Player of the Week 38: Zorodark

[GOAO]

Favorite Pokémon: Salamence
Most used Pokemon: Pawniard
Most known for: LC Open finals, 5-3 record in SPL.

Tell us a little about yourself.
I'm a 19 year old engineering student from Belgium. When I'm not studying or wasting my time on mons, I like to hang out with friends, go partying once in a while and watch sports like tennis, soccer, basketball and American football. I also enjoy going quizzing from time to time in the weekend.
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How and when did you get your start in LC?​

I've been playing competitively for over four years now but I've never played LC as much as I do now. It was one of the first side tiers I tried out when I got bored of OU during BW1 though. I remember building some Sand team and beating the official PO LC Gym Leader with that team, despite having only played like 10 ladder games up until that point. That was my first major official victory over a "good" player, even though it probably sounds very silly to everyone who's reading this. I never really got into the tier after that. As a testament to that, I still only have that one BW LC team.
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What is your favorite aspect of LC?​

I like how different it is compared to every other tier. I'm usually a more defensive inclined player in OU and UU, but when I'm playing LC I have to get out of my comfort zone because those defensive builds simply don't work that well. Even walls like Porygon can still hit pretty damn hard, especially when you compare it to the damage output of its UU equivalent Porgyon2. It's also a relief to play a tier that isn't centered around hazards, which really does give you a lot more freedom while playing. In my experience there's also much more room for "fun" sets to work in LC compared to other tiers.
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Is there any mon, playstyle, etc that you feel is underrated in LC?​

Taillow's actually a really cool mon. Whether you go with LO or Guts, you have a really fast and really strong mon on your hands. Its LO set has ways around some of the classic bird counters and Boomburst allows you to check Drifloon which is something every team can appreciate. There was a fapkingg team with Guts Taillow that I used a lot during LC Open and I had a lot of fun using it just because Facade hits so freaking hard.
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Anything you find overrated?​

Staying in the theme of birds, I'm not a terribly big fan of Archen. Maybe it's because I've never really used the all-out offensive set, but it's pretty disappointing as a support mon. It's a pretty lousy bird check imo because getting U-Turned with Rocks up basically wastes Berry Juice or puts you into Defeatist range next time if you're Evio or you've used up Berry Juice. I prefer Onix or Tirtouga as SR setting bird checks for that reason. Archen's got a couple of things going for it like U-Turn but if I don't need that, I'll probably revert to Onix or Tirtouga or something else.
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What is your opnion on Diglett suspect test?​

I voted ban because I believe its influence in the teambuilder is too restraining. blarajan explained this better than I ever could, but it's so good at removing problematic Pokemon that it gives an inherent advantage to the player that chooses to use Diglett. The Diglett user will always be in control because their opponent will a) have had to build a team via a subtractive method (oops too many Diglett weak mons means starting from scratch instead of adding a Diglett counter because there simply isn't such a thing) and b) cannot afford to be reckless with any important Pokemon weak to Diglett in a specific match whereas the Diglett user has the opportunity to sac their least important member at any time to net a crucial kill. Obviously this general approach makes Diglett sound more broken than it is because there's plenty of other variables that decide a match, but I still believe that Diglett has too big of a negative effect on the metagame.
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What players do you look up to / are good friends with?​

Most of my closest are PO people from way back. I also get along well with pretty much any teammate I've ever had in team tours which makes those tours so much fun. It's the best way to meet cute people like Sken :D. Nowadays I look up to our game's superstars like McM and Ojama. I envy their ability to build solid yet creative teams and bring their A-game without wavering when it matters most. When I started out in BW, anyone who could get their RMT archived was a hero of mine because I wanted to be able to build teams as solid and coherent as those that got enshrined in the RMT Archive.
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What's your favorite playstyle and why?​

I mentioned earlier that I'm generally more of a balanced/defensive player but I definitely don't like to be too passive. In LC I usually try to find a cool offensive core and then build around that. Usually there'll be two or three glue mons to fall back on. I like to be in control and have answers for everything my opponent throws at me and then go on the offensive when the opportunity arises.
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At the start of SPL, you thought you would start in LC?​

Before SPL started, Finch asked me about 5 times if I "would be possibly available to play LC". I'd just lost in LC Open so I just said yes every time. When the draft was over and we hadn't drafted an actual LC player, I knew I'd had to play and started prepping more since I hadn't actually built a single ORAS LC team during my Open run.
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Tell us how was your LC Open run and if expected getting finals of it when you joined.​

I joined with very low expectations since I didn't have a shot at Slam playoffs anymore and LC was an unknown tier to me. I didn't even have teams so I asked Finch for some and he passed me the ones fapkingg had given him. I won r1 because my opponent had a worse case of "idk what i'm doing" than me. When fapkingg got eliminated, he offered to help me by building new teams and telling me which ones not to use. The rest is history.
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Are you sticking around LC now that SPL finished?​

Sure! I really do like the tier and apparently I'm not terrible at it so why not.
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Is there any advice that you'd like to pass on to new LCers?​

I'm still pretty new myself :O The only way to get better at this game is to just play a lot. You shouldn't be afraid to ask questions because everyone's pretty friendly. It's also probably a good idea to lurk a bit before posting on forums because if you start out doing stupid things, it'll be hard to remove that stain from your reputation

Additionally: use DJ Khaled nicknames if you want to win
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Lastly, do you have a team you'd like to share with us?​

I've given this team to a bunch of people and I might RMT it one day when I'm not lazy. I used it in the last week of SPL and it's based around Agility Porygon which is an absolute champion. NP Croagunk and SD Corphish pave the way by breaking walls and Onix / Cottonee / Pawniard help cover every threat while providing plenty of utility.

Hide

mogul talk (Croagunk) @ Berry Juice
Ability: Dry Skin
Level: 5
EVs: 52 HP / 116 Def / 188 SpA / 116 SpD / 36 Spe
Modest Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Sludge Bomb
- Vacuum Wave
- Dark Pulse

all i do (Pawniard) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Defiant
Level: 5
EVs: 236 Atk / 36 Def / 36 SpD / 196 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Pursuit
- Iron Head
- Brick Break

major (Corphish) @ Eviolite
Ability: Adaptability
Level: 5
EVs: 196 Atk / 76 Def / 236 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off
- Aqua Jet
- Crabhammer

i appreciate u (Onix) @ Berry Juice
Ability: Sturdy
Level: 5
EVs: 76 HP / 236 Atk / 196 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Rock Blast
- Taunt

vibes (Cottonee) @ Eviolite
Ability: Prankster
Level: 5
EVs: 36 HP / 40 Def / 144 SpA / 40 SpD / 232 Spe
Timid Nature
- Dazzling Gleam
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Encore
- Knock Off

blessings (Porygon) @ Berry Juice
Ability: Download
Level: 5
EVs: 40 Def / 240 SpA / 200 Spe
Modest Nature
- Tri Attack
- Agility
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Fighting]

 

[Fiend]

I don't really know you but I always like your teams!

 

[Omfuga]

THIS GUY'S THE BEST FUCKING LC PLAYER OMFG!

 

[SPACE FORCE meeps]

hi zorodark important question how much do you weigh lol

 

[Sken]

thx for the shoutout although you're cuter n_n

what do you think about lc mechanics/numbers stuff? are you still one of those "fuck rolls dude lol" guys/have you ever been one of them?

do you even play lc?

 

[Merritt]

grats on potw sorry for betting against you basically every week in spl

Taillow is amazing, thanks for agreeing. On that kind of note, since birds, what do you think of Fletchling?

What do you think is a bad playstyle (other than full stall) in the current meta?

Thoughts on the suspect process?

 

[ZoroDark]

hi r u signing up for lcpl

yeah

I don't really know you but I always like your teams!

thanks! sken definitely deserves a lot of credit for those because i assume you're mainly referring to the ones i used in the later part of the season as i'm not that big a fan of some of the teams i used in the earlier weeks now im looking back on it oo

THIS GUY'S THE BEST FUCKING LC PLAYER OMFG!

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hi zorodark important question how much do you weigh lol

that's classified

thx for the shoutout although you're cuter n_n

what do you think about lc mechanics/numbers stuff? are you still one of those "fuck rolls dude lol" guys/have you ever been one of them?

do you even play lc?

n_n

i find the extra amount of speed ties more annoying than the somewhat weird rolls. min / max rolls have big effects in battles in every tier and i think lc just gets more shit for it because it's easier to spot them compared to other tiers, so they don't really bother me that much. i actually had a lot of fun calcing the odds of shellder either max rolling or critting 1 icicle spear which allows you to do cool stuff like ko mienfoo from full. for future reference it's pretty close to 50%

no

grats on potw sorry for betting against you basically every week in spl

Taillow is amazing, thanks for agreeing. On that kind of note, since birds, what do you think of Fletchling?

What do you think is a bad playstyle (other than full stall) in the current meta?

Thoughts on the suspect process?

lol that's okay, i'd probably have bet against me a lot too

fletchling's definitely one of the most dangerous pokemon in the tier, but it's one of those mons i overly prep for just because it's so dangerous. when you're weak to some threats, it can be justifiable because there's ways of playing around it. if you're weak to fletchling, you're gonna just lose.

im not a terribly big fan of sticky webs. it's so hard to build a team that strikes a balance between taking advantage of them and still be solid against other play styles. snivy and pawniard are big threats to every team and webs has an even harder time against them. it definitely feels like it's a playstyle that's very hit and miss in getting the right matchup. for all i know im just terrible at building webs teams so take everything i say with a grain of salt lol.

im honestly pretty glad we have the 60% supermajority. i feel like it'd have been bad if diglett had been banned with such a small majority in its second suspect. it's the kind of thing that can create real rifts in a community (remember the xy ubers shadow tag vote? yea..) and it's almost definitely better this way even if i'd personally liked diglett to be banned.

 

[GOAO]

i'm not a terribly big fan of sticky webs.

to think i potwed this dude..

 

[Krypto]

what is lcpl and when is it and is it too late to sign up for it

 

[Coconut]

what is lcpl and when is it and is it too late to sign up for it

This isn't nearly the place to ask for that, that would be the Simple Questions, Simple Answers thread, but signups go up on the 4th of April.

Do you think that the Little Cup community has top tier players, as it is sometimes claimed that there are no good LC players?

Also you should totally RMT that team, we don't get enough good RMTs in LC!

 

[Krypto]

This isn't nearly the place to ask for that, that would be the Simple Questions, Simple Answers thread, but signups go up on the 4th of April.

Do you think that the Little Cup community has top tier players, as it is sometimes claimed that there are no good LC players?

Also you should totally RMT that team, we don't get enough good RMTs in LC!

which team? the teddiursa team? thank you.