Featured Rater #6 - BKC

[Analytic]

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Welcome to the Featured Rater project! This is a series of interviews where we will ask official Team Raters, new and old, several questions about the RMT forum and their experiences within it. We hope that this will offer both entertainment and an insight into their thought processes, which aspiring raters can look to incorporate into their own rates. This project will be hosted by IronBullet, Snowy., and myself. Our sixth interviewee is BKC, a renowned name in the tournaments scene, and a rater who's been involved in the forums for a long time.

BKC
​

Tell us a little bit about your life outside Smogon.

I'm a 19 year old Czech-American who likes various kinds of but mainly metal music, playing drums, good tv/movies, sports, and pretty girls. Oh and pokemon of course. Education plans hopefully end up in me being a lawyer because who would've thought playing drums in a metal band doesn't pay the bills.

What is your main tier? Do you rate teams from any other tiers?

DPP OU, UU occasionally. I did BW OU when it was the main generation, I was first known as a player there and also chipped in in Ubers + UU. It took a while before I became well-versed in ADV but I chime in on those now.

When did you start rating and why?

I think it was late-ish 2010. I decided I wanted a badge, and TR looked like a really cool one, a ton of the guys who had it were very well-respected, and it was something I could do naturally. I pumped those out non-stop, was one of the first ladybug pre-tr guys in summer '11 and about a year after I'd started I got full TR. Then it got stripped because I was a moron, but I kept going and earned it back in early '12.

What did you most enjoy about rating when you first started?

I was partly trying to prove that I knew my shit, but I also really liked the process of improving a team. My inner psychiatrist could probably break down why I enjoyed this on a really deep level.

Did you follow a process with your rates?

Nah... I never looked at threatlists or anything, I just looked at the team until I realized "hey, Excadrill in sand is absolute death" or "yo, if he made that Latias CM + Roar his Reuniclus issues are solved" or something of the sort.

As a long time rater, how do you feel rating has changed in the transition from older gens like DPP and BW through to ORAS?

I haven't really followed raters ever since XY came out but from what I've seen, it looks as solid as it's ever been. I like it.

Has your experience with the RMT forum impacted the nature of your competitive play in anyway?

Oh definitely, I always wanted to make the tournament-winning RMT and that spurred me to play a lot. A lot of the best TRs back in the day were amongst the top players...

Do you have any words of advice for aspiring raters out there?

Play the game. Seriously I can't stress this enough. You don't have to be a smogon tour winner to get real experience and see that sometimes paper-thin solutions will very rarely work in practice and thus a different one is needed. Playing a lot at a decent level will help you give much better, creative ways of fixing a problem.

Lastly, can you give us an example of a rate that exemplifies your particular style?

Most of my work was done years ago and thus I didn't go super hard searching for one of my better ones, especially cause you can't find a vast majority of 2012 posts via search, but I like this one
Nothing too fancy but it keeps the theme of the team and fixes its biggest weaknesses. This is what I think a rater should strive for. If you're willing to dig super deep in the BW OU teams circa early-ish 2012 and late 2011, you'll find good stuff.

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Thanks BKC for a great interview! Feel free to leave any questions you have for him below.​

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[Snowy]

Hey BKC!

As a long time tournament player, how do you feel about tournament players posting their successful teams in the forums? Should they being doing it more, to help introduce players to some high quality teams? Or do you believe there is some reason for them not to share there team?

 

[ryan]

BKC, as a Czech-American, how often do you czech your privilege?

 

[BKC]

Hey BKC!

As a long time tournament player, how do you feel about tournament players posting their successful teams in the forums? Should they being doing it more, to help introduce players to some high quality teams? Or do you believe there is some reason for them not to share there team?

I'm going to start this off by channeling my inner bro fist - that's right, I'm going to be a grumpy grandpa.

BACK IN MY DAY, so many solid players posted their teams, it was great. What you see in the archives is a fraction of the solid teams that were pumped out nearly every other day, there are many somewhat-iconic teams that never made archive (for example, apologies' dinosaurs team). Kinda took how it was for granted and it was a tad disappointing when it started to rapidly decline post-WCoP 2012, aka when BW2 entered the fray. I hope it becomes a thing again, I really do; a few people leading by example will be great again. It's one thing to be cautious about revealing teams for tournaments, but after tours, I'd like it to be customary for people to post em again - one of my favorite RMTs ever, Team of Torment, was posted after West had lost WCoP that year and Phil no longer needed it to be in the shadows. For example, cosine's recent sash spam - he should definitely post that once it's run its course in tour/OLT. The RMT staff posting the teams themselves is a step forward and I fully commend them for that but it's just not the same as the player himself doing it (although this of course isn't their fault).

BKChampion!

only 1 question: recently i tried to build dpp teams cos building gives one a better feel of the meta, and i didn't want to rely on somalia squads forever, but all the rough skeletons that i've so far come up with are soooo similar that it's like building the same team over and over, even tho i might change some mons and sets here and there, it doesn't feel much different. prankster said it's difficult to be original in a meta like dpp, and i guess that's right, but still making clones of a team isn't acceptable. how can i improve on this?

Honestly man you will run into this a lot and it's something I sometimes do as well when I'm in a slump, it's true of many players. There's a reason a lot of successful teams look similar. When you're starting out, naturally you will probably build something similar to that which you've seen others succeed with. However once you learn the ropes, branching out a little will become second nature. It'll take time but Rome wasn't built in a day and a team like Rotom, charge wasn't built overnight.

BKC, as a Czech-American, how often do you czech your privilege?

As a white, heterosexual male... quite often.

 

[teal6]

Hi BKC

You mention Team of Torment as one of your favorite RMTs, but do you have an all-time favorite? I do agree in that I like reading RMTs of tournament-quality teams, and hope that after OLT/GS are over we see a few hit the forums (in addition to the first batches which have been posted recently).

 

[Jirachee]

thoughts on those two RMTs having eerily similar titles?
http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/kevin-cronin-stall.3480739/
http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/kevin-garrett-stall.78812/

 

[Thatsjustpeachy]

Do you have a life outside of smogon?
Do you enjoy being my punching bag in BW OU?
Anime fan?
It seems you forgot to add "underage" behind "girls" in that first line.
Do you think smogon's replay culture hinders team creativity and RMT activity? Or maybe people are too quick to ship teams around? It seems you can just find the teams everywhere else so maybe people don't bother posting about what is already flooded out there and can be easily replicated.

One somewhat serious question to balance it out.

edit: : )

 

[trc]

Seeing as they're pretty hard to find, what are some of your favourite BW (or DPP) teams that aren't in the RMT archive and are just lost in the forums in cryonics?

 

[Fabulous but lazy]

Favorite band of metal?

What's your favorite playstyle in ADV/DPP/BW OU?

Any sets you feel work really well but are relatively undiscovered in DPP?

What is the most fun gen 4 era? (dp with chomp, latimence, current)

What is your match that you remember as prodigious?

Why Jirachee is awesome?

Could you share the name of some Metal/Hard rock songs that you listen frequently?

 

[BKC]

Hi BKC

You mention Team of Torment as one of your favorite RMTs, but do you have an all-time favorite? I do agree in that I like reading RMTs of tournament-quality teams, and hope that after OLT/GS are over we see a few hit the forums (in addition to the first batches which have been posted recently).

Naming just one is hard, ToT was the first RMT I ever looked at and I was amazed by it (and I was totally smitten by Torment Tran...) so it'd probably take the cake. Apart from it, I really admired Stathakis' Greek RMT because of how incredibly focused and precise its ideology was.

thoughts on those two RMTs having eerily similar titles?
http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/kevin-cronin-stall.3480739/
http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/kevin-garrett-stall.78812/

You are the worst person I know. Literally hope you Bleed to death.

Do you have a life outside of smogon?

Sure do. What's the point of being a Pokemon master if you don't use it to impress all the pretty girls?

Do you enjoy being my punching bag in BW OU?

Boy, do I!

Anime fan?

Not particularly, but I've never really sought it out. I watched Death Note when I was 13 (after reading it courtesy of my English teacher) and loved it, watched a good amount of Bleach afterwards and was a big fan (of course I was, at that age) but never really finished it. I watched Darker than Black's first season upon Ciele's recommendation and it was pretty good. I hear Stein's Gate is super good. I watched the first episode of Code Geass to shut Sweepage/Masterclass up once but it was actually really cool in a totally dorky way. Radical.

It seems you forgot to add "underage" behind "girls" in that first line.

I decided to expand my age range because limiting such a fine thing to appreciate is a damn shame - and when I saw the light, I realized she whose charms beguiled me most was the one who was just peachy.

Do you think smogon's replay culture hinders team creativity and RMT activity? Or maybe people are too quick to ship teams around? It seems you can just find the teams everywhere else so maybe people don't bother posting about what is already flooded out there and can be easily replicated.

Hmm, I sort of agree with more people than just those in the know being aware of popular teams and much more easily than in the past. However, I don't think that limits creativity, because everyone wants to make the newest crispE heatah fajita innov8ion. In my opinion, a lack of high quality RMTs stems mostly from teams being passed around like hot cakes, like you said. Also, people are super secretive with their teams for tournaments as they should be, but the near-tradition of posting them afterwards sort of faded, I hope that comes back.

One somewhat serious question to balance it out.

"Balance is important in life, and is a powerful playstyle when wielded correctly" - Confucius H. Christeros of seminal progressive rock band Dismember

edit: : )

Oh you evil witch, you know I can't resist this face...

Seeing as they're pretty hard to find, what are some of your favourite BW (or DPP) teams that aren't in the RMT archive and are just lost in the forums in cryonics?

Ugh I just know I'm gonna miss some... but what EVER

http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/collide.3483384/
I was so proud of my tutee Lohgock for creating this beast of a team. It's possibly the team that introduced the dynamic of Spikes + CM Psychic + Helmet Chomp. Also, Virizion.

http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/us-based.3487413/
self explanatory lol

Now for BW1 (the good bw, shocking that such a thing exists I know)

http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/californication.3446385/
Peng was a good friend of mine from YT days and had lots of good ideas/teams. This was one of the earliest uses of Dugtrio on sun, period. I don't want to say it was the first, but it was certainly the first time I saw it, and the French (Forblaze!) spamming their Espy/Dug sun didn't really pop up until, say... late May, early June. Also Sawsbuck amg.

http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/team-evolution.3451644/#post-3675872
I loved pretty much all of Eggbert's teams, but this one was really exemplary of its time and was the kinda team me and liberty32/roscoe used a lot, although neither of us really had much of a thing for Scarf Lando.

http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/requiem-of-spirit.3451641/
Jaxx, my old friend =] see above regarding the type of team, although there are some key differences. I really like the final version. SpinDrill was picking up steam, Gastrodon was an utter machine and NP Celebi, as introduced with franky's great team, was going really strong at the time. Played one of my favorite battles ever against him using this team on ladder once...

http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/team-walrus.3448846/
This was the first time I saw Scarftar used in BW, it was all about the bulky SR sets at this point with an occasional CB for Reun paranoia. Great example of semistall at this point with the incredibly scary CB Rak - it's not that regarded anymore which is a shame because back in the day it was utterly terrifying. NP Celebi again! This team was (one of the) first of its kind, its influence can partly be seen in the team below...

http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/cigarettes-in-the-theatre.3451599/
Another Peng team, aka f@gs at the movies. Quite similar to Rhys' team in its early Scarftar semistall approach, making use of the forgotten but incredibly powerful MixMence. Gastrodon was a really great poke back then and it fit perfectly here. Also has a lot of components that made me enjoy Jaxx's team. I used this team quite a bit and it was very strong.

http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/the-skies-are-clear.3453409/
Lamp in his glory days, discounting WCoP '12 tiebreak of course...

http://www.smogon.com/forums/thread...30-wc-team-frontier-7-3-dw-challenge.3454481/
Squirrel is strong, one of the earlier weatherless offenses to see success.

http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/sand-combat.3454127/
Very powerful collection of sand offense monsters, brings me back to the summer '11 metagame.

http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/stunt-stall.3453498/
Goodness, nostalgia. While not quite his claim to fame (that'd be his hail offense and his sun stall, discounting BP garbage), this is an early example of how his creativity gave him an upper hand. Very fearsome opponent on ladder.

http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/apple-drank.3453569/
It's not the great sand stall RMT that I absolutely adored but this was also superb. Loved the Cloyster, it's almost a shame Garchomp was banned...

http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/the-brave-vi.3453745/
Another Egg team, his physical HO got archived but I slightly preferred this one. Can't really name the reason, something something nostalgia oh and TR Reun

http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/hi-im-glen.3456622/
This is just a great read x)

http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/things-fall-apart-peaked-at-1517-5th.3456400/
The myz classic in one of its early forms. Probably the only good BW team ever with a DDtar.

http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/here-comes-the-fat.3458850/
I used to love weatherless semistall. This team wrecks and kd's thoughts on Tran mirror my own, or at least they used to.

http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/her-smile.3456793/
My buddy Nubagator had an affinity for stall. I liked this one quite a bit.

http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/cidade-do-sol.3455569/
Ahhhhhhh B_S!!! Nostalgia hits me hard here. This was a great team.


DPP
http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/the-dark-horse.102486/
This is one of the defining bulky SD Scizor teams in my opinion. It was always kind of a set, especially since it was its main early BW1 due to Darkrai and Lati@s, but this was the first team that really had it, if that makes sense. I used this one quite a bit, trying out the Dragonite > Gyara suggestion, loved both. Ace Matador's team that made the Zor more popular and inspired my own (I never took am's for a spin but seeing him use it effectively reminded me of when I played with egg's and how good it was) came approximately a year later.

http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/team-wormslayer-gen-4-ou.85687/
It might've been flawed (not a bad thing though, look at all the great rates!) with how slow it was and not being super solid against other stall but I really liked this team, and not just for its David-beat-Goliath factor. Really strong Spike-abusing sets in SubSplit Rotom and LeechProt Shaymin with SpDef Tran and Jirachi, who are notorious for shutting down entire teams alone (as did their teammate Vaporeon, once upon a time).

http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/blazin-berserkers.86382/
This team was just nice, man. Nice like the way you'd describe someone's jump shot.

http://www.smogon.com/forums/thread...ou-4th-place-on-teamuber-with-1680-cre.84474/
I was always intrigued by the idea of suicide SR lead + Skarm because it could set up on almost all the shit that'd (threaten to) kill the SR poke and the immediate pressure from multiple hazards is really strong. When I saw this team, I was really impressed to see that someone had taken that and done a great job with it. This guy also had a BW UU RMT that was really powerful, you might see some influence from Snunch's archived RMT.

http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/freaks-animals-ou-rmt.102609/
One of the first Nidoqueen semistall teams, a style that's quite popular today. Way ahead of its time.

http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/submission-hail-stall.103013/
Fayne, my boy... this was the first time I ever saw a SpDef Gliscor, way before the Earthworm team. Fayne had great teams out the wazoo but this one always stood out. The Dragonite is also a beast.

http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/the-aura-of-the-north-wind-ou-offense.72959/
Bribery made good teams, this was my favorite from him. It got changed a lot from its original version, pay close attention to the rates.

That reminds me, I think it was him with the late August-ish (around the same time mostwanted's team was posted) weatherless offense RMT with the MixNite. God I loved that team. If anyone wants to find it...

Again, I missed a ton of shit, I'm almost certain... but yeah. enjoy.

Favorite band of metal?

Slayer, of course!!! Not just because "thrash lol" but because their first 5 are just... untouchable. The stuff they did after isn't too shabby either. Repentless is quite decent.

Other candidates for impressive output over multiple albums: Mercyful Fate, Carcass, Burzum, Darkthrone, Ulcerate

What's your favorite playstyle in ADV/DPP/BW OU?

ADV - bulky offense with neat tricks involved
DPP - same, sometimes strong semistall with an unexpected cleaner such as SubCM Rachi
BW - sand with spikes, although I like to take it in a more offensive direction now.

Any sets you feel work really well but are relatively undiscovered in DPP?

Definitely Scarf Metagross. It's really good.

What is the most fun gen 4 era? (dp with chomp, latimence, current)

LatiMence will always be my favorite metagame

What is your match that you remember as prodigious?

There have been so many of them man. Unfortunately this isn't the thread for me to rave about all the great battles I've had over the years, it would take me ages to remember them all as I flipped through all the tours I've played. My SPL 3 semifinals game vs. McMeghan for SPL 3 comes to mind though. I think it was really the game where I began to become the ~tournament player~ I am now, I had a 2-1 record at the time after being drafted midseason but this was really the turning point. I had to win to keep us alive and everyone had McM as winning that battle... man, to think I was 15 at the time, holy satan

Why Jirachee is awesome?

He did rec me House of Cards. Not bad for a Canadian...

Could you share the name of some Metal/Hard rock songs that you listen frequently?

quickly glanced over my itunes

At the Gates - City of Screaming Statues
Atheist - Your Life's Retribution
Avenged Sevenfold - Remenissions
Averse Sefira - Sentinel's Plight
Beherit - The Gate of Nanna
Burzum - Key to the Gate
Carcass - Carneous Cacoffiny
Children of Bodom - Wrath Within
Darkthrone - Under a Funeral Moon
Dawn - The Ethereal Forest
Death - Open Casket
Deicide - Dead by Dawn
Dismember - In Death's Sleep
The Doors - People Are Strange
Drudkh - Furrows of Gods
Entombed - Sinners Bleed
Gorgoroth - Blood Stains the Circle
Gorguts - Illuminatus
Hate Forest - The Gates
Helloween - Gorgar
Hell - Something Wicked This Way Comes
Immolation - Lost Passion
In Solitude - The World, The Flesh, The Devil
Iron Maiden - Be Quick Or Be Dead
Jag Panzer - Generally Hostile
Joe Satriani - Crushing Day
The Kinks - All Day and All of the Night
Kreator - Ripping Corpse
Lamb of God - Confessional
Leviathan - Fucking Your Ghost in Chains of Ice
Manilla Road - Necropolis
Massacra - Apocalyptic Warriors
Mayhem - Pagan Fears
Mercyful Fate - Satan's Fall
Meshuggah - Spasm
The Moaning - Dark Reflections
Morbid Angel - Lord of all Fevers and Plague
Morbid Saint - Crying for Death
Muse - Supermassive Black Hole
Napalm Death - Smash a Single Digit
Necrophobic - The Ancients Gate
Nirvana - Breed
Obituary - Slowly We Rot
Pantera - Slaughtered
Paysage d'Hiver - Ewig leuchten die Sterne
Pink Turns Blue - After All
Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet
Realm - Eleanor Rigby
Red Temple Spirits - Waiting for the Sun
Root - 666
Sacramentum - Cries from a Restless Soul
Slayer - Captor of Sin
Talking Heads - Cities
Ulcerate - Everything is Fire
Ulver - Of Wolf and the Moon
Vektor - Asteroid
Venom - Sons of Satan
Vio-lence - Phobophobia
Weakling - No one can be called as a man while he'll die
Windir - Dance of Mortal Lust

=]

 

[Reymedy]

wow

 

[BKC]

ikr

 

[trc]

cheers lol

 

[badabing]

dang kev.

your button clicks always seem so quick and confident. is it a result of yolo playstyle or the game visualization u described to me in building and match preparation?

what is your go-to post move? sky uppercut?

are u willing to explain your sharp eving policy? denying yourself a potential speed tie in more forced or high reward scenarios never seemed like ideal pokemonning to me. maybe it's a product of that pregame flowcharting... or is the aesthetic of the number 248 simply more black metal (i tried)?

in recent years, your builds have become looser and more play dependent imo compared to those of other top tier slotsmen. is this because u are more actively counterstyling and/or anti-metagaming? does your visualization of the actual game make things more solid than they appear to basic dudes rooted in the threat list?

why do u have such an unrefined shine palette? those blanket shiny squads are so dam hood..

stay |blazin

 

[Exeggutor]

how many virgins do you consume on a daily basis?

why is your avatar so bland?

how can i pick up girls like you?

what's your fav mon per gen?

 

[BKC]

dang kev.

"gee golly gosh" - hitler 1946

your button clicks always seem so quick and confident. is it a result of yolo playstyle or the game visualization u described to me in building and match preparation?

its become second nature, man. pregame prep helps a lot, like if I've outlined my plan for a lead and the common responses etc in one of the first 4 gens it follows that my moves should be quick but in general I suppose I do tend to move fast. glad they give off an aura of confidence (and I generally feel pretty swell about the moves I make yes sir), would hate for them to come across the other way. never been a fan of "fuck it yolo" because I like being in control, one of the traits of a psychopath. oh, dexter.

what is your go-to post move? sky uppercut?

skull bash. lower my head, gain the defense boost and come up with a fully charged attack.

are u willing to explain your sharp eving policy? denying yourself a potential speed tie in more forced or high reward scenarios never seemed like ideal pokemonning to me. maybe it's a product of that pregame flowcharting... or is the aesthetic of the number 248 simply more black metal (i tried)?

calculating an ev spread is one of my favorite pastimes, very... not exactly calming, I'm not sure how to articulate it, but its probably a feeling similar to some hacker writing a sick line of code hes gonna use to bust through a firewall and into whatever. I only use 248 speed if the 252 spe marker is absolutely desolate (like neutral tar!), I refuse to waste any points. 4 spatk on starmie bumps hydro up an entire percent on gengar, this shit matters. in general I never liked games coming down to speed ties, as I've grown poke-wiser I realized sometimes youre gonna have to play the odds and a tie can factor into that bigtime. however, it must be common/relevant/you know the deal, and it still will not get me to use jolly scarfgon. fuck that.

o and its more "kvlt" or "trve" when it comes to bm. appreciate the effort you made to speak my language tho

in recent years, your builds have become looser and more play dependent imo compared to those of other top tier slotsmen. is this because u are more actively counterstyling and/or anti-metagaming? does your visualization of the actual game make things more solid than they appear to basic dudes rooted in the threat list?

my ridiculous perfectionist tendencies (getting agitated at not being able to control everything in the teambuilder, at this rate I'll be dropping bodies into the connecticut river before I know it) led me to throwing up my hands, saying fuck it I'm gonna load up some offense and brutalize these guys because I know I can outplay them. unfortunately the perfectionist tendency has followed me everywhere I go, what a dark passenger to have... but it's generally not as much of a control freak.

also the visualization thing is spot on, I think. if you wanna feel secure against breloom with crobat as the check when I can waltz in on half the team and rub sr/sand into its face every time before switching to tran/zap/tar on the forced roost then I'll take those wins all day while the other dudes are still contemplating where they went wrong.

why do u have such an unrefined shine palette? those blanket shiny squads are so dam hood..

I always wanted shinies as a kid so now that I have unrestricted access to them at my disposal I will most certainly take the opportunity to use them as I please. shiny raikou kinda blows though, shame I have to use him if I wanna aura sphere...

stay |blazin

np: darkthrone - a blaze in the northern sky

how many virgins do you consume on a daily basis?

no more and no less than six hundred sixty six... duh

why is your avatar so bland?

normally I agree blah blah some dude in a suit how boring someone put on some thrash please. however kevin spacey is the exception, what an absolute monster that guy is. the scene its from is my absolute favorite from house of all the cards.

how can i pick up girls like you?

I'm certainly a charming young fella but I didn't become one overnight; practice makes perfect. following that logic, god mustve been practicing really hard when he made you...

what's your fav mon per gen?

scyther, espeon, salamence, staraptor, jellicent, and... vivillon. yes.

 

[Harsha]

How can you like Deb Morgan when she is the worst character on TV?