Quick apology for the week delay. Numerous factors came into play that prevented this from being up sooner. But anyways, here's PotW #32!
Banner by Skarm™
Welcome to the OU Player of the Week Project: Rebooted! For those of you that don't know, this is a project where I interview a tournament player and have you, the readers, leave any questions you may have down below for them to answer. The ultimate goal is to gain insight as to how they play this skillful and strategic video game. If any of you have a suggestion for who I should interview, feel free to VM/PM me, and I will take your suggestion into consideration. Now, enough of this boring intro. Let's get to it!
Marshall.Law
Most Known For:
I'm especially known for being one of the best DPP players on Smogon and more recently, winnning ST19.
Favorite Pokemon:
Pikachu, Squirtle, Chikorita, Arcanine
Most used Pokemon:
Manaphy. It is sooooooo good.
Can you tell us a little about yourself?
I study financial mathematics and I love Coca-Cola.
Where did you get your name from?
Tekken. I'm a big fan of fighting games, especially Street Fighter when I played this game competitively a few years ago.
How and when did you get into competitive battling?
I bought a Nintendo DS/Pokemon Diamond bundle in 2007/2008 and it is from there that I discovered that we could play competitively, even if I played pokemon since the first game.
How do you feel about how ORAS plays compared to XY?
I would like there to be some more megas before making a comparison.
To add onto the above, thoughts on the team matchup issue?
No real opinion in this tier so far.
Do you feel that there is anything that is suspect worthy at the moment?
Nope. I think it is balanced enough for the moment.
What's your favorite playstyle and why?
Definitely offense. Because attack is the best form of defense!
What's your favorite generation of OU and why?
DPP. This tier is just perfect. Even if I'm a little fed up with it sometimes haha.
How do you go about preparing for tournament matches? Does the process differ depending on the tournament?
I try to have an idea about how my opponent plays, his style. Then I just build different versions of a team and test a lot. I mostly try to use common Pokemon with uncommon sets.
Even if some of my teams seem to be the same at the first sight, they have actually many differences. Anyway, for important matches, as somebody always says, "play with the team you are the most comfortable with!"
How does it feel to be the winner of the most recent Smogon Tour? Favorite and least favorite moments of the tournament?
I'm very happy especially because it is one of my favorite tournaments! I definitely didn't think I could win since I made playoffs 3 or 4 times in the past (3 I think) and I've always lost in the quaterfinals. Also I didn't really have time to build r1 and r2 because I had my finals (for school).
Anyway as usual, I can play extremely well and extremely badly and you could notice it during my match vs Get Backer for example.
Thanks especially to Cased, xray and Tokyo Tom to have supported me, helped to build and test a lot since the beginning of playoffs. I love you guys.
To finish I would like to give a shoutout to Peachy because she would have deserved to win as much as me after her run and especially her tournament finals in the past!
Thoughts on the newly introduced Smogon Classic? Favorite to win?
I really neither followed, nor played seriously but in the current Top 16, I would like to see New Breed, babidi, Texas, McMeghan, Zorodark, Malekith, Prankster or Quasar win!
If you could change one thing about OU, what would it be and why?
Nothing, I don't mind it, actually.
Do you have any advice for newer players for playing, and for Smogon in general?
Just, if you like the game, ladder and play in as many tournaments as you can, in particular major tournaments.
If you could change one thing about Smogon as a whole to make it better, what would it be and why?
Nothing, I don't mind too and well Smogon is Smogon! But it is fine like that right now.
What players do you look up to / are good friends with?
The people I admire the most since I joined smogon are both McMeghan and Ciele. McMeghan is a nice person and a great player. The number of tournaments he won proves that I guess. Same for Ciele. Anyway, the tournament where I had the most of fun was spl5 in the Alpha Ruiners when both of them were managers and it's definitely not for my 7-1 record.
Other than that, my two best friends since I joined Smogon are Philip7086 and Iconic but they don't really play much anymore.
Anyway in ORAS, I like original players, who play uncommons pokemons or sets like Ben gay, Sugarhigh or SnowCristal for example.
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?
I just fell in love with this team. It is what I planned to play vs Peachy for ST final though.
Banner by Skarm™
Welcome to the OU Player of the Week Project: Rebooted! For those of you that don't know, this is a project where I interview a tournament player and have you, the readers, leave any questions you may have down below for them to answer. The ultimate goal is to gain insight as to how they play this skillful and strategic video game. If any of you have a suggestion for who I should interview, feel free to VM/PM me, and I will take your suggestion into consideration. Now, enough of this boring intro. Let's get to it!
Marshall.Law
Most Known For:
I'm especially known for being one of the best DPP players on Smogon and more recently, winnning ST19.
Favorite Pokemon:
Pikachu, Squirtle, Chikorita, Arcanine
Most used Pokemon:
Manaphy. It is sooooooo good.
Can you tell us a little about yourself?
I study financial mathematics and I love Coca-Cola.
Where did you get your name from?
Tekken. I'm a big fan of fighting games, especially Street Fighter when I played this game competitively a few years ago.
How and when did you get into competitive battling?
I bought a Nintendo DS/Pokemon Diamond bundle in 2007/2008 and it is from there that I discovered that we could play competitively, even if I played pokemon since the first game.
How do you feel about how ORAS plays compared to XY?
I would like there to be some more megas before making a comparison.
To add onto the above, thoughts on the team matchup issue?
No real opinion in this tier so far.
Do you feel that there is anything that is suspect worthy at the moment?
Nope. I think it is balanced enough for the moment.
What's your favorite playstyle and why?
Definitely offense. Because attack is the best form of defense!
What's your favorite generation of OU and why?
DPP. This tier is just perfect. Even if I'm a little fed up with it sometimes haha.
How do you go about preparing for tournament matches? Does the process differ depending on the tournament?
I try to have an idea about how my opponent plays, his style. Then I just build different versions of a team and test a lot. I mostly try to use common Pokemon with uncommon sets.
Even if some of my teams seem to be the same at the first sight, they have actually many differences. Anyway, for important matches, as somebody always says, "play with the team you are the most comfortable with!"
How does it feel to be the winner of the most recent Smogon Tour? Favorite and least favorite moments of the tournament?
I'm very happy especially because it is one of my favorite tournaments! I definitely didn't think I could win since I made playoffs 3 or 4 times in the past (3 I think) and I've always lost in the quaterfinals. Also I didn't really have time to build r1 and r2 because I had my finals (for school).
Anyway as usual, I can play extremely well and extremely badly and you could notice it during my match vs Get Backer for example.
Thanks especially to Cased, xray and Tokyo Tom to have supported me, helped to build and test a lot since the beginning of playoffs. I love you guys.
To finish I would like to give a shoutout to Peachy because she would have deserved to win as much as me after her run and especially her tournament finals in the past!
Thoughts on the newly introduced Smogon Classic? Favorite to win?
I really neither followed, nor played seriously but in the current Top 16, I would like to see New Breed, babidi, Texas, McMeghan, Zorodark, Malekith, Prankster or Quasar win!
If you could change one thing about OU, what would it be and why?
Nothing, I don't mind it, actually.
Do you have any advice for newer players for playing, and for Smogon in general?
Just, if you like the game, ladder and play in as many tournaments as you can, in particular major tournaments.
If you could change one thing about Smogon as a whole to make it better, what would it be and why?
Nothing, I don't mind too and well Smogon is Smogon! But it is fine like that right now.
What players do you look up to / are good friends with?
The people I admire the most since I joined smogon are both McMeghan and Ciele. McMeghan is a nice person and a great player. The number of tournaments he won proves that I guess. Same for Ciele. Anyway, the tournament where I had the most of fun was spl5 in the Alpha Ruiners when both of them were managers and it's definitely not for my 7-1 record.
Other than that, my two best friends since I joined Smogon are Philip7086 and Iconic but they don't really play much anymore.
Anyway in ORAS, I like original players, who play uncommons pokemons or sets like Ben gay, Sugarhigh or SnowCristal for example.
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?
Thundurus (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Grass Knot
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Thunder Wave
Entei @ Choice Band
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sacred Fire
- Stone Edge
- Extreme Speed
- Bulldoze
Medicham @ Medichamite
Ability: Pure Power
EVs: 16 HP / 252 Atk / 240 Spe
Adamant Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Zen Headbutt
- Bullet Punch
- Fake Out
Latias (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 72 HP / 184 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Defog
- Healing Wish
Azumarill @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 92 HP / 252 Atk / 164 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Belly Drum
- Aqua Jet
- Play Rough
- Superpower
Landorus-Therian (M) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 240 Def / 8 SpD / 12 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Grass Knot
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Thunder Wave
Entei @ Choice Band
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sacred Fire
- Stone Edge
- Extreme Speed
- Bulldoze
Medicham @ Medichamite
Ability: Pure Power
EVs: 16 HP / 252 Atk / 240 Spe
Adamant Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Zen Headbutt
- Bullet Punch
- Fake Out
Latias (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 72 HP / 184 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Defog
- Healing Wish
Azumarill @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 92 HP / 252 Atk / 164 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Belly Drum
- Aqua Jet
- Play Rough
- Superpower
Landorus-Therian (M) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 240 Def / 8 SpD / 12 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
I just fell in love with this team. It is what I planned to play vs Peachy for ST final though.
Last edited:
