Fiend
Favorite Pokemon: Houndour
Most Used Pokemon: Gastly
Known For: LC Room Driver, team rater, quality innovator
Tell us a little about yourself.
Hello, I'm Fiend. I'm a 15 year old sophomore in High School. I go to a really weird school which means I have too much time to play pokemon. Most of my teambuilding happens in Spanish and my PE teacher makes us have mandatory extra credit for example. I'm not terribly interesting, but I run cross country and track when not injured, both of which I got into because of girls--still working on that aspect a bit. I have an mild interest in politics for the sole reason of laughing at politicians and seeing how black and white most of them try to describe the world. I'm also rather cynical and sarcastic to a fault because of this, but at least this leads to me making jokes about almost everything and causing those around me to either really like me or think I'm the biggest of assholes.
How and when did you get your start in LC? Do you remember your first team?
I started playing LC early October in 2013, so late BW2, as I was bored of losing in OU / UU and I really, really liked Houndour's aesthetic. I don't actually remember my first team well. It was something along the lines of besides it having a Toxic Gyro Ball Ferroseed, Crunch Hippopotas, Jolly Sand Rush Lieche Berry Drilbur, and Beldum and possibly Houndour and Cubone in the last two slots. It was awful.
What is your favorite aspect of LC?
The community is overall very nice and actually challenges itself to improve rigorously, which is somewhat different from what I've seen in other communities. The play styles of LC are also just more fun to me, and games rarely take longer than 15 minutes thanks to offensive nature of the tier allowing for quick games on a whim. Also, Houndour is viable.
Most underrated thing in LC in your opinion?
This is a tie honestly a tie between Houndour (I have no bias, I swear) and Treecko as both tend to annihilate most teams as they are, facing what is overall minor inconveniences in dismantling the tier. Both need Stealth Rock up and spin/defog support, but those are fairly basic requests. Houndour can OHKO most of offense and rk at least half of a offense team. Treecko sets up on balance stupidly easily, and manages to find times to just win versus offense. Most people just let it happen too, trying to OHKO Treecko even though it hits the perfect bulk to live any neutral hit from anything not stupidly powerful. It's like a less prepared for Drifloon.
Most overrated thing in LC in your opinion?
Honestly, I hate Cottonee and think it's almost entirely overrated. It's used as a Ground+Fighting+Water counter but doesn't really have the longevity to do this well save on offense. It also wants to run 7 moves at a time but can't, and this causes it to suffer since IMO Giga + Encore is obligatory as otherwise you can't handle Drilburs and Chinchous and then you lose Cottonee's utility of ruining set up. But then you can't have Memento, Dazzling Gleam, Hidden Power Fighting, Knock Off, or Stun Spore. It just feels so lack luster compared to how I would want Cottonee to perform, and it causes Cottonee to only be great on Offense relying on cleaners and mediocre on teams that try to have any longevity.
If you could change something about the current metagame, what would you change?
I actually really enjoy the meta as it is; nothing is objectively busted, the only things people still want banned are Abra and Diglett, both of which I feels stems from excessive stall and wanting to not get punished for bad plays/teams. It's fun and not stale, which is great.
Are there certain LC players that you look up to or respect?
On the building side of LC, I've always looked up to Superpowerdude, Corporal Levi, and zf. They're all just really strong builders and solid players while also being awesome guys. Then there is Aerow who is just an impressively cool dude and always trying to have fun in Little Cup, something I really appreciate in players. The same can be said with Eren Yeagar and Rowan who both helped me finally grasp the concept of building a team and playing well/better. Never talked to the two much, both they really were important for my not being an awful user. Also Zeriloa is a salty nerd who understands my quality innovations and can win with any 6 vaguely viable pokemon thrown together which leaves me envious.
Any advice for new LC players?
The best possible things you can do is realize you're (probably) bad and try to fix this. Lurk the forums, use the resources, and ask questions you might think are dumb when you need an answer. Play some LC, try standard teams and see how they feel, then build your own teams once you think you can, maybe grab help from the room. Most importantly, don't pretend you know everything--the amount of times I've been told that Assault Vest is better than Eviolite since it affects Special Defense instead of Defense is unreal--and just keep trying to learn.
Do you have a team you'd be willing to share with us?
I built this within the week after Duskulls got haxxed out of LCPL as my way to get back into playing ORAS LC. Nudi and I were really liking the idea of Treecko in the post Missy meta, but neither of us really did anything with it and since the Miscreavus + Fletchling suspect well over a year ago, I've just been meaning to use it. So I build what is a actually an okay team using some of the most fun sets I could, backed by a Spritzee. Loads of innovation on the team with Magic Coat Mag and HJK Stone Edge Mienfoo and of course Treecko. It's so fun to use. It's a trash approved team as well!
Treecko @ Berry Juice
Ability: Unburden
Level: 5
EVs: 116 HP / 236 Atk / 156 Def
Adamant Nature
- Acrobatics
- Bullet Seed
- Drain Punch
- Swords Dance
Spritzee @ Eviolite
Ability: Aroma Veil
Level: 5
EVs: 212 HP / 196 Def / 12 SpA / 76 SpD / 12 Spe
Bold Nature
- Moonblast
- Wish
- Protect
- Calm Mind
Magnemite @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Analytic
Level: 5
EVs: 240 SpA / 236 Spe
Timid Nature
- Flash Cannon
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Magic Coat
Mienfoo @ Eviolite
Ability: Regenerator
Level: 5
EVs: 196 Def / 36 SpD / 236 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- High Jump Kick
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
Barboach @ Berry Juice
Ability: Anticipation
Level: 5
EVs: 212 Atk / 92 Def / 196 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Waterfall
- Substitute
- Dragon Dance
Chimchar @ Focus Sash
Ability: Blaze
Level: 5
EVs: 4 HP / 212 SpA / 104 SpD / 188 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fake Out
- Overheat
- Stealth Rock
- Endeavor
Ability: Unburden
Level: 5
EVs: 116 HP / 236 Atk / 156 Def
Adamant Nature
- Acrobatics
- Bullet Seed
- Drain Punch
- Swords Dance
Spritzee @ Eviolite
Ability: Aroma Veil
Level: 5
EVs: 212 HP / 196 Def / 12 SpA / 76 SpD / 12 Spe
Bold Nature
- Moonblast
- Wish
- Protect
- Calm Mind
Magnemite @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Analytic
Level: 5
EVs: 240 SpA / 236 Spe
Timid Nature
- Flash Cannon
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Magic Coat
Mienfoo @ Eviolite
Ability: Regenerator
Level: 5
EVs: 196 Def / 36 SpD / 236 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- High Jump Kick
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
Barboach @ Berry Juice
Ability: Anticipation
Level: 5
EVs: 212 Atk / 92 Def / 196 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Waterfall
- Substitute
- Dragon Dance
Chimchar @ Focus Sash
Ability: Blaze
Level: 5
EVs: 4 HP / 212 SpA / 104 SpD / 188 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fake Out
- Overheat
- Stealth Rock
- Endeavor
Lastly, what can you tell me about your relationship with EpicUmbreon29?
I want more out of it
