TRAINER'S EYE #94 - "Reading About Pokemon Battles ft. Reverend GO

In this Pokemon interview, we are joined by Reverend GO, a Pokemon GO Trainer from New York and author of the "GO Battle League Guide.

Reverend GO discusses his inspiration for creating a comprehensive guide called GO! Battle League for Pokémon GO PvP battles, sharing his personal experiences with Pokémon, from the trading card game with his daughter to organizing local Pokémon leagues. He also reflects on the importance of community, particularly the online and PvP community, and his journey to understanding and appreciating it.

Reverend GO shares his excitement for live events like GOFest NYC and his philosophy towards collecting and battling Pokémon!

Sources
Opening Song: "Forget You" by Alex_MakeMusic from Pixabay

Connect with Reverend GO: Linktree

Transcript

Reverend GO: 0:00

I'm Reverend Goh, and this is my Pokémon story.

David Hernandez: 0:46

Welcome to, as the pokeball turns, where we interview people about their experience with the world of Pokemon. My name is David Hernandez. And today I'm joined by the author of the go battle league guide. Revan, go Revan. Welcome to the show.

Reverend GO: 1:01

Hey, thank you for having me. I really appreciate it.

David Hernandez: 1:05

Absolutely. And it's been a long time coming. Cause I know you reached out one to come on the podcast. And I would say never, I really say, no, it's more of not yet. So this has been a couple of months in the making. I look forward to you sharing your Pokemon story and talking about the guy that you've made for people to consume and learn more about PVP.

Reverend GO: 1:22

Absolutely. And that that's really important because that's exactly what this is. I didn't want it to be something that would, usurp somebody else's website. And say, oh, well, look, my information is here. I wanted something that we could use, just for information and for fun. And I thought about, okay, everybody talks about, community day. Everybody talks about, going and interacting, but what about the newest, you know, aspect, which is the e sport and how it is becoming Almost the most important part of the game.

David Hernandez: 1:54

did you make the guide more so to kind of highlight PVP or

Reverend GO: 1:59

Well that that's a very very long and winding story the original purpose of the guide when it was still called the journal. it came up because i'd go out to the mall or i'd go out For a walk or something. And I'd have my phone with me and I'd be playing Pokemon go. And as I'm playing Pokemon go, I come up against an amazing, Pokemon that has great battle potential. And so I'd immediately go and I capture the Pokemon and then I would say, okay, I'm going to go look it up. And I go to one of the websites or one of the apps that can show and say, okay, this is what's What you're looking for or not. And while I'm doing that, my, go plus plus would get disconnected. And, you know, I mean, it's not a hassle. I mean, I don't want it to seem like, oh my goodness, the world was ending. But I said, you know, what, what if I had this list in my back pocket? And so that was the original plan was, can I find something that is really good for battle? And so I would look through it and I'd look at this wonderful 0 15 15 Pokemon that I had caught. And I'd be excited because it's got great battle potential and I would look it up and it was a good draw. And it, battle potential for the Great League is 1 14 14. And it's battle potential for the ultra lead is zero 12. Well, so this zero 15, 15. Is a whole lot of nothing and instead of waiting to get home, I would have this with me But also at the end of the day when you pull out 300 400 pokemon And you want to look at them I could use again the battle guide And so that was the original plan. I was just going to make it for me. And then I showed it to One of the kids who I bumped into when they're out playing and i'm out playing And he says, Oh, I'd love that. Could you make me a copy of it? And I thought, okay, well, if I'm going to make copies of it, I should include more you know, if I'm going to be making this now for other people, I could say, okay, let's do some interviews. Let's get into the heads of some of these competitors. on a side note, right around the time that all of this was planning, I was substituting in our local high school. And I was teaching a business class and one of the things that the students were learning Was the 10 harsh realities of becoming a sports hero and it was really depressing and I wrote an article, 10 harsh realities of becoming a Pokemon go champion. and the more I did, the more I wanted to do to make it overall friendly for people who. Would like to get into battle mode. before the, pandemic, we organized the first Pokemon trading card league and Pokemon video game league in our area, in the Binghamton, New York area. within two years. We were hosting, 20, 30, people challenges. people were coming from as far as 200 miles away to come to these things. And I just thought, well, why aren't we doing something like this, publicizing something like this for go, because with go, you go to a store, you buy a card, you know, buy the cards and you play the card game there And it's an interactive financial situation. But if you want to do pokemon go for a league you had to do it at a place that sells cards. But a place that sells cards knows that Pokemon Go people aren't going to spend as much money as the card people would, so they didn't want to do it. So this was another reason why we did the book, was so that people could see different ways that they can play.

David Hernandez: 5:40

So you talked about how, you know, you wanted people to understand more about PVP or to get more dived into it. What is your interest in PVP? Like, were you initially very like eager to start battling when it came to Pokemon Go or were you kind of one of the late comers? Like what's your story when it comes to PVP specifically for Pokemon Go?

Reverend GO: 5:55

Well, my PVP started. With trading card game way back. Uh, my daughter was um, was like 10 11 years old when the original trading card game with the original 151 came out and so she and I would battle all the time And then we stopped for 20 years like almost 20 years 15 years and then we came back in and when I started the trading card game league I got more and more into it But unfortunately cards were expensive. So right around that same time was when Pokemon go came up. as we learned a little more, and as we were able to battle against each other, it was a lot of fun to be able to battle people when we could finally battle against each other in front of us. I enjoyed watching the PBP. I'm myself a little bit too impatient because of my lack of ability Or the occasional person that I get to play against or slower or reconnection or whatever. But I want to, you know, I want to get involved in the playing aspect. And I realized the best way to do that was to start a league. And so we're starting from scratch because they never once won here before. We're starting doing the and in a town 20 miles away. there is a Pokemon, store that has Pokemon go, and we went there, my daughter and I, who's now in her thirties. We went to this, place and I actually did my first sit down Pokemon go PVP, it was, it was a lot of fun. It Battling against people i've never met before. And it's a way to open up a whole new world for people Because the interaction the world is I mean you look at these people and all they want to do is play a game And in a world where people are worried about everything all you want to do is play a game Can be pretty okay.

David Hernandez: 7:48

it's cool that you have such a history with Pokemon because you talk about playing the early TCG eventually you come into Go, so you've always had that kind of spear for competition.

Reverend GO: 7:56

Yes, but it's funny. I've got the spirit of competition, but I'm not a competitor. I, never see myself going to, you know, I can't ever see myself going to the regionals. I can't see myself making past the first round just because I collect in my own little, Weird way, right now and again i've been playing since day one Right now I have no more than 150 pokemon in my collection.

David Hernandez: 8:26

oh wow, only 150 out

Reverend GO: 8:27

exactly Uh, well, it's it's you know, I like things a certain way very very neat so I don't go for cute which means I don't have any shiny. And so

David Hernandez: 8:40

you get what do you do, what do you do when you catch a shiny just out of curiosity?

Reverend GO: 8:43

what a great question. Oh, I love that question. Um, first I've got my daughter and that's usually, I will show her the shiny and I say, is this something you want? And she'll say, yes, yes. so I'll try to remember to save it. And sometimes I forget and I transfer it. Others. I save it coming up on. Yeah. And, and then I've got another daughter who doesn't live with us. and she when she comes over I'll show her whatever shinies i've got and she'll say oh, I want that one or I want that one. And then there's a couple of other folks that have said, you know, I, I posted the list that I have and they've said, Oh, can I have that? And the great thing about me is I'm easygoing. I don't want anything special. I don't. do cute, so I don't need it to be a, a lucky trade. And I don't need it to be a special Pokemon because unless it's got that perfect IV or is a hundo, I'm probably not gonna keep it. So people are looking, it's like, well, what do you want? It's like, well, I want a Corsola, but once I get it and I put it into my Dex, I don't really need it anymore. And people look at me like I'm absolutely crazy and I love it..

David Hernandez: 9:52

Are just perfect IV for PVP or just ones you have prepared for battle with the extra move and everything.

Reverend GO: 9:56

PVP, you know, it get in looking in the back of the guide. I can just pull up any particular one like, a Diggersby. And the perfect Diggersby for battle is zero 1513 and his CP will be 1497. And so I'm, I'm all excited and I'm looking for that. But what are the odds that you're going to find that particular ID? yes, same exact odds as if you're going to get a hundo. But just like everybody else is freaking out about shinies I'm freaking out about that perfect IV And it also brings me back to my youth when I would buy sports cards or a comic book, and I'd immediately go to my price guide and look and see, Oh, you know how much this works, and this, this really reminds me of that time.

David Hernandez: 10:46

You know, so going back to the go battle league, you know, you talked about how, you know, you do, you started printing out the booklet, you know, we're kind of in the age to where, you know, technology, most people prefer stuff online. Why only do stuff with print instead of going online? Do you have a preference or, you know, what's the story behind that?

Reverend GO: 11:02

Well, there are so many really great websites, that cover Pokemon go. Um, I mean, there's, there's the podcasts like yours. There's, the YouTube podcasts, like, Lured Up. and then there's these great websites, like go hub and this one and this one and Pokemon itself. And who am I? You know, I'm, I'm not really programmer. Um, I'm not a sit in front of the computer, and program code and do all this. I'm more of a, I want a tactile, experience. and it's funny cause it's the only thing in my life that I like tactile. But again, it's something that I can literally roll off. It's eight and a half by 11. So I can roll it up, stick it in my back pocket and, you know, walk the mall, walk the mall, you know, for the three hours during bad weather community day or walk the neighborhood and literally pull it out and look up information and see exactly what I need to know. If I Had a website i'd be spending all my time trying to make that three dimensional And trying to improve upon it improve upon it And, you know, you know, it would be like me trying to build a better Porsche. these guys are doing a great job already. Uh, very occasionally a website might go down for 15 minutes. And if that's the worst, you know, that's fine for me. You know, I wait and I come back later, but I didn't want to just remake the wheel. And since nobody else was doing, you know, paper. And since it does it doesn't I mean the great thing is it doesn't cost me a penny to print them Oh, well, you know for my own copies it does but if you order one you pay for it And I get notified and that's the end of That's the end of the Transaction you don't order from me and then I send it to you. It comes straight through from amazon and means that there's literally no expense for me So All I have to do is, create which you know, it's fun and then whatever any money comes in Can go to giving back to whoever doing, you know gifts for the people that have contributed their time or their photographs or articles For the guide and then have also, you know, I see all these people on online giving away Tickets and I'd love to be able to do that

David Hernandez: 13:20

You know, I was listening to you while you started doing the Battle League guide and it sounded similar to my story with the podcasting because, know, video is the big thing. You know, if you really want to be a big content creator, you got to do video. Twitch, YouTube, name it, whatever. I feel like I couldn't do, I couldn't, reach the standards of people who are already doing the video. Cause they do it so more better. By the time I learn it, it'll be beyond even what I could do at that point. But then that's when I turned to podcasting, but it's podcasting created an avenue for me to be creative. Let me to have a conversation. And I feel like it's the same way with you with the battle. They guide that, you know, for some, even if, you know, I would disagree. I think you could always make your own. Uh, way, but for you, the Battle League Guide kind of became a kind of a way for you to be able to create and to be able to put something out there for other people to enjoy. Is that to say?

Reverend GO: 14:12

it's exactly the way to say it. I mean i've got my history goes back to Um, and it's funny because it's using a bad word nowadays terrestrial radio back in the olden days there was no Internet radio, you had to, fumble through the dial and find something you wanted to hear. We've still got terrestrial radio. it's really cool because college radio stations, they feature people's podcasts. And you know, it reminds me of my days back in the eighties, being on college radio in New York city and being able to make our own shows. And that's exactly what a pop dancer is. They'd stick a microphone in front of my face. They give me the option of music or talking or news, and then they'd leave. And for a half an hour or an hour, everybody that was tuned to my radio station was stuck with me and my opinions and my choices in music. And I love it.

David Hernandez: 15:11

One thing I want to touch on is you had experience building up you both your VGC and TCG initially before go, you're trying to build the leagues back before there weren't any, right?

Reverend GO: 15:20

Yes.

David Hernandez: 15:21

So, you know, right now people in Pokemon Go are trying to build up the PvP scene. What advice from your experience would you give for somebody who's trying to build up the PvP that worked for you when you tried to do the TCG and VGC?

Reverend GO: 15:33

Well it's totally a different train of thought because when at least when I was up against a buddy one on one playing card game My cards were worth the same value as his cards. I knew that his eevee or his pikachu or i'm really Dating myself, you know, or his, uh, Moltres. Was going to be exactly the same strength as my Moltres. I didn't really understand. I mean, I did do a little bit of VG, PVP, but I didn't understand it in the video, level. And honestly, I don't think for the first six years of my playing Pokemon Go, did I understand that if I throw out a level 15. Annihilate your level 50 annihilate might be stronger than mine. Yours is going to have different powers or, you know, different abilities than mine. And, you know, originally, Pokemon was the ultimate. Rochambeau, the ultimate rock, paper, scissors. and it is now gone to, you know, from now from rock, paper, scissors, three on three, it's now gone 18 on 18 and there's so many aspects. I have seen so many positive people in PVP. I've had the option of watching some of these matches. And when I came into, what would be called a Pokemon community. My attitude was totally different. I didn't understand the importance in the community that PVP holds and only through interviewing people and really listening to these podcasts, do I realize that, we really, e sports really do have an importance and I love the camaraderie I love the fact that, you know, yes, when I'm sitting across from you on the table, you and are, you know, battling. But the second we get up, I'm going to say, Oh my goodness, can I look what you've got? Can you look what I've got and say, Hey, will you help me along? almost more than a community.

David Hernandez: 17:37

So you talked about how first, initially, when you first started playing, you didn't understand the importance of, I guess, the PvP community? Or, like, can you kind of clarify that statement? Like, what do you mean Or how was your of thought beforehand?

Reverend GO: 17:50

I came in, I mean, I've been playing since day one, and I've, know, been, been interactive, but for around the time of the pandemic. I was probably like thousands of players, and I said, you know what, we're screwed, we're sunk, you know, this is a go outside and play. And there's practically soldiers on every corner saying, go back home and no, you can't play. And I just considered, okay, I'm done. And I went into Star Trek Fleet Command and I played that instead. and then something brought me back to it. Uh, Pokemon Go, it might've been my daughter. I'm not really sure what, but I realized, that people were using words like community and when they switched over and nerfed, the number of remotes that could be done and, you know, that whole big crisis a year, you know, over a year ago, I couldn't understand why are people interested in this community online of Twitter people and you know, I went back to when Mysapce came out, you know, and you know, you don't really know these people and how can you consider the community. And then over the last year I have been schooled so many times. In terms of, oh my goodness, how could I have thought that?

David Hernandez: 19:08

Mm

Reverend GO: 19:09

There's, there's some folks out there that I truly, truly, care about. I don't think we've mentioned this, but in my real life, I'm a minister and I have a church and one time I was saying something and somebody that definitely would not have felt comfortable coming into my church publicly told me that he was praying for me and he hoped I would get better. And that just, I mean, it practically put me on my knees in terms of this is a community, this is a family, and I was wrong. And if all of this and these people feel that something is important who am I to say? No, it's not important. It's my responsibility to try to see you know their point of views and as I did I got to know all these people And um, you know, I got to meet ken from Lured Up and i'm getting to talk to you and i've got some really good friends on twitter and I When I came into it, I still had my old school mentality Of growing up in the 80s and 90s and you know, the internet is just there

David Hernandez: 20:14

I think it kind of reminds me of, I think we call it in church, when one part of the body hurts, the entire body hurts. I think that's what they say, Pastor?

Reverend GO: 20:20

yes, absolutely and I was just watching something on youtube about this, but there aren't so many times that you can admit that you were wrong And I grew in the last year To somebody that really respects the entire pokemon go community almost to the point where I want to help create one in this area.

David Hernandez: 20:40

So you know, was in your backyard. I don't know how close it was to you, but it was nearby. Were you able to attend GoFest in New York last year?

Reverend GO: 20:50

yes,

David Hernandez: 20:51

How was it to be able to go to GoFest

Reverend GO: 20:53

Oh, it was a blast. It was 180 mile trip down there. And I went with my daughter and my other daughter her best friend, uh, my other daughter We got there on time. We parked at a hundred and I'm from originally from New York city. So being in, um, you know, the hundred and tens rain didn't phase me a bit. I was born on a hundred and second street the West side. So we weren't worried. We parked a block away, went, walked over the bridge and you are greeted with, the theme song from the original Pokemon red, and you just walk in there. All of a sudden, everything is Pokemon. Everybody's happy, everybody's enjoying themselves. I never realized how much would vote me involved in it. You had, I mean, there was a decompression room for people if they were having a bad time, in a row of porta-potties that would've made the folks in Woodstock proud. and so we got there and I, I decided to be snarky. And I was using a walking stick and I took the walking stick and I put on top of it my qr code and each of my daughter's qr codes Stuck it in the back of my backpack and I walked around and people every once in a while would say Oh, can I take that? Could we be friends? And it was pretty cool You know with my gameplay you know, I wasn't worried about a lot of shinies. I got one shiny unknown And as I was almost finished some guy was looking for shiny, you know unknowns and I said, oh i've got one, you know And he didn't have that one before and so he traded with me the much prized Kangaskhan And I was excited and he was excited It was so much fun, but it was even more fun to spending the day with my daughters and being able to experience this like they were kids instead of in their thirties.

David Hernandez: 22:50

You know, a follow up question I want to ask is it like to be able to have that moment with your daughter to be able to play Pokemon together?

Reverend GO: 22:57

Well, you know, I haven't been father of the year. I pushed her into softball. Eventually she fell in love with it. So this time I've got a little bit of trepidation. I don't push her. And when she said, Oh, we're going, I said, not a question. of fact, yeah, exactly. I mean, you know, it would have been crazy. No, you want to do something with me? Oh, yeah, there isn't a question. Um, I mean, I draw the line at like a BTS concert. a

David Hernandez: 23:28

ha

Reverend GO: 23:29

yeah, I have a friend who lives in Florida, took his daughter to California to see BTS. I'm not doing that. 200 miles each way. Yeah, there, I've got my limits.

David Hernandez: 23:41

Well, Reverend Go, thank you for coming on the show and I appreciate your time. Since you're a battler, I want to end this podcast on a battling type question.

Reverend GO: 23:50

Okay.

David Hernandez: 23:52

say, for example, somebody is coming to challenge you in a Pokemon battle, six on six Pokemon battle in New York. What six Pokemon would you have on your team?

Reverend GO: 23:59

Number one is Victini. Victini is always my number one. probably number I, the names are killing me, but I would probably also go X, Y, Z. Um, you know, the three legendaries X I can't

David Hernandez: 24:16

Oh, XYZ, so Xehanort Xavelta, and Zygarde.

Reverend GO: 24:20

yes.

David Hernandez: 24:22

Okay.

Reverend GO: 24:23

they're exciting and then I'm going to, I'm going to catch three for this one, but I probably go with Shaman.

David Hernandez: 24:28

Landform or Skyform?

Reverend GO: 24:30

Good question. Uh, landform, remember, I don't go for, normal and fight. I go for what would look good and then I work with their strength.So, that's s why there's no, polywrap. And there's no annihilate in there because I want to take the flash and do something with it.

David Hernandez: 24:48

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