Battle Spot Interview Central

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idea taken from Snaquaza's OM thread: check it out!
approval to post from cant say


"Hello sir! May I ask you a few questions?"

Welcome to the Battle Spot Interview thread! In this thread, I will be asking some well-respected Battle Spot users a few questions and allow them to let their freedom flow! These questions will involve Battle Spot primarily; the state of the metagame, the forum's state, the Showdown! room, and maybe even a few personal opinions in there. Bar the obvious portion of this being for fun, the other part is hopefully to encourage new users to get into Battle Spot and give them a look into some well-known player's minds~!

Interviews thus far:
Post #1 --- DragonWhale
 
#1 - DragonWhale

unfixable:
Hello! First question. When did you get involved with Battle Spot?

DragonWhale: Hey there! Well I played a bit of Gen 5 BSS, but I was very new to competitive battling then. I never knew EVs and IVs were a thing back then. Then I learned about those things watching Pokemon speedruns, funnily enough. I learned about crit mechanics, the difference EVs and IVs make, and lots more. Then gen 6 comes along and it becomes easier to make great competitive Pokemon. That's when I really got into the whole competitive side of Battle Spot. I read meta analyses and tried out many different Pokemon and it was really fun!

unfixable: Next question! How did you get involved with the Battle Spot forums, and sequentially the room and IRC channel?

DragonWhale: Well while I was playing Battle Spot I learned about Smogon tiers from friends. At first (like a lot of people) I was skeptical about Smogon's policies, but as I was playing I grew to understand and like it. Then I realized that there was no such community in the Japanese area, and that the Battle Spot area of non-Japanese people was also really small. Then I kinda wanted to become something like a bridge between the Japanese and English community, trying to share what one has to the other... which led me to joining Battle Spot on Smogon :). I learned about the IRC channel from the forum, and as for PS, I didn't know a Battle Spot room existed, since I usually just played Smogon tiers on it back then. But once I joined, it turned out to be more fun than I first imagined, and was able to help even more people out in learning about Battle Spot! That's when I decided to stay and now somehow I'm a mod in the room lol.

unfixable: Next! What is your favorite part of the Battle Spot metagame currently?

I guess my favorite aspect right now is that there is some form of power balance between the main Pokemon you see in the meta. So there's not a lot of auto-win scenarios that comes up when two good teams face each other and it really comes down to making the correct plays and the right picks at team preview. Every mistake has heavy repercussions in high level play, but when you play good and come out on top it's many times more rewarding. I can name a lot of players in the PS room where I had battles like this; pulling effective doubles, finding the perfect moment to set up, luring opponents, etc. All of these things take a lot of thinking through and foresight before using, but when it works out it feels great and I feel like the current meta makes these decisions more important than ever before. Or maybe that's just me improving, and it was always important I dunno lol.

unfixable: Next. Do you have any advice for newer Battle Spot users to help them get into the metagame?

DragonWhale: This might sound cliche, but don't get discouraged at losses, especially from hax; instead use them as learning experiences. Theorymon what would have happened if you x'd instead of y and if you can't find an "x" that you could've done to avert the situation, try tweaking your team. Even against swagplay, even if there's little in your control, there might have been an option available! But there's no need to completely change your team to counter swagplay lol, just learn ways to increase your odds.

unfixable: A few more to go! What was the first Pokémon game you played? Tell me about it and what you remember.

DragonWhale: Pokemon Green! Back when I was 6 I believe. I had almost no idea what I was doing, since I grew up with three languages and was pretty slow at learning Japanese, but I picked Bulbasaur. The sprites were terrible, so at the time I didn't know what it was. But I got 4 badges, and my only good Pokemon was the Venusaur lol. Then I got stuck in rock tunnel for a while without flash, was terrified of Lavender town, and then my savefile got corrupted ;-;. No, don't mention any creepypastas! I don't really know what I did, but it was probably my fault it broke lol. I was bummed but I started Gold soon after and enjoyed that game a lot!

unfixable: Lol! So I hear from a little birdie that English is not your first language! What was it like learning English for you and coming to Smogon, a predominantly English-speaking website?

DragonWhale: Well it wasn't my first language, but I was learning it from a young age. My main troubles were that I never played Pokemon in English until Gen 6 came out, so I sometimes had no idea what a certain Pokemon was. But now I think I'm on the same page as English speakers lol.

unfixable: Two more personal questions, out of interest. What is your zodiac sign? And your favorite Pokemon?

DragonWhale: I'm a Pisces and my favorite Pokemon is Jolteon!

unfixable: Thanks aha. Final question! What is your favorite part of the Battle Spot forums?

DragonWhale: The people; what else?

unfixable: Can't go wrong with that answer!

DragonWhale: Yep! There's no heated war between users like you normally see on suspect threads, no bad one-liners on RMTs, and a willingness to contribute in C&C. Activity is a bit low these days, but it's still a great forum :).

unfixable: Thanks so much for taking your time to be interviewed! :D Anything else you would like to add?

DragonWhale: Nope. The pleasure is mine :]

Thanks so much, DragonWhale! Feel free to leave questions to DragonWhale regarding Battle Spot or about things you just may be curious about in general. :D
 

Hulavuta

keeps the varmints on the run
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnus
Cool idea, I like the weekly interviews that the other metagame forums do, and it'll be even cooler for our small forum where everyone knows each other. Hopefully I get interviewed soon, because I've always wanted to be interviewed on Smogon. Otherwise, I think Jibaku would be a good person to interview because we need to know all of his playing secrets!
 

DragonWhale

It's not a misplay, it's RNG manipulation
is a Top Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Dedicated Tournament Host Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
DragonWhale - if you could chose / create a format for the next Special season, what would it be?

edit: and/or weekend competition
I'm probably going to go with a mono-psychic doubles weekend competition. Pika cup was really cool and a lot of psychic pokes have really wide coverage and support movepools. As with Pikachu Cup, ban the legendaries Latios, Latias, Uxie, Azelf, Mesprit, and Cresselia. :]

I also considered UU BSS (i.e. top 12 of season 7 through 11 banned with the usual banlist), but then I realized how stall would pretty much dominate with all the prominent stallbreakers gone and most matches would either run the clock or spam OHKO moves lol.
 
DragonWhale What are some pokemon/cores you find yourself using in teams a lot, if any?

What language has the best pokemon names?

If you could change one thing about pokemon(ANYTHING, not just strictly metagame stuff but anything pokemon related), what would it be?
 

DragonWhale

It's not a misplay, it's RNG manipulation
is a Top Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Dedicated Tournament Host Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
DragonWhale What are some pokemon/cores you find yourself using in teams a lot, if any?
Definitely Focus Sash Garchomp. It just always feels so reliable, whether it is as a lead to cripple my opponent early game or staying in the back at full health being a solid win-condition. Whenever I have a open slot on my team I'm always tempted to put that in there lol. As for cores I used Blaziken + Zapdos a lot before, but now I usually use teams that tries to make as many effective cores in team preview as possible, so I haven't really stuck to a particular one these days.

What language has the best pokemon names?
I think English names were way cooler for gen 1 and 6 pokes and Japanese was cooler for gens 2 and 4. Gens 3 and 5 were about the same or had way too many similar sounding pokemon lol. For example the nomenclature of Aegislash is super badass and "Bangirasu" has a really cool vibe to it, so it really depends on the pokemon imo.

If you could change one thing about pokemon(ANYTHING, not just strictly metagame stuff but anything pokemon related), what would it be?
Probably the mentality of the people who believe there's a "right" and a "wrong" way to enjoy playing pokemon. Fuck them.
 
I like the idea. This interview with dragonwhale is cool, helpful and funny ("The sprites were terrible, so at the time I didn't know what it was" lol ). Yeah, I can say the interviews are very interested.
 

Psynergy

Triumph and Glory
is a Site Content Manageris a Community Leaderis a Community Contributoris a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Staff Alumnus
Battle Stadium Head
DragonWhale - You said you heard about Smogon from some friends. Did you know of any other large English Pokemon sites/forums at the time like Bulbagarden, Serebii or Nugget Bridge or is this the first one you had heard of?

I like that you brought up power balance in regards to the metagame. A lot of people are deterred from Battle Spot because they see monsters like Mega Kangaskhan, Gengar, Blaziken, Salamence and think everything is wildly unbalanced/unhealthy/overcentralized (i.e.: not fun). Would you challenge that claim and say it's acceptable as it now or would you agree that the metagame could be significantly improved if they began to ban Pokemon? We all know they won't be let's be theoretical here.

Favorite Mega (doesn't have to be based on battle ability)? And by extension are you fan of the Mega concept or nah?
 

DragonWhale

It's not a misplay, it's RNG manipulation
is a Top Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Dedicated Tournament Host Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
DragonWhale - You said you heard about Smogon from some friends. Did you know of any other large English Pokemon sites/forums at the time like Bulbagarden, Serebii or Nugget Bridge or is this the first one you had heard of?
I've think the first one I learned about was Serebii for leaks and other news stuff concerning XY. I've heard about NB after 2013 Worlds and Smogon at around the same time. I don't remember when I heard about Bulbagarden though, maybe at around the same time as Serebii.

I like that you brought up power balance in regards to the metagame. A lot of people are deterred from Battle Spot because they see monsters like Mega Kangaskhan, Gengar, Blaziken, Salamence and think everything is wildly unbalanced/unhealthy/overcentralized (i.e.: not fun). Would you challenge that claim and say it's acceptable as it now or would you agree that the metagame could be significantly improved if they began to ban Pokemon? We all know they won't be let's be theoretical here.
Ok, this is going to be a long one.

First of all those three are not synonymous (look at GSC Snorlax) and most people tend to look at the threatlist from a 6v6 standpoint, in which it would obviously be more insane (look at OU Mega Mence). Regarding overcentralization I can just show people this to prove that top rated teams have a lot of diversity. "Unhealthy" is such a weird word to describe a meta and I don't get what it means nor why people even use it.

Now concerning balance and "power balance", I say this because I'm fairly convinced that if we ban one of the top-tier pokemon today, the metagame would appear even more unbalanced than before. The influence each of them have on the meta is huge, and getting rid of them will shift the tide of power to the other big threats in the tier making them even more dominant than before. So where would we draw the line? Jibaku probably knows better than anyone how hard this'll be lol. See, in Smogon tiers banning oftentimes shifts the influence of power onto a lot more poekmon because most pokemon in the tier have relatively similar competitive viability. In BSS the competitive viability between pokemon is a lot more separated not only because there aren't any tiers but also due to the nature of 3v3 battling, so banning something will only shift the influence on the metagame to the next few pokemon in line and make them appear even more unbalanced than they are right now.

If we have a Megaray-esque existence in BSS, then yes banning it is probably better for the meta, but thank goodness we don't (and no, BSS Mega Khan isn't as good as Ubers Megaray lol).

Favorite Mega (doesn't have to be based on battle ability)? And by extension are you fan of the Mega concept or nah?
Mega Blaziken. I wouldn't really consider myself a fan but I think Gamefreak did a good job with what I imagine was a hard concept to implement.
 
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DragonWhale Is pokemon your favourite video game franchise? If not, what other video game franchises do you play and what's your favourite out of those?

For a more Battle Spot related question, what's your favourite style of team to play and your favourite to watch? Hyper Offense, Stall, Bulky Offense, Balance, etc.
 

DragonWhale

It's not a misplay, it's RNG manipulation
is a Top Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Dedicated Tournament Host Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
DragonWhale Is pokemon your favourite video game franchise? If not, what other video game franchises do you play and what's your favourite out of those?
It's definitely one of them. Others include Metal Gear, Monster Hunter, and Fire Emblem.

For a more Battle Spot related question, what's your favourite style of team to play and your favourite to watch? Hyper Offense, Stall, Bulky Offense, Balance, etc.
I guess Balance? lol. There's rarely an easy matchup but it's always nice to have a potential answer to as many things as possible.
As for watching it's probably bulky offense. Stall takes too long, HO is too short, and I don't think Balance is as interesting to watch.
 
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I have some. DragonWhale
What is the highest level of education you've achieved and if you are currently a student, what are you studying?
If you are now working after completing your education, what is your occupation? How old are you and most importantly, how do you make time for Pokemon between everything?

The last question is not much of a question without understanding the rest of your life so I apologize if that isn't something that you want to answer. PMs are cool if that's the case!
 

DragonWhale

It's not a misplay, it's RNG manipulation
is a Top Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Dedicated Tournament Host Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
GroudonEmpire I'm a 22yo college student who is currently majoring in Physics. Then I lost interest in the subject and currently looking for something that I want to study to finish my degree (just to have a degree for better employment). I'm working as a freelance web translator from home, which is nice because I'm paid by the wordcount instead of hours, so I can easily modify my schedule.
 
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cant say

twitch.tv/jakecantsay
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Team Rater Alumnusis a Top Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
GroudonEmpire I'm a 22yo college student who is currently majoring in Physics. Then I lost interest in the subject and currently looking for something that I want to study to finish my degree (just to have a degree for better employment). I'm working as a freelance web translator from home, which is nice because I'm paid by the wordcount instead of hours, so I can easily modify my schedule.
And you do all that translating for me / us for free? You're too kind
 
GroudonEmpire I'm a 22yo college student who is currently majoring in Physics. Then I lost interest in the subject and currently looking for something that I want to study to finish my degree (just to have a degree for better employment). I'm working as a freelance web translator from home, which is nice because I'm paid by the wordcount instead of hours, so I can easily modify my schedule.
damn. Thanks a ton for the translating help!
 
#2 - Theorymon

unfixable: Hello Theorymon!

Theorymon: Hi!

unfixable: So, my first question which I will ask every interviewed person: when did you get into Battle Spot?

Theorymon: It depends on what you mean by that. I actually started playing online ingame during generation 4 via Pokemon Battle Revolution. Oddly enough, this is how I met Jibaku. It was a very strange place because see, there were no clauses whatsoever, so you'd see people carrying stuff like 2 Darkrai. I also played Gen 5's battle spot for a bit, but sadly that ladder had a really nasty flaw where you could avoid losing points by disconnecting your wifi router, so I figured I was done with ingame stuff. But gen 6 comes along and not only fixes the ladder, but makes breeding FAR more reasonable That was pretty much enough to get me back into playing ingame!
unfixable: Wow, sounds terrifying! So, tell me about Jibaku? What's he like?

Theorymon: In a way, Jibaku is sorta my mentor. I actually beat him the first time I faced him on PBR's random battle, using Custap Wobbuffet. So about a month later I actually find him on Shoddy, which is the old gen 4 simulator. We were on the Uber ladder and he beat the crap out of me with Skarmory of all things. So I'm like "rememeber me? Im the guy who used Custap Wobbuffet on PBR!" and he actually remembered it lol. He's probably one of the calmest, smartest guys on Smogon and he's damn good at Pokemon too!

unfixable: Awesome haha! So, you're a highly respected Battle Spot player. What advice can you give to new players?

Theorymon: I'd look at the Battle Spot statistics on the Global Link website. They usually give you a pretty good idea of whats popular, and what sets Pokemon are currently using. Reading analyses is always a good idea too. Also, don't be discouraged if you have a bad laddering streak. Sometimes, you're just going to have bad days. One thing I also like to do is to record the matches I actually lose miserably in. Learning from your mistakes can really help you up your game, and the 3DS actually lets you replay the battle with an AI replacing the opponent. The AI isn't too smart, but it can be nice just to try and understand why the opponent built their team the way they did

unfixable: Great advice! So tell me a bit more about yourself, Theorymon. What's your occupation? Some interests? Stuff like that!

Theorymon: Í'm currently a college student majoring in physics. To be honest, physics might be my greatest passion! Every since I was a little child, I've always been obsessed with learning about the mechanics of the Universe. Like instead of reading Dr Seuss, I'd have my parents read astronomy books to me, because I really wanted to learn more about stars and galaxies! Funnily enough, every since 5th grade, I haven't decided on whether or not I'll focus on Astrophysics or Particle Physics. Outside of academics and Pokemon, the thing people probably know me most for is that I'm a HUGE Mario fan. I actually play through the entire series every year, and as you can imagine, I am totally addicted to Super Mario Maker at the moment! I also own around 50 video game systems. Im not really rich or anything, its just that I collect them, so a lot of them are actually older than me! Outside of these nerdy things, believe it or not I love being outside most of the time. I'd say like 60% of the time, when the weather is good, I'm outside while on Smogon! In particular, I really like to hike. Ithaca has some pretty nice nature trails, and I have family in Arizona, which is a great place for desert hiking.

unfixable: Ahh yes, I have heard of your fondness for Mario. How did you get into the series?

Theorymon: To make a long story short, Super Mario Bros on the NES was the first game I ever played. For the first 4 years of my life, I was mostly deaf due to a rare kind of ear infection that requires surgery to cure, so one day when I was 2 years old, my dad got this NES as a hand me down from one of my cousins and he'd crank up the volume really high so I could hear it, and I was instantly hooked. My dad said I somehow managed to beat the game when I was 3. Obviously I don't remember that very well.. but that sounds crazy even to me! Ever since then though, Mario games have just been sorta a major part of my life. I love how focused the level design tends to be in Mario games and I cant think of any game series that nails game control as well as Mario!

unfixable: Fascinating! Back to Battle Spot for a moment. What do you think is an underrated Pokemon that deserves more time in the spotlight and why?

Theorymon: That depends on the metagame. For Singles, I like using Wobbuffet quite a bit. It can certainly be risky at times due to 3vs3's fast paced nature, but with Custap Berry and Destiny Bond you can potentially knock out 2 out of 3 Pokemon in one battle, which is pretty impressive! Plus when its paired with Mega Gengar, it can really screw up annoying stally stuff like Minimize Chansey. As for Doubles aka VGC (well sorta, season 12's lack of pentagons shaked stuff up a bit) I like Clefairy quite a bit. It can be a bit niche since it totally lacks any offensive power, but man I love Friend Guard so much! Seeing stuff like Mega Kangaskhan just barely avoid a KO because of Friend Guard just feels magical! As for Triples... that's a harder question, because I feel like there's plenty of interesting under rated Pokemon there. Such as Clawitzer (who's sorta like a frailer, more powerful Mega Blastoise), and Braviary (who uses Brave Bird and Defiant to really screw up Intimidators) but If I'm gonna give one Pokemon the nod.. it might be Kecleon. Some high ranked players have been catching on to this thing. It's basically a very unique Trick Room support Pokemon. It uses Feint to screw up Wide Guard (which is huge in triples), Fake Out much like a doubles Pokemon would and then it has Foul Play + Protean to actually OHKO Aegislash in its Sword Form! Kecleon is actually fairly hard to KO as well. I've been trying it out lately since I wanted to see why high ranked players were using it, and I'm not disapointed!

Finally, for Rotations. Rotations is actually a fairly unstable metagame, people are always experimenting in that weird land. I think my most successful expairment there has been Infiltrator Crobat. I paired it with Gravity, and would spam Hypnosis to cripple threats. Since Crobat has Infiltrator, not even Safeguard blocks it! Plus it smashes through those annoying dual screens which are so common in Rotations. Having Crobat and Chandelure together sure feels nice against Klefki and Meowstic! Also this may be sorta out of bounds for the interview, but since gamefreak seems to do an Inverse battle spot special every year: This year Mega Sceptile was quite successful for me there. Lightning Rod was actually helpful there, since it got rid of a 4x weak. It let Mega Sceptile screw up a lot of choiced Latios (well except for those annoying Surf ones), and being faster than Serperior was very helpful!

unfixable: Great insight! So, Theorymon, who is an up and coming contributor you've noticed on the Battle Spot forums and why?

Theorymon: You don't see him posting too much on the main forums, but I'm currently eyeing user Psynergy! He recently finished a pretty good analysis on Weavile for battle spot singles, who is actually quite an under rated threat. I'd like to see him write more analyses and post more often, I think he knows his stuff!

unfixable: Awesome! I'll have to keep my eye on him. :) Sadly, we've gotta take this to the end so I will ask you the mandatory final question, what is your favorite Pokemon and why?

Theorymon: Oh man that's a tough question... If I'm gonna go with nostalgia here, it's betwen two Pokemon: Wobbuffet and Arceus. Arceus because its basically the god of Pokemon, and I love using broken Ubers. Come to think of it, this makes me a big fan of Mega Rayquaza as well... But I might give the edge to Wobbuffet because back when I first joined Smogon about 6 years ago, I sorta became notorious because I used Wobbuffet a lot in generation 4 Ubers, and a lot of teams were very unprepared for it. So eventully Wobbuffet became a known threat in Ubers, and people associated me with it. So in a way, Wobbuffet is what got me "into" this community, so I think that's pretty special for a Pokemon!

unfixable: Haha thanks Theorymon. So glad to be able to interview you! Thanks for your time. :D

Theorymon: No problem, was nice talking to you!

Thanks a ton Theorymon! Ask Theorymon questions below~!
 
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