TRAINER'S EYE #111 - "Fury Cutter Ascension" ft. Reis2Occasion

In this Pokemon interview, we are joined by Reis2Occasion, a competitive Pokemon Trainer within the Pokemon GO circuit.

Reis2Occasion shares his early experience with Pokemon before karate practice where he and his friend would play Pokemon LeafGreen and FireRed. Despite an early departure from Pokemon, his competitive roots would lead him back when Pokemon GO debuted in 2016. He would join his friends from his basketball team to walk around during the initial Pokemon GO phenomenon!

Reis2Occasion eventually dives into Pokemon GO PvP where he would starts his competitive journey with the Silph Arena. Eventually as his name grew, the pressure to succeed also grew. Reis2Occasion gives insight into handling the mounting pressure that comes with success and how he learns to manage it participating in both regionals and specifically his trips to Pokemon Worlds!

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

Connect with Reis2Occasion: Twitch | Twitter | Youtube

Chapters

• 0:00 TRAINER'S EYE #111 - Reis2Occasion
• 24:02 Commercial Break

Transcript

TRAINER'S EYE #111 - Reis2Occasion
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[00:00:00] Reis2Occasion: What's up guys? This is Rise, and this is my Pokémon story.

[00:00:03] 

[00:00:43] David Hernandez: Welcome to, as the Pokeball turns, we were interviewed people about their experience with Pokemon. My name is David Hernandez. Today I'm joined by Rise to Occasion coming off a fresh world appearance in Honolulu. Rise, welcome to the podcast.

[00:00:59] Reis2Occasion: Yeah, thanks so much for having me. It's a, uh, pleasure to be here.

[00:01:02] David Hernandez: I want to start off with this question. So I had a prior guest. and they told me That out of everybody in Pokemon Go you're the one person they would not mess with because they know that you would kind of kick their ass. So, I need to ask it this way. On a scale of Niantic lag and not shielding a nuke, how dangerous are you really in hand to hand combat?

[00:01:24] Like, how worried should we be if we ever try to mess with you?

[00:01:28] Reis2Occasion: That's funny. Um, I would say, uh, a scale of Niantic lag. Um, maybe like a solar beam from a Venusaur or something. cause I'm a larger dude. I'm like, six foot four. And I did karate actually. That's a bit, a little bit of an Easter egg. I did karate growing up and I got my black belt.

[00:01:48] So I know a little bit of martial arts. I mean, I haven't done it in a while, so if we're talking like not Pokemon go PVP, but, but hand to hand combat PVP, um, I think I'd be in the, uh, upper percentile maybe in the Pokemon community, but, um, if we're talking like UFC, I have, I have no interest in fighting anybody in the UFC.

[00:02:06] David Hernandez: Oh, that's fair. That's fair. I mean, the fact that you know karate means that you aren't a dude nobody should ever mess with, whoever it is, because you're going to likely, show them how the world works here. So that's kind of cool though. Like, did you enjoy taking karate and all that? I

[00:02:20] Reis2Occasion: Yeah, honestly, it was something I'd like highly recommend to people that want to get into it. it teaches you like discipline and it's a cool skill to learn. I ended up getting into like basketball and football, American football. so I kind of stopped.

[00:02:35] Going with karate, but sometimes I almost wish it was like something that I stuck with because it was a lot of fun and you build community and it was I think a fun skill to learn.

[00:02:43] David Hernandez: mean, you got black belt, so you must have been some dedication to it because not, not everybody gets a black belt. Right.

[00:02:50] Reis2Occasion: No, you got to work for it. took probably like four years or so, and then once you get to like your brown belt, your brown stripe, you go through what they call candidate class. And that was pretty intense for a kid that you're like running a few miles every day and like a few hours of training and yeah, so it was pretty intense.

[00:03:06] David Hernandez: you're no stranger to like competition and, you know, we're going to talk into the PVP side. So were you competitive, like when Pokemon debuted or were you kind of more of just a casual fan at that point?

[00:03:16] Reis2Occasion: Well, I played the main series games as a little kid. Ironically, this is turning into like a rise karate podcast. But, uh,

[00:03:25] David Hernandez: Oh.

[00:03:27] Reis2Occasion: when I, uh, that's actually, when I got into it was like, I had a friend named Patrick who. When I was a little kid at karate class would be waiting and he got me into it on like the game boy advanced like Pokemon leaf green fire red and I started playing then played it through like the main series games through maybe middle school and then kind of stopped when it stopped being cool.

[00:03:49] And then I quote unquote, got back into it. When Pokemon go came out in 2016. It was like the global phenomenon right and That was right when I graduated high school, and basketball was a big part of my life in high school, and my basketball friends and I would, go out that summer and play at like parks and stuff in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area, and That was a lot of fun.

[00:04:10] So, I wasn't really competitive about it per se. really until 2019, 2020 or so that was more so when I first got into the, competitive, like grassroots space, but before that, it was more so just a love of Pokemon in general and the competitive aspect was in other parts of my life and sports and such.

[00:04:31] David Hernandez: It's interesting how, just based on your first initial response, how sports and Pokemon and probably gaming in general, because I know you have other history with it, intertwined through your life, you know, you talked about how you and your friend, were y'all waiting for karate class or was it like waiting for your parents to come pick you up?

[00:04:47] Like when would y'all play Pokemon with your friend?

[00:04:49] Reis2Occasion: yeah, we'd probably get there early. So there'd be like a class and session before us and we'd be off on the side like playing Pokemon waiting for our session to start.

[00:04:57] David Hernandez: And then of course, you know, you talked about how, when you came to Pokemon go, your teammates on the high school team for basketball, y'all went out and played Pokemon go during the phenomenon. So I would assume that'd be like after practice or maybe on a weekend.

[00:05:08] Reis2Occasion: Yeah, yeah, for sure. And like in the summer, there's a tournament in Wisconsin, a three on three basketball tournament called the Gus Macker Invitational, and my friend Andrew and I, and our friend Elijah, we like went to Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and we played in this three on three basketball tournament, and like, sometimes you have to like wait like an hour, two hours before your next game and we'd just be like kind of walking by the water, like catching some Pokemon and stuff.

[00:05:30] So, so yeah, some fun, some fun memories from like the summertime in that those early days of Pokemon. And I would say, like you said, it was kind of intertwined when I think about it, because I've always been a gamer as well. Like, the competitive side of gaming. I played a ton of other video games.

[00:05:48] So when I think about my experience with Pokemon as a game and other games like NBA 2k was something I was, I was huge into as well growing up and like those same friends that I played Pokemon go with, like we'd be at each other's houses, like getting competitive, playing each other and NBA 2k.

[00:06:05] So those, go hand in hand. Whereas now, right. I'm in that competitive sort of sphere with, with Pokemon go.

[00:06:11] David Hernandez: You know, I got to ask this because I know that you said you were, I remember you were so good at 2k that you had bedded people who were in your dorm 20 bucks to see if they could beat you. Have you ever thought about doing something similar for Pokemon go? Just showing up and be like, if you beat me, you're in some money or something like that.

[00:06:25] Reis2Occasion: You know, I don't know if that would like fly or if that's like acceptable because I'm, I'm like, I I'm so grateful that I got the chance to, uh, cast it's something I've wanted for, for, uh, Pokemon go got added to the play Pokemon circuit in 2022. I wanted to cast and finally this year I got the chance to cast.

[00:06:45] I don't know if like, that's something that'd be like acceptable to do. But yeah, in college, I did that thing. it was more so just as a way to make friends. My freshman year, I sent a message in our floor group chat. I was like, all right, room. 300 or whatever room we were. I don't remember. if you beat me in NBA 2K, I'll give you 20 bucks.

[00:07:03] If, if I win, I get 1 and I had a line of like eight people

[00:07:07] I figured like they probably wouldn't want to put that out of the line necessarily. So, but yeah, I, I spent many hours making like 8 dollars.

[00:07:16] David Hernandez: Eventually you get into PVP you know, before then you were just playing with your buddies.

[00:07:20] Were you just like catching at the moment? Cause I know back in 2016, there wasn't really much going on. So we are just going and grinding and just catching whatever, trying to complete the Pokedex.

[00:07:29] Reis2Occasion: Yeah, so Lake Park was like the place to be in Milwaukee, right along Lake Michigan and like Bradford Beach. There was literally thousands of people up there every single day and the good old days, right, where something like a lapras would spawn and everyone would go crazy and you'd hear lapras and you'd like scream and run across the bridge to go and catch it.

[00:07:50] ironically, there were so many people there and there was like some residential houses that those Houses like complain to the city and eventually the stops got removed, which is kind of sad. Um, but that was like the place to be. So, yeah, just kind of catching and and walking around, for a while. And then, unfortunately, like once the winter rolled around in Wisconsin, right?

[00:08:11] Pretty harsh winters, things died out pretty heavily. So yeah, it was all just hanging out, catch in. grabbing some food, going back out. And it was a lot of fun that summer, but once the winter rolled around, things kind of started to quiet down, people kind of stopped playing. And I also kind of stopped playing.

[00:08:26] and I still wanted to honestly, but when my friends stopped playing, I kind of stopped playing and I didn't really pick it back up for a few years. So, um, I didn't play other than maybe checking my app every few months or so from probably 2017 to mid 2019. And I went on a study abroad trip to Athens, Greece.

[00:08:49] And when I got back, I reconnected with one of my high school buddies, Phil, who I used to play with. when I was first playing Pokemon go and we just hung out that summer, he went to college in Minnesota. I went to college in Wisconsin. So he was back in our hometown. Uh, we decided to hang out and I noticed he had Pokemon go up on his phone.

[00:09:06] I was like, dude, you still play that game? And he's like, yeah, man, they like added all this cool stuff. And we decided to like go out and play. And I had a bunch of fun. And, learned about like raids and everything. And that's when I got back into it. And for that summer, I realized that like in Waukesha, Wisconsin, there was a pretty active raid community.

[00:09:27] And I went to raid hour every Wednesday and made some friends that way. And that was basically what I was doing in terms of playing was, was just catching and rating every Wednesday. fast forward to 2020. That's when I really started to like get into PVP.

[00:09:42] David Hernandez: after 2020, you know, things shut down, but you still got more heavily involved with PVP. What was it about the PVP side, maybe compared to the raid side, or even just regular catching that kept you, I guess, hooked and engaged with Pokemon Go, even when a pandemic was going on?

[00:09:57] Reis2Occasion: I guess the competitive aspect is what really got it for me. And just like another element of skill and strategy for me in the PVP realm, where for me, it was, it was SILF was sort of my introduction. There was the go battle league, which I had kind of started getting into, And it's beginning stages and then also sylph and sylph had a map on its website where you could find like local in person tournaments near you I was like, Oh, you can actually compete in like local tournaments and I found a few videos online from some creators like zionic and.

[00:10:32] King and F P sticks at the time. an F P sticks. I think made some videos on him, like competing at local tournaments. So I found a couple of local tournaments near me I was able to do two of them, before the pandemic had hit. And this was like the very end of my senior year of college.

[00:10:48] David Hernandez: Mm

[00:10:49] Reis2Occasion: I remember going to one and I was kind of the new guy and, it was maybe like 13 people and I went three in one. And At four rounds, there was two people that also went three and one. So the, the tournament organizer was like, all right, so, uh, like Dave and Justin are tied for your winners at three and one.

[00:11:06] And I kind of had to raise my hand. I'm like, Hey, uh, I think I also went three and one. They're like, Oh, we have a three way tie at three one. So, uh, I, I actually tied to win my first tournament when I really didn't know what I was doing too much, but I had like a background of knowing my typings. And that's kind of what I say when people say like, rise, like, what are the basics?

[00:11:25] Like, how do I get started into PVP? And I think like the foundation is like, get those typings down because I didn't really know what I was doing, but I knew if they swap Scrafty, I swap Wigglytuff. And by like knowing that and just like being able to react fairly quickly. I was able to like win some games and I did like one more tournament before the pandemic happened and I was kind of hooked and then SILF went completely remote and I had a little bit more time on my hands when like college went remote.

[00:11:55] And we were on lockdown and I was doing online remote tournaments every night. I was, I was kind of addicted and I think that helped me, improve kind of quickly, just the sheer amount of reps I was getting, playing a lot.

[00:12:07] David Hernandez: it makes sense because I guess for me, it was, at first it was kind of stunning because, you know, I grew up playing Pokemon, so I've been with the franchise for 20 years. And it was kind of hard for me to imagine people not understanding the type of matchups, but I guess for a new player, you know, they see all the way and how they interconnect.

[00:12:23] And plus you got the complicated, like, grass water is not, you know, super effective to the fire is usually my most common example. It can be kind of daunting to kind of learn it. And you felt like you were just a step ahead just because you just do the type matchups. Yeah.

[00:12:35] Reis2Occasion: Yeah. and like, that's like a pretty, Important thing in PvP also is like being able to react quickly to a swap is like, a pretty simple thing, but like knowing if they swap this, I should counter swap this and, being able to react to that. So that's like a pretty basic.

[00:12:51] Element of it that I felt like I was able to pick up quickly which which allowed me to like to do well at the start and then just going from there and something that I touched on in some previous podcasts is that I felt like helped me improve is as I started to like play better players and lose more like recognizing like hmm like Why did I lose?

[00:13:11] Like, let me watch this back, like, where did I make mistakes, and then learning about, like, energy, and learning about move timing, and, like, just trying to analyze, like, what I'm doing wrong, learn from better players, and try and improve as much as I could.

[00:13:23] David Hernandez: on that note, you know, you talk about how the guy didn't even realize you were three in one, right? That's your first experience with PVP to now you're one of the most well known names within the PVP community. At what point do you think from your perspective that that changed to where you became kind of that known person 

[00:13:42] Reis2Occasion: Ugh. Um, so, for a while, I felt like I was kind of the, the new guy, because, I wanna say PvP started in, like, 2018 or so? And, yeah, and I didn't really Get into it till 2020. So I picked up like midway through the second season of sylph. They'd already had a full season. they had the first full season speediest chief was like the champion of the second season, I think.

[00:14:08] And then dune bug. So the second season, I picked it up like. And I had like a 70 percent win rate, which was, pretty good for Sylph. and then the third season of Sylph was when I really started to like shine. I still started creating content as well. and I think. I hit number 35 on the Go Battle League leaderboard, probably like midway through 2020.

[00:14:30] So that's probably when I started to like make a little bit of a name for myself in the community, like, like rise to occasion. He's a pretty solid player. and yeah, Silph was probably where I, where I started to get a name for myself because I was pretty high in the leaderboards and fast forward to 2022.

[00:14:49] When like the play Pokemon circuit became a thing is I think when I really started to, gain recognition, because I started competing in the play Pokemon regionals, which got these big broadcasts. And it was really exciting getting added to the official Pokemon circuit where, the trading card game and the video game have been around since like 2004 for their world championships and such.

[00:15:10] And I competed in Indianapolis. I lost early and then I was actually the very first match on stream, they had me on stream, it was kind of funny, I played a nice lady who was newer, I was talking to her backstage, and I think like her boyfriend kind of just encouraged her to like, sign up, but she was kind of newer to PvP, just there to have fun, and they actually had our team graphics flipped on the stream, so, She was running like a very spicy team with like Gengar and Machamp, and I was running like standard meta with like, Walrein, Trev, whatever the meta was, the commentators were like, Rai is like running a very spicy team with Gengar, so it was kind of funny, so, I lost, or I won the first match on stream, and then I lost to a player named DanTheMan off stream who was running a Lucario.

[00:15:55] I remember it vividly, because it like totally core broke my team. And, then I, I went on like a losers run, off stream, And little bit of a hidden note, by the way, is that first ever North American tournament, dune bug when, Oh, and two, he, he lost his first match and then he lost to me. So who a lot of people consider the best battler in the world when Owen two and his first ever play Pokemon regional.

[00:16:17] but I, I won a bunch of matches and then lost in the losers finals. Then I went to Vancouver, that was a really awesome trip. Underperformed, I lost my very first match on stream. Again, they had me, they had me once again. Rise, you're the first match on stream. And I, I lost right away to uh, WildSusanBoyle.

[00:16:34] He's a really good battler. I went 3 2, and I reached out to King, and I was like, King, like, I feel like I'm capable of playing so much better than I've been playing at these tournaments, you know? I'm ranked, like, number 3 in the world on Sylph, you know? I've been, like, doing so well in the GO Battle League, and, I feel like I'm, capable of playing so much better than I've been showing.

[00:16:52] And he gave me some advice and he's just like, you know, I would just stop worrying about like, social media and maybe all the other formats you do and like grassroots, maybe just put those aside as much as you can and just focus on this and focus on like open great league, put your time into prepping for this.

[00:17:07] And that's what I did. And I just kind of deleted social media off my phone, honestly. And, um, For like a few weeks, and I prepped like nonstop for about three weeks for the Milwaukee Regional, which was in my hometown, 25 minutes from my house. And I was able to win the Milwaukee Regional and defeat Dunebug, who I consider the best player in the world, in the grand finals.

[00:17:27] And that was like, probably to this day, My like most proud accomplishment was winning that hometown Milwaukee regional and then finishing ninth place at the world championships in London soon after. So yeah, it was a long winded answer, but um, yeah, I would say early stages, early stages, it was self where I started to kind of make a name for myself.

[00:17:47] And then I think that 2022 season winning Milwaukee, getting ninth at worlds was when I kind of established myself as like one of the top players.

[00:17:55] David Hernandez: You know, I was going to ask this, but it sounds like you kind of said through your answer. Cause say, for example, me, if I go to PVP tournament, I don't have any expectations. People be amazed if they know my name, but for you, you know, rice occasion, again, like I said, as a household name, it sounds like you do feel some sort of pressure when you go to these tournaments to perform, you know, in a good environment, especially because, you know, social media, people like to talk on there and, you know, how do you handle that pressure?

[00:18:18] You just tune it out and just. Folks, I'm trying to do your best or like, what's your, how do you approach that?

[00:18:23] Reis2Occasion: Yeah, absolutely. It's been, it's been an adjustment for me. from being like the new guy in PVP, that was kind of surprising everyone a few years ago to now being the one that has the high expectations where like, it's a big deal, right? If, if rise loses recently, I lost a round one in a tournament in Baltimore and.

[00:18:43] It's a big deal, right? And I've done like 20 tournaments now, and I think I've lost out of the 20 tournaments round one, four times. and it's an adjustment, right? Because you are disappointed. You have high expectations of yourself to go far and. Um, I've had some times where, like, I'm at the tables and there's someone, maybe with, like, people supporting them, watching our match, and they beat me round one, and their friends go crazy in their celebration, and, like, I'm there, like, like, disappointed in myself, but I understand, and I've come to, like, try and, like, take some sort of Appreciation and the fact that like for them, like this is a big deal it take some sort of appreciation, I guess, in the fact that like, for them, it's a big deal that they're beating me, even if I'm like really disappointed in that moment.

[00:19:26] but yeah, it's definitely an adjustment and I'm a huge basketball fan, right. And LeBron James always, uh, When he goes, when he's done the playoffs in his career, he goes, he like tweets zero dark 30 mode where he like delete social media off his phone. I've actually started doing that.

[00:19:43] It's which is definitely different than a lot of players. Cause a lot of players like will tweet updates, like how they're doing throughout the tournament, which I I don't do like I, I delete Twitter off my phone because. I'm super grateful, honestly, that like I get a lot of messages like, Hey, rise like good luck.

[00:19:59] You're gonna win the whole thing. But like, the reality of it is it's very difficult to win the whole thing. And I've competed in 20 tournaments, and I've won the whole thing three times out of those 20 tournaments. So the majority of the times, I'm not going to win the whole thing. But I try to.

[00:20:16] so yeah, I've, I tend to try and like tune out the noise as much as I can. And it definitely is like a humbling experience because you have some tough performances. I've had embarrassing misplays on stream. I've had tournaments where I've, dominated and I've gone 18 and two and won the whole thing.

[00:20:33] you have highs and lows, and I just try to not get too high, and not get too low, and understand that, in the end, it's like, it is a game, and, I just kinda try to appreciate, like, the process, and, Yeah,

[00:20:46] David Hernandez: It's a tough balance, right? Because, you know, clearly you have expectations for yourself. Otherwise you wouldn't be as good as you are now. You know, nobody who. Get nobody gets to your position by luck, right? You put in the work, as you said, you put in the reps, you did your homework, you've done the hard work to get to where you are.

[00:21:02] But then the flip side is, is now you've got the pressure you're talking about. So I can imagine like you try to want to not, you're confident in your abilities, but you also want to be too cocky. Cause you know, it's easy to kind of get chopped down easily. If you lose to somebody, you're not supposed to quote unquote.

[00:21:16] Reis2Occasion: right. I think about mindset a lot because I think it's important in this game that we play, right? There's, there's only so much you can control. And when I talked about that first season, when I felt like I was underperforming in Vancouver and Indianapolis, I felt like I did go in with that mindset of like, I'm just here to have fun.

[00:21:36] Whatever happens happens. If I lose, it's no big deal. I'll get to hang out with the community. And I felt like maybe I was doing myself a disservice, with that mindset, right? I felt like maybe I wasn't as locked in as I needed to be to win. And, I kind of abandoned that. And for Milwaukee, when I like put in all that time and that effort to prep, it may come off as like arrogant.

[00:22:00] But I, I kind of went with like a fake it till I make it sort of, strategy where like, I went in the, I went in with the mindset that like, I'm going to win this tournament. I'm also a UFC fan and there's a fighter named Rose Nama Unis. And there's a famous clip where she's fighting for the UFC strawweight championship.

[00:22:18] And they zoom in on her as Bruce Buffer, the announcer, is introducing her. And she's, she's just like stone faced staring down her opponent and screaming, I'm the best, I'm the best, I'm the best. And she goes on and she ends up winning that fight as a huge underdog and becoming the champion. And that was just like something I was trying to tell myself is just go in with the mindset that like you're the best player and even if even if it's not necessarily true, like have the confidence and maybe you can fake it till you make it and end up winning and I was able to end up winning that tournament.

[00:22:53] So I try to have the balance right because you don't want to. I'm realistic and I know I'm not going to be able to always win. But like, I also want to go in with, with a confident mindset. And I did that sort of in Baltimore. Like I lost my very first round. I felt like I made some really bad mistakes.

[00:23:10] I was pretty embarrassed and I knew if I stayed around the convention center, disappointed, like I would get in my head. So I literally left immediately. I went to the hotel, I worked out, I got some food. And I came back like a few hours later for my match and I was able to go on like a five game winning streak before I lost again and I came out with like 125 points and made something out of the weekend.

[00:23:35] So, 


Commercial Break
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[00:24:02] David Hernandez: So, you know, obviously you create content for the PvP community. You know, what is it like to now go to these tournaments? And, you know, yes, you know, you're there to win, you're there to be a competitor, but you've also got people who come up to you and say, they're your biggest fan to see your video, you know, they love your content, you know, all the stuff that comes with, you know, being a content creator.

[00:24:17] Like, what is it like to experience that?

[00:24:19] Reis2Occasion: it's really cool. It's really different. I think it was, uh, Sam Dodu, who he's a French player. He got like third place at the European internationals. So we were out at like an after party In London for the European international championship and that happened, someone like came up to me and like asked for a picture and he's like, yo rise.

[00:24:38] Like, is that weird? Like when that happens? And I'm like, no, dude, I love it because in my normal life, right? No one knows me. Like no one's ever going to ask me for a picture. So like, so when it actually happens at these events, like it's pretty, it's pretty cool.

[00:24:53] David Hernandez: Wait, rise real quick. Are you like, uh, is this like a hidden identity that you haven't told like your friends or coworkers in your real life? Like, do they not know you're actually rise to occasion by chance?

[00:25:02] Reis2Occasion: well, it's just like, I keep it in perspective that like Pokemon goes like pretty big, but like PVP is, kind of a niche community within Pokemon go. And we're a small pond, right? Like we're kind of a tight knit, small pond. So you could say like within the small pond, I'm maybe like one of the more well known faces, but it's definitely a cool experience when people like are excited to see you or.

[00:25:23] Like asked to take a picture and stuff. So, that's definitely fun.

[00:25:27] David Hernandez: You know what tripped me up? I don't know if you ever had a chance to listen to it. I had Ishikawa boy on my podcast and he said that you were his favorite content creator.

[00:25:36] Reis2Occasion: really?

[00:25:37] David Hernandez: Yeah, he really did. No joke. You can go listen to if you want to. And I'm like, yo, Rise is known over in Japan. Like that's kind of cool.

[00:25:44] It was cool to me just to hear that. Somebody from Japan had an American favorite content creator. If that makes sense, it just blew my mind. I don't know what it was about that, but it just shows that how, you know, wide your net has gone within at least the Pokemon go PDP community.

[00:25:59] Reis2Occasion: that is really cool to think about. And when I went to Japan for Worlds, probably throughout my trip and I was there, keep in mind, I was there for like three weeks. So it's a long time, but a handful of times, like I got, I got stopped at like events and stuff. From some like Japanese players or people like asking, for pictures.

[00:26:15] So like, it's pretty crazy to think about. especially since this was not something I like ever saw happening. Like I, I went to college to pursue sports media. I wanted to be a sports broadcaster. and this kind of happened during the pandemic where this became, it was a hobby. That sort of turned into a huge part of my life now.

[00:26:34] That's kind of, my career essentially as a content creator. And now I'm starting to get to cast with, with Pokemon, which is really awesome because that's essentially what I, what I wanted to do originally in my career is like be a broadcaster. So I'm hoping that, uh, continues. So. it's pretty crazy where this, where this Pokemon journey has, has taken

[00:26:54] David Hernandez: And then what was it like to kind of go to Japan? Because Japan of course is the home of Pokemon, 

[00:26:58] Reis2Occasion: it was awesome. I'd love to go back one day. I loved the culture and the people and the food.

[00:27:04] I got to visit, Tokyo, of course, Yokohama was where worlds was hosted. Osaka go fest. Osaka was, was awesome. Like the nightlife was crazy and, got to see a lot, got to meet a lot of people from all over the world, and, I loved Japan.

[00:27:20] David Hernandez: What about the competition? Was it even more intense pressure than what you remember when Worlds? Or, I'm sorry, with Regionals? Like, you know, you had the best of the best at Worlds that, there's no easy matchup.

[00:27:31] Reis2Occasion: For sure, so, my takeaway, I didn't do too well at the competition, I went two and two, so I had just come off of NAIC, where I finished as the runner up to Wadaj in the Grand Finals, and I really liked my team. I ran Shadow Charizard and so did Wadaj, we both Like had that little spice pick and got to the grand finals with it.

[00:27:52] And I predicted that like people were either gonna heavily try to counter shadow charizard or maybe copy our team. And I totally changed up my team. And you know, what I kind of realized is when you have A world championships of people from all different regions, all throughout the world, like everyone kind of does their own thing, like the whole world kind of like does their own different meta.

[00:28:15] And so I changed up my whole team and I felt like if I had just run back my NAIC team, it would have been so much better. So that was kind of my regret from worlds going two and two. And what was funny is some of my buddies from NA they copied my NAIC team and they got like top 16 with it.

[00:28:32] So I'm like, Dang, I should have just, I should have just run it back. I overthought it.

[00:28:38] David Hernandez: I mean, it's easy to because you know, you're trying, you want to win the whole thing that you want to have, you know, when be the one on the stage, it's hard not to second guess yourself, right? Because you're trying to think like, what am I really going to see? You know, what is the meta? What are, you know, what's going to surprise me?

[00:28:51] And I can't blame you for second guessing. Like, I feel like anybody would.

[00:28:54] Reis2Occasion: it's definitely a lot of thought. Like my family, they like watching the regionals and stuff. They don't really play the game or like fully, you know, like understand how it works, but they like watching. And when I try to explain to them, like what goes into my team building process and like, Oh, I want to add this Pokemon, but like, if I change this, then I become weak to this.

[00:29:13] They're like, Oh, that just sounds so complicated and confusing. I'm like, yeah, it kind of can be.

[00:29:19] David Hernandez: Are you like one of the people who have like dozens of paper on the wall and paper just trying to figure out like where's the best one and you're completing life basically?

[00:29:27] Reis2Occasion: I don't use too much paper, but I, I'll have a lot of PV poke tabs open sometimes.

[00:29:32] David Hernandez: You know, you got a chance to be a caster and you went to school to become a broadcaster that was a sports broadcaster specifically. And, you know, here you are, you may have a chance to, do you hope to someday eventually step into that role?

[00:29:44] And if so, like soonish, or do you kind of wait in a bit?

[00:29:48] Reis2Occasion: Yeah. So. Indianapolis was, uh, the first chance I got last season to cast for Pokémon, and that was awesome, and I was just beyond excited, I had something I had wanted for, for years, and I had, like, sent in some reels, and, Just kind of tried to put my name in the bucket and hope that chance would come someday.

[00:30:06] And eventually it kind of came. And I think they brought me on as kind of like a guest caster role. So it was kind of more like a, let's see how he does. Let's kind of feel out cause we know like he's a face in the community. He's like a, he's a, he's a good player. Right. but let's see, like, if he can cast. 

[00:30:19] So like one compliment that I really was fortunate to get with my Indianapolis casting debut was, that I saw a few times in the, in the Twitch chat was a few people were like, wow, rise is such a natural.

[00:30:30] And that really meant a lot to me. Like, that's a really nice thing for people to say. But the funny thing is like, I broadcasted over a hundred. Sports matches like basketball, volleyball and soccer in, college. So granted that was like four years ago, so I, do have some experience in that realm.

[00:30:45] So it, did feel like kind of fun, like getting back in the sea in there. And it's definitely a different thing, right? Like casting Pokemon versus casting sports, but there is definitely some, some carry over as well. and I'd love to keep casting as much as they're willing. To have me back and hope to be back there this season as well.

[00:31:02] So I, I definitely am really passionate about it. And in terms of long term future, like, I'd love to cast more for Pokemon and maybe even move back into like the sports world as well if that opportunity ever presents itself.

[00:31:16] David Hernandez: are there any like broadcasters that you try to draw inspiration from to kind of add to your own style when it comes to doing broadcasting, whether it be Pokemon, but anything?

[00:31:25] Reis2Occasion: you know, I wouldn't say inspiration in terms of like. Copying like their style or like how they sound but there's definitely like tips. I've like taken from certain broadcasters, so the main one that I mentioned was brian anderson because I got to Shadow him a few times. he had a daughter that went to the same school as me marquette university So he like came to talk to us a few times And he told us like a few tips as a broadcaster is kind of have a scale in your head from like a one to 10 energy level, because you don't always want to be at a 10, right?

[00:32:00] If it's a single, the first base, right? You don't want to be at a 10 energy level. but like if it's a grand slam walk off, like that would be a 10 or if it's a. double that ties up the game in the eighth inning like you might be at a seven or an eight energy level so like kind of have that scale in your head and to have that scale in your head you also need to have like the knowledge of the game you like need to understand like how hype is that moment so that's like a tip from him that I try to have and I'm naturally more of a reserved personality, so something as a caster that I'm like aware of in my own and like I talked about as like a battler, it's like understanding, like improving as a battler, like understanding your weaknesses, understanding how to get better, like as a, as a broadcaster, I know I'm naturally more of a reserved personality, so I'm usually not in danger of being like over hyped So like in Indianapolis made it a point to, to really bring that energy and bring that hype. And I felt like, Caleb and I did a really good job at that. especially like the winners finals of pocket and SJ. I was really proud of that series of if people want to watch that one, pocket versus SJ of the Indianapolis regional this year, I think that was like, An all time set.

[00:33:03] so yeah, that, that was a main one that I really like to think about from Brian Anderson in terms of like tips that I draw from inspiration as, from broadcasters.

[00:33:12] David Hernandez: I think they call that energy management, which I think is also a Pokemon PVP. So it all connects people. It all connects.

[00:33:19] Reis2Occasion: full circle,

[00:33:21] David Hernandez: All rise. Thank you for coming on the podcast. I got to ask my last question before we close this podcast. What is your favorite Pokemon?

[00:33:29] Reis2Occasion: you know, I get this question all the time in my twitch stream. Okay. So. I have a like a lot of kind of favorites. So I usually say Caesar They did an interview with me at the San Antonio regional, and I don't want to get anyone in trouble and like call some call someone out.

[00:33:46] But they did an interview with me for a commercial. And they asked, What's your favorite Pokemon? And I said, Caesar. And they stop me and they correct me and they go, actually, the official pronunciation is size or I'm like, Oh really? I didn't know that. So then I say my favorite Pokemon is size or, and now it plays.

[00:34:04] And now every time the commercial plays, everyone in the Twitch chat goes size, or it's pronounced Caesar. I'm like, bruh, they did me dirty.

[00:34:15] David Hernandez: They set you up, man.

[00:34:16] 

[00:34:48] 

[00:34:49] David Hernandez: I mean, I used to always call Suicune, Sucine. And I did it real just recently. I called a Groudon Groudon. So some Pokemon names. I just, I don't know. It's close enough. It's close enough, but rise. Thank you for coming to the podcast before you go. If people want to check out your content, if they want to connect with you, we're going to go by all means, please plug away,

[00:35:13] Reis2Occasion: Yeah. It can find me on YouTube rise. R E I S. The number two, The Occasion. It's a play on words with my last name. Rise to Occasion on Twitch. At Rise to Occasion on Twitter, or X.

[00:35:27] David Hernandez: Thank you for listening to As the Pokeball Turns. Follow all my socials and join our Discord community to stay connected by clicking any of the links in the description of this episode. Tune in next time for more episodes featuring more people, more stories, and more Pokemon. Until next time.