“Lugia’s Gust Between Worlds” ft. Ruxin34 | TRAINER'S EYE #175

What do you do when your heart belongs to two worlds: Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh!? Both!

Ruxin34 shares how a surprising rule in his childhood home sent him deeper into the world of Yu-Gi-Oh!, even as his passion for Pokémon endured in secret. From hiding his Game Boy under the covers to launching PokeRux, a second channel built on nostalgic Nuzlocke runs, Ruxin34 opens up about balancing two beloved franchises, the emotional weight of card collecting, and why Pokémon still feels like home, even now. Whether it’s vintage cards, fan-made ROM hacks, or that impossible Radical Red Elite Four, his journey is a testament to play, perseverance, and creative evolution.

🎧 Discover how your favorite YouTubers found their Pokémon path.
Check out the YouTubers playlist now! 

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

Transcript

Ruxin34: 0:00

I'm Ruxin34 and this is my Pokemon story.

0:02

Uh uh uh Uh uh uh

David Hernandez: 0:42

Welcome to As The Pokeball Turns, where every voice, every journey, and every memory brings us closer to the world of Pokemon. David Hernandez, and today I'm joined by a content creator who's built a name through the thrill of the pool, whether it's a blue eyes, white dragon, or maybe a shiny Charizard. He's the voice behind Ruxin34 and PokeRux, blending Yugioh Pokemon in a way that keeps collectors coming back on the road to 1 million subscribers. He's here to share where that journey begin and what still keeps it fun. Ruxin34. Thank you for coming on As The Pokeball Turns.

Ruxin34: 1:14

Thank you for having me. I like that intro.

David Hernandez: 1:16

before we dive into this interview, I remember I first discovered you because of your collab with cmo

Ruxin34: 1:22

Yeah.

David Hernandez: 1:22

did the um, I forgot what it's called, the I

Ruxin34: 1:24

Auction series.

David Hernandez: 1:25

series. And it was such a fun idea and that's kind of how I discovered your content and it was kind of cool just to see you I guess, start doing Pokemon a little bit. I know you're primarily, you, you a content creator.

Ruxin34: 1:36

Yeah.

David Hernandez: 1:37

to just add a fun question just to start this interview. Okay.

Ruxin34: 1:40

Okay. I'm ready. I like fun.

David Hernandez: 1:41

Alright. the question is, which Pokemon do you think would make the best Yugioh card? And what would its ability be

Ruxin34: 1:48

Oh wow. You're making this tough.

David Hernandez: 1:50

Yeah.

Ruxin34: 1:51

Well the, the good thing is Pokemon already kind of have like their own, like they kind of have their own effects. Like they have their own stat, like they have effects on cards, they have effects in the game, like their abilities and stuff like that. So I would say something like Shedinja would make a really cool Yugioh card because of all like The Pokemon that can't even hit it. So it'd be a card that'd be really hard to destroy. I think that could be a really cool Yugioh card.

David Hernandez: 2:14

Oh, do you have an idea of like what its stat line would be? Like, how detailed do you wanna go with this? Maybe even a rarity or something like that?

Ruxin34: 2:19

I think its stat line would be pretty weak, but it, it would be something like a zero zero, like zero attack, zero defense. But it would have an effect that would make it really difficult to destroy, but also have an effect that would like, let's say, destroy face up monsters. So it's like if the monsters face up and it attacks it, like destroys and damaged step or something like that, that that would be my. Quick Shedinja. I think that that could be a really interesting Pokemon or a Yuchi Ocar. There probably is something already like that out there'cause there's so many Yugioh cards But that's kind of what I feel for Shedinja.'cause you know, one has one HP in the, in the video games, so it's pretty weak. But because no one can hit it, it's really annoying and hard to deal with.

David Hernandez: 2:54

You know, it kind of reminds me, I think it's called the Time Lords, they were always a bug. Uh,

Ruxin34: 2:57

Yeah,

David Hernandez: 2:58

hell outta me. And that's kind of the vibe. You're kind of going forward like to where it's just constantly a way to, it's a pain in the butt to get off the field, but doesn't

Ruxin34: 3:04

right.

David Hernandez: 3:05

kind of thing, you know?

Ruxin34: 3:06

No one of'em. I know it's like it attacks and like halves your life points or something and it just keeps doing that over and over and they're so annoying to like get rid of Yeah. That, that she ninja could be part of that archetype Adam'em in time. Lord, she ninja coming soon,

David Hernandez: 3:19

For me, I always thought it would be Eevee, because I feel like Eevee's kind of the carbo of Pokemon

Ruxin34: 3:24

right?

David Hernandez: 3:24

it's just so adorable, but then it's got different forms. I know Ariba eventually added the rainbow and all that fun

Ruxin34: 3:29

Yeah.

David Hernandez: 3:29

always felt like Eevee could be the one where it multiplies itself over and over. It brings out its, I guess, evolutions onto the field. I don't know.

Ruxin34: 3:36

Yeah, I, I could definitely see that, that that checks out for sure.

David Hernandez: 3:39

Now, I know, obviously, you know, we're gonna dive into some of the you side. We'll tiptoe into it, but I kind of wanna start on The Pokeball side.

Ruxin34: 3:44

Okay.

David Hernandez: 3:45

is your experience with Pokemon like where does it begin for your Pokemon journey?

Ruxin34: 3:49

Pokemon for me began way back, like when it first came out. I don't know exactly what year. It could have been 99. It could have been 2000. It could have been sales one. I'm not sure exactly when, but. Everyone around me had The Pokeball cards, obviously, and everyone was playing the video games. So it was huge when I was 4, 5, 6 years old. And I was a huge fan of like Game Boy games. So I got my first Game Boy Advance. Uh, I think it was, was it Advance? The first one I got? I guess it was. So that would've been whatever year that was. I don't remember if I had cards before that or not, but I got the, the video games that was around 2000, 2001, whatever that was. And the second generation had come out, so like gold and silver. So I started playing those video games and they're still some of my favorite games. That's kind of what I. My whole PokeRux channel is about, it's like playing the video games and playing rom hacks and stuff. So because of gold and silver early, and then Crystal, and then I got into gen three, Emerald, ruby Sapphire. I really loved those games. But then I had cards and then, you know, everything that happened after that.

David Hernandez: 4:48

You know, obviously, you know, you dived in more into Yugioh and Yugioh and Pokemon. For me, at least growing up, were kind of head in head like, I liked the Yugioh cards, but I liked The Pokeball games and I wanted to know, did you have that kind of dynamic growing up, trying to learn how to balance both of them, or did you eventually lean to one towards the other?

Ruxin34: 5:05

Well, it was actually a really easy choice for me because it wasn't made by me. Um, so, uh, my mom, for whatever reason, weirdly enough, this seems like it's gonna be backwards. She banned Pokemon cards. She did not ban Yugioh cards, which. Seems backward, right? Because Yugioh is more dark and like a little bit less kid friendly or whatever. so she banned Pokemon, so I couldn't play The Pokemon cards. I could still play the video games and I kept doing that. I don't know why. We had a lot of things banned in our household for no reason. So it was one of those. So I'm like, okay, no more Pokemon, I guess it's Yugioh from now on then. So I, so I kept. Getting Yugioh cards, kept dueling with Yugioh cards, but I never stopped with The Pokeball games until I eventually, got to gen four. They had the Nintendo DS and my parents would not gimme a Nintendo ds, so I couldn't get the games. So

David Hernandez: 5:51

my

Ruxin34: 5:51

I got walled off for that. So Pokemon was like a four stop. I didn't really have a choice

David Hernandez: 5:56

I mean, it's like, like you said, your choice was made for you. I

Ruxin34: 5:59

exactly.

David Hernandez: 6:00

for you to be able to play Pokemon through the games for a bit? Did you have fun? Did you enjoy the venture? Like what was it about the games that you really enjoyed?

Ruxin34: 6:07

it was extremely fun. I still love playing those vanilla games even now, like it, they're not that hard, obviously. Like when, when you're like, you're talking about a difficulty. Or anything, but back in the day there was so much adventure to it. You could play with different Pokemon, you could, collect different things. You could level up different Pokemon and get evolutions, all those different and like exploring the regions. The second generation was so cool with me because it had the two regions you could beat, Johto and then go to Kanto and like basically beat like your n Gen one, but you're still playing with your Gen two Pokemon, et cetera. Even though, yeah, we're not gonna get into the. The level curve and the gen two not being available early. Yeah, I know, I know. But gen two was cool back in the day. Okay. so yeah, that, that was super cool for me. and another thing that I wasn't allowed to really play video games very long every day technically, but I would just do it anyway. So I'd have my game boy and I would. Hide somewhere, and I'd be playing Pokemon capturing stuff, and then they'd catch me and I'd get banned for like a week, and then I'd get it back and I'd keep doing it. So I, I loved Pokemon. I absolutely loved it. I was willing to sacrifice getting grounded or whatever to play it.

David Hernandez: 7:11

I can imagine like a Ruxin, maybe like sneaking his game boy out in the middle of the night and he's under the covers trying to play the game. Did that ever kind of happen at all where

Ruxin34: 7:18

No. Oh, that happened every night because I had this strategy where, okay, as soon as I hear anybody come in, I close the game boy.'cause I had the sp at this point. So I had the, the light on it, so the backlight, so I'd close it and I'd put it on the side of my bed next to the wall. Like there was a rail you could like lay it on so it wouldn't fall down. So I'd stick it right there. Well that works sometimes, but eventually it stopped working when I got caught and they're like, oh, what are you doing under here playing video games. It's like, you're supposed to be going to school tomorrow or whatever. And I'm like, uh, well, I don't really care about school. I wanna play Pokemon.

David Hernandez: 7:52

did your, friends or people you knew in school also play? Like how did that dynamic look for you?

Ruxin34: 7:56

I think I knew some people that played Pokemon. But I actually knew more people that played Yugioh so that might've been a reason why I like really got into Yugioh is'cause people took their Yugioh cards to school and like church and stuff, and then they would always get banned, inevitably. Like somebody would like steal somebody's card or get somebody get mad or whatever. And then they'd banned them for a while and then like the next year or the next semester or whatever they'd, like, forget that rule, so that everybody bring them back. And then it would just happen over and over.

David Hernandez: 8:23

Yeah, that's how the same thing with us, because they didn't wanna deal with, I guess the, I'll say drama behind

Ruxin34: 8:28

There was definitely drama. Yeah. There was drama.

David Hernandez: 8:30

Exactly. So they would be like, we don't wanna deal with this, so we're just gonna ban it. And every year we'd just hold our breath and wait for the new administration

Ruxin34: 8:36

Yeah.

David Hernandez: 8:36

back to playing. For us, for me, I played Yugioh at the cafe cafeteria table, and we

Ruxin34: 8:41

Yeah.

David Hernandez: 8:41

dual that way, but eventually something would happen and you know, it just, it was like a words in repeat for school.

Ruxin34: 8:47

Somebody gets their card stolen, somebody damages somebody else's card, somebody loses in a duel and like gets in a fight. Like whatever it is. And I don't really don't blame them looking at it now, like if I was a teacher and like these kids are fighting every day over these cards, I'd be like, oh, you gotta get these outta here. This is too much work for me. But as a kid, it was the worst'cause you'd go from having so much fun and they're like, actually no more fun. You're not allowed to have fun until. We forget about this, which is a long time, sadly.

David Hernandez: 9:13

So did you take a break from the games at some point, or I guess for a bit.

Ruxin34: 9:17

Yeah, I took a big break. Well, I played gen two and gen three nonstop constantly. I played through, I restarted the games over and over. I wasn't the kind of person I know a lot of people, they had their one safe file and they would like build it up. I'd play all the way through to the end, restart, play with another starter, play with another Pokemon, and do it over and over and over. So I played them all a million times. but eventually that hard stop at generation four happened. I knew a friend that had a Nintendo Ds, so I would occasionally play, Pearl on his, a little bit. but eventually like, it got to middle school and I was playing sports and that guy left, so then I didn't have access to it. So Pokemon and Yuchi both kind of fell off for me. But I did come back to the games. I think after I graduated high school I was like, I need to play like this summer, I'm gonna play all these games that I haven't played. So I went back to Gen four five and I think maybe, I don't remember if six was out by then, it might've been four and five, maybe x and Y had came out by then. So I was gathering those games and playing those for the first time, and that was really fun.

David Hernandez: 10:12

So you came back for both Pokemon and even Yugioh at the same time?

Ruxin34: 10:16

So I came back to Pokemon. That was 2013. When I was 18, I guess I came back to Pokemon and started playing the video games I bought. A bunch of random red, red, blue, and yellow cartridges and stuff like that off Facebook for like 15 bucks a piece. Because

David Hernandez: 10:30

Yeah.

Ruxin34: 10:30

yeah, anytime I would see those, I'm like, those are nostalgia for me.$15, I'm gonna buy those. I bought a bunch of gold and silvers. I have so many copies of those from gathering those like several years ago, just because I love them

David Hernandez: 10:41

Mm.

Ruxin34: 10:41

uh, my, my brothers would borrow them, so I'm like, I need more than one copy so I can play it. They can play, and I would have so many. Different old school games that I gathered up and then I had never played black and white and I continued Gen four and I think maybe XMI route. I feel like I didn't play X and Y until later though, because isn't that a three DS game?

David Hernandez: 10:59

Yes, yes.

Ruxin34: 11:00

Okay. Yeah. So I didn't play that one. I got an Nindo DS and I played Gen four and five on there, and I guess revisited some of the old ones during that summer and then later came back for again for that.

David Hernandez: 11:10

When you were like buying those games, you know, the red, blue, and yellow, did

Ruxin34: 11:13

Yeah.

David Hernandez: 11:13

through like the safe piles and see what kind of Pokemon water and like see like what they actually threw away or would you like restart those games as well?

Ruxin34: 11:21

I would look at'em, I think a lot of the time they would be like dead battery and I would like replace the battery.

David Hernandez: 11:26

yeah.

Ruxin34: 11:27

which is not that hard if you just look up a video for those old ones, you just like buy like a dollar battery and just open it up and replace it. Um, so there wasn't anything I remember that was really crazy. like, you know, max levels and all that stuff. I think on some of the gen ones, they had some of the hack stuff where they had gotten the Unown in there and all that different stuff. So there was a couple, couple like that, I think. But for the most part it was, it was just standard and I was just, yeah, replacing it, making sure it worked. Everything.

12:00

Love hearing real stories from real trainers. Help As The Pokeball turns become the best Pokemon interview podcast like no one ever was. By joining our Patreon, you're not just supporting the show. You're helping more fans share their journeys with the world. As a thank you, you'll get accustomed Pokemon Wristband each month themed after a featured Pokemon Hand on over to patreon.com/ As The Pokeball Turns and join our community today.

David Hernandez: 12:26

Now I know you started your content creation, at least on YouTube in 2017. What made you wanna start diving into YouTube? And I think Twitch came later. Is that kind of fair to say?

Ruxin34: 12:35

Yeah. Yeah, definitely. I didn't do Twitch until. Maybe 2020 or 2021. So early on, I still don't know exactly why. Like, I don't remember having like this big moment, like I'm gonna do YouTube or anything like that. I got in the app store'cause I was bored and I got in the app store and looked at like top games, which,'cause I used to play Clash of Clans and all this stuff, like all the time. And I'm like, let's find a new game today. Like I'm tired of playing Clash of Clans, clash Royale, all this stuff. And I saw Duel Links and then as soon as I saw that it all came back. I'm like, oh, Yugioh, I gotta try this. So I downloaded it. And then I started playing it and I started watching some YouTube videos of other people, and I'm like, this game is like really fun. Like I, I forgot how much I liked Yugioh. So then, because I was watching people play like online and stuff like that, I'm like, I could make like a recap of some duels I'm doing or whatever, and post it. So I did that a hundred times, like a hundred videos or something. None of'em were good. They're all terrible. But I just started doing that. I guess'cause it was just a fun way to like document your stuff and like show it and you know, I don't know what my motivation was to do it, but I was just having fun with Duel Lnks. So I started doing that and that was like my first a hundred videos.

David Hernandez: 13:41

you're on the road to 1 million subscribers Did you ever feel to get to this point that you would ever get here?

Ruxin34: 13:47

I did not expect to get to the point I am at right now, because as you could tell, I can't even remember why I started YouTube. So, uh, I didn't really have a goal to be like. Famous or anything because I, I just, I just started it and then I had the lucky break of it getting bigger over like the COVID situation. And from then I'm like, oh, this is cool. Like, we could grow this thing or whatever and, and do some, some cool stuff with it. But I didn't really have like that vision of, oh, I'm gonna be like a million. So I say I'm on the road to a million, but that's gonna be like never, it's never gonna happen.

David Hernandez: 14:20

it may

Ruxin34: 14:20

uh,

David Hernandez: 14:20

never know. It just, we just

Ruxin34: 14:22

you never know.

David Hernandez: 14:23

thousand. You never know. Yeah.

Ruxin34: 14:24

You never know, but, uh, it's a long road, let's just say that.

David Hernandez: 14:28

sure. Yeah. Yeah. Well, let me ask you this,'cause you know, obviously you dive into The Pokeball content in 2021.

Ruxin34: 14:34

Yeah.

David Hernandez: 14:35

you wanna start streaming on Twitch, and specifically why Pokemon, especially when you were already, you know, more catered to Yugioh at that time?

Ruxin34: 14:41

So 2021 is when I quit my job went full time for YouTube and it was late, I think it was like October or something, and I was sitting there thinking, what am I gonna do all day? Like, how am I gonna fill my day that I'm like Doing stuff because now I don't have a job. Like this is my job now. I've gotta find stuff to do. I had a lot of stuff to do for my main channel and stuff, but I still wanted to fill the day and like have things to do and feel like I was busy. Right? So the first thing I decided to do was, I'm gonna start streaming on Twitch, because that way, I have a daily thing that I have to commit to. So I can't just like slack off or anything. I wanted to be like accountable or whatever. So I decided to stream five days a week on Twitch, which I don't do anymore. I changed it to three days,'cause five days was way too much. But,

David Hernandez: 15:21

I was gonna

Ruxin34: 15:21

um, yeah, so I was doing five days a week and I was trying to do four hours, eight to 12 in the morning, which I don't wake up, so it was really hard. Um, so, uh, uh, I was like, in the morning I would open my, my eyes would be half open For whatever reason, like the whole point of it was to have something to do. I picked to play Pokemon. The main reason was'cause I like Pokemon, not because it actually made me any money or anything. So I kind of didn't make sense. Looking back, it's like, well that didn't, you were working, but you were working for free. So it doesn't really make sense. So, I don't know why I did it, but. I love Pokemon, and I think that's the real reason. And as I've told you, I keep coming back every few years. I come back to The Pokemon games, like I stopped in middle school. I came back into high school. I came back at the end of college. I came back a few years later while I'm doing Yugioh. I came back on Twitch and started playing on there. I didn't even have an idea for the poker rock channel yet. I just wanted to play through the games again.

David Hernandez: 16:14

Hmm.

Ruxin34: 16:15

that's what I started doing. I started playing. After a few months, I realized. I've got a lot of like footage that I could use. I should probably try to make a channel out of this. And so that's how the Pokerux channel like began.

David Hernandez: 16:27

It sounds like to me that. You know, even though you were focused on you, you know, you, you at the time, you quit your job, and to me it almost sounds like Pokemon was a way for you to kind of experiment if you did Yugioh, for example, on Twitch, you'd still kind of be in that Yugioh kind of work mindset. Pokemon was like a way for you to kind of be creative and I don't know, to me it sounds like you've been able to flesh yourself out a little bit. I don't know how much you picked up from The Pokeball channel to do the Yugioh content, but that just seems like how it comes for you to me.

Ruxin34: 16:52

Well, I think you're, I think you're spot on with that. a couple things that I really love about Pokemon is whenever I get on Twitch and stream it,'cause I still stream it, I do three streams a week, but two of'em are Pokemon. One I do for Yugioh stuff, the two Pokemon streams. Don't feel like work. They feel like just a break. Like I'm taking a break, I'm relaxing, I'm hanging out with people and just playing Pokemon. And though they are making videos, I don't have a schedule on that channel. So it's like we just do it and whenever it's ready it happens. I get to do things so much differently because I script, I script, I say script, but then people think that means like I make up, what happens I script as in I write down what I'm gonna say, not like. I decide how the run's gonna go, right? So, I like script those videos and like try to make little bits in there and like jokes. And I, I have so much fun making those poker rock videos because one, there's no timetable. Two, I can do, just do whatever and not worry about how that performs. Like if it does terrible, who cares? Like, it's not as big of a deal. So. I really do like doing The Pokeball stuff for those two reasons. They're kind of their own thing. There's no pressure and it's just more of a relaxed, like break for me, just like a creative outlet, as you said.

David Hernandez: 17:58

Now with Pokemon, you said you love it. What do you enjoy about it? Is it adventure, The Pokemon? Like what is specifically do you think you enjoy the most out of The Pokemon franchise?

Ruxin34: 18:05

Honestly, it really is like everything, like, I don't do the cards as much. I did do the cards for a while, and I still have some, like, I don't, I just don't open all the time. Like, I open the new sets usually, but I don't open like every day like I do with Yugioh, but. The cards are awesome. They have really awesome artwork. Some really cool, like full arts that we don't have. The old school cards I think look absolutely amazing. Aval lot nostalgia for those because I remember seeing them as kids. I love the gameplay of everything nowadays. I play like the ROM hacks, the fan made stuff. It's so cool how The Pokeball community makes their own games. They can make'em super difficult. They can make'em, different. Like I never played the one that was super popular recently, but Rogue, I think is what it was called. Pokemon Rogue or something that was super big. I didn't, they're just so creative. There's so many different ways to play it now, and I love that you could play the vanillas and it's super fun. They're still making those. They got the new ones coming out soon. Scarlet Violet, I thought was pretty cool. and then you could play any sort of rom hack. And the cool part about a lot of those rom hacks is they're based on those games that I remember, like they're based on gen three or Gen two. And so it has that nostalgia as well as actually being difficult. Like if you do an Nuzlocke, it's not an easy game. It's not like you can just run through it. Like I have lost so many times on Nuzlockes. it's a real challenge. So. I like the strategy that goes into it. There's so much randomness when it comes to your abilities and all these different things that go into it. it's such a wide, wide hobby that you don't even have to like all of it. You just have to like one little aspect of it to massively appreciate it, and there's just so much, so many ways you could go. It's just really cool.

David Hernandez: 19:34

And it also gets pretty intense.'cause I've, I've caught a few of your streams actually, where you're doing the Nuzlocke's it gets very serious.'cause these Pokemon, you don't get'em back and you

Ruxin34: 19:41

Yeah,

David Hernandez: 19:41

of different decisions. Is that kinda what you enjoy about the Nuzlocke's to where you are having to kind of craft teams and trying to hopefully survive kind of thing?

Ruxin34: 19:47

yeah, So I do somewhere, I do calculations and somewhere I don't Recently, I've been doing no calculations and it's actually been really, really fun. It's just really hard to win because the calculations you might think. If you've ever seen this, like you or anyone else watching has seen the calculation, you're like, how do you lose? Like you can just calculate everything. Even with the calculations, it's not that there are so many random things the AI can do. There's so many like different ranges. There's so many critical hit situations. There's so many things that can go wrong when you're doing that. Even with the calcs, you still fail. So when you don't use the calc, it's extra chaotic. So. I love, I love building the teams, countering the different things and doing the no calcs is really fun because you. Play so much more like you actually run through and you don't have to calc everything. But even doing that, I'm spending 30 minutes an hour planning just looking at their team docs and trying to figure out how to counter'em. Because I'm like, well, I don't know exactly how much it's gonna do this time, so what if this happens and it criticals me and then I don't have anyone else to come in and'cause he out speeds my entire team, so just gonna wipe my whole team. When we lose the Nuzlocke's, I have to have a backup for that. But also with this backup, he has to counter this other Pokemon. So there's just so many different puzzle pieces. It's like it's a strategy game. It's a puzzle. It is so many different things that goes into doing it.

David Hernandez: 21:01

Now I know you are primarily you, yo you open packs. That's kind

Ruxin34: 21:04

Yeah.

David Hernandez: 21:04

your primary, uh, way to do content. Have you ever teased the idea or even thought of the idea, obviously of doing Pokemon? Is there a reason why you don't do it or is there just not your kind of thing?

Ruxin34: 21:14

Well I do, I I have done some Pokemon, I just don't do it as much. I, I.

David Hernandez: 21:18

Well, yeah, that's what I meant. Like there's a reason why you wouldn't do it daily.

Ruxin34: 21:21

Daily? Well, there's a lot of reasons I wouldn't do it daily. First of all, uh, I have no time anymore, like 2021. I had all that time to figure out how to use. I don't have time anymore. Like my schedule is constantly full of stuff. so the time is a big issue. The money is a big issue because Pokemon nowadays, it's so hard to get the new product. I'm big on vintage in Yugioh. I can't buy the vintage in Pokemon. It's too much like you could do a box break. Or whatever, but even then, it's so hard to sell'em out because they're so expensive per pack. Like even the big Yugioh bricks, like even LOB, those go for like max thousand,$2,000 a pack, which is a crazy amount. But after that it's more like a few hundred a pack is like the highest Yugioh you're gonna do. Like. Other than that, it's like$200,$300 packs, and a lot of them are less than a hundred dollars a pack and Pokemon. A couple thousand. A pack is like half of the wattie boxes. Like they're, they're all like that. So then you get to the base at first, like we're talking like mortgage payments, like, like for a year is what you're gonna have to pay to get a pack. So most people just can't afford it. So there's already so many people doing it too. I would love to open more cards, but I, the time and the money is just such a huge restraint and so I haven't really delved into it, but I have been dipping my. toe into doing like the new openings if I can get any of it, which has really been a difficult task for everybody recently. So that's another thing. It's like if I open the new set and I don't open, a lot of Pokemon people say, oh, you don't, you don't even like Pokemon, you're just scalping. Or, you know, there's just a lot of negativity around it right now. So there, there's a lot of that too, that I have to worry about. But I personally love opening the packs of the new set because like you said, with the the streams. Cards I don't see all the time. It's a little bit of a break from the normal, right.

David Hernandez: 22:59

Well, I was gonna say, what you need is you need a Ruxin 35 to where he does The Pokeball stuff and you do the Yuga stuff, and then if you

Ruxin34: 23:05

Yeah.

David Hernandez: 23:06

he can do the magic stuff. And

Ruxin34: 23:07

Yeah.

David Hernandez: 23:08

these ruxin doing all different card stuff. It'd be great.

Ruxin34: 23:10

Yeah, that I, yeah, I really wish I could do that. Another problem is I have the Pokerux channel, and everyone just assumes it's cards,

David Hernandez: 23:17

Mm-hmm.

Ruxin34: 23:17

it's not because it's all Nuzlockes and stuff like that. So they're like, why isn't it when I ever, I, I open Pokemon on Ruxin. They go, why isn't this on the Pokerux Channel? I'm like, this actually fits more with this channel than that channel, because Nuzlockes and card openings don't fit at all. But Yugioh and Pokemon card openings are closer together because. There are both card openings and a lot of people that watch Yugioh are also Pokemon fans. So it actually works better to use on my main channel, but then I say I'm doing a Pokemon thing that wisen it on The Pokeball channel. It's like, well, The Pokeball channel As The Pokeball gameplay channel. So it's very confusing. It's very confusing. Yeah. So, that's something that happens all the time.

David Hernandez: 23:51

Well, that's what I was gonna say. So it sounds like your audience has been both confused but also open to you being both Pokerux and Ruxin34. Like. You just have

Ruxin34: 23:58

Yeah.

David Hernandez: 23:59

'em saying like, this content goes here and this one goes there, kind of thing. Is that kind of basically your role in this?

Ruxin34: 24:04

It's, it is confusing because I know there's some viewers that watch everything. They watch Pokerux, they watch Ruxin, It's very small percentage. There's some people that don't even know I have a Pokemon channel. That's a large percentage. Then there are the people that. Don't realize what that one is. And then on Pokerux think a lot of the viewers over there are actually not followers of the the Yugioh channel, which is interesting. I've noticed recently a few people come in the stream and they've said, what's going on? Or why, why are you you doing Pokemon? I'm like, what do you mean? They're like, yeah, I came from the Pokerux video. I'm like, what is going on? Like, whoa, you, you don't know me from here. You only know me from Pokemon. This is unusual. So that, that's really cool. And that happens'cause that means there's like a whole other viewer base over there, which is really exciting.

David Hernandez: 24:44

That's awesome dude. It's like you get the best

Ruxin34: 24:46

Yeah.

David Hernandez: 24:46

and you kind of get explore with Pokemon, but then you go is kind of your main, main, I say niche basically.'cause that's kind of where you do

Ruxin34: 24:52

Yeah, certainly a niche for sure.

David Hernandez: 24:55

Now I know you equated your job back in 2021. Were you kind of worried of doing that at the time? Like what was your mindset going into that?

Ruxin34: 25:02

when I did it, I wasn't worried when I first thought about it. I remember telling my wife, cause she wanted to quit and go and become a nurse, which she ended up doing. and she had just done that. And I'm like, Hey, I kinda wanna quit. And she's like, what? Like, wait, wait, wait. We're both gonna quit. I was just gonna work. At first it was a little crazy, but I worked for my dad previously, so he wanted me to have like three extra months of work. It wasn't like a two week notice kind of thing. So I had a long time to kind of gear up and ramp up into it. so by the time I got there, I was a little nervous, but I kind of had the plan figured out of what I'm gonna do, at least how I'm gonna survive originally. And it worked out pretty good initially. And then ever since then, I've had more time to work on all the, all this stuff. So I've had more time to figure out more things and more. Ways to, you know, make money and everything and buy and sell and make videos and all that different stuff. So it, it's, it worked out pretty good. I wasn't overly, like, I didn't take a jump off the cliff without looking first at least.

David Hernandez: 25:58

At least you looked

Ruxin34: 25:59

Yeah.

David Hernandez: 26:00

well. Let me ask you this. Let's go back to Pokemon. What is your favorite Pokemon? We haven't asked that question yet.

Ruxin34: 26:04

My favorite Pokemon, is Lugia because gen two. So I'm a huge Lugia fan. it's also a really good Pokemon in Nuzlockes, so, I got to use that in a randomizer recently. It's crazy good. I always loved the Neogenesis. Lugia thought it was a really awesome artwork. I had the unlimited, but it wasn't in great shape. I had an unlimited that was like a, I think it got a nine. That was before I sold all my, my Pokemon cards in 2019, sadly,

David Hernandez: 26:30

no.

Ruxin34: 26:31

gaming. So whatever he did with them. But, I sold all those, but I I love that Lugia card. It was, it's still, I think Lugia cards are some of the best cards out there, so I, I actually been thinking about getting back into collecting some vintage a little bit, maybe getting back into a Lugia collection. So I might do that at some point..

David Hernandez: 26:47

You know, you talk about how you primarily do NS locks. You

Ruxin34: 26:49

Mm-hmm.

David Hernandez: 26:50

you like trying to figure it out. What's your favorite NS lock that you've attempted, whether onstream or off stream, and why?

Ruxin34: 26:56

Oh, Okay, so Radical red is one I've done many times and I've still not beaten it. I've played it, I've played through it. I have, okay. I have tried to attempt it. So many times,'cause I've done regular runs where just standard like I don't change anything. I've done Dex Nav where you get to pick your encounter every route. So it makes it a little bit easier to get like the right encounters. I've done Randomizer, I've done all kinds of different ways to play it and I've never been able to beat it. I've lost in the Elite for two times on a nuz lock. One time was because I forgot to put an item on, I would've been through three of the five. Trainers, if I just put that item on without any deaths, I had a really good chance to win. I've, I left the item off. I lost two Pokemon, ended up wiping to the next guy.

David Hernandez: 27:34

Oh.

Ruxin34: 27:34

Uh, the next I made it back to the second person. Lost another time. So that one has been really fun, but also very, trying, you could say, uh, it's been very sad when I lose, like a super long run'cause making it to the elite four, when you're doing all those calculations, that takes months If you only do two or three streams a week, so it's like four or five months of work is just gone when you lose. So it's really sad. and also at the same time, it's really fun the whole time. So that one is, that's why I say. Enjoy. Like I enjoy it the whole time and then it just tears your heart out. So Radical Red's a big one. I've been playing Emerald Imperium recently. That's my next one I'm gonna be, posting about. So it's like radical red, but emerald basically. So I've really enjoyed that one as well. So those are two of my favorite Pokemon Rom hacks.

David Hernandez: 28:16

Well, Ruxin I want to finish this and you be on this last question, okay. It's gonna be

Ruxin34: 28:19

Okay.

David Hernandez: 28:19

to tie it all together. What do you think makes a card, whether it's from Pokemon or Yugioh? Truly unforgettable.

Ruxin34: 28:25

to be unforgettable, you have to have great artwork. You have to have great artwork. That's very important because that's the first thing you see when you look at the card in terms of Yugioh. It helps if you're very relevant in some sort of meta that you played, whether it be old school, whether it be like, just some time where you came back to Yugioh and you're really dedicated to the card game that makes, all the situations where you lost to it, you won with it, whatever that can really, impact how you remember that card. So artwork. Playability. It doesn't happen as much in Pokemon because I know a lot of people are just collectors in Pokemon versus Yugioh Most people are playing. but if you do play with them in some capacity, it's in your deck and you're walking around with a shuffling it up. That also helps be remembered. And then of course, if it's in any sort of TV show and it's an Epic card, or it's an epic Pokemon or whatever, it's used all the time. Like obviously Pikachu is huge in the, in the. Show and stuff. anything crazy that happens there is gonna help you remember it. So those three factors, I think are a lot of the reason people like them. Then there's of course like price, like maybe like it was really expensive at one point for whatever reason. That kind of ties into playability or collectability in some way. So those, that's why most usually for me, I would say

David Hernandez: 29:31

Awesome. And as long as we all agree that Blue Eyes, white Dragon is better than Charizard, I'm okay. So that's

Ruxin34: 29:35

I'm all in on that. I'm, I do like Char, I'm not gonna hate on Charizard, but Blue Eyes, y Dragon is the goat. I can't say.

David Hernandez: 29:41

Absolutely. Well, Ruxin if people wanna check out your content, if they wanna connect with you, where can they go by on these? Please plug away.

Ruxin34: 29:48

Check me out on Ruxin 34 is YouTube, Twitch, TikTok, Instagram, all that different stuff. You can find me same name everywhere Go follow PokeRux'cause he needs the help over there. Uh,

David Hernandez: 29:58

He's on

Ruxin34: 29:59

Rx is.

David Hernandez: 29:59

subscribers.

Ruxin34: 30:00

Yeah, he's a long, long road. Yeah. Poker R on YouTube, you can find it on TikTok, you can find'em on Instagram. Those are the three places I think that you'll find Poker Rx. So go follow there. If you like NZ lock content, you like Pokemon, as you guys probably all do. If you're watching this.

David Hernandez: 30:16

Thank you for listening to As The Pokeball Turns, if this story resonated with you, share the podcast with a fellow trainer. Don't forget to follow us for more voices, more journeys, and more memories. I'm David Hernandez. Remember, your next Pokemon adventure begins here.