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Welcome to the OU Player of the Week Project: Rebooted! For those of you that don't know, this is a project where I interview a tournament player and have you, the readers, leave any questions you may have down below for them to answer. The ultimate goal is to gain insight as to how they play this skillful and strategic video game. If any of you have a suggestion for who I should interview, feel free to VM/PM me, and I will take your suggestion into consideration. Now, enough of this boring intro. Let's get to it!
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Steve Angello
Favorite Pokemon: Aipom and Jirachi are very cute pokemons and were my favorites since my childhood.
Most used Pokemon: I was thinking about my teams and it is definitley Azumarill. It checks so much and it beats most offensive teams alone, since it does not have to many switch-ins.
Can you tell us a little about yourself?
I'm a 18 years old dude, who turns 19 on the 5th august. I'm going to school and in my freetime I like to party with friends, I enjoy playing poker and I am taken. I like to go to the gym and having fun in general. Furthermore I like trolling the ubers community.
Where did you get your name from?
Back in the PO days I watched out for a new ladder account and found a song by Steve Angello. I liked his name and used it.
How and when did you get into competitive battling?
I've been playing since the yellow version and I loved smashing the trainers with my Butterfree. I joined PO around 3 years ago and started with the BW metagame, which is the best in my opinion. I joined the IMP, the #N0NE and the IDM squads, I don't know if anybody remembers the first two. I used to play ubers and changed the tier WCOP2014. I like teambuilding a lot and using some suprising gimmicks.
How do you feel about how ORAS plays compared to XY?
To be honest I like ORAS way more. XY was more balanced and stallish. ORAS is more aggressive and all about the plays.
To add onto the above, thoughts on the team matchup issue?
Well I don't really like that excuse. It shows the lack of teambuilding skills. I mean you can not check everything and you will always have some weaks, but the key is to minimize it. For example I have a usage list and I do not wanna get swept by the first 30 mons.
Do you feel that there is anything that is suspect worthy at the moment?
Most people would say Manaphy, but I do not feel like Manaphy is to broken. I never had problems with it, but that is related with my playstyle. I do not like to give it that much room to set up, but if you like balance then its broken. I would say Clefable. It is like if there is a Clefable, you haven't lost yet. It is so annoying and strong! It makes team building really hard, because if you give Clef room to set up its nearly gone and if you counter gets status'd or something its pretty much over.
What's your favorite playstyle and why?
I am a big fan of offense. I do not like long battles and I do not have the time for it. My philosophy is hitting the opponent and not taking hits, thats how you win. My key is probably using underrated sets and forgotten megas, because most people do not prepare for them anymore. For example Mega-Aerodactyl or Mega Tyranitar.
What's your favorite generation of OU and why?
BW! The ladder on PO was sticked with so many great players like Hugo, CTC and Dice. Oh god so many great players I look up to. I enjoy playing BW, because literally everything is possible and playable. The meta I play the best is probably ORAS, because I put in much effort to learn, build and play it.
How do you go about preparing for tournament matches? Does the process differ depending on the tournament?
I prepare a lot. I am checking out replays and watch out for patterns. Then I check out my patterns and I will try to mix the informations I have earned. For example I check out the weaks my past teams had and I make sure to not be weak to it anymore. The thing is to cover that and the weaks of your opponent and thats why I had a great WCoP record. Probs to team Germany for the help and great season.
Who do you think will win WCoP?
Both should lose, but I predict east. My heart says spain, because they won against us in the tiebreaker, but germany should be the first european team winning the WCoP. Furthermore I have many friends on East so LGI!
Favorite WCoP game?
I loved my match vs Johnxyiu a lot. The most heart breaking match was TV-Rocka vs Husk. So much hax and we still won. Cosine180 vs Whitequeen was great and last but not least Steelphoenix beating McMeghan was really cool. I would not say there was one WCoP game I liked the most there are way more.
Thoughts on the newly introduced Smogon Classic? Favorite to win?
To much john in my opinion. I really like the idea of it but I want frontier back to be honest. I am rooting for Heist, he really deserves his individual trophy so get it!
If you could change one thing about OU, what would it be and why?
I would probably change the voting philosophy, because the requirements are way to low and most people can easily get them. The opinion is most of the time splitted between better/older players and new players and that changes results of the votes. But the rest is great.
Do you have any advice for newer players for playing, and for Smogon in general?
It is all about the connections. If you know the right people you can get into the community really fast. You should be nice and you should not act like a troll (like me). Practice a lot on the ladder and get into the metagames. You will get recognized soon.
If you could change one thing about Smogon as a whole to make it better, what would it be and why?
Bring frontier back
What players do you look up to / are good friends with?
I am thankful to know Leftiez. He formed me during SPL and tutored me a lot. You will always be one person I will look up to! Masterclass and CBB are really great players and are so nice, if you act respectful. Bloo, McMeghan and BKC are probably the best players I have seen. Conflict is the best player from germany, he prevents you from choking and will help you out whenever you need it. I love seeing him mad about hax and bad plays from the team. Its so funny. Cosine180 is the best oras player, he is underrated but stay tuned he will rape next stours and SPL, definitly check him out! I could list so many people here, but you know who you are.
Finally, can you provide us a team that's a good fit for this metagame and reflects your playstyle, with a brief explanation of how it works?
http://pastebin.com/ndC4BxFV
This is a team I really enjoy playing. Its a typical offense team of me. I am using an underrated pokemon in Mega Tyranitar and the team is built around it. I try to lure its counters and trap steels like Ferrothorn and Mega Scizor. The rest is pretty standard. I am always using Azumarill and Latios, because they are really great mons in the current metagame. Lando should check Lopunny and Jirachi is my revenger. It is pretty self-explanatory. Shoutout to team germany again.