Other OU Player of the Week #4: Bloo

theV8man · Nov 3, 2014

What kind of rock music in particular do you listen to when you battle? I also listen to music to as a way of concentrating sometimes.

dekzeh · Nov 3, 2014

What would've been your reaction had you actually ended up on Frogs last SPL?

Do you play or have played anything other than mons competitively?

How happy you were when papai noel clicked Outrage instead of Tailwind on turn 3 here: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-ou-15615? (Apparently your Exca was jolly so it wouldn't matter much but technically you couldnt know for sure if Zard was Adamant/Jolly either so eh >:|) Also, rate papai noel's performance in the late game when it was Greg vs Mew/Alomomola.

Do you get angry at teammates when bad plays happens in team tourneys?

Do you get disapointed at yourself if you make non optimal plays more in team tourneys or individual tourneys?

elodin · Nov 3, 2014

On a scale of 0 to 10, how supportive and nice were my teammates before / during / after our WCoP match? Some quotes that may help you give them their deserved score:

<ELODIN> we have
<ELODIN> a shot
<ELODIN> right
<ELODIN> :(
<OUTsuki> we do
<OUTsuki> you don't
<OUTsuki> LOL

<BLUE_STAR> i personally think it'll be a miracle if you win

<aushaush> not even gonna ghost you this time
<aushaush> you dont stand a chance
<aushaush> :(

<dekzeh> you suck

Mizuhime · Nov 3, 2014

Why did you have so much faith in me?

Why Iconic as my tutor?

Most underrated player currently on Smogon?

Opinion on dropping bags of 9/11's?

Bloo · Nov 3, 2014

JungleB

Question 1 - What Pokémon do you think will rise to OU, or even Ubers because of their new megas?

Starting with OU rises, I believe Metagross will come back home to OU because of its newly granted mega evolution. I have been watching a few of my friends battle and have been impressed by how much work Mega Metagross puts in when they use it or face off against it. Its power and bulk are incredible and supplemented by great coverage move options, making it a very formidable threat. Power and bulk aside, the boost Metagross received to its speed is, in my opinion, the main contributing factor to its success as a mega evolution. Metagross' speed was one of its main drawbacks in pretty much every generation, and now it has the ability to outpace things that would once otherwise hit it for heavy damage, like Keldeo, both Landorus forms and much more. Finally, its typing allows it to serve as a much appreciated offensive check to a slew of things, including Fairy-types, the Lati-twins, and newly introduced mega evolutions like Altaria and Salamence. All in all a great Pokémon now thanks to its upgrades and I definitely a see a bright future for it in OU.

Other new mega evolutions I can see rising to OU include Mega Gallade, particularly when Salamence inevitably gets the boot, Sceptile, Diancie and Swampert. All of them have a lot of things going for them that make them great OU prospects from my perspective.

As for newly introduced mega evolutions that will rise to Ubers, the obvious pick is Mega Salamence. As I mentioned in my paragraph regarding Metagross, I have been watching people play ORAS and Salamence has a chokehold on the ladder. Its very easy to set up boosts with that monster because of its combination of speed and defenses and proceed to run through things, while checking a lot of the threats offensive teams had trouble with in XY (think Keldeo and so on). I am seeing people over prepare for Salamence and even then the thing still manages to do plenty of work and I don't think its in any way going to be healthy for the development of the ORAS metagame.

Question 2 - Do you see any Pokémon dropping in usage because these new megas make it unviable?

A bunch of threats considered deadly in XY have taken a hit, in my opinion. These include Keldeo, Clefable, Mega Heracross, Mega Pinsir, and Mega Medicham to name a few. The reason for this is the big creep up we saw in Speed. Many of the new mega evolutions now sit around the 110+ Speed tier, making things like Keldeo seem "slow." The other ones I mentioned, in addition to being slow, now face competition and have gained new answers. Mega Medicham has to compete with Gallade, who is arguably better because of its boosting options and greater Speed. Heracross is completely stopped in its tracks by Salamence and things like Metagross, Diancie and the like all outpace it now for an OHKO with appropriate STABS. Clefable has to deal with Metagross now and can no longer check the Pokémon it was known as one of the best answers to, Greninja, because of Gunk Shot. It's impossible to correctly predict how exactly things will turn out as the ORAS metagame develops, but those are some of my speculations until the dust settles.

Haunter

Question 1 - Have you played any battle in ORAS OU? If so, what's your opinion on the new mega evolutions? Would you quick ban M-Salamence?

I haven't really had time to play ORAS OU, but I've been watching some of my friends play and reading what people have been saying in this forum. Regarding Mega Salamence, I covered my opinion on the 'mon in my answer above to JungleB which you can read if you're interested. Long story short, though, I would quick ban Salamence. Let's be honest here, we both know it's not going to last.

Run down on some of my opinion of the megas we know of thus far, using the order from Serebii:

Sceptile - I think this has plenty of potential. It's fast as heck, has great special attack and move-pool to back it up, and Lightningrod lets it do cool things like not get paralyzed by Thundurus-I and stop Volt Switch chains.
Swampert - Very bulky and strong, a combination that will enable it to serve as a check to a plethora of things while still being able to dish out damage of its own. Cool niche on rain teams and general good SR setter.
Beedrill - BEEDRILL! Was really excited about this little guy because nearly everything about it is hilarious, but after thinking about it more, there are a lot of flaws keeping it from being as good as it could be from my view. Aside from the obvious abysmal defenses, SR weakness and low speed prior to evolving, it has plenty of answers that keep it at bay. I was hoping it received Megahorn and Gunk Shot, but that was too good to be true. I don't think this will land in OU, but can see it performing rather well in lower tiers. Adaptability U-turns are nothing to laugh at!
Pidgeot - I love Pidgeot design-wise and because it has been around since the inception of Pokémon, but unfortunately I can't see this being OU. No Guard Hurricanes are cool, but Game Freak really dropped the ball by not giving it additional coverage moves. If it were to get Focus Blast, for example, it'd be pretty threatening. Despite this, cool and fun Pokémon.
Slowbro - I don't think this is as unkillable as some people have been making it out to be, but it's definitely a threat with its nuts defenses. I think we all know everyone has been focusing on how well it can pull of a CM | Scald | Rest | Sleep Talk set so I won't really go into that, but I think a more offensive take on Mega Slowbro is interesting. Slack Off | Scald | Ice Beam or a psychic STAB | Fire Blast with emphasis on its special attack looks promising, although I think we'll be seeing the CM variants more often. I wish it had gotten more special defense in lieu of defense, but such is life.
Steelix - Garbage like you.
Sableye - Pretty cool with Magic Bounce and increased defenses and not totally useless prior to evolving thanks to Prankster. Honestly, Sableye has always been annoying and I'm sure it'll get off my nerves in ORAS too.
Sharpedo - I actually prefer regular Sharpedo ;-; I don't really see much of a reason to use this thing with so many other options to choose from though.
Camerupt - x.x
Altaria - <3; so adorable and Dragon | Fairy typing is beautiful. While not as scary as things like Salamence, I do think Altaria will be rather good. Every interesting options at its disposal between things like DD and Heal Bell that will make it freighting in lower tiers if it ends up there. I wish it received more boosts to its defense, but what can you do.
Glalie - Glalie appears to be a suicide mega evolution. Come in, set up some Spikes if given the chance, or nuke something with Double-Edge and Explosion when possible. I won't be using this thing other than to go kaboom for fun, though. I prefer the megas I use to stick around throughout the game.
Salamence - New god flow - Kanye West.
Metagross - Explained in my response to JungleB.
Rayquaza - GG.
Lopunny - Came out of Hugh Hefner's playboy mansion ready to go. As I mentioned in the OP, I love this thing. Seeing something like Lopunny go from completely unviable in OU to potentially A-tier is exciting. I think we all know how nice Scrappy is with Lopunny's STABs and Speed, so I'll leave it at that.
Gallade - Once Salamence goes, I think Gallade will be one of the most dominant mega evolutions alongside Metagross. With such power augmented by SD coupled with its Speed, I can't see Gardevoir's big brother being bad.
Mega Audino - @_@. Not sure why this is CrashinBoomBang's favorite mega evolution competitively, but if this retained Regenerator, it'd be super good, but alas. Guess he loves stall oriented 'mons!
Mega Diancie - Along with Lopunny, Mega Diancie is my favorite introduction of ORAS. Design aside, its offensive firepower is fabulous with 110 base Speed, and the addition of Earth Power to its arsenal makes it all the better. With Magic Bounce, you can't even status your home-girl, so prepare for trouble.

Question 2 - I still remember the long sessions of laddering we used to do in Gen 4 and sometimes I'm nostalgic about those times. Do you still remember the time when you used to hax me with your rain dance teams? What episodes of your long career on Smogon are still impressed in your memory?

Don't follow Haunter's examples folks, using hax as an excuse for getting completely out-skilled by me. Good role model bud. In all seriousness though, I was pretty lucky back during the Shoddy Days. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case for me considering how often the stars align to screw me over at the perfect moment in high profile games.

Regarding memorable Smogon moments, two come to mind: when I won the Smogon Frontier and when you and I were promoted to super moderator at the same time. The Smogon Frontier in particular is mounted in my mind for various reasons. I remember how crazy everyone was when "the RMT moderator" came out of nowhere to win and it felt really good to be spammed with private messages from people wishing me congratulations and the like. Winning this was the moment where I really made my presence as a player known and as such is a memory that will stay with me forever.

As for us getting promoted to super moderator together, that's also something I won't forget. You and I thought we'd never get promoted after the amount of work we did for years, and then one day out of nowhere we saw the sexy * symbol Smogon had in place back then next to our names.

Question 3 - How did you become so good at trolling people? Who's your favorite victim?

Honestly, people make trolling way too easy sometimes. Most of the trolling I do are pranks on my friends for fun, and some people just fall for the bait so effortlessly that you don't even need to try at times. Apart from that, the other form of "trolling" I do is sarcastically replying to everything, so much that most of the conversations I have with some of my friends like AB2, dice, and CrashinBoomBang are all based on making what we say sound as trolly as possible in response to each other. The real kick I get out of this is that I've been told people have a really hard time knowing whether if I'm serious or not sometimes with what I say, which is the reaction I sometimes try to provoke intentionally with the way I word things. There have been times where I have replied seriously to things and people think I am being sarcastic because of my history, and I genuinely get a real laugh out of that - it's great. I also love flattering people in a trolly manner. My flattery isn't always completely serious, but I do it with the intention of making others feel good/laugh while I get enjoyment out of how oblivious some people are to how obviously-trolly some of the things I say are. Regardless, I can be serious when I need to be, but I enjoy having fun this way!

You'll always be my favorite victim and you know that. Harsha is also pretty fun to mess with too.

SparksBlade

Question 1 - You were one of the few guys I knew from my lurking days, specially cos of the Sasuke avatar. Do you read the manga? If yes, do you like the kind of ending we're heading to? If no, do you get frustrated with the amount of fillers in the anime?

This avatar? It's one of my favorites! I wanted to use it again, but then I noticed this user had it now and decided against it. Regarding the Naruto series, I think everyone agrees it's all over the place. I do read the manga and I'm not much of a fan of how rushed the ending is turning out to be, especially because there's so much left unsettled in my opinion, but what can you do? I have been watching the series since its inception, though, so it has stuck with me throughout all these years. I actually think it's pretty funny how the author of Naruto manages to frustrate so many people, and part of the reason I like Naruto so much is because of its "what the heck is going on" factor that keeps people talking. I haven't really kept up with the anime, and it's precisely because of what you said: there's too many fillers. I wish they'd focus more on getting to the action instead of providing us with fluff.

Question 2 - Do you laugh or shake your head when you see 1st timers make blunders in their tours?

First timers aren't the only ones that make blunders. You'd be surprised by some of the mistakes some of the more known players make. Some of the chokes I see are so insane that in the heat of the moment I can't resist laughing at them with my friends. Everyone makes mistakes when playing, including myself. I like discussing the errors people make with my friends and talking about what the player should have done instead because it makes for some interesting conversations, and if the player who made the error realizes what he did wrong, that will only help them improve in the future if they reflect on it!

VN.

Question 1 - What keeps you playing this game, even after 5~ years? Is it the community, the thrill of battling and winning, or something else?

Yung stunna Honus, my friend. It's a combination of the two things you mentioned. The community here can be criticized in many ways. However, people typically tend to find a home on this forum where they come across people they enjoy being around, whether due similar interests, views, and so on. I have my inner circle of friends that I speak to every day and it's because of them that I keep coming back. Once you develop close friendships on here, it's hard to just let them go, and that's a reason I am still here after all of this time: because I enjoy spending parts of my days talking to the people I find to be a privilege to speak to.

As frustrating and time consuming as Pokémon is sometimes, I do enjoy battling in front of a big stage. It's pretty exciting to see people cheering you on and whatnot. In addition to this, another aspect of this game that keeps me here is how constantly it evolves. There are always new games coming out, all of which have their own unique features to them. I love discussing new releases and strategies with my friends and working on developing ideas with them. It makes for a pretty good time, and as much as some people don't want to admit, Pokémon is a pretty good distraction that you can use to get away from the busy parts of life and just rewind.

Question 2 - Do you believe that any man, if he works hard enough, can reach a level of play similar to your own? Or is your situation a unique mix of both talent and diligence?

If you want me to be completely honest and not beat around the bush, I'm going to say no. I think some people, after playing this game for some time, just "get it" more than others, and reach the high level they desire, and I think this applies to many aspects of life too. There are individuals who are just better than others at what they do and that's the same case for Pokémon. Don't get me wrong though: with practice, hard work and dedication, you can definitely become more than just good at Pokémon and anything really. However, there's a limit to the level people can reach from my perspective, and not everyone can achieve the level of mastery people perceive players like Earthworm to have.

Question 3 - If IDM gr8astard and McMeghan disappeared from existence, who would be your source of teams?

I think I would have enough teams from them and various other users to last me a lifetime. People like BKC and Dice would likely be my source otherwise, though; for OU tiers at least.

Question 4 - Is there anyone other than yourself that you would attribute your growth as a player to?

I'm not certain if you mean something else, but as I mentioned in the interview, Earthworm, Chii, and CBB are the three main players I attribute my growth as a player to.

Stallion

Question 1 - I'm curious as to what your thought process is in battles? Do you think 10 turns ahead or develop strategies to weaken key threats or do you play one move at a time with an endgame strategy in the back of your head?

Before answering, I will say I do remember our WCoP game! I remember using Lanturn, Azelf and Curse Ferrothorn, with the game coming down to something having to do with your CM Jirachi if I'm not mistaken. It was one of my first matches in a team tournament environment, so I won't be forgetting it~

As for my thought process during battles, this is what I usually do, speaking from the perspective of team preview metagames:

I look at my opponents team. I can very quickly identify if they are weak to anything from the team I am using and whether I am weak to anything they are using.
From there, I try to identify their best lead and pick my lead accordingly. When trying to pick out what my opponent will lead with, I try to identify what Pokémon on my opponents team would give them an advantageous start, and which Pokémon on my team my opponent believes I'll lead off with. I then use this information to select my lead, which I actually have a lot of success with, giving me an early edge.
After that, I go with the flow. I try to get a feel for how my opponent plays during the first few turns in order to determine how I need to play against a particular opponent and go from there, attempting to make the best decisions each turn based on a given scenario.
I see where that takes me and while battling, develop a plan to win the game based on the openings I create and information/situations unique to my match. I determine how I can best execute my plan to win and try to make it come to fruition, whether it's through playing it safe, making certain plays needed to get myself in the position I desire, and so on.

AM

Question 1 - Do you believe the OLT will truly improve the quality of ladder overtime or was it designed just for a momentary improvement? I ask this because the only incentive many of the tour players have to participate is the black trophy up for grabs, otherwise they wouldn't bother and still to this day many loathe the idea of laddering. Considering this will eventually end and ladder quality will return to its original ways do you believe that continuation of such ladder tournament will help maintain quality of laddering or will the lust potentially die out to players?

I think people were initially very excited for the OLT. However, as the cycles progressed, I believe the hype died down. As much as I would like the OLT to improve the quality of the ladder over time, I am just not sure if that's realistic. Back when Shoddy Battle was a thing, the community was much smaller than what we have today, with a lot of the all-stars of the past such as Earthworm and imperfectluck being frequent ladder players, allowing you to experience more of the "high-level ladder games" people always say happened on Shoddy Battle. Smogon's community is absolutely huge now. It is in no way comparable to the size of the community we had then. Because of this, we have an influx of new users just starting off hitting the ladder, contributing to the lackluster quality of the lower ladder people always complain of (even on PO).

The significant increase in size of our community coupled with the disinterest a lot of our players have grown towards ladder contributes to an overall decrease in ladder quality compared to then, and I think this is only natural. Why are a lot the players we consider "the best" disinterested in laddering? There are probably many reasons, but with age comes responsibility. I know of many players still around today that laddered frequently, but can no longer dedicate the time needed to do so unless there's incentive, and I am one of these people. The OLT trophy will serve as this incentive, but only for the periods where the cycles are in session in my opinion. Perhaps we will reformat the tournament to address these issues, but that's my take on the matter after the first edition of OLT!

Question 2 - Some people mention this from time to time and get distraught over this fact but what are your thoughts on the social stigma in correlation to tour players and non tour players? Many believe that if you're not a tour player you're immediately frowned upon in the more competitive community and that such titles convey a suppose meaning of skill level when some know that's not always necessarily the case. What is your take on that matter or your response for those who believe this stigma to be true? Sorry if that was worded poorly but hopefully you get the general idea.

I honestly really hate the whole "tournament players vs. non-tournament players" thing. Just because someone is a tournament player doesn't mean they should be going around all high and mighty acting like their word is the law and that they should get special treatment like many people tend to believe. Sure, being a known tournament player means that you're knowledgeable of the metagame and can formulate good opinions to help out, but there's a right and wrong way to go about conveying this to people. A lot of our tournaments players go the negative route and wave their thoughts around like they know what's 100% best and that they are the ones that should be listened to, but those people are living in a fantasy. If our players were to instead go about things respectfully and nicely contribute their opinions without an air of entitlement, we wouldn't have this negative association you mentioned and wouldn't be seeing new users say "what's the point of even posting here if they're just going to ignore everything and listen to x player because he does tournaments," something I saw more than once when I posted my thoughts in the Viability Rankings.

While being a successful tournament player does show you know your stuff, tournament players aren't the only ones that are knowledgeable and I encourage anyone who feels like their opinions are nothing compared to those who play in tournaments to stop feeling this way. You can be a ladder player. You can be someone who mainly reads and keeps up on the metagame in threads in OU and by talking to others. You can be someone who only writes analyses. All of these people have their own unique perspectives on things that are valuable and should feel welcome to share what they think and learn from each other without any of the pressure you mentioned.

We don't live in an ideal world, though, and this level of equality will never be reached. Those with more success under their belts are more likely to be listened to, but it shouldn't be because "they are a tournament player" - it should be because they've proved through their playing and success that they know their stuff and can appropriately contribute their opinions to things without the sense of entitlement that has created this "tournament players vs. non-tournament players" environment.

SoulWind

Question 1 - Do you think this Smogon Tour playoffs could be one of the most competitive in the last seasons so far? If not, what era or season was for you the "hardest" to win it all?

In terms of the amount of points needed to make top sixteen, this season was definitely one of the most competitive to date. Usually, the benchmark for the sixteenth slot is somewhere in the high twenties, but this time you needed thirty points and above to make the cut, making this season one of the harder ones to qualify for. In terms of the brackets, though, I don't think so. The bracket you and I are in is pretty stacked compared to the other side of the bracket, which I don't think anyone can argue looks substantially easier.

Hardest playoffs in my opinion? I'd pick the season Zak91 won. The top sixteen during the season he won was stacked, consisting of 6A9 Ace Matador | Deep Thought | Abutorn | LonelyNess | DarkLucario | imperfectluck | panamaxis | Atticus | Aqualouis | Kevin Garrett | Rewer | Loki | Conflict | Lady Bug and Zak himself. Impressive to have come out on top of it all. This was during the time Smogon Tour playoffs followed a OU | UU | Ubers format, however.

Question 2 - You have made one of the most impressive tournament records so far in the Smogon Tour season. What have been your favorite / close games you have played? Did you establish a goal since the start to break the points record once again or you just were trying to do your best?

If you're talking about my favorite games this season, I don't think I have any. However, two of my favorite games throughout every season were the following:

My deciding Season 17 semifinals XY OU match vs. Leftiez: I am very proud of how I played endgame and think it showcases what I can do when I'm in my zone, practically pulling off an impossible comeback after missing with Charizard-Y. Unfortunately luck got in the way of things, but the game was very intense and both sides played at 100%.
I can't find the replay of this one, but it was a BW OU match against Eo. I was able to win in a rather long game where I lost all but 3 Pokemon rather early while he had all six of his.

As for the new record I set, I honestly wasn't expecting to break the one I set last season by so many points. Seeing McMeghan do so well during the early parts of the season did motivate me to compete with him to see who could get the #1 spot, though, and that was probably the biggest contributing factor to my success this season - having someone to rival against.

Question 3 - What's the hardest generation (only counting OU) to play?

I don't really find any of them hard, so I'll answer this another way. I've found DPP OU to be the hardest to adjust to. I'm not exactly a fan of the metagame for various reasons unlike most people, but I find it harder to find teams that perform as consistently as some of the ones I use in BW OU and XY OU and even ADV OU. Lead match-up in DPP OU plays such a large role that can be such a huge deciding factor in the outcome of a match, more so then in the other OU tiers I am accustomed to playing in my opinion. I can't tell you how many times I've seen someone lead with Machamp and just weaken the entire team alone within 5 turns to the point where the non-Machamp user couldn't come back, for example. It might be because I am so used to team preview by now, but you have to be really careful of what you sacrifice in DPP as well, because you never know what your opponent is hiding in the back. In that way, planning your games is more difficult in DPP. You can technically say some of the same things for ADV, but there's a significantly lower power creep in the third generation to the point where most things are manageable.

Question 4 - Is there any player that makes you feel you usually don't have the control of the game? If there was one, what would you do in those situations?

The only player that has ever made me feel this way was 6A9 Ace Matador. He's the player with probably the largest win ratio against me. I can't exactly pinpoint why, but there was just something about his way of playing that always managed to get me. However, I think I've grown significantly better since the times I've faced him, and am much more proficient at adjusting how I have to play against different types of players. As such, I would love to see how I fare against him at his best now.

Question 5 - As the head TD, you have probably seen / got many messages and stories from users trying to cheat out wins in tourneys, like you mentioned. Care to tell us about some of the funniest?

During a PRACTICE TOUR, with absolutely nothing at stake, two people faked screenshots of them winning and wasted our time for more than half an hour sorting things out.
KG once told me there was a case where it was discovered some guy obtained remote access to one of his opponents computer, allowing him to see the moves they were making and the teams they were considering using. The only way this was discovered was because someone affiliated with the country of the user who did the aforementioned posted a topic about it on their international forums. It boggles my mind that people go that far to win a game of Pokémon, but hey.
The Smogon Tour DDoS cases and Alexander incidents of this years Smogon Frontier rank high up there as well.
Someone once admitted to me that during SPL, their entire team channel was ghosting their player against me turn by turn. Despite this, they still lost, so I felt like a boss .

Question 6 - Could you rank the top 3 megas as for: design, most favorite to use, least favorite to use and most annoying?

Design - Charizard-X | Shiny Gardevoir | Mega Sableye.
Favorite to use - Charizard-X | Scizor | Venusaur. Before their bans, Mawile and Kangaskhan would have been included.
Most annoying - Charizard-X | Gardevoir | Pinsir.

Question 7 - A lot of people dislike BW2 and thrash talk the generation so much that it infuriates me. Do you think like me that it's actually a good generation and very fun to play sometimes? Do you think Kyurem-Black shouldn't have been tested and brought to OU or you don't find it broken?

I love BW2 and think it gets way more hate than it deserves. If you ask me, a lot of people who say they "dislike" BW2 are following a bandwagon. They see several known players saying the metagame is bad and tag along in order to fit in, despite never have played BW2 much at all. This is the case for the same people who spam "bring back ADV" in the Smogon Tour threads too! There's match-up in BW2, just like in every tier, but it can be minimized with your team choices. There are specific team archetypes that function really well in BW2 and I don't think people use the best things they could be using to minimize the match-up people claim is ever so prevalent in the tier. Instead, they decide to bring silly HO teams with Lucario that are very reliant on match-up and then blame the tier for their loss!

The one thing I will say I dislike about BW2, though, is sun, which I think really restricts the tier in many ways. Oh, and I think Kyurem-B is pretty bad and fine as is, but I'm sure BKC would beg to differ.

Question 8 - Who do you think who are the players with the most potential to be the players of the future?

Aside from ben gay, who has received plenty of mentions in the previous player of the week threads, I think the player with the biggest potential to go really big is aim (I'm talking McMeghan-big). He has the skill, the personality, the charisma and fan base needed to really reach a new level on Smogon and I look forward to seeing what he accomplishes. If he manages to win this seasons Grand Slam, he's well on his way to the top. bro fist is another player I think would be a top dog if he played more in tournaments. If you have watched him play in team tournaments, his playing is enough to give you chills with how perfectly he maneuvers around his opponent and executes his game plan. I know he prefers to not play Pokémon too much though, but it's great when he does.

Bloo · Nov 3, 2014

I answered everything up until SoulWind's post. I will attempt to answer the questions from Tesung's post through Mizuhime's by tomorrow, but they will all be attended to by Wednesday for sure.

I hope you enjoy the answers I gave to the ones I responded to in the meanwhile, it was fun writing replies.

WECAMEASROMANS · Nov 4, 2014

Masterclass: lil manaphy would take a shit on bloo

Do you agree with this above statement? What are your thoughts about the XY OU ladder goddess herself? Who do you think would win in a fite? :3 n_n

Bloo · Nov 4, 2014

Toxzn

Question 1 - Why do I always get paired with you?

All it takes is bribing the hosts with a Community Contributor badge to get the opponents I want and you, fren, are one of them unfortunately. Nah though boss, you're one of the people I get paired with the most in Tournaments nowadays. It's kind of crazy :o! I guess this game likes seeing us duke it out!

Tesung

Question 1 - What do you think separates you from the rest of the pack (besides McMeghan maybe)? There are a lot of players who are able to build (or borrow) teams and make logical and rational decisions but why is it you who is able to win with so much greater consistency?

I don't know if there's an exact answer to this, so I'll try to answer it by using my Smogon Tour performances as the example since that's where my consistency shows the most. As usual, I don't mean this selfishly, but I don't think you will find anyone who cares as much about winning Smogon Tour as me. I am extremely (and by I extremely, I mean EXTREMELY) determined and hungry to win the tournament and have been for ages, even more so recently than in the past. This is the reason I do so well during the seasons it runs and why I get very upset when I lose (not just in playoffs, but during regular season too). When I have my mind set on something, whether it's Pokémon, school, and so on, it shows through my actions and I give it my body and soul. I don't know if other people have this level of mental dedication when playing certain Tournaments, but this mentality is the thing I attribute most to my consistency. If I didn't care as much, I doubt I'd perform as consistently and would just try to barely make playoffs instead of performing way above than I have to.

Other things that contribute to my consistency are my team choices. I try to use things not overly reliant on match-up and attempt to execute them as well as possible with the decisions I make. However, the mentality above and focus I put forth towards some things is the main thing fueling my consistency. Hopefully that makes sense and answers your question!

Terraquaza

Question 1 - Most important things that helped you improving your skills?

Practice and experience playing against players better than me. You can read as many strategy guides as you want; you can get tutored as much as you want by others; you can try to learn as much as possible by watching and analyzing others - all of this helps, but none of it will help you as much as consistent practice in the long run. In order to develop a skill in anything, you need to practice, practice, and practice some more at different levels of intensity and the same applies to Pokémon. Playing a lot and developing my own idea of what suits me the best in terms of how I play, the teams I use, and so on, were the biggest factors in improving my skills and I don't think anything is a substitute to just getting out there and training yourself.

Question 2 - Can you tell a little bit about yourself?

I am a Biochemistry graduate and current second year medical school student. I do a lot of things, but one of my main involvements in life is teaching. For example, I help teach undergraduate Organic Chemistry lab courses at my university and it's something I really enjoy doing.

Hobby-wise, I enjoy playing badminton, cooking all sorts of things, and really love watching Forensic files and murder/criminal documentaries - I find it fascinating how people can work together to solve a crime from just one tiny piece of evidence :).

Question 3 - Do you plan to attend VGC events?

Probably not. I know everyone says the events are very fun socially, which is cool and all, but one of the big things keeping me from going to VGC events is the fact that I don't play VGC myself. If I were to go to events like these, I'd prefer to have the ability to compete at a level that would allow me to win prizes and whatnot, because as I've stated before, I am very competitive. If there was a VGC equivalent to Smogon singles, though, I'd probably try my best to attend every event because I think I'd have a good chance to win a few things!

I will admit, though, I have begun to open up to the idea of attending a VGC event one day after hearing what some of my closer Smogon friends have said about the experience. Watching the finals of the events and seeing people use things like Pachirisu effectively is very exciting, and I wouldn't mind experiencing that excitement and fun live at some point! Maybe when my life becomes less busy and I have more free time I'll give it a go! After all, who wouldn't want the chance to meet TV-Rocka and his ridiculously buff arms that everyone I know envies?

Question 4 - How good is your German?

I can speak German fluently and write it just as efficiently. It's my first language along with Spanish, although I speak the latter more often.

Question 5 - The things I need to learn are analyzing leads, teams in preview, making plans and find the best way not to give away a win - do you think it's a good idea to watch battles and replays and try to learn from them?

Watching top players is a good way to witness how some people plan their games and make decisions throughout the course of a match. Watching replays of others and of my own games definitely helped me improved and it can help you step up your game as well. However, as I mentioned as a reply to your first question, practice is better than anything else you can do. If you're struggling with the concepts you listed, I wouldn't mind giving you some pointers personally around December when I'm more free! However, I'll provide you some quick insight into "analyzing leads," "teams in preview," and "making plans" by using the following game: CLICK HERE. This was a match my team in the Ghosting Tournament had. Here is the log of the conversation my team had for you to read and see our thought process.

As you can see from the team we brought (on McMeghan's side), Keldeo matches up well against nearly everything on our side, making it a relatively safe choice to lead off with for our opponents. The other option they had was Landorus-T, but Keldeo gives them more of an advantageous start against most of the things we could lead with because it is more immediately threatening with its Specs boosted STABs. We predicted they would lead with Keldeo for these reasons and decided to lead with Kyurem-B in order to try and surprise kill the pony since we had Scarf on Kyurem-B, something that's rather unexpected, especially with Landorus-T on our team since it's the most common Scarfer in the metagame. That was the lead thought process and it's pretty similar to what I do in all of my games - try to identify what Pokémon would give my opponent the best start and decide my lead based on this.

Another thing we did was identify our win conditions from team preview and their win conditions. We noticed they were rather weak to Gengar and Venusaur if Latias was eliminated. We noticed we were weak to Scizor and Keldeo primarily, and made it our goal to try and prevent them from using those two to pressure us too much, while we made it our goal to try and find the best way to open up holes in their team with our main win conditions. This is something I can usually do very quickly via team preview, although it takes practice. Hopefully showing that game, the conversation between me and my teammates and writing a little about the thought process that went into it helped you a bit!

Questionairre

Question 1 - Hi Bloo nice thread. For tournaments you have to be able to perform well with multiple teams how do you come up with ideas for so many teams in a short amount of time?

Allow me to demonstrate:

Nah though, this thread is my best friend. I often browse the list there to see if there's anything that I think would perform particularly well in the metagame based on trends I notice. For example, the Victini Hugo and I made (posted about here by alexwolf) came about as a result of us trying to find a way to check the Gardevoir and Medicham when they became so popular. I noticed Victini checked those two while being able to put on offensive pressure itself, told Hugo, and the rest was history.

McMeghan

Question 1 - Some players, especially older one, tend to say the overall competition used to be harder in the past, especially during the shoddy days than now, what do you think about this statement?

I think there's some truth to this. Compared to now, there were many more "all-stars" participating in tournaments back then. People like IPL, Loki, panamaxis, husk, Gouki, Earthworm, Zak91, Krack, Bluewind, 6A9 Ace Matador, ToF, Atticus and quite a few others, all played in tournaments during similar periods at one point, which contributed to what people perceive as a higher level of competition because of the larger amount of top dogs that were active then. You may disagree, but currently in tournaments, I don't think you could name as many "all-stars" anymore, and it's typically the same people winning over and over again. Nonetheless, there's plenty of good players still participating in Tournaments and the competition is still pretty good from my perspective, but a lot of people have retired or aren't as interested anymore so things aren't as stacked as they once were. I think this is only natural though, but as the community continues to grow, I hope we see a rise in new talent that will grow into the stars of the future and contribute to the continuation of the challenge of playing tournaments.

Question 2 - The same group of players tend to consider the "Legends of the Past", such as IPL, Gouki, Loki, etc as the best players that ever were. Do you think you're better than them, even in their prime? Do you think the current top-players are better, at the same level or worse than them if you had to make a comparison, even thought you weren't around/as active as you're now? How do you feel in general when some people kind of blindly consider these veterans as better than the top players of nowadays?

The answers you will receive to the "best players" question will always vary by person depending on when they were around. People who started out, were around more, and have a penchant for the fourth generation will be biased towards the players considered the best back then. The people who started out in the fifth generation and onwards are biased towards the players they had the opportunity to see, such as you and myself for example.

Newer users who blindly say "Oh yeah, Loki was the greatest of all time," honestly have no idea what they're talking about considering they were never around then and are likely just regurgitating what they heard by ear to fit in, which contributes to the bandwagons we sometimes see in regards to this, but I think that's a pretty natural thing and don't mind it at all.

Do I consider myself better than the legends of the past? I'd never say I am better than those who, through their success, became good enough to be called "legends" in the eyes of others because that's just tasteless. However, I don't think the players that people consider the legends of the past have anything in particular over you and I, for example, in terms of accomplishments and overall success. All of the people considered legends did something unique during their time to attain that title, and are can be considered on par with each other in their prime with the ability to beat each other, in my opinion. It depends who you ask, though, but that's my view on it.

Question 3 - We've discussed about this on a lot of occasions in the past, but I, too, want to be the best player and considered as at least one of them (if not the very best). In your interview, you said "I personally don't feel like I'm the best.". Do you feel this way because you haven't accomplished as much as you'd want (probably winning Smogon Tour) or because you actually think some players are better than you? I think it's pretty safe to say you're currently (and have been for a while now) one of the best player on this website, and who do you think is at your level? Who are the players you don't feel "superior" to?

I don't consider myself to be "the best" yet because I have failed to accomplish my goal of winning a second individual trophy several times where I was one win away from reaching a final that would allow me the chance to do it, particularly the Smogon Tour, not because I believe there's anyone outright better than me in tournaments. I don't want to retire and be known as "the guy who, while extremely consistent, made it to a million semifinals but could never finish the job."

As for who I consider to be at my level and who I don't feel superior to, you're the obvious answer. You're the only one who I think has been able to match my level of consistency through your tournament wins and the person I am frequently compared to when discussions surrounding the topic of "who the best player is" arise, although for one reason or another I still think people view you as #1, and I don't mean that in a salty way; you deserve it my friend.

Question 4 - Who are some players that have impressed you a lot, and why? Even if it didn't last.

Heist is probably one of the players that impresses me the most. He's very creative when it comes to teambuilding and extremely consistent whenever he participates in tournaments. His playing is on point and it's a pleasure watching him battle. His team tournament performances in particular are impressive - I consider him to be the best "team tournament player" on Smogon, just look at his World Cup and SPL stats and you'll see why. Heck, he's so good he didn't even have to play XY OU to make playoffs this season. Truly a boss, and I genuinely mean that.

Question 5 - What is/are your favorite(s) RMT(s), and why?

Eh, none really come to mind. I almost never read RMTs in their entirety and skim them instead. Some people come up with really nice formats, though, which is the thing I appreciate most about some RMTs. I'm sure I could find examples of some, but don't want to dig through the forum looking for them.

Question 6 - Who would like to face the least in a big stage tournament game you'd care a lot about, and why?

Finals is where I shine and I wouldn't really mind facing anyone in a final as long as they aren't annoying. If I had to pick, though, it'd probably be Hugo because of how much he knows me and because he's my main helper and I don't think I'd be able to find someone as efficient as him when it comes to helping me decide my teams!

Question 7 - Finally, do you wish a bigger part of the Smogon Administration/Staff in general would play Tournaments?

I wish some of them were more enthusiastic about tournaments because it's such an important aspect of our website, but I am the head TD - of course I wish they were all as enthusiastic about tournaments as I am. I am sure every leader of the various sections of this website wishes everyone in the community held the same passion about the subforum(s) they lead, but that's unrealistic. Everyone has their tastes and should feel free to stick to what interests them the most. I think my fellow upper staffers pay much more attention to tournaments than people think, though, despite not playing as much. I actually frequently see a lot of our super moderators watching Smogon Tour games and the like, and that's pretty cool!

The one thing I wish my fellow Smogon staffers and I could make happen though is more "technological" developments related to tournaments (things like our very own specialized bracket makers, as one example), but there's so many other things to program and get done around Smogon that make this less of a priority, so we have to make due with what we have.

reyscarface

Question 1 - Will you ever show your face?

Likely no. I am a pretty cautious person around the Internet and prefer to leave as much as my real life identity out of the web as possible. The tendency people on this forum have to make memes and drawings out of people's faces doesn't help either. There are around 3 people who have seen how I look, though, and it'll probably stay that way. It's always nice to have a little air of mystery to you as a user!

Rewer

Question 1 - How do you manage your dedication to Pokémon with a busy life?

If there's something I consider a hobby I enjoy, I will always find time for it. Life is busy, but part of life involves finding time to distract yourself from how hectic things are on a daily basis, and I try to do that to the best of my ability by managing my time efficiently.

Most of the times I am online on IRC and Smogon in general, I am logged in from either my laptop or phone while at school or work. I typically leave my IRC open on my laptop or phone during work or while I am school so that I can read the conversations and keep up with things during my breaks. I try to reply to things on IRC during my downtime, but many times I am logged in I am "away" busy doing something else, which is a reason I typically ignore a lot of people. Sorry to anyone who faces the fate of a PM ignore from me! This is how I manage to stay active on here.

I rarely play Pokémon during weekdays. Most of the playing I do is for official tournaments during the weekends when I am more free and have time to battle or make a one day power surge for ladder reqs for example. Some people call me a john for only playing on weekends, but that's legitimately the only times I can usually play!

Question 2 - Favorite songs played while touring? Most "successful" songs?

I don't really have a most successful song. I have these periods where I can't stop listening to a particular song because I like it so much, and that song usually becomes the one listen to during my games until I get bored of it and find another one I become addicted to. Below are some examples of things I listen to while Touring:

I have MANY more, but I'll share those in other questions I were asked about music.

Question 3 - Do you prefer battling on Pokémon Showdown or Pokémon Online?

I used to prefer PO, but prefer PS by in large now after getting used to it.

Question 4 - Thoughts on user: Heiiraiser and what he believes your secret is?

I think it's flattering that he thinks I play so flawlessly that the only way it's possible is for me to use /showmove and /showteam. He does need to stop viewing everything in Pokémon as a 50-50 though because there's more to it than that!

Question 5 - Do you play anything else other than Pokémon?

Only fighting games like Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter and Tekken. I don't play any other online games besides Pokémon, though.

Question 6 - What are your favorite metagames and why?

XY OU is my favorite metagame I'd say. There's just so much available for you to use when teambuilding, giving you more than enough options when deciding what to bring against a particular opponent. I used to like ADV OU a lot, but unfortunately, it evolved into a tier revolving around Blissey and Skarmory and killing them with either Explosion or Magneton respectively. I am guilty of having abused Blissey and Skarmory nearly every game though, but it was admittedly boring. I will say that ADV OU seems to have gotten much more offensive since I last played it though, but it isn't my cup of tea anymore.

Question 7 - When in battle, do you think deeply about the scenario you're in and what your options are, or do you follow your instincts more often?

Instincts usually. It's very difficult to explain, but I have always had a talent for reading how people feel emotionally based on various things, and somehow, I think I've managed to apply this skill to Pokémon in order to "feel" what my opponent will do based on how they have been playing against me, how likely I determine them to take a risk, or what I know about them as a player in the case of facing a friend. For example, every time I face CBB, I make plays I normally wouldn't against anyone else because I know his tendencies at times. One example would be the time I had my Azumarill in against his Mega Venusaur, and I used Waterfall as he doubled switched to Landorus-I predicting my Heatran. My instincts guide moves like these based on the person.

Question 8 - Do you watch sports? Which ones?

Soccer is the main sport that I watch. I have on and off periods where I watch and don't watch it for quite some time, but I have been getting back into following the sport with more frequency lately after this years World Cup.

Question 9 - Favorite TV shows/anime?

The main things I watch on TV are criminal/forensic investigations such as Forensic Files and Bones. I am also a HUGE fan of Friends, which I will be referring to in response to the next question.

Question 10 - Do you feel satisfied with your absolutely insane Smogon Tour performance this season? If you do get the trophy, are you going to quit, stay playing but with less effort, or keep playing like you do now?

This video sums up how I feel about the records I set this Smogon Tour. Long story short, in this episode, Joey (the guy in the video) accepts an award he really wanted to win on behalf of the actress in the video during a ceremony because she wasn't there. He returns the award to her and she sarcastically says it "means so much to her," then grunts and throws it on her couch, subsequently stating she prefers bigger awards because she has already won things similar to what Joey brought to her many times.

This is basically how I feel. I've already set various records in the past, that setting anymore is just boring to me now. I want the "real" award, which is the trophy at the end of the road - not records preserved in some obscure spreadsheet somewhere. I know I keep mentioning Tour over and over and that this may sound really greedy and ungrateful to people, but it's just how I feel after seven seasons of failure and I think it's only natural to feel this way. It's really cool to have set some of the records I did, don't get me wrong, but I really would appreciate the "bigger" mark of success like the actress states at the end of the day.

As for whether I'll quit if I win, I don't think so. As I mentioned in my first batch of responses, I like speaking to the people of community here and it's difficult to just let that go. I'll likely stick around but play in a lesser capacity than I do now.

Question 11 - Being "lucky" does bring you achievements, but has its drawbacks. When someone worse gets very lucky against a better player and get attacked heavily by the community because of that, how do you think this person should react?

I think they should just let it go, acknowledge the luck gracefully and move on. The more of a douche you are about it, the more of a target of hate you'll become. Even if you don't think the luck mattered as much as people make it out to appear, you're just better not making a big scene out of it with an attitude. You'll be much more respected if you stay humble.

Will hopefully finish questions starting from TheEnder's post through WECAMEASROMANS' tomorrow.

PK Gaming · Nov 4, 2014

What are your thoughts on Mega Evolution? I noticed you stated that XY OU was your favorite metagame to date; did Mega evolution have a part in that? Specifically, was its overall influence in XY OU a net positive or negative?

What do you like about the 6v6 Singles format? What makes it stand out in comparison to 'official formats', such as VGC or 3v3?

Bloo said:
I don't know if there's an exact answer to this, so I'll try to answer it by using my Smogon Tour performances as the example since that's where my consistency shows the most. As usual, I don't mean this selfishly, but I don't think you will find anyone who cares as much about winning Smogon Tour as me. I am extremely (and by I extremely, I mean EXTREMELY) determined and hungry to win the tournament and have been for ages, even more so recently than in the past. This is the reason I do so well during the seasons it runs and why I get very upset when I lose (not just in playoffs, but during regular season too). When I have my mind set on something, whether it's Pokémon, school, and so on, it shows through my actions and I give it my body and soul. I don't know if other people have this level of mental dedication when playing certain Tournaments, but this mentality is the thing I attribute most to my consistency. If I didn't care as much, I doubt I'd perform as consistently and would just try to barely make playoffs instead of performing way above than I have to.

This paragraph really struck a chord with me. I always assumed you were a talented player, but I never realized you had such an intense drive to win. To be honest, I never gave my "body and soul" into anything I did, because failing or losing after doing so was always incredibly painful for me. Even when i'd play in tournaments, I used to mentally chant "it's just a game, it's just a game." That way, I wouldn't feel as bad after a loss. Definitely starting to regret doing that, as it's pretty clear that your intense dedication was the source of your success. This might sound corny, but your post has made me consider doing the same with my studies (Computer Engineering) since I'm currently not at where I want to be at the moment.

Luckstard. · Nov 5, 2014

You made the best perf ever in Smogon Tour, if you finally achieve to win the whole thing, will you play the next one as seriously as you did this season?

Is Veteran In Love going to get back his first pink trophy on his profile one day or not?

Gingy · Nov 5, 2014

so um Hi I got a few questions Id like ask so here it goes...

1) How did you find transitioning between gens and how should people people who started with XY transition to ORAS?
2) Favourite team you've seen someone else use?
3) Favourite/Funniest time you've been trolled?
4) I have a few frens who were thinking of trying out for SPL so have you got any tips for players hoping to make a team?
5) Honestly this one is something i wondered ever since I saw c05ta bragging about beating you before.... Why did you U-turn vs his Last mon Thundy last SPL http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-ou-969 :[

Seeme · Nov 5, 2014

Hey Bloo, a few questions on my side! First of all, thanks for all those great answers on here!

Bist du echt deutscher? What is your favorite Soccer-Club? How old are you? Do you play in Tournaments only, or are you laddering under some alts sometimes? How did you learn to speak English the way you do now? How many registered alts do you have :O?

You are definitely the player that inspired me the most, so i would like to thank you already!

Keep up the awesome work man!

Argue · Nov 5, 2014

Hey Bloo, I read that fantastic thread you wrote. I don't wanna come off as annoying you or bothering you, but I must say you have inspired me tenfold. You are an inspiration and I look up to you as a role model. I like your whole background and knowledge. I myself am looking to become the best and make a name for myself. I did get my feet wet, and I'm using differnt strategis. Still not there tho. But now, after reading your thread, I'm inspired to become the best. Hopefully you can suggest some good mentors or words of advice. But thank you again for the inspiration.

Freeroamer · Nov 5, 2014

Does it ever feel strange to you that because you're so well known, any slight innovation or anything new that you try, provided that it works(which it usually does!) immediately tends to explode and get used by everyone else?

The best well known example I can think of is when you used that Mega Gyara team that Masterclass made and it literally exploded and signalled a bit of a meta shift in a way. I know this is true for most tour players, but in particular, if people see you or McMeghan use something new it tends to go viral for a little while afterwards, so for my second question, do you ever wish you weren't so well known so you could come under the radar a bit more with stuff like that?

Celticpride · Nov 5, 2014

Bloo said:
I am also a HUGE fan of Friends, which I will be referring to in response to the next question.

So...who's your favorite of the six? Tough question, I know.

psVoltage · Nov 5, 2014

Hey Bloo!
I just wanted to ask as a player who has only been around for a couple of years, how hard was it for you to first make the decision to join tours? I've been wanting to since b/w but I just feel inadequate in my skills at times, namely teambuilding and keeping my cool in battles. The few I have joined I just embarrassed myself very badly, I guess I can get so nervous its like I loose all skill as soon as the match starts. Sorry if this is a silly question, but Its been putting a stopper on me for a bit now so I figured I'd get it off my chest.

Edit* I've also found I cannot focus without listening to music haha, tho Its very weird as I mainly listen to electronic music which I would not normally do.

SparksBlade · Nov 6, 2014

A few more questions from my side:
1. Will you become an official mentor, or someone who teaches on request?
2. It seems you prefer to build teams with frens rather than alone. Who are the guys you mostly collaborate with? Can i join the crew?
3. This seems ambitious: I'm looking for a sparring partner, will you accept? Who's a good sparring partner that would accept my request?
4. Will you have match in the only thing i can hope to match you: randbats and cc?
5. Did you watch the trailer of the new Naruto movie. Thoughts, specially about Naruto's short hair.

jacksoras · Nov 7, 2014

Do you have a replay were you felt you played the best you ever had, or maybe two?

Bloo · Nov 7, 2014

Harsha

Question 1 - What is the biggest troll you've ever successfully pulled off?

A troll on AB2. For those who don't him, the guy is probably the largest troll the Internet has ever seen, so trolling him successfully was very enjoyable.

One day when I was bored and felt like messing with someone, I told AB2 the RMT forum was in need of moderators. I told him the RMT staff was considering making him a moderator because he was one the forums long-time contributors, but because he knows how much of a troll I am and because he himself has developed "trolling senses," he was skeptical. I told him I could show him the entire PM conversation of the discussion to prove it and calling my bluff, he said "go ahead."

So, I very quickly organized a forum PM and troll with the RMT mods at the time, and here's how things went down:

As you can see, it got to a point where AB2 bought the idea of actually being nominated for mods based on the conversation in image 3, and we were all getting a real kick out of it. I even got Haunter to tell him it was all true to add even more legitimacy to it all. Ultimately, though, I told him it was a troll and he tried to play it off as if he already knew it wasn't serious. Good times!

Question 2 - How difficult is it balancing med school and Smogon? You were able to play the two tours every week (I think) despite being really busy.

Balancing school with Smogon became very tasking when I had too many responsibilities around the website. Because of this, I decided to step down from everything (affiliations with RMT | OU Council | server moderation | leading tutoring) bar my role in tournaments because it's the thing I enjoyed doing the most, and since then I've been able to juggle things much more efficiently.

Honestly, outside of joining official tournaments, I don't post very much on Smogon and my activity is mostly restricted to handling issues on IRC. Like I told Rewer, when I am online on Smogon, I am mostly idling on IRC while at work or school, leaving IRC open so that I can read and reply to conversations during my downtime or breaks, allowing me to keep up with what's going on.

I am also never online on Smogon from 9 PM onwards my time as many people have noticed before. That's the time that I set aside to completely focus on my studies and other activities besides Smogon. I also wake up very early most days (around 6 am) to do some quick review and jogging before the day starts. Doing all of this allows me to manage my time well and I'm used to doing it all by now.

Question 3 - Thoughts on user Alexander?

I believe user Alexander. was a good contributor in the OU and RMT forum and had a lot of potential on Smogon. Unfortunately, he decided to make some very unwise decisions during the Smogon Frontier this year, leading to his ban. However, I am all about second chances and think people can redeem themselves if they wish to, and I think he can do the same if he works towards it. There have been many cases where users who messed up in the past were able to regain the community's trust and respect through their contributions. Some of those people are moderators today, and if he wishes to do the same, he definitely can as long as he learned from his prior mistakes and uses them to grow.

TheEnder

Question 1 - What do you personally consider your greatest accomplishment within the whole of competitive Pokémon?

Winning the Smogon Frontier for reasons I've mentioned in reply to previous questions. Winning against IFM in the finals of WCoP VII is also up there because it was the game that won USA West the trophy for the first time in the history of the tournament after coming close a few times before.

Question 2 - How do you think this community and Pokémon as a competitive battle scene will evolve in the future? Will it become stale and boring, or do you think the new additions to the game will keep attracting people? Do you see yourself being a contributing part of Smogon in the years that await us?

I don't see the competitive side of Pokémon dying out any time soon. There's always new games and information being released, and Game Freak always managed to add that unique touch to their new releases that just keeps people hooked (mega evolutions would be an example). All of that continuously attracts new people, contributing to the games growth.

The same thing applies to this community. As long as new games continue to be released and as long as there's a staff on this forum dedicated to maintaining the website's growth, we'll continue to grow in number. Forums tend to die out when its staff fades away, leading things to become stagnant and making people grow disinterested. While that may happen to Smogon somewhere down the line, I believe it won't be any time soon, as the staff here is always working towards the betterment of the website, whether some people believe it or not.

As for me, there will come a time where I'll have to determine when I'll be unable to continue contributing to this website and competing as a player because of life situations. That's something we'll all have to go through at one point and it's something I will let happen naturally.

Question 3 - Do you find the game fun? Are you still playing Pokémon solely because of your desire to reach the goals you've set, or do you enjoy the game and the community enough to keep on playing?

I think my personality is mostly to blame for finding Pokémon generally not fun throughout the years. When I first started out with Pokémon, I had lots of fun playing the game in general. I didn't think much about the uncontrollable factors that make this game unenjoyable at times and never let losing get to me. However, as I began to become more competitively involved with Pokémon by joining Tournaments, the extremely competitive nature inside me grew an appetite that couldn't be satisfied through ordinary wins. Because of this, my appetite has grown to a point where it can only able satisfied by accomplishing the really big goals I've set out for myself. I've solely become focused on satisfying these goals and have lost track of the fun I used to have actually playing Pokémon. Now, the main "fun" I have with Pokémon comes from the chase and challenge of reaching my goals, which isn't all to healthy but alas.

The things I genuinely find fun about Pokémon though include things I've mentioned in previous answers: talking to my friends on IRC, discussing new game releases and strategies with them, watching others battle and discussing these battles with my friends, and so on - basically the social aspect of the game! Pokémon is a really complex game at its core and there's a lot of interesting things about it that make for interesting conversations, and I find that really fun!

Question 4 - Do you think the ORAS metagame will evolve in a similar matter as BW, with power creep dominating the meta, with the introduction of a handful of immensely powerful Mega Evolutions?

I don't know honestly. It's pretty hard to predict how a tier will end up because they always undergo so much evolution. For example, in XY OU, stall was once seen as "unbreakable" and is now considered ineffective in the eyes of many. HO was once the main playstyle during Deo's reign, yet currently balanced/bulky offensive teams are the main styles seen in XY OU. Generally as new generations of Pokémon are introduced, things become more offensive, so I can definitely see what you said regarding "power creep dominating the metagame" come to true, but only time will tell.

Question 5 - What are your thoughts on the addition of Fairy-types, now that we've got a balanced metagame settled?

I think they were a GR8 addition, really stabilizing the typing order and serving as a good example of the unique flavors Game Freak adds to this game to keep people hooked. Competitively, I think Fairy-types proved beneficial overall with their unique resistances/immunity, giving once overshadowed Pokémon like Azumarill and Clefable a whole different life in OU.

Question 6 - Will you ever become a good rapper?

Come face me in a rap battle and you'll see. Smogtours, time of your choosing - I'll spit bars at you whenever cuh.

MightyMask

Question 1 - Which of the younger players have big potential to become great players like you and McMeghan? Some people say that blunder and Jamvad are good bets for this "position".

ben gay - My #1 pick because I think he has a mountain of potential if he continues to play in Tournaments. He's extremely creative when it comes to team building and you can never know what to expect from him, differentiating him from most players nowadays. He also has the skill and will only improve with time, with a great personality to add.
Destiny Device - Can see him doing really big things. He went undefeated in WCoP against a tough set of opponents and did really well this Smogon Tour season, winning two tours along the way. Definitely someone to look out for in the coming years.
xray - New user that I see as an up-and-coming threat. I've been impressed by his performance this Smogon Tour season, where he's been paired with plenty of tough opponents throughout the season in tiers foreign to him yet has been able to defeat many of them. He made a clutch performance by reaching finals of a DPP tour during the last week to ultimately earn the chance to play a tiebreaker for the chance to receive a playoff spot in the top 16, which he ended up getting by winning versus Stathakis. Bright future if he keeps it up.

Question 2 - Where are you from, what are your dreams and hopes in real life?

Born in Spain, but spent most of my childhood growing up in Germany.

My biggest dream is to continue on with medical school and finish that off to ultimately become a physician specializing in something to do with cardiology. I also aspire to become a university professor at some point in my life because I enjoy teaching very much :).

ben gay

Question 1 - For up and coming players who are trying to get in the tournament scene, is there anything you would suggest that would help them not choke or time out on a daily basis ;__;

This is something that comes with experience. The more you play in Tournaments, the more you'll get used to the high pressure environment. When someone newer is just starting out Tournaments in a big stage like SPL, they tend to get really nervous, especially with everyone in their team channel bombarding them with highlights as you saw during WCoP, and this clouds their thoughts, leading to chokes and time outs as they panic.

As you learned in WCoP, you have to focus on your own game instead of what everyone else is yelling at you with, otherwise it's very easy to lose track of everything, including your timer. If you need a calc done, have the damage calc open during your games so that you can do it yourself instead of waiting on others and getting antsy. Have the confidence in your playing ability to make the moves you think are right and don't over-think things - a lot of newer players tend to over-think things just because it's a tournament match and it ends up costing them. Alas, all of this comes with the experience you gain from playing in a tournament environment, and you'll grow better at handling "time outs" and "choking" with time.

Music always helps too if you're into that!

Question 2 - You mentioned how your emotional state of being plays a huge part in how you play out a match. Under what circumstances do you feel that you are able to perform your absolute best?:

Morning Bloo - Arguably when I play my worst. I simply can't play well from 7 AM - 11 AM for one reason or another. I have stupidly played tournament games at around 7 AM at times and I don't remember winning a single one of those.
Sad Bloo - On par with Morning Bloo's playing ability. I perform rather badly in this state. I played BKC for round 1 of Smogon Tour Season 14 playoffs in this state almost immediately after being sad over losing in Grand Slam semifinals the same day, and needless to say, I got destroyed.
Mad Bloo - Interestingly enough, I play really well when I'm mad, probably because I feel like taking out any anger by defeating my opponent. I am a particularly aggressive player during this state with double switches and the like.
Happy Bloo - I do not play Pokémon when I am happy because it just takes the happiness away !_!
Bored Bloo - This is the state I play the absolute best in. I try to schedule my games during periods where I know I will have nothing to do an hour or so leading up to the game. I become bored waiting during this hour and because I have nothing to do and don't have any distractions, I am able to focus completely on my match when it actually happens, allowing me to play as well as I can.

Ideally, for me to play at 100%, my matches need to be scheduled during the weekend at around 5 PM - 8 PM, where I know I'll have no distractions or interruptions.

MoxieInfinite

Before answering your questions, I will say I appreciate all the support you show for me in Tournaments even though I don't think I'm as confident as you are in me in winning; thank you n_n!

Question 1 - Have you ever not ran sand in Smogon Tour pre-season for BW?

To me, there's no reason to run anything but sand during pre-season. The aim of pre-season is to accumulate as many points as possible, and sand is the most consistent and reliable playstyle to accomplish this in BW. Playoffs are the time where you need to mix things up depending on who you are facing, and if only using sand in pre-season makes my opponents think it's the only thing I can use, I can use that to my advantage.

Question 2 - Toughest opponent for the ST18 trophy that ISN'T McMeghan?

I see everyone in playoffs equally as much as a threat and don't underestimate anyone, so I can't exactly say. Heist would likely be the person people see as the biggest threat next to McMeghan, though.

Question 3 - How much do you like the older OU's? Mainly looking at ADV and DPPt, but if you have experience in GSC/RBY, feel free to add a sentence about them.

I've never played GSC and RBY so I can't say. From watching those two OU tiers during SPL and other venues, though, I can say they look like something I wouldn't like. I know GSC OU can be offensive at times, but every game I've seen goes on for hundreds of turns and generally seem boring. RBY appears to be centered around paralyzing everything and winning with Tauros, while being influenced by luck more than I would like and don't see it as a tier I'd enjoy. Those are just outsider views of the tiers, though, based from what I've seen, and in no way do I have the actual experience in GSC OU and RBY to fairly judge them.

As for ADV OU, I think the metagame is really balanced and enjoyed playing it lots in the past. However, I stopped playing it after the metagame became centered around Skarmory and Blissey and killing those two via trapping and going kaboom. As I mentioned in a previous answer, the metagame seems to have moved away from the aforementioned, becoming more offensive along the way, but it doesn't float my boat much anymore. Nonetheless, I don't think you'll find a tier as balanced as ADV OU - I always see people coming up with new things in the metagame and overall it's a very healthy one.

Regarding DPP OU, it's my least favorite of the OU tiers, which may surprise people considering how much everyone says they to love it (or bandwagon it to be a "cool kid"). Take a look at my answer to SoulWind's question 3 for some reasons as to why, but I will say I'm impressed by the amount of innovations people continue to come up with in DPP. I see people like BKC in particular always coming up with cool things to use in DPP OU, which is something I appreciate.

Question 4 - If the Smogon Frontier set-up stays the same next season, do you think anyone can beat it?

Barring the heavens bestowing the luck needed to win on one fortunate soul, no.

-Clone-

Question 1 - You mentioned tutoring other people when I interviewed you. When do you think you'll accomplish your "ultimate goal", and when do you plan to start taking people under your wing? Also what do you think is the deciding factor of when that ultimate goal is reached?

My ultimate goal is winning a second individual trophy (meaning a trophy not given by team tournaments), preferably the Smogon Tour. Once I achieve that, all my goals on this website will have been accomplished and I'll take on the mentor role I mentioned.

The deciding factor of when that will happen? How much work I put into doing it and if there's not too much uncontrollable interference from Pokémon luck-wise.

Question 2 - Also can I be your first tutee? please?

I gotchu boo.

Croven

Questions 1 - Do you have a job? If so, mind sharing what it is? This might've been asked already, but what are your hobbies besides Pokémon?

I answered all of these in response to another question, so I'll quote them here for your convenience:

"I am a Biochemistry graduate and current second year medical school student. I do a lot of things, but one of my main involvements in life is teaching. For example, I help teach undergraduate Organic Chemistry lab courses at my university and it's something I really enjoy doing.

Hobby-wise, I enjoy playing badminton, cooking all sorts of things, and really love watching Forensic files and murder/criminal documentaries - I find it fascinating how people can work together to solve a crime from just one tiny piece of evidence."

Question 2 - Following up on the previous question, do you play any sports? Or at least did you ever?

Badminton and track are the main sports/activities I have competed in. I mostly do them for recreational purposes now. I also enjoy playing basketball for fun, although I don't watch it competitively.

Question 3 - How do you analyze teams from Team Preview? Whenever I try to, I overwhelm myself with everything, so how do you do it?

I also gave some of my processes on this in previous answers. Take a look at my response to question 5 from Terraquaza here.

As a general guide, the main information I try to gain from team preview are the following:

What my opponent will lead with based on the things on his and my team, as I described above.
My win conditions and my opponents win conditions.
The things my opponent is weak to from my team and the things I am weak to from my opponents team.
One thing I didn't mention that I try to do is attempt to identify the sets/items my opponents team utilizes. For example, in the log I included in my response to Terraquaza linked above, we predicted the following: Landorus-T was carrying Choice Scarf | Clefable was a CM variant | Scizor was SD | Keldeo was Choice Specs | Heatran was special defensive SR | Latias was Defog. Wile being able to identify sets comes with metagame knowledge and experience, information like this can be very useful when deciding what to do during particular turns.

From there, I go with the flow in the way I described in my response to question 1 from Stallion here, attempting to make the best decisions every turn based on the situations unique to my match and ultimately find a way to win the game based on any openings I see. Don't overwhelm yourself with team preview. Trying to analyze every single little detail from team preview is impossible, but using it as a general guide to get an idea of things you can do to win based on what you notice from your opponents team is very useful.

Question 4 - Do you have a favorite band? Also, have you ever been interested in rating teams?

I don't have a favorite band. There's way too many bands I love and picking a favorite among them is just too hard ;_;! Some of the bands I included in my reply to Rewer in question 2 are some I really like, though.

As for rating teams: I was actually mostly involved with the RMT from 2009-2011! Rating teams was my main activity on these forums until I got into tournaments, and the team rater badge was the first pixel I received on these forums. I loved analyzing teams and trying to make them better back then and still do.

Vileman

Question 1 - Opinions on how the tournament player community has evolved? Do people look too much into winning leaving good sportsmanship behind?

Yeah, the culture in tournaments has primarily evolved into doing whatever it takes to win nowadays and the general attitude is worse. Instances of cheating, stories of ghosting, and so on are much more prevalent than they were in the past because of this. It's unfortunate, but what can you do?

Question 2 - You mentioned somewhere that you try to minimize the luck against you and maximize your odds, how exactly do you accomplish this, thinking as to many people "luck" tends to be the main reason they lose a lot of games?

Team choice has a lot to do with it. For example, compared to offensive teams, more defensive and passive teams are more prone to hax. Defensive/bulkier teams usually make for longer games → more chances to get haxed → hax has a greater impact most of the time. I try to pick teams that, while have a good defensive backbone, aren't entirely passive and can bounce back from luck because of the offensive presence provided by my win conditions.

Another simple example would be the following.

I have a 50% Choice Scarf Landorus-T locked into Stone Edge against a +0 Mega Tyranitar in range to be killed from Stone Edge. I also have a Specs Keldeo that, after factoring in sand damage and SR, would be at 80% coming in.
The damage calc on Stone Edge from Jolly Scarf Landorus-T against 0 HP Mega Tyranitar is 24.3 - 28.7%. If you decide to Stone Edge, you need to pray the move connects. If it rolls max, you win, If it doesn't roll max, you need to pray you land your hit twice to prevent the opposing Tyranitar from gaining two DD's and sweeping.
+1 Mega Tyranitar does 65.6 - 77.3% to Keldeo. Instead of messing around with misses and rolls, it's safer to go to the 80% Keldeo right off the bat to reduce the chance of luck stealing the win from you.

This is a very "obvious" scenario, but you'd be surprised by how many people would actually go for the Stone Edge instead of maximizing their chance to win and in effect minimizing their chances of getting unlucky by switching to Keldeo for a surefire win barring critical hits because the Mega Tyranitar was in range for Stone Edge to kill. This is a very basic example of what I mean by maximizing my chances to win and minimizing my chances of getting unlucky: identifying the move(s) that would provide me the greatest chance of winning taking luck into consideration.

Question 3 - Opinions on how the community looks towards upcoming good but new tournament players? Are the "good players" a closed group of people?

Steeljackal<3 actually summarized my thoughts on this perfectly in the post he made here. I agree with what he said and don't have much to add to it.

As for the "closed group" question: every subforum has a Smogon has a group of people that form a circle, including tournaments. Every "good player" has a certain group of people within tournaments they enjoy being around and mostly cooperate with, and the same is the case for most subforums on Smogon.

River Martini

Question 1 - What is your favorite tier that is not OU?

I've always had a place in my heart for UU and RU!

Question 2 - As a tournament director, were there any cases which there were disputes among other TDs?

All the time. That's the main thing we as TDs do with each other: argue with each other over issues in order to come to the fairest and most logical decision. This can't be accomplished without disputing with each other, and most of the disputes we have are healthy.

Question 3 - Most memorable battle?

Smogon Tour Season 17 semifinals XY OU game against Leftiez. We both played our hearts out and the endgame in particular was extremely intense with so many people watching and reacting to the plays.

Question 4 - You seem to have a fetish with dresses?

As Smogon's Pike Queen, my dress game always has to be on point, and if my Pokémon are rocking a good looking dress with style, I have to appreciate that too!

theV8man

Question 1 - What kind of rock music in particular do you listen to when you battle? I also listen to music to as a way of concentrating sometimes.

Take a look at some of the ones I linked in response to question 2 from Rewer in this post. Hard rock is what I prefer the most ^^;

Dekzeh

Question 1 - What would've been your reaction had you actually ended up on Frogs last SPL?

Not happy, especially after the reset that happened. I would have still played and helped, but I definitely wouldn't be as motivated as I was on the Alpha Ruiners, meaning I wouldn't play to my fullest capability.

Question 2 - Do you play or have played anything other than mons competitively?

Nope. The only other games I play are Mortal Kombat, Tekken and Street Fighter. Besides Pokémon, I don't like online gaming too much.

Question 3 - How happy you were when papai noel clicked Outrage instead of Tailwind on turn 3 here?

I wasn't happy or spamming "YES" on IRC or anything because I really did have Jolly Excadrill to revenge kill his Charizard-X, so I wasn't too worried. I decided to bring Jolly Excadrill because your entire team had been spamming sand the entire World Cup and didn't want to risk any speed tie nonsense because I know I'd lose them. Most of the variants of SD | Tailwind Charizard-X that I've seen have been Adamant, including on teams I considered using as well. As such, I wasn't too concerned about it being Jolly because if it were, I lost right there and there was nothing I could do about it :o!

I mostly took some time to decide what would be better to sacrifice between Tyranitar and Alomomola, and I ultimately ended up sacrificing the former since I deemed the latter more useful against the team papai noel brought.

Question 4 - Rate papai noel's performance in the late game when it was Greg vs Mew/Alomomola.

Utterly fantabulous. His maneuvering was pristine, and I am sure you agree too.

Question 5 - Do you get angry at teammates when bad plays happens in team tourneys?

Only secretly, never visibly ;)! I try to make them realize what they did wrong as nicely as possible so that they can learn from their mistakes and improve in future games. I don't see a point in being a douche to my teammates when they make a mistake - it only makes them feel worse, making the overall team experience more negative for them, especially if they're newer. That's no fun, so it's better to take a more respectful approach when pointing out mistakes, not lambasting and ripping someones guts out for choking like I've seen many people do.

Question 6 - Do you get disappointed at yourself if you make non optimal plays more in team tourneys or individual tourneys?

Definitely in team tournaments. If I make errors that cost me a game in team tournaments, it not only affects me, but my team as well. That one mistake could mean the difference between having my team move to playoffs or not, and letting others down is something I hate doing, especially when they all have their full confidence and trust in me. In individual tournaments, I can just blame myself for everything, something you can't do with team tournaments.

papai noel

Question 1 - Teammates log.

I won't lie, that log is hilarious, especially Dekzeh's ending comment, haha. I think comments like that are what make team tournaments fun, though: trolling your teammates and joking around make them awesome. I'd give them a 0/10 in terms of being supportive, but if it means anything, I believed in you friend and I'm sure they did too deep down inside!

Mizuhime

MIZUZU! My fellow Queen, apologies for the wait your highness. Let's get right down to your questions:

Question 1 - Why did you have so much faith in me?

Because I can recognize people with potential when I see them! When Steamroll came to me and told me you had been looking for a tutor for ages, you sounded extremely motivated and I respected that a lot because, after several sign-ups, most people give up if they never receive a mentor. When I spoke to you, I could see you genuinely wanted to learn and become a part of the community, and told you that you could do big things on here in the future if you kept at it. Alas, look at you know: head of Doubles, well-respected player, and moderator with lots of bling-bling in that post-bit. It's always great to see how people grow from when they were a new user, and you're a good example of that friend.

Question 2 - Why Iconic as my tutor?

He's my best Smogon friend and was the best tutor in the program in my humble opinion given his work ethic, overall knowledge and involvement with the community. He likes motivated tutees and you were one of them. I knew he'd be able to integrate you well with the community and picked him as your tutor due to this. You also mentioned you were Canadian, just like him, which was honestly perfect to develop a similar ground right off the bat (in addition to being able to get you to become involved with tournaments via the World Cup).

Question 3 - Most underrated player currently on Smogon?

YOU! Believe in your abilities more though!

Question 4 - Opinion on dropping bags of 9/11's?

▌▌

WECAMEASROMANS

Question 1 - Do you agree with this above statement? What are your thoughts about the XY OU ladder goddess herself? Who do you think would win in a fite?

She has already destroyed me during my one day long ladder run to qualify for the OLT, as witnessed here.

I have the name 'Based Goddess' registered on PS, but I think she's the one who should own the name. She's a boss and I wish she would have tried to qualify for the OLT. Our friend CrashinBoomBang tried to convince her to join as shown in this log, but unfortunately, she wasn't very interested. Though, I'm not complaining - the less threats there are to eliminate me, the better!

Regardless, it's a privilege to have contributed to one of her 4973 ladder wins. Tell her I said she rules when you see her <3.

PK Gaming

Long time no see my friend, I hope you're doing well! I'll never forget our UU and QC days ^^;

Question 1 - What are your thoughts on Mega Evolution? I noticed you stated that XY OU was your favorite metagame to date; did Mega evolution have a part in that? Specifically, was its overall influence in XY OU a net positive or negative?

Yeah, mega evolutions definitely played a large role in making XY OU my favorite metagame. It's such a new concept to Pokémon and really shook things up from the way things were in previous generations. I really love how mega evolutions made some never before used Pokémon like Mawile and Charizard completely dominant, to the point where some people consider them overpowered, leading to the former's ban. The fact that mega evolutions bring a whole new world of opportunities to previously mocked Pokémon is thing I love the most, and it makes things lots more fun. The addition of mega evolutions did contribute to making covering everything you need more difficult with only 6 slots, but this is only natural with each game release, and the challenge that comes with it keeps things interesting.

Question 2 - What do you like about the 6v6 Singles format? What makes it stand out in comparison to 'official formats', such as VGC or 3v3?

Singles is what I grew up with, so naturally it's the thing I've grown to prefer. Because of my background with singles, whenever I've tried playing VGC or Doubles, I felt as if there was just too much going on for me to actually enjoy because there's 4 Pokémon on the field at once instead of only two, so it was never able to keep my interest. However, I'm sure if I started off with VGC or Doubles as my main format, I would prefer it just as much. I really appreciate how much strategy goes into formats such as VGC and Doubles, however. I'm always seeing the most bizarre things used, which is really fascinating. An example would be some guy winning championships with a Pachirisu, something I'd never imagine happening in Singles.

What you said about my paragraph striking a chord in you brought a smile to my face and I'm glad you could relate to it in some way boss. The challenge of something as tasking as computer engineering can be very discouraging because of the workload, but it will all be worth it at the end of the day if that's where your heart is set. I wish you the very best with your goals and I'm sure you'll be successful boss.

Luckstard.

Question 1 - You made the best perf ever in Smogon Tour, if you finally achieve to win the whole thing, will you play the next one as seriously as you did this season?

If I win, I definitely won't play as seriously and will instead try to have fun with the tours instead of being so obsessed with winning.

Question 2 - Is Veteran In Love going to get back his first pink trophy on his profile one day or not?

I don't actually have the ability to give people trophies, otherwise I would. That's usually the reason it takes so long for some people to get their trophies, such as Atticus and M Dragon. Only 2 administrators have this power and they're usually really busy with other things, but I don't think anyone has ever bothered asking them to give VIL his trophy. I will try asking one of them to do so and see what happens!

IAmGingy

Question 1 - How did you find transitioning between gens and how should people people who started with XY transition to ORAS?

I can transition between generations pretty quickly. Here is how I'll be transitioning from XY OU to ORAS, for example:

Reading threads in this forum, such as this one, to see what people are talking about. Reading these threads gives me a general idea of what's going on.
Watching my friends play. A few of the people I know have been playing ORAS OU and linking their games on IRC, and when I am able to, I follow them to see what things look like. When ORAS is released there will be plenty of ORAS OU games to spectate as well, especially come SPL.
I will supplement all of the above with actual playing of my own to get a better feel of the metagame and to gain actual experience playing it. For starters, I'll likely just quickly edit an old team of mine from XY OU with whatever new mega evolution I'm interested in trying and go from there. Once I get some experience under my belt and get a better feel for things, I'll make a team with the people I always do that is better suited for ORAS and continue playing while keeping up with trends.

Question 2 - Favorite team you've seen someone else use?

I've seen so many teams that I can't really pick a favorite. Instead, I'll say I appreciate the creativity some people like ben gay and Dekzeh incorporate into their teams. For example, I was a big fan of ben's Ampharos rain because it made people realize Ampharos was a pretty underrated threat back when the team was in its prime. I'm also a big fan of nearly everything gr8astard and McMeghan use because their styles are so similar to mine.

Question 3 - Favorite/Funniest time you've been trolled?

I'm really hard to troll because my troll detectors are really refined since I troll so much myself and know when something's up, so I don't think there's really ever been a time where I was deliberately trolled.

Question 4 - I have a few frens who were thinking of trying out for SPL so have you got any tips for players hoping to make a team?

Get on IRC and tryout for teams. Managers love nothing more than finding cheap, underrated buys for their team. If you impress a manager with your skill through tryouts and show motivation/dedication, you'll definitely be considered for a team. You're not going to be picked if you don't take the initiative to show the managers what you've got and see if any of them like what they saw from you.

The "getting on IRC" part is also extremely crucial too - you need to be really active in team tournaments and IRC is the main venue for communication in things like SPL. There's nothing worse than having someone on your team who insists on not logging into IRC to communicate with their team despite being in some obscure PS room or Skype group somewhere. Show your potential manager you understand the importance of this all, and your chances will only improve.

Question 5 - Why did you U-turn here?

I didn't expect him to have Thunder Wave with Substitute because it's something I've never seen on Thundurus-I with Thunderbolt and HP Ice, which I figured he would have since he was fishing for a Rock Slide miss on my Landorus-T. Usually with Substitute, I saw NP back then. Because of this, my thought process was:

Use U-turn with Landorus-T.
U-turn again with Gene to break the sub .
Repeat the process until he couldn't use Sub anymore, and then finish things off with Gene.

I could have continued using Rock Slide, but there was the risk of missing. Since I didn't think he had Thunder Wave on his set, I decided to take the other route. Looking back, I probably should have just used Rock Slide, but hindsight is 20/20.

uCan'tSeeMe

Question 1 - Bist du echt deutscher?

Natürlich. 50% German, 50% Spanish.

Question 2 - What is your favorite Soccer-Club?

Bayern.

Question 3 - How old are you?

23. Old, I know ;_;!

Question 4 - Do you play in Tournaments only, or are you laddering under some alts sometimes? How many registered alts do you have?

Mostly tournaments. The only times I ladder are during suspects, where I usually make a one day power surge for reqs near the deadline. I sometimes ladder on a decently ranked account to test some teams or just to try out some new sets, but not very often.

As for alts, I probably have way too many!

Question 5 - How did you learn to speak English the way you do now?

Besides school and making it a goal to improve my English as much as possible by actively engaging in the language through reading as much as possible and writing/speaking, the Internet played a huge role in helping me improve my English actually. I've learned a lot about the language just from participating in forums like Smogon. Reading everything on here, talking to people on IRC, involving myself with writing rates in RMT, writing suggestions for analyses when I was on the QC team, and other such things all helped me improve my English a great deal.

Argue

I appreciate the very kind words man, that was awesome to hear! If you're looking to learn more, try getting involved with Battling 101 and getting a tutor to help you improve. Check through the Battling 101 schedule to see when sign-ups begin for certain rounds so you don't miss out. If you're looking for a mentor, look through the mentor profile and see which user you think you'd work well with based on what they've written about themselves and the areas they specialize in. All of them are great and are bring unique things to the table, so recommending any single one is hard!

In the meanwhile, definitely try to learn as much as you can. Practice, practice and practice and keep continuously try to build your knowledge through your playing and reading of strategies/metagame developments from threads in this forum and even analyses. Once you feel confident enough, set some goals for yourself. Try to qualify for whatever suspect tests happen in ORAS, which there should be plenty of. That in itself is an accomplishment and will help you build your confidence. If you feel like giving tournaments a try eventually, don't be scared to - they're fun and a good way to help you grow. I wish you the best of luck boss.

DM35

Question 1 - Does it ever feel strange to you that because you're so well known, any slight innovation or anything new that you try, provided that it works (which it usually does!) immediately tends to explode and get used by everyone else? Do you ever wish you weren't so well known so you could come under the radar a bit more with stuff like that?

Absolutely. I frequently wish to myself that I were under the radar at times because of what you described. Speaking from a tournaments perspective, I feel like because I am so well known, I always have to try my best to change up my style because whoever I am paired with will have a pretty good idea of my style based on the many replays available of me and will try to prepare for my preferences in team choices. This can become very tiresome at times, and if I were more unknown, this wouldn't be as big of an issue and people wouldn't know what to expect as much.

It does feel good to popularize some things though, don't get me wrong. However, I do sometimes wish for more privacy. An example would be when I was trying out the Victini mentioned in alexwolf's post here during a suspect testing round. When I confirmed my account, people immediately searched my replays, discovered the set and started talking about it despite my best attempts to hide it, which was admittedly annoying because I wanted to keep it secret for a while. If I were some random user, this likely wouldn't happen, but hey. Being a big player has advantages just like being under radar does, and I have to adjust to it.

Celticpride

Question 1 - Favorite of the six Friends characters?

Not a hard question at all for me, it's 100% Chandler. Why? Because he's similar to me in many ways due to his sarcastic nature and tendency to always crack jokes (which I find all hilarious), something I can all relate with.

Volty

Question 1 - I just wanted to ask as a player who has only been around for a couple of years, how hard was it for you to first make the decision to join tours? I've been wanting to since b/w but I just feel inadequate in my skills at times, namely teambuilding and keeping my cool in battles. The few I have joined I just embarrassed myself very badly, I guess I can get so nervous its like I lose all skill as soon as the match starts.

The conditions for me to join tournaments were pretty perfectly aligned.

The main tournament involvement I had prior to actually playing in them was compiling points for the Smogon Tour and doing the HTML to feature them on-site. Eventually, the tournaments staff needed a new TD, and because of my involvement throughout the community and with tallying those points, Philip7086, a TD at the time, recommended me as one. However, I was told that in order to be considered to be a TD, I needed to begin playing in tournaments. Because I was afraid of doing so, I was hesitant at first, but some of my friends pushed me to do and I gave in.

Now, I began to wonder how exactly I could begin playing in tournaments. Here's where the stars were essentially aligned for me. The Smogon Frontier was occurring during this time. Funnily enough, one of the frontier brains who had signed up for Salon Maiden could no longer dedicate the time needed for the job, and so I was hooked up with the position. This was my first instance of playing tournaments. I ended up winning the Smogon Frontier trophy during this season and ultimately became a TD after fulfilling the "needs to play in tournaments" requirement, and the rest was history.

Long story short, the push my friends gave me was the biggest factor in deciding to become involved. As I mentioned in the interview in the OP, at one point you have to face the fear, join and keep on trying even if you fail. Failure leads to improvement if you learn from you mistakes, and you'll never know where joining tournaments will take you if you keep at it. If you ever need some pointers on how tournaments work and what tournaments you can become involved with, feel free to PM me!

SparksBlade

Question 1 - Will you become an official mentor, or someone who teaches on request?

A mixture of both, although I won't accept every single request of course since that's unrealistic.

Question 2 - It seems you prefer to build teams with frens rather than alone. Who are the guys you mostly collaborate with? Can I join the crew?

Mostly gr8astard and McMeghan. Ask them if they're cool with you joining the crew and if they say yes, welcome aboard ;)!

Question 3 - This seems ambitious: I'm looking for a sparring partner, will you accept? Who's a good sparring partner that would accept my request?

I rarely even practice for my own tournaments games, so this one will unfortunately have to be a no friend! I'm not sure who would be a good sparring partner, as most people I hang around just grab a team and go into their games without much practice, including myself, so I can't really say. If anything, the ladder and opponents you play in tournaments can serve as temporary sparring partners to try your skill against.

Question 4 - Will you have match in the only thing I can hope to match you: randbats and CC?

If you ever catch me on PS, feel free to ask and I'll give you a few games of those

.

Question 5 - Did you watch the trailer of the new Naruto movie. Thoughts, specially about Naruto's short hair.

Yup. I wasn't a fan of Kakashi becoming Hokage in place of Naruto, but it turns out Naruto does indeed become the seventh afterwards, so it's all fine. Personally, I'm not a fan of Naruto's new look and thinks he looks terrible with short hair, but what can we do? We all know Kishi always ruins everything! I know you agree since I've seen you around the Naruto thread in Congregation of the Masses, where people have pretty much summarized my thoughts on the ending.

jacksoras

Question 1 - Do you have a replay were you felt you played the best you ever had, or maybe two?

I've mentioned this before in previous answers, but the main one that comes to mind is my match against Leftiez in Smogon Tour season 17, particularly the endgame. It's really different watching it from a replay rather than live, but it was very intense.

Bloo · Nov 7, 2014

Everything I've been asked so far has been answered.

Feel free to ask more questions during the remaining two days, though I will request that people try to limit the amount they ask per post. Since I try to give every question equal attention, things can get a bit lengthy and time consuming. Fun overall, though, and I'm glad to share my thoughts on anything!

Kevin Garrett · Nov 7, 2014

What is the most meaningful loss you experienced in your tournament career that has defined you as the player you have become?

potato14798 · Nov 7, 2014

what is the most questionable decision you believe that a TD has made in the past, and if you were them, what would you do?

Oglemi · Nov 7, 2014

What would your completely ideal, absolutely perfect, competitive, awesome, amazing Tournament look like, assuming it could be run perfectly no matter how extravagant?

dice · Nov 7, 2014

why u so hot

mfk earthworm ciele ab2

when r u gonna reveal ur true persona to the forums instead of hiding behind ur proper grammar nice guy act

how awesome is it to be a head td!

what round do u think u'll lose in smogon tour this yr

when u lose in smogon tour how long do u estimate u will go in incognito mode on irc and only pm ppl like 2 ppl

how does it feel to be inferior to mcmeghan at every facet of pokemon

when u gonna start playin league

why u so hot

dice · Nov 7, 2014

lmao holy fuck did you really find an image to separate the questions for aesthetic purposes hahahahahahahaha

Other OU Player of the Week #4: Bloo

theV8man

dekzeh

B is for BRUTUS

elodin

the burger

Mizuhime

Did I mistake you for a sign from God?

Bloo

Banned deucer.

Bloo

Banned deucer.

WECAMEASROMANS

Banned deucer.

Bloo

Banned deucer.

PK Gaming

Persona 5

Luckstard.

Gingy

Seeme

Argue

Freeroamer

The greatest story of them all.

Celticpride

psVoltage

SparksBlade

jacksoras

Bloo

Banned deucer.

Bloo

Banned deucer.

Kevin Garrett

is a competitor

potato14798

Oglemi

Borf

dice

dice

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