Approved by Spirit
Based on Other Player of the Weeks threads
MrAldo
Based on Other Player of the Weeks threads
MrAldo
Hi guys, welcome to the second week of RU Player of the Week. This week we have MrAldo, a player with a lot of experience and skill in the RU metagame, moderates the RU room on PS!, and has plays in tournaments such as RUPL! Ok, let's hop into the interview!
To start off this interview can you tell us your favourite pokemon in the tier?
I can divide my favorite pokemon in 2 ways: The mon I like using the most and the mon I love on design. Virizion is easily my favorite mon to use, reliable setup sweeper from either the special of physical side and just really good at what it does. My favorite on design is definitely aggron but is sadly really eclipsed by tyrantrum, and that is rather sad to me tbh.
How did you first get into RU?
My first interaction with RU was during the XY days when yanmega and zoroark were suspect tested. My involvement with the forums and the chatroom wasnt that serious. The time I decided to main the tier was when scrafty and flygon dropped in a tier shift and been loving the experience since then cause the tier just changed that much
to the point I was intrigued of what would happen and here we are.
What in your opinion is the best mon in the A+ rankings right now? (Meloetta, Venusaur, Diancie, Alomomola, Sigilyph, Flygon)
For me the best mon in A+ right now is easily meloetta. This mon is crazy, many teams are just forced to play around an specs set and if they dont have a spiritomb it will always be a problematic mon to face. Specs, colbur berry calm mind, sub calm mind; all scary sets to face. Next would be venusaur, flygon, diancie, sigilyph and alomomola. In that order in my opinion
What play style do you find yourself going back to and is overall your favourite in the tier?
As much as offense gets completely boned by tyrantrum, I like building offense! But on a more practical sense, I consistently like using bulky offense and balance the most. Not really a fan of passive teams cause trying to "wall" everything just doesnt get you far. Having a good defensive cushion plus some good offensive presence on the team is really nice in my opinion, even more passive builds should be much more active these days.
Do you think Mega Steelix is too much of an over centralizing presence in the tier?
To answer that question I gotta be clear with this. Mega steelix is indeed centralizing but one should ask himself if it is good or bad centralization. IMO, it is good centralization since the metagame isnt build around it like on ubers with primal groudon that makes certain mons unviable by just existing. In fact, many of the pokemon mega steelix nullify have adapted to its presence by running a diverse amount of sets and tricks to retain their niches. Mons like granbull, escavalier, diancie, garbodor, drapion among others still have really valuable niches outside of mega steelix annoying them. Is simply not possible to make everything as viable as one would like. Plus, mega steelix keep at bay. many important mons, not being as exploitable like other steel rock setters like bronzong and registeel. Tyrantrum, mega glalie and sneasel are handled much better by it, but still bronzong and registeel still retain their solid niches, the only rocker isnt mega steelix. In the end, there is no actual problem in my eyes with mega steelix, the thing would be trying to answer a question: Is the metagame better or more fun without mega steelix? And that question cant be solved with a suspect test or something of that kind.
What rank do you think Honchkrow will be if it drops, and do you think it will be too overpowered for the tier?
Trying to predict a rank for a recent drop can be tough but imo, honchkrow can easily best an A+ threat at the very least. Is like an absol with better overall bulk, 2 ridiculous STABs in dark and flying and moxie to become a really scary "snowball" that can get really hard to stop once it gets going.I feel it could be way too much for the tier to handle since it has ways of getting past its traditional checks and counters either through steel wing or a nasty plot/mixed set.but we will see, that would be really interesting
Anything you find underrated in RU that you have been using a lot lately?
Jellicent is underrated. The amount of teams it can annoy is incredible and being a really reliable spin blocker against blastoise and taunt is great to stop defogging. It even can take on every blastoise variant, and lure dark types with colbur berry. great mon honestly.
What period of the RU meta that you have witnessed so far do you think was the most balanced?
RU always had the issue with having a perfectly balanced metagame, opinions aside, but overall I feel the metagame after venomoth ban prior the january/february drops was really enjoyable and balanced. Obvious stuff like durant stands out but the most balanced overall imo.
What other mons besides virizion and malamar do you think benefited the most from Durant's ban?
Mons like delphox get progressively better, this mon is a monster honestly. Stuff like tyrantrum becomes even more busted, medicham becomes the preferred scarfer for offense. Mega glalie and sneasel are huge ones since durant was easily one of the most splashable ice resists.
Finally, can you give a team to end the interview, and explain briefly how it works?
Pretty straightforward spike stacking build consisting on sceptile + malamar is order to abuse it. HP Flying sceptile is great to hit virizion. Malamar is the team main win condition and spikes serve to pressure its checks. Garbodor + Steelix are the hazard stacking core of choice cause garbodor is good against viri, tang and venu and mega steelix is mega steelix. Jellicent being an amazing spinblocker and hitmonlee for revenge killing and emergency hazard control.
Thanks again to MrAldo for taking the time to do this interview, and please leave any questions you have for MrAldo below as well as suggestions for who you want me to interview next!
I can divide my favorite pokemon in 2 ways: The mon I like using the most and the mon I love on design. Virizion is easily my favorite mon to use, reliable setup sweeper from either the special of physical side and just really good at what it does. My favorite on design is definitely aggron but is sadly really eclipsed by tyrantrum, and that is rather sad to me tbh.
How did you first get into RU?
My first interaction with RU was during the XY days when yanmega and zoroark were suspect tested. My involvement with the forums and the chatroom wasnt that serious. The time I decided to main the tier was when scrafty and flygon dropped in a tier shift and been loving the experience since then cause the tier just changed that much
to the point I was intrigued of what would happen and here we are.
What in your opinion is the best mon in the A+ rankings right now? (Meloetta, Venusaur, Diancie, Alomomola, Sigilyph, Flygon)
For me the best mon in A+ right now is easily meloetta. This mon is crazy, many teams are just forced to play around an specs set and if they dont have a spiritomb it will always be a problematic mon to face. Specs, colbur berry calm mind, sub calm mind; all scary sets to face. Next would be venusaur, flygon, diancie, sigilyph and alomomola. In that order in my opinion
What play style do you find yourself going back to and is overall your favourite in the tier?
As much as offense gets completely boned by tyrantrum, I like building offense! But on a more practical sense, I consistently like using bulky offense and balance the most. Not really a fan of passive teams cause trying to "wall" everything just doesnt get you far. Having a good defensive cushion plus some good offensive presence on the team is really nice in my opinion, even more passive builds should be much more active these days.
Do you think Mega Steelix is too much of an over centralizing presence in the tier?
To answer that question I gotta be clear with this. Mega steelix is indeed centralizing but one should ask himself if it is good or bad centralization. IMO, it is good centralization since the metagame isnt build around it like on ubers with primal groudon that makes certain mons unviable by just existing. In fact, many of the pokemon mega steelix nullify have adapted to its presence by running a diverse amount of sets and tricks to retain their niches. Mons like granbull, escavalier, diancie, garbodor, drapion among others still have really valuable niches outside of mega steelix annoying them. Is simply not possible to make everything as viable as one would like. Plus, mega steelix keep at bay. many important mons, not being as exploitable like other steel rock setters like bronzong and registeel. Tyrantrum, mega glalie and sneasel are handled much better by it, but still bronzong and registeel still retain their solid niches, the only rocker isnt mega steelix. In the end, there is no actual problem in my eyes with mega steelix, the thing would be trying to answer a question: Is the metagame better or more fun without mega steelix? And that question cant be solved with a suspect test or something of that kind.
What rank do you think Honchkrow will be if it drops, and do you think it will be too overpowered for the tier?
Trying to predict a rank for a recent drop can be tough but imo, honchkrow can easily best an A+ threat at the very least. Is like an absol with better overall bulk, 2 ridiculous STABs in dark and flying and moxie to become a really scary "snowball" that can get really hard to stop once it gets going.I feel it could be way too much for the tier to handle since it has ways of getting past its traditional checks and counters either through steel wing or a nasty plot/mixed set.but we will see, that would be really interesting
Anything you find underrated in RU that you have been using a lot lately?
Jellicent is underrated. The amount of teams it can annoy is incredible and being a really reliable spin blocker against blastoise and taunt is great to stop defogging. It even can take on every blastoise variant, and lure dark types with colbur berry. great mon honestly.
What period of the RU meta that you have witnessed so far do you think was the most balanced?
RU always had the issue with having a perfectly balanced metagame, opinions aside, but overall I feel the metagame after venomoth ban prior the january/february drops was really enjoyable and balanced. Obvious stuff like durant stands out but the most balanced overall imo.
What other mons besides virizion and malamar do you think benefited the most from Durant's ban?
Mons like delphox get progressively better, this mon is a monster honestly. Stuff like tyrantrum becomes even more busted, medicham becomes the preferred scarfer for offense. Mega glalie and sneasel are huge ones since durant was easily one of the most splashable ice resists.
Finally, can you give a team to end the interview, and explain briefly how it works?
Pretty straightforward spike stacking build consisting on sceptile + malamar is order to abuse it. HP Flying sceptile is great to hit virizion. Malamar is the team main win condition and spikes serve to pressure its checks. Garbodor + Steelix are the hazard stacking core of choice cause garbodor is good against viri, tang and venu and mega steelix is mega steelix. Jellicent being an amazing spinblocker and hitmonlee for revenge killing and emergency hazard control.
Sceptile @ Life Orb
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 0 Atk / 30 Def / 30 SpA / 30 SpD
- Hidden Power [Flying]
- Giga Drain
- Focus Blast
- Leaf Storm
Malamar @ Leftovers
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 HP / 104 SpD / 152 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Sleep Talk
- Rest
- Superpower
Garbodor @ Black Sludge
Ability: Aftermath
EVs: 248 HP / 164 Def / 96 SpD
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Pain Split
- Toxic
- Gunk Shot
Steelix-Mega @ Steelixite
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 232 HP / 96 Atk / 4 SpD / 176 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Earthquake
- Heavy Slam
Jellicent @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 104 Def / 152 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Scald
- Recover
Hitmonlee @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Reckless
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Knock Off
- High Jump Kick
- Close Combat
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 0 Atk / 30 Def / 30 SpA / 30 SpD
- Hidden Power [Flying]
- Giga Drain
- Focus Blast
- Leaf Storm
Malamar @ Leftovers
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 HP / 104 SpD / 152 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Sleep Talk
- Rest
- Superpower
Garbodor @ Black Sludge
Ability: Aftermath
EVs: 248 HP / 164 Def / 96 SpD
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Pain Split
- Toxic
- Gunk Shot
Steelix-Mega @ Steelixite
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 232 HP / 96 Atk / 4 SpD / 176 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Earthquake
- Heavy Slam
Jellicent @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 104 Def / 152 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Scald
- Recover
Hitmonlee @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Reckless
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Knock Off
- High Jump Kick
- Close Combat
Thanks again to MrAldo for taking the time to do this interview, and please leave any questions you have for MrAldo below as well as suggestions for who you want me to interview next!
