For the next interview, I talked with the
OMPL GOAT Laxpras!
#5 Laxpras | Klang: he should unban dugtrio
[imas' amazing art]
¡Hey Laxpras!
Ay girl
Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I'm a middle aged man struggling with divorce and the lack of appreciation my children display for me.
Either that or a typical US college student who uses this site to get a break from pre-med shit but then ends up spending too much time here, hurting my pre-med shit.
I'm excessively liberal, enjoy banter, work out daily/play basketball, and spend way too much time learning & conducting research regarding neuroscience.
How did you get into Pokémon?
I just played a lot when I was young. Always a video game nerd, especially when I was younger. Regarding PS, it actually started with a friend that I used to ball out with on Call of Duty; if I remember correctly he was pissed cuz I just asserted dominance 1v1 rust (intervention only) [no radar] so he took me to this website where he knew he could smack me around a bit. Enjoying the nostalgia of pokemon, which I hadn't played in years but still had fond memories of, I got into it a bit. That interest kept growing, and the more I played the better I got. Like most people, I enjoy things I'm good at so as I got better I wanted to play more, creating a circle where I ended up playing too much. I think I'm much less of a pokemon fanatic than most people here. The only game I played a lot was Emerald (GOAT), but I did play that
a lot. I never watched the show or any of that stuff, and the reason I play now is more for the distraction, easily accessible and anonymous competitive aspect, and the half-chub I get when I triple switch to get the matchup I wanted to chip 30% into your check for my win-con, which, unbeknownst to you, will now win the game because of that 30% damage.
If you could change one thing about AAA, without any retribution, what would it be?
Klang would come back so I could smack him around again.
Or, probably ban Magearna. It isn't
broken, I guess, but it is the quintessential RegenVest with probably the best typing their is, unbelievable mixed bulk, and a snail-paced pivot. That all packed into a mon that can also unleash powerful Fleur Cannons. If you were going to design a RegenVest pivot, it would be Magearna (damn I just made it sound pretty broken). If Magearna was banned people would have to be a lot more creative with their defensive cores, stall would be hindered, and the meta would just be more fast paced. Meloetta was annoying in Gen6, but Melo is only half as good as Mag.
Do you prefer +5 or +10 boosts in Tier Shift? Why?
+5, by far. I enjoyed Tier Shift a lot last gen, and I find it pretty dreadful this gen tbh. Everything is absurdly bulky, especially with Eviolite being allowed fsr. It also kind of eliminates the point of the meta. The beauty of Tier Shift was using lesser known mons to great success. Last gen I could build a team around Stunfisk and Dragon Dance Lapras have it be badass. This gen, those mons, and really any other
fun mon, are completely useless against the Eviolite NFE mons flying around. I'm pretty disappointed in this. Wish you woulda fixed ur meta peef
What are your thoughts on the last OMPL?
:rat: :snake:
It was a lot of fun, I enjoy team tours a lot. They are a nerdy reminder of my basketball glory days with the team goals aspect. I enjoyed being on the same team as TI and Flint especially, as well as the rest. The thing I like about OMPL is you get to go through the circuit of your meta's players. Last year, I got to go through aesf, jrdn, klang, etc. This year it wasn't quite as fun, as Motherlove and Jrdn dodged me, but I did get to play geerat and aesf again and I'm glad I got to represent the ole aaa dudes and not let us down aganst non-aaa players.
I'm glad we won this year, I'm still salty Ransei's team didn't win last year. I think our team last year was absurd. Curve dominated AG, I swept AAA, and terrors blew through mono. We were far and away the best team. Unfortunately Curve couldn't pull out the final AG W and terrors got haxed in his last mono match, but such is life. I suppose it was made up for me this year as my team won, even though we weren't necessarily far and away the best team.
Do you have any advice or tips on how to do well in a team tournament format like this?
Yeah I think I actually have a really helpful tip:
Stop designing CTs.
I think the more counter-team based your team is, the more likely you are to lose. People have this notion that they need to be able to beat the mons that players used in the past, and be able to deal with certain playstyles. Obviously this is true to an extent: if someone is known for stall you damn sure better be able to deal with stall, but do people not realize that if I bring a mon in one week, I am very much less likely to bring it the next week? If I bring balanced offense a few weeks in a row, it would be pretty stupid of me to bring it again, so I'll bring some heat like Electric Terrain instead. Idk, there's a decent portion of competitive people that are obsessed with bringing CTs, but, judging by how it turned out for them, maybe they should think twice about that.
For myself, the closest match I had was against Sabella, and it was because I tried to build a CT. A couple people told me he always brings this certain team style, so I prepped that team style exclusively and ended up with a horrid matchup when he brought HO. I was lucky to win that game.
Are you going to attempt a third year in a row undefeated next OMPL?
I keep telling myself I'll quit PS any day now to be able to focus on school/research/clinic/gym/girls but I still haven't done it.... Hopefully I quit before them but I may be too addicted so ya its a possible, and ofc go for undefeated.
Actually, no. Imas and I are going to comanage the
Barboach Boiis to victory next year.
If you are, how much do you think you'll go for?
Hopefully more than 9k you snake-ass managers
What players do you look up to or are really good friends with within the OM community?
The ole AAA crew is foremost. When I got into OMs Klang was the goat and I just wanted to get to that level. From AAA I got to be friends with people like Imas, the current AAA GOD, Motherlove, and Jrdn, all of which are good anonymous internet friends now whom I know nothing about outside of pokemon lmao.
Outside of AAA I've gotten to be friends with some OM leadership like Chloe and Flint, who are always fun to talk to. VD is my fav user and he's always a good presence. Newerish OM people like Racool are also fun. I'm sure I forgot a couple, and yes its probably bc i hate u
Can you provide a niche set that you have created and explain how/why it works?
Sure, I'll give one for this gen and one for last gen since last gen I was able to be more fun & creative.
This gen, Water Absorb Nihilego is a set I created that served several important functions. For one, it checks set up water sweepers that my team feared, such as Golisopod, Fini, Suicune, and Manaphy. It also serves as a Rock setter, decent Noivern check, and a Zygarde/Landorus lure with sash + HP Ice. I won an OMPL match against geerat turn 1 because of this set.
Last gen, I had the goat Stunfisk set. Stunfisk walled the two scariest special attackers: Noivern and Thundurus, as well as the ever present Birdspam. It also set up rocks and yawned errythang. Double peaked ladder because of that beast.
Kris asks: What do you do outside of Pokémon?
I've touched on this a bit already but I do a lot of research regarding neuroscience, I'll hopefully be publishing a paper as a first-author this year. I shadow neurologists and volunteer for outreach, though I do this less during the year. I try to lift daily, but due to busy schedules this usually happens late at night which is tiring. I like to go to my school's sporting games, maybe a party a week, and play PS4 in my spare time.
Qplaz asks: Who is the worst opponent to play against?
Probably jrdn lol. We've played against each other so much for the past year that our current matches are honestly pretty stupid, we just make bad plays that end up working because we know each other too well. They really aren't helpful matches to test teams but rather to test which bad prediction can work better. Jrdn is great tho luv him
Alex asks: Describe your worst experience at a restaurant.
The first date I went on in college I spilled water all over myself, and complimented the girl's boobs in a way that was much less clever and smooth than I anticipated.
ScarfWynaut asks: How did you get your username?
Uh I had a name when I first started that was kinda close to my real name and then I saw someone with alliteration of a pokemon name that I thought was cool so I copied it with my fav mon. I was young and now I think its pretty stupid but whatever idc
wishes asks: Which Gen 1 starter do you like the most and why?
ig charizard just because venusaur and blastoise are both ugly and not cool, not a big fan of charizard either tho. I don't have gen1 nostalgia so ya. Lapras is my real answer.