Lucas: 4 - PTCG Gym Leader Challenge

    Good evening to the other three Mir Bros, J.P.(?), and whoever else is still alive on the vlog service at this point. With this post I'll be returning back to Pokemon TCG. If you are uninterested in that, I recommend Kedrick: 4, a very informative introduction to photography and the concept of the Exposure Triangle. For now, I'd like to take a moment of silence for those vloggers we've lost to get here.

    Thank you. Now we can move into today's topic, the Pokemon Trading Card Game's (PTCG) Gym Leader Challenge. As Nate mentioned in his third post, there is more than one way to play the PTCG. A popular alternate game mode in my area is called Gym Leader Challenge (GLC). For reference, most local tournaments I attend in the Melbourne area average around ~6 players in them. The local GLC tournaments probably average closer to ~10! That's a lot more competition to out-play, my primary goal. 

    So what makes GLC different from the standard game? Well, it has some unique rules I'll explain:

• Your deck can only contain one type (color) of Pokemon
• Hence the "Gym Leader" part of the name
• Only one of each card with the same name allowed in a deck, except for Basic Energy
• The standard game mode allows you to play up to 4-copies of each individual card
• This also means you can only play one Bulbasaur, even if you have a different Pokemon card with the same name
• Cards with a Rule Box are not allowed
• No Pokemon EX!! Only "single prize" Pokemon are allowed!
• Legal Cards: Black & White - onwards, with a short ban list
• The standard game has an annual rotation where about a year's worth of cards are banned. GLC allows any card that's been printed since Black & White!
• 60 card decks are built & 6 Prize Card games are played with the most current Pokemon TCG rules
• I don't have anything to clarify here

    Without further ado, I'll get into the very first deck I built for GLC, a Dragon-type deck:

    The first thing you'll notice is that this list looks absurd. There are only 6 repeated cards in the entire 60-card list, and all of them are basic energies per DA RULES. I won't get into any specific cards. Frankly, nobody cares, and there are way too many to list. So I'll just explain the general deck-building principles that make this deck good (still nobody cares, but for posterity).

    The first thing to note is that this deck has no Pokemon that evolve. A lot of GLC decks rely on evolving, but I really dislike evolving when you can only play one Pokemon of each name. Let's say I am trying to play a Charizard deck: if Charmander, Charmeleon, or Charizard are in my Prize Cards, I won't be able to use that Pokemon until I take whichever one is prized; a pain the ass.

    This deck also focuses on just a few strong basic Pokemon while relying on as many items and tools as possible. After all, we can play as many items and tools as we want per turn and a lot of these older cards are BROKEN.

    Another priority is to run as many "live cards" as possible. A live card is a card that can always be played from your hand and be used to progress my board, like Pokegear 3.0 or Trainers Mail. I can use these cards to (try to) find ways to set-up, get energy on my Pokemon, or find whatever cards I need to play the game. Examples of cards that aren't live are Raihan or Hex Maniac. Despite both cards being very powerful, Raihan can't be played unless a special condition is met and Hex Manic doesn't help me play MY game. It just prevents my opponent from being able to play theirs.

    I was able to go undefeated and win my first tournament playing with this deck, earning a Dragon-type badge! Something I didn't mention above is that after you win a tournament, you earn a badge of the type you won with (generally not a physical badge, but my local store owner's wife is nice and likes crafts). You aren't required to stop playing a deck after winning a badge, but most people do so they can expand their badge collection. 

    This tournament was a few weeks ago, and I've played in another tournament since then. I went 2-1 with a new colorless deck list that I'll put below. My one loss was due to some mediocre plays I made because I didn't get much practice with it. My same general deck-building principles were used for piecing together this deck: Less Evolution Pokemon = Good, and play as many items, tools, and live cards as you can.

Kedrick: 4 - Photography Intro and the Exposure Triangle

My Journey So Far 

    Happy Friday, Companions! Today I'm writing my first post about my most recent hobby, photography. Last March, almost a year ago to the day, I purchased a Panasonic LUMIX GX7 digital camera. The catalyst was simple: Lizzie and I were going to the Masters in April and I wanted to take pictures, but they don't allow phones! My research into cameras and photography started when I learned about that prohibition and hasn't stopped since. I learned all about the types of digital cameras: DSLR, Mirrorless, Micro Four Thirds, the list goes on. Then I decided what was right for my needs - something compact, beginner-friendly, and not too expensive. The LUMIX and its companion "kit" lens (the lens that was originally packaged with the camera body when sold via retail) emerged victorious. I used this camera, with a new lens purchase for my birthday in July, throughout 2024. 

Me and my LUMIX GX7

At the turn of the new year, I embarked on a journey I had considered for a while: shooting photos on 35mm film. What followed was an absolute slew of new things to learn about before deciding what camera to buy. I stumbled upon an interesting format: the half-frame camera. More specifically I purchased the Olympus PEN EE-3. These cameras can fit two "exposures" (pictures) on each typical 35mm exposure. It accomplishes this task by essentially halving the frame - hence the name. Where a full-frame exposure measures 36mm by 24mm, a half-frame exposure measures 18mm by 24mm. This is illustrated below.

Most film rolls have 36 exposures, so with my camera, I can shoot 72 photos per roll. I find this amazing as a first-timer since I'm all about testing and shooting everything I want. Plus, the drop in quality isn't too bad. The photos aren't going to be as sharp as shooting when using the full frame, but so far my photos have been sharp enough for me. It's also a teeny tiny camera that I can easily fit in my pocket or my Lululemon crossbody that I stole from my beautiful wife. The biggest benefit as far as my nature as a beginner is that it's a fully "point and shoot" camera. Pretty nifty, especially for a camera made in the 70s, that I can just set the dial to the ISO of the film stock I'm using and click away. The camera even tells me if there's not enough light by simply not taking the picture. Plus if I want to override that I can! Candidly, I am already researching a more robust and manual full-frame 35mm camera but that's only because I'm getting more comfortable with shooting 35mm (and have an insatiable appetite for new gear).

Me and my Olympus PEN EE-3

The Exposure Triangle    

    Now that I've touched on my background and what cameras I use, I can explain what I'm talking about today: the exposure triangle. This is a concept that I learned out of the gate after ordering my digital camera. It's also probably the single most important topic of photography and something I've finally started to get a feel for. The triangle involves three camera settings: Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO. These three settings work together to create a photo with perfect exposure (which is synonymous with the brightness or darkness of an image). These settings also individually and collectively impact the stylistic choices around a photograph. To understand how this all works, you must first understand what each setting means.

The Exposure Triangle

Shutter Speed

The easiest setting to grasp in my opinion is shutter speed, which is sometimes called "exposure time". Simply put, it's how long your film or digital sensor is exposed to light when you take a photograph. The most common shutter speed is 1/60th of a second (you'll see this written as 1/60). Aside from contributing to the exposure by determining how long light is let in, the key stylistic aspect of shutter speed is motion blur. To access the full spectrum of shutter speeds, you need a tripod as low-light photography shutter speeds can approach seconds or even minutes! However, if you want to shoot a photo of an Olympic sprinter without motion blur, you would manually set your shutter speed to a quick setting, like 1/1000 or faster. Shutter speed is generally automatically set by a camera. However, it's always helpful to have a firm grasp on what this setting impacts in case you need to control the amount of motion blur in your photo.

Aperture

In my opinion, the aperture is the most relevant setting to the overall end product of the photograph. It is the size of the hole that the light passes through when taking a photo. Most photographers agree this is the most important setting. That's why the most common shooting mode when using a digital camera is "A" on your dial or Aperture-Priority Mode. This means that you manually set the aperture for your photo and the camera chooses the right shutter speed and ISO. Aperture is also known as an "F stop" and that's how this setting is displayed - if you're familiar with photography you will have seen things like f/1.8 or f/5.6 on your lenses. The actual measure is strange to grasp as f/1.8 is a larger aperture than f/5.6. That's because it's actually a fraction. Aperture impacts exposure because a wide-open aperture like f/1.8 will let more light in than a small aperture like f/22. This can be easily seen in the image below.

But how does this impact your image? Through the depth of field! The easiest way to explain this is by using an iPhone setting example. On your phone, "portrait mode" uses a wide-open aperture like f/1.8, which creates a ton of blur in the background of whatever is not in focus. This is illustrated in the picture of the cute orange cat in the chart above. For things like landscape photography, you want everything in focus and therefore will choose a small aperture like f/11. Portrait photographers will almost always use something like f/1.8. One last fun piece of information here is that the blurry part of the photo behind a portrait is called "bokeh" (pronounced bow-kay). Cool and important word.

One benefit of digital cameras is that you can see the settings used for each photo after you import it to your phone. This was taken using f/2.2, 1/8000, ISO 200

ISO

This setting was the hardest part of the triangle to grasp and something that didn't click for me until I got into film photography. ISO essentially means the film or digital sensor's sensitivity to light. When you use a digital camera on aperture-priority mode, which I do most of the time because it gives me a high amount of control over my image with a low amount of effort, ISO is set automatically. So truthfully I didn't really care on digital.

That experience vs choosing ISO in film photography is legitimately night and day. Why is that? Two words: film stocks. Each type of roll of film has an ISO setting, alternatively referred to as "film speed". So, when I shoot UltraMax 400, the 400 means that's the ISO for that roll. This means that ISO is fixed when you shoot each roll of 35mm film and to get perfect exposure, you only have two pieces of the triangle to focus on. You do, however, have a great deal of control when choosing what type of film you shoot. The difference in film speeds on exposure is illustrated below.

Another important note about ISO from a 35mm film perspective is that it impacts how much film grain there is in a photo. ISO 100 is not all that great for low-light scenarios but produces a very fine film grain (closer to how a digital photo looks). Whereas the highest ISO film of 3200 is pretty darn good at shooting in low light but will produce a ton of film grain, which some people like! It all depends on what your conditions will be and that's why choosing film stocks is so important and why ISO is so different in analog photography. 

TRI-X 400 has an iconic film grain and now I know why. This is maybe my favorite picture to date.

As always, if you've read this far I hope you learned something new! This post was written at a high level, so if you have any questions please let me know.

Nathan: 4

 Fucking Brice of course trying to steal my thunder on MY BLOG DAY!!! Get your shit done on time Bryce its not hard to write a blog once every 10 days…. I will never allow this to happen again... I do not want to share the spotlight (none of you read these anyway)

Hello friends, and welcome back to the blog!
Today, I’m diving into a topic that’s always a big deal in the Pokémon Trading Card Game: Rotation. If you’re not familiar, rotation happens once a year when certain cards become illegal for Standard play. It’s all part of keeping the game fresh and balanced, and while it can be a little sad to say goodbye to some of our favorite cards, it’s an important part of the TCG experience. Take a look at this VS Seeker and see if you can tell how broken it is. (If it were legal it would be in every single deck and would be the best card in the game)

Rotation usually kicks in 2 weeks after the release of the first big set of the year, and this year, that set is Journey Together. The cards from the Sword & Shield era, marked with the "F" regulation mark, will no longer be legal starting April 11th. This means that, for the first time, cards like Lost Vacuum and Comfey (Rest in Piss LZB you will not be missed) will be banned from Standard play. An easier way to visualize is that all legal cards post-rotation will have silver borders because all yellow border cards are rotating out. But don’t worry, if you still have old cards with yellow borders that match reprints, you can still use them as long as their function is the same. For example, the Boss’s Orders from Sword & Shield will still be legal in Standard, even though it originally had a yellow border.

If you’re wondering how to tell if a card is rotating out, look for the regulation mark in the bottom-left corner. You’ll see an "F" for cards from the Sword & Shield era, like Radiant Greninja. On the other hand, Flutter Mane has the "H" mark, meaning it’s still good for two more years.

Now onto why it hurts my deck, Ancient Box. The loss of Radiant Greninja is a huge blow to my deck. You should be familiar with how important Radiant Greninja is to my deck. Allowing me to get energy is the discard pile, and draw extra cards on every single turn. Losing that card is tough, but there’s another card I’m really going to miss—Pokéstop. This card has been crucial for digging deeper into my deck, letting me see three more cards each turn, grab items, and continue to thin my deck out of useless ancient cards.

Now, while you might think losing just two cards won’t destroy my deck, trust me—it’s crippling. I’ve spent a lot of time playing this deck, and with these two key cards rotating out, Ancient Box just won’t work the same way anymore. It’s dead, and I’ll have to find a new deck to play.

Another thing to note is that rotation happens a bit earlier online than in person. On March 27th, Journey Together will be legal in PTCG Live (the online game client), and all the F-block cards will be out of the picture. This means I’ve only got one more day to play Ancient Box online before it’s over. I can’t even begin to tell you how sad I am about this.

Honestly, I’m not too excited for rotation to hit. It’s always a tough time for players, especially when you have to say goodbye to cards that have been staples in your deck. I’ll miss Pokéstop, but Radiant Greninja? I’m genuinely mourning the loss of this card. The thought of not being able to play Nest Ball for it on my first turn is enough to bring me to the brink of tears.

The good news is, I still have two weeks to enjoy Ancient Box in person before it’s gone for good. I’ll savor every turn I have left with it. 

Even better news is that several decks, primarily consisting of F-block cards, will be leaving the Standard format for good. Lugia VSTAR, Lost Zone Box, and Regidrago VSTAR are all decks that will never see play again, and I won’t miss them. However, I know thousands of players around the world will be mourning their departure, much like how I’ll miss Greninja.

Thanks for sticking with me through this little rant about rotation. I hope this post helped you understand what rotation is all about and why it’s such a big deal for TCG players.

GONE BUT NEVER FORGOTTEN

RADIANT GRENINJA

5/27/22 - 4/11/25

Quentin: 4

Slice of Life

This blog is a transcription of a twenty minute voice memo I took while getting drinks with my friends, Bryce, Connor, Jesse, and Kelsey. It was an attempt to deliver something new; I didn’t realize how many words would be spoken. 

Everyones name will be abbreviated to their first initial. 

Here are two photos so you can get a feel for the space and insert yourself into the environment while reading. 

Q: Alright Bryce, how would you, describe, how would you describe your whole night? Go through it all.

B: The whole night? There hasn’t been a whole night?

Q: Today.

K: Starts at like 5 pm.

B: Today? Oh like starting now

Q: Like, how did you feel before you walked in? Describe everything about today.

K: Was the haircut today? 

J: No.

B: Two days ago.

B: What are you asking me?

Q: From when you got in the car, to leave, take me through the last two hours for you. 

B: Oh just what I’ve done?

Q: Yeah. 

B: I got in my car. 

Q: Okay. 

B: I remember you said you didn’t have a car, so I picked up a couple fries off the floor. Threw those in the dumpster.

Q: Nice.

B: I drove here and noticed my front left tires, like low again, it’s pulling to the left.

J: Wait your front left? 

Q: His car pulls to the left because he doesn't have air in his front tire. 

B: I have to fill it everyday-

J: You, how is your front tire holding any air then if it’s affecting- 

B: I don’t know

J: You probably just need an alignment that’s probably what it is

C, K, Q: laughs

B: NO, because I check the PSI it’s like 10. I can hear it go brrrr when I go to the gas station

C, K, Q: more laughs

J: You’re gonna like lose that tire.

K: Why don’t you get a new tire? 

C: That’s a good question, I like Kelsey’s question.

B: I don’t know, I really don’t-

J: Or just get the hole patched.

K: you’re going to end up in a bad situation- 

B: No, because the day it happens I’ll send a picture to work and be like woah it’s a nice surprise, just waiting to happen.

J: Oh yea you’ll love the day that that happens.

C: Is this (the song playing in the background) U2?

J: No it’s they Q: You mean “you as well?”

K: No-

B: No the band U2.

K: Don’t be a prick.

Q: Sorry sorry sorry, keep going.

B: Then I arrived here

-Note to Reader, this is one minute and 20 seconds into the recording-

B: Parked right there, and worried about the Molly Goodhead’s parking, I’m gonna get towed, they have a sign that says they’ll tow you. I stepped on that wood to get over, I stepped on that wood and it cracked and bowed, I was like that's really embarrassing, so many people probably just saw that and thought what an idiot-

J: Because you could’ve just walked around it.

B: It's like you,  no, you had to go like, you can't there's another railing.. And then I came over here sat down.

Q: And then? 

B: had some Beers.

Q: Any of note?

B: Peanut butter, Motor, Lube.

J: And then?

Q: Do you have any moments that, like, stick out? 

B: Charizard, Jesse? points to the back of Jesse’s phone case where a Charizard pokemon card is tucked neatly

Q: Nice. 

C: Wait remember when it was just us three out here (Connor, Jesse, Bryce)

B: Oh, we talked about fishing. Jesse did not have a fun fact.

J: That's not true. I said I've been attacked by a chicken before. 

Q: Good answer.

C: It's like a guard dog, but it's not. 

Q: to Bryce is that just about it?

B: referencing earlier moments Drone. I gotta say bye Bobby summer. I gotta say goodbye to mommy. Irish hello, Irish goodbye. Honk Honk. Yup. Big Scary Dog. Nice dog eating bone.

Q: Connor, you go. take us through your day.. 

C: My day-

Q: Doesn't have to be the whole day.

C: Okay, well, I went to bed around 1 

K: woahhh

Q: Jeeeesus Christ we’re starting from midnight

C: I made vegetable lentil soup

Q: Did you actually? 

C: Yeah. 

B: What?

Q: Nathan asked her on the phone how she felt about lentils, 

but it was just a random word, and I guess that inspired her to make lentil soup?

J: What if you gave up lentils for Lent?

C: That would be crazy because it has such great fiber content.

K: What did you give up?

C: Nothing? I apologize I apologize I gave up giving up apologize, 

J: Lord, please forgive me.

C: I celebrate Easter, I just didn't get the memo, I didn't go to Ash Wednesday.

B: Easter happened? 

Q: insane laugh

C: No it’s-

J: Does that make up for if you have lentil soup?

K: laugh

C: No, but like, thank you for thinking that… had that went to bed, woke up, yoga, saw Gus at yoga today. He said, “what the fuck are you doing here?” And I said, “well Gus, because I didn't get to go to Valspar with you”, and he got confused. This ties into a later comment he makes. He said, “wait, you were there, you should have said hi”. I said, “no.” went to yoga, did yoga. Made breakfast. It was great. Then went back to take a little bit of a nap woke up, got ready for this. Kelsey came over then left, we went, we saw you. saw Gus here. He said “Connor. if you really want to go to Valspar all you have to do is ask”. I said, “no, no, no, I don't”. And, um, I don't like golf, and then we ended up back here again. 

K: To Bryce Stop scrolling, stop scrolling. 

B: Look up, looks back down, scrolls 

Everyone: Laughs

Q: All right, keep going., 

silence

J: Oh God, no. It's, it's all messed up. 

C: had drinks-

J: pointing towards a large pit bull roaming the brewery

He’s free range, He's still got his balls.

Q: “He’s free range, he’s still got his balls” 

B: HAH he said that?

B, Q: Laugh

B: “He’s free range” god

C: we giggled, drank, were married, and then that’s it. 

Q: Any memories from being here that specifically would stand out?

C: Kelsey and I went to the bathroom and that was hard for her, she mistook her stall for a handicapped stall because they were all of adequate size. 

B: Oh that’s nice 

J: Did you feel like an asshole for taking it? 

K, C: No

B: Do you guys not use handicap stalls??

K: I said “I'm in the handicap stall” and she said “they're all the same.” 

C: And then Bryce told me about his flies, Jesse showed me a picture of a bird

J: slaps his leg

K: Do you just keep slapping mosquitoes?

J: No-see-ums, but yeah. Sorry I wore shorts!

Q: Those are handsome shorts.

K: He doesn’t even look, just slaps

J: Because I feel it. That's all that matters

Q: Anything else Con? Any closing thoughts? 

C: I wanna put the dog, but I don't think that the dog wants to be-

J: I think he would be fine with it. 

Q: All right, K-mart you’re up.

K: K-mart? What am I doing? 

C:Recap, Recap 

Q: What? What everyone else has been doing?

K: Well, everyone else did something different. That's why I'm asking. 

Q: Just follow whatever the-

K: I went to my grandparents house this morning, I hung out of the pool with them and my parents and my sister and her boyfriend, and my sister's friend, Ashley. And then I came home, I walked Mac. I skedaddled to Connor's house, picked Connor up, found Quentin, picked him up, 

J: Where’d you find him at?

K: His house where I’d expect him to be… No a little moment, I would say, seeing Gus in such a light that I've never seen before where he was like doing bits in the same way that Quentin and his brothers do bits. It really made me feel like he was just one of them and not, like, a real full grown adult

 Q: He had a bag full of cheese.

 J: Why did he have a bag full of cheese?

K: He took all the like free samples, so he had like 20 

Q: He like brings a bag and he gets free-

J: Is he stealing? 

Q: It was complimentary

B: The guy supplies sandwiches for the entire event, all right? 

J: Okay, that's valid. That's payment. It's payment. 

C: to Kelsey Did you mention the money? 

B: You have money? 

K: Oh, he gave us both like eight Chick-fil-a Coupons. Breakfast only.

C: One lunch. 

K:Yeah, she got a lunch. I didn't get one.  

B: Gus holds out with the Lunch

K: And here, I would say memorable moments is both of you two showing up, didn't expect this. After you didn't answer my call, I thought there's no way that he's gonna be here. But then I saw you walking up, and you to Jesse dressed for the Hamptons, good good job. 

J: Hampton? 

K: Yeah, look at you. 

Q: To Jesse Alright, you're up. 

J: Oh, wait, my life story, is that what I'm doing? 

C: Yea

J: Okay, so-

Q: no, no, don't-

J: Uh, okay, last night, I text Quentin, “Go Crumb. I'm not gonna be there. I'm not doing anything. I'm tired”.. go to bed. almost fall asleep on the couch, take 10 hours to eat a pub sub. go to sleep on almost go to sleep on the couch, go to sleep at 2 in the morning. get woken up- 

B: Wait! Can we backtrack a little bit? 

J: Yeah. 

B: You said you got a pub sub? 

J: so uh, was gonna go out, Quentin crumbed instead-

B: Time, time 

J: so uh probably nine-ish

C: no, no it can only be within this 24 hours.

Q: Oh, everyone's got a different everyone's got a different thing. I like the 24 hour.

 B: I'm noticing a pattern. 

Q: What’s the pattern

B: He loves a late night meal. 

J: I always eat like late night. 

Q: He's like an owl

B: That’s crazy

Q: You’ll never see him eat either, he hides it and takes the food home

B: Because why? 

Q: Because he wants to be comfortable.

J: I home, get situated, you know 

B: What is situated?!

Q: dude, you don't know, bro.

K: Do you do couch, table, or bed?

J: Either, it depends on if if people are home, if people are home, I'll go in bedroom and eat at desk, if people are not home, I will eat a countertop in kitchen.

B: Do you like watch shows or something?

J: Yes, I would watch a YouTube video. 

B: Be completely open, no judging. What do you watch on YouTube? Sidemen?

Q: The loudest laugh of the night

J: I watch, like a billion things all at one time.

Q: You don’t watch a Sidemen Sunday three hour video cheap versus expensive Ibiza trip?

B: That’s what we’re gonna do tonight, we’re gonna drink a bunch of beer and watch Sidemen

Q: You want to I’ll do it

B: Alright we’re going to, I have forty beers at my house 

Q: Sorry Jesse, sorry to interrupt 

-

And with that, I end my transcription. This was 12 minutes of the conversation. I felt this was a good place to end because Bryce, Kelsey, and I, did in fact watch Sidemen Sunday. We watched an hour and forty five minute video that was nothing but yelling. As always, Thank you for reading, Love you guys.