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Welcome to the OU Player of the Week Project: Rebooted! For those of you that don't know, this is a project where I interview a tournament player and have you, the readers, leave any questions you may have down below for them to answer. The ultimate goal is to gain insight as to how they play this skillful and strategic video game. If any of you have a suggestion for who I should interview, feel free to VM/PM me, and I will take your suggestion into consideration. Now, enough of this boring intro. Let's get to it!
Most Known For:
Playing with BP
Favorite Pokemon:
Vaporeon
Most used Pokemon:
Smeargle and Espeon
Can you tell us a little about yourself?
I'm a 23 year old college student majoring in Information Technology (even though I hate programming and hardware knowledge so much!!!!). Love watching/playing tennis, playing the piano and watching TWD and The Voice. I like going to theaters and orchestras.
Where did you get your name from?
My real name is
How and when did you get into competitive battling?
I was once a little boy with a lot of time available, so I spent hours on Google looking for Pokemon stuff. Then one day I found Smogon's analyses, and I simply loved them! I spent so many time reading those analysis and everything was so beautiful and well detailed, and I thought the recommended sets looked so cool and effective etc. I also enjoyed how Smogon categorizes all Pokemon in different tiers, and I tried to learn all about the Ubers and OU threats at that time. The concept of the Life Orb and choiced items blew my mind too (I used to think that Leftovers was like the only viable item). Then I found this section on the Smogon Website, which recommended Shoddy Battle as an online simulator at that time. I've been following Smogon since then, even though I only made a forum account recently.
How do you feel about how ORAS plays compared to XY?
I don't know what to say here.
To add onto the above, thoughts on the team matchup issue?
I think that the people who blame team match up are those that enjoy playing defensively. Game Freak loves to create new strong and powerful threats because it is cool for the new kids (OMG A NEW OP MON YAY), so they are obviously trying to shape the metagame into something more offensive. Should Smogon ban every single wall-breaker they give us, for example? I really don't think so (Landorus-I and Mega Mawile were banned for not just being able to destroy defensive teams but ALSO faring very well vs offense). People that play defensively are risking themselves. At the same time they try to have safe counter measures to whatever the opponent might bring and they also still want to have room for their own "offensive momentum". Balanced teams usually have a defensive core (which may include a win condition like a Calm Mind Clefable, Defensive DD Mega Altaria etc), a revenge killer (which can be a scarfed Pokemon or a speed boosting weather sweeper) and some Pokemon that fare pretty well against offense in general (those Pokemon are usually either fast, hit hard or have priority). A common thing people do when making balanced teams is try to cover the most common threats in the current state of the metagame with their defensive core. But what if the opponent brings something that you can't wall reliably? You will probably end up sacking a Pokemon and then try to revenge kill said threat with your revenge killer (this is the concept of balance I guess), but sometimes you can't afford to lose a important mon, so this should be taken into account when you DECIDE to play with Balance. Balanced teams are very far from being capable of covering all threats and if the opponent has a dangerous threat, you will be punished for trying to defend yourself (the opponent may get a kill each time he/she bring a threat that is capable of killing something when your only counter measure is revenge killing said threat). ORAS has so many threats that it is impossible to cover them defensively, even with full stall! I think people should stop relying so much on playing safe, and start risking themselves with offensive teams. A good offense has response for almost everything, and it only loses if the opponent plays better. As someone that used stall/balanced teams for a very long time, I recommend you guys, from the bottom of my heart: STOP PLAYING DEFENSIVELY 100% OF THE TIME AND BE BRAVE ENOUGH TO BRING OFFENSIVE SHIT. "The best defense is a good offense".
Do you feel that there is anything that is suspect worthy at the moment?
Maybe the OU Council should nerf BP in DPP :o
What's your favorite playstyle and why?
Offense. I don't have the replay, but I played a ORAS Smogon Tour finals match against Peachy, he was using full stall and I had the Kratosmana Offense (Keldeo/Scizor/Bisharp/Landorus-T/Latias/Scolipede). The match up looked impossible for me to win. He had Amoonguss as a Keldeo counter, Tyranitar as a Latias trapper, Mega Sableye that completely neuters Scolipede and to a lesser extent Landorus-T (he could prevent me from laying Stealth Rock) and Quagsire as a Scizor and Bisharp counter. The thing is: I won. It felt so amazing, and all my Brazilian friends couldn't believe I managed to win that match. When I play with Hyper Offense, I feel a certain pleasure when I kill a threat, especially if we are talking about a match up against Stall. Offense is soooo cool to use and it is by far the most exciting play style. Stall and balance are boring as hell. They are not only more prone to match up issues, but they also require less prediction skills to be succesful with. It feels so mechanical, I don't know…
What's your favorite generation of OU and why?
ORAS I guess. Because I usually play it better than the other ones D:
How do you go about preparing for tournament matches? Does the process differ depending on the tournament?
As I said before I joined the Smogon Forums pretty recently and I played few official tournaments since then. After getting crushed by Lyconik and Tom Bus in the OLT (which was a double elimination tour), a german dude in OST and Get Backer in Smogon Tour, these are some things that I learned: don't try to build counter teams, don't bring shitty teams, don't be predictable, don't ever bring stall in ORAS (especially if your opponent knows you have an affinity with the play style), but instead bring solid teams that have been tested a lot and you are experienced with, and if possible, it must be great against your opponent trends. I don't have much time to scout for my opponent replays and see how he plays, so I usually end up asking for a friend to do it lol. I think that my skill level improved a lot since my first official tour, the OLT. I've been playing with more confidence, my team building skills improved and I've been playing more aggressively. Honestly I think I played reasonably well in the WCOP, even though I choked against Xray (Talonflame could win that match by itself but for some reason I risked it so it ended up getting paralyzed, leading to the loss of a guaranteed win). We learn from our losses. We grow in our grind. We mature through our mistakes. We find triumph through our trials.
Favorite WCoP game?
I didn't follow all games closely, especially after Brazil got eliminated from the tournament. I'm going to say my match against Cicada was extremely fun and was the favorite I played lol this guy ALWAYS provide me some excellent matches.
Thoughts on the newly introduced Smogon Classic? Favorite to win?
I think it is really hard to be consistent in 5 different generations. The winner of this tournament either has lots of Pokemon friends to help, is a robot or has no life (I'm semi kidding of course :s). I'm rooting for McMeghan because he is cute af :]
If you could change one thing about OU, what would it be and why?
Allowing lugia in OU would be a pretty cool thing. I've been discussing this with some friends and they think I'm crazy, but let me still try to explain lol.
The OU Council already tried to reduce the match up issue by suspecting Aegislash for a second time. Centralizing the metagame around a Pokemon that checks the majority of threats was the reasoning for this. However Aegislash was a threating Pokemon by itself, having very few counters in OU. So if the council wants something that checks the majority of threats, why not trying Lugia? Lugia has like 0 offensive presence and it is a set up bait for every single steel type/magic guard/magic bounce Pokemon, and OU has plenty of them. Lugia is also bothered by every single status condition and Stealth Rock. Destiny Device, even after hearing all my reasoning, simply said: "LUGIA DOESN'T DIE HELLO???". Are you sure man? I'm not convinced it is that indestructible. Suspect it imo. I didn't bring this up to discussion with someone like McMeghan because it sounds silly as fuck and he would probably say the same thing, so I'm just gonna share these random thoughts of my mind publicly in this thread, and nowhere else lol
Do you have any advice for newer players for playing, and for Smogon in general?
Watch high level replays, join the Apprentice program, ask for other players advice, pick teams from the Sample Team thread (if you still don't have access to good teams) and test them with your friends.
If you could change one thing about Smogon as a whole to make it better, what would it be and why?
banning cancerous users such as Meru would be sooo amazing :D
What players do you look up to / are good friends with?
Cosine180, Xray, Kratosmana, Stathakis, Get Backer, Tele, Livio.
The Banana Crew: Goao, Destiny Device, Tamahome, radianthero156, Hantsuki, Dekzeh, Tiba, Elodin, Disenchanted, Soulraiser, Speto, Ren-chon n_n, Sand Castle, Adam, Hill and Yan Sogeking (Yan actually sucks lol).
The faggy boys: Meru, The Goomy, TheCanadianWifier.
McMeghan: ugh seriously I've been really attracted to him since a long time, but it’s just a platonic love, I'm pretty sure he doesn't even care about me, even though he told me once that he used to have fun when he played with my GeoPass team :s
Other players that I think are good: Cicada, TDK, Ben Gay, IamGingy, Leftiez, Bad Ass and praj.pran
Special shoutouts to gr8astard. This guy was like my greatest rival on the PO ladder, and he used to say so much shit to me because I was a stall and BP player. I got extremely surprised to see HIM getting reqs with my GeoPass team in a suspect test. You guys have no idea what I felt when I saw that! LOL
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?
http://pastebin.com/jtk5sdWf
This isn't a new team (the metagame has changed since then of course). I used this a lot in the last Smogon tour's regular season. I KNOW IT IS A SEMI STALL TEAM, but at that time I still used to feel comfortable playing with bulky teams. I tried to cover the most common threats that were being used in the Smogon Tour matches. I made this around the week 7 and only lost once against Ox the Fox. At that time Sableye wasn't popular, I think only me and Tele were using it.
I tried to build around Sableye and SpD Talonflame. Sableye has Fake Out, ensuring me I could lead with and mega evolve safely, even against teams with a strong fairy type Pokemon. Talonflame counters some very relevant threats such as Scizor, Charizard-Y, non Thunder Wave Clefable (it can deal with it in a 1x1 scenario provided Clefable doesn't paralyze it on the switch). Then I included a physically defensive Tyranitar because I appreciated the fact that it could be a Charizard-X, SD Talonflame and Lati@s counter, and also provide me Stealth Rock support. I wanted to give it Toxic so it could also cripple some very bulky threats such as non rest Mega Slowbro, non Refresh Mega Latias and Bulk Up + Will-O-Wisp Talonflame. Then I needed something that could switch in Landorus-I (it was still allowed in the tier at that time), so I included a SpD Skarmory, which could handle non Focus Blast variants, and as bonus it also checks Landorus-T, Diancie, Excadrill, Weavile and it was my primary Clefable switch in, as I can’t afford to risk Talonflame getting paralyzed, and thanks to Whirlwind I can ensure that, most of the time, Clefable will be the last mon so Talonflame can beat it 1x1. Lastly, Defog takes some pressure off Sableye, allowing me to play safer with him. I needed at least one Pokemon that could give me some "offensive momentum", so I picked Keldeo because I felt I was lacking in Water, Fire and Dark resists. Keldeo also dealt with Mega Gyarados who I think is a huge threat. Then I needed a Keldeo counter. Celebi was choosen because the Nasty plot set could also help me against Crocune, Crobro and CroManaphy, while Leaf Storm is here because I needed something that could revenge kill a Belly Drum Azumarill after the boost (Giga Drain fails at OHKOing) and the physical defense is useful for scouting his set (CB Play Rough deals around 60%). Tangrowth can replace Celebi, as it is an all around better Pokemon (used it in WCOP against Xray). This team is very weak to Nasty Plot + 3 attacks Thundurus. If it is the Tangrowth version, bulky Water-types that can set up are serious issues and, to a lesser extent, Belly Drum Azumarill. If it is the Celebi version, the team is weaker to Gardevoir and Tailglow Manaphy).
Xray said this team still works in the current metagame and he enjoys to use it. I don't know. All I know is that I don't enjoy playing defensively too much anymore. Smogon Tour 20 is very close, so stay tuned for some innovations! ;s
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post any questions you may have for the BP master below. See you next week!
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