right. Cool. Well, let's go ahead
43:14and jump in. So, obviously kind of start
43:17with the basics.
43:19I know you mentioned against Red Green
43:22Luffy that you usually will go into
43:27Linland over New Gate. Can you kind of
43:29walk me through the deck really writes
43:32itself because the curves are pretty
43:34much established for you, but what is
43:35your ideal curves nowadays? Obviously,
43:38you've got things like Don Marlin,
43:41Kaido. It really the deck really counts.
43:43You've got 2 3 4 5 6 7 and 10 within the
43:49deck, but there's a lot of flexibility
43:51and a lot of different options. Can you
43:52kind of walk us through the curve of
43:54Zbec?
43:55>> Right. Yeah. So, I mean, I think the for
43:59so the general curve is like on the um
44:03even curve it's like Q
44:06A4 cost. Ideally, it's gloriosa if it's
44:08the mirror, but it's like one of these
44:11these.
44:13And then like six is generally like new
44:16gate but maybe linland.
44:19And then like Shiki and then 10 cost.
44:21That's like the even curve.
44:23>> And then the odd curve you just kind of
44:25adjust as is. It's like 1 three where's
44:29the five 5 7 maybe like 9ish and 10. Um,
44:36but with me and my friend tested this a
44:39lot and so for the RG matchup, it
44:41actually changes a lot. Um, then the
44:44standard curve, like this is my standard
44:46curve going for odd, for example, it's
44:47like one of these two,
44:49>> a five, a seven, a 9, a 10.
44:51>> We'll add this here for the nine.
44:54>> Um, but in the RG matchup, what I really
44:56like to do is I personally pick first. I
45:00actually saw a Twitter post recently
45:01that like second, but I think first has
45:05like a better cleaner curve where like
45:07you're playing Strusenish on three on
45:10one, sorry, if you have it. Uh, Don
45:13Marlin on three.
45:16On five, you're playing the Limlin to
45:18like draw two cards. Um, on seven,
45:21you're playing um like on the seven,
45:23this is where they're on their sixth
45:24down turn, they're playing the Bonnie.
45:26So on seven, you want to play a Gloriosa
45:30plus a Marlin where like you're
45:32bottoming bottom decking the Bonnie and
45:34then retaining cards with uh Don Marlin
45:39on nine. I actually afford like to non
45:42Shiki and playing again Linland plus
45:44Gloriosa where Gloria will bottom the
45:46second um the second Bonnie and then Lin
45:51will draw two more cards and then on 10
45:53you want to do this. This is your combo.
45:55It's your bread and butter. It's Kio
45:57plus Shiki. And then you're just kind of
45:59pushing your advantage this way. And
46:02this is like the curve that we kind of
46:03developed to like deal with the RG stuff
46:07because you're limiting their board
46:09guaranteed with Gloriosa and then like
46:11drawing a bunch of cards with the
46:13Lummens and the Marlins so that you can
46:16afford to really see these cards put
46:19pressure on it on their cards with the
46:21Shiki and then Kio kind of becomes your
46:24blocker that protects and draws. Um,
46:28the reason why I don't like Shiki on
46:30these curves here because this card is
46:32super outable by Deken regardless of
46:34whether or not you have uh Kio on the
46:36board. So, it's just not worth my
46:39development curve to like play Shikis
46:42here in my opinion because it just gets
46:44super outed by by uh Deken.
46:46>> Okay.
46:47>> And they can do that with like Nami plus
46:48Deken and so forth. Um, it makes it so
46:51much easier or better for me if they uh
46:54if the Shiki is dedicated to here where
46:57like you want them ideally they like
46:59play 10 cost shanks to answer this
47:01because 10 cost shanks eats the Kio like
47:04by swinging at it, right? The the ten
47:07cost gets decked and then the shiki's on
47:09board that gets swung at for like 8 to
47:1112 for example.
47:14Um, so that's why I think that like
47:16developing Shiki in this matchup is
47:18really only reserved for late game where
47:21like you can triple develop with this.
47:23And then these Linlands are either
47:25swinging these linens plus Marlin are
47:27either swinging phase or swinging other
47:28characters to like take out cards in
47:30their hand.
47:32Um, and then lastly, Boa here is like
47:34replaceable at any point with these
47:36Gloriosas or even the Linland because
47:39you're basically trading a Bonnie for
47:41four cards in hand, which is pretty
47:43worth it. Um,
47:46yeah, I think at any point in the game,
47:48B is the standard threat except for
47:49maybe on 10 specifically where like B is
47:53usually not worth it over this combo.
47:56Um, going second again, it's pretty
47:59similar as a play, but the problem is
48:01going second is that you're replacing
48:04your four curve, sorry, your six curve
48:07with a Gloriosa because their their
48:10Bonnie comes out earlier. So, it's a
48:12little bit harder to deal with because
48:14your six dawn turn is dedicated to like
48:17a Gloriosa plus two don for no reason.
48:20Um, and that's why I think it's like a
48:22little bit harder to uh go second and
48:25why we like first more. I think like
48:28it's something like this.
48:32Like double gloriosa maybe the new gate.
48:37Yeah, I think this is like the expected
48:40Where's Kio?
48:43This is like my expected even curve. I
48:45was going to say something similar to
48:47this. Oh, I see. Okay. Okay. Okay. Got
48:48it. Yeah. Yeah. And it's just like, in
48:52my opinion, it's just a lot weaker than
48:53the first curve, right? Because you're
48:54playing at two cost, which is fine. It
48:56gets killed eventually. The Marlin's
48:58okay. The six curve is like fine. It's
49:02kind of weak. Like you, the new gate's
49:04fine. Lim's good here, too, I guess. But
49:07it just doesn't even out your curve
49:09here. This is like the weak turn. The a
49:11turn is pretty fine where like you're
49:12playing double gloriosa or something to
49:15get rid of their stuff or shiki if
49:18they're
49:19One of their bonnies is turned and then
49:22this. But Shiki is super audible with
49:24the deck in so you're really coming in
49:26like really weak.
49:29>> Makes sense.
49:30>> And that's why we kind of like the first
49:31curve a little bit more.
49:33>> Okay.
49:34>> Yeah, cuz they could also like they
49:35could go law bounce play Bonnie play
49:40Nami and then play Decken. Nami resting
49:42the Shiki and then just deckening it. So
49:45>> Yep. It's very rough. Yeah, combo nuts.
49:50I I think it's absurd almost that that's
49:53a legal play
49:55>> for a five to six.
49:57>> It arguably shouldn't be allowed. But
49:58let me ask you this. So obviously you
50:01like going first. Do you think it's
50:02better then on when RG goes second and
50:07then they play something like Hiori and
50:10just gate straight up into Odin because
50:13then you can just play Gloriosa or would
50:15you save your Gloriosa for cards like
50:17Bonnie?
50:18>> Uh definitely save cards for like for
50:20the Bonnie because um if they're doing
50:23that that's again if they super high
50:25roll this matchup is a lot harder for
50:27you. um you can still come back through
50:29the likes of like B or just having the
50:31cards on board. Um playing Hiori on four
50:34is very good for them. Um but like if
50:38you're you plan on playing this Linland
50:39anyways on five. Um and then if the Odin
50:43turns you just start swinging at it with
50:44these bodies and then playing you know
50:46your normal four and three curve. So,
50:49I'm totally fine with them playing the
50:51Hi on four into that because it's a lot
50:54less like like if if I were to choose a
50:57stun, obviously it's always the they
50:58would always choose the Linland, right?
51:00But on four, they have they're only
51:02stunning the Marlin, which realistically
51:04doesn't swing anyways because they have
51:06twoish nut.
51:08>> So, it's not like a big deal that this
51:10card doesn't swing.
51:12Um, so if they again, if they have the
51:14nuts and just combo like every swing,
51:17then that's great. But if I were to
51:19choose the card to stun, it would be
51:21this card. So I'd rather them like do
51:25the lock combo here than on here. Uh,
51:28because this card swings at either face
51:30for two cardsish or
51:34or um swings at their bodies.
51:37>> Does that make sense?
51:38>> Yeah. Yeah.
51:39>> Okay. Oh yeah, that's what like I I get
51:41I've beat a lot of rocks and a lot of
51:42them will just snap Glorio so on five
51:45and I'm like well that's cool but you
51:46have nothing like I'll just res later
51:49and poke it. No big deal.
51:51>> So that makes sense. That's kind of
51:53where I was wondering where you couldn't
51:54have stood on it because I feel like a
51:55lot of Rocks players are currently doing
51:57that. With that being said, obviously
51:59we're talking a lot about the curve. How
52:00do you again rocks a lot of times has a
52:04handful of nothing. Like your hand
52:06really does nothing about half of the
52:08time. How do you navigate with arguably
52:12you kind of showed it especially against
52:13red green Luffy how flexible this deck
52:15is. There are a lot of things you can do
52:17when you don't have your curve but how
52:19do you kind of navigate that because of
52:21course your leader ability allows you to
52:23scry or look at two cards effectively
52:25assuming you don't whiff you're going to
52:26draw two cards. How do you kind of
52:28navigate missing a piece or missing your
52:31curve?
52:34>> So generally speaking your your mulligan
52:36is really important. and you're
52:37mulligating for a specific part of your
52:39curve. The great thing about rocks is
52:40like on average a lot of these cards
52:42just replace themselves or go plus one.
52:45Um what I generally general advice for
52:48like beginner rocks players is swing see
52:51what you have in hand. Swing through a
52:52leader first to gain as many options or
52:55choices as possible and then playing
52:57through that. Um obviously if you're you
53:00miss certain parts of your curve it's
53:01really detrimental or can be
53:03detrimental. Um, it's kind of just like
53:05fundamentals like you play with with
53:07what you can, what you have. You give
53:09yourself the best opportunity to do so
53:11and like cards like Strusen or deck
53:14choices like that kind of help your your
53:17consistency and then finding the the
53:19pieces that you need. Um, in terms of
53:22like counter, I don't know, I said
53:24shuffled. In terms of counter, it's uh
53:27really really it's kind of scary, but I
53:30think on average like Rox players just
53:33has more counter than you expect. Uh
53:35usually a lot of time they're just like
53:36filtering out the the non the bricks
53:38with um Shiki and Yugate. So they're
53:41just naturally left with counter after
53:42that.
53:43>> Um which is kind of why I think this
53:46deck like is so strong because it looks
53:49like it doesn't have counter but it has
53:51the deck has so much counter sometimes.
53:54Like I think my final game, game one, I
53:56like I blocked out of 11, countered out
53:59of 11, took a 13, and then countered out
54:02of 14 or something. Like this deck has
54:04so much counter. You just don't really
54:06expect them to have counter sometimes.
54:08>> It's very uh deceptive. Especially like
54:11like that's the big reason why Mihawk
54:14now RG and pretty much every other deck
54:17if you can answer Shiki or N gate you
54:19really want to because again every turn
54:22when you're filtering a brick and it's
54:24kind of like Gungum Giant too. You need
54:25to make sure you're using it even if it
54:27isn't quote the most efficient way you
54:29have to use it before you can't to
54:32obviously preserve life and do so much.
54:35And at the same time like you're
54:36filtering through keeping the kind
54:39you're playing out all bricks. Every
54:40card you're going to play is going to be
54:42a brick sands boa and you're going to
54:44continue to build that. But in the late
54:46game if you have a shiki and a nugate
54:49your opponent has weak lethal most of
54:51the time just because that's 6k counter
54:53right there. just on base you have 6k
54:55counter just on board that you know your
54:58opponent has plus any counter that they
55:00do have which in late game especially
55:03like you know you establish another new
55:04gate or a shiki it just playing that
55:07body out new gate obviously drawing a
55:09card so slightly better if it's not a
55:11battle for board
55:13>> creates that that scenario where it's
55:16like okay well you have to have a lot of
55:17swings or you know it's just when you
55:19play out a new gate in late game you're
55:21really just playing out a 3k counter for
55:23that turn which kind of in a way you're
55:25filtering your hand by playing out the
55:26new gate, turning it into a 3k on board.
55:29>> You're right. You're right. I totally
55:30agree with that. Um, now that you
55:33mentioned it, I just want to be really
55:34quick about this. Um, this new gate,
55:36again, really good card. This card
55:38sometimes is a trap where you can pitch
55:40for 8K for a leader swing. Um,
55:42especially in the mirror, you want to
55:44conserve as many cards as possible. just
55:46be like very very careful about pitching
55:48with this card sometimes because it
55:50really you don't you definitely do not
55:52want to be overzealous with pitching
55:54with this card because it matters so
55:55much. Um even though all your cards are
55:58bricks like you go down on a lot of
55:59cards just naturally because Shiki
56:02exists and other stuff. So just don't be
56:04overzealous with this this new gate
56:06sometimes especially in the mirror. Uh I
56:08think that's like the one advice I can
56:10give for Rox players is to not be
56:12overzealous with this card.
56:14I think I think that's such good advice.
56:16I actually just played rocks earlier and
56:19a part of my strategy playing into rocks
56:21too is at some point you'll barcode on
56:25cards because yes, you get a plus one.
56:28But if you're going to use Shiki at all,
56:32you're breaking even. So if you use
56:33Shiki during your turn, then when I
56:35swing and you use Shiki, you're going
56:36down one. And every card I get you to go
56:38down, you'll just barcode at that number
56:41if you're forced to use one of these
56:43effects every turn. And that's how you
56:45kind of wear them down on cards. But
56:47then, of course, if you're using
56:49especially if you're using New Gate and
56:50Shiki, you're going minus one every
56:52turn, then if I make you minus one,
56:54you're slowly losing cards.
56:56And so you do have to be careful because
56:58when once you're out of cards, you can
56:59lose your whole board quite easily.
57:02>> Great. I totally agree. Yeah, that's
57:04Yeah, that's the concern. I think that's
57:06a great point. Now, we already kind of
57:08talked about, you talked a lot about the
57:10curve, especially into RG. Walk us
57:12through though. How do you beat red
57:14green? You beat every red green that you
57:16sat across this past weekend in
57:19Pasadena. Kind of walk us through how
57:22you approach that matchup as a whole and
57:24then how you're closing out these games.
57:26I know a big thing that I've been told
57:28and I would love for your validation on
57:30it is a lot of it is you try to stay
57:32healthy early and then you try to
57:34continually chain back to back these 10
57:36drops to survive through their shanks
57:38deck and barrage,
57:40>> right? Yeah. So that's actually totally
57:42right. You um or it's quite pretty
57:45right. So you're you have five life.
57:48It's super nice to have cuz four life
57:51leaders are a lot harder to deal with
57:53sometimes. Um I will always usually
57:57almost always against the RG matchup
57:58I'll take like a minimum of one life
58:01right my curve has been set I really
58:04like that one curve the sorry the first
58:06curve
58:07>> or like this is my curve um
58:12something similar to this I should have
58:13kept it on the board
58:15>> that's okay
58:21>> where my where the Glorios there she
58:24Yes.
58:2610. So, like this is my preferred curve
58:28where I'm just like gaining a lot of
58:30cards, right? I'm going to put these on
58:32the side. And um and so you'll naturally
58:36go to like 10 plus cards in hand
58:38overall. So, you really don't have to
58:40worry too much about um like losing the
58:44resource war because like draw a card,
58:48leader draws a card every turn. This
58:50card draws two. This card draws a card
58:52or is like the same. Uh, this card
58:55bottoms deck their main threat. This
58:57card bottoms decks their main threat.
58:58This card draws two. So, naturally,
59:00you'll have a lot of counter in hand.
59:03Um, and you kind of expect them to swing
59:05at your board as well. So, which is
59:08easily pitchable through like Linlands
59:10and 2Ks.
59:12Um, not a lot of the time where they'll
59:14just like jam face because they can't
59:16really afford to deal with your board.
59:19So, we're just playing like the board
59:21game, right? where they're swinging at
59:22my board, I'm swinging at their board or
59:24trying to kill their board. Um, the
59:26minute the 10 shanks comes down is where
59:30either like on the first curve, if
59:32they're deciding to play it here,
59:34like right before your 10 turn, then
59:36they don't necessarily have another 10
59:38cost to deal with this turn because you
59:40really want the 10 cost to deal with the
59:4210 cost battle. Um,
59:48so I like this a lot because it gets me
59:51a lot of cards. I can easily counter
59:54like almost any swings that come out
59:55because I'm just retaining so many cards
59:57in hand. Um, this life is usually not
1:00:01touched a lot because they are swinging
1:00:03at my board as well. Um, and then at
1:00:06some point they realize that, oh,
1:00:08they're losing the game. They need to
1:00:10swing at life. And then here you have so
1:00:12many cards you had to counter out, it's
1:00:14like not as big of a deal. Um, does that
1:00:17make sense?
1:00:18>> Yeah.
1:00:19>> Okay. So, this is why like I think that
1:00:21this new gate here is so has not a lot
1:00:24of impact in this matchup because most
1:00:27of the game is dedicated to board swings
1:00:29and this card doesn't get a lot of value
1:00:31until pretty late in the game when
1:00:32they're forced to swing at life. Um,
1:00:37and so Shiki like the AK also with
1:00:40leader doesn't matter a whole lot
1:00:41because usually I'm shaking their cards
1:00:44down to like four or so or Kaidoing
1:00:46their cards down to four. So the eight
1:00:48swing can matter for cards, but it
1:00:51doesn't really matter because I'd rather
1:00:53not pitch the card for new gate and
1:00:55rather have like shikis or limb lens on
1:00:57board to give me immediate value. Um,
1:01:00the second great thing about like this
1:01:02kind of curve is you're establishing
1:01:04bodies that force their the new gate to
1:01:08like go through because when you swing
1:01:10nine at a seven and like minus the other
1:01:13seven, for example,
1:01:15the uh they're taking two cards to deal
1:01:17deal with this nine and then you have
1:01:19all these bodies that have naturally
1:01:21gone on the board to swing at the fours
1:01:23which will also force them to give me
1:01:25more cards or take that four.
1:01:29Um, and that's kind of how I deal with
1:01:31the RG matchup. Um, the big worry is
1:01:35that they have that they run that five
1:01:36cost event where they can kill the
1:01:38Shiki. So, if you're worried about that,
1:01:39just swing the new gate first or play
1:01:42Shiki with Q.
1:01:44Um, besides that, like 10 cost shanks is
1:01:49pretty scary, but if they're taking life
1:01:51pretty greedily or they're you push them
1:01:54to one at some point, they like
1:01:56absolutely cannot afford to play Shanks.
1:01:59So, you're locking Shanks out of the
1:02:00game by being aggressive and swinging at
1:02:02their life. Um, I'm glad you brought
1:02:05that up.
1:02:06>> Yeah. Yeah. Now, the reason why that's
1:02:07the case is because they need to play
1:02:08Nami to have the five dawn active and
1:02:11their Shanks turn is really vulnerable
1:02:13to like pushing out for game. So, at
1:02:15some point, if you just have like a good
1:02:17board established, they just can't 10
1:02:20cost shanks. So, you're locking them out
1:02:21by like playing these over and over
1:02:23again and they're forced to kill these
1:02:25two cards. I do not think that they kill
1:02:27this card over the 10 cost shanks or
1:02:30sorry, 10 cost of deck. They absolutely
1:02:32have to kill this card over this
1:02:33>> 100%. You know why? Why? Cuz unblockable
1:02:38>> also true.
1:02:39>> 21.
1:02:41>> It's true. But at the same time, your
1:02:43follow-up turn needs to be Now,
1:02:45obviously, it sucks if you go Sebec
1:02:46Shiki again. But
1:02:49>> if you go ideally, you're going to go
1:02:50Sebec and play more bodies. So then your
1:02:53Shiki is the only real swing unless they
1:02:55play another Shiki. But then you're also
1:02:57still getting two cards from their hand.
1:02:58So it's like not the worst. And then
1:03:00you're going to lose your shanks. But if
1:03:02you can keep your shanks, you're just
1:03:04giga up cuz then if shiki survive,
1:03:06you're just going to shanks in the shiki
1:03:07again and then ideally playing another
1:03:1010 shanks. But your the strongest swing
1:03:13you're going to have is usually nine at
1:03:14nine unless you have another shiki. And
1:03:16odds are you will, but sometimes you
1:03:18won't. So,
1:03:19>> and it also forces you to play it.
1:03:21>> Yeah, that's actually why Kaido is
1:03:22important because you just have like a
1:03:23second mini shiki, right? That can deal
1:03:25with the uh
1:03:27>> the ten shanks easily if needed or
1:03:29easier. It's a good point, little mini
1:03:32Shiki. You could do a Linland and a
1:03:33Kaido and then swing
1:03:36Shiki and go trash one and then you're
1:03:39going nine into six.
1:03:42>> Right. Right. Uh, one more thing I want
1:03:44to note about that Shanks turn is that
1:03:45like they absolutely need to clear your
1:03:47board, right? Because if you don't,
1:03:49their Shanks turn is so much more
1:03:50vulnerable to just swinging at face
1:03:52because they naturally have to give
1:03:54cards in hand or like they'll lose a lot
1:03:56of life. Um, so which is why like again,
1:04:00where's this
1:04:02busted card named Boa? This is why this
1:04:04Boa is so impactful in the matchup
1:04:06because they're set to five cards in
1:04:08hand. And yeah, they'll gain some with
1:04:10bonnies again, but like they have so
1:04:13much more limited time to play this
1:04:16shanks because I have a lot of bodies on
1:04:19board per my game plan that will swing
1:04:21at either leader or their board and
1:04:24they're just losing a bunch of cards
1:04:26with this boa. So, this bullet can be
1:04:27really impactful for this game plan.
1:04:29It's not needed, but it's so helpful,
1:04:32especially when they're high rolling.
1:04:36>> Makes sense.
1:04:36>> Does that make sense? Okay, cool. Cool.
1:04:39>> Cool.
1:04:40>> But yeah, that's kind of how I approach
1:04:42the matchup. play a lot of bodies,
1:04:43retain a lot of cards in hand, and then
1:04:45start eating their board away with cards
1:04:47like Shiki and Gloriosa,
1:04:49and you'll kind of naturally win or have
1:04:52like it'll look like you're super
1:04:54favored because their board is really
1:04:56low, their life is really low, their
1:04:57hands pretty low, and you've just been
1:04:59controlling their game the whole time.
1:05:03>> Got it. Now, obviously, you won. Rox was
1:05:06the second runner up. Do you think Rox
1:05:09will be banned? I'm kidding. I'm
1:05:11kidding. No, that would be insane. I
1:05:14think
1:05:16>> Oh my goodness. If they deal with if
1:05:18they deal with RG Luffy, honestly, they
1:05:20should deal with rocks, too. But um cuz
1:05:22we don't want a space where like RG
1:05:24Luffy dies and like it's the field
1:05:27becomes like 80% rocks, right? This deck
1:05:31is kind of a problem, but definitely not
1:05:32as bad as uh RG Luffy. Obviously,
1:05:35>> everything's a problem until it isn't,
1:05:37right? Like, you know, remember when
1:05:38everybody wanted seven cost stage band
1:05:41and I am Whitebeard band?
1:05:44>> Yeah. Yeah. I actually was not part of
1:05:46that meta thankfully. So, it's good.
1:05:48It's good to Oh, I'm sorry. We Is this
1:05:52>> OP? Oh,
1:05:53>> yeah. You play talking about emu.
1:05:56>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
1:05:57>> Oh, absolutely not.
1:06:00>> Everybody on the internet was like, "Oh,
1:06:01these got to be made." Like, no. It's
1:06:02like it's just our first taste of truly
1:06:04powerful cards. I'm like, I promise you
1:06:06it won't be a problem next set. What do
1:06:07you know? Wasn't a problem next set.
1:06:09>> We keep on trucking, you know. And then
1:06:12>> Oh, sorry. Sorry. Go for it.
1:06:14>> Oh, no. No. Go ahead.
1:06:15>> The problem with like So, this deck has
1:06:17like incredibly powerful cards. It's
1:06:19very similar to Emu and like Ace. But
1:06:22with RG, it's not just a problem of
1:06:25powerful cards. It's like a problem with
1:06:27time where like I I heard this a lot
1:06:30during Pomona where the mirror just goes
1:06:32to time and deck out and it's just like
1:06:34not a fun game state to be in. There may
1:06:37be changes. I don't know how they want
1:06:39to fix that. But um that's like the
1:06:42biggest reason why I could see RG being
1:06:44hit is because the game play is just not
1:06:46great. It's just not there.
1:06:48>> I think one we need Asia rules where
1:06:52it's double game loss. two. I think we
1:06:56should they should have never gotten rid
1:06:58of like we had two red formats and
1:07:00during those two red formats and OP1 and
1:07:02OP2 they're like oh everybody's finished
1:07:05by like 18 minutes let's trim 5 minutes
1:07:07off of every round and there have been
1:07:10so many games so many games that were
1:07:13key games where if I have five more
1:07:15minutes I win and I feel like we're kind
1:07:17of approaching that again. So honestly I
1:07:19would love that's also why I loved
1:07:20online events. online events kind of
1:07:22still had that five extra minutes
1:07:24because online you would get the five
1:07:25extra minutes. I think that really
1:07:27mattered. I I would love to see us go
1:07:29back what is it? 30 minute rounds. I
1:07:31would love to go back to 35 minute
1:07:33rounds. The five minutes of overtime. I
1:07:35think that would be hugely impactful.
1:07:38>> Right. I agree. Speaking of online, I
1:07:40would love back just because you know
1:07:42Hawaii living Hawaii is a lot harder.
1:07:46>> Yeah. There's
1:07:46>> all my man's gota my man's got to
1:07:49travel. Yeah,
1:07:51>> they got you working hard. It costs
1:07:52money. It's a good thing you're rich
1:07:54now.
1:07:55>> No, they're not rich
1:07:57>> generationally. It's okay. Anyways, so
1:08:02all of that being said, we talked a lot
1:08:03about how to beat Red Green, talked
1:08:06about going into time. Since we're on
1:08:07the topic of time, I would love to know.
1:08:10So, one, obviously, winning all of your
1:08:12games 20 is so huge in Top Cut cuz you
1:08:16didn't have to worry about game three,
1:08:18which can really be dicey, especially
1:08:20there were top cut games of Red, Green,
1:08:22Luffy that were won on game one because
1:08:24if the if you go to time game two,
1:08:26whoever wins game one will just win and
1:08:29so they spend the entire time playing
1:08:31game one.
1:08:33How did you did you go to time and then
1:08:36how do you navigate being in time on a
1:08:40deck that you will likely lose on cards
1:08:42and deck?
1:08:43>> Mhm.
1:08:44>> Yeah. So, I did go I didn't actually hit
1:08:47time as far as what I can remember. I
1:08:49think we got pretty close at some point
1:08:51especially during the uh top I think it
1:08:54was top four top eight stream match. It
1:08:57got semi close but I was already up a
1:08:58game so it really didn't matter too much
1:09:00to me personally. My opponent was pretty
1:09:02worried for sure. Um, this deck's pretty
1:09:05great because it's I thought about this
1:09:06actually during the tournament. This
1:09:08deck's pretty great where like you just
1:09:10retain a lot of cards and can counter
1:09:12and can um like push advantage through
1:09:15cards like unblockable. I think we also
1:09:17saw that on stream against um in the top
1:09:20four match where they like unblockable
1:09:21to win in time. Um, so I'm not super
1:09:25worried about time personally until it
1:09:27goes to game three in time. Then I am
1:09:30worried about deck count where I think I
1:09:32just naturally need to like push through
1:09:34with as many cards as possible. So my
1:09:36goal throughout this tournament was
1:09:39against RG if it was a you know a best
1:09:41of three I do not want to hit game three
1:09:43in time because you like I don't think
1:09:46you can win in time turns on game three
1:09:50because they just have leader swing
1:09:52through dawn and you just have a lot
1:09:54more you have a lot less cards in your
1:09:55deck because of your your leader and
1:09:58because of just the nature of this deck
1:09:59you may even brick on cards. Um, like
1:10:04for example, you can't swing eight at
1:10:06lead against a unit that just against a
1:10:09leader that has 2k counter naturally
1:10:12through their dawn.
1:10:14Um, and like all they need is a 2k to
1:10:17get out of 8k swing, right? Cuz they put
1:10:18a dawn on lead and then they have a dawn
1:10:20up. So they just need a 2k counter to
1:10:22get out of an eight swing. So it's just
1:10:24like really hard for me to be able to
1:10:26push through time um against RG
1:10:29specifically. So my overall goal for
1:10:31goal for dealing with that is I need to
1:10:33clear out at least like game one for
1:10:37sure. Game one is really important for
1:10:38me and I was lucky enough to take the
1:10:40curve um so that I wouldn't have to deal
1:10:43with those times. I think I'm also like
1:10:46semi fast maybe not in a good way with
1:10:49how I play so I don't worry so much
1:10:51about time rules. Um
1:10:56and yeah. Yeah. Overall, I think just
1:10:59being aggressive and pushing hard so
1:11:00that you don't have to deal with it is
1:11:02the most impactful thing.
1:11:04>> Got it. And then so obviously
1:11:08you won so everyone's going to be
1:11:10copying you looking ahead. Are you going
1:11:12to Oklahoma City or you just you done?
1:11:14>> I am. I'll be in Oklahoma City.
1:11:16>> I'll see you there.
1:11:18>> I'll see you there. Let's go.
1:11:19>> I'll give you a big old hug. Uh,
1:11:22so I think everyone's going to obviously
1:11:25I I saw the most red greens on a run
1:11:28ever. Like the most consistent I I'm
1:11:30curious. I'm sure Eggman probably has it
1:11:32posted somewhere in the stream, but the
1:11:35representation I've never seen such
1:11:37consistency of matchups into a deck that
1:11:40when I saw everyone's run, like even in
1:11:43Mihawk, I played maybe three Mihawks in
1:11:45an event. I saw probably
1:11:4980% of the people I've seen all played
1:11:52at least four, five, and this is an 11
1:11:56round event. Four to five red green
1:11:58luffies. You of course finishing out
1:12:00your day one in just all oops all red
1:12:04green,
1:12:05>> right?
1:12:05>> But Oklahoma City, I think obviously
1:12:08Zbec won two events this past weekend. I
1:12:11think it's going to be way more
1:12:12represented because one, people don't
1:12:14want to lose in time playing the miracle
1:12:16because it's a miracle that they can
1:12:18even play the deck.
1:12:19>> How do you think you win the mirror?
1:12:22What do you think? Can you walk us
1:12:24through? You talked a little bit about
1:12:25it. You talked about, you know,
1:12:27conserving your cards, new gate being a
1:12:29trap. How do you win the mirror and then
1:12:32also what do you do if you don't see Kio
1:12:34opening yourself up to potentially a
1:12:36Linland getting hit by a Gloriosa?
1:12:39>> Right. Um, so the ideal curve obviously
1:12:42is second where you hit your 10 cost
1:12:44first. You absolutely need to see 10
1:12:47cost on 10. That is the number one like
1:12:50goal for this is 10 cost on 10. No
1:12:52matter if you're going first or second,
1:12:53you absolutely want to see 10 cost on
1:12:5510. Your ideal four cost is the Gloriosa
1:12:58if you play it on four. Um, and then
1:13:02again it's between this you this this
1:13:05whole deck is a shiki war where like you
1:13:08really need to retain a lot of cards in
1:13:10your hand to deal with the the battle
1:13:11back and forth
1:13:14and so like dealing with this shiki and
1:13:17playing the shiki is really important.
1:13:19The linland is like a learning curve
1:13:22where like you need to understand when
1:13:24you can play it and how impactful this
1:13:26is. I like this card so much because if
1:13:29I'm down like I play it here and like
1:13:32draw more cards because they can't
1:13:33afford to give me cards. Um,
1:13:36but overall like the name of the game is
1:13:39basically the Shiki battle. It's Shiki
1:13:41and Penost where I'm trading Shikis to
1:13:44Shikis and trying to gain the advantage
1:13:47overall.
1:13:49Um,
1:13:51so if I were to give you a general
1:13:53advice, I'm sorry. I'm going to put on
1:13:54the screen too because it's really
1:13:55important.
1:13:59this card. Please do not get hit by this
1:14:01card or try not to get hit by this card
1:14:03in the mirror. It matters a whole lot as
1:14:06long as this card is played correctly.
1:14:08Um, what you're supposed to do is like
1:14:11generally speaking, counter the first
1:14:13life or counter the first two instances
1:14:14of life so that you can really never get
1:14:17bulleted unless they force you to it
1:14:19through this linland. Um, and this life
1:14:22is a really important resource as you
1:14:24said earlier because once you get down
1:14:25to like two or one, it becomes really
1:14:27scary cuz you're always threatening
1:14:29unblockable.
1:14:30Um,
1:14:33so if I were to give like Rox players
1:14:35some general advice, it's to counter
1:14:37like semi in the mirror, counter like
1:14:39semi-respectably early and understand
1:14:42the value that um, Limlin and Gloriosa
1:14:46provides, especially when Kio's on the
1:14:47board because there are times when I
1:14:50will Gloriosa into Kio so that they can
1:14:53discard and then this Linen either gives
1:14:55me cards or they go neg four which is
1:14:58like mini boa. Um, so and because you
1:15:02need cards to like deal with the shiki
1:15:04battle, they like absolutely can't
1:15:06afford to do these sometimes. So you can
1:15:09really get away with a lot of cards by
1:15:11understanding
1:15:13like the game state that you're in. It's
1:15:16kind of like honestly this matchup is
1:15:18like all about understanding what they
1:15:20want to do which is this and then
1:15:23understanding the fundamentals of like
1:15:26your the cards in hand and what that
1:15:28represents because if I have five cards
1:15:31in hand I really can't afford to pitch
1:15:33with Kio or Lynlin because I can't guard
1:15:37my Shikis and let them live if I only
1:15:39had three cards in hand. Um does that
1:15:41make sense?
1:15:43>> Yeah. Yeah. And so the biggest thing
1:15:46obviously is your hand. You you just
1:15:48talked about your hand, what it
1:15:49represents. Like you could if you have
1:15:51five Shikis on board, which you can't,
1:15:52but if you did, but you only have one
1:15:54card in hand, there's nothing you can
1:15:56do. Like, you know, you could have all
1:15:57the Shikis in the world. So, you need to
1:15:59be able to use them to of course protect
1:16:02in the late game. Now, Gloriosa also, is
1:16:05that why you like to play Gloriosa on
1:16:07four? is solely for the ability to use
1:16:10it as a blocker later to potentially
1:16:12protect like a Shiki during the Shiki
1:16:13wars.
1:16:14>> Right. Exactly. That is the exact reason
1:16:16why Glorious is so good on four in the
1:16:18mirror is because a it bottoms their
1:16:20three cost or they can or kill or
1:16:23whatever and also because this card
1:16:25becomes a blocker to protect your Shiki
1:16:27and the Shiki war and it just saves like
1:16:29two cards on average. Um, I think you
1:16:32can see that in one of the finals match
1:16:34where like they had my opponent had two
1:16:36gloriosas on the board and I needed to
1:16:38figure out a way to deal with it. Um,
1:16:40and that was actually through with new
1:16:42gate to like sack my new gate for
1:16:44gloriosa which might not have been worth
1:16:45it but you know this gloriosa is like
1:16:49it's a representation of like three to
1:16:51four cards right you bottom deck their
1:16:53mar there three cost that could have
1:16:54swaddled and then it gives you two cards
1:16:57to protect the shiki ish.
1:17:00So this Gloriosa is so helpful for
1:17:03dealing with their threats like even the
1:17:04Linland and it protects my Shiki later
1:17:07on. So I I hold this Gloriosa to protect
1:17:10my Shikis.
1:17:12>> Got it.
1:17:13>> A lot. So great point. Thank you. That's
1:17:14why also Kaido is important because it's
1:17:16both. It's like mini Gloriosa and Shiki.
1:17:19>> Yeah, makes sense. Plus you save a card,
1:17:20right? Because then they play five.
1:17:22Ideally, if they're not playing Lynland,
1:17:23you're already winning. And then if they
1:17:25play Lynland, they just poke a five and
1:17:26you just get a free block. So you save a
1:17:28card.
1:17:28>> Right. Right. Exactly.
1:17:31>> Makes sense. Okay. Last question. I
1:17:34think in the mirror, is there ever an
1:17:36instance where they play Gloriosa on
1:17:37your queue? Obviously Gloriosa being the
1:17:39only threatening body, but about half of
1:17:41your deck being a target for it. Well,
1:17:43really eight ideal bodies, Lynlin and
1:17:46Don Marlin, and obviously Don Marlin
1:17:48having way less value than Lynlin. Do
1:17:50you ever trash for you think that's just
1:17:52bait? Like if they go uh
1:17:54>> is it when specifically they're gloring
1:17:57my Kio or just a different card? Let's
1:17:59show Let's say both. Let's say both.
1:18:00Let's go through both just cuz.
1:18:02>> Yeah. If Gloriosa bottom deck kill, just
1:18:04let it go. It's not worth it. Two cards
1:18:06like almost ever. Definitely like always
1:18:09let this go. Um if it's like Gloriosa
1:18:13bottom decking Llin and Kio, it really
1:18:16depends on your hand. And I think that's
1:18:18maybe the hard part about it is you need
1:18:19to manage and understand what your hand
1:18:21provides to you. Um, but sometimes, a
1:18:24lot of times, I will like pitch with
1:18:26this KO, but there are times when I just
1:18:29bottom deck the because it's not worth
1:18:31the two cards in my hand. Um, if my
1:18:33hand's like unhealthy or like if I have
1:18:37like, let's say I have six cards in my
1:18:38hand, I personally, that's like the even
1:18:41point where you can go either way. I
1:18:44personally will bottom deck this Llin
1:18:45because the two cards aren't worth my
1:18:47Linland here. Um uh and that's because I
1:18:51need to provide enough value to like
1:18:53play Shiki later on and protect the
1:18:55Shiki. Um sometimes this like this Llin
1:19:00what happens with this Lin smear it
1:19:02turns and then it dies because it gets
1:19:06cheicied usually or they they gloriosa
1:19:10it. So like we mentioned before. So,
1:19:12it's just not worth two cards to protect
1:19:14this lemon because it's it it doesn't
1:19:18provide as much impact as two cards
1:19:20might provide later on in the future.
1:19:23Um,
1:19:25another thing with this Limlin is like
1:19:26it already gave me two cards either one
1:19:29way or the other where they discarded
1:19:30two or I drew two. So, it already gave
1:19:32me the value. Um, so I'm totally fine
1:19:35with letting this Llin go to the bottom.
1:19:38Um, but unfortunately it's all really
1:19:40dependent on your hand and how much
1:19:42value those two cards can provide.
1:19:44>> Does that make sense?
1:19:45>> Yep.
1:19:46>> Okay, cool. Yeah,
1:19:48>> that checks out. Cool.
1:19:51What do you think is the biggest mistake
1:19:54Rocks players are making?
1:19:57>> Um, is this in the mirror or just like
1:20:00in general?
1:20:00>> Just in general. Just in general. What
1:20:02do you What is the number one thing you
1:20:03think like you just you're walking
1:20:04through tables, you see somebody do
1:20:06something like that's wrong? What do you
1:20:07think the most like what do you think
1:20:08are the biggest mistakes you you see Rox
1:20:11players make?
1:20:12>> The biggest mistake is freely pitching
1:20:14cards when they don't have to
1:20:16>> and like misrepresentation
1:20:18misrepresenting when they need to
1:20:21discard or not for cards like Shiki and
1:20:23Yugate. Um a lot of times like you
1:20:26obviously you want to use the Shiki
1:20:27skill, right? There are times when like
1:20:30you do not need to use the Shiki skill
1:20:31and just want to use it as a nine swing
1:20:34um into certain bodies because they just
1:20:36can't afford to really counter it
1:20:37anyways. So, it's just like not
1:20:39understanding when you are need to use
1:20:42these two skills because again they are
1:20:45great skills. They're great tools to use
1:20:48to push your opponent back, but
1:20:52frontloading your the cards with like
1:20:55these two cards when you don't need to
1:20:57can put you in a spot where you just
1:20:59have a harder time winning because
1:21:01you're discarding like like three cards
1:21:04a turn, for example, when you really
1:21:06don't need to discard and you're just
1:21:08forcing them to do something that
1:21:09they're going to do anyways. like
1:21:12understanding when to take a five swing,
1:21:13when they're going to they want to take
1:21:15a five swing versus an eight swing is is
1:21:17the difference between one card, right?
1:21:19For example, same with these cards when
1:21:21you're swinging 9 to seven, for example,
1:21:24and not pitching is a
1:21:27is a card that may be worth 3k counter
1:21:29because of the the skill. So, you just
1:21:32need to understand when to use these
1:21:34properly
1:21:35um instead of just full-blown pitching,
1:21:37pitching, pitching. Um, and I think the
1:21:40mirror is a great representation
1:21:43of knowing when to do that.
1:21:48>> Yeah.
1:21:49>> Cool.
1:21:49>> Yeah.
1:21:50>> Any any final words of advice for rocks?
1:21:55>> For rocks? Um,
1:21:57>> big
1:21:58>> in this Yeah, in this meta, just learn
1:22:00the mirror and the uh RG matchup in and
1:22:05out. if you can do that. In my opinion,
1:22:08if you have good fundamentals, this deck
1:22:09will carry you up. I honestly picked up
1:22:12this deck like a week or two before the
1:22:14event. Um, I actually, yeah, I made a
1:22:18money match with my friend cuz I really
1:22:19wanted to play Robin cuz it was a
1:22:20comfort pick
1:22:21>> and he th
1:22:27it's not a good pick. I knew that. I was
1:22:30coping. But, um, it was like a $30 money
1:22:32match or something. We played best of
1:22:34three. I got three out with this with
1:22:37against the bank. This deck is so good.
1:22:40And like as long as you have good
1:22:42fundamentals and understand these two
1:22:43matchups, this meta is very helpful. Is
1:22:46is is your your your it's your
1:22:48playground. Like you have so many
1:22:50answers to so many different things. As
1:22:53long as you understand fundamentals
1:22:54really well and really key out on those
1:22:56two matchups, I think you'll do well.
1:22:59>> Got it. Okay. Checks out. Cool. Well,
1:23:01we're going to go ahead. We're going to
1:23:02jump into a game here. So, we'll we
1:23:06you're going to get a game. We're going
1:23:07to play rocks verse miracle and then
1:23:10we'll kind of talk through as we go
1:23:12through the game. So, let's jump into
1:23:14that.
1:23:16>> Have to go for game. You just can't win.
1:23:18>> Yep.
1:23:18>> Right.
1:23:19>> That's true. That's true. Okay. For
1:23:21realies this time.
1:23:22>> For reals this time.
1:23:23>> For realies this time. Okay. I'm going
1:23:25to choose this time. I'll go first
1:23:27>> and then I'll I'll swap the order so
1:23:28that way they're not as scuffed. So, if
1:23:30somebody wants to watch this, they get a
1:23:31good game first. I'm going first. I
1:23:33don't really have any of my pieces on
1:23:35mole.
1:23:37>> I think this is a mole, but I really
1:23:39want to keep it.
1:23:43H I want to keep it so bad. Let's try
1:23:45it.
1:23:46>> Okay. Okay. I'm going to deploy. Let's
1:23:49see. I actually really want this, but I
1:23:51think I'm supposed to take this.
1:23:55I actually think I'm supposed to take
1:23:56this.
1:23:58That's just greedy.
1:24:04Kill comes down. See, never punished.
1:24:07Never punished. Kayen,
1:24:10>> you're right. You may be right.
1:24:15>> Draw two.
1:24:20>> Big six.
1:24:31And we'll just take
1:24:37a little better.
1:24:43All right. Now, here cuz we know he can
1:24:46gloriosa us, we're going to play super
1:24:48strategic. Okay. We're going to play
1:24:50super strategic.
1:24:53We're gonna
1:24:57>> play this
1:24:59>> and do this to draw two cards
1:25:02>> all while stopping this big Kaido
1:25:05>> big K.
1:25:06>> And then we're going to go big six. Give
1:25:09him more resources. I think that you
1:25:11know is there an argument to starve
1:25:13here?
1:25:15>> Uh no no you I think you absolutely do
1:25:17not starve uh this
1:25:19>> just draw two cards every turn. Yeah,
1:25:22>> this is I think actually this is a
1:25:23greedy take personally, but um yeah it
1:25:28uh
1:25:29>> Thank you.
1:25:30>> I mean I kind of Oh,
1:25:32>> thank you.
1:25:35Oh
1:25:39>> yeah, it's a good card.
1:25:42>> Well,
1:25:45strategic
1:25:48one.
1:25:48>> It's okay. You draw more cards with
1:25:49body, right? So it's like fine kind of.
1:25:52>> Yeah, it's probably okay.
1:26:01>> Yeah, you got watch out for that boa.
1:26:06>> And then like kill is good, but swinging
1:26:09is also good and he's down to five
1:26:11cards.
1:26:13>> Yeah, for sure. For sure. Cuz I lost so
1:26:15many cards already.
1:26:19I can't afford to go down the one this
1:26:21early.
1:26:29Oh, there's no world.
1:26:30>> Oh, Jesus.
1:26:36>> Oh. Oh. Oh. This is This is that kind of
1:26:38the game, huh?
1:26:39>> Yeah. It's not good.
1:26:45Embarrassing.
1:26:57Oh, that's also pretty good.
1:26:59>> I had to take two just cuz I needed a
1:27:01Bonnie. If I had Bonnie, I would just
1:27:03count it.
1:27:06Okay, that's
1:27:15you.
1:27:34Look at that. Look at that brick. back
1:27:35cuz you're never going to play it.
1:27:39>> True. But there's two.
1:27:45>> All those bricks.
1:27:47Autumn bricks
1:27:49block. Still have to just counter it.
1:27:52I'll give him a two.
1:27:55Just better worse. I have to get rid of
1:27:57this. Got two blockers. I have no board.
1:28:00Oh my goodness.
1:28:08Please have buddy. Oh goodness.
1:28:15>> Nice
1:28:22big sticks. None of your counter cards
1:28:24work.
1:28:24>> Hey. Hey, we're learning.
1:28:29>> Nice.
1:28:30>> Get three back.
1:28:36Yeah. So, here like this is usually the
1:28:38player, but it might be this now because
1:28:41just big 10 me, right? Just big 10 me.
1:28:44>> Yeah, of course. Of course.
1:28:46>> You just It's okay cuz I'm just going to
1:28:48>> There's a whiff.
1:28:50>> A whiff. Let's go.
1:28:55>> Dare I say
1:28:57>> winnable.
1:29:00Turn them sideways.
1:29:05Yeah, now you got that big eight. A lot
1:29:07of pressure. Lot of pressure.
1:29:10Rocks fired from the trash. Okay, you
1:29:12could revive blocker.
1:29:15That's pretty awful.
1:29:25You don't have any hard counter. So, I
1:29:27think I just
1:29:40Just think we need to take it here.
1:29:43You're super
1:29:45>> I think I'm so far behind. You just
1:29:47counter it if you can.
1:29:48>> Yeah. I think you're You actually might
1:29:50die in the spot.
1:29:51>> Yep. Yep.
1:29:55Like if he didn't have boa, he could
1:29:57have did that. If I if I left the bow,
1:29:58he could have did that. But he would
1:29:59have just played over because he has
1:30:00three bodies. So, it's it's a wash. He
1:30:04gave me his events, though. So, we go a
1:30:06big six here.
1:30:15And then we're going to pass.
1:30:22Gonna use one. We'll buff here.
1:30:31It is crazy how this deck does nothing
1:30:33if there's no Bonnie.
1:30:35>> Yeah, it actually just like
1:30:38>> eight absolute.
1:30:39>> Okay, now look, we can't can't fall for
1:30:43it cuz he has unblockables. So, you have
1:30:45to not go to one. Remember that.
1:30:52Well, it doesn't really matter. Just go
1:30:54n
1:30:58>> do the do the minmax
1:31:01three four.
1:31:05>> No, it just doesn't
1:31:06>> go die. You go die 10.
1:31:08>> It just doesn't matter.
1:31:11Want to be a little cool.
1:31:13>> That that's how you play this game,
1:31:15boys.
1:31:21Uh you I guess
1:31:27what that last was the body.
1:31:30>> Yeah, that was rough.
1:31:32>> Oh wow.
1:31:33>> They weren't even close, bro. I think we
1:31:35I think somebody sided them out. They're
1:31:37literally all at the bottom of the deck.
1:31:39>> So pick first.
1:31:41>> Yeah.
1:31:43Sick. Okay, perfect. It's all working.
1:31:45Okay. Playing Kimmon to his deck. So
1:31:47gas. Okay, so we're going to be playing.
1:31:49I've got Kaden here. He's going to be
1:31:51piloting rocks and he'll walk us through
1:31:53and we'll just kind of talk through our
1:31:54turns as we go. He likes to go first in
1:31:56this matchup. He thinks it's crucial. A
1:31:59big thing I think I'm looking for is
1:32:00just really my pieces. So, I'm going
1:32:02second.
1:32:03I've got Kimmon, so I can dig a little
1:32:05deeper, which is kind of nice. We go get
1:32:09greedy for a law, but I think this is
1:32:11okay.
1:32:12>> Yeah, my hand is pretty good. I got what
1:32:14I want. So, one, two, three, four, five.
1:32:16So, it's good.
1:32:21>> And remember, whenever I'm losing, I'm
1:32:23just going to look at your hand. So,
1:32:25>> hey, true.
1:32:26>> I'll I'll know. I'll use my my
1:32:28Millennium Eye and get some advantage
1:32:30here.
1:32:31>> Um, yeah, for this I really want this
1:32:33and this is like not super detrimental,
1:32:37so I'm keeping it on top.
1:32:45Okay, we're just going to play out
1:32:47Kennyon. There is an argument to kind of
1:32:49just attach one, but I just want to see
1:32:51some more cards. So, this is
1:32:53interesting.
1:32:57I think uh I don't know what this card
1:32:58does. So, really, I'm I'm going to get
1:33:00rid of this.
1:33:01>> This card is actually crazy. It helps
1:33:04versus like Shiki.
1:33:05>> Really? He uses against your Shiki.
1:33:08>> Yeah. So Shiki minus is like the Bonnie
1:33:10and then this card just
1:33:11>> pushes the Bonnie back up to seven for
1:33:13the turn.
1:33:14>> Oh, for the turn. I see.
1:33:17>> I understand. That's giga good.
1:33:20>> It's really good.
1:33:20>> I've made a mistake.
1:33:21>> Um
1:33:23>> so here like my hand is kind of insane.
1:33:26I um am actually not super sure what to
1:33:28pitch. It's probably between these two
1:33:30cards. Although I can argue for like
1:33:33this here. But I think I'm pitching this
1:33:35unfortunately even though it's really
1:33:37good.
1:33:42>> That means he's just gonna sauce me.
1:33:45>> Did you draw the event?
1:33:47>> Yeah.
1:33:48>> That should trash to play Dawn. I'm
1:33:51going to take this mostly because I just
1:33:53want to see more cards. Oh, I win.
1:33:56>> This is my average pitch target right
1:33:58here.
1:33:59>> This is kind of like what we're talking
1:34:00about in the video. So, I'm just going
1:34:02to start off nice five. Easy. easy card
1:34:04to hand. But then I'm going to play out
1:34:06Hiori to play out Odin. We only have so
1:34:09many Odin, but I think establishing this
1:34:11body is still just good to apply
1:34:13pressure to use. So that's what I'm
1:34:15going to do.
1:34:18>> And if he establishes Gloriosa, he
1:34:20really does nothing. Like his turn is
1:34:21nothing.
1:34:23>> Yeah. So my play is like between these
1:34:24two, depending on what he does here.
1:34:26Most likely it's this. This is always my
1:34:28target. Do you think there's ever I feel
1:34:30like I kind of just want to counter out,
1:34:31but do you think there's ever a reason
1:34:33to just not take? Cuz obviously again,
1:34:35you know, against the specifically, we
1:34:37talked about like the one life thing,
1:34:38but also staying healthy to be able to
1:34:40play shanks. You don't want me to be
1:34:42able to play shanks and I'm getting out
1:34:43of two swings this turn. So, I kind of
1:34:45want to counter here,
1:34:47>> right? The other reason to counter is if
1:34:49you're scared about getting um bullet or
1:34:51not because you're at eight cards.
1:34:52>> That is true.
1:34:53>> So, it's definitely worth countering if
1:34:55you are worried about bullet especially.
1:34:58You sold me.
1:35:00>> Nice. Got it. I got it.
1:35:03>> Like it's exactly what I wanted. I'll
1:35:05try this like
1:35:08>> Yeah. Yeah.
1:35:12>> H interesting. Okay. So, I'm going to
1:35:17This is a Bonnie turn now. We don't
1:35:19really have a target. So, we could
1:35:23either
1:35:25because we have Nami, we could attach
1:35:26one. necessarily have done to use for
1:35:29Nami.
1:35:30Or we can
1:35:33play out
1:35:36an Oama and just search and then look
1:35:40and then play Nami Hioriori
1:35:44and just hope that we find it and then
1:35:45it's like probably okay. You're like
1:35:48Lee, you're going to Shiki, but he
1:35:51doesn't want to play Shiki, which is
1:35:52what we know. So he could just Gloriosa
1:35:55or Bonnie and then play like a Kio which
1:35:59would be less than ideal.
1:36:02He's got a nice curve for that. I'm
1:36:04going to go
1:36:06I think he's going to hit our life. So
1:36:08we'll minus this by one. This is like a
1:36:10five. But again, I want to stay healthy.
1:36:12So I think it's
1:36:16we're not playing this. It's fine. I
1:36:18think it's search. Okay. But we don't
1:36:21find exactly what we're looking for.
1:36:24Take Kamasu.
1:36:27We do have We are going to get the draw
1:36:29two cards. Okay, we're going to draw
1:36:32two. Play out Hiori. We could play
1:36:36another Otama if we really wanted to
1:36:38play out Odin, but I think
1:36:42no Odin is fine. So just establishing a
1:36:45blocker is nice.
1:36:50I get rid of the Kinymon
1:36:53and then we'll rest these two.
1:36:56Now we could poke this Dawn
1:36:58also get to go here. So we could ask for
1:37:00hard counter cards and go like five and
1:37:03then six into here because he he does
1:37:06get a free counter though on the
1:37:07Linland. So that is a thing.
1:37:10How you feel about this?
1:37:14Yep. See, he get gets that len. And it's
1:37:17the same thing really because ideally
1:37:18they try to stay healthy too. So me
1:37:20going after a body per se is quite
1:37:22similar to me going after the life
1:37:24because I'm still likely to counter. But
1:37:28go big six here.
1:37:31Go ahead and counter.
1:37:33Pass set five as active.
1:37:39Oh, I didn't pop my Hiori. I'm so bad,
1:37:41bro. Oh, I thought you had it or didn't
1:37:44have it. Do you have it?
1:37:45>> No, I do have I had a Kamatsu.
1:37:47>> Oh, okay. Okay.
1:37:48>> Yeah, I searched the Kamatsu. I should
1:37:50have popped it.
1:37:52Pro player, by the way.
1:37:57Five.
1:38:12This card's really good. I give you 1k.
1:38:21Ideally, I have at least two life when I
1:38:23play shanks. Having one attached to it
1:38:25would have been so much better. Okay,
1:38:27you're going six here.
1:38:36My players are probably this
1:38:38>> gonna do this
1:38:40for you.
1:38:42>> Honestly, I just didn't want you to do
1:38:44like I'm like Shiki Kio is coming down.
1:38:46So, it's the one opportunity I really
1:38:47have to remove something and that is
1:38:48something meaningful.
1:38:50So, it's quite nice. And then I'm just
1:38:52going to take the block here.
1:38:55Then we'll lose our body and see there
1:38:58comes the kill. So, I really just wanted
1:38:59to burn it before he played that and it
1:39:01got a lot of value.
1:39:05Now
1:39:06we're going to
1:39:13another six here would be really nice.
1:39:16Imagine.
1:39:18Wow.
1:39:20That's certainly something.
1:39:23Okay.
1:39:25Well, we'll just draw it, right? We
1:39:28didn't draw it, chat.
1:39:31We're going to play out. We'll get the
1:39:34rest these two.
1:39:37Uh,
1:39:39we'll search since we still have this. I
1:39:41think this is pretty good. Wow,
1:39:44that is certainly something. We're going
1:39:46to 10.
1:39:48So, we'll take Shanks. There's an
1:39:51argument to take this though. And then
1:39:54we get the rest of these. So,
1:39:57less than ideal in terms of getting rid
1:39:59of this, but because we have the shanks,
1:40:04we're going to
1:40:09this. Oh, that's pretty interesting.
1:40:12That was a genius. I don't know if you
1:40:14knew that.
1:40:16>> It is very good. That's crazy.
1:40:18>> Like, cuz this Gloriosa is going to eat
1:40:20a big swing, which is less than ideal.
1:40:24We start off. You go to nine. Go Shiki
1:40:28Kio.
1:40:30Go six here.
1:40:35Go six here.
1:40:39Honestly, I probably could have just
1:40:40ignored it cuz I'm going to play shanks.
1:40:42I probably should have just ignored
1:40:43that.
1:40:45>> That makes sense.
1:40:48>> I think they're really Bonnie.
1:40:52>> I will
1:40:54ass. But we're going to be quite healthy
1:40:56when we play our shanks. Oh, I stood up
1:40:58six. Uh
1:41:00>> oh. Are we just playing like you did not
1:41:02do that?
1:41:03>> I mean, sure.
1:41:06>> We might just have to play another game.
1:41:09>> Okay, no worries.
1:41:11>> I've played like a banana. Warming up.
1:41:13Warming up.
1:41:15Six here.
1:41:18You don't really have any other swings
1:41:20except for maybe a Shiki. How much
1:41:22should I care about this body? I think
1:41:24it's okay. I think I just let it go.
1:41:34>> Okay,
1:41:36that makes sense. Maybe I shouldn't let
1:41:38it go
1:41:40cuz this is kind of like what you're
1:41:42talking about, too. I want to save
1:41:43Shanks for when you go to 10.
1:41:47>> Yeah.
1:41:50So, I personally am slightly behind
1:41:52here.
1:41:55Let's go ahead look for some stuff. This
1:41:59isn't bad. I think this is actually
1:42:02quite okay.
1:42:04I'll give you
1:42:10took a bonnie,
1:42:13but two of my bonnies are just gone now.
1:42:16I could get back around.
1:42:19What's that look like?
1:42:24Also, discarding is like the hardest
1:42:26part.
1:42:29>> It's probably fine. I'm gonna We'll take
1:42:33that.
1:42:34We're going to play this.
1:42:37Get these two back because then I can
1:42:39also use my dawn to protect him, which
1:42:41will be quite nice. I go six.
1:42:46just always blackness.
1:42:47>> Yep. Because if not, Shanks will come
1:42:49down. Go six. And then now we got the
1:42:51Sanji. So it's kind of nice
1:42:54and then we'll pass and then I get one
1:42:57more back and we can also block and use
1:43:00the Nami as well. Yeah, blocking with
1:43:02Nami and then giving counter there would
1:43:04have been really good on my Odin.
1:43:14Oh, we're good at this game.
1:43:17We're playing a game.
1:43:20>> He just draw. Do you have 13 game? Oh my
1:43:23god, we're playing a real game.
1:43:25>> Cheeky Q. Oh my goodness.
1:43:27>> Oh my god, we're playing a game. Hey,
1:43:30watch the VODs. Watch the VODs.
1:43:32>> This is literally everything you
1:43:34explained in your video. Now you're
1:43:35going to minus it, then you got to poke
1:43:37it a bunch. You're so good at this game.
1:43:41Oh, you minus cow. I should uh minus the
1:43:44Sanji, but I think that Sanji is fine
1:43:47here.
1:43:48>> Interesting.
1:43:50I choose. No, choose. No, I'll just take
1:43:53the hard block.
1:43:57>> Go five here.
1:44:00I'll block with my Trfolgar.
1:44:06And then, yeah, here's the turn
1:44:09everybody loves.
1:44:11We're going to get two back your whole
1:44:14board again. I kind of I want to go for
1:44:15your whole board here. I have to start
1:44:17off at this Q. Your Shiki of course gets
1:44:20a lot of value. I could just start off
1:44:23big 12 here. Force you to use it. So
1:44:28that way I can if you have to counter
1:44:30out and then go six here versus making
1:44:32this free there. Make that a bit easier.
1:44:35So these can go more places. Yeah, I
1:44:38think nice 12 here. I'll start off.
1:44:50And then we're going to go
1:44:53big six here.
1:44:56And then we'll go
1:45:00big seven.
1:45:04Five poke.
1:45:07Okay, there goes the boa. We're gonna do
1:45:10this and we'll trash
1:45:13the back and then
1:45:17pass.
1:45:20>> Yeah. So, the great thing about this
1:45:21turn here is like you have a lot of you
1:45:23have not a lot of cards in hand and not
1:45:25a lot of life. So, I can really just
1:45:27poke you out like either through the the
1:45:30shanks or the um the other cards on
1:45:33board.
1:45:36Uh unfortunately I do not have the 10
1:45:38cost here but I think it's okay.
1:45:41I think realistically I'm doing this and
1:45:43this
1:45:45and then adjusting.
1:45:48So what we are going to do here
1:45:51six
1:45:53>> double shaky that's double shaky.
1:45:56>> Yeah shaki is pretty good. Shiki is
1:45:59pretty good.
1:46:01Seven here
1:46:04six. Yeah, I do want to see. N it
1:46:08doesn't matter. It's always this, right?
1:46:16I think the Sanji is more impactful than
1:46:18the
1:46:25and we'll see how you go.
1:46:34Oh, so it's either you have to put your
1:46:37other Shiki into my shanks,
1:46:40I guess. Yeah, you have to put your
1:46:42other Shiki into my shanks. Do I counter
1:46:45this? Well, so let's see. If you go nine
1:46:47into here, I give you two one. I only
1:46:49have two cards left in my hand. If you
1:46:51go nine here, minus this, you take this.
1:46:55I have to have a 2-1. If you go eight
1:46:57here. So you're saying that I don't have
1:46:582121. And if I don't have 21, two, one,
1:47:01I lose both of these and my whole hand.
1:47:04Is that what you're saying right now?
1:47:07>> Maybe.
1:47:10>> It's Yeah, I'm in a great spot here.
1:47:11>> It's a great spot. That's a really
1:47:13>> There's a lot of
1:47:14>> He's gone.
1:47:16>> Yeah.
1:47:17>> If I had stage, boy, if I had stage
1:47:20>> If you had stage where it went in, I
1:47:22just don't I swing at the lock with the
1:47:24the Sanji for sure. 100% 100%.
1:47:28>> So now we go here at the six and then
1:47:32this eats this for sure almost
1:47:35right 11 to six.
1:47:44Yeah, I'll take that. Actually, I think
1:47:46it's fine. Now let's
1:47:52There it is. I should almost leave
1:47:54first.
1:47:57>> Every time. Every time. Big kill. Big
1:48:00kill.
1:48:03Six. And you're going to go You're just
1:48:05going to go big 11.
1:48:08I'll give you
1:48:12my trash.
1:48:15I give my best card. Nami is the best
1:48:17card in both offensive and defensive.
1:48:21Only 10. Yeah, give me a card.
1:48:23>> Yeah, just give me everything and then
1:48:25your shanks dies anyways.
1:48:27>> Yeah. Yep.
1:48:31>> That's annoying. Do I need this? I feel
1:48:33like I
1:48:34>> I really do this. It's crazy.
1:48:36>> I think it's okay.
1:48:43That's an interesting card. That is most
1:48:46certainly a card.
1:48:49It's always ah it's always too late.
1:48:55It's not too late. It's never too late.
1:48:59>> Nice.
1:49:04>> Big shanks right on top.
1:49:09So, it's like I could take it cuz I can
1:49:12live through next turn. I'm gonna take
1:49:14it. It's like what do I do this turn?
1:49:23This is a consideration
1:49:29minus three
1:49:31like like again because you have double
1:49:33cheeky
1:49:35but it only gives it to a character.
1:49:39That's
1:49:42>> Oh pushing.
1:49:45Yeah, I like this.
1:49:47Seven. One, two,
1:49:52six.
1:49:55I just have to say, give me it.
1:49:58Big 10. Call me Ben 10 because it's a
1:50:01big 10. If you have it, I mean, it just
1:50:03is what it is.
1:50:07>> Just definitely car, right?
1:50:14Yep. Cuz I get out of one, I'm going to
1:50:16take
1:50:18>> I think this is what I was talking about
1:50:20with this card.
1:50:20>> You got 10 of Beck. You got big 10. Big
1:50:22big Becky.
1:50:28I've
1:50:33got big Becky
1:50:37trashy. Saw all four Shikis.
1:50:42>> Oh, wow. Okay, I think it's this card.
1:50:44Usually it's this card, but I want I
1:50:46just want like you can't afford to give
1:50:48me cards here or not you. Yeah. Yeah.
1:50:52Yeah.
1:50:52>> Yep. And then nines go and I push you to
1:50:56one.
1:50:59Yeah. And so here like again like even
1:51:01if my board is this established like you
1:51:05just can't afford to play 10 cost shanks
1:51:07cuz you just will die in the clapback
1:51:10right naturally.
1:51:12>> Yep.
1:51:14You are not wrong.
1:51:18>> This card's also interesting. I don't
1:51:19think it advances anywhere though.
1:51:24like this.
1:51:42It's like giving up a 2K at the hopes of
1:51:44drawing more than a 2K.
1:51:51Yeah, we'll pass.
1:51:54It starts off big 12.
1:51:56Okay.
1:52:06>> Yeah, I actually think here like I can
1:52:08afford to play however I want because
1:52:10you're like you're just starve for
1:52:12resources.
1:52:16>> Big five.
1:52:18Like this card comes in like how do you
1:52:20win if I play this card?
1:52:22>> I don't know. What is this card? Big
1:52:24setback. Another Shiki.
1:52:27>> Uh it's Gloriosa. I think I'm just
1:52:30playing like I'm kind of just playing
1:52:31with my food here. But
1:52:32>> Oh, yeah. I mean, you know, the only
1:52:34thing better than winning is not losing.
1:52:36>> Oh. Oh, it is. It's fine. It's fine.
1:52:39>> What?
1:52:41Oh, this is a 1k. I thought it was a 2K.
1:52:44I still just lose.
1:52:45>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So like
1:52:47Gloriosa gets played here and bomb decks
1:52:48to your body. So I I like never awful
1:52:54>> okay okay.
1:52:57>> We draw this time.
1:52:58>> Yeah. I'll go second.
1:52:59>> That's crazy cuz our mulligan too just
1:53:01didn't have it.
1:53:06Come
1:53:08this arguably worse.
1:53:12Mildly playable. This is actually This
1:53:14is actually pretty playable. All
1:53:17right. This
1:53:18>> is
1:53:20genuinely underrated.
1:53:22>> I think so, too. It's also searchable,
1:53:24so it's helpful for not whiffing.
1:53:26>> It is.
1:53:27>> I think this is like
1:53:28>> so good.
1:53:29>> Close to perfect for what I want for my
1:53:30hand almost.
1:53:33>> Really?
1:53:34>> Yeah, it's pretty good.
1:53:37>> What do you want in your hand?
1:53:39>> Oh, like the three drop, the five drop,
1:53:42stuff like that. like this combo and
1:53:44then the Llin obviously next
1:53:48and this is beneficial because my turn
1:53:50next turn
1:53:52like it's this and then this I just have
1:53:55like this.
1:53:58This is the pitch. I'm gonna pitch this,
1:54:00but I kind of really wanted it.
1:54:06Joking.
1:54:14>> Nice.
1:54:35Yeah. So here if I had the thing I would
1:54:37always play it.
1:54:41But if you take I can still do.
1:54:43>> Oh no no no. The if I had bo here I
1:54:46would have bowed you early.
1:54:47>> Oh cuz I had nine. Oh my goodness.
1:54:49>> You had nine. Yeah. But you're still
1:54:50like worried because I could have drawn
1:54:52into ball or there's a chance. I don't
1:54:54think so. But
1:54:56>> that's true. The amount of times I've
1:54:58just put myself in the made myself nice
1:54:59and bable.
1:55:02>> Yeah.
1:55:03>> Scary.
1:55:12I think the test for RG if they don't
1:55:15tech is like seeing if they're afford
1:55:17they can afford to pitch for but I don't
1:55:19think they can just because all their
1:55:21hand is really good
1:55:23>> can't make it up
1:55:28>> oh he just missed it again
1:55:33think that there are four in here
1:55:36>> yeah agreed this is the pitch
1:55:40>> trying to just draw a bunch of cards
1:55:42cards. That's also why I pitched this.
1:55:45If I had a Bonnie and I knew I was going
1:55:46to play a Nami, I would have kept it.
1:55:48But it's just so little value for so
1:55:51long. Okay, I pass.
1:55:54Two games back to back. Kind of crazy.
1:55:57>> Yeah, it's not great as you can tell.
1:56:06>> Well, I have to counter this one cuz
1:56:08you're giving me an out.
1:56:11True. Or you can pad your hand if you
1:56:13want to pad.
1:56:16>> It's right there. There's three of them
1:56:17right there. I know it. I know it.
1:56:19They're right here.
1:56:24>> Uh, so here I'd probably play this.
1:56:26Although I was definitely considering
1:56:28this, but you
1:56:28>> I think I'm going to take this one.
1:56:31>> I could took one since I was just going
1:56:33to take one regardless. But
1:56:34>> no, if I take one, you be a little bit
1:56:37more aggressive.
1:56:38Draw one. Play a Llin pad your hand.
1:56:41It's an argument for me to trash too.
1:56:50>> I'm um saving streus for like other
1:56:53cards if needed, but real simply gets
1:56:54played over. So I could have considered
1:56:56like it's not really a big deal though.
1:56:59>> Yay.
1:57:01>> Nice. Nice.
1:57:04>> You're gaming.
1:57:07>> You're gaming.
1:57:13So these two
1:57:16I can consider this.
1:57:23Yes. And then
1:57:26that four is just such a nice body.
1:57:32Very annoying to deal with.
1:57:35Go six here.
1:57:37We'll use this minus here. We're going
1:57:40to go big seven.
1:57:48Got so many cards. It's actually absurd.
1:57:53>> Oh,
1:57:54>> what just happened?
1:57:55>> What did I do?
1:57:56>> I don't know.
1:57:58I think you had enough.
1:58:00>> I thought so, too. Maybe I just didn't
1:58:02count it. It's fine. I have a lot of
1:58:04crates. It's fine. I maybe just didn't
1:58:07click the Marlin when I did the lemon or
1:58:10something. I don't know. It's fine.
1:58:11>> I don't know. Yeah. I'm like, what?
1:58:14>> Buff Marlin.
1:58:17>> I have no idea.
1:58:19>> Yeah, I see how bo So would you say Boa
1:58:22is really good in this match up just
1:58:23because we have a lot of cards or like
1:58:25do you think typically when you were
1:58:26playing against other people they were
1:58:27kind of keeping themselves low out of ba
1:58:29range?
1:58:30>> Uh, no. Bo is really good because of
1:58:32that reason. Yeah. To get cards out of
1:58:33their hand.
1:58:38I should have not done it this way, but
1:58:41it's okay.
1:58:44>> No, you're going to make me counter then
1:58:45you're going to bow at me.
1:58:46>> Yeah, it's true.
1:58:48>> I mean, you have Dawn for the the Luffy,
1:58:51right?
1:58:51>> Too good.
1:58:53>> It should have been these two.
1:58:55>> A
1:58:56>> this here.
1:58:57>> I didn't realize I had Dawn up. So,
1:59:00>> Oh. Oh. Oh.
1:59:02>> I I accidentally clicked the no. So
1:59:06W man.
1:59:11>> Oh, I guess it's always this,
1:59:22>> man. And you choose to show me counter.
1:59:25You show you're showing me what you're
1:59:26going to do to disrespect.
1:59:28>> Yeah, I actually think that. So, I was
1:59:30told when I was playing or learning this
1:59:32deck that you're supposed to show
1:59:33counter cuz if they cuz it's harder to
1:59:36um calculate how much counter you have
1:59:38if they know how much counter if like
1:59:40this is what you're showing. Does that
1:59:41make sense?
1:59:42>> Yep.
1:59:49>> There
1:59:55you saw. And I'm like, s dude, there's
1:59:59no way I'm out of cards.
2:00:08Two
2:00:15two
2:00:24is a six.
2:00:29Only thing I don't like is pressing
2:00:30those buttons.
2:00:33>> Actually ain't bad. I think we're still
2:00:34in an okay spot. I had one more life.
2:00:37I'm in an okay spot, but I have this
2:00:38blocker, so it's kind of like having a
2:00:40life. I don't I don't hate this
2:00:42position. Way better than last game.
2:00:45>> Way better than last game, for sure.
2:00:53>> Here, I'm picturing you. I'm pretty
2:00:56sure.
2:01:07I'll take my one. Thank you.
2:01:17Actually,
2:01:27maybe I did that wrong. I definitely did
2:01:30that wrong. I think I'm supposed to give
2:01:31you a one.
2:01:32>> Oh. Oh, sure. That's fair.
2:01:36>> And then use the one on the two. I think
2:01:39my clapback's really strong with that.
2:01:41>> This
2:01:45not really worth a counter. I think I'm
2:01:46just holding and forcing you to shanks.
2:01:52>> Honestly, that's really, really strong.
2:01:54I needed one more body on this board.
2:02:03That's pretty okay.
2:02:07Something something to swing into this.
2:02:11Cuz if I could go double shanks into
2:02:13this, I'm in a solid spot.
2:02:17Oh, and you get the Linland. Yeah. So,
2:02:18you just trade two bricks into counter.
2:02:22That's so good.
2:02:28Hey, just organ. You give me the
2:02:31>> Yep. That one. There's no authority in
2:02:34the world that lasts forever. How many
2:02:37times have you said that out loud?
2:02:40Never. That's crazy.
2:02:46And trash.
2:02:50We'll pass.
2:03:00I'm forced to get in.
2:03:03Oh, really?
2:03:12Oh my god.
2:03:14Is this the only way to win
2:03:17for you?
2:03:20I'm done. I'm done. I took cards.
2:03:27Oh,
2:03:29>> and I think it's just dead. Yeah.
2:03:32>> That's why I'm like, uh, yeah.
2:03:35>> Yeah.
2:03:37I'll go look up. That's really bad.
2:03:40>> Less than ideal. But
2:03:42>> any final words for everybody?
2:03:44>> Um, yeah. Just shout outs to the Hawaii
2:03:47people. Uh, and all my friends and all
2:03:49the people who's got my back overall.
2:03:51It's been a great experience. I got
2:03:52really lucky and I'm happy to represent
2:03:54Hawaii. And nuts.
2:03:57Heck
2:03:57>> yeah, brother. Well, appreciate you. It
2:03:58was fun as always. Thank you for
2:04:00spending these past two hours with me.
2:04:01Of course.

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