The Lava Pool

Toler and Sam switch roles to catch up on the VGC 16 metagame going into worlds. Turns out not much has changed since the last episode. So then we spend the rest of the episode breaking down the Pokemon game everyone is talking about right now: Pokemon Go!

Just kidding, we spend 40 minutes on Sun and Moon. This is strictly a VGC and sandwich podcast after all.

VGC

00. Intro

13. Big 6

20. Japan

23. US Nats and Metagame

27. Questions! Venusaur and Safeguard

Sun and Moon

32. New Pokemon

39. Highest Priority

41. Snatch

43. Horse

47. Bounsweet

51. Mimikyu

55. Bear

1.00. Competitive changes

1.07. Outro

05.20 Hair Loss

07.25 Pokken

09.15 Stipends

18:30 HP Water Mons (Salamence doesn’t count, learns more water moves)

21:50 Dumbest “Big 6” counters

24.45 Gravity Kyurem & Groudon teams

27:30 Best wing sauce

29:55 Pokémon that understand sandwiches 

31:28 Top underrated restricted pokémon 

36:02 This years “Japan Sand”

38:30 Best of 3 practice

44:20 Should pokémon be esports?

48:30 Is the community to negitive?

52:15 NPA & Outro

This episode is just exciting enough that we got up at 7am to record it. Tiffany (shiloh) Stanley joins Samuel (DrFidget) Haarsma to stack rank bears, restricted pokemon, and Bronzong move options.

0.20 Intro- How early is early?

4.20 What bear is best?

6.25 Bronzong sets

11.00 Tyranitar

13.55 What 2 restricted pokemon will win worlds?

17.55 Kyogre reality check.

25.45 Double Primal

30.00 Stipends

32.23 When will other restricted pokemon pop up?

33.18 Will people really miss invites?

34.45 Regionals not having uniform "Best of x" or days played.

38.00 Outro

Sorry this episode is late, mostly unedited and lacks timestamps, but it’s been a crazy week. Dim and BadIntent jump on this episode to talk about the Pokken circuit, and answer a ton of listener questions about VGC 16.

Like I said no timestamps but here were the topics mostly in order:

Best Hotels

Pokken Tournaments and prizes.

(Also, here’s the link to the Team GFB episode with Jabailey I referenced, if you’re interested http://teamgfbradio.com/episode-62-darryl-interviews-alex-jebailey/)

Next International Challenge

Practice

Nats Stipends

Walruses

Number of players in Worlds

Crobat/Gengar

Smeagle

Kyogre/Xerneas

Pikachu

Sam is back and this time he brought friends! Gabby steps away from the mic at regionals to pick up a mic here. Chalkey just topcut a regional with "A Walrus" hours before Sam did the same. So naturally we talk about birds, hats, and best of 3 vs the hack check.

0:00:20 Intro, Disney.

0:04:30 Winter Regionals.

0:17:00 Oregon is surprise best of 3 Swiss.

0:22:10 Hack Check issues.

0:35:50 Pokken.

0:38:20 Teams we used.

0:54:00 Hats.

0:56:35 Sun and Moon announcement.

1:01:00 Birds.

1:03:25 Outro.

It’s the first ever solo cast from The Lava Pool as I wanted to put something out but had no time to get people together. I put a call out for questions and thankfully you guys delivered. Next episode should be back to normal, but for now enjoy the trainwreck that is me for an hour.

00:20 Intro, alone

02:10 Favorite format and why.

03:25 Primal salads

04:15 Follow our twitter @TheLavaPool and ask us questions!

04:46 Are Primals smarter than toddlers?

06:40 Is the “Big 6” really bad? Why does a walrus body it?

09:30 Primal sandwiches

10:30 Patrick ascends to “Friend of the show” status.

11:20 How centralized is VGC16 going to be?

13:00 I try to talk to a Benji who isn’t there.

15:15 Loaderbro

16:40 Benji ascends to friend of the show

16:55 Sleeper restricted picks.

18:10 Top 5 fast food places

19:50 Sleeper Megas

21:55 Coolest thing I played in Cali

26:15 The worst standard pokémon.

30:35 How is the current format developing? Predictions?

32:40 Is Dark Void ban worthy?

33:25 2010 compared to 2016

37:10 What restricted pokémon is best bro?

38:15 What beats “Big 6”?

39:25 Worst food at a pokémon event?

41:20 If you had to become a pokémon, what would you choose.

43:05 What do you want out of a pokémon direct?

44:21 Choose the format for VGC17 and invite structure.

46:48 Lunch break?

47:05 If everything was banned what would the format look like?

49:25 My IC/Cali team.

54:50 Outro

This week I’m joined by Gabby (JTK), Chalkey and Paul (Makiri) for what was supposed to be a quick episode that just got away from us. Apparently people still have a lot of thoughts about Smeargle, US Nationals is going to Ohio, and CP is dissapearing. We also go over the International Challenge, the death of VGC, and why you shouldn’t sign contracts with MISSINGNO or something. Look it’s a long episode and it’s kind of a blur. Enjoy!0.0.20 Intro: Game day food.0.03.30 US Nats in Ohio0.08.15 International Challenge January0.17.19 Last episodes PC has a new chapter.0.21.42 PAX South (but mostly more Smeargle talk)0.33.00 Red Blue Yellow Virtual Console Tournys0.39.46 Throwback qualification methods.0.41.45 Paul talks a bit more about sponsorships. Read his original blog here: http://nuggetbridge.com/blogs/entry/1251-e-sports-organizations-and-you-a-primer-on-your-first-contract/0.55.26 Winter Regionals! (But really just more Smeargle talk)1.08.00 Questions 1, Megas that got a second chance at a first impression.1.15.54 Question 2, Non-weather Cores1.19.09 Question 3, Is VGC dying?!?1.35.02 Question 4, Common Cores1.38.00 Smith_ is dumb/Outro(PS I love Smith_)

This episode was brought to you by the grace of 6 project and 3 system recoveries. Hard Drives failed and power supplies died but this episode is now live! This week I’m joined by Toler, Hayden, and Rushan to talk about the new Nugget Bridge, Pokémon turning 20, and the new hot team all the kids are using!

0.0.20 Intro

0.3.50 Battle Spot update.

0.6.00 International Challenge announced.

0.11.45 The story behind the new Nugget Bridge blog system.

0.27.29 Pokémon turns 20 and we reflect on where we were when it started.

0.40.17 EU Regionals might have happened.

0.41.58 Midseason showdowns announced.

0.43.04 Hayden is the latest victim of TOM. (This is also where my computer dies and so my audio will be missing or poor the rest of the show. I cut around it best I could.)

0.48.49 Kangaskahn/Smeargle/Xerneas/Groudon. How it works, and how to stop it.

1.02.12 Question time! First one is about Mewtwo.

1.10.10 Next question is about event legends

1.23.30 Outro

We’re back for the new year. This week I’m joined by JTK, Dim, and Smith. We kick things off with more sandwich and Smeargle talk, then jump into US nats rumors. After that it’s a lot of half formed ideas on the metagame based on early PCs and testing. Everything is terrible! Everything is great! What is bread?! Find out now!

0.0.20 Intro: What sandwich would Primals make?

0.4.34 Rules and more Smeargle talk.

0.13.40 US National location rumors

0.20.25 What we’ve seen at Premiere Challenges

0.38.00 Questions! Outlook for Trick Room in 2016?

0.42.24 What is best between Kyoger/Groudon/Rayquaza?

0.54.00 Good non-restricted or underused pokémon?

1.11.30 Outro

1.21.20 A working knowledge of human language is easily achievable but understanding the concept of bread is a bridge too far for Primal Pokémon.

The year is dying so DrFidget grabs Blitz, BadIntent, DTrain, and Cybertron to peer into the upcoming void that is 2016.

0:00:20 What is the best Christmas song?

0:02:55 New CP Bars

0:04:40 More players in worlds.

0:08:20 X-2 Cuts

0:15:20 Normal Rules

0:23:37 Dark Void

0:37:12 Metagame, what's good?

0:50:47 Where to practice

0:53:22 International Challenges?

0:55:00 Will there be a new C.H.A.L.K.?

0:57:09 Crobat, Liepard, Tornadus?

1:00:51 What will Regionals be like?

1:05:20 Outro