TRAINER'S EYE #126 - "Rotom Possessing Pokemon Cards" ft. RotomTCG

In this Pokemon interview, we are joined by RotomTCG, a Pokemon TCG Trainer and former Pokemon Worlds Competitor.

RotomTCG starts his Pokemon journey with the Pokemon Trading Card Game (TCG) where he would learn the PokemonTCG at an after school program ran by a volunteer. Here he learned both the basic rules of playing Pokemon TCG and learning how to deckbuild.

RotomTCG dives into his experience playing the Pokemon video games starting in Hoenn with Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald. He gives insight into other Pokemon games he enjoyed playing and even attempted to compete in both Pokemon VGC and Pokemon TCG for a brief period.

Finally, RotomTCG dives into the competitive side of PokemonTCG. He shares what he enjoys about going to local tournaments and the appeal behind spending time with friends for an entire day to talk about Pokemon.

You also don't want to miss his experience at Pokemon Worlds 2019 in Washington D.C!

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

Connect with RotomTCG: Linktree

Transcript

RotomTCG: 0:00

I am RotomTCG, and this is my Pokémon story.

David Hernandez: 0:42

Welcome to, as the pokeball turns, where we interview people about their experience with Pokemon. My name is David Hernandez I'm joined by road on TCG road. I'm welcome to the show.

RotomTCG: 0:54

Thanks for having me.

David Hernandez: 0:56

I have to ask this one question. Cause I've really, I'm excited to have you on here. What is the connection between you and road arm? Like, has it always been that connection since the very beginning or like.

RotomTCG: 1:06

yeah, so, when I first got into the, like, TCG scene, I was always kind of drawn to the Rotom cards, because I had begun going to like, the Pokemon League back then, And, I like, started a, Rotom collection, and They had all of these like, different secret rare Rotom cards, And I ended up just collecting, all of the different forms, And I kind of fell in love with the Pokemon, to be honest.

David Hernandez: 1:31

So when it comes to like different forms, so it would be like just some very very rare Pokemon cards They featured the different like we're talking mo We're talking I think wash he all those you just want to collect every single one of them.

RotomTCG: 1:44

Yeah, so, The secret rares in that set were actually, cool in that they featured the particular rodent form, but also in the background, they had the appliance of a different other form. And so if you collected them all, they did like a different circle basically. So you'd have like one card that had the form, and then another card that had that form as the, appliance that didn't have Rotem in it kind of thing.

David Hernandez: 2:11

That's kind of cool It kind of reminds me. I know this is Yu Gi Oh, but it reminds me of Exodia I'm not too know that reference to where connect them all it has like the full body

RotomTCG: 2:20

I wish they connected but you're still able to like get a story just through looking at the cards Which was really cool.

David Hernandez: 2:26

I know that, you know, Rotom has a lot of different forms. Do you ever think about like a different form of Rotom that doesn't exist that you kind of wish did?

RotomTCG: 2:33

Well my Twitch chat would say The car would is a bit. It's a big popular one. I think So if they had like a car wrote him I personally Think a toaster wrote him would be pretty hilarious So I guess either of those

David Hernandez: 2:51

I could see the toaster like, uh, shooting bread as an attack. I think that'd be kind of cool.

RotomTCG: 2:55

it kind of gives me like flashbacks to like, The Brave Little Toaster, I guess, if you've ever watched that.

David Hernandez: 3:00

For me, I always thought that a computer screen or plasma screen Rotom would be very sick.

RotomTCG: 3:06

yeah, that would be really cool.

David Hernandez: 3:08

So, you know, you talked about how initially, you know, you were collecting the TCG cards and you're going to the. locals and all that, what got you into Pokemon TCG? Where did that start?

RotomTCG: 3:18

I think it started actually back in kindergarten. It kind of circled around with the, base and jungle set cards. and then from there, like, I had received some of those cards, but then it kind of transitioned to, me wanting to go to, different events, so I think my first actual event at a, Pokemon, or that was actually like sanctioned by Pokemon, was a like EX Power Keepers pre release at that pre release I had kind of no idea what was going on but I got a lot of shiny cards which I had opened a like Jolteon Gold Star which I know is like a lot of money nowadays, but back then, I had no idea what I was opening. and it still, like, sticks with me to this day, to be honest.

David Hernandez: 4:08

I was about to just ask that. Do you still have that card? Because some people, you know, they get it, the shiny cardboard, but they don't keep it. So,

RotomTCG: 4:14

Uh, I, I was trying to track it down. I'm not sure if I have it or not, but I do have other gold stars that I have from that era that I have held on to.

David Hernandez: 4:24

which ones? If you don't mind, if you don't mind sharing,

RotomTCG: 4:27

so I have the Celebi, that I had I believe in a trade back then, as well as, uh, we got a Groudon, gold star that we had actually opened at a blockbuster, which is kind of crazy.

David Hernandez: 4:40

And it's kind of sick that you still have them, because a blockbuster that shows how old we are, because, you know, most people probably don't even know what that is nowadays. B would be the fact that you still have them and you're still able to trade for them back in those days. They really made it kind of. fun though, you know, back in the days, looking back on it.

RotomTCG: 4:57

yeah, it was definitely a special time.

David Hernandez: 4:59

you talking about how, you know, the Pokemon TCG, you were collecting the base set in jungle back in kindergarten. Now let's be honest, you probably didn't know how to play maybe. So were you like just playing a different way or were y'all just like collecting the cards?

RotomTCG: 5:10

Well, there was kind of a little bit, of a different thing. So like, with kindergarten, I was mostly just collecting back then, but when I transitioned to like elementary school, there was actually like an after school program where, there was more emphasis on like playing the game and it was like a little more structured. I actually, got into more playing it routinely, through that program, which was, really nice.

David Hernandez: 5:35

That sounds so fun. So was it run by a teacher?

RotomTCG: 5:38

Uh, it was actually run by a, community college student, I believe at the time, that was kind of volunteering, to help run it. Uh, and so he kind of structured it like, he was like the gym leader, per se, I guess, and we would have to, build up our decks and challenge his different, monotype colored decks and earn actual, like, gym badges that he had, made himself. And it was actually really cool.

David Hernandez: 6:02

That sounds like such a fun experience to where, you know, this college students coming out and, you know, he's obviously, you know, hold back. He's just doing his monotype. Did he like show y'all how to deck build or like what Pokemon to use or was that kind of something y'all had to explore on your own?

RotomTCG: 6:16

it was a little bit of both. he showed us how to, deck build to an extent, but I kind of learned more so how to deck build at my, like, local Pokemon League when I ended up, going to that on a regular basis. it was a lot of just homebrewing, to be honest. I think my first like real competitive deck, I guess, well, I say competitive, but I was, in the junior division at the time.

David Hernandez: 6:39

Sure,

RotomTCG: 6:40

a Lucario level X and a Magmortar level X deck that was just kind of, I took the two level Xs that I had and I just kind of jammed them into one deck and did the best that I could with it.

David Hernandez: 6:51

That's what I love about trading card games in general. It's the theory crafting and trying to figure out how to have it works. And sometimes you put two things that you like together and see like, Hey, maybe it works. Maybe it doesn't.

RotomTCG: 7:02

Yeah. For the, in that case, it actually was good enough. I had taken it to like a city, championship back then. And then in the top cut, I actually ended up hitting the, previous junior world champion who was actually playing at that tournament. And, uh, he ended my, ended my career with a four alligator deck, but. but it was a, it was a good time.

David Hernandez: 7:26

Did you engage with the Pokemon franchise at any other way? Like say the video games, the anime.

RotomTCG: 7:31

Yeah, I was really big into, both. I still kind of am pretty much into the video game. my first was the Pokemon Ruby. I played that, growing up. along with Emerald. And then I kind of played through a lot of the different GBA games and into the DS era as well. even the spin offs like, Trozei, Pokémon Dash, and Pokémon Ranger, were really fun. Since then, I've, still played, all of the main games, I also kind of way back when have the unique opportunity to do both the trading card game competitively and the video game competitively because the regional champion, ships actually had, uh, Because they were so small, you could actually play the TCG on, the Saturday of that weekend and then VGC on the Sunday of that weekend. So I actually got to do a good bit of both, back then.

David Hernandez: 8:22

That must have been like a lot of studying and a lot of pressure because to do both is, like, takes time and effort just to do one.

RotomTCG: 8:28

it was definitely, I think a different competitive landscape. I would say, and I know I was like still like in a younger division, but, the one time I was able to do it, I actually was able to get, top eight in the TCG on Saturday and top eight in the VG on Sunday. You can hop around between them in terms of like, Say, you want to travel to Texas and do the TCG, but then you want to then go to, Canada and commit that to the VGC. Because the tournaments take place, like, simultaneously nowadays, you have to, like, pick, and there isn't really much chance to, split.

David Hernandez: 9:03

when you go to these tournaments, like, do you take, like, any lucky charms with you? Or do you, like, just go and just Play with whatever you have.

RotomTCG: 9:09

I typically, I have a lot of different rodent plushes, and so I usually will have at least one of them on me.

David Hernandez: 9:16

That's what I was about to ask. So you do, do you bring the road on plus with you?

RotomTCG: 9:20

I do, yeah. my wife got me a, like, Rotom, Frost, like, the fridge deck box. And you can actually, like, put the, deck of cards inside the, like, interior of the fridge. And so I just carry that around with me too.

David Hernandez: 9:37

do you also do like wrote on sleeves as well? Like how deep do you go into this?

RotomTCG: 9:40

I do have Rotom sleeves, but I typically use, the sleeves that I'm able to most easily shuffle with. I really like the Katana sleeves, just because they, glide off of your fingers and it's a lot easier to like shuffle quickly with them But I do like the designs that are on the rodent sleeve. So I definitely have a pair at home.

David Hernandez: 9:58

I actually have a Rodon Dex plushie because I love the Rodon Dex from Pokemon so much. I love his personality that I had to give me a plushie, but I still carry it with me sometimes whenever I like feel down, I'll look at it and it kind of brings a little smile to my face in a weird way.

RotomTCG: 10:13

Nice. Yeah, that's actually one of the ones I'm missing. Uh,

David Hernandez: 10:17

Oh, really?

RotomTCG: 10:18

Yeah, I was gonna try and pick one up at one of the events that I went to and I Had seen it at one of the vendors I walked up. I was like, This is a little too big to carry around all day So i'm gonna come back later, but I came back and it was already gone So should have jumped on that opportunity. But

David Hernandez: 10:36

Eh, you never really know sometimes, right? Sometimes oh, come back and get in and somebody's like, how the heck did somebody actually take it? You never

RotomTCG: 10:44

Yep

David Hernandez: 10:45

so, you know, you talked about how initially you were playing the games early on. You were in the competitive side for a little bit. Did you have like a particular generation of games that you really liked playing? Like, what's your favorite out of just the video game side of Pokemon?

RotomTCG: 10:56

I'm like sandwiched in between Gen 3 and Gen 4. I really like the Gen 4, gameplay a lot. but Gen 3 has that very memorable experience of just like playing through all the battle frontier. so I really love that game. I love that generation as well.

David Hernandez: 11:12

I mean, it's tough because, Yeah, that Battle Frontier was just so much fun, but it was also very difficult. It was like, back in the early days, I felt like Pokemon games were more focused on difficulty compared to nowadays. And the Battle Frontier was just so memorable because there's so many different ways to kind of engage in the battle system that you never thought of and really haven't engaged since. then you also got Gen 4, where you got the Wi Fi play, you got the world building, and all the legendary Pokemon. It's kind of a tough choice to make.

RotomTCG: 11:36

Yeah, my favorite part of the Gen 4 was the underground experience. I really liked kind of building my base and having, people travel and do all the connective play with that.

David Hernandez: 11:47

Right. you can like dig, and I think you got like pearls and stuff like that, and fossils. I can't remember, it's been a while since I've played them.

RotomTCG: 11:54

Yeah, it was like fossils and, plates I think were introduced in the digging as well to like, power up certain moves and transform your Arceus type?

David Hernandez: 12:03

Yes! Yeah, yeah, yeah, that. And then plus, you know, you can kind of go around, they had games like Capture the Flag. You can kind of go out with your friends and have the first initial connectivity that way, and that's kind of what I remember from those games, too.

RotomTCG: 12:15

Yeah, exactly.

David Hernandez: 12:16

my last question in regards to playing Pokemon Diamond and Pearl. If you're going to do a play through and you had to pick six Pokemon, which six would you pick?

RotomTCG: 12:25

Hmm. That's a good question. So, while it's not the most like, well rounded of teams, I would say, I, I really liked, Starraptor, so I'd definitely stick Starraptor on my team. I'm also a huge Garchomp fan, so that is definitely making the top six. And I obviously can't forget Pokemon. wrote him because because it came in that generation. and I really liked the Abom snow as well, so I'd probably play with that guy as well. I'd probably pick Bronze Song. I really like the tank. That and the typing that bronze song can bring. And then, Drifblim, because Drifblim has a lot of, ties to the TCG it was always like a really versatile attacker, so, I really fell in love with that Pokemon as well.

David Hernandez: 13:14

drift limb is kind of forgotten for a bit. Like the only way we know about it in the main series is the math after math ability, really, and then burden in gen five. But I think that's the benefit of TCG to where You get Pokemon who don't have much use actually be seen in some way in the TCG meta.

RotomTCG: 13:31

Absolutely, yeah. there's been actually different points where both the Drifloon, and Drifblim have been, seen competitively. with Drifloon, it's kind of existing in the Gardevoir EX deck, Gardevoir EX is a stage 2, that can accelerate, psychic energy from your discard pile onto your psychic And so Drifloon being ghost, they don't actually have ghost typing in the TCG, so they have it default to psychic, so you can then put those energy on, but when you attach those energy, you deal damage to the Drifloon, and the Drifloon has a really cool, attack that does 30, uh, damage for each damage on it, basically. so you're attaching a ton of energy to this one small HP Drifloon, but you're hitting like a truck. it's really like a glass cannon deck.

David Hernandez: 14:25

Do you kind of lean towards using glass cannon decks, or do you have a different type of deck you kind of cater to whenever you play the TCG?

RotomTCG: 14:31

I really liked the Gardevoir EX archetype. I actually brought it to the 2023, North American International Championships, I was able to get into the top 128 with that, deck, Being able to have low HP attackers that, were hitting heavy, in the late game just was too strong to not pick, I think. So I've really liked the Gardevoir deck

David Hernandez: 14:55

When it comes to like the TCG, like do you only travel to like events like NAIC and regionals? Do you also try to engage in your locals?

RotomTCG: 15:03

I'm definitely a local warrior. I've, I've loved, uh, I've loved going to, League Cups, League Challenges, all that sort of thing. I've been going for years and years and years at this point. and I love the community that, kind of surrounds this game. Uh, so actually I'd say I've gone to more locals, than I have to major tournaments. in the past, the. Regionals and stuff like that. It wasn't like super financially, sound for me to go consistently. And so I'd only go a few times a year. But, I still wanted to enjoy the game and cups and local tournaments were like the best opportunity to do that.

David Hernandez: 15:42

So it's almost like y'all kind of go out and y'all just play the card game It's usually a whole day or an afternoon at least and y'all kind of just like I don't want to say BS around, but then y'all kind of trade y'all do battling and stuff like that. Theory crafting as well.

RotomTCG: 15:54

Uh, yeah, exactly. Some tournaments, do run pretty late and have in the past where I've they do develop into like all day things where I kind of wake up at like 6am, drive a few hours. And I'm getting home at like, 12, sometimes even 1am. Uh, just, just because there's. longer tournament times and, a lot of people that actually play at some of these events. but, it's always a fun experience.

David Hernandez: 16:19

I think that's the one thing I've noticed whenever I've gone to, I've mostly gone to regionals, the TCG side is just so massive. Like there's so many tables, so many people playing the card game. And that's just for regionals. I can only imagine. And like you said, I remember I did a I was attending one event at a card shop and it literally went all the way to close to midnight. And they were still trying to finish stuff up, but people were still there just, you know, playing the game. They had already been eliminated a long time ago, but people really just come out and enjoy talking about the Pokemon TCG. It's it's fun to see, actually. It makes me miss back in the days when I used to do Yu

RotomTCG: 16:54

Yeah, I really using locals and, more larger cups, I guess, as a way to socialize a lot. So like having played the card game for so long and seeing the same familiar faces, it's almost just like. Having that time to hang out with friends on the weekends.

David Hernandez: 17:58

I was wondering, so I know that you used to, you were actually a world's competitor back in 2019. Can you like, talk to me about about what you remember, like building up to that and even participating in worlds,

RotomTCG: 18:08

So, the season of 2019 was actually one of the more, I think, difficult years to qualify from, what I hear, they had this weird, like, format structure where in order to, like, get points from local tournaments, you could only have, like, up to two placements per quarter, and that was, like, time gated, and so a lot of these locals became really competitive, because people needed to get finishes within a very small window. And so I think to start this season, I was doing okay. I didn't really have a ton of, major, locals wins to get, off to the races with the points, to qualify that year. but then I ended up going to, Texas regional and making a really deep run, Kind of out of nowhere to be honest with you. wasn't really expecting it But I ended up getting in the top eight of that tournament it being my first like regional day two because they had started they kind of changed the structure of regionals that year to kind of have that day two structure. I wasn't like super sure what to expect because I was treating it like any other tournament, I guess. but I ended up making a really deep run at that regional. and that almost put me back on the map in terms of like, having enough points to qualify that year, and then that kind of really motivated me then to, go to some other events later in the year, including, like, Madison, I believe, and, the North American International Championships, where I ended up, barely getting my invite off of the, uh, tail end of that tournament. I needed a certain amount of points to get there and I clawed my way back, from two losses in order to get enough points I needed to then qualify.

David Hernandez: 19:55

it must've been kind of defeating or maybe a lot of pressure. Cause you said you started Oh two, but then claw your way back to get the points to get to worlds. Did you just feel the intensity of the moment was like, this is my chance to go to worlds that if you didn't do it, you probably wouldn't be back at this spot again.

RotomTCG: 20:09

yes and no. I was very much at that point, hungry for it, I guess, because I had, I had never got the opportunity to play it in a World's Tournament before, and I felt like it was finally my year to break through, for that, and so, I just took it round by round. I focused on what I could control and I played to the best of my ability, and it was, good enough to get there, I guess.

David Hernandez: 20:30

When you got to Washington and you got to participate, you know, what was it like to kind of be at your first world's experience and be around all, like, I guess the total top tier players and all the media and all that fun stuff.

RotomTCG: 20:40

It was pretty breathtaking, to be honest. I had never actually attended a Worlds tournament in any capacity up to that point. I'd always had, friends go to the Worlds event, and come back, have all this cool, like, swag, and have crazy stories kind of thing. so, to me, it was just, like, a really exciting experience. I also, like, had an opportunity, since I studied some Japanese in college, I actually got to, practice that with some, players that were, coming over for the tournament. So it was really just kind of getting that world's experience.

David Hernandez: 21:15

How did you do when you try to do use your Japanese out of curiosity?

RotomTCG: 21:19

Uh, it went okay. I would say could have, it could have gone better, but. You know, I think it was like my second or third year of doing it. So it was, definitely a good learning point for me.

David Hernandez: 21:30

I mean, you're brave to just try your Japanese. I'm scared whenever I try to use Spanish and that's my native language, so Props to you to try to, you know, it's kind of cool though You're able to, you know, you spend time trying to study Japanese and try to talk to the players who came overseas

RotomTCG: 21:42

Yeah, absolutely.

David Hernandez: 21:43

Do you remember anything when you were at Worlds, like preparing for the tournament, you know, trying to set your deck up

RotomTCG: 21:48

Yeah.

David Hernandez: 21:49

hanging

RotomTCG: 21:49

that, was kind of a really unique tournament where, there was a new set that hadn't really been discovered yet because it was the first weekend that it was going to be available for play was that world's tournament. and so. I kind of early on, set my eyes on the Mewtwo and Mewtagteam GX deck, which was kind of a really underexplored archetype at the time. there was definitely just like a lot of, testing and homebrewing and collaborating, with other people online to kind of figure out what the best, 60 cards for this deck actually look like. I think What I ended up settling on wasn't the actual, like, best 60 cards to play the deck, but, it was, I think, the strongest deck, for that format, and it did end up winning the actual, tournament in the long run. When I ended up playing in day one, I ended up five and three on the day, which, uh, I was one win away from qualifying for day two, which would have been, fantastic. But there was one instance where I actually got reversed swept, five to one, two games in a row. so, unfortunately, I was not able to, uh, convert that over, but it was still a really amazing experience.

David Hernandez: 23:06

That's awesome. And you get to kind of take that home. And I guess you got some free swag too, right?

RotomTCG: 23:11

It's all, safari themed. I still have the bag and everything. Really like that, theme now.

David Hernandez: 23:16

It's like your little badge of honor. It's like, Hey, I got to participate in Worlds 2019. Put some respect on my name.

RotomTCG: 23:22

Absolutely.

David Hernandez: 23:24

The last thing I want to touch on with this interview is, you know, I found you on Twitch and, you know, you have the Rotom avatar going, you're playing Tokwan TCG primarily. What made you want to try to, you know, start streaming on Twitch?

RotomTCG: 23:37

to be honest, I've always kind of been, privy to, playing online card games. I played a lot of, Hearthstone, when that was first kind of initially popular. And I actually ended up like, streaming some of that. and so I was kind of already familiar with the software. Outside of that, it was just kind of. a way for me to, broadcast my practice because a lot of like the, local scene around me really just wanted to see how I operate and play and so that's kind of I guess what pushed me to start the content creation, start, streaming and, making decks and stuff like that.

David Hernandez: 24:11

So they kind of wanted to see how I guess your process worked and you felt like Twitch was the very way to answer this instead of you just doing people individually, you just, Hey, come check out my Twitch. I'll show you how I do stuff kind of thing.

RotomTCG: 24:23

Yeah, there were a few locals that had reached out to me asking for me to, like, coach them, kind of thing. I wouldn't say I'm necessarily, like, the teacher type, I guess. so, if I can just play the game how I play the game and explain how I play the game, hopefully people can get some enjoyment out of that.

David Hernandez: 24:38

at the time, I guess, did you have the virtual Rotom in placement or not yet, did that come later?

RotomTCG: 24:43

Uh, no, I did have it, but it was initially kind of hand drawn by me, to be honest with you.

David Hernandez: 24:49

Oh, okay. Okay.

RotomTCG: 24:50

I had, like, the mechanism for it, but, not the, professional drawing, I guess, behind it.

David Hernandez: 24:56

So, later on, I guess you hired an artist to kinda up the quality?

RotomTCG: 25:00

Absolutely, yeah. And I kind of came up with the idea of just, like, being able to spend channel points to change the rodent form, because I thought that just kind of added a different layer of being able to interact with the actual stream.

David Hernandez: 25:13

That's what I love about it, because I think one of the streams I caught you on, somebody actually did the channels and they swapped it. I'm like, this is so cool, like, I love seeing people kinda dive into the mechanics of a Pokemon, like, you really dived into, like, what makes Rotom so unique, you know?

RotomTCG: 25:30

Mm hmm. Absolutely.

David Hernandez: 25:31

Now, was it humbling, I guess, in a way, to kind of have people coming up to you wanting this kind of advice from you,

RotomTCG: 25:37

Absolutely, yeah. I was not, I was not expecting, anything like that, to be honest with you. to me, I just play the game for fun. It's a hobby. And so to have people, I guess, look up is, just a really humbling experience.

David Hernandez: 25:50

Now, for people who maybe are trying the Pokemon TCG, what advice would you give them?

RotomTCG: 25:56

I think at a core, I would just say to have fun with it. I think a lot of the results, and what you get out of the game really at, at a root stems from having fun. So kind of grasping onto that, making the most of however you want to play the hobby is the Best way to success in my opinion.

David Hernandez: 26:15

Rotom TCG, thank you for coming on the podcast before you go. People want to check you out on Twitch. If they want to connect with you, where can they go? But I'll meet, please plug away.

RotomTCG: 26:25

Yeah, absolutely. so on Twitch, it's just, Rotom, TCG, no underscores, no spaces, nothing like that. and then, over on X it is the same as well. so definitely, follow if you want to see updates from me or, see when I'm next live.