tennisace
favorite pokemon: raikou
most used pokemon: feraligatr
most known for: "being the first nu tier leader i guess, more recently being the head twit on smogon"
tennisace: normally i would answer this with "i play golf but golface was taken" but in reality i made it when i was like 12 and i just never bothered to change it lol. i used to play tennis but i havent actually picked up a racquet in like 3 years.
xzern: Favorite type of pokemon? (Normal, Fairy, Bird, etc.)
tennisace: probably electric, there are a lot of cool mons and not a lot of duds. really tho cutemons > any type.
xzern: How did you come to competitive battling/Smogon?
tennisace: so in like middle school (like, 2006) i was looking up info on the original ruby and sapphire and came across smogon's pokedex. i went over to a friends house and we tried to get on netbattle but we fucked something up and my friend freaked out because he thought he got a virus so we just ditched it and played halo. then diamond/pearl came out and i was looking for info on that, remembered smogon, and kinda stuck around? if you wanna know more about what "old smogon" was like then ask but i'm not gonna ramble on a ton here.
xzern: How did you get to be NU tier leader originally?
tennisace: so basically i saw the initial bw nu thread (what would be considered NU alpha i guess) in what was then DST and was like DAMN THIS SEEMS LIKE A COOL META so i started playing it on PO. i started posting a lot in the thread. at that point oglemi was the sole leader so i asked him if i could co-lead and he said sure and uh that was that? tldr, i just asked.
xzern: What's your favorite part of NU?
tennisace: the community is really tight and not really snippy or douchey. i've made a lot of good friends playin NU.
xzern: If you could ban or unban one thing from NU, what would it be/why?
tennisace: please give me back non-speed boost scolipede please please please alternately RU not stealing mega camel when it comes out would be nice.
xzern: NU player you most admire?
tennisace: prolly zeb, he's steady under pressure which is a good thing to have in a tournament setting.
xzern: Do you have any advice for people new to NU?
tennisace: don't be a dick, shut up and lurk for a while, learn the meta, and then contribute well in the discussion threads. the first two steps are unfortunately skipped a lot on smogon, but they're the most important imo.
xzern: Could you give me something like a mini RMT to conclude the interview, one that demonstrates your teambuilding style?
tennisace: http://paste.ubuntu.com/8582456/ i made this team for nu open / laddering. it ended up being rly good vs lower ladder but not too good in tournaments because it's super matchup based. the goal was normal spam; linoone and swellow are actually a pretty tough core to beat up on if you set up right. the speed on linoone outspeeds jolly kabu which is silly but useful if you haven't gotten a drum yet. dragalge checks rotom n other annoying things. sawk beats rock types n steel types, and kabu spins. mesprit is a pretty neat lead, mind plate psychic is really strong and u-turn is really nice for momentum.
Feel free to ask tennisace any questions in the thread below and he will answer them.
