Multi Gen Featured Ubers player of the Week #5: PROBLEMS, SEE POST #26

Edgar

Edgar

is a Team Rater Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Past SPL Champion
Approved by MM2​


Hello frens, welcome to the first Ubers player of the week, the purpose of this is to help new players to be more acquainted some of the most knowledgeable Ubers players and learn more of a top player's overall habits. All with teaching purposes.



Featured Player: Sweep
Most Known For: Goofing off on the ladder with HIS favorite pokemon, such as Omastar and Cherrim. He can't stand laddering seriously but he has made a name for himself on Pokemon Showdown by consistently winning with whatever the hell he wanted to.
Signature Pokemon: Stallbreaker Mewtwo(Y), he likes both regular Stalltwo with Leftovers and the Unnerve ability and Mega Mewtwo Y. The latter is solid despite the defense drop thanks to the strong special defense and stronger Psystrike.
​
Sweep has been around the Ubers community for a quite a while, he is currently a moderator in Pokemon Showdown and a Room Owner in the Ubers room!

Of all tiers, why did you choose to establish yourself in Ubers?
Well, I started playing on the ladder during the summer of 2012 and played RU at first. I was alright by ladder standards but I got bored after a while, so I wanted to see if there was a tier I'd enjoy more. I noticed that my favorite Pokemon Omastar was actually viable in Ubers, so I built a team around it and immediately started winning on the lower ladder. The team was Kyogre/Ferrothorn/Arceus Ghost/Omastar/Bisharp/Dialga or something to that effect. I didn't really establish myself competitively until last SPL though, where I finished 5-3.


What major contributions to the progression of the Ubers Tier have you made?
This generation, I came up a couple of sets. I used Swords Dance Arceus-Ground with Ice Beam on a Sticky Web team to destroy Gliscor and Landorus-T. and a max Special Attack Aromatherapy Xerneas with Hidden Power Fire to lure Scizor. The goal of the latter set was to help facilitate and ExtremeKiller Arceus sweep. The former set is standard on Arceus Ground web teams now, though the 2nd set still hasn't caught on! Last gen, the only set I popularized was Choice Specs Omastar, which vaulted the fossil from C+ rank to A- due to its ability to lure and destroy stuff like Ferrothorn, Waterceus, Grassceus, and even physically defensive Kyogre. Apart from sets, I haven't contributed that much outside of analyses and QC work.

What are some of your favorite things of the Ubers metagame?
I do like the fact that pretty much all playstyles are viable, and that creative sets (like Magic Coat support Arceus) can reward its user. That's pretty much it.


What is one thing about the current rules (banlist, metagame structure) that you would want to change?
I dislike Shadow Tag because I feel the ability to switch is one of the key elements of the game, and Tag naturally stops that element. Also, Because of how ridiculously threatening Pokemon like Xerneas, ExtremeKiller Arceus, Calm Mind Arceus Ghost, etc are, many teams can get smashed by them if your opponent traps your best check to them.


What are some Ubers players you think are good examples for newer users to look up to?
Shrang and Trickroom are excellent examples because they use a ton of innovative sets (Magic Coat EKiller for example) and build fun teams, yet still win. Naturally, competitive players who have tournaments for years (such as Edgar/Blim/Donkey) are good examples too, since those players know how to teambuild.


What strategies do you think are the most consistent in the Ubers metagame?
Balance really doesn't have many bad match-ups (apart from Gothitelle), especially if you pack a couple of Taunt users to aggravate stall. I recently peaked the ladder with a balance-ish team with Stunfisk because of how many switchins the team had to common threats in the metagame while still containing mostly threatening pokemon. Other playstyles, such as stall and sticky web, are very usable but are less consistent in my opinion.


Can you provide a sample team with a brief explanation on how to use for new players?
Dialga @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 248 SpD / 12 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Roar
- Stealth Rock

Yveltal @ Dread Plate
Ability: Dark Aura
EVs: 240 HP / 252 Def / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Foul Play
- Sucker Punch
- Taunt
- Roost

Xerneas @ Leftovers
Ability: Fairy Aura
EVs: 248 HP / 152 Def / 92 SpD / 16 Spe
Calm Nature
- Moonblast
- Aromatherapy
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

Arceus-Water @ Splash Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 164 SpD / 96 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Judgment
- Recover
- Will-O-Wisp
- Defog

Mewtwo @ Mewtwonite Y
Ability: Unnerve
EVs: 248 HP / 84 SpD / 176 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psystrike
- Recover
- Taunt
- Will-O-Wisp

Ho-Oh @ Choice Band
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 224 HP / 172 Atk / 80 SpD / 32 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Sacred Fire
- Earthquake
- Sleep Talk

This is the serious version of the Stunfisk team I RMT'd. Avoid letting Arceus-Water get trapped by Mega Gengar if your opponent's SR setter is still alive. Try to pressure Gengar offensively at every opportunity to prevent it from mega evolving for free. If Gengar Destiny Bonds Waterceus and Stealth Rock goes up at some point, the team becomes helpless to Geomancy/mixed Xerneas.



That's everything for this week's player of the week, thanks to Sweep for being the first of many!
 
Last edited:
Aquasition

Aquasition

Bossness said:
I got a question. Why does Sweep smoke weed? What got him hooked? Why doesn't he stop?
Click to expand...
How else do you think he builds teams using NU pokemon and gets them to work?


*note: I actually think Sweep's just that good, and I've fought him a lot .-. . Also, I am both amazed by and jealous of his team building skills. Good job getting interviewed*
 
tcr

tcr

sage of six tabs
is a Tutor Alumnusis a Team Rater Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnus
I faced him once where he used stunfisk and i still losed i heard hes good?_?
 
Edgar

Edgar

is a Team Rater Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Past SPL Champion
As a Reminder: The purpose of this is to help new players to be more acquainted some of the most knowledgeable Ubers players and learn more of a top player's overall habits. All with teaching purposes.




Featured Player: Hack

Most Known For: Running Cloyster Sun in BW2, Being Swedish, Going on PS while being drunk.

Signature Pokemon: Scarf Xerneas because it can revenge kill a lot of the threats in Ubers.
​


Hack is currently known as one of the top Ubers players, he has contribuited in a lot of QC stuff and has contribuited to the community overall.

Of all tiers, why did you choose to establish yourself in Ubers?
I started 2012 summer as PS started pretty much. I usually did OU at first but I read an article about Blaziken being Uber and I was like wow man I gotta use an Uber team with Blaziken. I probably chose Ubers because I could literally shit myself when i was playing when I saw my opponent having a Palkia out vs my Dialga or something, it didn't really matter to me like for a noob like me it was just every mon was so bloody strong that it felt like one misplay and you lose a mon of course that feeling died after a while since you learn checking shit good but I still loved that first feeling my gut that told me that I was dealing with serious power.


What major contributions to the progression of the Ubers Tier have you made?
I'd say I invented Pin Missile+hazards Scolipede I think i was the first to use it in like November. In Gen5 obivously Cloyster. I didn't invent the set but my RMT popularized it and the way I wanted to use it on sun was my idea before sasha used it on smashpass... I'm not like the most creative sets player but i enjoy making a lot of sturdy cores etc. Some can be seen in the core thread but most top players know those cores too so I can't claim I invented them.


What are some of your favorite things of the Ubers metagame?
I always liked that stall exists in a metagame where there are so many beast mons like that's what kept me in Ubers when I was new. That you could use these seemingly harmless walls and proceed to stall stuff to death. I like to see it as you contain the power of these big offensive threats. It's really cool that you can wall something like a Palkia or Kyogre. But of course, it's also fun that most playstyles work etc. It's a pretty diverse metagame still.


What is one thing about the current rules (banlist, metagame structure) that you would want to change?
I wanna have a deserving suspect test for Shadow Tag where the focus is in the right direction, it should be aimed at the ability of Shadow Tag and how it can be uncompetitive or not. That's the discussion for me, discussing how you can counter single users of the ability doesn't cut it for me. So I would say we need a proper all Shadow Tag test instead of the bs we are doing atm which has shifted in the wrong direction, new players are discussing the mon gengar like an OU suspect. So i'm not saying I wanna implement a shadow tag ban right away but I do want a deserving test and then a good descision.


What are some Ubers players you think are good examples for newer users to look up to?
Basically any SPL player had a reason to be there. There might be "that top player" that just fits you as an inspiritaion but, in general I'd say check out Blim if you haven't. because he is just solid as a rock and then like problems, who is more aggressive in his play and that's also cool. Edgar, since he makes a lot of cool builds. Lastly kebabe who is pretty solid and can play gimicks etc. Fun player in general and solid. They always know their shit pretty well


Can you give some advice to new Ubers players?
I'd mainly say don't be afraid to seek help from better players but also remember that you need to test and play a lot yourself, draw your own conclusions, ladder a lot in the beginning to gain that kind of "automated" play where you generally know what to do. Don't try to have like 20 teams working at once like some top players can have stick with few builds (not one), and make them as solid as possible (20 was just an arbitary number but yeah).


What strategies do you think are the most consistent in the Ubers metagame?
In XY Ubers a lot is based on team match up, there are many threats so naturally your team will always be weak to something. Shadow Tag+Xerneas or/and Extremekiller Arceus is consistent and something like a good, bulky core is good in most match ups, but since this is XY ubers you will have bad match ups too.


Can you provide a sample team with a brief explanation on how to use for new players?
http://pastebin.com/gV5bjKU8

It might be hypocritcal to rule out balance and then give a balance team anyway, I like this build. A disclaimer to the above statement btw: As long as a team is good and wins I don't care what arcehtype it is. Anyway, this team is built around some of my favorite mons: Sableye+Specs Kyogre should break stall and Sp.Def Palkia+Arceus-Poison+Gliscor is in general pretty cool core as it is good against status. Scarf Xerneas revenge kills a lot of fast threats my core can't handle that well, like Yveltal, Mewtwo and Darkrai, it also gives me an emergency cleric if i should fuck up against stall. Try just getting chip damage onto everything while you check stuff and then let xerneas clean up.



That's everything for this week's player of the week, thanks to Hack for doing this!
 
Aquasition

Aquasition

Y'know, I may not have fought you nearly as much as Sweep, but I still like you anyways. Keep on going, Hack! And, thanks.
 
MMII

MMII


Featured Player: Edgar
​
Most Known For: Mostly referred to in variations of "that Mexican player", Edgar is also very well known for his solid teambuilding skills that has brought him and those he shares his team with quite a large amount of success.

Signature Pokemon: Giratina-O is his favorite Ubers Pokemon and also one he considers to be heavily underrated in this current metagame.

Edgar is among the handful of Ubers players that actually knows how to build consistent teams. He runs a youtube channel as well as helps out with Smogon's social media and is one of the few good team raters in the Ubers section of the RMT subforums.

Why Ubers?
When I got into Ubers back in BW I really liked how you could use anything you wanted, of course there's some limits but for me it didn't seem like the metagame where you are used to see the same standard builds and also I like to play with the big boys. The fact that an Ubers team could have so many options really suited me as my favorite part of the game has always been building teams rather than battling.

What do you think helped you the most in reaching the level you are currently at?
Well, I gotta admit youtube user TonyFlygon was like a mentor when I started playing the tier, thanks to him I understood the basics of the tier and then I started laddering and making all kinds of teams like any player would, later in 2013 I joined my first "big tournament" which was POCL, Blim helped understand a lot of the things that go on in tournaments regarding Ubers, on week one of that tournament I managed to beat Problems, which gave me sort of a boost, I ended 6-1 in that tour, which was the best Ubers record then I started joining more official tours like MUTE and the Ubers Open and later SPL having Official tournaments experience put me in the place I am now.

Okay, so it seems like it a mostly gradual progression. Was there ever any point where you felt a radical change in your viewpoint or understanding?
Yeah definitely, POCL. During that time Blim explained me how to build teams for tournaments, which is based around who your opponent is, that had a lot of impact I guess because I was only used to building teams for laddering. I started changing my logic even more when I played MUTE with the IDM boys and started building together, so I got to understand Blim's thought process during tournaments even more. Which made me realize his way was more effective than mine and I sorta tried to copy it.

You could almost be called fortunate to have an opportunity to learn directly from one of the best. What would you suggest then to aspiring players?
Yeah I really am that lucky rofl. Well, I'd say that when you're first trying to get into the tier you should ladder for x amount of time until you fully understand what each mon in the tier does, also try different team archetypes, you'll never get to know what you really like if you only stick to one playstyle. Asking established players for advice is also a great way to improve as you get to see their thought process. For some reason, a lot of the newcomers are intimidated by tournament players such as me lol. I've heard that so many times. If anything, it's of our best interest to see the community grow and have more established Ubers players. You can also check out youtube user dblacstardust for good Ubers content hehebwoi.

By "established players" is there anybody that comes to mind in particular?
Yeah, Blim has always been a very good player and teambuilder. Hack is also a very good teambuilder. Dice whose teams are a lot like mine. Yourself as you are a very versatile player. Problems has also a very good thought process when battling although he's not the best at teambuilding. Donkey who quit but he was a really good player and teambuilder.

The Ubers metagame has gone through quite a number of shifts. What phase do you think it is at right now? Do you have any predictions on what will be the next big thing?
I think the XY Ubers metagame is already established. I think the metagame won't go the way BW2 ended, with everyone spamming Hyper Offense as it doesn't have a perfect matchup against most of teams in XY. Every team archetype has very good and very bad matchups in XY, there's no "perfect playstyle". By that I mean that you can't cover every threat in any playstyle that you choose to use. And about the future... well I think the next big thing in the metagame will be Primal Groudon when ORAS is released, that thing seems insane and that's probably the only chance that the metagame changes into a metagame dominated by offense again. It also depends if we get Soul Dew back and what new crispE megas they release.

Are there any particular sets or concepts you are credited to have come up with that has had an impact on the current state of the metagame?
Yes, me and Joey were the ones who invented the poisonous Hidden Power Fire Mega-Gengar for trapping and killing Pursuit Scizor. I also started running Victini as a Xerneas check as well as a Trick Room sweeper in XY, which I've seen a few people use. I started running Sylveon on stall as well but I don't know if I'd give credit to myself since it's basically just a Fairy type Umbreon.

Mind giving me a team that oozes the essence of Edgar so that newer players can have some insight into your style? An explanation on how it works would be appreciated as well.
http://pastebin.com/Ef4zZmmj

This is one of my favorite teams right now. I wanted to base a team around the Gold and Silver legends, Ho-Oh and Lugia, since it's my favorite pokemon game lol. After that I knew I'd need a very reliable Defog user that A) Can escape Shadow Tag users B) Has reliable recovery and C) Isn't an Arceus forme that's how I ran into Mew. It's a very cute mon that has all those characteristics, having access to U-turn, Roost and Defog, being able to escape Shadow Tag users with U-turn as well and sorta checking Mewtwo thanks to its great Sp.Def stat. After that, I realized it would be great having a cleric since Mew's synchronize comes in handy when staying against Toxic and other mons and then have a cleric heal it up. I also build a lot of my teams based around type synergy, Fairy resists Dark and Bug so I just picked Xerneas as my cleric LOL. Something I forgot to mention, I wanted to run Choice Band Ho-Oh as one of my stallbreakers and Sp.Def Lugia as my Xerneas check. After that I needed a more reliable Ground resist since Lugia and Ho-Oh can't take Stone Edges from Groudon and Landorus-T for days, I also needed an Extremekiller check, an Electric resist and a Stealth Rock user so defensive Landorus-T fit like butter to the bread, thanks to its good defensive stat and especially its ability, Intimidate, can fullfill all those tasks. Also has access to Stealth Rock which I needed, and Toxic which could be considered as a new entry hazard (every team has at least one toxic user lol). For the last spot I needed a Kyogre check, at first I opted for Specially Defensive Kyogre since it helps me check Choiced Kyogre and helps Lugia in the checking Xerneas part but, I also needed a secondary stallbreaker in case my opponent had one of those nice and solid Edgar inventions, sand Arceus-Rock stall and my Ho-Oh couldn't fulfill its roll as a stallbreaker. So I opted for Calm Mind mono attacking Arceus-Water, it has access to Refresh so Toxic and status are not a big deal to it and also can stall out Kyogre after one or two Calm Mind boosts. The team is weak to Arceus-Electric squads but if you can Defog with Sp.Def Mew and then U-turn to Lugia then proceed to Toxic it shouldn't be that big of a deal.

Okay that's it for the interview, any closing statements?
Nah not really, thanks for interviewing me :]
 
Edgar

Edgar

is a Team Rater Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Past SPL Champion

Featured Player: Blim

Most Known For: Lord of Counterteaming, one of the most consistent tournament players around, like el poeta, Blim has demostrated to be a Problems slayer.

Signature Pokemon: Dialga, Arceus-Water


​
Of all tiers, why did you choose to establish yourself in Ubers?
Because it allowed you to use all of the pokemon, including the most powerful ones like kyogre, darkrai, rayquaza, arceus, etc.


What major contributions to the progression of the Ubers Tier have you made?
I honestly don't think I've made any. I've almost exclusively been a tournament player, so I've never focused too much on anything else.


What are some of your favorite things about the Ubers metagame?
I think the Ubers metagame has always been very diverse. There's a variety of different playstyles and good cores to find out about, so that has always kept my interest. Utlizing the sheer power of certain uber pokemon are always fun too, stuff like sd arceus, choice specs kyogre, choice banded ho-oh, and geomancy xerneas are always found to play with just because they're so destructive.


What is one thing about the current rules (banlist, metagame structure) that you would want to change?
In XY Ubers, there are two pokemon that are clearly above the rest of the pack. Those two should be very obvious by now, Geomancy Xerneas and Mega-Gengar. I think we have an issue of philosophy in the ubers tier, some people want to get rid of these potenitally broken / unbalanced pokemon, while others want to keep them the metagame, because traditionally ubers has always been a tier where "everything is allowed". As more powerful pokemon are being introduced in the metagame with every new generation and every new version, we'll have to make decisions. Do we ban these pokemon? Or do keep the tradition of allowing everything? We need to explore every possibility in order to adjust to these new challenges. Do we create a new, unplayable "tier", above ubers to forever banish these pokemon? Sounds crazy, but no one has even asked this question. We've had over a month of mega-gengar debate, yet nobody is still discussing or even attempting to solve the important question - what is the philosophy of the ubers tier? Is our current philosophy the correct one? Do we need to change it? We need to come together as a community and make a firm decision about the future of ubers, and then stand by it. Important question - what is the philosophy / tiering policy of ubers?


What are some Uber players you think are good examples for newer users to look up to?
There are a few players who I think do certain things very well, wheather it's in their teambuilding or play. Any player, including newer players, should look at what they do well and try too incorporate what they do well.

XY

Edgar [Creaitvity] - Creaitvity. Edgar is probably the most creativite / unorthodox player in xy ubers. Hes used cresselia, mega-mawile, a defog mew, and a porygon2, all with success, in tournament games. I see too many players not being creative enough and not exploring new / risky option in their teambuilding. Edgar is an excellent example of creativity in ubers.

Sweep / Melee Mewtwo [Knowledge] - If you've ever seen the ubers qc forum, a common sight was melee mewtwo and sweep. Both of these players have ridicolous knowledge of the ubers tier - the pokemon used, calcs, and movesets. I think you'd have a difficult time ever catching them by suprise.

BW

trickroom [Teambuilding]- One of the best teambuilders in ubers ever. He constructed / built teams to perfection, so hes someone you should definitely look at.

pi face [Strategy] - In terms of strategy and actual playing in ubers, I've never seen a more impressive player than pi face. He never made a single misplay, and he always executed his game-plan. Of course, not many players noticied this, simply calling him lucky. He wasn't the most creative team-builder, but the reason he got so many wins in the spls he played was because of how-he played.
/ his impressive execution.

There are many other players I could have listed, but I didn't want to make this list too long. I simply highlighted the players who were impressive to me in the basics areas of being successful in pokemon

Good Teambuilding [trickroom]
Being creative [edgar] +

Excellent playing abilities [pi face]

Knowledge of the metagame - melee mewtwo, sweep


Can you give some advice to new Ubers players?
Be creative and try to understand each pokemon's role. It's important to stay creative and to not be afraid of taking risks in your teambuilding, wheather it's an unusual pokemon or moveset. But, NEVER try to force creativity. I cringe whenever a see a player who thinks he is being "creative" yet has no clue of what hes doing. As far as understanding roles might go, that simply meanings knowing everything about all of the major pokemon in the tier - althrough it's important not to rush, it takes time. Once you understand how a pokemon works, then you'll know how to use it and prepare for it much better. In turn, you'll start winning and starting seeing more postive results in your playing experience.


What strategies do you think are the most consistent in the Ubers metagame?
I think a good balance team with a stallbreaker are the most consistent teams. They have enough bulk to make difficult vs HO, and balance vs balance should be about even, if not in your favor. Stall is usually the most difficult match-up for a balance team, so you need to have a dedicated slot or sometimes even two slots for offensive options to fight against stall.


Can you provide a sample team with a brief explanation on how to use for new players?

http://pastebin.com/9qGhd2c0 Old balance team, but it's still solid

Scizor - xerneas check + can pursuit mega-gengar, allowing arceus-grass to stay in the game
[12:50:44 p.m.] Blim: arceus grass - checks a ton of annoying threats for the team, such as -palkia [in rain], zekrom, groudon, lando
[12:50:53 p.m.] Blim: it can lure ho-oh with stone edge
[12:51:13 p.m.] Blim: wisp phyiscal attackers
[12:51:22 p.m.] Blim: and wear down dialga / support mon with wisp
[12:51:32 p.m.] Blim: opps not typing in paragraph form
[12:53:12 p.m.] Blim: Gira-o defogs hazards for the team and checks also checks some other important threats like mega-kanga and mewtwo x. CB Ho-oh is my best option vs stall, and scarf kyogre is my revenge killer.
[12:54:11 p.m.] Blim: The team doesn't have any specfic winning condition, the gameplan just depends on the match up
[12:54:35 p.m.] Blim: vs stall - keep sr off + ho-oh alive at all costs. you need this alive to break stall
[12:54:44 p.m.] Blim: vs ho - defog hazards, wear them down
[12:54:54 p.m.] Blim: with your bulk
[12:55:39 p.m.] Blim: but yeah, it's just a balance team that checks / counter most of the metagame very well, how you play depends on the match-up given


That's it for this player of the week, thanks to Blim for doing it :]
 
ApplepieFTW

ApplepieFTW

MoxieInfinite said:
Blim's way of saying "hyper offense" makes me wet.
Click to expand...
This is fact. For anyone who has not heard the sweet sounds of Blim's 'Haiwper O-ffence" please go look up an uberscast with blim. You wont regret it. It is indescribable, like if he would make a deo-s/ekiller steelceus/tbolt+flash cannon xern/gira-a/lugia/filler team and called it HO it would still be solid as fuck.
 
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