Hear 4: The Cali Effect

In this episode of Hear 4 You, I sit down with one of the biggest names in the Yu-Gi-Oh community, Leon (TheCaliEffect), for an honest conversation about perseverance, purpose, and passion.

Leon shares the emotional story behind his diagnosis with severe rheumatoid arthritis, how chronic pain changed his life, and why he never once considered giving up on content creation. We explore the mindset that has helped him upload consistently for over a decade, compete at a high level, and inspire hundreds of thousands of players around the world. 

We also dive deep into:

•  Living with chronic illness and overcoming adversity 
•  The mentality behind elite consistency 
•  Content creation, motivation, and avoiding burnout 
•  The evolution of Yu-Gi-Oh and the trading card game industry 
•  Pokémon, One Piece, Magic, and the future of TCGs 
•  Why comparing yourself to others is the fastest way to lose yourself 
•  Leon's favorite decks, underrated cards, and plenty of laughs along the way 

Whether you're a competitive duelist, a content creator, or someone simply looking for inspiration to keep chasing your goals, this conversation is packed with wisdom, humor, and genuine heart.

Check out his Youtube channel!! 

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

0:06

Hey, I'm Eric, and I'm here for you. New intro. Hope you guys enjoy it. I've got a few suggestions on how the intro needed to be changed to start, so, just letting you guys know I listen to you. I'm here for you, and, I'll do anything to make sure you guys enjoy these episodes moving forward. So suggestions always welcome. I appreciate it. Today's guest is somebody that I personally enjoy watching and listening to. He is a huge member of the Yu-Gi-Oh community. I'm a big fan of the card game, have played it for quite some time, and so it goes without saying he is kind of a pillar to a lot of people and hopefully a lot of people listening. He's one of the most recognizable content creators in the game, with more than a decade of videos, tournaments, strategy guides, and entertainment under his belt. But today's conversation goes a little bit beyond just trading cards. Leon, better known as TheCaliEffect, opens up about living with rheumatoid arthritis, the pain that changed the course of his life, and the mindset that helped him push forward when giving up seemed so much easier. We also dive into the evolution of Yu-Gi-Oh, content creation, potential burnout, competition, and why the only person you should ever compete against is the person you were yesterday. So whether you're a lifelong duelist, somebody chasing a dream, or simply looking for a little motivation to keep moving forward, I think you're gonna take something meaningful away from this conversation. So grab your favorite deck, sit back, relax, and let's hear Leon's story.

Eric 1:47

you've openly discussed your battle with rheumatoid arthritis on your podcast and in videos. when did you realize something was seriously wrong?

Leon 1:56

when did you realize something was seriously wrong? Oh, brother. so I was actually on a cut one day or once upon a time. COVID happened, terrible time for a lot of people. And I decided to, hey, I'm tired of being at my football weight, which is 225. I wanna get down to, I think I wanted to do 215, then 200 when I got to 215. I started, doing a lot more cardio. I changed my diet, and I started lifting less. So I lost a lot of muscle mass 'cause, that's what you wanna do when you wanna... it's an easier way to, lose weight. even my family, they were like, you don't look too well. you look sick." Obviously, I'm a guy that's like, "Hey, I'm still here. I'm still gonna keep pushing," kinda like what happened just right now. And, one day I wind up in the hospital. I'm in, severe pain. Like, my entire body is just... Oh, man, I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy. I felt like it was 1,000 needles in my feet. I couldn't move. I couldn't walk down the stairs. I couldn't walk upstairs. my knees were in terrible pain. Like, it was the worst feeling ever. There was, times where I contemplated, destroying myself and sending myself to the graveyard, as one would say, because of this excruciating pain. I go to the hospital, they admit me, and, they say that this is one of the worst, forms of RA that, or attacks that they've seen. I meet this one guy. he tells me everything's gonna be all right. and then I was like, "You know what? Everything is gonna be all right." And then the rest of my boys, my family, they pull me in. They have a nice little, Intervention. And they're like, "Hey, dog, you were meant to be fat. Go back to 225."

Eric 3:38

with the emotional impact of getting that diagnosis,

Leon 3:40

that diagnosis,

Eric 3:41

did you find it difficult to try and maintain... let's take, like, the content schedule that you're working on because you're posting all the time,

Leon 3:48

posting all the time,

Eric 3:49

your daily life, like getting, 'cause your mindset is, "Hey, I'm here. I'm doing it. The job's gotta get done."

Leon 3:56

gotta

Eric 3:56

how difficult do you find that to be

Leon 3:58

was it for you

Eric 3:58

day to day?

Leon 3:59

day-to-day? were we talking about now or during that time? Well, I guess it's all the same. job's still gotta get done. I mean, that's just who I am. I was talking to TJ yesterday, I've known TJ... He's my little brother. he was like, "You know, can I pull you to the side?" we have a lot of interventions with me, right? 'Cause, kinda do things then, you know, I think about the consequences later, or I do things understanding the consequences and not really caring. And he's like, you kinda do stuff and you jump head in. Like, you don't really like... There's no 50% with you, and you, you don't like test the waters. Like, if you like something, you're doing it." I'm like, "You know, that's the thing that makes me, me," you know what I mean?

Eric 4:42

Mm-hmm.

Leon 4:43

is that you, you get somebody that's readily committed to the entire process. The drawback

Eric 4:49

you have. I would say that

Leon 4:53

you get an upset me or you get a, not so much of a great time. even with the arthritis, finding out I had rheumatoid autoimmune disease, it was still like, "Hey, you know, I'm still committed to this, to this particular task. What are we doing here? You can either be in pain and do videos, or you can be in pain and not do videos." So, actually, I'm not really a religious person, but at that point in time, I grew up, in a church and stuff like that, so, the sending myself to the graveyard had me talking to our creator, and I made a deal with him, and I think I've kept a pretty good portion of my deal, to, reach out to the people that may be in the same circumstances or similar circumstances that I was in and encourage them to do better.

Eric 5:36

The way you speak about it, you're like, "This is a job, it's gotta get done. I gotta get my message out there."

Leon 5:39

the message

Eric 5:40

you made this deal. Were there any moments where you thought about just stepping away from content creation because of your health?

Leon 5:47

never.

Eric 5:47

Yeah.

Leon 5:48

where I thought about stepping away for other things, but never my health.

Eric 5:51

So in those moments, what helped you... when you're at the hardest parts, what helped you mentally push through those toughest periods?

Leon 5:58

your mind during those toughest periods? You won't believe it,

Eric 6:00

I'm seeing a pattern.

Leon 6:02

so simple. I played an entire season on a torn ACL.

Eric 6:07

Can't do that.

Leon 6:09

jobs gotta get done, brother. It's like jobs gotta get done. It didn't actually like give out to like, "Hey, you can't run until the playoffs."

Eric 6:18

you're talking a lot about, your physical health is massive to you. You've been training your body most of your whole life, and, are you still pretty active in sports through and through, or

Leon 6:27

Are

Eric 6:27

you pulling back a lot?

Leon 6:29

you still, you still pretty active in sports? Yeah. Yeah, so here's the crazy thing. I just, finished my 80th millionth season. I am now a super vet.

Eric 6:35

Wow.

Leon 6:36

the new generation of athletes play, and more importantly, I get to coach and play with the new generation of athletes. they're very athletic. They just suck at like f- football, you know what I mean? Like they're, they're, they're freaks of nature, they just don't know the game. and it, it's amazing. It's, it's... think when I quit sports, that's when I'll actually have to reconsider my entire life. That, that's probably gonna be the one that's gonna be like, know, dog, maybe you can't, you know... You, you gotta do something. You grown, bro."

Eric 7:10

Wow.

Leon 7:11

think I could ever quit sports.

Eric 7:12

and that's perfectly fine. that's how you stay young. That's how you keep rheumatoid arthritis at bay,

Leon 7:18

Yeah, and I mean, so I've saw my... Both of my grandfathers, they're, they're, you know, they're passed away. I saw one of them my entire life, I cannot remember him not. He would go, pick up trash. He's, he, he lives in Carson, California. He would go pick up trash. And at first I was like, "Grandpa, you have three homes. Why are you acting like a bum?" I didn't understand it, you know what I mean? He would pick up cardboard, he would pick up aluminum, he would pick up all this stuff. They have recycling plants where you can pick up all this stuff and you take it to a recycling plant, you can make some money. My grandfather bought a truck, a Chevy Silverado, just so he can get, cardboard and aluminum and stack it in the back of his truck. I ain't gonna lie, with the cardboard, since they measure it, he would wet it so it'd make it heavier. Grandpa was kinda crazy right there. he'd take it to the thing and make money off of it. is he doing this when he's already a millionaire, Like he already owns multiple California properties. He did it for the love of the game. And when he stopped doing it, literally a week later, he died. It's that love, love of the game. You gotta find a passion. You gotta find something you love to do. For me, it's sports, and I'll play it until I can't participate. And when I can't participate, I will put on the next generation.

Eric 8:25

huh? And do you feel like putting on the next generation will kinda keep you going through that motion as well?

Leon 8:29

you're

Eric 8:30

seeing the game, you're feeling the game, but you're not in the game. Do you think there's a massive difference between the two?

Leon 8:36

I mean, it's like saying, would LeBron James, be able to play in the '80s or '90s? James is a freak athlete. Of course he would, right? people saying it's too... No, it's not too tough. It's every generation, we as humans get stronger, we get faster. we evolve. So why would I... Like why would I say that my generation athletes are better than this generation? Tougher? More than likely, right? We have rules. We had kind of ridiculous rules that allowed us to do some pretty crazy things. But better athletes? No. These kids are doing things that, we looked up to, like one-handed catches, all this other type of stuff. we thought that that was so cool and like the most amazing thing. These kids are doing it for routine. They're doing it for like practice and warmups. So of course they're a better athlete. They're just stupid. They make terrible decisions, and just for context, I look even at the 20-year-olds, they're kids still to me. Like they make some really dumb decisions.

Eric 9:32

How important is your audience and the community during those difficult times when you're battling the pain

Leon 9:37

being

Eric 9:39

hell, even the pressures of having to get the job done?

Leon 9:41

job done? There's

Eric 9:42

No pressure at

Leon 9:43

No pressure.

Eric 9:44

all? What

Leon 9:44

Yeah. I mean, I'm wired a little differently, I guess. I keep getting told that by everybody. I do it 'cause I love y'all. Like, there's no, "What? Come on now. Let's just do it."

Eric 9:55

a

Leon 9:57

I think it would be better if maybe, like, TJ or Bert answered that question. They'd be like, "Yeah, he just kinda, like, does it. He doesn't really, he doesn't really get that far."

Eric 10:07

No, and I mean, if that's the, if that's the mindset, that's amazing, right? 'Cause that's just an incredible way to look at it, to sit there and say, "Hey, it's who I am. There's zero pressure to this. I do it 'cause it's just the love of the game." You have to respect something like that. So you know, if you really love the community and the audience like that, then they just push you through those difficult times, 'cause your mindset is just wired different.

Leon 10:27

It's a lot of things that, like... you don't have... And obviously, if there's pressure there, there's pressure there. There's ways to deal with it. I've dealt with, being nervous and having the pressures of, being able to perform and stuff like that. but the amazing thing about life that if the pressure is not there, if you don't think about it, it doesn't exist. It- if it doesn't cross your mind.

Eric 10:45

What's a misconception that people have about rheumatoid arthritis, especially when they see someone that's at such a high level performing so efficiently like yourself?

Leon 10:56

the biggest misconception is they think it's arthritis, and I can't really blame them because it says arthritis in the name. I have no idea why they named it rheumatoid arthritis, but it's not arthritis. It's not even close to arthritis. they always tell me, "Oh, you know, if you're having a bad thing, just take an Advil." That is not the same. Like, brother, it's my immune system is attacking my joints. There's no amount of Advil, there's no amount of, you know... It, it doesn't work. It's not something, that can be fixed like that. currently I'm on an immune suppressant, which I always thought I had a very strong immune system until I realized that it's a little, I guess maybe a little too strong. and is what's helping the... That and working out is what's helping, you know, keep the rheumatoid arthritis in check. The next one is I should stop working out. that one's crazy for me. So, even if I did, even if the rheumatoid arthritis was not, you know, it was hurt by me working out, I'd probably still work out, I'm not gonna lie.

Eric 11:55

Yeah, it's the mindset. you're just a devoted person to that game, so I respect that, right?

Leon 12:01

Yeah.

Eric 12:01

your personality in total,

Leon 12:02

Yeah.

Eric 12:03

is amazing, so has dealing with the chronic pain changed your perspective on, like, success and ambition?

Leon 12:12

How's dealing with the chronic pain? I never even, I never thought of the two correlating together.

Eric 12:19

So, whether you had this or not,

Leon 12:21

Yeah.

Eric 12:22

was always going to be who you are and what you did.

Leon 12:25

maybe when I was younger I didn't have this mindset. I was probably just really, hot-headed and fixated on things when I was younger. But, I had a conversation with my brother-in-law. this is when I sucked at football, and he was like, which is ironic that he said it, he was like, you have to want it more than you wanna breathe. anything that you, wanna be on this field, you have to want it more than you wanna breathe." and that's when it stuck for me for anything. I was like, all right, if I can do it just for football, if I can become a baller in football by wanting it more than I wanna breathe, then I can do it for anything. So I've just been applying that to everything that I do. Copy/paste type,

Eric 13:02

Wow.

Leon 13:02

And, it's been successful.

Eric 13:05

Yes, it has. I mean, you're on the Mount Rushmore of the Yu-Gi-Oh content creators. You are, for a lot of people, just a, a presence and optimism and performance and, you bring us so much joy. And, I guess this aggressive competitive nature that's still this, friendly, aroma about it. yeah, that's just who you are. at least that's what I see, that's what I've, heard other people say, it's a, it's a solid mindset to have and one to strive for, honestly.

Leon 13:32

I appreciate you. And, oh, let me interrupt you real quick. W-

Eric 13:35

Please.

Leon 13:35

Who the, who's on your Mountain Rushmore? I'm, I'm trying to figure that out,

Eric 13:38

You gotta say Sam. I think Sam's on there. Pok's up there. you're up there for sure. it's a toss-up. Haseen's great. I'd throw him in there, but, probably Nesh. Probably Nesh.

Leon 13:51

Okay. you know, that's a cool Mount Rushmore. not what I expected it to be.

Eric 13:55

I...

Leon 13:56

my Mount Rushmore is me with four different expressions,

Eric 13:59

As it should be. Yep.

Leon 14:00

no, I'm just playing.

Eric 14:01

That makes sense. Dylon,

Leon 14:03

hypothetically,

Eric 14:04

Dylon, and Dylon.

Leon 14:06

So no, I, I think that's a really solid lineup. For me personally, all right. hypothetically, I can't pick myself, right?

Eric 14:12

Okay, sure, you copy. I have to.

Leon 14:15

other people. dang, that one's a tough one. All right, maybe I'll, I'll come back. Dub K Dat, that's his name. It's, I don't know if you knew him, Team Avalanche.

Eric 14:23

Oh, do know Team Avalanche. Never mind. Let me pull back on that one. Yes.

Leon 14:27

Yeah, yeah, Team Avalanche is definitely in my third place spot.

Eric 14:31

Oh.

Leon 14:32

and then for my fourth, Yugimation. Yeah, Yugimation,

Eric 14:36

Huh.

Leon 14:37

now to be fair, I'm very biased towards my Mount Rushmore. Those are the people that got me into the game and have pushed me forward, and, I don't know if I'd be the same content creator I am today without them, so a little bit of bias there, but easily my Mount Rushmore.

Eric 14:51

That makes sense. and you mentioned a lot of people who aren't still doing it, who've kind of passed through. Maybe they're still playing, but they're not pushing through, the evolution of the game like you have. I mean, you've gone, what are we coming up, close to a decade now of you streaming and pushing?

Leon 15:05

over a

Eric 15:05

Over a decade.

Leon 15:07

over a decade. Yeah, I started in 2000 and... December of 2011

Eric 15:11

Oh, my goodness.

Leon 15:14

yeah, it's almost a decade and a half,

Eric 15:17

Wow.

Leon 15:18

around here. I didn't really blow up until- or maybe about 2017-esque type, you know? around that era.

Eric 15:27

Yeah, and you've been keeping the momentum from then. I mean, you've just been skyrocketing through every evolution of Yu-Gi-Oh. I mean, you started, we're looking at Xyz, Beyond, you're looking at Links going through. and a lot of your videos have covered basically that transition of Yu-Gi-Oh and how difficult it is to stay relevant, in this mindset. Because the honest fact is, I think when you look at relevancy, there might be only like five or six of y'all in this Yu-Gi-Oh community that are really consistently pushing through it. Do you find trying to keep up with all that, trying to, make pace with everybody else, is that difficult? Or is because of your mindset, you're just like, "Hey, I'm doing it because I love it, and this is just who I am. I don't need to compete with nobody"?

Leon 16:08

Two things. I agree with the second part, obviously. have you played sports?

Eric 16:13

yeah, football, soccer, baseball.

Leon 16:15

okay. You played like, 'cause, you know, everybody plays

Eric 16:18

Yeah,

Leon 16:18

you know what I

Eric 16:19

Mm-hmm. For

Leon 16:23

about structured football, coaches, stuff like that, right. You know how, I mean, I'm pretty sure this is like the old adage that every coach tells you, "Compete with the guy, compete blah, blah, blah. Compete, compete, compete," right? And I don't know about you, but in my head, and I used to think in other people's heads, and probably still to this day, when they meant by compete is you wanna be better than someone else, right? how do you become better than somebody else? You're not them. be a better you, right? I think that it's a defining, trait. it separates the people that consistently lose to the people that consistently win. I can't be a better you 'cause you're you, right? And This is gonna start off to sound like some sappy, a Gen Z everybody's getting along type BS, but I promise you it's not. I can't be a better you. I can't be a better Sam, 'cause I'm not Sam. You know what I mean? I can't. Like,

Eric 17:12

Yep.

Leon 17:13

like we w-

Eric 17:13

Yep.

Leon 17:13

two different lives. we can't compare to each other because we are two different people. But what I can do is I can be a

Eric 17:19

That

Leon 17:23

that when you start to compare yourself to someone else, that's when you start to lose yourself. only person that you can compete with genuinely is a past you. So, your only person that you can be better than is you. And it's tough 'cause, you

Eric 17:38

Do you find that

Leon 17:42

has been on the downslide, for the last, year or so, which is fine. I mean, I've picked up a lot of other things in life that has taken my time and attention. But I would sit there, and sometimes I get a little jealous. You know, you see some other content creators doing really well, and you're like... It's not like, "Dang, why... I wanna be better than him." It's like, "Damn, why can't I do that well?" Like, what is wrong with me, right? But, life is just how it is, man. It's never an always upward trajectory. There's ups, there's downs. there's doubt. there's times where you need to work on yourself, times where you need to reinvent yourself, and that's part of the growth.

Eric 18:16

that reinvention and that growth is kind of like a pushing force for you, where it's like, "Okay, I am going to do this. I'm gonna be the best that I can be"?

Leon 18:24

G- so it's, it's definitely inner conflict, right? 'Cause you wanna be better, but you don't know how to f- you don't have a handbook on life, right? Nobody teaches you how to get better, at least for my situation. You know, I don't have a dad. So, like, I don't... My mom, I don't have a mom, I don't have a dad. I got my wife, my brothers, my sisters, and that's pretty much it. So I didn't, don't get that handbook. So it's definitely one of those things where, it can be very stressful, like, when you have a problem with, maybe a coworker or a boss or something like that, or you're going through, a particular phase in life where things are just bad. I get that type of conflict when situations like this arise, and the thing is, what's frustrating is that you try and you try and you try, you try to do it by yourself and you fail. And then you start to realize this is what you should've been doing, and that's how you become the better you.

Eric 19:10

how difficult do you find it, balancing the consistency, the burnout, and your creativity while you're growing your channel, but also evolving yourself?

Leon 19:19

That's the cool thing. I don't think I ever get burned out.

Eric 19:21

That's insane. That's an insane thing to say.

Leon 19:24

I mean, hey, I've been uploading at least four videos a week for 12, 14 years straight, so

Eric 19:29

I still don't know how you're managing that.

Leon 19:31

Bro, I took one break. I went to Florida in 2023, 2024. week before, I edited and uploaded enough videos for the entire week I'm not sure if you consider that an actual break, 'cause I was working double time so I can have that week off in Florida.

Eric 19:48

That's,

Leon 19:49

and then we

Eric 19:49

insane.

Leon 19:50

I did the same thing.

Eric 19:51

So I'd be remissed, obviously we talked about very important, topics here, and it's gonna really resonate with the people that need to hear it, and I think it's gonna be very important for them to understand how your mindset and your strength through rheumatoid arthritis has really kind of projected you to the success you've had. But if I don't talk about Yu-Gi-Oh as a whole, as the game that kind of propelled not just you, but a whole community and culture to where it is now, I'm sure I'd get some riots, or some kickback at least.

Leon 20:19

we?

Eric 20:20

Yeah, just for a little bit, you know? It's, it's always, at least for me, top of mind. I'm always thinking about Yu-Gi-Oh. What do you personally feel about the game and its evolution from when you started to now? How do you think that that's been?

Leon 20:33

I've been playing Yu-Gi-Oh since the game came out. So, since I was 10, and I'm 30... Don't tell anybody. I'm September. Everybody still thinks I'm 75, and my fans, they don't know my age.

Eric 20:45

No,

Leon 20:45

they, now if they watch this podcast, they can finally get my age, so there you go.

Eric 20:50

bleep it out. They'll never hear it.

Leon 20:54

That'd be even funnier. So here's the problem. We live in times where we are nostalgic about the past, 'cause we are old enough to remember the past vividly, right? you go back and we play these older formats, we feel like, "Oh my God, these were so fun." they weren't fun when we actually played them. I was broke. So if you couldn't afford the best cards, getting cooked no matter what. and, and that's why it's like w- we got these, rose-colored glasses on when we think about these older formats, but they were not fun when we were younger. Fast-forward to present day, we're experiencing the same issues, just with a different face. It's still people that can't afford the game, are still struggling from time to time. It's a little better. And same problems that haunted us in the beginning of the game, broken scenarios or scenarios where, plays and stuff like that- Feel unwinnable no matter what you do still exist in this game. I think, Yu-Gi-Oh is a really fun game when you stop being competitive. When it's you and your friends. like no better Yu-Gi-Oh than that, in my opinion.

Eric 22:05

So i-is that more of a stance on, like, the competitive scene as it is now, or... I, I mean, I think it, it's... First off, let me backtrack. That is the right opinion. That is the perfect opinion. That's what this game, at least that's how I feel, this game was built for that. It's for friendships, to play together, to grow together, have this lovely community a-at your local game store, and really get to enjoy the scene as a whole. But do you feel the competitive scene as it is, is kind of stuck in this consistent pattern? I mean, going all the way back to Edison format, where it was like you had one deck that was dominant, and maybe you'd see a Glad Beast come in. Maybe there was a Twilight Storm. It's a hard pass. You don't want that.

Leon 22:45

top tier, bro. We will, we will. Anyways, keep going

Eric 22:48

yes. but I mean, now, and you're looking at the format now, and you just put out a video recently on how to beat cool tunes and these other top-tier meta decks that are going to be, basically the top three, the hard-pressing decks. Do you feel that that competitive scene is a detriment to what Yu-Gi-Oh! is and what it could be?

Leon 23:06

I just had a realization. when we play football competitively or when we play anything competitively for that matter, we play to win. So we're gonna play, we're gonna take advantage of the most busted things in the game, right? Yu-Gi-Oh's biggest problem is that it doesn't have a casual community, like a consistent casual community. Magic has Commander, correct?

Eric 23:28

do, yep.

Leon 23:30

Pokemon by nature is a casual game. just simply of how it's built. My son plays Pokemon. He loves Pokemon. He'll go up to the tournament and not win a single game. He enjoys himself, right?

Eric 23:43

Mm-hmm.

Leon 23:44

can say the same thing about a lot of Pokemon players because the game is more geared towards casual play. Yu-Gi-Oh does not have that, and that's the problem with the competitive scene, is that you either have to be super competitive, playing and using everything in your power to win, you're not really playing Yu-Gi-Oh. Most people's experience, at least from my eyes, most people's experience with Yu-Gi-Oh is the current format and going and playing under the current format and being as competitive as possible. There's no additional format that allows us to not be competitive.

Eric 24:21

I think even when we were talking about the old school com- you know, formats that are coming up now, we have these legacy formats that we can play competitively, you see the little tweaks and the little advantages, and I think the competitive scene is always evolving. But you're 100% correct. I think it is a beautiful transition of competitive nature that, you, you see your son playing Pokemon and you're like, "Oh, this is a fun and casual game," but if he were to jump into Yu-Gi-Oh! and play competitively, I, I think there's that slight dichotomy of aggression that comes with this card game.

Leon 24:50

Exact- exa- like, it's like they're always, we're always trying to take each other's heads off, and

Eric 24:54

Yeah.

Leon 24:56

"You played my favorite Pokemon. Great job. I like that." And Yu-Gi-Oh! is like, "Don't play that card. If you Ash Blossom me, we might have to go outside." You know what I mean? Like...

Eric 25:05

Hand traps have become the kickoff point for just brawls at this point.

Leon 25:09

exactly. Like, has it happened? No, most Yu-Gi-Oh! players are, I don't think they'd hurt a fly but it, it's definitely, you know, it's like that. it's very, subvert with the aggression, like, kinda like what you said.

Eric 25:22

You You know, I don't know. I think Jesse Cotton's thrown some hands.

Leon 25:27

you mean Hans Burgers or what? Love the doob.

Eric 25:32

Who's, who's winning that fight between you, Sam, and Jesse?

Leon 25:34

There's not a single person in this content creator sphere that can beat me in a fight.

Eric 25:38

Man, me me and you. I, that is my mindset day to day. I'm sitting here thinking physically sitting across from somebody playing, physically, you don't stand a chance. But you just happened to have the money to buy the card that I needed, so okay. And you pulled the nuts? That's fine.

Leon 25:53

Oh,

Eric 25:56

So y-

Leon 25:57

that's where the aggression comes out. Because in Pokemon, I don't know if you've played it, I'm like, "You know what? I, I... lucky that I'm a civilized person, okay?" But in Pokemon, never in my life have I sat across and got beat by somebody and was like, "You know what? I think we should go outside," type. You know what I

Eric 26:12

No.

Leon 26:13

it's never that serious with any other card game. Even Lorcana

Eric 26:19

Do,

Leon 26:23

like that, it never felt that serious. Yu-Gi-Oh! is a different animal.

Eric 26:27

do you think, now that I'm thinking about it, do you think that's why Yu-Gi-Oh! is kind of in this state of, kinda limbo, right? Like before, people were kinda questioning their powerhouse of a structure because One Piece came through and it dominated. Lorcana came through, dominated. Magic has always been in that top three. Doesn't matter what game comes, Magic is there. And Yu-Gi-Oh! fluctuated, and to the point where I think right now people are saying Yu-Gi-Oh! is dropping to fourth, fifth, possibly even sixth in comparison to some games.

Leon 26:57

Yep. I mean, I understand what they're saying, and they're wrong. Yu-Gi-Oh! is still the number one card game in the entire world. but I do think that, there's a couple of external pressures, right? The other card games are cheap to get into. Like, Magic has an inexpensive side, but it also has an affordable side, right? Pokemon is nothing but affordable, and Lorcana and One Piece, not only do they have better price support, they're also structured in a way where people can all play the game and still have success, within a reasonable budget. Yu-Gi-Oh!, this is probably the last format, was probably the cheapest Yu-Gi-Oh! has ever been. while you could win with, I guess, maybe $100, the other card games you can win with half the cost. It's still more expensive to the other card games. have to think about the IPs that got into the card game. One Piece is not a small IP. Piece should have had a card game from the jump, you know what I mean?

Eric 27:56

Mm-hmm.

Leon 27:57

Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh! as one of those type of card games from the very beginning. I mean, come on

Eric 28:04

Without

Leon 28:05

Disney has to be one of the biggest IPs, entire world, right? Like, I'd

Eric 28:10

a doubt. Yep.

Leon 28:12

these IPs are taking away from other card games simply because people really, really, really rock with these particular, intellectual properties. So, understand their sentiment of putting it down and saying Yu-Gi-Oh! isn't the number one card game in the world, but, I mean, at the end of the day, they're still wrong. These games comparatively to Yu-Gi-Oh! suck.

Eric 28:33

do you think the same thing goes for Riftbound? I mean, we're seeing a massive jump in Riftbound from...

Leon 28:39

right?

Eric 28:39

Yes, correct.

Leon 28:41

it still sucks. I want to reiterate, in comparison to Yu-Gi-Oh! sucks. there's not a game that's came close.

Eric 28:47

I mean, One Piece, there's so many decks that can be top tier, right? And you've mentioned this before, that you can win at a good level with a cheap deck. But in Yu- in Yu-Gi-Oh, as you mentioned, you have to... It's pay to play. You have to. If you wanna win, you're buying the case. You're pulling the insane amount of, luck. In fact, I think you just did, you just put a post where you bought a case and probably pulled what some would consider the craziest case.

Leon 29:12

One of the craziest cases I've ever opened.

Eric 29:14

what, three, Phidrolus, the Dominus, the, the Solems in it? Four. Apologies, four.

Leon 29:21

four.

Eric 29:21

let me correct myself.

Leon 29:23

three secrets, one starlight.

Eric 29:25

Insane. Insane.

Leon 29:27

so

Eric 29:27

you look at that, and you sit there and say, "I need these cards." Each one of these cards, 100 plus, right? So, you're putting in the value to win that. You talk about One Piece, $50 will get you in the top five.

Leon 29:39

Yeah.

Eric 29:40

Pokemon, they have four different versions of the same card, different artwork, but they all do the same thing. Are we looking at a situation where Yu-Gi-Oh as itself is becoming this... is it eating its own, is it an Ouroboros, is basically what I'm trying to say, where it's just in this constant fluctuation of, like, okay, we have now made this incredible deck structure where we're gonna be dealing with, three top tier decks, Cool Tune, Elf-Note, Art Mage, right? We now have to bring something else to come back, or we have to ban something that people wanna continue to grow with, like the Branded deck. They have to hit Branded Fusion because people are still making it too good. Is that something that is just a problem for Yu-Gi-Oh in a whole, or is that something that you think they'll eventually get out of? 100%.

Leon 30:27

don't think they'll get out of it. I think it's too profitable for them for it to get out of it. Like, if it doesn't change their profits, as long as it doesn't change their profits in a negative way, why would we change? You know what I mean?

Eric 30:39

Yeah.

Leon 30:40

they're okay with it, so I mean, we, the people's dollars seem to go to be okay with it. a twist, I didn't need four Hydralisks, I needed nine, so you

Eric 30:50

Oh, no.

Leon 30:51

yeah, I need, like, nine Dominus, nine Hydralisks. Like, yeah, it's, it's crazy. So, that doesn't change, and I think it's simply because Yu-Gi-Oh is... Here's, the real why Konami does this. we've grown up on Yu-Gi-Oh. We have an emotional and social attachment to this card game. So, now we got big boy money, and we're gonna drop big boy money on the game.

Eric 31:18

Yeah, end of story.

Leon 31:19

that.

Eric 31:20

Yeah.

Leon 31:20

Konami knows that, so, they're gonna

Eric 31:22

Is-

Leon 31:22

of that.

Eric 31:23

Do you feel that's why they've made such drastic changes in dropping mega tins for these, smaller, more dice packs, but also incorporating these Grandmaster rares?

Leon 31:36

Yeah, definitely. And I wanna go on record to be the first one to say that the new, what, Magnificent Monsters or whatever set, whatever it's called, it's just the Megatons. They just didn't put a 10 on it. It's the same thing. It's, like think about it. You get three packs inside of a box. You get reprints, and they're very low, low percentage to get. I actually mathed it out with my stream yesterday. it's not a good number, to be able to get these particular cards that you're looking for. Kind of like the Mega Tens. And in order to, get a decent chance at getting the cards, you need to spend, guess how much? Yeah, guess, guess. Just

Eric 32:14

If you're asking me to do this, it's gotta be something egregious. I'm gonna say let's go with 1,000.

Leon 32:20

You know what? That would guarantee you get everything. Yeah, that,

Eric 32:22

Oh, perfect. See? There we go.

Leon 32:23

it. But, but have the same feeling, you would need to spend just as much as you would spend on Mega Tens.

Eric 32:31

So basically they're just saving their self money by not having to print with a higher cost metal and just putting it in a box. That's all they did.

Leon 32:38

yeah, it's the

Eric 32:39

Yeah.

Leon 32:39

thing, give or

Eric 32:39

It's a...

Leon 32:40

I'm gonna do more math on it, But yeah, it's a Mega Ten with a face mask on it.

Eric 32:45

I mean, it makes sense, right? It's all it is. And then of course, putting out the notice saying, "Hey, mega tins are gone," did nothing for anybody. I mean, there was a lot of, creators out there that said, "Oh, finally, these tins were nothing."

Leon 32:56

Yeah,

Eric 32:56

Yeah, of course. You never did anything with them.

Leon 32:58

Yeah. It's like, I mean, who... I don't know many people, there were some people that said they collected it, but did you ever collect the Mega Tens?

Eric 33:05

No, of course not. I needed the packs, got the packs, tossed the tins. Didn't need them.

Leon 33:10

That's what most people did. I thought that that was nice of them to stop doing the Tens, simply because it was a waste of resources. Like I'm not like super environmentally conscious, but I know when something's being wasted, and that was a waste.

Eric 33:24

What I really wanna ask is, you have games like Pokemon and One Piece and, Yu-Gi-Oh! that obviously have chase cards

Leon 33:34

Yep.

Eric 33:35

But people have turned Pokemon basically into an economy where you have grown-ass men running, grabbing the product, scalping it. I mean, they're doing it not just with the cards, but with clothes. Target had this whole, lineup of stuff that came out and, I went with my family to try and get them a little something and it was gone. We were one of the top few people in line because I knew that this was gonna happen and it was all gone. Do you think that that's what Yu-Gi-Oh! is trying to do with this Grandmaster Rare set to really reinvigorate the game and make people say, "Okay, great. Now this has become a chase. This is something that can turn itself into an economy"?

Leon 34:12

I think, Konami US messaged Konami Japan, who messaged Shueisha. you remember when, Pusha T and Lil Wayne had a beef, and Pusha T was like, "You signed to somebody that signed to somebody that signed to somebody"? All right. that's pretty much the same thing. So Konami messaged Konami Japan, who messaged Shueisha, signed to somebody that signed to somebody that signed to somebody, who, I'm pretty sure had to run it through the company, that also, does Yu-Gi-Oh!, Studio Dice. And they figured that, hey, yeah, maybe we should, start trying to cash in on having people so interested in our product that they would buy it all out just to sell online. Yeah, I mean, I think that's a normal practice that you would want for your product, right?

Eric 34:59

I mean, it makes sense on a business model, but-

Leon 35:04

them, like, what, six, seven years? Eight

Eric 35:07

yeah. Uh-huh.

Leon 35:08

Not, not really. I'm, I'm, let me get out of my pessimism side. Let me stay to the optimism side. It is unfortunate, though, that, you were in line and somebody bought all of your stuff, and that's ironically where the competitiveness in Pokemon goes to, right? Like, instead of it being the actual card games, the competitiveness goes from getting the items.

Eric 35:28

Do you think that's kind of a hindrance for, let's say someone like your son who's super into Pokemon sitting here saying, "Great, Dad, this new set's coming out. I really wanna go grab it." And you're like, "Yeah, son, let's go." You go to your game store and they're like, "Hey man, some dude just came and bought everything out. We've got nothing for you."

Leon 35:44

I don't think it's a hindrance. the reason why is that when we were growing up, things like that would happen, and we'd either, figure out how to get what we wanted or we suck it up. we don't have that a lot in the world, where kids get to see unfairness, right? as adults, we know what unfair is, but children don't know what unfair is, and when they don't get exposed to unfair, when they get older, they're like, "No, it's supposed to go this way 'cause this matters for everybody." That's not how life works, though.

Eric 36:11

You're 100% correct.

Leon 36:13

yeah, I would love to take my son to situations like that. I pray that when he gets his hopes up and he really wants this Yu-Gi-Oh! set, and he works hard for it. He cleans up the entire house and does everything, and we go there and it's not there, and we can't find it anywhere, and it's heartbroken. I need that because that's what builds character.

Eric 36:31

Mm. And do you feel like that's kinda how you were structured, especially in sports and as you went through, is that, what built you up to who you

Leon 36:39

Oh, yeah. All the time. All of the girls that rejected me, all of the teachers that told me the platinum truth about myself. Even the teachers that didn't tell me the truth and just lied to me and said they didn't like me and stuff like that. That type of stuff in the world makes who we are. what do they say? hard times create strong men, strong men create soft times, soft times create soft men.

Eric 36:59

are today? I'm pretty

Leon 37:01

Something like that. We're,

Eric 37:02

sure that's how it goes. Something like that.

Leon 37:04

soft men and children, people and period. and we have to get to a point where we have the newer generation understand how life is.

Eric 37:16

this has been an incredible time talking with you. I have had an amazing time. a few things as we're kind of winding down. I gotta know, what's your favorite Yu-Gi-Oh deck or Yu-Gi-Oh card?

Leon 37:26

See, people keep asking me this, and I'm not gonna lie, I am a whore, okay?

Eric 37:31

Yes.

Leon 37:32

from Yu-Gi-Oh! strategy to Yu-Gi-Oh! strategy. I could never pick one. At least I'm honest with myself, unlike some people out there,

Eric 37:39

Yeah, of course, 'cause I can give you my top three no problem, but you,

Leon 37:42

what's your

Eric 37:42

y-

Leon 37:42

Hold on, what's your top

Eric 37:44

don't do... no,

Leon 37:44

And why is it Gladiator Beast?

Eric 37:46

no, no. Hard pass. number one with the bullet always will be Blackwings. Best format, best deck.

Leon 37:51

I see why

Eric 37:52

It's

Leon 37:52

I see why you're not cool.

Eric 37:54

best across the board. you're just mad 'cause you got Black Whirlwind on the board for three, and you're sitting here looking at it like,

Leon 38:00

you know? How'd you know?

Eric 38:01

Of course.

Leon 38:02

the

Eric 38:02

Yep, it's the life you live. It's what you deserve. number two is Toons. I love Toons. I'm so excited for the support. I played Toons when it first came out, but now, I mean, you're gonna see it everywhere.

Leon 38:13

For

Eric 38:17

it's fun to play with, it's fun to play against. it always got you thinking, it should be the best deck, but Black Wings is just better. but yeah, that's me. You let me keep playing cool tunes the way that I am, that's probably gonna creep up in there. It's just such a great deck. but yeah, I mean, a lot of formats, a lot of different decks, those three will always stand out best. But you're saying you, you're just all over the place. You're like, "I'll play whatever. I'll do whatever. I'm here for it."

Leon 38:40

Okay, every deck that I've topped with, that's my favorite deck, so Sword Soul, Dragon Link, Kashtira, Earth Machine. I'll still put Red Dragon Archfiend even I should have, but

Eric 38:53

no.

Leon 38:53

circumst- other people needed to get their invite,

Eric 38:56

I see. Mm-hmm.

Leon 38:57

I'm trying to think of the other strategies. I don't wanna miss anything. Dino, I can't remember anything else. But yeah, yeah, as you can see, we're, we're already going I love Branded.

Eric 39:06

yep.

Leon 39:06

Okay, now let me, let me rephrase. Most fiend decks, most machine decks, and random assortment of strategies.

Eric 39:14

I love it. You got so specific, then got general immediately. You're like, "Ah, just..."

Leon 39:19

because I had to, like I was thinking, I was like, "Do I really like all of the fiend decks?" And I couldn't think of one that I didn't like, but I'm pretty sure there's going to be, like, some cutesy fiend deck that I'm like, "You know what? No, I can't do this. I don't like this."

Eric 39:32

You seem like a Medulce kind of guy

Leon 39:34

Yeah, no.

Eric 39:36

to

Leon 39:36

I think

Eric 39:37

What?

Leon 39:37

but just

Eric 39:38

Yeah, they're fine. what would you say is the most underrated card that's ever been printed?

Leon 39:43

Forbidden Chalice.

Eric 39:43

Lovely, yes.

Leon 39:45

you, yeah, you, you I, I have favorite, like,

Eric 39:47

Oh.

Leon 39:48

like that, but Forbidden Chalice is the most underrated card in the

Eric 39:51

Wow, I didn't expect that.

Leon 39:52

if you had to pick something else, Book of Moon is definitely in the table. definitely a card worth recommending. The card is, like, the best minus one probably of all time.

Eric 40:03

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Leon 40:05

there are some other cards.

Eric 40:06

Kuriboh, for sure.

Leon 40:08

Paribo is crazy.

Eric 40:11

what's one deck that you still wish was meta?

Leon 40:13

None of them.

Eric 40:13

Really? Soul Soul?

Leon 40:14

of them.

Eric 40:15

You wouldn't keep

Leon 40:16

Hell

Eric 40:16

meta?

Leon 40:16

No, no, God no, God no.

Eric 40:19

Really?

Leon 40:20

you know how I wound up playing Swords Soul, right?

Eric 40:22

I've watched the video

Leon 40:23

Okay, yeah, so, it's not that I dislike it, it's like, time has come, right? I've experienced it. It was fun while it lasted. Like, having a deck just come back into the meta with no, like, buildup or anything feels like just going to talk to your ex again.

Eric 40:39

That is a...

Leon 40:40

while it lasted, but, time to move on.

Eric 40:42

Of course. Of course. If you could duel any anime character, who would it be?

Leon 40:47

Yugi.

Eric 40:48

The, f-

Leon 40:50

out of him. I want Atem. Nah, he'd get dog walked. He'd get dog walked.

Eric 40:53

I don't know.

Leon 40:54

funeral.

Eric 40:54

I don't know. Kaiba tried, didn't work.

Leon 40:57

yeah, it's 'cause it's Kaiba, okay?

Eric 40:59

Kaiba brought that man,

Leon 41:00

own...

Eric 41:01

he brought that man back from the dead and he still got whipped.

Leon 41:06

but you gotta remember, Kaiba has hate in his heart, and he doesn't believe in the cards. got love in my heart, and I believe in the cards. He's

Eric 41:13

Listen.

Leon 41:14

Yugi's getting

Eric 41:14

Look, I've seen you play TJ a few times, and I've seen TJ pull the heart of the cards on you, and there was no coming back for you.

Leon 41:22

everybody can lose to anything.

Eric 41:24

I...

Leon 41:25

yeah.

Eric 41:25

think Yugi ain't putting Delta ass?

Leon 41:28

I know I don't, because TJ is my kryptonite. That's the problem. That's the difference here, all right? Like, Yugi's not my kryptonite, TJ is. And right now, he's building a cool tune deck that I'm gonna be very, very upset to duel,

Eric 41:42

Oh,

Leon 41:42

in Duel House.

Eric 41:43

that's my boy.

Leon 41:44

you know, it's just one of those things.

Eric 41:46

That's hilarious.

Leon 41:47

Joey's arch nemesis is Kaiba. You know? Joey's never beaten Kaiba. He never will, right? Yugi's arch nemesis is Raphael. He hasn't beaten Raphael.

Eric 41:57

no, didn't he beat Rafael?

Leon 41:59

We're not talking about that

Eric 42:00

Atem beat Rafael.

Leon 42:01

Yeah, see? That, that's... See? There we go. There we go.

Eric 42:03

You

Leon 42:03

There

Eric 42:04

me.

Leon 42:04

people that just are your kryptonite. TJ is mine.

Eric 42:07

I meant that man will do some... I've seen DJ pull out some incredible moves, and then I've watched him play the Malice deck and thought, "That's pretty rough."

Leon 42:17

You know what? his motto, just like how my motto is you do good? Yes? Okay, then you're doing a great job," his is, "Expect the unexpected." And, he's doing, a really good job at that.

Eric 42:27

Yeah. that's why he's my favorite. Love that guy.

Leon 42:30

Yeah, He's great.

Eric 42:31

So if there's anybody out there listening right now, let's say maybe they're trying to come up on Yu-Gi-Oh!. Maybe they're trying to be the best they can in a sport, or maybe they're somebody that's similar to you with the chronic illness, that they're just trying to chase a dream. What's something that you would wanna say to any of these people right now that you hope resonates with them?

Leon 42:48

For sports, I had incredible anxiety. I didn't know it was anxiety, but, like, I would get out there and I would think about, like, "Do I perform? How can I perform? throughout the whole time. And most of the time I'd perform incredibly well. But what put me over the top was simple, a simple question, After every play, "Did you do your best?" And that doesn't mean did it succeed, it's meaning did you try to everything of your ability? If the answer is yes, then you did what you're supposed to do, and move on. That's it for sports. For rheumatoid arthritis, look, my man, you got dealt a really, really bad card here, brother. All right? Like, I ain't gonna lie. it's a terrible, situation. But- In life, you're gonna go through situations, and what you make out of the situation defines who you are, not the situation itself.

43:48

A huge thank you to Leon, or TheCaliEffect if you nasty, for taking the time to share not only his journey through the world of Yu-Gi-Oh!, but also the personal battles that have shaped the person he is today. His reminder that success comes from showing up, giving your best, and continuing forward, even when life gets difficult, is something I hope stays with you long after this episode ends. As I'm trying to find my groove in this podcasting scene, trying to really get down what I wanna talk about, what I wanna do, it was a breath of fresh air to really talk to Leon, and not only get his take on life and kind of the game that we love and that we play, but also to feel kind of a kinship where he has this drive and this competitive nature outside of the card game, but brings that into the card game. Yu-Gi-Oh! has been a, crux of a game for me for some time, and I always end up coming back to it when I just wanna feel some sort of semblance of peace. So it's good to see that Leon has been doing this for so long and still has that joy and love for the game, as he does most things in his life. So this was a huge, huge episode for me, and I really do look forward to talking to influences in my life down the road in this podcast, and that's ultimately what I wanna do with this podcast, is talk to people out there who have gone through so much and done so much. So this was exciting to, to get to do, and I, I can't thank him enough for coming on. So of course, if you enjoyed today's conversation, please be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with somebody who could use a little encouragement, or someone who's just as passionate about trading card games as we are. You can find Leon and all of his incredible content by searching TheCaliEffect across YouTube and social media. And if you're familiar with TheCaliEffect, then I'm happy to announce that I'll have TopDeck TJ on next week, and that was just as incredible a conversation as this one. So stay tuned for that one. Please remember, no matter what you're facing, your story matters, your voice matters, and there's always somebody willing to listen Thanks for listening, and I'll talk to you soon