Banner by Skarm™
Welcome to OU's Player of the week, a project where I interview well known players to gain insight on how they battle, as well as get to know some things about them. The goal of this thread is to have these high level players give insight to other players in this community in hopes of creating a better overall experience in the OU environment. As always, if there's someone you'd like to see interviewed, feel free to shoot me a PM. So without further ado, lets get to it! Yes, this was late. However, there is a legit reason for this, so don't worry about it.
Most Known For: Being a constant presence on the OU ladder over the past year and a half, performing the biggest upset of 2014 against Bloo in round 8 of OLT and driving cbb mad on multiple occasions.
Favorite Pokemon: Golem, Primeape
Most used Pokemon: Clefable in XY, Tornadus-T in ORAS
Where did you get your name from?
In all honesty, when I first joined Pokémon Showdown, I wasn’t taking this game seriously.I just wanted to see what it was like, do 1 or 2 battles, and then quit. So when I had to choose a nickname I didn’t really force my imagination, I just went with the first word that came into my mind and tele sounded funny.
How and when did you get into competitive battling?
During my last year at high school (2013-14) a classmate mentioned an online site of competitive Pokémon.He affirmed that despite appearances (it being a kids game, etc), building a good competitive team required much work and knowledge. The majority of people (including myself) didn’t give him any attention, with some even laughing at him. However 2 weeks later, in a dull moment, I decided to look for it on the internet and found myself in an empty Italian server. One week later, I came to the Pokémon Showdown main server and after a month I joined Smogon.
How do you feel about how ORAS plays compared to XY?
Obviously the new megas had a big impact, Mega Sableye and Mega Metagross most of all. The former popularized sets like SD Talonflame and SD Glicor, the latter has increased usages of Starmie (from #45 to #11 in less than 3 months) and Hippowdon (from #63 to #36) for example. I think Hyper-Offense has a hard time dealing with the aforementioned megas. Also Hyper-Offense has lost a lot in terms of pure power with the ban of Greninja. Even though new threats like Contrary Serperior and the fun-to-use Sheer Force Feraligatr were introduced in the transition from XY to ORAS, they are nowhere near to Greninja in terms of speed, power and offensive presence. These reasons lead me to believe that Stall and Balance are the best playstyles currently.
To add onto the above, thoughts on the team matchup issue?
I think matchup issue is a real problem
What are your thoughts on the Landorus suspect test currently going on?
I'm very happy about this suspect. I hope it gets banned. It's fast and extremely powerfull, I've had troubles dealing with it since the start of xy. I'm pretty sure that not only balance but every playstyle will benefit a lot from his ban. I really share this sentence I've read in the suspect thread: "in the hands of an expert player, (it) becomes incredibly hard to stop". Nothing could be more true.
What's your favorite playstyle and why?
Balance because I like having some sort of control over what’s happening
What's your favorite generation of OU and why?
I have to say Gen 6 because it’s only one I’ve played (at a competitive level).
How do you go about preparing for tournament matches? Does the process differ depending on the tournament?
I don’t really have any specific process. I just try to keep myself calm, to be as lucid as possible. I also remind myself of a few things before the game starts: always spend some time looking at team matchup, recognize yours and your opponent’s win conditions, try to understand what you have to do in order to put your opponent in an uncomfortable position, when you have to make a safe play, when to make an aggressive play, and always try to think 2 turns ahead. This applies to any match anyway, not just tournaments.I have to say I’m always quite confident that I’ll win because I know that my teambuilding process was flawless and as such there are high chances my team is better than my opponent's. This gives me the necessary peace of mind.
Favorites to win OST and Smogon Tour?
Whitequeen, babidi1998
Thoughts on the newly introduced Smogon Classic? Favorite to win?
I like the concept, I’d like to see McMeghan or Livio do well. I cant say who will win because I’m not an old gen player.
If you could change one thing about OU, what would it be and why?
Only one thing? I'll go with Manaphy then. I would ban Tail Glow because it’s uncompetitive. All you need to do is click the right button at the right time. Even a kid who just started to play this game yesterday could beat me if I don’t have the appropriate counter (see CBB vs Style, ost). This is especially true since you can count Manaphy’s counters on one hand.
I do have a theory about why Manaphy is still OU. At the beginning of XY, people were too busy with the new toys and no one noticed how fucking strong Manaphy is, even without permanent rain (which is probably the reason why it was banned in BW). People probably associate Manaphy's ban in BW with permanent rain, which is partially true.The truth is Manaphy is a big threat by itself, with or without permanent rain. Either nerf it or send it directly to Ubers in my opinion.
Do you have any advice for newer players for playing, and for Smogon in general?
To newer players I’d suggest spending less time asking for help with their teams because there are things you cannot teach. Quoting Louis Armstrong "If you have to ask what jazz is, you'll never know."
If you could change one thing about Smogon as a whole to make it better, what would it be and why?
I like Smogon. I don’t visit forums too much though (except tournaments and RMTs) so I have no idea of what could be changed.
What players do you look up to / are good friends with?
I look up to Conflict because he made one of the best XY teams. FLCL's early XY sash spam is also a very good team. Denissss because he is an incredibly clever player with has lots of imagination that is very important when teambuilding. Also I'm good friends with most people from bof and with my italian pals Barge, Lange, Gazel, Metmaver and Agras.
Finally, can you provide us a team that's a good fit for this metagame and reflects your playstyle, with a brief explanation of how it works?
Venusaur @ Venusaurite
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 252 HP / 236 Def / 20 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Synthesis
- Leech Seed
Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 244 HP / 44 Def / 144 SpD / 76 Spe
Careful Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Roost
- Knock Off
Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 216 SpD / 40 Spe
Calm Nature
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Lava Plume
Skarmory @ Shed Shell
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 248 Def / 8 Spe
Impish Nature
- Defog
- Brave Bird
- Roost
- Whirlwind
Tornadus-Therian (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 132 HP / 160 SpA / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Hurricane
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 164 Def / 92 SpD
Calm Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled
- Calm Mind
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 252 HP / 236 Def / 20 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Synthesis
- Leech Seed
Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 244 HP / 44 Def / 144 SpD / 76 Spe
Careful Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Roost
- Knock Off
Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 216 SpD / 40 Spe
Calm Nature
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Lava Plume
Skarmory @ Shed Shell
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 248 Def / 8 Spe
Impish Nature
- Defog
- Brave Bird
- Roost
- Whirlwind
Tornadus-Therian (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 132 HP / 160 SpA / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Hurricane
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 164 Def / 92 SpD
Calm Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled
- Calm Mind
Standard balanced team, I've made a ton of teams like this one over the last few months but I particularly like this one because it's an excellent Gothitelle+M-Sableye Stall counter team and it doesn't have any glaring weakness.
Anyway you can find this team and many others visiting my team archive, which ive recently updated with new oras teams.
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yeah i chose tele :o if you have any questions for him, leave them down below.
