Welcome to the OU Player of the Week Project: Rebooted! Clone is retiring this project after this week, and we thought that after he interviewed 45 people it would be cool to give him a Player of the Week of his own because he put in a ton of time orchestrating all those interviews. Now, enough of this boring intro. Let's get to it!
-Clone-
Most Known For:
-Clone-
Running the OU Player of the Week Project for over a year and contributing to various parts of the forums, as well as being an OU Room Moderator. I don't have a big name in tournaments.
Favorite Pokemon:
Blaziken, hands down. Garchomp, Greninja, and Metagross are also really cool.
Most used Pokemon:
Not entirely sure but it's probably one of Latios, Garchomp, Mega Metagross, or Bisharp.
Can you tell us a little about yourself?
I'm an 18 year old college freshman that attends a school in Pennsylvania. I'm a criminal justice major, and I want to go into law enforcement once I graduate. My interests outside of Smogon include ultimate Frisbee, playing first person shooters, watching Netflix, and hanging out with friends. I am also a huge Star Wars and Game of Thrones fan. Can't wait until The Force Awakens is in theaters.
Where did you get your name from?
My original username (and the one I use on most sites) is Cloneblazer12. I combined my favorite two things from the time. Clone comes from the Clones in Star Wars, and Blazer comes from the nickname of my Blaziken from Emerald. The 12 was my age at that time (which goes to show just how long I've actually used this name). I'm now known as Clone because everyone calls me that. One day I hope to lose the dashes, but we'll see.
How did you get into competitive battling?
At the end of my sophomore year in high school, I started working as a lifeguard. I needed something to do when no one was at the pool, so I started bringing my DS to work. My coworker did the same, and he played Pokemon. Remembering my memories from playing as a kid, I decided to wipe the dust off my Heart Gold game. We got to talking about Pokemon, and he told me about EVs and IVs and stuff. I did some research, and stumbled upon the Smogon Dex and Serebii. I used guides I found online to start breeding for a team. After I bought White Version off my friend, I started breeding in that game as well. I eventually found Pokemon Showdown!, and used it to test what mons I wanted to breed in game. I made a Sand Team and stuck with that, even though it was absolute shit. It wasn't until X&Y came out that I started to understand the game more, and I started to get pretty decent at the game. There's not much else to say, other than that I only play casually at this time due to time constraints.
What's your favorite playstyle and why?
Offense, specifically bulky offense. I hate wasting time playing with fatter balance or stall, but I also hate not having switch-ins to anything when playing hyper offense. I also use offensively-oriented balance builds from time to time.
What's your favorite generation of OU and why?
Gen 6 because that's the only one that I consider myself proficient in. I do really enjoy DPP, although I can't teambuild for shit yet. Maybe one day I'll learn if I decide to play more.
If you could change one thing about Smogon as a whole to make it better, what would it be and why?
I would really like it if all mods were active. Good examples of this would be alexwolf when he was still a mod, and bludz, as well as many others in various sections of the site. I don't like how there are some mods that seem to do absolutely nothing. I may just be ignorant of what goes on behind the scenes, but in my opinion, there should be some transparency between those mods and the general public if they never post/lock threads or whatever. It never looks good when someone has power but is/looks inactive for the most part.
I'd also like it if there was some way for there to be forum-wide announcements on very important topics. A forum at the top of the home page titled "News" with a new thread created after something major happened would be cool. I know there are private forums that disclose this information, but I feel that the general public is left out, something that I don't feel is a good thing.
Do you have any advice for newer players for playing, and for Smogon in general?
In regards to playing, take a team from the showcase and ladder. That's your best starting point. When you feel somewhat comfortable playing, join b101. It may seem beneath you to get tutored, but trust me, it helps. I made the mistake of never getting formally tutored and it took me a lot longer than I would have liked to be where I am today. I'd probably be better because I still make a shiton of dumb mistakes whenever I play and those get ironed out in the tutoring process.
As for Smogon, contribute, but don't overload yourself. You won't get better if you don't involve yourself one way or another. However, don't be a tryhard, either. Overloading yourself is never a good thing. You can't do everything at once.
Who was the most interesting interviewee and why?
Bloo and aim were my favorites to interview. They gave great answers and helped give this project a great start. Bloo had the longest answers out of everyone, and I enjoyed reading all of it (if you missed it, the thread is in the My Archive hyperlink in my signature. It's definitely worth a read). It doesn't hurt that I admired them both before they quit/got banned. That doesn't mean I didn't like the other 40+ people, though.
You started this project as an unbadged user. What was it like talking to some of Smogon's most well-known players as an unbadged user?
Intimidating. I remember when alexwolf first approved this project, I approached aim and asked him if he was willing to be interviewed. It felt weird because I was a nobody and had no idea of how thing would turn out. Luckily, he agreed and things went well. I was still pretty nervous when asking people even after I got badged because all I had to my name was this project. It wasn't until around week 15 or so that I realized that I had no reason to be nervous. Everyone was nice and willing to help.
What players do you look up to / are good friends with?
Oh boy. There's a lot of people I've become friends with over the time I've been on Smogon.
When I started out battling, I looked up to people like McMeghan, Bloo, aim, M Dragon, and others because they were the "best" in my eyes. I also looked up to TDK, as I've known him for a long time (like 2 years almost), even though we don't talk much anymore. He was the one who guided me when I started out, and I wouldn't have been nearly as proficient at this game as I am now were it not for him. Dare I say it but haunter was also a mentor to me before his banning and I probably never would have contributed as much to the OU forum as I have without him. Reverb is in the same boat as well, although in regards to the OU Room on PS.
As for friends, I have a lot, and I'll probably forget people because my memory is shit. OU Room peeps, bof guys, OU forum people, and various people I've met on Skype/PS are all cool.
Special shoutouts to Reverb, Rumor, Celticpride, Bludz, Recreant, Krauersaut, and Saph cuz I talk to you guys the most. There are a lot of other people I talk to but the list is too long for me to remember and I hate leaving people out.
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?
Charizard @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 248 HP / 136 SpD / 124 Spe
Careful Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Roost
- Flare Blitz
- Dragon Claw
Azumarill @ Leftovers
Ability: Sap Sipper
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Encore
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
- Knock Off
Tornadus-Therian @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 132 HP / 160 SpA / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hurricane
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Latias @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 72 HP / 184 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Defog
- Psychic
- Recover
Bisharp @ Black Glasses
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Iron Head
- Sucker Punch
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 248 HP / 136 SpD / 124 Spe
Careful Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Roost
- Flare Blitz
- Dragon Claw
Azumarill @ Leftovers
Ability: Sap Sipper
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Encore
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
- Knock Off
Tornadus-Therian @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 132 HP / 160 SpA / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hurricane
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Latias @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 72 HP / 184 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Defog
- Psychic
- Recover
Bisharp @ Black Glasses
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Iron Head
- Sucker Punch
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off
This team is old as fuck but I still like to whip it out from time to time because it's really fucking fun to use. It is by no means perfect and some sets could use some tweaking to fully take advantage of what this team is meant to accomplish, but I never had the full time to do so. Regardless, it features Sap Sipper Azumarill, the ultimate Serperior counter that is also capable of abusing Encore to the benefit of the rest of the team. Wisp Zard X burns shit and Ferro walls shit while also setting up rocks. Latias Defogs and handles Venusaur. Torn-T is a utility pivot that helps with fat Grass-types and lures in Chomp with HP Ice, although it was meant for Gliscor because when this team was made that thing was everywhere. Finally Bisharp is there to clean up the mess with an SD set. The team ain't perfect like I previously stated, but it is hella fun to use, especially when you catch a mon with Encore from Azu.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-286518165 Here's a replay of it in action.
Finally, I would like to address one last thing. I am bringing this project to an end. It's gone one for over a year now and I have interviewed everyone I have wanted to. Celticpride is posting this and it will be the last installment for a good amount of time. I want to end this on a good note before it overstays its welcome, and it is about that time. I have had an amazing time hosting this project and I would like to thank each and every one of the people I have interviewed because their contributions made this project possible. If it wasn't for you guys then this project would have been a total bust, and I appreciate the time you all took to help me out.
As for everyone else, I'll see you around. Feel free to ask me whatever you want.
